kliq

I'm happy with Holland getting 4 more years. Holland is putting the Wings through a rebuild right now while at the same time trying to keep the team competitive, a very hard thing to too, especially with all the internal/external pressure to either completely rebuild, or 100% go for it. While I am personally happy with the rebuild and am thrilled to see all the young talent the Wings have developed and acquired (nyquist, tatar, jurco, sheahan, sproul, marchenko, ouellette, callahan, etc.) Only time will tell if it worked, four years seems like a fair window.

Agreed on Hillier. I believe he was benched for Frederik Anderson & John Gibson in the playoffs last year. Nothing against those two, but a "star" doesn't get demoted to third string. He's a below average starter at worst, and decent starter at best.

I think Jurco will be playing on a full time basis sooner then later. With any NHL team, there always seems to be at least one forward injured at any given time if not more. While I do wish that Cleary retired and Jurco was there from day one, with Franzen, Cleary, Alfie?, Helm, Weiss and Datsyuk in your lineup, I hate to say it, but one will go down. I would be shocked if they all played even 70 games each.

I definitely see your point, but in hockey specifically it worries me because of the cap. I would hate to see in 2018, 2019 or whenever they became UFA's. having to let a player like Tatar or Nyquist walk away at their peek because we cant fit them under the cap due to a bad long term contract. In baseball I am much more for long term deals then hockey.....plus, in baseball you can always trade that bad contract to the Yankees

I don't think necessarily means anything, I think the reason for each missed UFA is purely situational. I think GM's sometimes get way to much credit when they attract a free agent, and at the same time get way to much crap when they don't get a free agent. There are a variety of things that a player looks at when deciding where to play, in no particular order: family, climate, skill set of team, money, the way a team treats its players, just to name a few. While there very well could be some players that went elsewhere because they thought another team had a brighter future then the Wings, I don't think we should take this as an alarming sign. Suter is a perfect example, he wanted to live closer to his wife's family, and unless Holland threw a dollar amount at him he simply couldn't refuse (thank our luck stars he didnt), he wasn't coming here........For the record, nothing against Suter, I just don't want a guy under contract for 14 years at 7mil+ cap hit.

Live....for me it was Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. Even though it was taken away with a minute left, I have NEVER felt what I felt in the building when the wings were 1 min away from winning the cup. Then to be on the edge of your seat through 3 OT's, with the Wings being 1 goal away.....simply amazing! Ending sucked, but the intensity was awesome! Still pisses me off that in OT Pittsburgh didn't get a penalty when the puck went over the boards, hit the netting, came back in,and they played like nothing happened!

lol

Completely Agree! I like the analogy.

I would love it if the Wings now where what they were back in the glory years. I agree with you in that I want the Wings to compete for a championship every year, I get upset when they get eliminated from the playoffs, I also agree with you that this is what being a fan is all about, I also don’t want to casually observe the team and then clap at the end of the game. Ho hum.....I wouldn’t be posting on here, buying season tickets, and watching the games if I didn’t feel that way. I think for the most part we are on the same page. I guess where we respectfully agree to disagree, is that I believe to build a winner in the NHL nowadays takes much more time than it used to, and I believe because back in the early 2000's all the Wings had to do after a rough patch was make a few signings (ie. Hull, Robitaille etc.), or make a big trade (ie. Hasek, Lang etc.).....that people believe management should be able to do that now. It's simply a different world, and to have those same expectation are unrealistic. You can’t just go out and sign a bunch of UFA's as that can hurt you long term, and young talent is more important now then it may have ever been with all the long term contract going around now, so you dont want to trade young guys. Long story short, we want the same thing here......GO WINGS!

I don’t believe the Wings are not trying, I believe they are not willing to jeopardize their future to win now. They could trade the kids and be better in 2014, but that would hurt their bright future. They could make made a bigger splash in free agency, but then that would require signing someone to a bad contract that would restrict them cap wise down the road, which could result in them losing one of the kids 3 years from now. A few perfect examples of this is Toronto signing David Clarkson, leafs fans got a “big signing” a year ago, but that “big signing” ended up being a dud, and now they have a cap hit of 5.25million until 2021. Washington signed Niskanen to a 7 year deal with a cap hit of 5.75 million, the guy had 1 good year, very very strong possibility this blows up in their face at some point. Even the Suter signing a few years ago by Minnesota, I’m glad Detroit didn’t sign him. Minnesota now has a cap hit of 7,538,462 until 2025. Suter is 29 right now with 11 years left. If he regresses in lets say 3 years, this contract will severely handcuff them for another 8 years! I’m not saying that you are in any way implying that the Wings should have made any of the above moves, I’m just using those examples to make my point. My point being simply that making a move to make you better “now” is not always what is best move for the franchise as whole. If this was pre-cap and they make a bad UFA signing, all that does is hurt them financially, now a days in can result in you having to lose very good players down the road because you cant fit them under the cap.

I have to 100% respectfully disagree with you, this is definitely a real thing. Its simply a natural occurrence after winning 4 cups in 11 seasons, and being a contender or even a favourite the other 7. People (not everyone of course), now have an expectation of the Wings that they need to be a cup contender every year, or management are a bunch of failures. However my original point was that in today's NHL it is unrealistic to think this way. I'm not saying that YOU necessarily think this way, but a large percentage of fans do. For the most part I agree with you. I believe we will start seeing the results of the rebuild sooner then later, but only time will tell, and of course there are so many different variables that come into play (ie. injuries, coaching changes, etc.).

They haven’t been favourite for a cup, that’s for sure. But, I'd say losing to the eventual cup champions (Chicago) in the second round, in game 7, in OT can classify you as at least "contending". Just one of those shots on goal slips by Crawford in OT, and Wings are in the final four against L.A. Again, I am not saying they were a favourite, I’m not saying they were better then Chicago, I’m not saying they should have won, but in 2013 they were definitely in "contention". Nobody else even took Chicago to game 7, let alone game 7 OT. Not Minnesota, not L.A, not even the Bruins. I think with the Wings winning 4 cups between ’97-’08, some fans have unrealistic expectations. In the post salary cap world, things simply are not going to be the same. Its not the payers faults, managements fault, or ownerships fault, just simply a result of the system in place.

I'm pretty sure in 1997 he was second to Brian Leetch in Norris voting.

When comparing what these athletes make in comparison to the everyday person, I completely agree with you. Though, at the end of the day player salaries are directly linked to league revenues now, so it is what it is, that’s business. Also, I do want to mention, I am almost sure that when a player makes 9mil a year, he isn’t actually taking home 9mil a year. I remember reading (I think Ilya Kovalchuck said it) that the 9mil is taxed at 50% (I’m sure this changes based on province/state) which brings the net income to 4.5 mil, then they have to pay union/escrow/misc fees, so it actually ends up being around 4million. Not that 4 million is bad by any means, that’s more then most people make in a lifetime. I just thought this was worth saying.

Thank you, my point exactly. Also, I do agree with Franzen, on and off is a good way of describing him.

I would have to say Chris Osgood. The guy definitely had his faults, and had stretches where he was god awful, but what he was able to accomplish in his career here was on paper HOF worthy. People always seem to jump to the "Anyone could have won the cup with those teams in front of him" argument, but to me that isn’t fair. Many great teams have been eliminated by inferior teams due to goaltending (Detroit (Legace) vs Edmonton (Roloson)). Even after the 2 year stretch in 08 & 09, I still here people calling him garbage. I think on a mainstream level Holmstrom is a good pick, but I think most diehards give him the credit he deserves. I don’t think I have ever met a Wings fan who doesn’t give Holmstrom his due.

The word elite simply means "the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons." so bottom line, “what defines elite” is up for interpretation. Neither of us are wrong, just a different interpretation of the word. I think we can all agree he is pretty damn good lol. My entire point with the original statement wasn’t that Kronwall was elite anyways, it was that our team isn’t filled with a ton of washed up veterans like one poster implied.

Couldnt have said it better myself

We have 5 players over the age of 31.....Franzen (34), Zetterberg (33), Cleary (35), Kronwall (33) and Datsyuk (36) and 3 of those 5 are elite talents. Your statement makes it sound like our team is littered with older players who aren’t performing. We have two in Cleary and Franzen.

I pretty much agree with all of your assessments, and Tampa Bay on paper definitely looks improved. However, I believe they are only improved if Bishop again has a vezina caliber year. I believe he will be good this year, but I think its more likely he is a top 15 goalie next year, not a top 3.

I think the reason for the optimism by some (myself included), is that for the first time in a long time, alot of the guys we are counting on are young guys with little to no injury history. Yes Datsyuk and Z could very well get hurt again, but as last year showed, even without them we can put a pretty good team on the ice.

I don’t see us taking the division, but I could see if the kids continue to step up, the vets can stay healthy, and Howard can play like the goalie he was in the 2010, 2012, and 2013 regular seasons, we could finish in the #2 or #3 spot in our division. At that point, I could see us taking the first round, but ultimately falling to an elite team in the second. But who knows, in today’s NHL with such parody, a team can go from final 4, to non playoff team (ie. Tampa Bay) or vice versa overnight.

Definitely! From a management perspective, it’s a team effort as well. You can have the best GM in the world, but if his assistants, scouts, coaches etc. are garbage, it doesn’t matter. With that being said, you can have the best the assistants, scouts, coaches etc. in the world, but if you have a GM (or owners) who don’t listen or care what they have to say, it doesn’t matter either. I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. I'm just crossing my fingers that the kids can become upper tier/elite players while the vets (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall etc.) can still play at an elite level. I think they will, but only time will tell.

I posted this is another thread, but I now see this is a more appropriate threat to post this in. Interesting article on the Tatar signing in the Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/07/30/why-the-tomas-tatar-deal-is-a-win-for-detroit-red-wings/

Interesting article on the Tatar signing in the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2014/07/30/why-the-tomas-tatar-deal-is-a-win-for-detroit-red-wings/