gcom007

I think there’s a bit of a difference between thinking Holland has run his course in this organization as GM and expecting a 1st year NHL coach to sweep in and be the savior because “he had successs at every level before.” That was stupid and I was one of about three people who thought so at the time. I took a ripping for it too; I was “negative” for questioning. Ridiculous. But I still think Holland could use replacing. I will totally acknowledge that he’s been on an uptick lately with some solid moves given what he’s had to play with, but this comes after years of mishandling of a great many aspects of this team. Bad contracts, a lack of moves that should’ve been made, no semblance of an answer for losing 3 of your top 4 defenseman in a short amount of time, etc... Regarding trades, I’m not talking about making trades for the sake of trades and fanboys, I’m talking about moving smaller assets mostly and the huge disparity in the amount of trades the Wings have made and the second lowest team relative to the lack of success. If we had much success to write home about during the period Holland made half as many trades as the second lowest trading team, I’d not bring it up, but instead, the team has continued to go downhill and Holland’s been slow to react and slow to take a definitive stand. I don’t think he’s been as good or as bad as most have suggested, but I do think it’s time for a change. All that said, as much as I’d love to see Yzerman come back as GM for perhaps more sentimental reasons (like we all probably feel on some level), I have similar reservations as I did about Blash. It’s not quite the same as Yzerman’s been playing in the GM big leagues for a bit now and has had a fair amount of success, but he’d be walking into a wildly different situation in Detroit and there’s no quick fixes for this team at this point. I can see the upsides though; fresh perspective but rooted in this teams tradition, familiarity with the org, and perhaps most importantly, if someone could be a rallying point for management in terms of bringing big brains together to have a top notch management team in Detroit, it’s probably Steve Yzerman. At some point I’m sure we’ll find out what that looks like. I’d actually enjoy seeing Yzerman get the chance to bring this team out of this pit; it’d make a great story, and that’s the story we want out of Yzerman coming home to be GM. But Yzerman was captain for a long time before we got a Cup again, and any way it goes, we’re a long way off from that kind of success. It’s going to be a long story. If people don’t manage their expectations, he’ll absolutely disappoint sooner rather than later, and that’s a shame.

How did this team win so many preseason games?

Oh man, glad NHL.TV has pre-game shows now. Always ridiculous lol.

I have this weird feeling this season could go better than expected. I could also see it being a huge dumpster fire in every way, complete with a last minute push to send us strutting into 7th from bottom to screw up our high draft pick chances again. But in any event, I’m excited for hockey again!

Hard to believe this gem’s been around for 5 years. I doubt it’ll even die when he retires. I’m sure Howard’s golf game is average to someone.

lolz

Gotta love the wooks... And this looks like a joke from 30 Rock.

Phew... Good to be back, y'all. And good opportunity to say thanks to Matt for all he does. You realize when it's gone how great it is to have this community of fans, all the more so when you no longer live in Detroit among the faithful.

Watching this Cup win took me back to 97 for sure. Definitely some parallels. Very happy for Ovie finally getting his Cup.

This team kills me. Stop trying. Stop. Come on. Pride ain’t worth s*** if the team is s***. Do better...at tanking.

I don’t even really dislike the deal in terms of the return, but I think Mrazek was mismanaged and unless he somehow sneaks back into the fold this summer as a UFA, I think this was a dumb move. As I’ve said all along, we are sorely lacking in prospects with his upside. He squandered a lot of good faith, but beggars can’t be choosers unless they want to live with regret. I think there’s a high likelihood we’ll regret this one. And f***, Mrazek has been good in the playoffs. That’s what really kills me. He seems to have that rare extra gear. Will be interesting to see how he plays with Philly in the playoffs.

$4-4.5 mil for 2-3 years would sit okay with me if he’s healthy. Still should’ve found a way to trade him.

Viagra is for closers.

Exactly. This is way too fishy. I think Kenny went soft. We’ve seen it many times before.