Ken Holland’s Brilliance Revealed

[Carman 387]

Read a pretty good article that tries to give reasons for the success of the Red Wings especially in the cap era.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2013/01/18/ken-hollands-brilliance-revealed/

I agree with most of what the article said, it pretty much states that the strategy Holland is using IE. (Keeping *ready* players in the AHL longer) to make sure that when they get done with their rookie deal they don't have a huge contract negotiation to wade through(Like P.K. Subban, Ryan O'reilly, and what will be Edmonton's problem the next few years), rather they have just 50 or so games to go off of and we get them to sign a cheaper long term deal. He relies on the older players to eat up important minutes and remain competitive while not playing a Brendan Smith and giving Smith's agent ammo for his next deal so that we can get the same player for cheaper. A good example was Hudler, we got a lot of him for cheap, then he chased the big pay check that Holland wasn't comfortable to pay.

Interesting theory nonetheless.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Carman

[toby91_ca 620]

Well, you can only do that if you have the right players at the NHL level. The Wings have been in really good shape for a long time. That gives them the luxury of letting the younger guys play in the minors for a bit. Some teams do not have that luxury.

[Guest The Axe]

This is all garbage. If we have good players (Smith), we play them. Over ripening money saving arguments are all a facade for our farm system being weak right now. We have a lot of mediocre talent in GR, but there arent any Datsyuks or Zetterbergs in the near future. I dont blame Holland for it, as we never have any good picks. I actually think he does a great job with drafting and finding value in lower picks. I just blame him for flapping his gums about the over ripening stuff. Thats lame. "We got this great guy named Nyquist who's the next slava kozlov, but we're gonna sign Sammy for 3 years so Nyquist can ripen some more.". Stupid. Nyquist is too small right now. Plain and simple. We need him at 190 instead of 165 so he doesnt get killed. Why not just call a spade a spade?

[shoobiedoobin 138]

This is all garbage. If we have good players (Smith), we play them. Over ripening money saving arguments are all a facade for our farm system being weak right now. We have a lot of mediocre talent in GR, but there arent any Datsyuks or Zetterbergs in the near future. I dont blame Holland for it, as we never have any good picks. I actually think he does a great job with drafting and finding value in lower picks. I just blame him for flapping his gums about the over ripening stuff. Thats lame. "We got this great guy named Nyquist who's the next slava kozlov, but we're gonna sign Sammy for 3 years so Nyquist can ripen some more.". Stupid. Nyquist is too small right now. Plain and simple. We need him at 190 instead of 165 so he doesnt get killed. Why not just call a spade a spade?

Sometimes it's strategic to call a spade something else. Brian Burke is the type to call a spade and spade and it's one of his worst traits.

Edited January 18, 2013 by shoobiedoobin

[DSM 114]

I've always liked Hollands approach with young players. Sure we could have Nyquist start on the big club and probably get buried on the 3rd line. Instead, Nyquist, Tatar and Andersson are the top line in GR and get to hone their skills while playing in all situations. I don't see how that hurts their development or the team. I still don't get why everyone is so hung up on Nyquist though. The kid looked good, but he didn't exactly tear it up. He had 1 goal in 22 total games. I doubt he'd be an upgrade over Samuelsson right now...

Edited January 18, 2013 by DSM

[Guest The Axe]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="shoobiedoobin" data-cid="2341268" data-time="1358534268"><p>

Sometimes it's strategic to call a spade something else. Brian Burke is the type to call a spade and spade and it's one of his worst traits.</p></blockquote>

I hear what you are saying, but its a stupid thing to say. Paraphrasing, you say "he's ready to play for us in the NHL, but we are not going to play him." How stupid is that? Nyquist isnt ready, or he'd be on the team. Just say it like that. I hope the GM and coaches are playing the best guys they can find with the money avaailable at all times. If they arent, wouldnt you be pissed?

[shoobiedoobin 138]

It's not that simple. Sometimes guys who are ready aren't on the team. It's not just ready or not ready, just like guys who aren't ready sometimes play in the NHL too early. He could he play here-he already has. The team just probably feels like getting him 20-25 min in the AHL vs 5-8 here. Signing Sammy afforded us that opportunity to let him develop and use Sammy in a steady top 6 role since he knows how to handle it. Sometimes it's just that simple. We could shove every prospect onto the team the second they've hit the bare minimum requirement for "ready" and we could pay in the long run. We're trying to win now and later, too and the strategy has worked very well for a long time and there's no reason to stop, nothing is interfering or interrupting the formula. Lots of people have strong opinions on Nyquist because it's fun and makes for easier conversation but the sample size wasn't exactly large enough to indicate anything considering the circumstances.

Edited January 18, 2013 by shoobiedoobin

[Guest The Axe]

Why does he need to develop if he's ready?

[shoobiedoobin 138]

Because there's ready, as in he could play, and there's ready as in, he's a year or two older, more mature, more experienced and polished. Ready has various stages. Our standards dictate we wait and we have the tools to do so. Other teams aren't as patient as we are and/or don't have the NHL roster to allow it. Brendan Smith was ready last year but that extra year will pay off that much more. Just like in a year we won't care that Nyquist wasn't up full time, we'll have our new toy then and we'll be happy.

Edited January 18, 2013 by shoobiedoobin