Dabura

Did he necessarily have to spend a fortune, though? I mean, for the love of Defense Itself: you lose Brian Rafalski, Nick Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, you bring in a heavy. That's just GMing 101. I can appreciate the smart-though-not-popular angle. But I think, really, it was complacency more than anything else. (There's one possibility we haven't considered: that Nick may not have been entirely unequivocal about the terms of departure. In other words, maybe he left Ken with a bit of hope that he might consider returning after however many months. If I'm Holland, I probably save a big chunk of cash so that I can give Nick a blank check further down the road, should it come to that. Of course, that's also kinda Denial territory, thinking Nick might come back.)

No hard feelings. It just always seems to boil down to "Well, who would you suggest?" - which is, I think, beside the point. I mean, it's a good conversation-starter, but I'm not keen on the idea that saying Holland was unprepared (or, at least, underprepared) makes me beholden to name some people, or else my contention holds no water. Now, granted, you might not be saying it's so. But there are people here who will make, and have made, the argument. And I think it's lame. Holland's the best GM in the NHL, not me. And that's the point. Start acting like it, Ken!

This bothers me a lot, actually.

Ah, yes, this familiar dance. This is where I suggest two or three people and you shoot them down one by one because "Yeah, but" and "Well, but" and so on and so forth. I don't think Holland is stupid. Actually, I think he's bloody brilliant. That, my friends, is why I'm so WTF-ish over his recent decisions (or lack thereof) re: our D corps. I almost feel like, if someone had just punched him in the face and said, "KEN. REMEMBER WHAT IT IS WE DO. WE WIN," a light bulb would've gone on in his head and he would've worked out some insanely incredible deal for an all-star defenseman. But, as it is, he seems almost like an imposter these days. This whole build-from-within line - so transparently contrived it almost boggles my mind.

Ha, +1.

Yeah, I know, right? He was only the cornerstone of our team, second greatest defenseman in history. Bringing in one or two really solid guys to cushion the blow and help the transition woulda just been silly. It's much better that we went into this season the way we did, with Ericsson on our top-pairing, and the most injury prone player in NHL history in the #6/7 slot. (Ericsson, by the way, is a third-pairing defenseman. People are only saying stuff like "It's time for him to make the jump" and "There is no reason he can't be a #2 on our blue line" out of, essentially, sheer necessity. And his contract.)

I haven't called you anything. I said you're being childish. Didn't mean to offend. We can continue via private messages, if you'd like. (Sorry, mods.)

You're being childish. I clearly stated that I'm not complaining about this signing - rather, I'm confused (and, yes, concerned) re: Holland's Plan re: our blue line (if he has one). You got a whiff of negativity, I guess, and some alarms went off in you brain and your knee jerked. Granted, my knee jerks a lot, and I have definitely been known to get on Holland's case. But in this case, I don't see how I'm in the wrong. Our blue line was super-thin heading into this season. Add to that the fact that we have, as I said, terrible luck with injuries. Compound that with the fact that Nick's retirement clearly caught Holland with his pants down, so to speak. Taken together, this all worries me. As I've said numerous times, my beef with the Suter thing is not so much that we lost him - but, rather, that we were so hard after him in the first place. It should never have gotten to that point. Ken Holland - The Man Who Can Do No Wrong - had no plan in place re: Nick's looming retirement, beyond thinking, "Ah, we'll just throw a bunch of money around and someone will sign here, because this is the Detroit Red Wings. And even if we do strike out, well, then I'll just talk up the importance of building from within and drafting well and cultivating prospects." Also, Carlo Colaiacovo is the most injury-prone player in NHL history.

- We have terrible luck with injuries. - We went into this season minus Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart (not to mention the also-recently-departed Brian Rafalski). - GMs are supposed to be smart, intelligent. Part of that is being reasonable, rational, logical, objective. Part of that is having foresight. A lot of people here seem to want it both ways, such that Holland is incredible, knows everything, is always in the right - and yet, "Aw, man, how could he know we'd need extra help on the blue line? No one could've predicted we'd be in this hole!" Please, don't give me this "don't criticize the GM" rubbish.

I don't buy that. But this is all kinda moot. We know Holland likes 'em old, soft, and ineffective.

Lashoff, for example, is 6'3 and 210-ish.

It's actually not as bad as it sounds.

There was a time when it seemed like Holland was always 100 steps ahead of everyone, always looking way into the future. These days, he seems to work on a "day-to-day" basis. Not complaining about this signing. It's just, I keep waiting for that ah-ha! moment... "It's all so clear now! This is what he's been working towards! Genius!"

I hope.

Good show.

Yeah, was just about to say. I guess we'll see what we see. (NO PRESSURE KENT.)

Not going to pretend to know anything about this Huskins character. Google tells me he's big. That's a start.

What's to stop Chis Chelios?

Today is pretty great thus far.

Larry Murphy. "Angel of Death."

As spiffy as our PP may have looked last night (at times)...ya gotta convert. We're 0-for-what, 12? That equals suck.

I assume this is one of the matters Ken and Nick are discussing AT THIS VERY MOMENT. "And I want my locker back."

It's Lidstrom. It has to be. It explains why we suck so much. We deliberately phoned it in, milked it, knowing Nick - being the great guy he is - would feel all sorts of guilty and come back to right the ship - ON OPENING NIGHT. [dramatic music]

SHUT UP WITH YOUR LOGIC