kickazz

No lol. There's definitely players in the system that can do what Helm does. It's just that they don't get the opportunity and Blashill is too afraid to give them the chance. AA > Helm mark it. He's already a better producer than Helm is and played far less games and VERY limited ice time. He kills penalties (had a nice short handed goal), he's fast, has hands, plays with lesser linemates. Give AA the chance and he would probably do better than Helm. Helm is what? 29 years old? and still producing at a low rate while AA is 22 and already his production rate has surpassed Helm.

I agree some of the signings made this year were unnecessary but Miller and Vanek are short term. I don't know if Helm and Glendening were Hollands doing or if Blashill insisted on it. Something tells me that Blashill is adamant on relying on Glendening and Helm and wanted them to be here for the long run. Put it this way, if AA and Mantha do end up making the line up long term this year, I will be content. The best way for them to do that will be either training camp or injuries and we all know injuries are bound to happen.

I don't think any of our 11th or higher picks panned out aside from Yzerman. Primeau was traded to bring in Shanahan. But ultimately the 97 team only had 2 of our own high first round picks one which was Yzerman almost 15 years after he was drafted, the other was Lapointe who wasn't very good. It all came down to trades, re-build on the fly, and getting lucky with the Russian 5 in the mid to later rounds of the draft. And getting lucky with Lidstrom in the 3rd round of the draft.

In a way the 80s and 90s were also a "Rebuild on the fly".

Lol that's right he was a coach in the QMHL. Coached Radulov too. It's weird how Roy just doesn't come across that in my mind. He'll always be a goalie. Some things just get blocked out

Well I agree with your second statement to a certain extent and I've had my fair share of criticism of the off season moves. But I don't think the streak is an issue nor do I think it's that black and white. It would be ideal for management to continue the streak and at the same time to be able to make some major moves to improve things like the defense or whatever else we're lacking or are overstocked in (cough cough Howard, Ericsson).

I wanted to say more but I didn't because it would invite people saying stuff like "Hah you expect us to win more stanley cups??!!! we suck!!" and then I'd have to go and start arguing back and all that jazz. But yeah. Let's make it 8 stanley cups in 30 years. Long live the streak. Long live the franchise. Long live Stannis Baratheon. I mean.. long live the Winged Wheel.

Right. A few decades from now, I don't think anyone's going to talk about how we got eliminated in the first round, if the record is broken they will talk about how we broke the record AND won 4 Stanley cups during the streak. It's all about how history is written, and nobody is going to write "the red wings were eliminated first round 5 years in a row just to preserve a streak, FIRE HOLLAND" I presume the hockey books/ web pages will have something along the lines of "An impressive 30 years in a row playoff streak broken by the Red Wings in 2020. During their run they managed to win 4 stanley cups and sported legends such as Yzerman, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Hasek etc etc etc" Streak is nothing to look down upon at all. That's not to say Holland hasn't made questionable moves this summer but of course that's been discussed ad nauseam.

Honestly, I'd say most fans take pride in the streak. I'm not 100% sure about this but the streak is something to be proud of. Well put. The Red Wings are a rare breed of dominance and we became spoiled unfortunately.

The business world of connections. Though Roy did win that Jack Adams.

But it didn't.. That's what I mean. In reality, Ericsson fighting Benn in the 1st period didn't stop him from hurting Zetterberg in the 2nd period nor did it scare him away. That fight never resolved anything and it's been a year since the incident anyway. It was just an entertaining fight with absolutely nothing accomplished. That's part of what Kip's point was I believe.

Last year is definitely an anomaly. People around here keep blasting the offense as if it sucks. Our offense was just fine with Babcock and our PP was the 2nd best in the league in 2015 even though we had a worse roster on paper. The offense dipped as a direct correlation to the new coaching staff. But the anomaly could turn into the new normal unless coaching improves, which it should.

That is a good point. For whatever reason people get offended when Datsyuk is talked about this way but I agree with you. His heart wasn't here anymore and his motivation was probably not the same because his heart wasn't in it. When I was listening to Nielsen's interview about coming to Detroit, he was really excited and felt as though it was a big deal playing for us. One of his statements in the interview was "When Detroit calls you, you listen to them". To me that shows he takes this opportunity seriously and probably wants to prove his worth to a famous franchise. I'm not sure if I can say the same about Vanek though.

It is entertaining but he's right that it doesn't really stop anything. Ericsson fought Jamie Benn but Benn still plummeted Zetterberg's head after the fight and gave him a concussion.

That's one bad hockey fight. Abdelkader probably lost his first 10 fights when he came into the league. He's seemed to gotten better the last 2 years or so. Never knew Ott was't that good. I guess I never followed his fights that much.

May was a good fighter. For whatever reason his time with us is a blur to me.

Yep it's fantasy and I think you've hit the point. We definitely are lacking that top talent. That said in a couple of years I wonder if Larkin and Mrazek can crack the higher rankings. I think of all the players those two have the best chance of doing so.

Tatar, Nyquist, Larkin, Zetterberg, Mrazek and Nielsen are all on the top 200 list that he linked. It's just that no one is top 50 like Zet and Pav used to be I think.

Too young. R I P <3

Have we had any good fighters since Downey? I don't consider Abdelkader a good one. Maybe for today's standards he might be decent.

No lol that's not what I mean. I'm not judging what he is, I'm just saying what his role in Detroit is or how the coach uses him. Him and Marchenko are usually bottom 2 and on occasion middle pair but also on occasion a healthy scratch.

Smith still isn't a top 4 defenseman. He still mostly played the bottom pair and at times was scratched. He's still one of the lower ones when it comes to ice time. He is however a puck moving D-man like you said.

Lot of sarcasm about Ott tbh. Clearly not the same player he was.

Darryl Bootland

Realistically I think he'd get wrecked by NHL fighters in a "fair" fight.