GDT: 12/2/2017 | Wings @ Canadiens | 7PM ET | FSD

[SpookyTsuki]

Bowman was the master at pulling the right strings, whether it be via a pat on the back or a kick in the pants. But as good as he was, I don't know that he ever had this particular combination of mediocre talent, lack of cap space, and lack of prospects. An interesting 'what if', though.

This roster is mediocore. He could get them to .500. So competing for the playoffs. Probably makes it

 

[ShelbyZ]

I doubt this team sees a meaningful change at GM for a few seasons. And by meaningful, I mean a different direction. The first GM after Holland will likely just be a promotion from within given the orders to continue the same plan. I have a feelimg this team is going to do the "but we can make the playoffs thing for at least 3 more seasons before they really hit rock bottom.

 

[datsyukfan]

Blashills comments to Keating make me want to puke. He is probably my most hated person in the NHL. He truly disgusts me

What did he say?

 

[Oddbob]

One word, OUCH!

 

[Redder Winger]

What did he say?

Something like "We gotta dig in. We gotta look in the mirror. This team can play good hockey."

 

[datsyukfan]

Something like "We gotta dig in. We gotta look in the mirror. This team can play good hockey."

Typical trashill. Probably have optional skates until Tuesday where a Winnipeg team can beat up on us. The guys clearly lost the room and his system is clearly a joke

 

[One Blurred Eye]

I got ran the Riot Act in another forum over 2 years ago for making the same suggestion I am going to make now. It finally seems everyone recognizes Holland is out of his depth in the cap era. When he had the ability to throw around more money (twice as much as a lot of teams) than any other GM, in the days the Wings were the Yankees of Hockey, he was able to appear as a superior GM. Of course this was prior to needing to develop our own player's QUICKLY, draft consistently well (remove Håkan Andersson and Detroit drafted pretty bad during the Holland era) and make sensible contract offers. This is where Holland is at his worst. He needs to go. It's time. It was time 3 years ago. I don't see it happening until the season is over, at best.

Not to disagree with his current impotence in the position or the need for some major changes at the top of the organization, but this is a bit unfair in its revisionism. In the early days of the cap Holland did very well to transition the team from era to era and in adding the cost-effective supporting pieces that, were it not for some bad luck and shenanigans by the league, might have lead to three straight cup wins, even after the leveling of the financial playing field. You could say the brain trust around him then was much stronger and that was part of it sure, but at the end of the day Kenny was still making the final call, and deserves credit for retaining Detroit's undisputed position as the class of the league, and perhaps all of pro sports, which was a point of pride for a lot of us Wings fans.

In a sense, having the fixed, expensive pieces of Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Z on the capped payroll probably benefited him as much for reducing his effective free cap space as for their talent, giving him less cash to waste on the kinds of players he wastes it on now (not oblivious to the fact that a lot of them were/are the same guys), and forcing him to make the tough decisions that he doesn't seem to be able to make anymore, unclouded by loyalty or the smell of his own farts. He performed very well when conditions forced him to be more critical of where his money was going, which enhances the misery of the irony of the current cap and the dearth of talent Holland has bought with it. Poor drafting, overly-conservative development and timidity towards trades are, of course, fair points. But for all his current incompetence, he was a pretty good gm once, even under the cap (or at least the right one for the situation, which might be a fairer way to assess the position) and it's really not necessary to rewrite the first half of his tenure to make a case for his termination in the present. The current state of the team speaks volumes.

 

[Oddbob]

Who doesn't aspire to be overpaid and do nothing? Living the dream.

Helm is one of the hardest working players on our team, which is hardly doing nothing, and I have been harder on Abdelkader then anyone, but he is actually having a good season, so there is that. These two players have not been our problem. Weak defence and extremely poor team effort have been.

This game was embarrassing no doubt, and seven or eight lame efforts in a row is terrible, but lets not blow this thing out of proportion with its awfulness. Even great teams get blown out, Pittsburgh says hello, it happens. Our team's compete level is the real problem, and that is more on the coach then the players, clearly Blashill is not the right voice behind this group of players, as we have been dogging it as a team for nearly 3 weeks now. Average players is one thing, we can still play better than this, I mean Vegas doesn't have that great a team at all, and they are doing decent, proof with the right coach, a team can play well and win, so Blashill needs the boot and soon, but we annoyingly know he is probably safe until either we lose another 5-10 in a row or end of season. I mean you never even hear anything about him getting canned, so that must mean they aren't even discussing it at the moment. If they want to make the playoffs, change the coach, make a trade that changes the team, and if they want to rebuild, then trade off everyone, Tatar, Nyquist, Dekeyser, Green, Daley and so on.

They keep saying playoffs, yet we clearly aren't good enough right now, so why no trades, or rumours of them trying at least. I realize we have bad contracts, but other teams have worked their way out of contractual jams, without giving up too much, so it is possible.

 

[Sec108]

blashill should be fired tonight for losing this team, andfor letting the habs run up the score and no one stood up for the team and punched a hab in the mouth for it. It might sound old school but thats the way hockey is played and thats why the wings look like crap out there..............btw Im a wings fan.........but someone has to pay aprice for this no wonder the LCA is full of empty seats we need kickass hockey not pond hockey for those prices...........

 

[Shaman464]

Yes. Obviously this team could be better with better coaching.

Tonight wasn't about talent.
It was about a team that can't play hockey as a unit.

That's coaching.

They could fire Blashill tomorrow, hire a guy like Tippett and immediately be better.



Is that really a good thing for this team, long term?
This team should probably be between 18th and 23rd in the NHL.

I think Blashill will tank them down to about 27-29.


27-29 gets you a better draft pick.
But I wonder if turns a lot of the guys off of this organization.

This team isn't a bubble team. The defense is shit. The average age is shit. The goaltending is finally returning to Earth. The best position on the team, wingers, is still not even that great. Blaming coaching is like blaming an 8 track for why your 1973 duster with a bad transmission, bald tires, and a cracked engine block is shit. Sure its a problem, and normally it would be a HUGE problem, but taken as a whole with or without that 8 track its still a broken down 1973 duster. This team NEEDS to bottom out. It needs to be this terrible. Missing the playoffs wasn't enough. Having the media turn wasn't enough. Having the LCA be half empty still isn't enough. And rearranging the deck chair on this version of the Titanic isn't going to change that.

 

[bellringer77]

What did he say?

That this group can win and they don't need help from the outside or from grand rapids. and they gotta look in the mirror. Keating said that's what you said last game or before and he took a pause and gave some other saying. I couldn't even watch it

 

[datsyukfan]

That this group can win and they don't need help from the outside or from grand rapids. and they gotta look in the mirror. Keating said that's what you said last game or before and he took a pause and gave some other saying. I couldn't even watch it

Well if this group can win then it’s obviously him that’s the problem. Maybe stop looking for 100 foot plays stretching in the neutral zone and work on making 5-10 foot passes and coming at teams with speed. Just a thought

 

[bellringer77]

Well if this group can win then it’s obviously him that’s the problem. Maybe stop looking for 100 foot plays stretching in the neutral zone and work on making 5-10 foot passes and coming at teams with speed. Just a thought

Exactly. Maybe he needs to look at himself in the mirror. You don't need help from outside? sure you don't need it but it would be welcomed and the system is broke so get a shakeup. he's lost the roster

 

[Bench]

Habs were where you are just a couple of weeks ago. Long season!

I appreciate the good sportsmanship you're displaying, but the Wings have been a statistically bottom 10 team since Lidstrom retired. It hasn't been a long season, it's been a long 5 seasons.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I appreciate the good sportsmanship you're displaying, but the Wings have been a statistically bottom 10 team since Lidstrom retired. It hasn't been a long season, it's been a long 5 seasons.

Also habs had trashy luck

 

[dragonballgtz]

Well if this group can win then it’s obviously him that’s the problem. Maybe stop looking for 100 foot plays stretching in the neutral zone and work on making 5-10 foot passes and coming at teams with speed. Just a thought

It would also help if our team could learn to skate. Way too many of them are just randomly tripping over themselves

 

[Martinez]

We easily have the worst defense in the league.
Back to looking at 2018 draft prospects

 

[avssuc]

Too late.
The horse is out of the barn.

The time to ask questions was back when she was shilling for Danny Cleary's contract.

Amen.

Chick is about a decade late with this 'tough reporting'. She's been shilling for the Wings org for far too long. She was... and always will be... a terrible sports reporter. I hope she gets canned with Kenny.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Not sure about the calls for Blashill's head, this is a manifestation of the talent in the roster that Holland built.

Any team can get trashed like this. I mean we had some huge 1-8 losses or similar under Babcock with fairly good rosters.

But losing 10-1 to the same team you’ve lost 6-3 to nights earlier, while you haven’t won a game in weeks? That’s not a roster issue. It’s 100% an issue of a coach unable to push the right buttons, unable to adjust or get a team playing the right way. If we lost 3-2 and 4-2 you could say, ”eh, our roster is bad”. Losses like this are not because we’re not icing generational talents on D.

 

[Belial]

Wow AA ruins Price shut out bid still calling 10-1 Habs

You were spot on buddy!

 

[Kanenenights]

Just woken up and seeing the result of last game make's me cry.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Well Zetterberg summed up my thoughts exactly when watching the replay this morning. That was embarrassing. Not good enough in a single area, heck they would have struggled to beat lower level opposition with that effort last night.

If Holland is serious about playing for the playoffs Blashill should probably be out the door. I don't think we have a prayer, but that is the kind of effort in terms of compounding poor play for a considerable stretch with lots of embarrassing moments that gets your coach fired for sure. It is hard to say he is having much of an impact in that dressing room.

I know this is just my speculation, but I don't think we have a healthy dressing room at all. We don't have enough talent especially on D, but the night to night effort has now gone completely wanting from these guys. I am not so sure we didn't run off a cliff the night we played Edmonton and that will be the night our entire season turned towards a bottom five finish.

Did the coach publicly criticizing his leading goal scorer throw off the dressing room? We have been playing like dead fish since that happened.

 

[Redder Winger]

Helm is one of the hardest working players on our team, which is hardly doing nothing, and I have been harder on Abdelkader then anyone, but he is actually having a good season, so there is that. These two players have not been our problem. Weak defence and extremely poor team effort have been.

This game was embarrassing no doubt, and seven or eight lame efforts in a row is terrible, but lets not blow this thing out of proportion with its awfulness. Even great teams get blown out, Pittsburgh says hello, it happens. Our team's compete level is the real problem, and that is more on the coach then the players, clearly Blashill is not the right voice behind this group of players, as we have been dogging it as a team for nearly 3 weeks now. Average players is one thing, we can still play better than this, I mean Vegas doesn't have that great a team at all, and they are doing decent, proof with the right coach, a team can play well and win, so Blashill needs the boot and soon, but we annoyingly know he is probably safe until either we lose another 5-10 in a row or end of season. I mean you never even hear anything about him getting canned, so that must mean they aren't even discussing it at the moment. If they want to make the playoffs, change the coach, make a trade that changes the team, and if they want to rebuild, then trade off everyone, Tatar, Nyquist, Dekeyser, Green, Daley and so on.

They keep saying playoffs, yet we clearly aren't good enough right now, so why no trades, or rumours of them trying at least. I realize we have bad contracts, but other teams have worked their way out of contractual jams, without giving up too much, so it is possible.

Abby has a bunch of no-assist assists.
The last few games hive giveaways and weak offensive/neutral zone play have led to backbreaking goals.

There's more to life than hard work.

You can "hard work" all day long, but if you don't have the skill to get the job done, you suck.

Have a "hard work" guy give you a root canal or even paint your house.

 

[Redder Winger]

Well Zetterberg summed up my thoughts exactly when watching the replay this morning. That was embarrassing. Not good enough in a single area, heck they would have struggled to beat lower level opposition with that effort last night.

If Holland is serious about playing for the playoffs Blashill should probably be out the door. I don't think we have a prayer, but that is the kind of effort in terms of compounding poor play for a considerable stretch with lots of embarrassing moments that gets your coach fired for sure. It is hard to say he is having much of an impact in that dressing room.

I know this is just my speculation, but I don't think we have a healthy dressing room at all. We don't have enough talent especially on D, but the night to night effort has now gone completely wanting from these guys. I am not so sure we didn't run off a cliff the night we played Edmonton and that will be the night our entire season turned towards a bottom five finish.

Did the coach publicly criticizing his leading goal scorer throw off the dressing room? We have been playing like dead fish since that happened.

I think he lost the room after ripping the team leadership after Vancouver.
It's like Zetterberg, off to a great start, just decided he was done.

 

[jkutswings]

Something like "We gotta dig in. We gotta look in the mirror. This team can play good hockey."

And behind that statement is the ultimate disconnect.

Arizona and Buffalo can play good hockey. They've each won several games this season. But there's a big difference between winning a few random games - which ANY team can do during the regular season - and building something that can consistently succeed, even against the better teams, let alone be a regular threat in the playoffs.

This franchise has a definition of 'competitive' that is about as low as you can set the bar and still cling to some semblance of the meaning. And that juxtaposition - after such a historic run of success - just kills me. Either strive to be a contender, or strive to rebuild, but they act like they don't know how to do anything right, and that's a ton of forgotten knowledge, when compared to how smart they used to look, just a few years ago.