centcougar07

Your argument has failed with others, as well. So you resort to name calling? Tell me why a lot of us our nervous that these Griffins and new comers arent the answer and that trades are necessary now to ice a competitive team. Why do you feel different? Brunner has never played NHL hockey. Nyquist can count his NHL goals on one hand. Tootoo and Samuelsson were let go by other teams. And we didnt replace a 7 time Norris winner with anyone substantial. How do you feel good about all of this?

If our talent pool is so good, why resign Bertuzzi, sign Brunner, sign Samuelson, sign Tootoo, etc etc etc. I think Emmerton is the only guy we have that is a legit NHLer because of his spped. Hopefully, Brunner's speed will be as advertised as well. We need it. Holland not getting anybody this off-season has put us in sink or swim mode, which is probably going to be hard to stomach but is probably not a bad thing long term. At least we will know what these young guys can do instead of arguing about it!!!

I argue that if you knew anything about the wings, you now know that for years and years holding back talent in the minors was a luxury for this club. One that they are no longer able to afford i'm affriad. Whith so many oppertunities now available for these younger players, I feel that it will only thin our prospects pool even further.

Smith wasn't NHL ready until last season, he had maturity and dedication problems until his last year at Wisconsin, and that being the case he would need at least a year at the AHL to make sure those problems were in the past.

I agree with you. If prospects are really good, they develop in the NHL. Not Grand Rapids.

holland had always been able to draw free agents because they knew they were going to be contending for the cup. that isnt the case anymore. we are entering a different era in redwings hockey. the future doesnt look so bright. hopefully something happens to change that. personally i don't have as much faith as some people here in our prospects.

Off topic but I lol'd
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=401434

Ian White is our #2 defenseman. That's borderline outrageous. Holland should've been better prepared for Nick's departure. It's really that simple.

Holland blew it. Plain and simple. He's got his head up and locked right now. He's taking care of fringe moves that dont help the team and missing out on ones that could. Pondering over Holmstrom's future? Are you kidding me? Bertuzzi? Samuelsson? Tootoo? Quincey? Would any of you on here rather have these 5 guys and their 11 million dollar cap hit instead of Suter (9 mil per), nyquist, tatar, emmerton, and #63 (cant remember name)? "But Holland would have had to offer parise 9 mil too.". Fine! If he wasnt blowing it on has-beens, we'd still have 4-5 mil in cap space even after spending 18 mil per on those 2 guys. Holland is going to need to trade players now. And Franzen isnt going to be what other teams want. Filppula , Smith, and Nyquist are the goods. Losing those guys will hurt us more than people realize. Holland has failed. Goose said it best = no points for 2nd place.

Parise

Ryan Suter

When they made it and CBJ didn't.

Sorry we have only been around for 14 years. It's not our fault we weren't blessed with a National Hockey Team until 1998 but hockey has been around in Nashville since the 60s so some of us aren't as dumb to the sport as you may like to think.
I've never said Nashville knew any more about hockey than a die hard Detroit fan either.
I'm simply saying it's not fair to write us off as hicks with no grasp of the sport because we are from the South.
Oh and those weren't towels they were shirts and I'm sure most of them were thrown by visiting Red Wings fans and possibly a few Predators fans who didn't care for an XL Shirt. I have about 20 of them in my drawer from playoffs because they are way too big to wear. I guess some folks decided to donate their to the ice They will go to charities now instead of not being worn.

I am a STH of the Nashville Predators and I have never seen anyone trash the arena. How so do you account for this claim?
Also a fan base that is loyal? The Nashville Predators fans rallied and damn near rioted when they even thought about moving the team and helped it stay put and it has thrived ever sense garnering tons of respect along the years across the league.
When I think of loyal Red Wings fans I think about seeing them get up and leave during Game 3 with plenty of time to try and mount a come back attempt. Never, unless the game was just ridiculously out of reach late in the 3rd have I seen Predator fans leaving. Especially with it being a playoff game! Shame...

Who cares if another team in our division got weaker. How does that help us win a cup? As a matter of fact, it doesn't really help us with the division either considering the Blues are essentially the same team as last year and so are the Hawks. I don't understand why anyone thinks that Columbus getting worse (worse than dead last) is in any way beneficial for us.

I'm not an ESPN insider, so I can't read the entire article. If someone here who is wouldn't mind posting the entire article, that'd be great. I found 1-16 on another message board here: http://www.fvsports....86099&p=2921701. Detroit is not included in that top 16, and I've read elsewhere that we were ranked behind a team in the 20's.
Not that ESPN knows much about hockey, but this certainly isn't good news.

One's gotta think Holland has had a hard time selling the program in recent years.
I mean, yes we're an original six team with a previous winning tradition. However, we're also a team with an old, dilapidated arena, a team who just lost their franchise player, full of aging veterans and unproven youth....a team, playoff wise, has been going the wrong direction for the last 4 years.....
Yeah, doesn't really scream "attractive" does it?

I think even the outside world is starting to question whether we've lost our mystique. I am leaning on yes, there will be some difficult years ahead. I think with this present roster, we'll be fighting just to make 7 or 8th spot.
http://sports.yahoo....01313--nhl.html
Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland is considered the best at what he does, which is maintaining a consistent contender in the Western Conference with legitimate designs on winning a Stanley Cup each season. Along with Coach Mike Babcock, Detroit's recognized as having the "gold standard" for management.
Yet the Red Wings' offseason has seen better talent depart than has been added the roster.
Nicklas Lidstrom retired. Brad Stuart left for the San Jose Sharks. Jiri Hudler signed a 4-year deal with the Calgary Flames. Meanwhile, the Red Wings inked Maple Leafs backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson, Nashville pot-stirrer Jordin Tootoo and Mikael Samuelsson, for a second tour of duty after playing with Florida last season.
The real frustration for the Red Wings: They have $13 million in cap space, and were unable to land a premium upgrade to the defense. Ryan Suter of the Predators flirted with Detroit, who courted him heavily, only to sign with conference rival Minnesota.
Nashville captain Shea Weber, meanwhile, spoke with Detroit but Holland was never given the option to sign him to an offer sheet, as he did with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Predators didn't engage in trade talks with Detroit, seeking to move Weber to the Eastern Conference.
In some ways, it's inconceivable a team like the Red Wings would be on the outside looking in on these free-agent blockbusters. Which is why Holland is being criticized for Detroit's lack of reloading this summer, as the power shifts in the Western Conference.
Matt from Ultimate Hockey Source on Holland "losing his moxie" as GM:

Despite the Red Wings signings of Jordin Tootoo , Jonas Gustavsson, and Mikael Samuelsson, Holland has once again disappointed fans with the lack of a big move. In years past, it was Holland stealing great players and assembling the perfect teams, but this has failed to happen recently. His last ditch effort of making a move for restricted free agent Shea Weber has even been stomped on by the Flyers. Even if the Wings manage to sign Shane Doan , or perhaps trade for Bobby Ryan, their defensive unit as it is will not be enough to carry them to the Stanley Cup next year.
If Holland can't regain his moxie and make a high impact trade and the Wings fail to make the playoffs, you can bet that people will begin to call for a replacement. George Malik offers this dose of reality on the Wins perusing Alex Semin and Doan:

I hate to use the line because it even annoys me at this point, but as the Wings continue to aggressively pursue every option to improve their team, they've still got to sell their "program" to players instead of tossing $6 or $7 million at a player simply because someone else is bidding for said player.
It makes me cringe to say that, mind you, but it's the truth. Because of that spend-thrift ideal, Chuck Pleiness of the Advisor & Source (MI) wondered last week if the Wings had "lost their luster" as a destination for free agents:

"Once you make those types of decisions you're out of the game for a decade," Holland said. "We're not going to have major announcements every year, the league doesn't work like that. I'm confident that at some point in time, and it might be next year, that the history, the tradition, the commitment of our ownership and the passion of the Red Wing fans is going to all add up to us bringing a player of significance here."
… "We're going to try and do some things," Holland said. "We have some cap space so we'll see. But it has to be the right fit whether it's a trade or someone wants to come here. We're working the phones so we'll see.
"At the same time we're in a cap world," Holland continued. "We're moving some younger people in. If we're not moving younger people in we're going backwards. Brendan Smith has to play. Gustav Nyquist has to have an opportunity. Jimmy Howard is 27. We signed Jonas Gustavsson and he's 28. Darren Helm is 25. Those players have to be a part of where we're going." Seeing where Doan and Semin end up is essential to determining whether Holland's in a rut or simply hasn't landed his big fish yet. He's been hindered by some forced beyond his control: Ryan Suterwanted to play with Zach Parise in Minnesota; Nashville wouldn't let Weber slip to a division rival; and the same could be the case for Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
But perhaps the greatest question: What does he do to fill the holes on the blue line? Keith Yandle, if available, would be a great start.

I don't think we're going to go 0-82 this season, but I also don't think we're making the playoffs, either. I think we're going to be comfortably mediocre, never excelling, but never truly sucking either. The team has too many holes, some of which weren't filled adequately. We didn't get Parise or Suter which sucks, but that's life. The reason I don't think we're going to do that well this year has little to do with anything that happened specifically this year, aside from Lidstrom's retirement, but rather has to do with Holland not doing much of anything to improve the team over the last 4 seasons. The chickens always come home to roost, and this is our year, it would seem.
Don't take this post as a sign I'm turning my back on the team, or jumping off the bandwagon or whatever else it is you crazy kids like to throw around in an effort to appear morally superior to other fans. I'm just calling it like I see it, and what I see isn't that great.

I don't like any situation in which we only have five defensemen under contract, the best of which scored 36 points last year and was a -3 defensively in spite of playing regular minutes with defensively responsible players such as Stuart, Zetterberg, and Filppula.

Uh, no, that's not what he said. He never said "fill", he specifically said "replace", as in these guys will replace Stuart and Lidstrom. Not sure how you can read it any other way...
How exactly are we risking our money if it's not being allocated to anything else...? If it's essentially, just sitting there? Don't risk some money on a previous 40 goal scorer for a team in need of scoring depth? Just don't understand your argument...
And then you say we WILL make the playoffs and WILL compete? You come to that consensus based on......what exactly? Do you not realize this is now a team MUCH weaker than the one that was first to get eliminated and won a single game last playoffs? And yet, somehow, you think with a weaker roster we'll somehow do.....better?
Am i missing something here? I just dont understand the logic!

Why wouldn't he be content? We got our top-6 goal-scoring machine and our top-4 rock. We're solid and set re: secondary scoring. Our bottom-6 looks to be much bigger, tougher, younger, faster - altogether much harder to play against.

Well, it is tough to face the fact that we are not a contender.... I took it for granted for 19 years that I followed the Red Wings. Any advices?

That line has been on loop for the last 4 years.....

Disappointing to say the least. Here's some highlights from a couple morning articles. Don't expect any new Red Wings anytime soon folks!
http://www.detroitne...207120392/1128/