gcom007

Nah, but we'll put Glendenning on the power play so he can take a penalty right off the face off. Real gud.

Ken Holland is the best GM in the game.

Manny Legace and his noose for assistants.

Smith is a genius.

I rage quit my parents basement and ran upstairs yelling this very thing along with a tirade of other profane statements. Fun being back home for the holidays in some ways. Like being a kid again. But motherf***ing f***, it's getting harder and harder for me to be patient with Blash.

I've suspected and said this for awhile, though never 100% committed to the idea. At this point though, I pretty much accept it as the likely truth. I don't think Holland is incompetent and I'm sure he brings more to the table than is easy to see from the outside. He wouldn't get the industry reverence he does otherwise. Bowman never seemed to have a problem working with him either, and Bowman certainly had the clout to push for a move if he wanted to. But I think Holland's been around too long, gotten too close to people, a little stale maybe, too cautious, he's lost some good people, still seems a bit aloof in the cap world, and so on and so forth. We're well past the point needing a shakeup, it's beyond obvious, but the management team needs a shakeup before that'll ever happen.

This is management and ownership more than anything, and I say ownership primarily because they continue to allow the management to shoot for the middle. The Wings have lacked urgency and a spark for far too long and need a shakeup, top down. And goodness, I remember being ridiculed for being cautious about Blashill, though I still am giving him the benefit of the doubt personally and think it's possible that he could still develop into a solid coach. It's funny though certainly not shocking that once again, LGW has done what they do and completely turned on someone they once loved. Though to be clear, I'm not saying that it's a completely unjustified train of thought. I've always been on the fence about him and somewhat remain there, I simply don't think it's fair to blame him for the mountain of mediocrity that's been building building up in this organization for years. Anyone who expected him to come in and turn this mess of a team around was delusional.

There is zero excitement to this team, Ken Holland. Zero.

Speaking of Howard accepting the backup role more this year, I wouldn't be shocked if that had a hand in improving his game. It's less pressure, and for a goalie that's been notoriously hard on himself, this might be exactly what he needs to relax and play his best hockey. I never thought Howard quite had the edge to be a great starter, despite at times playing excellent. His head seemed to always get in the way. Maybe he's finally figured out what works for him. Total speculation, but an interesting thought. Whatever it is, again, I hope he keeps it up. There's no downside to having two goalies playing great so long as we have both goalies on the roster.

That's a silly, isolated example. If there's one thing most everyone agrees with, it's that he's a great puck handling goalie. That play was very out of character for him and I don't believe it relates in any way, shape, or form to his more general consistency issues. He flubbed a play. It happens. It sucks and it was horrible timing, but thankfully, I don't think that part of his game is something we need to be overly concerned with, because again, generally speaking, that element of his game is a huge strength. There's Holland quotes in this very thread where Mrazek is referred to as the starter and Jimmy the backup and that coming into this year, Jimmy gets that.

Again, all for Howard playing well; very happy about it and for him. I hope he keeps it up. But even the squirrelly Wings management that has balanced these weird 1a-1b goalie situations for years is now saying Mrazek is the starter! Even Howard has acknowledged that Mrazek is the starter! Mrazek still has plenty to learn, and consistency is one of those things. But you're flat out crazy if you really think there's any real debate about who the starter is at this point inside the organization. And if Mrazek continues to struggle with consistency, it's not going to be Jimmy Howard who saves us in the long run. Either way it goes, Howard's on the tail end of a rather inconsistent career as a starter himself. I'll be shocked if he signs another deal as a starter, with the Wings or otherwise. As others have said, Mrazek is in no way in danger of losing his starter status the way he's playing. Howard's played great and has the stats to back it up, but as said, his starts have been cherry picked, and there's no way any goalie keeps up the numbers he's put up so far. Again, this will be funny to revisit in a month. P.S. Mrazek's been great in the playoffs two years in a row, and the way he pulled it together last year coming in cold after a rough couple months says a lot to me. The guy knows how to find that extra gear for the playoffs, and he's just getting started. I wouldn't bet against him at this point.

This will be fun to revisit in a month...

Glad he played great last night. It's win-win for us to have Howard play well. Goaltending has potential to be a huge strength for us at worst, and at best, if he keeps it up, he does increase the likelihood of being able to trade him. But... Alas, this is hardly the first time we've seen flashes of brilliance from Howard, and as everyone has said, it's still going to be quite tough to move him. I'm definitely not putting much stock in one game. Either way though, hopefully he keeps it up.

Fantastic.

Great update! Thanks for all of the hard work over the years!

Will this be streaming on NHL.tv?

Great deal for 2 years. Goalies like Mrazek that can elevate for the playoffs don't grow on trees. As good as we all know he is, I think he's still underrated. Again, being able to elevate your game in the playoffs is huge, and he's done it twice now, second time doing so completely cold. He's going to be great for a long time.

Splendid...........exactly what we really need to be doing right now.

Given that he more or less lost any trade partners a week before he went positive about keeping Howard, I'd say he's resigned to the situation. He openly said trading him would be best, and it absolutely would be for the Wings and for Howard, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards right now. Hopefully someone will need a goalie at some point next season and we can move him before likely losing him for nothing in the expansion draft.

I think I posted that exact phrase earlier in this thread. My thoughts and feelings remain the same.

Definitely a reasonable deal, especially given how things have shaken out this year. If it doesn't work, NBD. Nothing to lose heading into next season at this point. Hopefully it works out.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I hate it. I tried to be positive at first, but this isn't mediocre. This is pure s***, and it'll be hanging around our neck for a long time...

Just go for it. The way this day is going, there won't be anything worth talking about for a few weeks anyways.

Cap hit isn't horrible. Term is brutal.

Not a horrible deal really, but a mediocre one at best. At best. Certainly not a good message. We couldn't do better so back to mediocrity.