Holland was never interested in Semin. There's no indication that this had anything to do with Doan. Your speculation has no basis. As for Doan, would you like to have a near-40 winger locked in at $6m for multiple seasons with the cap likely to be reduced by the new CBA?
I'm well aware Holland showed no interest in Semin, which makes his signing a one-year contract all the more irritating. My point with Doan isn't that we shouldn't have dropped out of the running; we were right to do so. My point was that it was obviously going to come to that since half the league has been waiting on this guy since July 8th.
We could have gotten a premium goal-scorer as a one-year rental for nothing more than capspace, but we weren't interested. Semin could have either been a bum, while providing more scoring and being off the books in a year, or he could have surprised many and changed his game and attitude for the better. We'll never know. I get that we aren't willing to "overpay" (a term steadily losing meaning) especially with any term involved, so why have we been waiting on Doan for 3-weeks when it was obviously going to come to Phoenix or bidding war, instead of taking a "risk" on a one-year deal with Semin.
The Wings needed multiple top-4 defensemen, and yet only tried for one, Suter, while every other guy signed elsewhere for "overpayments". Suter leaves on hanging with no options. At forward the Wings have less need, unless you count the fact that D and Z have been shouldering the load on the team for far to long without legitimate goal-scoring wingers and we had cap to spare. Still, we try for Nash and then for Doan, lining up behind everyone else in the league, all the while knowing we can't "overpay". Seems a bit futile going after the big fish with the wrong test.
I'm not completely surprised, and in some instances it seemed to have been out of our hands, but Semin isn't one of those cases. Like I said in chat yesterday: this off-season has been like the scene from a Beautiful Mind where Russell Crowe explains that if they all went after the hottest girl at the bar, they would all likely strike out and go home alone, but if they all went for her slightly less hot friends their chances are much better because they actually appreciate the interest.
Wings and everyone else courted the prettiest girl at the dance, but since they aren't willing to pay the price, failed to get something they could afford instead. The off-season started with Parise and Suter, and if not them, Garrison, Doan, Semin, maybe Nash in a trade and at least bring in someone like Salo or Carle for help. I mean we have over $20m in cap and the best GM in the league, what could possibly go wrong?
Holland was unwilling to compromise, which is his biggest strength, and this off-season, his biggest weakness.
