joesuffP

Since 2009 the Red Wings have been on a noticeable slide. The last few summers there hasn't really been any franchise player free agents so Holland never offered any huge contracts thankfully. What I'm asking is do you think Holland saw these future free agents Parise and Suter and planned the last few years to keep cap space and float through the last 3 years in an attempt to rebuild w/o pulling an Edmonton Oilers. Do you think Holland tried to be a middle of the pack team and collect cap space for 3 years to rebuild? Or do you think Holland tried to ice a Stanley cup winning team each year and failed?

Right now, based on Ericsson's last stretch of games to end the season I think he will be replacing Stuart and imo will be a solid upgrade. Stuart has been awful for 3 years. He gets turned inside out almost once a game and I bet we will notice a difference in Kronwall's game now that he is gone. White, Quincey, Smith, and Kindl all competing to play on the bottom pairing is a good problem to have.

Beruzzi will steal the show for the wings... When I lived in kelowna last year the wings had a couple practices at the rockets arena... A lot of the players went to Roses; a local pub, and Bertuzzi was slamming beers with a bunch of hot chicks talking about how good he was at golf

The wings have bigger issues than Franzen not scoring 60 goals a season... 30 goals a year is respectable... Having an offense built around a 30 goal scorer is not acceptable... And I'm not so sure Datsyuk could make any player in the world a 30 goal scorer by playing on his wing

Who cares if it looks like he doesn't care. I would rather have a not caring Franzen who scores around 30 goals a season to a bunch of guys that have to bust their ass to get 15 goals... The team needs goals, the problem hasn't been effort this season... It's lack of structure and depth... I don't blame coaching for lack of structure I blame the line up... People have been saying this team doesn't care because we look bad on the ice when the truth is we never had a very good line up... Some players were put in a role above their ability and that's where the weaknesses were shown against elite teams... We did alright considering all our holes

coyotes are taking the middle of the ice in the offensive zone... flippula doesn't play there

Incredibly reliable defensively lol

That's what I mean. This team has so many fringe players that it's hard to put them somewhere without slowing a line down or wasting their talents.. I don't think Bertuzzi's role on this team is needed based on the style we play. We are a few pieces away from having well built forward lines up and down but if Holland has to think of putting Bertuzzi and Cleary somewhere in the lineup when he's trying to sign players then our team will be held back from what it potentially could be

If we get Parise then Franzen should be playing on the third line. I bet he gets 30 goals getting less ice time but matching up against teams 3rd lines, gives us awesome secondary scoring

Ya I'm also hammered that's the only way I would ever have the balls to blame Datsyuk...I just have hard time time giving Franzen s*** when he was never a player that could carrey a team offensively and all of sudden he is expected to this year

Franzen isn't our problem... If Franzen averaged two goals a game we still wouldn't make the finals

Takeaway is not indicitave of defensive play at all...

That's the type of player Franzen is... Give him room and he'll snipe a goal but Datsyuk hasn't been good defensively and he has been bad for long stretches of games... Then he does something ridiculous and everyone forgets his blown coverage or the fact the team has scored 4 goals in 7 games... That falls on his shoulders regardless of how flashy he looks... Top line center gets blasted on any other team when you average half a goal for 5 games

Datsyuk needs two 7 mil+ wingers to be effective... What a sick deal... Seems to me he is just a highlight reel machine... He had no impact in 08 either 09 he was even worse

Everyone blames Franzen cause he hasn't scored 80 goals to compensate this team... Franzen should have scored 5 goals a game like he is paid to do... Franzen blew out those teams because we had a good team he can't single handedly win games for you when Datsyuk just wants to dangle around and have no impact in a game since he played with hossa

I've watched pavs since 2002 and I've always said he was the best player on the ice of meaningless games but he s*** the bed this series... He held on to the puck along the boards which is great.... Zetterberg showed heart and threw his body all over the places... Zetterberg shat all over Datsyuk this series... Datsyuk was an observer and Datsyuk has been my favorite player since 06... Datsyuk was meaningless this series

Zetterberg is a machine and a captain the rest of the team is a joke including Datsyuk... Zetterberg is a ******* hero... The only positive I can take from this is that Zetterberg is a true captain and without a doubt the best player for the wings for the last 4 months... Datsyuk was ass and pavs is my favorite player but he was terrible... Zetterberg was the only player that cared

Way to lose 4 out of 5 games... That's a winners attitude what a winning franchise won like 3 of the last 20 games... Maybe next year they'll flip the switch... Zetterbergs a hero, Datsyuk s*** the bed

Pretty sure the Sharks are going to be blowing up[ their team this offseason... would any of you guys like a Marleau trade straight up for Franzen...

And it doesn't help that there isn't anybody on this team that can shoot the puck without handling it for a good 3 seconds first. How many one timers have the wings taken? I say stop trying to screen the goalie it's just bringing their defensemen right over to make it easier to block the shot. All those empty net chances wouldn't be deflected if both their defensemen were chasing their man instead of using the good ole' three man goalie defence.

After Howard got gifted that no goal call then he goes and let's one in less than a minute after I knew the game was over. Wings can't capitalize when the hockey gods did everything they could for them to win. But oh boy did they ever dominate by cycling the puck for two whole periods. The wings haven't shown any skill the whole series other than Datsyuk's steal behind the net goal... cycle, cycle, cycle.... throw it at the net... cycle, cycle, cycle ... point shot.. blocked. That's bad coaching. They're doing the same thing on the power play that's how you know nobody is coaching this team. Nashville is giving them the boards it's not like they're getting frustrated cause Detroit keeps cycling. They let Datsyuk sit there on the half boards and just stand still acting like he's gonna do something crazy but then all he does is pass to the point or swing it behind the net. This team isn't being coached. Nashville will take that offensive pressure all day.

I believe the foundation for a Stanley Cup winning team is here but certain players are being forced into roles that they just aren't cut out for. Flippula is not a scoring winger to be counted on to get goals, you just can't expect him to. It's not from lack of effort, it's his playing style and skill set. He is a very good 3rd line centre though, and centring our 3rd line he would be a big part of our success as well. Franzen should be used as a secondary scorer. Depending on Franzen to score for you to win games is just asking for trouble. He is one of the streakiest goal scorers in the league, no wonder the team is inconsistent. Parise should be our number one priority this offseason I believe. It doesn't bring us into contention immediately but having him would be a crucial piece on our top line and allows the team to not count on Franzen every night. It doesn't solve all our problems but I believe it solves a lot and gives our lines a lot more structure. If you start from signing him and look at our lines there is still work to do but it makes it clear to see where our holes are. Defense is a mess I guess but I think having all the cornerstone peices for a great offence would help on the teams overall game. Last offseason all we did is sign Ian White and our team defence went way up. It's all about having a team commitment to defence