Holland: Free Agent Shopping is Probably Done

[Lou_Siffer 1]

Even worse, I'd think we'd sign the camara man from the news station. At least Ned comes with that personailty of being able to annoy the other team into taking penalties.

Yeah i think the camera man liked doughnuts too...a Robert Lang replacement?

[Kp-Wings 3]

Another thing... I do find it humorous how much people ***** about the job Holland is doing.

I admit I had my doubts in the past, but the guy knows what he's doing.

It's almost sad to think that if we didn't lose our No. 2 and No. 3 defensemen last spring we would be celebrating another Stanley Cup championship and some of you would still be bitching about the job Holland has done.

The Wings second line is going to be totally non-existant this year, as it will probably be Grigorenko - Hudler - Samulesson. That sucks. I think we have a right to *****.

Holland said he wanted to sign a top 6 forward. He didn't do it. So why should we not be bitching? Seriously, the second line is going to blow so hard this year. Any line with Samulesson on it will do so.

[Matt 1,049]

I just hope you are joking. Semenov is the biggest waste I have ever seen play hockey.

But he's 6'5!!!!!!11!!1 And 235lbzz.!!!!!!! ZOMG!

[kindlwillbegreat 0]

Another thing... I do find it humorous how much people ***** about the job Holland is doing.

I admit I had my doubts in the past, but the guy knows what he's doing.

It's almost sad to think that if we didn't lose our No. 2 and No. 3 defensemen last spring we would be celebrating another Stanley Cup championship and some of you would still be bitching about the job Holland has done.

i know what you mean , i still cant stop thinking about how that cup should of been ours , i feel like it was stolen from us .....and i do agree with you that holland knows what hes doing , ive always thought that ......

.that being said though i agree with most people here that were better off making the kids play then "just" signing anyone .....with that said im sure everyone will disagree with me but the more i think about it the more id love to see chris simon come here, hes older but hes still big , physical , can fight, chip in 10 goals a year and is an intimidating player we need and can be had for a one year deal

But he's 6'5!!!!!!11!!1 And 235lbzz.!!!!!!! ZOMG!

ya i saw him before too but then i realized he never came close to playing a full season , at that point we might as well play brad ference

[Guest Crymson]

ughhhhhhhhhhhh

I don't like that one bit.

We need someone else.

^^ See: definition of 'same s***, different year.'

[mwinnyatslc 0]

I totally agree that we should have been more active during the first few days of free agency, but it seems that people have forgotten that we did sign a lot of what would have been UFA's during the season, such as Dats, Maltby, Homer, Kronwall, Lebda, etc. Therefore, even through we did lose some UFA's, we avoided a lot of that by locking guys up in March/April. Just a thought.

[Matt 1,049]

The Wings second line is going to be totally non-existant this year, as it will probably be Grigorenko - Hudler - Samulesson. That sucks. I think we have a right to *****.

You do realize you're bitching in July, right?

Holland said he wanted to sign a top 6 forward. He didn't do it. So why should we not be bitching?

The market dictated what Holland was able to do and not do up to this point. So if you're going to *****, make it a high-quality ***** where you consider the entire scenario at hand.

What if Bertuzzi re-signed for 2-years at $4M+ for each? What about Guerin at $4.5M for two years? What about Kozlov at almost $4M per? Fedotenko at almost $3M?

Kyle-freaking-Calder at $2.75M over two years? The same guy that was getting scratched for Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky during the playoff run?

Does any of that sound like fiscal responsibility in operating under the Wings' cap?

[Rice 42]

The Wings second line is going to be totally non-existant this year, as it will probably be Grigorenko - Hudler - Samulesson. That sucks. I think we have a right to *****.

Holland said he wanted to sign a top 6 forward. He didn't do it. So why should we not be bitching? Seriously, the second line is going to blow so hard this year. Any line with Samulesson on it will do so.

The Wings had a second line last year?

Would you have paid $4 million for Bertuzzi? $4.5 for Guerin?

[Guest Crymson]

so basically he is admitting he f***ed up. at the onset of fre agency he specifically said he wanted to resign all of our own guys, plus maybe add another top 6 forward. then it turned to, well, we might only be able to resign two of our free agents. then we end up losing everybody (except hasek). we replace schnieder with rafalski (not a huge upgrade). and now he says we're done??? howis this team better than last year's team. we lost beturzzi, lang, calder, schneider, markov. and we've replaced them with rafalski, grigorenko, and ??? *crickets chirping* who? ellis? hussey? *crickets chirping*.

if he thinks waiting till the trade deadline is a plan, he is nuts.

Gee, we've never heard this before, have we?

[Matt 1,049]

Would you have paid $4 million for Bertuzzi? $4.5 for Guerin?

Is there an echo in here?

[Kp-Wings 3]

You do realize you're bitching in July, right?

I don't care what month it is. I can already tell you that line will suck. Samulesson sucks, Hudler is small, and Grigorenko is unproven. How am I supposed to look forward to that? Please tell me.

The market dictated what Holland was able to do and not do up to this point. So if you're going to *****, make it a high-quality ***** where you consider the entire scenario at hand.

What if Bertuzzi re-signed for 2-years at $4M+ for each? What about Guerin at $4.5M for two years? What about Kozlov at almost $4M per? Fedotenko at almost $3M?

Kyle-freaking-Calder at $2.75M over two years? The same guy that was getting scratched for Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky during the playoff run?

Does any of that sound like fiscal responsibility in operating under the Wings' cap?

Just because other teams overpaid for these people doesn't mean that that's the only thing they would have been signed for.

Also notice that three of those players went to horribly managed teams (LA and NY Islanders). You can't dictate everything that goes on because a few stupid GM's in the league believe in overpaying players.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

so basically he is admitting he f***ed up. at the onset of fre agency he specifically said he wanted to resign all of our own guys, plus maybe add another top 6 forward. then it turned to, well, we might only be able to resign two of our free agents. then we end up losing everybody (except hasek). we replace schnieder with rafalski (not a huge upgrade). and now he says we're done??? howis this team better than last year's team. we lost beturzzi, lang, calder, schneider, markov. and we've replaced them with rafalski, grigorenko, and ??? *crickets chirping* who? ellis? hussey? *crickets chirping*.

if he thinks waiting till the trade deadline is a plan, he is nuts.

No, he didn't f*** up.

Stop. Think. Look at the lengths of the contracts being signed. Z is up for UFA in 2 years. You can bet we sign him in the next year for a nice tidy sum over a long-ass contract (as it should be with marquee players like Dats and Z for their draft team).

Would I like it if we had signed Smyth? HELL YEAH. But he obviously wanted a long contract which is something the Wings couldn't offer under the cap era.

I assure you- Holland didn't "f*** up". He knew exactly what he was doing when he avoided those outrageous prices.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

The Wings had a second line last year?

Yupp , His name was Dan Cleary.

[Kp-Wings 3]

The Wings had a second line last year?

No, but wouldn't it be nice to have one for once?

Yet again though, the 2nd line will suck. A s***ty player, a small player, and an unproven player will be our second line. Thanks Holland.

Edit: I should clarify something here. The reason I'm pissed is because has Holland basically came out and said that he is done signing players, and will go forward with the team as is. That means we have only 3 North American forwards on the team right now. I can see the Euro media jokes next year right now. Not to mention we still don't have anybody on this team that will defend anyone if liberties are taken on them. And I don't expect it either, since Holland apparently likes the team as-is.

Edited July 6, 2007 by Kp-Wings

[HenrikRules40 14]

I don't get it. You're saying he played well with Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Datsyuk, etc. You could score twenty goals playing on a line with them. Samuelsson sucks, and passes up scoring opportunities to take crappy shots into the goalies pads from the blue line. Yes, he was top six for awhile, but not because he should've been.

Well it's my opinion that if you are on the top two lines on the Red Wings then you're a top six forward.

And I'm kind of sick of the "crappy shots into pads" excuse. You can't score a goal without shooting the puck. I'd rather have a guy like Sammy who takes the shot every time (and thoroughly enjoy those games like when he scored 4 points against Chicago) than some chump who's afraid to shoot.

For that money, Sammy is great. Defensively responsible and not afraid to shoot. I like him...you don't have to.

[LeftWinger 5,179]

...although $4.5MM I think is too much for Guerin, if Holland wouldn't have wasted $2MM on Hasek, maybe we could've got him. Ok, so 2 out of 3 of my preferred UFA's are gone. If Holland is looking fopr depth, the Adam Hall better be signed, because I am getting ready to start the first official f*ck Holland thread...

...Adam Hall will come for less than $1MM and would fill in great on the 3rd line, which btw doesn't have a center now that Comrie wasn't signed. Also what-a-waste on Hudler. He f*ckin sucks and will never pan out...

...you got one more shot Holland, sign Hall or get fired...

[Matt 1,049]

I don't care what month it is. I can already tell you that line will suck. Samulesson sucks, Hudler is small, and Grigorenko is unproven. How am I supposed to look forward to that? Please tell me.

Who said anything about looking forward to it? You're already assuming that's how it's going to shake out. In July.

July!

When we get to October 1st and we're still staring at that as our #2 line, then have at it. Be my guest.

Just because other teams overpaid for these people doesn't mean that that's the only thing they would have been signed for.

You're speculating. At least I have hard numbers on what they commanded on the market to support my argument.

Also notice that three of those players went to horribly managed teams (LA and NY Islanders). You can't dictate everything that goes on because a few stupid GM's in the league believe in overpaying players.

You're also assuming that there were only "horribly managed teams" bidding on them. Since when has Dean Lombardi been considered a horrible manager for the Kings? Maybe you're still stuck in Dave Taylor mode.

[SwedeLundin77 460]

so basically he is admitting he f***ed up. at the onset of fre agency he specifically said he wanted to resign all of our own guys, plus maybe add another top 6 forward. then it turned to, well, we might only be able to resign two of our free agents. then we end up losing everybody (except hasek). we replace schnieder with rafalski (not a huge upgrade). and now he says we're done??? howis this team better than last year's team. we lost beturzzi, lang, calder, schneider, markov. and we've replaced them with rafalski, grigorenko, and ??? *crickets chirping* who? ellis? hussey? *crickets chirping*.

if he thinks waiting till the trade deadline is a plan, he is nuts.

Wiow, let's throw a big pity party for this guy who obviously has very little hockey knowledge whatsoever.

Bertuzzi didn't show or do anything positive for us to prove he was going to be anything tremendous this season. Holland wanted to re-sign him - Bert didn't give him a chance and signed with the Ducks ASAP.

Schneider is the same case. We were going to re-sign him, but he is and always has been a California boy - it's where he wants to be. Again - out of Holland's hands. Rafalski is quicker, has better mobility, better defensive awareness, and equal offensive capability and we locked him up for 5 years. This was a GREAT move given the fact that Schnedier was going to hit the road no matter what.

Markov was nothing spectacular, not even that physical overall. He can be easily replaced by a younger guy, UFA, or trade during the season.

Lang was horrible this past season, he did nothing to benefit us other than score that one goal in the San Jose series that kept us alive - that was it. He signed with Chicago for 4 mil a season which is way more than he is worth. We are a better team with Filppula taking his place.

Calder was strong to start but showed that he truly has lost his way in terms of being a good player. He may be able to revive his career somewhere, but Detroit was not the place for him.

Seriously, get over it. Nothing that has transpired was really Holland's fault. He slightly overpayed for Rafalski but that was necessary. I am very happy that he didn't break the bank and overpay any of these other good players that were UFA's because that would have screwed up our team. Holland may say he is done, but he never says it with full confidence, he is still looking and trying to find the right fit.

There are so many baby fans around here it makes me sick.

[Sebastian 0]

i would like for us to sign O'neil he is asking for i think 1.5 or less. I no he aint a goal scorer, but he brings some toughness to our team.

[Matt 1,049]

...although $4.5MM I think is too much for Guerin, if Holland wouldn't have wasted $2MM on Hasek, maybe we could've got him.

I love this. Got any bright ideas on who we would put in goal that would lead this team to a Stanley Cup that's available?

[Kp-Wings 3]

You're also assuming that there were only "horribly managed teams" bidding on them. Since when has Dean Lombardi been considered a horrible manager for the Kings? Maybe you're still stuck in Dave Taylor mode.

Wasn't it Dean Lombardi that traded for Dan Cloutier and signed him to a 2-contract extension before he even played a single game for the Kings? I don't exactly call that savvy management.

[Matt 1,049]

Wasn't it Dean Lombardi that traded for Dan Cloutier and signed him to a 2-contract extension before he even played a single game for the Kings? I don't exactly call that savvy management.

Touche!

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I love this. Got any bright ideas on who we would put in goal that would lead this team to a Stanley Cup that's available?

I Heard Vincent Riendeau was still playing in the beer leagues

[Matt 1,049]

I Heard Vincent Riendeau was still playing in the beer leagues

Hmmm... Well, he would definitely take the minimum and sign a one-year contract so if Howard's ready next year he can step in... But the playoff thing is a no-go for me.

Maybe take a flyer on Peter Ing?

[Rice 42]

Yupp , His name was Dan Cleary.

Well, if you consider Cleary our second line, why are you panicking?