24 replies to this topic

[Berry]

Some thoughts…

Red Wings have now lost 4 in a row and things do not seem to get better. At the beginning of the season Holland, Babs and all the players said that they liked this team.

It is a few seasons now that I think that our team needs a big change. The players don’t change, the way of playing doesn’t change… this is pretty weird. In the same all the other teams are making changes.

In this team we only have 4-5 guys which can make the difference in every game: Lidstrom, Z, Dats and Howie and sometimes Franzen.

All the other guys are simply average NHL players. This team is full of players which play well 1 game and then vanish for the next 3-4 and this is unacceptable (if you want to be a cup contender).

I’m sick of hearing: “this will be Flip’s breakout year”, “Huds is in shape and he will score 70 points”, “Commodore and White are better than Rafalski”, “we lost tonight because we played 2 game in a row and we were tired “ etc.

Kenny Holland should change a little bit his mind. Sometime you need trades to improve a team!!! Hope this will happen soon.

[Doc Holliday]

I sincerely doubt Holland will stand pat with the cap space he has.

Getting good pieces to improve the team to get them into the conference finals and later is another story.

[dats13owns]

Maybe Detroit should be more like Toronto and have an annual fire sale, I mean, trades definitely guarantee success.

[egroen]

The team could definitely benefit from another $5m individual... Hopefully Holland can get one and not another $2m player instead.

[VM1138]

I wouldn't say the team is chock-full of average players. I'd say most of our players excel at their roles. The problem is what has already been stated: one player plays well one game, then disappears. We needed a consistent second liner sniper and I think we still need that if Franzen isn't going to break out.

I'm not a trade slappy, or even a critic of Holland's. I think it made perfect sense to stand pat for the past few years due to all the injuries not letting us see what we have. I don't count 09 as a failed season, since we should have won the Cup. So really we've only had two bad seasons, one due to a ridiculously bad injury streak, and the second due to general malaise. Holland waited the appropriate amount of time. But now, the same problems are manifesting themselves even worse. If even Datsyuk and Zetterberg are disappearing we could potentially be in trouble.

There's no doubt this team can make playoffs, and it's not the end of the world to lose 4 straight early in the season. But what this team does lack is that thing to push them over the edge. Too complacent. What this team needs is a truly dynamic player. We're very bottom heavy with a talented crew of bottom 6. But honestly I'm beginning to wonder if having to fit Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Homer into lines they don't really help just so they don't sit is starting to have an effect. Each can be a tremendously effective player, but I'm not sure Cleary's admirable work ethic is paying off right now. Perhaps a team with a laziness problem will take Cleary and Flip for a dynamic scoring winger?

Ick, I feel terrible for even suggesting we get rid of Cleary.

[mjlegend]

I'd still play around with lighting a fire under a key veteran like Datsyuk or Zetts or Bert by making them a healthy scratch before I'd make a trade.

The talent is there; the finish is missing. A trade says 'You're done here and I don't believe in you.' A healthy scratch is a warning shot a foot over the player's head.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros]

I realize he's been such a great story since making the team on a tryout after the lockout, but its hard to ignore how bad Cleary has looked. 2 points in his first 9 games. Zetterberg hasn't looked much better. We definitely had our chances tonight, and ran into a hot goaltender in Harding. That's not an excuse for losing 4 in a row, though. I think we are finally really seeing the effects of an aging core of players. I'm not saying we won't make the playoffs. I think we'll bounce back. Something is definitely not right, though. I will say that the future looks grim, with this looking like it could be Lidstrom's last season. If we look this bad with him back there, how will we look when he isn't? Unless we make a move or two, this team is not a legit Cup contender. That being said, I think we will bounce back and make the playoffs, with this current roster.

In the short term, take someone (Stuart?) out and place Commodore in his place, just to shake it up a little. Kronwall and Stuart have looked sluggish, pinching at the absolute worst times and often getting burned.

[DatsyukianDangles122]

We need Zach Parise. Let's just pray that he makes it to free agency, or we can trade for him at the deadline. But the fact remains that a line of Parise - Datsyuk - Franzen would be absolutely phenomenal and allow Zetterberg to center that second line again.

He's the pure sniper we're missing.

[blueadams]

one - it's far too early to start FREAKING out. take a step back and breathe, please.

two - with regards to the cap space/trade deadline acquisitions. priority #1 is finding our lidstrom replacement. he wasn't on the market this off-season. that's why the cap space still exists. he will be on the market this off-season (weber or suter, most likely). i highly doubt we make an acquisition during the season that prevents us from signing lidstrom's replacement this off-season. so if we do acquire someone, it'll be someone with an expiring contract, or someone that's relatively cheap.

three - we just acquired a new top six super star. his name is gustav nyquist. let's wait and see how he does.

[Aussie_Wing]

This team lacks true firepower on the top 6. Dats and Hank are great, but possibly slowing down, and outside of them you don’t have anyone who you can consistently rely on to score. Franzen is streaky, Cleary is injury prone and more of a top 6 filler rather than a legit top 6 forward. Filppula is who he is, a dependable defensive forward who is good for 40 points, whereas Hudler just doesn’t have enough tricks to be a top 6 forward. And then there’s Bertuzzi and Holmstrom, both well past their primes and if they’re in the top 6 we’ve got issues. We need someone with speed and skill, Nyquist is not the answer but he is a start. Get him up here and let him help rejuvenate the group.

Filppula – Datsyuk – Holmstrom
Nyquist – Zetterberg – Franzen
Hudler – Helm – Cleary
Miller – Abdelkader – Eaves

Look at those lines and tell me they aren’t better than what we’re currently rolling with? Also, lets just settle on a bottom 6 and be done with it. One game Abby is centering the 4th then he's a 3rd line winger, one game Eaves is in and then he's scratched (should never be), Holmstrom's in, then out, then on the top line, enough chopping and changing.

[Dimaline312000]

I'm very frustrated with the past 4 Losses especially after going 5-0. That's why I said at the beginning of this season and even before this season began that I didn't have high expectations for this season's team. I'm not saying I'm giving up on them, it's way to early for that. Wings still struggle with a lot of things that they have struggled with the past few seasons. Such as Power Plays, holding leads, and getting production from guys that know how to produce. I hope they can correct these things soon but it may come down to not having a great season this season. I'm still very playoff hopeful don't get me wrong but with all the cap space that we Wings should have next season if they don't add any more cap this season will be just the thing to shake up the team and perhapes point into a new direction that leads to us getting past the 2nd Round of the Playoffs and maybe getting us a Cup VERY SOON. I would love to be wrong and love to see the Wings want to win another Cup with Liddy but I still don't have those expectations for this season.

[wings_fanatic]

Well to be honest, Lidstrom is playing MORE minutes this year and looks just as good and has BY FAR been our best player. So, I would think he will strongly consider coming back for one year. (If we dont win the Cup). Now here is the problem. Nick will not come back if we have this exact same team because too many of the secondary players do not show up and its the same problem all season long with certain players disappearing for bursts of time. Nick will want to see some sort of improvement to the team, and I think he would defs come back for another year the way he is playing. I suggested in another thread that we make some sort of trade involving Semin and Franzen. Both are streaky, yes, but both would have a strong impact on their new teams. Franzen provides the Caps with experience and a goal scorer in Semin's place, and he scores goals in different ways then Semin too. Meanwhile, Semin would provide the Wings with their first sniper since Hossa, along with youth that I think could get this team rolling. We need our team to be rolling so that we have a chance at the Cup, and more importantly, so that Nick wants to come back one more year if we do not get the Cup.

[barabbas16]

The sky is falling!

[GMRwings1983]

I wouldn't say the team is chock-full of average players. I'd say most of our players excel at their roles. The problem is what has already been stated: one player plays well one game, then disappears. We needed a consistent second liner sniper and I think we still need that if Franzen isn't going to break out.

I'm not a trade slappy, or even a critic of Holland's. I think it made perfect sense to stand pat for the past few years due to all the injuries not letting us see what we have. I don't count 09 as a failed season, since we should have won the Cup. So really we've only had two bad seasons, one due to a ridiculously bad injury streak, and the second due to general malaise. Holland waited the appropriate amount of time. But now, the same problems are manifesting themselves even worse. If even Datsyuk and Zetterberg are disappearing we could potentially be in trouble.

There's no doubt this team can make playoffs, and it's not the end of the world to lose 4 straight early in the season. But what this team does lack is that thing to push them over the edge. Too complacent. What this team needs is a truly dynamic player. We're very bottom heavy with a talented crew of bottom 6. But honestly I'm beginning to wonder if having to fit Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Homer into lines they don't really help just so they don't sit is starting to have an effect. Each can be a tremendously effective player, but I'm not sure Cleary's admirable work ethic is paying off right now. Perhaps a team with a laziness problem will take Cleary and Flip for a dynamic scoring winger?

Ick, I feel terrible for even suggesting we get rid of Cleary.

[Barrie]

Maybe Detroit should be more like Toronto and have an annual fire sale, I mean, trades definitely guarantee success.

Don't forget trading your 1st round picks too!

[wingsfan4795]

I say we trade datsyuk and zetterberg for Trevor Gilles and then put lidstrom on waivers. That would give us a fresh new look!

Shut the f*** up people

[wingsfan4795]

. I don't count 09 as a failed season, since we should have won the Cup. So really we've only had two bad seasons, one due to a ridiculously bad injury streak, and the second due to general malaise.

I love this. No other team in the league would consider 2 second round losses failures!
Go wings!

[dragonballgtz]

I love this. No other team in the league would consider 2 second round losses failures!
Go wings!

Every teams goal should be the SC and anything less is failure. I never understood the acceptance of not even getting into the playoffs and if you do get in anything besides winning it all is not acceptable.

As they say, "You play to win the game".

[Heaten]

meh, I'm not even worried. Wings are 9 games in to a long 82 game season. Start slow, strong finish is fine by me. This is just preseason till the real season begins.

[Crymson]

Every teams goal should be the SC and anything less is failure. I never understood the acceptance of not even getting into the playoffs and if you do get in anything besides winning it all is not acceptable.

As they say, "You play to win the game".

There's a difference between "I'm disappointed they didn't win the Cup" and "This was a terrible, unacceptable season."

Ultimately how your sports team of choice does is out of your control; all you can control is how much you choose to appreciate the success they do have. If you choose to declare the season a failure when the team does not win the Cup and to not appreciate the measure of success the Wings had that season, that's really your loss. But I think that such an attitude is really bred by living around success for too long. Fans of many other teams would be thrilled to make the playoffs every year.

Your concept of "acceptance" doesn't have much of a basis, given that you have no control over how the team plays or what the management does. All you can do is watch and choose how you react to what happens.

Edited by Crymson, 31 October 2011 - 04:00 AM.