chaps80

It's not doom and gloom, it's the unbiased truth. Howard is having a great season, but it doesn't change his past injuries, failures, and dissapointments. Great numbers in 15 games with two injuries and all is forgiven for some of you guys. It's funny. I don't get it, but I guess we may as well just agree to disagree on his worth to the team.

There's more fans wanting development and planning for the future than winning games to not make the playoffs, or sneaking in and getting destroyed. Who doesn't want a top 5 pick this draft? Come on. Howard's health never holds up. Part of the reason he never was and never will be the guy to take the team back to a Cup. He's injured as much as Monster was.

Oh i've seen them. Very uncharacteristic for both, especially the past three seasons. Jimmy has been solid all year, but lately he's had a little slump. No wins since coming back from injury. Mrazek started off good with a couple bad games thrown in, then he hit a rough patch but he was still picking up some wins, then had a great stretch, then a bad game. Now what happens from there we'll see. He's got the team 19 points to big Jim's 11. The way you say he's useless and garbage makes no sense at all. Stats don't tell the whole story. Figured i'd add that Howard, as far as "number 1" goalies go, is historically unreliable. When he hits his slumps, he's BAD, He's injured at least once a year, has done nothing of significance in 8 years of NHL hockey, played 5 playoff games the past three seasons. He'll play well in the regular season sometimes, but when he's really counted upon, he falls flat on his face. Or pulls his groin.

Again the stats.

He did. And then overstayed his welcome. There does come a time. Wouldn't even move up and let the guy who led the team in the dressing room and on the ice to all of the success and the rings he owns take over. And while Holland's current roster is a mess, Yzerman's is a yearly contender. Nill's isn't doing too bad since he got there either. Got Seguin for Eriksson, Spezza for next to nothing, Sharp for Daley, Niemi for a 7th. Got two prospects and a 2nd from Holland for a half month of Cole, who was one good hit away from retirement. That's two potential good new GMs Detroit had in house that they let go because Holland was stubborn.

Zero as GM. Scouting, sure why not.

I understand what your saying, but don't see where and when the tandem turned into Howard taking the #1 job again though. If you look at the games played by month that I posted, it's been around 50% the whole time give or take. I see Blash favouring Howard some now, but I dunno if he ever favoured Mrazek in the first place. He seemed to be on a fairly short leash, as Howard got close to half the starts Mrazek did, which is unusual. If you look at the Pens, Murray has started 12 games to Flower's 2 since he came back from injury, even though 5 of them were losses with a save% under .900 That's a true starter/backup total.

Well, he has to be given the chance first. The guy came up from GR, stole a permanent roster spot and unseated the starter, earned a $4 million contract in one season of play, part of another, and 10 playoff games. He's got the talent to be one of the best in the game. Yeah, he's had troubles, but If he is to be the future of the team, he's not gonna do it from the bench. Now is the time to play the kids. More of a focus should be on development at this point, because this team is going nowhere. Coreau will play too, and i'm glad he will get NHL experience, because he's gonna be a damn good goalie as well.

I mean zero at the GM position. He didn't have any final say on who made that roster.

Howard is all of a sudden undisputed #1 when they've shared the workload all along? Where did you arrive at that? Has it ever came from Blash or Holland's mouth, or are you going by stats and judging from those? Yeah he SHOULD get most of the starts, but will he? Nothing that makes sense seems to fit Blashill's coaching methods, from his line juggling putting guys together no one would, to the head scratcher D pairings, to the goaltending.

One was a trade, one was UFA. Hasek wanted out and wanted to go to Detroit to win a Cup after carrying an inferior team for years with no results. Holland was contacted and obviously jumped at it. Sucked that Osgood was odd man out and put on waivers, but that was fixed later.

He deserves zero credit for '97. Made very minor moves in '98 besides trading Vernon and promoting Osgood because the meat of '98 roster was intact. '02 you can argue some but there were other factors at play. '08 you have to give credit for, like rejuvenating Osgood's career and calling Hasek out of retirement, reuniting McCarty with the rest of the Grind Line, getting Dallas Drake to come back to Detroit for one last crack at a Cup, signing Rafalski to play with Lidstrom, etc. Since the 2009 Finals loss though, it's slowly gone downhill. Him not being prepared for elite players retiring, and unable to attract elite UFAs to replace them. Panicking and signing lesser player to contracts involving too much term, NTC's, and too much money. Or, simply not being able to deal with the results of years under the cap when trouble eventually hit, then hit harder. He needs to change how he does things. Other GMs have adapted, he hasn't.

Hasek traded himself to Detroit just like Hossa's agent called Holland and asked for a contract. Elite players are easy to get if they voluntarily call you and say they want in.

October: Mrazek 7, Howard 3 November: Mrazek 5, Howard 8 December: Mrazek 5, Howard 4, Coreau 2 Even with Howard's injury, his total would probably be close to the November total. Did you know he's lost all his December starts? I seem to remember you posting that if Mrazek can play well, he should get his job back. He was, even though Howard was injured. But the way he was playing, That shouldn't matter anyways, right?

Yeah, the all important stats again. I'm not arguing against Howard's great season. I'm arguing Blash's ineptitude to properly handle that situation. Keep throwing me stats about Jimmy's great year and telling me how you all love him because he's doing his job. It doesn't change things.

Not quite. Mrazek has started 17, Howard 15. Sounds like more of a tandem situation to me. And if Blash was to follow the protocol of playing the hot hand regardless of position on the depth chart that many here think is the way to go, then Howard shouldn't have entered the equation after Mrazek's one bad game after an 8 out of 10 point run. he was heating up, getting in a groove, gaining confidence. No way you bench him after one loss then start your other goalie again after he had the same result right after. That's bad coaching, no way around it.

Well Larkin still made the Wings very quickly after signing his entry deal in May 2015. Once he signed it he left university to join the Griffins for the playoffs, then made the Wings that September.

Yeah I seem to recall reading that they automatically get a top 5 pick somewhere. Must be nice to buy a franchise, pillage other teams players, and get a high first rounder. I find the amount of players allowed to be protected by each team, who spent years drafting and developing and building their roster, to be much too low as well. What is it..10-12 players total or something? I think expansion teams should have to find and sign their own players. There's tons of non-NHL pro players out there, plus unsigned UFA's. And then there's the high first rounder to help out too. Yeah sure, your team will suck for awhile, but that's how it should be. It shouldn't be instantly competitive just because you put down the expansion fee and built an arena.

Howard has been better, no one argues that. But, When Howard was out, Mrazek was rock solid, playing like he should have been all along. Howard comes back, Mrazek has a bad game, Blash is back to Howard. What's the reasoning for that when Mrazek was the supposed #1 heading into the season? Wouldn't you keep playing him after just one bad game, hoping he recovers and continues playing well? No, because it's Blashill and he likes moving everything around and screwing things up. So Howard loses his next two 4-1, Mrazek wins the next game, but is benched for Howard again. Why? From that sample period, It seems Howard gets every chance to play, and Mrazek gets cut off, even when he's doing well. So ya, you can blame Blash for some of it. If Mrazek isn't starting tomorrow, that validates everything even further. Coreau was not that great last game, zero reason to start him over a guy your paying $4 million for with way more experience and skill.

Holland won't tank the season. And i don't trust him with a top pick either. He'd probably trade it for a 25th-31st pick (Vegas picks this draft, no?) and an over 35 veteran.

I like how I started a thread without starting a thread. Cool, magic!!

He might not have played this year in Detroit, because of the customary rule of having to play in GR at least a year or two before you get a shot (unless your Larkin) even if you'd be useful to the big club right away. But he would play sooner than later. He's a better option than pylons like Errorsson and better than the junk they've brought up from GR this year (besides Sproul). Lashoff? Really?? Can't believe he's even still around. And no, the D problems aren't going to be fixed by one player, I don't care who it is. But having Chych ready to play and contribute much much sooner than Cholowski is a step in the right direction. The team needs a big physical dman who can play a solid two way game. He would have fit that perfectly. Oh well.

I like it, but they can do better. Or worse, depending how you look at it.

I hope this team misses the playoffs as well, because I feel it is the only way real changes in the right direction will come about. But they won't tank, so we get what we get. At worst a playoff berth which results in nothing good, and probably no significant changes, and at best a bottom 3-5 finish which lands a high first and hopefully opens Illitch's eyes and gets Holland a good warning that he better start fixing the mess. Unfortunately, one missed playoffs isn't going to get him anymore of an ass chewing than that at most. It'll take a few years of futility for Holland to get the boot. Blashill will get at least another season as well i'm sure, even though he's obviously in way over his head.

Honestly, while Coreau got the win, he's lucky he had one called back and a couple more didn't slip by. He looks promising, but i've watched the highlights a few times, and it's easy to tell he's not ready to be in the NHL full time yet. He plays a bit too deep in his crease and not coming out to challenge shooters, is fighting the puck, seems a bit thrown off by the speed of play, and the fact he takes up a lot of net kept a shot he wasn't ready for from goin in a couple times. Blashill has to start Mrazek next game no matter what.. Howard will be out at least a month, so the sooner he gets back in there and gets rolling again the better. If he starts Coreau, I will seriously question his sanity.