gcom007

That was depressing.

I don't really know how it'll play out, but I'm feeling more and more confident as the day goes on, despite the adversity we're facing. It may be misplaced, but I really think this team can find a way to pull out a win.

This is literally my biggest problem with Holland in recent years. It's idiotic to think you're replacing Lidstrom, at least after the fact. I wasn't bothered by missing out on Suter, and I never gave Holland crap for it. That Holland couldn't bring in anyone comparable to even Stuart though in all these years??? That's the issue I have. I don't even give him much flack for not "replacing" Rafalski. But how in all this time do you not even manage to bring in a Stuart-level defenseman? Quincey is not that guy, nor is Dekeyser, at least yet. This is literally the single point that just boggles my mind more than any other. Like Harold, I do think Holland could've done a better job of planning for Lidstrom's departure, especially in light of knowing that Stuart was on the out and Rafalski was at most a year away from being done. I would've liked to see something bold go down to prepare for that before Lidstrom left as opposed to chasing the big name free agents after the fact. But again, I don't get too worked up about that so much as the guy failing to bring in even one truly respectable 3-4 guy with NHL experience.

Curious...

Before Kronwall's suspension, I thought it'd boil down to mistakes. I still largely believe that, but our offense is going to have to pick up some slack now. I still think it's absolutely a winnable game, and TB really doesn't have much to celebrate or build on in regards to their play in this series. It's going to be all the tougher now, but it's doable. But we need to minimize mistakes and get offense. If we make mistakes and don't score more than two goals, we are done. So let's hope we find our own justice tomorrow and get the win.

I think we have different definitions of mid-level defensemen, but here's my take on the guys we did get, and why I don't think the majority of them serve as solid examples of his ability to successfully sign or trade for talent lately, at least talent that is useful to this team: White - desperation act, wasn't terrible at first, but floundered and saw his role reduced drastically as time went on, didn't play in the playoffs in his second year and then a swift goodbye Quincey - no one much liked him before this year. We shipped him out once and brought him back, and we weren't even looking to sign him until we struck out on everything else last summer. It's fair to say we all got lucky on this one, as he's been much better this year, but I wouldn't go out of my way to call this a flying success, though it's a dim brighter spot on his recent resume Colaiacovo - I honestly didn't think he looked so bad once he finally got healthy, but his first season was shortened by injury, then he was bought out. Not exactly a success story, and one of several examples of Holland signing guys with past injury issues that ended up sidelined by injuries as Wings Commodore - another desperation addition that went nowhere, some say it's Babcock's fault, but if you want to say that, then I ask why is the GM then signing guys that seem bound for a collision course with Babs in the first place? Zidlicky - I actually have no problem with this move even in light of his playoff performance, we didn't give up much for him, it was a gamble, it went well at first, not so well down the stretch, BFD, mildly frustrating, but it is what it is, I will not be happy if he's signed for next year, but I don't think that will happen Dekeyser - the best signing he's made recently, clearly helped by the fact that he's a Detroit native, we're lucky that he wasn't from Minnesota as that's how these things so oftentimes go, I'm not taking it away from Holland, but considering his greatest acquisition success story of late comes due largely the luck of the geographical draw, I wouldn't go out of my way to champion the guy over it. Alfredsson - I liked this deal a lot and I think he was hugely important to this team last year. I was truly upset he couldn't go for one more year. This was a great short term signing in my mind. Legwand - I never was really sold on the deal, not sure he was as essential to us making the playoffs last year as some suggest, and he ultimately didn't work out for us. Holland expected to sign him when we traded for him and like many of Holland's ideas lately, that went by the wayside Weiss - I just don't even know what the f*** to say about this one at this point. I couldn't possibly hold it against Holland, but it sure speaks to the luck he's developed in recent years Cole - I have no problem with this deal, again, not much given up for a guy who could've helped a lot, but alas, injury struck, again, if it weren't for bad luck...but you also couldn't say that Cole has been the most sturdy player beforehand. Brunner - yeah, bizarre situation, what can you say? He was good for us, and he tried to sign him and didn't. Imagine if he'd been successful though...maybe he still has some luck now and again after all. Tootoo - where did he play most of his games again? And buyout. It was a shame, and maybe another instance where one might blame Babcock, but see Commodore, why sign the guy to fail in our system? I'm happy he bought him out at least for Tootoo's sake. Sammy - Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad signing. Disaster. Pathetic. Symptomatic of some of his problems in the last five years; seemingly influenced by nostalgia, misplaced loyalty, or whatever it is, it hasn't exactly served him well recently. Gustavsson - I have no problems with this signing whatsoever, despite the injury issues, and generally I think Holland does a good job with signing goalies. He hit a rough patch when he brought Hasek and Cujo into the same room, but generally, he's brought in guys that get the job done at a good price. There are a few relative bright spots, mostly through deadline trades and DD and Alfie, but for the most part, you've got guys who couldn't crack the lineup consistently, even in injury-filled years, and guys that had/have injury issues. You can't blame him for some injuries obviously, but some of these guys had histories with injuries which you have to account for. And as said, if you want to blame Babcock for how he's handled some players, that's fine, but you can't not blame the GM for bringing guys in that were bound to clash with Babcock, though I personally don't believe that's how things went for the most part. All in all, there just aren't a lot of success stories mixed in there, and even the one's that I'd say have been successful moves, many might disagree with me with some merit, such as on Alfie and Gus for example. At the end of the day, there's just not many guys who were able to contribute much to the Detroit Red Wings, and only one who's sticking around with longterm upside. I'll absolutely give you the fact that we never had to give up much to make these deals, but we have thrown a lot of cap space away on players that didn't come close to panning out, and nearly every signing was done from a place of desperation after failing to land the bigger names he was chasing early on, perhaps letting more modest and accessible deals pass by in the process. Maybe it's fair to say Holland hasn't done colossally bad in FA and in trades, because it's true, we didn't give up much. And he certainly hasn't been lucky. But I think it's very fair to say that he's done little that you could call good. For a guy who's supposed to be the best GM in the business, you'd think he could do better than, I don't know, not colossally bad? And I still think we stand to learn a lot about Ken Holland's ability to build a team in this era when Dats and Z retire...

Bulls***. Total ******* bulls***.

Whether or not he could or should be replaced doesn't negate the fact that it's frustrating how poorly Holland has performed at acquiring NHL talent via trade or free agency. He's done a really lousy job of it for five years. Just because he drafts well doesn't mean that it's not colossally frustrating that he's made so many terrible signings and trades over the last five years. I feel like I'm in the middle of the road on the issue at this point to be clear. I don't necessarily think he should be fired for what he's done given all that he brings in other areas, and I think he gets too much blame for a lot of things, but I can understand completely why he's become such a frustrating and polarizing GM. At this point, he's definitely deserving of much of the criticism he gets just as he's deserving of much of the praise that he gets.

This is my feeling as well. No one can really take his drafting ability away from him. But he can't seem to make a trade or sign a free-agent without it blowing up in his face. Some of the deals he's made have seemed flat out terrible from the start, but even the one's that seem like good moves have been mostly busts. The fact that this basically is a trend at this point should be concerning on some level. Drafting is important, no doubt, but you still need to be able to round out your team via trade and free agency if you're going to make the long run. What's frustrating is that this team is capable of making a serious run with improved defense, and Holland's struggled to improve it in any meaningful way for years now. We've had five years in which the defense has just continued to get worse, while numerous forwards are signed that oftentimes can't even crack the lineup. How much money have we wasted on guys that have been healthy scratches or Griffins the last five years? Way too much. As I've said in the past, so you don't get Suter or some of the other bigger names, but you can't find any mid-level guys? How often have we talked about not wanting to overpay players, yet millions of dollars of cap space is blown on guys that don't contribute. Why not overpay for some mid-level defense then? At least the money would be going to good use. People can praise Holland for drafting all they want, and you'd have to be a fool to disagree with them. But the guy has been beyond lousy with free agents and trades for five years now. When even the seemingly good signings are blowing up in your face and they're mixed in with too many flat-out terrible signings, you deserve the criticism you're going to get.

Bad news.

That's not entirely true. He had 8 in 2007. Datsyuk had to deal with a lot of injuries around the playoffs for years. Bad luck really, but that was the contributing factor to his lack of scoring in the playoffs at times earlier in his career. That, and the whole team around him struggling to score. I can't remember which year it was at this point, but during one of our playoff runs, I know for a fact that he could barely walk. He was hobbling around in "real life" but still playing and trying to help. Unfortunately, at times injuries are just too hard to overcome, limiting your ability to be productive. I will say that I think Datsyuk has gotten better at battling through injuries over the years. Even this year, it's beyond evident that's he's not 100% recovered from what's been ailing him, but he's still come up big for us several times.

What's frustrating about Zidlicky is that the one thing he's supposed to be of most help on the power play, and he hasn't just been lackluster on the power play, he's flat out hurt the power play on numerous occasions in the playoffs. I don't think he's been as awful as some say either, but he certainly hasn't been anything close to good.

Flip underperformed relative to what was expected of him nearly every year. But in saying that, I think too much was expected of him. People wanted to believe he'd be another Datsyuk/Zetterberg Euro-draft gem, and that just doesn't happen very often. He's a good player, but people have always had unrealistic expectations of him. Abs and Glenny will be wearing letters of some sort before too long, no doubt.

Only as childish as PMs you sent in the past about Flip's successes. It's all in good fun though. And in regards to Mrazek, just no. Does he have much to learn still? Absolutely. Is he losing games for us in these playoffs? Good God, Lemon, that's the most ludicrous thing I've read in these GDTs lately, to be totally honest.

I've always thought Dats was the better player and the most important player on this team. He's a leader in so many ways, but for better or for worse, I don't think he ever wanted to be the captain. I could be wrong, but from all that's been said over the years, I just don't think it's his style.

On what do you base that astute assumption? And who are you rooting for in this series? It must be emotionally brutal for you.

I'm not convinced he'll be a major force again, but it's pathetic how much people s*** on him. It's utterly and completely misguided.

Mistakes will make or break game 7, just like every other game in this series. We are plenty capable of beating Tampa, that's abundantly clear at this point. But we are also far too capable of handing them opportunities on a silver platter. If we can minimize the defensive breakdowns and terrible line changes, we'll win. Mrazek has been good even in the losses when you really break it down. We're scoring goals. But we have to stop making so many big mistakes. Tampa is too talented not to capitalize on them. Make mistakes: Lightning win. Minimize mistakes: Wings win. Simple as that.

He was a solid addition at first, but he's been a disaster in the playoffs. It's unbelievable how bad of luck Holland has with trades and free agency. Even when he seemingly does something right, it has a tendency of blowing up in his face.

Absolutely. Datsyuk had to do the same early in his career and he came into the next season a much better and tougher player for doing so. It's painfully obvious that he's just too weak, so I really, really, really hope he really does something about it this summer. There's no excuse not to. If he comes into next year in the same shape, I'll expect him to become another wash of a promising prospect on this team.

More accurately, he blew out his back. But Z is not the problem. Sure, I'd love it if he was better and scoring like the days of old, but generally speaking, we have, way, way, way more problems on defense worth talking about before we s*** all over Z.

Defense has been lacking for years and that's where the majority of our problems are at this point. I've said it a million times it seems like, but I can understand Holland struggling to bring in an elite defenseman. That's tough. I don't fault him really for not landing one because they don't grow on trees and they're tougher than ever to sign. But that he hasn't been able to make more improvements on some level after too many years now via trade or free agency is just sad. I think it's incredible what Babcock's been able to accomplish with these teams these last few years. If anything, I don't think he gets enough credit for what he's accomplished given how lacking we are on defense in particular.

It's seriously unbelievable how many huge chances we've wrapped up for them. If we do end up losing this series, it's going to all boil down to too many mistakes on defense. We play a tighter game and this thing would've been over in 5 if not 4.

NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH GAS!!! TATAR WITH A BEAUTY!!! HERE COME THE RED WINGS!!!!!!!!

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