The reason behind the slump!

[Andy Pred 48 337]

The reason for the Wings current slump in results is a cunning master plan by the head office.

With the NHL imposing the salary cap and therefore shafting the bigger organisation's the Wings

have decided that the only way that they will ever get another 'Superstar' player into the roster

is to finish dead last. So they have decided that to do this without too much notice is to start losing

games now, have an early exit from the playoffs and then carry it into next season. The Wings will

finish the 08-09 season in last place which will give them the 1st overall pick in the 09 draft. This

will no doubt be the young star in the OHL John Tavares. Maybe this is a bit drastic, but I can assure

you all that the like's of the Kings, Panthers and Bolts would consider the prospect of a last place

finish for getting a player of Tavares class a worth while proposition.

I have a hard time buying into the concept of rewarding teams who fail in the season with the top picks

in the draft. This is supposed to be a parity league now due to the cap so why do we still have this sort

of system in place? I feel that the league need to look into this as it is now an out dated concept. The

problem is that the better teams are having to fork out to get top players into there organisation, while

the teams who finish bottom are getting top prospect in on the cheap via the draft each year. You only

have to look at the Penguins to see this is all to evident. I know we have drafted well and Dats and Z

were low drafts but that is a raretiy overall. Maybe if it was restructered in that the winner of each Division

getting the first 6 picks,with the top point scorer getting 1st overall and then working downwards 2-6. This

would then carry on with the 2nd in each division gettting picks 7-12 and so on until the 30th pick. Yes I know

that it wouldn't be viable as teams have traded picks with each other, but its something to look at. My own

choice would be to reverse the current system so the President trophy winner gets first overall pick and so on

the last place team in the regular season gets the 30th pick. Would be interesting wouldn't it. Just look at it like

this, if this was the rule since the 2000 season, our last 8 picks would have been, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Bowmeester, Marc Andre Fluery, Ovechkin, Crosby, Johnson and Kane. Yes you are right, there's just no way the

league would let the Wings have a team like that in this so called league parity cap era!!!! Makes you salivor just

thinking about it thou doesn't it.

[Z and D for the C 712]

"This is supposed to be a parity league now due to the cap so why do we still have this sort of system in place?"

This practice increases the parity in the league.

[#19=Legend 29]

I am going to take that book you just wrote as a big joke.... I hope im taking it in the right way

[thedisappearer 291]

That post killed brain cells that I will never get back. Thanks.

[miller76 463]

The reason for the Wings current slump in results is a cunning master plan by the head office.

With the NHL imposing the salary cap and therefore shafting the bigger organisation's the Wings

have decided that the only way that they will ever get another 'Superstar' player into the roster

is to finish dead last. So they have decided that to do this without too much notice is to start losing

games now, have an early exit from the playoffs and then carry it into next season. The Wings will

finish the 08-09 season in last place which will give them the 1st overall pick in the 09 draft. This

will no doubt be the young star in the OHL John Tavares. Maybe this is a bit drastic, but I can assure

you all that the like's of the Kings, Panthers and Bolts would consider the prospect of a last place

finish for getting a player of Tavares class a worth while proposition.

I have a hard time buying into the concept of rewarding teams who fail in the season with the top picks

in the draft. This is supposed to be a parity league now due to the cap so why do we still have this sort

of system in place? I feel that the league need to look into this as it is now an out dated concept. The

problem is that the better teams are having to fork out to get top players into there organisation, while

the teams who finish bottom are getting top prospect in on the cheap via the draft each year. You only

have to look at the Penguins to see this is all to evident. I know we have drafted well and Dats and Z

were low drafts but that is a raretiy overall. Maybe if it was restructered in that the winner of each Division

getting the first 6 picks,with the top point scorer getting 1st overall and then working downwards 2-6. This

would then carry on with the 2nd in each division gettting picks 7-12 and so on until the 30th pick. Yes I know

that it wouldn't be viable as teams have traded picks with each other, but its something to look at. My own

choice would be to reverse the current system so the President trophy winner gets first overall pick and so on

the last place team in the regular season gets the 30th pick. Would be interesting wouldn't it. Just look at it like

this, if this was the rule since the 2000 season, our last 8 picks would have been, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Bowmeester, Marc Andre Fluery, Ovechkin, Crosby, Johnson and Kane. Yes you are right, there's just no way the

league would let the Wings have a team like that in this so called league parity cap era!!!! Makes you salivor just

thinking about it thou doesn't it.

No doubt that those first rounders are good. But players like Datsyuk 171st pick, Z 210th, Holmstrom 257th, Lidstrom 53rd, Osgood 54th, of course Yzerman was 4th, and even though Draper wasn't drafted by the wings, he still went 62nd.

I think the draft is a little deceptive at times at what your going to get, whether you are a high or low pick.

side note in 1989 these players were taken before Lidstrom by Detroit.

-Mike Sillinger

-Bob Boughner

Mats Sundin was the 1st overall awarded to Quebec

[joshy207 156]

Two words... DRAFT LOTTERY.

Finishing last overall does not guarantee you the first pick in the draft.

[norrisnick 1]

Two more words. Followed by two more after that.

Screw Tavares.

Victor Hedman.

[Kp-Wings 3]

nevermind

Edited March 2, 2008 by Kp-Wings

[Nicholonio 9]

Andy, that has to be quite possibly one of the dumbest posts I've ever read.

I know it might've been a thought in your mind or something that triggered you to post this, but be for real dude - that isn't happening.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Christ0pherXx

[Never_Retire_Steve 35]

Even if we tried to do this there is no way that we could accomplish this feat.

[SnipeShow 0]

Andy Pred's post just failed so badly that I don't know if I can carry on. How in the world would that method create parity? If the Wings won the President's Trophy for being the best team in the league and then get the 1st overall pick in the draft, they just get better. Meanwhile, the last placed team - meaning the worst team in the league - gets the last placed pick or 30th overall. That makes the a huge seperation between the best and the worst, it just spreads the gap that much more. I don't know how you could possibly see parity in that scenario.

[cirov19 1]

The reason for the Wings current slump in results is a cunning master plan by the head office.

With the NHL imposing the salary cap and therefore shafting the bigger organisation's the Wings

have decided that the only way that they will ever get another 'Superstar' player into the roster

is to finish dead last. So they have decided that to do this without too much notice is to start losing

games now, have an early exit from the playoffs and then carry it into next season. The Wings will

finish the 08-09 season in last place which will give them the 1st overall pick in the 09 draft. This

will no doubt be the young star in the OHL John Tavares. Maybe this is a bit drastic, but I can assure

you all that the like's of the Kings, Panthers and Bolts would consider the prospect of a last place

finish for getting a player of Tavares class a worth while proposition.

I have a hard time buying into the concept of rewarding teams who fail in the season with the top picks

in the draft. This is supposed to be a parity league now due to the cap so why do we still have this sort

of system in place? I feel that the league need to look into this as it is now an out dated concept. The

problem is that the better teams are having to fork out to get top players into there organisation, while

the teams who finish bottom are getting top prospect in on the cheap via the draft each year. You only

have to look at the Penguins to see this is all to evident. I know we have drafted well and Dats and Z

were low drafts but that is a raretiy overall. Maybe if it was restructered in that the winner of each Division

getting the first 6 picks,with the top point scorer getting 1st overall and then working downwards 2-6. This

would then carry on with the 2nd in each division gettting picks 7-12 and so on until the 30th pick. Yes I know

that it wouldn't be viable as teams have traded picks with each other, but its something to look at. My own

choice would be to reverse the current system so the President trophy winner gets first overall pick and so on

the last place team in the regular season gets the 30th pick. Would be interesting wouldn't it. Just look at it like

this, if this was the rule since the 2000 season, our last 8 picks would have been, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Bowmeester, Marc Andre Fluery, Ovechkin, Crosby, Johnson and Kane. Yes you are right, there's just no way the

league would let the Wings have a team like that in this so called league parity cap era!!!! Makes you salivor just

thinking about it thou doesn't it.

Um okay, how long did it take you to think of that? I'm sure everybody would rather continue winning with who we have and earn cups short term then suck and play well in the long run. Right now we are fine, the slump will finish ... today, and we can continue on with winning the cup in June. That sounds like a much better plan to me.

Annnd yeah, if the Presidents Trophy winner would get first pick then teams like Tampa Bay would never improve and would eventually be taken out of our league. So no, that would not work.

Also, use paragraphs.

[Guest YzermanForever19]

The reason behind the slump? I think that's pretty blatantly obvious. No Cleary, no Cheli, no Rafalski, no Lidstrom, and JUST finally got Dom and Kronner back. That's the reason behind the slump. Plain and simple. AHLers are not NHLers. And once we get our full artillery back, we'll go back to being the best team in hockey. And now having Brad Stuart to add even more depth, I think it's pretty clear we are stilll the team to beat. Despite our "slump," which is soley caused by so many bodies going down.

[Feldmarschall 9]

I think sirdrake somehow managed to hack Andy Pred's account. This is rather uncharacteristically stupid.

[Doggy 130]

Good post. I like your thinking. In addition to your ideas I reckon they should make it like this.

The lower you finish, the less draft picks you get. This would stop teams like TO who want to rebuild, trading their talent for draft picks. I've never understood why crap teams are given opportunities to get better over a prolonged period of time. They're crap - they should be punished.

Further to that, I believe each player from the bottom team in each division should have a ******** removed. This would give each crap team added incentive to win and not finish last. It also makes these teams less desirable for free agents to sign with as they would be fearful of losing one of their balls. Therefore it gives the better teams more opportunities to sign big names like Smyth, Briere, Drury, etc. thus rewarding them for their good season.

In addition to that I think each crap team should be handicapped negatively at the start of each game. For instance, if you finish in the bottom of your division you should start all games the next season down by two goals. However, they should get a chance to start on a clean slate so before the game the captain of the crap team shoots the puck at a small hole in the goal. The better the opponent, the smaller the hole and if he gets it in, it's a 0-0 start. If not, he has to wear a crab infested jock-strap all game. Thus punishing him for playing for a crap team and giving him more incentive to be better.

I'm not sure what you would do when two bottom teams played - perhaps some sort of death match or rochambo competition before the game.

Now, I know these changes might seem big and I am a realist - I know they won't be happening in the next year or two but this is something the NHL should look at for the future.

I'll be pissed if the Wings become crap one day because of parity.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I believe that there is a second half to your conspiracy theory... You see... with the top guys out, it allows our newcomers time on the ice to improve themselves. We have the top seed, and our future players are getting early experience. They will be just that much better for the time spent in the NHL.

(fyi while true about them gaining experience, I was being sarcastic)

Edited March 2, 2008 by CaliWingsNut

[hak 21]

O.o didn't read the whole thing. Stupid post along with a very boring format.. No thanks

(Yes I'm a contributor)

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I thought it has already been established that Gary Bettman is the reason behind the Wing's slump.

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

Lang was lazy and he sucked. Wings are still paying the karmic debt for that.

[Kp-Wings 3]

Lang was lazy and he sucked. Wings are still paying the karmic debt for that.

You know the situation well!

[Andy Pred 48 337]

Ok guys and gals, in response to all the half wits who couldn't see this post was a tongue in cheek essay,

I'll clear a few things up of the sarcastic post. I thought you guys over the

pond had a good sense of humour, I mean, you still got Bush as president right?

Anyway, yes our current slump is down mainly to large amount of injuries. But it also shows up the lack of

forward talent we have at our disposal. Prime example is Hartigan, gets the call up once Ellis is gone and

then plays less time than Downey. quote from Babcock, "we like his skills he brings with him". Well giving him

less than 3 mins isn't going to help his cause to show them is it Babs. There is a lack of faith on Babs part, he

has seen all of his call up pool in pre- season games so he should know what they can do before they get the

call up to Detroit. By flogging Pav and Z with extra mins isn't going to help in the long run, especially if we are

looking at having a deep run this year. Ritola was last to get released from camp, and by all accounts leads the

Griffs in +- this year, yet he never gets a mention. Not NHL ready is the reason from the front office usually, so

we leave it at that.

With the reference to draft picks, well as someone said in response to the orginal topic,' its a crap shoot'. So

why does everyone go ape when we look to trade a player and possably give away a 1st round pick in the deal?

Doesn't add up, as we get most of our better players lower down, why worry about our higher picks? You can't

have it both ways guys, either they are important or not. So the idea of reversing the drafting system doesn't

really matter does it? Either way it seems odd that the system is still in use in the cap era.

The overiding fact that worries me and probably most Wings fans is this, one day Lids Cheli and Raffi will be gone

and won't be coming back, and the thought of our Wings falling into mid table obscurity is a real possability. With

the so called parity of the league becoming more eveident over the next few years our low round drafting success

had better keep going, because we sure ain't going to have any asset's to trade for talent in the next few years or

so. It's not a case of we won't have them, just we won't be able to lose them. So making our team better is going

to become harder and harder each year. Lets hope we unearth another Dats or Z up front or another Vlad at the back as wer'e going to need to for the future. Not for the next couple of years but 5yrs down the line is when it will

start to take hold.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Andy Pred 48

[Guest MrSandMan]

As proven year after year, Wings scouts don't need high draft picks to get the best. Our deep draft picks are getting us allstar after allstar... while this "mighty" pics with "allstar" predicted players turn out to be nothing more than a hyped flop.

We don't need high drafts!

[wingslogo19 281]

[Guest LivingtheDream]

There was a study out that found that amoung business and others the more important you are the less you write. Maybe you might want to think about that. jk Seriously, be careful here. Some might actually think you are serious.