Esquire

The cap is an excuse.  We did fine under the cap up until the last two years.  2010 was derailed by injuries, but was still a good team.  Everything after that was just complacency.  

 

Sorry but I respectfully disagree, the decline started after the last cup run and it was obvious. Thanks to be cap the Wings couldn't keep their roster, not only would they have done so otherwhise Detroit would for sure have fixed the wholes and try again next year with an even better roster thanks but not, the cap destroyed that. In the end the Wings ended up with a worse team than before - i.e 2 round exit against the Sharks (first of two in a row) - so the cap is not only an excuse it is fact.

 

Looking back it really is unbelievable how much quality this team has lost over such a short amount of time, no other team had to deal with something like this and yet Babcock is doing a tr emendous job, by still keeping them somewhat in the hunt for a playoff spot. Some weeks ago (during the lockout) I did post how this roster would look like if the best owner in all of sports wouldn't be handicaped by a small little guy who knows nothing about hockey.

 

Do I blame Holland for standing pat too long? Yes, but since last year he is trying to improve this team, going hard after Suter and now Dan DeKeyser though in the end signing players is a two way street (offer/sign it).

 

That said I can't wait till this team will be loaded again and face the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals....with a different outcome this time!

 

This is an original 6 franchise, this is hockeytown

Well then, if we're throwing around fantasies, I want 5 mintues alone with Kate Upton.

Let's be honest, you only need 2.





Heyooooooooooooooooooooo

Certainly not no risk.  But for one year, the Wings having cap space, and few options out there, it would've been lower risk than I expected.

I seem to remember Holland saying from the get go he wasn't interested in Semin though.  I thought maybe that was a poker face, but I guess not.

As I said before, Semin seemed like a good candidate for another Holland reclamation project.

The risk would be his example being shown day in-day out to players like Nyquist/Brunner/Smith. The Red Wings must have thought that risk would outweigh any rewards he would have.

And so did a lot of other teams, or else a prior 40 goal scorer wouldn't have to settle nearly a month into free agency for a one year deal.

Ian White is our #2 defenseman. That's borderline outrageous. Holland should've been better prepared for Nick's departure. It's really that simple.

Mind answering my question then? If it's that simple, which defenseman are you thinking he should have went after?

Same with The Axe above me. Which defenseman that has been traded/free agent the past few seasons are you guys thinking of? I'd love to know. Bring something to the table.

Geez, makes me wonder what Hollands "Hell of an offer" was...he could have beaten this without blinking...Howsen is an absolute jack wagon... Franzine/Tatr/Mursak/1st destroys what the Rags gave them....Not unless Holland low-balled again....Bring on Ryan! NOT! It aint gonna happen...our roster is set...I believe it now 100%...as much as I like the Tootoo signing, Holland failed this year...FAIL by low-balling!

Holland just cannot let go of Franzilina....God I hate Franzine!

  When Howeson refused to even reply to a legitimate offer like Holland made it's pretty clear he has zero intention of making a trade.  If I make you a lowball offer and you're even remotely interested in trading with me your response will be to make a counter-offer.

As far as Suter and Parise go?  The Wings were the only team other than Minny to get a face-to-face meeting with Suter in the days before he signed with the WIld.  Holland obviously didn't "low-ball" Suter or he wouldn't have bothered with a face-to-face.

The Wild handcuffed themselves by taking two guys on for huge cap-hits for the next 13 years.  They paid well over market for a life-time contract.

If Holland blows his load on Suter AND Parise at that price he'd have a hell of a time re-signing Datsyuk, Filppula, Smith and Nyquist over the next two years.

It's not Holland's job to give antsy Wings fans something to tweet about by signing every big name player each summer while ignoring how it impacts the team's cap situation for the next 13 years.  There's a reason why the Wild landed Suter and Parise instead of a legitimate franchise.

There's our splash! Shows over!

esteef

I'll save you the trouble and provide the lines:

1 - Howard

2 - Gustavsson

Can we get Messi?

As you've undoubtedly noticed, things look a bit different around here! The LGW Forums have underwent the biggest upgrade since 2010 and there are a lot of significant changes -- far more than I think I could meaningfully gather into this post. Many you'll notice as you continue to surf the forums as many of the enhancements are functional. Bullets:

There are currently two "main" template skins, labeled "White" (the default one) and "Red"
You're free to switch among them as you see fit by clicking on the "Change Theme" link at the bottom of the page.

Removal of profile pictures
IP.Board opted to merge the two into one avatar, and as of the last update I believe that remote-linking of images for avatars is no longer permitted (security risk).

Speed
The forums should show some significant speed improvements. Some of this is due to inline updating: Posts can be added to threads seamlessly. I'll continue to try to make as many speed improvements to the forums as I can.

More integration with social media
You'll see the ability to add topics to your Facebook/Twitter accounts.

Rep System replaced with "Like" button
No more +/- functionality as it has been replaced with a "Like this Post" button.

Topic Preview
When viewing the forum index (like 'General Discussion' here), you can mouseover a topic and see a dark gray down arrow icon appear to the right -- click it to expand the topic to view the first few posts before going to the topic page itself.

TapaTalk functionality is BACK
Some members have been clamoring for it to return as a mobile viewing option, so here it is. TapaTalk is now compatible with the forum (in addition to the standard Mobile theme that's also available if you're still looking for an easy mobile browsing solution.)

Custom Topic Tags
Options vary by forums and by member group, but there are now customized topic tags (or 'badges'). In the past it was limited to "PINNED" and "POLL", but I've expanded that to include "GDT" (for Game Day Threads), "SIGNED" for *official* signings, and "TRADE" for topics discussing an official trade. (Do not abuse this ability! It's a great visual aid for visitors of the forums and those that abuse it will be promptly suspended/banned.)

Better Spam Protection
All new registrations are IP checked against a known spam list remotely hosted and updated. This should help eliminate a large number of spammers that manually attempt to register and stops them before even seeing the registration form.

New Profile "Statistics" Tab
Just what it says: No see just how addicted you are to LGW by looking at your recorded posting habits by time of day and by forum activity.

Gallery Link added to Profile
A new "Gallery" tab has been added to your User Profile, for quick access to see what user's have uploaded and shared with the community.

Topic "Tags"
These replace the the topic subtitle (the smaller, gray text that was present on the last version). You can enter up to 10 per topic, separated by commas. Use vital keywords describing the topic, like a player name, team, etc., and it'll help catalog forum topics more efficiently to help search engine spiders and the search feature here work more efficiently.


There are plenty more, and I'll add to this thread as I can -- right now I'll be tending to little bug fixes here and there that tend to pop up following a major upgrade like this. (Also, if any members see something I didn't mention, please feel free to add it here!)

Wouldn't the Champions League be toughest trophy to win?  Since you're competing with all of Europe and not just one league.

Also, the average NHL team has a better chance of winning the Cup than the average European soccer club has of winning the CL.  Simply because only the rich clubs can take a real stab at the trophy.  There's more parity in the NHL where anyone can take a stab at the Cup in a season or two.

This certainly wasn't as exciting as last year's finals. I remember there was WAY more activity on LGW during the Vancouver/Boston finals as well. I wonder if it would have been better as a NYR/LA finals. NJ just didn't capture my attention at all.

We do NOT already have a good team, otherwise we wouldn't have had our asses handed to us in the first round. Datsyuk and Zetterberg have nothing to do with the absence Lidstrom will leave on the blueline and Kronwall, while a solid player, is no where near Lidstrom level and, in my opinion, never will be.

We are NOT that deep, as most farm boys who we've been giving shots to have really been disappointing thus far. Kindl, Emmerton, Mursak to name a few. You think these guys are the future? Sure, there's potential in Nyquist and Smith but it's way too early to tell and I see 3rd line at best. I mean, Babcock himself commented on his brilliantly after we got eliminated, basically saying we were putting 3rd and 4th line guys on our 1st and 2nd. I mean, Abdelkader a 2nd line center? Give me a break.

We may seem like we have a lot of money, but considering the scarcity of the FA market this summer, expect the star players to command big big bucks. And we know how Holland feels about "spending". Well, other than bloated 10 year+ contracts that is.

You know what we could have asked for? Our GM to give our star player and captain a better team to support him his final season. Otherwise, maybe he wouldn't "lack the motivation and drive to continue" (his words not mine).



Seriously though, how does the sand taste?

Here's my uneducated guess.

I imagine Kenny and Lids had a discussion like this.

Kenny: Hey Nick, I've been looking at our payroll and I'm confident that we can retain all of our FA this year. I think this is an wonderful opportunity to for our veterans to continue the path that they are on. I will "save" our money for the trade deadline and "go all out" and see what happens. I really like where our team is at right now.

Liddy: Oh great! I have wonderful news as well! Kenny call in the reports and set the press conference for tomorrow afternoon.

Kenny: Oh this is great news you'll be staying another year!?

Liddy: f*** no, If****** quit.

Kenny's dream summer acquisitions will stat with the fall of Lidstrom retiring and continue without signing anyone of importance or players that are over the age of 35.

Deflection + Excuse!

At least when Hoss wasn't scoring he still gave his all and played great defensively. If Mule isn't scoring he is a waste of quality ice time. If he wants to have more fun show him clips of past Wings teams winning the Cup!

Yeah, I remember all the praise Hossa got during the 09 finals got for his defensive play.  Especially in game 7.  

And the team needs a shakeup, obviously.  If Franzen moving helps that, then by all means.  I don't think anyone on the team was having much fun the past couple months.