Holland and Blashill expected to return

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt 878]

f***!

[krsmith17 7,191]

 

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt 878]

Double f***!

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[R-Dizzle 119]

Guys, he knows what he's doing, he's been there [winning championships] before /sarcasm 

[Dabura 12,206]

The more things change...

[krsmith17 7,191]

 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

Two years = no chance at Yzerman. I was OK with 1 year, but 2 is just dumb.

[RedWingsRox 614]

Another 2 years of this same ... 2020 can't come fast enough.  

Has anyone told the Ilitch family that NO ONE is following the 'Detroit model' anymore.  

Edited April 8, 2018 by RedWingsRox

[GMRwings1983 8,793]

3 hours ago, hankzet40 said:

https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/982736654191427586

#RedWings Governor Christopher Ilitch announces that executive vice president and general manager Ken Holland has been signed to a two-year contract extension.

What's this rich boy the Governor of exactly?    

[Wings3:16 318]

Just watched Chris Illitch speak, seems like he's still living in 2009

[MileHighWingsGuy 178]

They really need to strip the "hockeytown" logo off the ice this is embarrassing.

[GMRwings1983 8,793]

7 minutes ago, Wings3:16 said:

Just watched Chris Illitch speak, seems like he's still living in 2009

The whole organization is, sadly.  Bad leadership starts at the top.  

[Dabura 12,206]

Well, we knew it wasn't going to be just one year. Regardless of who's in charge, next season's team is almost guaranteed to look the same as this season's team and perform just as poorly, which is probably for the best. But, crucially, Kronwall and Nyquist and Howard will all be on expiring contracts. That could give Holland some room to change things up next summer.

[MileHighWingsGuy 178]

5 minutes ago, Dabura said:

Well, we knew it wasn't going to be just one year. Regardless of who's in charge, next season's team is almost guaranteed to look the same as this season's team and perform just as poorly, which is probably for the best. But, crucially, Kronwall and Nyquist and Howard will all be on expiring contracts. That could give Holland some room to change things up next summer.

Or more likely to sign them to bad follow-on contracts

[Dabura 12,206]

4 minutes ago, MileHighWingsGuy said:

Or more likely to sign them to bad follow-on contracts

Let's hope not!

[LeftWinger 4,934]

We're doomed.

[R-Dizzle 119]

7 hours ago, MileHighWingsGuy said:

They really need to strip the "hockeytown" logo off the ice this is embarrassing.

I've been kinda wanting that for awhile now.

[AtlantaHotWings 973]

Contracts don't always need to be fulfilled!! Kenny could be bumped up after 1 year to Jimmy D spot and new GM put in place. Blash is kaput @ end of next year and this sets us up for more draft picks  next year. 

In this article seems to be hinting that Z is done after next year...and setting up for LTIR?

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2018/04/henrik_zetterberg_rebuilding_r.html

"Zetterberg, who will turn 38 at the start of next season, made it clear that he's coming back for at least one more year. He has played all 82 games three years in a row and missed only five games the season before that.

Even he couldn't have predicted that after major back surgery in 2014.

"I didn't practice since January," Zetterberg said. "I wish I could practice every day and go out and fly around like some other guys do in here, but I know that I can't do it," Zetterberg said. "But you never know, have a good summer and I might be flying around."

 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

My Spidey sense is telling me the team's long term plan is Draper. Holland is on for 2 more years to groom him as a successor, before Kenny moves up to "Special Advisor" or some other newly created position. I have a feeling KH is carried out of LCA in a coffin. He's not going anywhere. Let's just hope Draper doesn't mimic Yzerman and Mill and move onto another team because he's stuck in middle management,

[DickieDunn 2,571]

I have no confidence in anyone in the front office, Draper and Martin included.  They're part of the decline.

That being said, I'll wait until I see what Holland does before going full "screw you guys, I'm going home."  Right now I'm about 90% there.  if Holland actually looks like he's rebuilding and avoids signing middle of the road vets to 3 year deals and leaves spots wide open for rookies to win, I'll back away from the edge a bit.  If he continues as he has the last few years, I don't know how much I'm going to be able to make myself care about the team next year.  At that point I think the only thing that will get through to ownership is an empty arena and record low local TV ratings.

[Z and D for the C 712]

36 minutes ago, DickieDunn said:

They're part of the decline.

100% of the reason for the decline is the decades success and lack of any high draft picks. It's like you're blaming the pilot for eventually having to land to refuel. We simply can't trade for or get in FA the impact players we need anymore in today's NHL. No GM or front office could have kept us contending or going deep into the playoffs. People need to cool off.

Edited April 8, 2018 by Z and D for the C

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

3 minutes ago, Z and D for the C said:

!00% of the reason for the decline is the decades success and lack of any high draft picks. It's like you're blaming the pilot for eventually having to land to refuel. We simply can't trade for or get in FA the impact players we need anymore in today's NHL. No GM or front office could have kept us contending or going deep into the playoffs. People need to cool off.

Hadn't thought of it that way. Nice post.

[krsmith17 7,191]

I actually like what I've seen from Holland over the past couple years. I've been happy (or wrongfully unhappy) with most moves he's made in that time. This is a big off-season for him. I don't expect any huge moves, but it'll be interesting to see what he does.

If he can make one or two trades to offload some dead weight (Ouellet) / bad contract (Nielsen) and continues the youth movement (Rasmussen), I'll be happy. I'd also like to see him make a good hockey trade to acquire a young potential top end defenseman, but not holding my breath on that one...

If you asked me last year, or even a few months ago, I would have said no way to bringing Holland back. I'm okay with it though. Show us what you got Kenny!

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

8 minutes ago, krsmith17 said:

I actually like what I've seen from Holland over the past couple years. I've been happy (or wrongfully unhappy) with most moves he's made in that time. This is a big off-season for him. I don't expect any huge moves, but it'll be interesting to see what he does.

If he can make one or two trades to offload some dead weight (Ouellet) / bad contract (Nielsen) and continues the youth movement (Rasmussen), I'll be happy. I'd also like to see him make a good hockey trade to acquire a young potential top end defenseman, but not holding my breath on that one...

If you asked me last year, or even a few months ago, I would have said no way to bringing Holland back. I'm okay with it though. Show us what you got Kenny!

Glad I'm not the first to mention this.

Should Holland have started the rebuild sooner instead of holding on to the playoff streak? Sure, I won't disagree with anyone who wants to argue that point. However, all of you who see Hollands name and automatically scream about the sky falling, cannot claim these last 2 seasons of rebuilding haven't been wildly successful on his part.

• Tatar = 1st, 2nd, 3rd (fantastic haul for a middle 6 forward)
• Mrazek = 3rd, 3rd (great haul for a backup goalie that could be in Europe next year)
• Sheahan = 3rd (sucks we couldn't get more, but his value was at an all time low and we needed the cap for AA)
• Ott = 6th (fair)
• Vanek = 3rd (fair)
• Smith = 2nd, 3rd (highway robbery with Smith in the minors screwing up NYR's books)
• Jurco = 3rd (fantastic haul for an AHL/NHL tweener)
• Datsyuk = 2nd (between a rock n a hard place, traded out Chychrun for Cholo and got the cap space, fair)
• Kindl = 6th (thrilled just to get anything)

I'm not at all mad about a single trade he's done since the rebuild started. And the Mrazek, Tatar, and Smith trades have me particularly happy. For a man who's never had to rebuild before he's doing grade A quality work so far. If you need every roster player to be traded in order to be happy, I think you're being a bit unrealistic with your expectations.

Where I do draw issue, and where I think most of this boards frustrations truly lie, is with Blashill coming back. The whole "fresh voice" thing hasn't worked at all. Young players who had bright futures under Babs almost immediately regressed, and he's getting subpar performances from our vets as well (though aging plays a role with some).

If we should damn anyone right now it's Blash, and if you wanna put Holland on blast, blast him for keeping Blash, otherwise Holland has been fantastic the last 2 seasons.