gcom007

For sure, but have there even been many whispers? Getting the feeling the hand might've been overplayed and it's going to be a last-minute scramble.

Well, now I'm nervous.

Zero f***s.

I think this was a pretty damn good deal considering it could turn into a bit more should things get going for him. And end of the day, if we want a chance to bring him back, we may get it if he goes UFA which is possible, and certainly ideal relative to having to automatically having to drop 4 mil. I think the guy has a ton of upside, but even I never felt great about having to go 4 mil after the shakiness, and I don’t think any of the scams people were talking about would fly in reality any other way. Either way, is what it is.

Do I even want to know?

Maltby has been a favorite of mine since his first game as a Wing. He got into a fight and thus began a long and wonderful ride of him being a premier pest. He was so fun to watch.

This is why I’ve been saying for years we need a more balanced approach to building this team between adding players through draft and adding players via trade/FA. Drafting is more important than ever, but outside of the very top guys, as many have said, it’s a crap shoot.

It sounds like we're playing well...?

I hate these blackouts. I need to sign up for Unlocator again...

To early to tell on a team like this. I'd like to see him do better and perhaps we have reason to question, but we've got to give some of these guys more of a chance. I'm not saying I like it or it's somehow just acceptable, but I think we need to understand that when you have a team like this, you don't have a good supporting cast and it can probably become real easy to get into a funk and underachieve. Time will tell, but I'm hardly going to throw the towel in on him yet. And again, I have nothing against Franzen like some. He was disappointing but I completely get that it was out of his control, and no one should've been surprised that he was a fairly streaky one-dimensional player. It's not really a horrible thing; when he was on, he was on, and he had a knack for being on at the right times when he was healthy. What's to really gripe about?

I forgot who I blame for that s***. I just remember the anger and disgust watching Crosby skate towards Bettman. Then I walked away from the screen and pissed and moaned outside. Great night.

My deal with Holland that year was everything. All his UFAs and even an RFA walked and he was in his own words "shocked." He didn't get ahead of much of anything and got caught flat-footed. It wasn't just Hossa/Franzen, it was the whole situation in summer 2009.

Please note, I'm not trying to rag on Franzen. He got screwed over by concussions/injuries, no doubt. I don't fault him for that and I'm not even saying the deal on paper isn't great. $4 million for a lifetime of healthy Franzen would've been nice. I mean, ideally I wanted them to keep both guys. If you have to choose, I say keep Hossa. Hossa would've been a $5-5.5 million cap hit (didn't he sign in Chicago at $5.5, which seems insane relative to some of our contracts now, and by insane I mean deeply depressing, Abdelkader...) which wasn't a huge stretch past Franzen relative to the fact that you still get plenty of offense and Selke-caliber defense, and again, that killer work ethic and example and bonafide star power. I always liked Franzen and don't think less of him now. When I say it's a no-brainer to go with Hossa, it had a lot more to do with Hossa than knocking on Franzen, and that remains true even in hindsight.

Did anyone ever stop to think that Holland kinda at least had a big hand in inventing that sort of insane ultra-long term model which is no longer allowed under the CBA and has largely become to be seen as a stupid approach and a surefire way to f*** a team over? And then all the long deals since that look so good...I'll give him this: he's very optimistic. And give me a break. Franzen was a beast then for a minute, sure, but he was coming off a couple strong runs. Hossa was the real deal. Hossa is a franchise player on many teams in the league. And he had that killer work ethic that's great to have in the locker room with a lot of young guys coming up. When a guy like that wants to be here, you find a way to make it work. I said it then, I'll say it now. I liked Franzen a lot more then than now obviously; hindsight is 20/20 in that sense, but still, the smarter hockey move in 2009 was finding any way you could to keep Hossa and extend the length of time we've got truly elite players in the dressing room. Guys like Hossa help attract guys like Hossa too, don't forget that. I'm not saying it was the more horrible move in history, and I get why it was tough, but I thought it was the wrong move then as I do now, because it wasn't the smart hockey move, and it truly was the beginning of his public bumbling of this team. He was caught flat-footed that off-season, and he hasn't recovered since. Who was talking about Swedish mafia as if it was a real thing awhile back? Those were some funny articles.

I’m totally in for an old school Franzen vs Hossa fight. Should’ve kept Hossa and let Franzen and company walk. Hossa is a world class player at both ends of the ice. Holland got his head up his ass about his own prospects again and let the real deal walk, and then most of his guys walked and he strapped up the Mule for 19 years or something. Everything is pain. The most clear-cut beginning of Holland’s decline as a GM was how he handled that situation. That was the first big sign that he was losing his grip on the wheel.

I don't think that's really so clear at the moment, so we'll have to see how long that moment lasts. All I'm saying is that when you have a young guy like this who had the start he did and struggled, but kept fighting behind the scenes and played himself back into the lineup, it might be wise to take a wait and see approach. If this was year after year of fits and starts, that'd be one thing, but it isn't. We're talking about an early period of this guy's career on a terrible team with a goaltending situation that both have admitted publicly is somewhat difficult. Maybe, just maybe, that's not the best environment, and maybe, just maybe, that had a hand in screwing with a young kids attitude? Maybe he got a wakeup call and pushed through and rose above it. Again, from reports from coaches all year, that may have been the case. Now he's getting his shot to prove it, and so far so good. We are not rich enough on guys with his kind of upside to just shrug our shoulders and say piss off. If he can keep this up, you have to find a way to get him one last chance next year. And for the record, I was saying that quite early in the season before all this. I've thought from the start that they needed to give Mrazek a fair shot this year given what the coaches were saying and what we know of his upside. I think it's dumb it's taken this long and it has nothing to do with hating Howard. It has everything to do with AGE and what's best for this team long run. I don't even think we should trade Howard. I say f*** all and keep both next year unless you can get a decent return for Howard. Howard is never going to win a Cup here, so if we can move him to a good team where he has a chance and he's cool with it, great. He's not going to make or break us next year if Mrazek s***s the bed again; we'll be f***ed either way. So deal him if you can, be grateful to have him one more year for Mrazek testing if you can't. It seems win-win to me.

That's the thing. The return we'd get for him best case is mediocre at best, whereas you're sending a goalie away with a lot of upside who's certainly struggled but who's still young and maturing. I don't think that's worth tossing away for a 4th-5th round pick. Goalies with his upside are a lot harder to come by than some like to suggest, and what those critical of him refuse to acknowledge is that he is young and many players do bounce back from rough starts, and again, even given rough regular season, the guy's looked good in the playoffs twice now, and that's when you really need a guy who can show up. He keeps this up, the Wings would be fools to let him go just yet, though I really hate the idea of giving him another $4 million. If we miraculously make the playoffs on his back and he plays well again in the playoffs, I'll be okay with $4 million. Would be hard to stomach otherwise. Gotta find a way to do something as a UFA.

From everything we’ve heard all season and the summer before, he has had a much improved attitude and has been working on the details of his game that have needed improving. Coaches have been saying that all year. Any goalie needs a chance to string some games together to really shake off the rust and get going, and he’s finally gotten that chance and so far, so good. You can’t bet big on it yet by a long shot, but if this keeps up, I think the Wings would be fools to not try to work something out. Probably more likely in free agency, but again, if this guy can get going and stay going, and I think it’s fair to say it’s still possible, we could have a solid piece of the puzzle in place for the next 5-6 years. If he had a better team in front of him and had he not had an awkward situation with Howard still being around (a situation both said was uncomfortable, and I honestly think both are guilty of having not supported each other as well as they should), I’d be a lot less open minded about Mrazek. But realistically, these last couple years have been rough on everyone and it’s clear Mrazek had some maturing to do. If he has indeed matured and keeps this level of play up through the season, you find some way to get a short deal done. 1 year ideally, 2 years max if it’s screaming cheap.

Wow. Big hero from the cover! Go sadness! We won a shootout thanks to Abs. Stanley Cup, here we come!

Let me just scratch that off my sadness scavenger hunt...

This is exactly what I’m expecting.

No way Mrazek deserves anything more than a one year deal if we keep him. If he plays well down the stretch here, I think they should work something out for 1 year and see how it goes. You can’t gamble on another multi-year deal at this point unless they somehow can work out the money to be cheaper which seems exceedingly unlikely.

Oh, she’s most certainly a nutbar, but Holland and Jimmy said what they did. If you want to rewrite history, go ahead, but Holland was absolutely trying to trade Howard around that time.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2016/04/25/jimmy-howard-detroit-red-wings/83512050/ Right.

This team is s*** next year too, guaranteed. I think you keep Howard and Mrazek (for 1-year) and see how it goes if and only if Mrazek continues to play well down the stretch this season, unless a no-brainer deal comes up for either. But neither goalie is likely to yield much return for obvious reasons, and it’d be dumb to let Mrazek go right now if he is capable of getting back going again given that we don’t have much else happening in the system. Hell, maybe even Howard stays on cheap after next year as a backup or 1a/1b because he wants to stay. I don’t feel the urgency to move either goalie that some do. If Mrazek gets going and Howard keeps doing Howard, which is fine most of the time (he tends to struggle this time of year, not surprising or alarming), goaltending isn’t really a big problem. Howard was gone once too.