Son of a Wing

Tanking for 8 years?? lol
I don't even know what to say anymore...

Tanking for 8 years?? lol
I don't even know what to say anymore...

Most employees THINK that they know more then their boss and that they are more intelligent and can do a better job, but until they are in that exact position that their boss is in and understand all the variables and different factors that go into the position, they really dont fully understand,
I find that often, employees typically have a very one dimensional way of looking at things, and I think fans often times have the exact same approach.

I dont see how you can say anything has failed. The entire concept of "rebuilding on the fly" is icing a competitive team (which we have sitting tied for the wild card) while re-building for the future. IF the rebuild fails, we will know if a few years if our young guns (Larkin, Mrazek, DD, AA, Mantha, Svechnikov, Sproul etc.) are not able to lead this team back into contention.
If you want to argue that this team is not that good in the moment, sure you have a strong argument. But to say anything has failed is way way way to premature. The Leafs also sit with 13 points, does this mean their re-build failed? Of course not. Re-builds take time. As far as the "on the fly" part, well if we finish the season at the bottom of the standings, I will fully admit that aspect failed. If we squeak into the playoffs again, it worked.
I have said it a million times and I will say it again, we are not as good as our 6 game winning streak led some to believe, but we are not as bad as our 5 game losing streak is leading some to believe. The reality, RIGHT NOW we are an average team that will likely just get into the playoffs, or barely not make it.
I have gone on record in saying I like the rebuilding on the fly philosophy as I do not want to tank and I stand behind that, but I wish the ratio of kids to vets was a little more in the favor of of the kids.

All these blown leads are on the coaching staff (Blashill). I don't understand the mentality to sit back on leads. Instead of trying to defend a lead, why not try to extend it? I'm sick and f***ing tired of seeing a shortened bench at the end of games, with our "defensive studs" out every other shift, while the kids / offensive players sit... Up by a goal with just over a minute remaining and we throw out Nielsen (I don't mind him being out there, although he was a big reason they scored the tying goal last night), Glendening, Miller, Ericsson and Marchenko... Like seriously, what the f*** is that s***? Let's try to defend the one goal lead by out-gritting / blocking shots, spending the entire shift in the defensive zone, rather than putting players on the ice that can actually gain possession and move the play up ice...
Another thing, why the f*** do we always go with two defenders on the power-play when up by a goal at the end of games? Again, to defend the lead... Why not try to score an insurance goal to cushion the lead? Terrible f***ing coaching strategy... Don't f***ing sit back! Go for the jugular!

That's not the way I understood it. In your link it says:
 "If any of the 30 teams loses a free agent to Vegas during this 48-hour window, it no longer can lose anyone in the expansion draft. In other words, that free agent lost counts as the one player lost in the expansion draft."
That doesn't specify UFA so I think it would apply to RFAs too. So I think each team can only lose 1 player.
This new information could work in our favour since they could take some free agent like Ott or Miller and that could count as our player lost. And if we decide we're not going to re-sign either Smith or Vanek than they could be taken and it would be no different than losing them to free agency and no additional player taken away.

So instead of arguing any of the multiple points I made about why this would be a horrible trade for both teams, you just add another reason why it wouldn't work? You say "to get you have to give", and follow that up by saying that Smith doesn't hold much value due to being a pending UFA, and Nyquist and Tatar are secondary scorers that can be found in any UFA class... Awesome pitch! Where does Cheveldayoff sign again?
Our team is not at all the same as it was 3 years ago, let alone "5 years or so". We have had a huge turnover in that time, and we're continually getting younger (and in my opinion better) each year. We may finish between "6th - 12th in the East, but that's not reason for a team on the upswing to blow it up...
Yes, this is a fan forum and everyone has an opinion (no matter how outlandish they may seem), but we should try to at least keep it somewhat realistic, shouldn't we? You said yourself, these are the (only) three big names on the market, and you think it's possible to get all three in a salary cap league?
By the way, 40+ points for Green isn't out of the question. DeKeyser is a solid number 2. Although Smith doesn't produce the points we all wish he would, he still possesses the puck a ton and is a solid top 4. Sproul could become the offensive force on the blueline we've been longing for. Ericsson in a reduced role on the 3rd pair where he should be, has looked great. Marchenko is a decent bottom pair guy as well. Ouellet has looked good. Point is, while our defense isn't the strongest, it's not nearly as bad as you make it seem. If we landed ONE top pair guy, we would have a very good defense corp. We don't need to add two or three in my opinion...

It's funny how when the Wings play a good game its like crickets around here.

Empty net? Uhh no he didn't lol. And this is how we know you didn't actually watch the game 

Since the prospects section didn't mention the AHL by name I figured I'd put this in here. I don't know about other people, but I follow the Griffins pretty closely throughout the year to see how guys are doing.
So, to kick things off. Anthony Mantha has 5 goals in 3 games so far, just scored a hat trick tonight against Iowa. As Blashill would say, "not an elite player at the AHL level"

I missed the first game last Friday (caught the highlights), but watched the games Saturday night and last night and the Griffins have looked really good. Mantha doesn't belong in the AHL, he'll be up soon enough. The goal in his first game as well as all three last night were all on the power-play, bombs from the point. I wouldn't want him on the point in Detroit, but I would love to see him on the right half boards, to be the sniper on that side of the ice. But of course he will be used as the net front because he's BIG... His goal in the second game was his only even strength goal, but showed off his speed and skill to beat the defender (who was at least 2-3 steps ahead of him) to a loose puck and go in on a breakaway and picked his corner. Very nice goal. He also had a 2-on-1 with Lorito in the second game where he made a perfect saucer pass over the sprawling defender, but Lorito rang it off the pipe. I've been very impressed with Mantha's overall game and the progress he's made, he looks dominant out there on most shifts and rarely loses puck battles. He still doesn't back-check as hard as he fore-checks but I'm okay with that, we need some more offensive minded players. F*** having every single player play defensive minded hockey...
Aside from Mantha, the only other players that really stood out in both games were Callahan and Russo. I still think Callahan should be on the Wings over Miller / Ott. He brings all the same intangibles, relentless on the fore-check, plays with a bit of an edge, can kill penalties, but could also provide a bit of offense. Russo is definitely our best defender down there, he's a very good two-way defenseman. His offense is what usually gets him noticed but his defensive game is probably a little underrated.
Svechnikov was all over the ice Saturday night, and had so many unbelievable opportunities, before finally burying one in the third period. I didn't really notice him much last night for whatever reason though. Same goes for Bertuzzi. Although Turgeon didn't get much ice time, I'm impressed with him every time he's on the ice. I don't think he'll ever be a great offensive player, but I'm thinking he could be another Sheahan type, defensive center with offensive upside. I really wasn't impressed with Sadowy in either game, hopefully it's just a matter of adjusting to the pros. I wasn't ever really high on Hicketts, mainly because of his size, but man does he ever continue to impress. He's very quick and deceptive, and his hockey IQ is off the charts. He made one massive hit behind his own net on a guy twice his size in the game Saturday night. He may actually have a shot in the NHL. I've been high on Coreau since last season, and he continued to impress in training camp and pre-season this year. He had a bit of a rough game last night, but still made some key saves.
Great start to the season for the Griffs and I expect they'll keep rolling. Nice to see them get victories over two former long-time teammates Ferraro and Hoggan too.

Can I just say that I hate WiiM. All their articles read like angry LGW posters. You know when you post 3-4 opinion pieces a day it's got to be mostly dribble

We should be one of the fastest teams in the league but it starts with the transition from the defence to the offense.
We need a big improvement in our defensive group. Period. 

Clownski? Grow up Frank. 
Name calling and putting down an 18 year old kid for what? Cause you want to throw a hissy fit.
Boohoo we didn't choose who you want.  Get over it.

Clownski? Grow up Frank. 
Name calling and putting down an 18 year old kid for what? Cause you want to throw a hissy fit.
Boohoo we didn't choose who you want.  Get over it.

There's quite a bit of irony here. You're named after the character who was always offended because Homer wouldn't remember/use his real name.
 

Clownski? Grow up Frank. 
Name calling and putting down an 18 year old kid for what? Cause you want to throw a hissy fit.
Boohoo we didn't choose who you want.  Get over it.

We should be one of the fastest teams in the league but it starts with the transition from the defence to the offense.
We need a big improvement in our defensive group. Period. 

We should be one of the fastest teams in the league but it starts with the transition from the defence to the offense.
We need a big improvement in our defensive group. Period. 

We should be one of the fastest teams in the league but it starts with the transition from the defence to the offense.
We need a big improvement in our defensive group. Period. 

Exactly. If we were 2-0 right now, would that make us Cup contenders? Of course not. For the same reason, going 0-2 does not mean we are headed for a dreadful season. Our play these first 2 games has definitely been discouraging, but its wayyyyy to early.
If anything, hopefully this poor play forces management to re-evaluate the roster (ie. getting Miller out of the lineup, and actually trading for a d-man).

Should have traded Pulk when Babcock was scratching him. Instead they beat a dead horse and allowed his value to decrease further. Obviously you're not going to get traded after almost two years of being a waste of space. 
And yes I like Holland. But no excuses here. We could have definitely gotten some good return if we had traded him earlier on.
How many people predicted he wouldn't be able to translate his AHL "one trick pony" game into the NHL? A lot. This is definitely not hindsight at all. This was coming and we all knew it was, ESPECIALLY because of the Red Wings defensive coaching system. He was never a good fit for us since day 1. As far as trade value, the difference in  2015 year he was known as the Brett Hull of AHL. This past year, he was known as the 14th forward. The latter doesn't sound very appealing in a trade deal. 
Now Frk is another story, can't really blame Holland for that one. 

Kronwall isn't expected to be out long. Would've saved him a few days at best. Regardless, it's obvious the team didn't see a role for Pulk here, so there's no reason to keep him. Sure, maybe we could have gotten a low pick, but that's hardly worth getting upset over.
We have never had a problem getting good players for the middle and bottom of the roster. Even last year when our offense sucked our scoring depth was well above average. I am probably the biggest Pulk supporter here, but I don't think having him in the pressbox or on the 4th-line would have made any difference. 
It's been said ad nauseam, but our problems are at the top of the roster. It's extremely unlikely that Pulk (or Frk) would have helped that. AA might though, so we should probably be happy that he's on the team (at least until Jurco is healthy).

As long as Illitch is the owner of this team, this is not going to happen. I'm not sure if you follow baseball Frank, but last year at the trade deadline the Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski wanted to sell as the Tigers were not going to make the playoffs. Long story short, word is that Illitch was so pissed at this, it led to DD's ousting as GM. I believe Holland has 2 mandates from ownership...1) Make the Playoffs, 2) Build a winner. It is very hard to to do both at the same time. With that being said, I am not for tanking. I think many teams try this and fail miserably creating a losing culture for a long long long time. However, I do think there are some moves that we make that do hurt long term. I personally wish we didnt sign Vanek and played Mantha top 6 or top 9, I wish we didnt sign Ott, put Sheahan on 4th line and played AA on the third line, I would bench E for XO, and I would rotate Sproul into the lineup somehow. I didnt love the Nielson signing, but I dont hate it as it gives Larkin some time to mature into the role of 1C.
I agree that we do need to find a top caliber d-man. Hopefully other teams balk at Winnipeg's demands and we somehow pull-off a trade for Trouba.
 

Well deserved