Nightfall

Mrazek will only be fairly cheap so long as we keep him in the minors until he has to move up. Just think if we would have brought him up last year after he won the Calder cup, he would be demanding more money at the end of this season. I do agree that the goalie situation we have here is the least of our concerns.

Great signing. Mrazek will get 60+ games for the Griffins next year. Its is last year of AHL eligibility so I am glad to see him in Grand Rapids for his final year. I would rather see him play 60 games in the AHL as opposed to 20 in the NHL as a backup. After next year, Mrazek will be with Detroit and competing for Howards job.

Every player goes downward as they get older. That being said, buying him out at this stage accomplishes nothing. We have can't get his production from anyone currently in the system. No one who has the skill to produce like Franzen is going to sign here for less than $6 million a season and for a term that is as long as Franzen. Then we will be in the same boat we are in today. A veteran like Vanek that is going to demand more money to produce less and then keep producing less as he gets older. So, in that situation, I would rather pay $4 to Franzen and just keep him going until the expiration of his contract. By the end of it, the salary cap will be high enough where aging veterans will be getting paid the same as he is right now. Holland made the right call here. If he would have bought Franzen out, he would have gotten his balls cut off for sure. Especially when he would have made a change to bring in a more expensive player who produced less. Tootoo was the best choice to be bought out. It shows that the Wings are a high class organization by assisting Tootoo at getting another shot in the NHL by releasing him early. Other players will take note.

If Franzen was not producing, I would be all for buying him out. The fact that he is producing means we should keep him. Since the compliance buyout is a use it or lose it, I say that Tootoo is the most logical target at this stage.

The sharks would probably want Nyquist, Jurco, and a pick for him. I say no.

I am ok with a cheap 2 way contract. I think he would provide good leadership for the kids in the Griffins organization for sure.

Chemistry on a team is far more important that skill of each individual player. The Kings have the chemistry. They won the cup as the 8th seed back in 2012, and then they win the cup again as the 6th seed this year. Further proving that seeding doesn't matter. Getting into the playoffs should be the main goal. After that, the chemistry, grit, determination, staying healthy, and a little luck is what it takes to win it. The Kings wouldn't have been here without all those things working in their favor. It really was an epic run by the Kings, and not any team could do that. Come back from a 3-0 deficit in the first round? Win 3 game 7s? They went 7-0 in elimination games too. Simply incredible! I have so much respect for Henrik. Before this year, he was someone that I enjoyed watching. After this playoff run, I have a whole new level of respect and admiration for him. I really hope he gets another opportunity to make it to the finals.

Agreed. I wasn't a hockey fan until 1993 when I went to college, but I really enjoyed watching the Wings. After getting swept by the Devils and then beat by the Avs the next year, having them win the cup the year I graduated in 1997 was a dream come true.

IMHO, the NHL referees are the best among all other referees in professional sports. The NHL chose they best they had for the finals, and every year there are still people who look at the refs and scratch their heads over certain calls. So long as there is a human element to refereeing, there will always be discussion about them.

They should be reviewing every goal for sure. In the end, goaltender interference is really just a judgement call. As a goalie, I have been through some similar calls in my time. Some of them I thought have been fair and others have been total garbage. One thing is for certain though, the better team always wins a 7 game series. The refs may have blown it tonight, but if you are a Rangers fan, you should be really pissed off about your team blowing not one 2 goal lead, but two of them in consecutive games. The Rangers went into this game with a 10-0 record when leading after two in these playoffs. Now they are 10-1. That shows some great resiliency from the Kings for sure.

This right here. I still haven't heard a single person give me a player that we could sign for $4 million a season that would produce like that. Sure, ditch Franzen and sign Vanek for $6 million a season, and watch him produce less and disappear in the playoffs as well.

Pittsburgh treated him like crap. They should have just let him go back when they fired Sherro.

Sorry man, but you are nitpicking. Many other Wings players said the same thing he did and you aren't burying them. Trust me, these guys are consummate professionals and they hate losing more than they love winning. Also, you are contradicting yourself. At this stage they should be at peace with the end result because if they aren't they are wallowing in self pity. I would rather a professional athlete take a lesson from the previous season and work on next season. Just saying that they are happy with the way the season ended doesn't mean they weren't disappointed with the end result. Especially with all the injury issues that Franzen suffered.

Lets also keep in mind when he was an assistant for the Wings a couple years ago, the LGW forum community viewed his move from assistant coach of the wings down to head coach of the Griffins to be a downgrade. Many forum members believed he wasn't ready to coach at any capacity in the NHL. Its amazing how two solid seasons coaching the Griffins, one of which he takes his team to the Calder Cup, erases all bad memories. Blashill has a family here in Grand Rapids and has interest in staying in Grand Rapids for a while. Yea, he wants to coach in the NHL eventually, but he is also young and realizes that he has a good thing going here. My bet is that he will stay in Grand Rapids for at least a year if not more. Once the Detroit job opens up, he will slide in there. I also bet that Blashill is now a top paid coach in the AHL if not THE top paid.

I think you are nitpicking. Most players are going to be unhappy with the end result, but there is no need to kill yourself when you lose the last game of the season. Some of the other players didn't say what you wanted to hear, so are you going to be disappointed in them too? Yea, expectations are higher in Detroit, no question. Its better to look at the season in a bright light, evaluate, and then focus on next season. Not feel horrible shame for being a failure and dwelling on it.

What about it? I really don't see the need for a guy to be down in the dumps. You expecting the team as a whole to commit suicide when they get ousted from the playoffs or something? I agree with your assessment. The Wings would be dumb to buy him out at this stage. He is worth the price we pay for him. I wonder how the Wings fans would feel if we bought him out and then signed Vanek for $5.5 million a season and he had similar numbers as Franzen (including disappearing in the playoffs).

Great signing. Hell, he works so well with the kids that I would be happy just seeing him down in Grand Rapids developing the players for the NHL. Keep in mind the Griffins coaching had been so horrible at times where we had great talent but just couldn't apply that talent on the ice. Now, we are starting to see the benefits to having a coach who can work with the kids and develop them the right way. I hope they gave him a raise because he deserves it.

I agree with what you are saying. I really don't think he is biased at all either. His job is to talk up the star players, and he does just that. Since we are Wings fans, anyone who doesn't kiss the asses of the Red Wings is obviously biased against the Wings.

So how does his time as a coach show how good of a GM he is going to be? Sure, he may not have been a people person back in 1994, but he knows the game. Being a general manager is more about the people he has around him.

Whenever the pundits say to fire the GM or the coach, the first question I ask is, who out there is better on the market right now than who they have in the position. Is Pierre an upgrade over Shero? I don't believe he is. Especially considering he has been a TV analyst for years.

Look at the bigger picture here. The NHL and other pro hockey leagues are just a small part of the ice time that is used. You have rec league games, college games, kids games, and so on. Imagine if you can eliminate or reduce the amount of zamboni time. You could fit in 4 games in the span of 3. The intermission time is really a time to regroup and the coach to say something. I wouldn't be in favor of eliminating or reducing the intermissions in pro hockey. As a referee, I certainly wouldn't like reffing 3 games in a row without a 10-15 minute zam time break. I would deal with it though. If I was a rink owner or ran a rink, I would embrace this technology if it worked as good if not better than the classic zamboni.

I really think the Pens did Bylsma a disservice. They should have just canned him instead of keeping him on as coach because the new GM is going to can him no question about it.

Just like Holland is touted as one of the best if not the best gm. Some people will beg to differ here on this forum. As for Bylsma, I don't believe he should be fired unless they have someone better to replace him with. Who are you going to bring in? Barry Trotz? I don't think Barry is an upgrade over Bylsma. I also think the Pens need some minor changes as well. James Neal was ineffective in the playoffs for instance.

I was at the game last night and it was awesome to see the Griffins wake up from their slumber. I watched the games in Texas and the Griffins were beaten soundly in the first two games. Last night the Griffins played with purpose and it showed. We are going to see just how good Blashill's coaching is the next two games. The Griffins have the talent to dig out of this hole for sure.

I know that many people who paid attention to the Griffins last season were not heartbroken about seeing Frankie Pare sign overseas. He played in the sweedish elite league and then joined the KHL. He scored a goal in the championship game as well. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/csl_po.php?tid=5027 I am really happy for him. Yea, he wasn't a top prospect, but he really did play with a lot of heart and soul.