Speculation: Possible 2017 Off Season moves

[Winger98]

Ok. That makes sense. I agree we do need to hit on a big UFA at some point to help turn things around. And having the space required for one is key.

Looking back, he had the space for Suter and Parise. He made the space for Stamkos. He got Green. He got Neilson. He'll make the space for Shattenkirk this year but lose out on him. I can't think of anyone he didn't have the space for. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that front.

Regarding keeping 5-10 mil for other teams bad contracts, yeah I guess that's an option. But stacking your team with more **** for a couple middle round picks... blah.

It depends what would come with their crap. I would have taken Bickell to get us Teravainen, for example. It might not be taking someone's bad contract as just taking their least desirable contract, too. The specifics are really just guess, though. The point is that Holland would have more options.

Agree about him likely making the room if he feels he has to. He was backed into moving Datsyuk and did a good job with it, imo. I just wish we'd see that Holland more often and by choice.

 

[Leadzedder]

Nobody is on a ledge. It's not that dramatic.

But people who follow sports see a long, slow build coming. And it sucks, not because we're going to jump off cliffs, but because the ensuing entertainment product is probably going to be hard to watch.

It would be more entertaining to most of us is the franchise made an honest assessment of their failures and rebuilt the team in earnest, as Toronto did upon the arrival of Lou and Babcock. "There will be pain" is absolutely ok if you believe in the vision laid out.

Bench. Ive been reading here for a long long time. I assure you there's a ledge. And most of the posters hang out there. If a poster / reader isn't part of the doom / gloom / **** Holland group it's very hard to follow threads here. It's over powering. But anyways, not to dwell on that...

This last year was as painful as it will ever get. We lost...

Datsyuk
Mr Hockey
Mr Illitch
Our playoff streak
JLA
Our swagger

We bottomed out. Even if the team is worse next year it's on the upswing. New barn. New era.

It's quite tempting to want the wings to do terrible next year for the jacked up draft class. I could stomach one (more) year. But I don't want to be the leafs pre Shanahan / Lou / Babcock.

I could go on but I wish posters would stop looking back and start looking forward. Agree or disagree with the results / intentions but we've seen Holland maintaining a dynasty then maintaining a playoff streak. Now we get to see how he does at a rebuild. (Cause he ain't going anywhere).

Let's sit back and see if he's got the stuff for it.

 

[Reddwit]

Dekeyser is the guy we should be packaging with assets to pawn off. Get rid of that contract before the Andrew MacDonald comparisons start making the rounds.

 

[Bench]

Bench. Ive been reading here for a long long time. I assure you there's a ledge. And most of the posters hang out there. If a poster / reader isn't part of the doom / gloom / **** Holland group it's very hard to follow threads here. It's over powering. But anyways, not to dwell on that...

The team sucks. This isn't unique to Wings fans. When teams struggle, and this team has struggled for several consecutive years, you're going to hear about it. Since 2014, the Wings have been the clear underdog in the playoffs going into round 1.

2014: Stomped by Bruins.
2015: Almost squeaked by Tampa.
2016: Stomped by Tampa.
2017: Total miss.

That's 4 straight years of bad results. It's not an accomplishment to be about a 16th ranked team and get beat. So if you're hearing "doom" and "gloom" regarding being at the bottom of the middle of the pack for half a decade, I think that's a pretty normal tone for a team that doesn't have anything to celebrate.

This last year was as painful as it will ever get. We lost...

Datsyuk
Mr Hockey
Mr Illitch
Our playoff streak
JLA
Our swagger

We bottomed out. Even if the team is worse next year it's on the upswing. New barn. New era.

I mean it's sad some old hockey legends passed away, but I don't see how that ties into the on ice product.

And a new arena puts the team on an upswing? How? I think Columbus has the most beautiful arena in the league, but that's been around since 2000. I guess Columbus finally felt that new arena upswing 17 years later.

It's quite tempting to want the wings to do terrible next year for the jacked up draft class. I could stomach one (more) year. But I don't want to be the leafs pre Shanahan / Lou / Babcock.

I could go on but I wish posters would stop looking back and start looking forward. Agree or disagree with the results / intentions but we've seen Holland maintaining a dynasty then maintaining a playoff streak. Now we get to see how he does at a rebuild. (Cause he ain't going anywhere).

You don't want to be the Leafs pre-Lou? I don't think you've noticed what the Wings are today. But let's look at the Leafs during that period. The Leafs before that change were constantly trying to tweak the team to get into the playoffs again ASAP. They signed veterans to bloated deals hoping they could capture some magic and avoid a true rebuild from the ground up.

If any of that sounds a little familiar, it should. The Wings are treading on the same ground a dozens of other general managers have before. They refuse to rebuild, they think they can beat the odds, and they are going to hold steady to winning today. That was the Leafs. And it's been the Wings for 5 years.

I could go on but I wish posters would stop looking back and start looking forward. Agree or disagree with the results / intentions but we've seen Holland maintaining a dynasty then maintaining a playoff streak. Now we get to see how he does at a rebuild. (Cause he ain't going anywhere).

I'd argue anyone holding onto the notion that the Wings should keep following Holland's leadership is the one looking backwards. He's done nothing in 5 years to improve this team despite being in a good hockey market with an unlimited budget. He has all the best tools available to him.

The best he's been able to do without Lidstrom is squeaking into the playoffs and watching his team get outclassed.

Let's sit back and see if he's got the stuff for it.

I feel like I've done that. I used to defend Holland's decisions routinely when I joined this forum around 2011. And each off-season I said, "Let's see what he does." And now 6 years later, I think I've got enough data to say the guy failed. His best player, by a mile, is still 36-year-old Henrik Zetterberg, drafted in 1999. He's had lots of time to make improvements. I've been really patient. I've "sat back" lots of off-seasons.

He's the manager we have, and I hope he can change his recent track record. I sincerely do. But as long as we're talking Wings hockey, I'm going to talk about how the guy in charge isn't doing enough to change the product that stinks.

Am I jumping off a cliff? Sure, whatever. Geronimo! I'll keep jumping until Wings hockey is entertaining again.

 

[Leadzedder]

The team sucks. This isn't unique to Wings fans. When teams struggle, and this team has struggled for several consecutive years, you're going to hear about it. Since 2014, the Wings have been the clear underdog in the playoffs going into round 1.

2014: Stomped by Bruins.
2015: Almost squeaked by Tampa.
2016: Stomped by Tampa.
2017: Total miss.

That's 4 straight years of bad results. It's not an accomplishment to be about a 16th ranked team and get beat. So if you're hearing "doom" and "gloom" regarding being at the bottom of the middle of the pack for half a decade, I think that's a pretty normal tone for a team that doesn't have anything to celebrate.



I mean it's sad some old hockey legends passed away, but I don't see how that ties into the on ice product.

And a new arena puts the team on an upswing? How? I think Columbus has the most beautiful arena in the league, but that's been around since 2000. I guess Columbus finally felt that new arena upswing 17 years later.



You don't want to be the Leafs pre-Lou? I don't think you've noticed what the Wings are today. But let's look at the Leafs during that period. The Leafs before that change were constantly trying to tweak the team to get into the playoffs again ASAP. They signed veterans to bloated deals hoping they could capture some magic and avoid a true rebuild from the ground up.

If any of that sounds a little familiar, it should. The Wings are treading on the same ground a dozens of other general managers have before. They refuse to rebuild, they think they can beat the odds, and they are going to hold steady to winning today. That was the Leafs. And it's been the Wings for 5 years.



I'd argue anyone holding onto the notion that the Wings should keep following Holland's leadership is the one looking backwards. He's done nothing in 5 years to improve this team despite being in a good hockey market with an unlimited budget. He has all the best tools available to him.

The best he's been able to do without Lidstrom is squeaking into the playoffs and watching his team get outclassed.



I feel like I've done that. I used to defend Holland's decisions routinely when I joined this forum around 2011. And each off-season I said, "Let's see what he does." And now 6 years later, I think I've got enough data to say the guy failed. His best player, by a mile, is still 36-year-old Henrik Zetterberg, drafted in 1999. He's had lots of time to make improvements. I've been really patient. I've "sat back" lots of off-seasons.

He's the manager we have, and I hope he can change his recent track record. I sincerely do. But as long as we're talking Wings hockey, I'm going to talk about how the guy in charge isn't doing enough to change the product that stinks.

Am I jumping off a cliff? Sure, whatever. Geronimo! I'll keep jumping until Wings hockey is entertaining again.

That's all fair. I don't have the time to give a proper reply to each thing. But couple points....

I'm not defending Holland for each and everything. His mistakes are obvious but he was trying to extend the streak with hopes of grabbing another cup. It didn't work.

The main difference of opinion is you and most others see a rebuild period that started 6 years? ago. I see one that started at the trade deadline.

We can argue all day about when he should have burnt it down. You'll point to results. I'll point to Z and Dats. But it's done. It's over. It's about where we go from here. And I'm glad we got some good pieces at the end of it.

As for the hockey icons and the new rink. I didn't mean it to guarantee a better product but it most certainly is the start of a new era. For me, the clock starts at zero.

Leafs vs wings pre burn down.... wings were making the playoffs. Leafs weren't. Big difference.

And like you said, Holland is in charge, until he isn't. I have 2 options... hope for the best or complain.

 

[Martinez]

At this point, I think I'd prefer that Detroit did absolutely nothing this off season.

If returning to the playoffs is his top priority, then I'm expecting that any moves Holland makes heading into next year will likely just hamstring his eventual replacement more than anything else.

Same here. Don't even need to kick tires. Just sit on your hands and hope Jensen or XO don't get claimed.
Only moves that would interest me are ones that we acquire more draft picks/prospects in. (Trade green eventually)

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

I wouldnt worry too much

despite what some may say/dream/think their is nothing KH can do about it this summer

cap space? none, so forget about free agency. Shatty or alzner or whomever will not sign here when a boston, toronto, NYR, edmonton all come a knocking and after that, nobody who will be available will help us at all gain another 20 pts

tradeable assets? none, why? because nobody wants howard or abby or helm at all period, end of story, tatar or nyquist are not good enough to land a trouba or fowler and no chance he trades a larkin or mrazek or mantha for a jake muzzin

entry draft? not gonna help, why? because we will have no choice but to expose some cheaper better talent than abby, helm or ericsson in the form of sheahan, ouellet, sproul or jensen and it is those players Vegas will take. Sure they have to hit the cap floor but I dont expect them to go beyond it and they will have access to free agency

 

[Electric Eric]

18. One name to watch this off-season: Carolina’s Noah Hanifin. He played at least 20 minutes in 10 of the Hurricanes’ last 11 games (and came in at 19:58 in the other). I think Carolina would consider moving him if — and only if — an impact offensive forward was coming to Raleigh. So, don’t come at them with weak sauce. They are one of the few teams that could even consider this, because they have blue-line depth. But, Hanifin has a long, prosperous career ahead of him, and they will not trade him just for the sake of it.

Linky Link

Shame theres bad blood between owners, would love to attempt snagging Hanifin.

Trade for Hanifin, draft Elias Pettersson or Casey Mittlestadt (if we still had our 1st post Hanifin trade) and suddenly our future looks a bit brighter.

 

[Birko19]

Linky Link

Shame theres bad blood between owners, would love to attempt snagging Hanifin.

Trade for Hanifin, draft Elias Pettersson or Casey Mittlestadt (if we still had our 1st post Hanifin trade) and suddenly our future looks a bit brighter.

Hanifin will at least cost you Mantha or Larkin plus.

 

[DatsyukToZetterberg]

Linky Link

Shame theres bad blood between owners, would love to attempt snagging Hanifin.

Trade for Hanifin, draft Elias Pettersson or Casey Mittlestadt (if we still had our 1st post Hanifin trade) and suddenly our future looks a bit brighter.

I think Hanifin would end up costing either Larkin+Mantha or Larkin/Mantha+2017 1st. We don't have that elite young center that Carolina is looking for and frankly I don't think we have the pieces to make the move for him.

I think this offseason we should try to address our defence in any way possible. If we roll into next season with

DeKeyser-Green
Ouellet-Jensen
Ericsson-Russo
Kronwall

Then we will finish bottom 3 for sure. That's even before we trade Green at the TD for some pieces. I'm not sure what we can realistically do aside from wait for our young defenceman to mature but we should still try and address that need this offseason.

 

[TheMule93]

1) Stop buying Little Caesar's Pizza

2) The Illitchs go bankrupt

3) They sell off the Red Wings

4) New owner cares about hockey

5) New owner fires Holland and ends the country club

6) We finally head in the right direction


We can do it guys!

 

[Syckle78]

How much cap space do you figure we'll have after the expansion draft?

And as for tradeable assets im pretty sure we have a **** ton of picks in the next 2 drafts plus a good supply of good young talent. Problem is we don't want to give up what other teams want, same as every other team in the league.

Considering we just missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years we're in pretty damn good shape.

Step down or off the ledge would be my recommendation.

This team isn't in good shape no matter how you try to frame it. How much space after the expansion draft? Well I'd wager not much since we can only lose one player and vegas is going to take one of our bloated terrible contacts just for funzies. Draft picks? That's a great idea lets trade futures for more aging middle of the pack players. That's worked out so swellingly over the last half decade.
I'll stick with the ledge, clearly the view is better from here.

 

[Vatican Roulette]

Trade Tatar. Get picks and prospects.

Trade Mrazek. Get picks and prospects.

Trade one of the 2017 3rds to Las Vegas for them taking Abdelkader.

Trade Green. 2018 1st and a prospect( NHL ready would be nice) Also retention on Green can drive up the quality of prospect.

I know none of this will happen, but a very good step in the right direction.

Also, something I noticed, Detroit gets a 1.5 million cap hit bump for the Weiss buyout next year.

Awesome.

 

[Reddwit]

People are acting like Holland isn't going to find pennies under the cap to sign old vets and make mediocre moves.

- Lose Sheahan to Vegas. Oh well.
- Show you're serious about avoiding a rebuild. Trade your 1st + Nyquist to LA for their 1st + Martinez. Hey, look at that elusive top 4 defenseman we just got! And he's a Michigan boy!
- July 1st hits and you immediately go out and replace Nyquist's lost talent with none other than Jaromir Jagr. $3M for a year plus a copious number of bonuses.
- Middle of the summer and you're squeezing pennies out of AA (1.75) and XO (1.2) because bridge deals are the one thing you seem to manage well.
- Feign surprise when telling the media that Ericsson will have to have off-season surgery that may keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 months.
- Nail down Tatar for 4.5 x 5 because secondary guys under 5'11" never break the bank and Tatar's no Michigan boy anyway.
- Vanek decides he'd prefer the 3 year deal you'd offered him on July 1st instead of any of the 1 year deals Philly or any other team has decided to offer him. You sign him up for 2.25 x 3.
- Realize that you still have a little coin to work with after some LTIR gymnastics with Franzen and Ericsson, so you reach out to the likes of Rene Bourque, Brian Gionta, Stalberg, Ott, et al to see how they feel about playing at the new LCA. Sign Gionta for 2 years at $1.25M.


According to Capfriendly, that roster would give us a cap hit of $72.2M, which takes into account bonuses, LTIR, buyout penalties, etc.

Tatar (4.5) - Z (6.08) - Mantha (863k)
AA (1.75) - Nielsen (5.5) - Vanek (2.25)
Gionta (1.25) - Larkin (925k) - Jagr (3)
Helm (3.85) - Glen (1.8) - Abby (4.25)
Nosek (612k), Bertuzzi (660k)

DD (5) - Green (6)
Martinez (4) - Jensen (812k)
XO (1.2) - Kronwall (4.75)
Sproul (625k)

Mrazek (4) / Howard (5.3)

LTIR: Franzen (3.95), Ericsson (4.25)


Don't make the mistake of thinking Holland has his hands tied just yet.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

People are acting like Holland isn't going to find pennies under the cap to sign old vets and make mediocre moves.

- Lose Sheahan to Vegas. Oh well.
- Show you're serious about avoiding a rebuild. Trade your 1st + Nyquist to LA for their 1st + Martinez. Hey, look at that elusive top 4 defenseman we just got! And he's a Michigan boy!
- July 1st hits and you immediately go out and replace Nyquist's lost talent with none other than Jaromir Jagr. $3M for a year plus a copious number of bonuses.
- Middle of the summer and you're squeezing pennies out of AA (1.75) and XO (1.2) because bridge deals are the one thing you seem to manage well.
- Feign surprise when telling the media that Ericsson will have to have off-season surgery that may keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 months.
- Nail down Tatar for 4.5 x 5 because secondary guys under 5'11" never break the bank and Tatar's no Michigan boy anyway.
- Vanek decides he'd prefer the 3 year deal you'd offered him on July 1st instead of any of the 1 year deals Philly or any other team has decided to offer him. You sign him up for 2.25 x 3.
- Realize that you still have a little coin to work with after some LTIR gymnastics with Franzen and Ericsson, so you reach out to the likes of Rene Bourque, Brian Gionta, Stalberg, Ott, et al to see how they feel about playing at the new LCA. Sign Gionta for 2 years at $1.25M.


According to Capfriendly, that roster would give us a cap hit of $72.2M, which takes into account bonuses, LTIR, buyout penalties, etc.

Tatar (4.5) - Z (6.08) - Mantha (863k)
AA (1.75) - Nielsen (5.5) - Vanek (2.25)
Gionta (1.25) - Larkin (925k) - Jagr (3)
Helm (3.85) - Glen (1.8) - Abby (4.25)
Nosek (612k), Bertuzzi (660k)

DD (5) - Green (6)
Martinez (4) - Jensen (812k)
XO (1.2) - Kronwall (4.75)
Sproul (625k)

Mrazek (4) / Howard (5.3)

LTIR: Franzen (3.95), Ericsson (4.25)


Don't make the mistake of thinking Holland has his hands tied just yet.

dammit

thats just stupid enough to work

would take alot of luck(the nyquist trade and the ericsson LTIR for the entire season) but the numbers align

god help us all if he trades our 8th OA pick or higher for Martinez

good lord

delete your post ASAP before that clown see's it

 

[lidstromiscool]

People are acting like Holland isn't going to find pennies under the cap to sign old vets and make mediocre moves.

- Lose Sheahan to Vegas. Oh well.
- Show you're serious about avoiding a rebuild. Trade your 1st + Nyquist to LA for their 1st + Martinez. Hey, look at that elusive top 4 defenseman we just got! And he's a Michigan boy!
- July 1st hits and you immediately go out and replace Nyquist's lost talent with none other than Jaromir Jagr. $3M for a year plus a copious number of bonuses.
- Middle of the summer and you're squeezing pennies out of AA (1.75) and XO (1.2) because bridge deals are the one thing you seem to manage well.
- Feign surprise when telling the media that Ericsson will have to have off-season surgery that may keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 months.
- Nail down Tatar for 4.5 x 5 because secondary guys under 5'11" never break the bank and Tatar's no Michigan boy anyway.
- Vanek decides he'd prefer the 3 year deal you'd offered him on July 1st instead of any of the 1 year deals Philly or any other team has decided to offer him. You sign him up for 2.25 x 3.
- Realize that you still have a little coin to work with after some LTIR gymnastics with Franzen and Ericsson, so you reach out to the likes of Rene Bourque, Brian Gionta, Stalberg, Ott, et al to see how they feel about playing at the new LCA. Sign Gionta for 2 years at $1.25M.


According to Capfriendly, that roster would give us a cap hit of $72.2M, which takes into account bonuses, LTIR, buyout penalties, etc.

Tatar (4.5) - Z (6.08) - Mantha (863k)
AA (1.75) - Nielsen (5.5) - Vanek (2.25)
Gionta (1.25) - Larkin (925k) - Jagr (3)
Helm (3.85) - Glen (1.8) - Abby (4.25)
Nosek (612k), Bertuzzi (660k)

DD (5) - Green (6)
Martinez (4) - Jensen (812k)
XO (1.2) - Kronwall (4.75)
Sproul (625k)

Mrazek (4) / Howard (5.3)

LTIR: Franzen (3.95), Ericsson (4.25)


Don't make the mistake of thinking Holland has his hands tied just yet.

That would be such a Holland offseason Could easily see something like that happening

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

That would be such a Holland offseason Could easily see something like that happening

He isn't going to move his first top 10 draft pick since Marty Lapointe. That's not going to happen.

I mean, I know his approval rating is about 2% here right now... it just bothers me when people make up crap like it's going to happen because "oh, that's such a Holland thing to do." He hasn't had a top ten pick since Marty Lapointe. Since 1991. But yeah, he's going to move it for Alec Martinez.

 

[Pavels Dog]

People are acting like Holland isn't going to find pennies under the cap to sign old vets and make mediocre moves.

- Lose Sheahan to Vegas. Oh well.
- Show you're serious about avoiding a rebuild. Trade your 1st + Nyquist to LA for their 1st + Martinez. Hey, look at that elusive top 4 defenseman we just got! And he's a Michigan boy!
- July 1st hits and you immediately go out and replace Nyquist's lost talent with none other than Jaromir Jagr. $3M for a year plus a copious number of bonuses.
- Middle of the summer and you're squeezing pennies out of AA (1.75) and XO (1.2) because bridge deals are the one thing you seem to manage well.
- Feign surprise when telling the media that Ericsson will have to have off-season surgery that may keep him out of the lineup for 6-8 months.
- Nail down Tatar for 4.5 x 5 because secondary guys under 5'11" never break the bank and Tatar's no Michigan boy anyway.
- Vanek decides he'd prefer the 3 year deal you'd offered him on July 1st instead of any of the 1 year deals Philly or any other team has decided to offer him. You sign him up for 2.25 x 3.
- Realize that you still have a little coin to work with after some LTIR gymnastics with Franzen and Ericsson, so you reach out to the likes of Rene Bourque, Brian Gionta, Stalberg, Ott, et al to see how they feel about playing at the new LCA. Sign Gionta for 2 years at $1.25M.


According to Capfriendly, that roster would give us a cap hit of $72.2M, which takes into account bonuses, LTIR, buyout penalties, etc.

Tatar (4.5) - Z (6.08) - Mantha (863k)
AA (1.75) - Nielsen (5.5) - Vanek (2.25)
Gionta (1.25) - Larkin (925k) - Jagr (3)
Helm (3.85) - Glen (1.8) - Abby (4.25)
Nosek (612k), Bertuzzi (660k)

DD (5) - Green (6)
Martinez (4) - Jensen (812k)
XO (1.2) - Kronwall (4.75)
Sproul (625k)

Mrazek (4) / Howard (5.3)

LTIR: Franzen (3.95), Ericsson (4.25)


Don't make the mistake of thinking Holland has his hands tied just yet.

Pretty solid.

 

[Reddwit]

He isn't going to move his first top 10 draft pick since Marty Lapointe. That's not going to happen.

I mean, I know his approval rating is about 2% here right now... it just bothers me when people make up crap like it's going to happen because "oh, that's such a Holland thing to do." He hasn't had a top ten pick since Marty Lapointe. Since 1991. But yeah, he's going to move it for Alec Martinez.

Read the trade. It'd be our first + Nyquist for their 1st + Martinez. LA's pick should be about 2-4 spots later than ours. It's not unreasonable at all in Hollandland.

 

[Syckle78]

Trade Tatar. Get picks and prospects.

Trade Mrazek. Get picks and prospects.

Trade one of the 2017 3rds to Las Vegas for them taking Abdelkader.

Trade Green. 2018 1st and a prospect( NHL ready would be nice) Also retention on Green can drive up the quality of prospect.

I know none of this will happen, but a very good step in the right direction.

Also, something I noticed, Detroit gets a 1.5 million cap hit bump for the Weiss buyout next year.

Awesome.

Trading mrazek right now would be terrible. He's at his lowest value point. The only smart play in regards to the goalies is expose Howard and hope mrazek bounces back. You're not getting anything of value for him this off season.

There's no way anyone is taking 6 years of abby for a 3rd round pick. We're stuck with that.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I don't know why, but for some reason I can see Holland hoping Vegas grabs Sproul or Ouellet so he has an excuse to sign Michael Del Zotto.

 

[Winger98]

Read the trade. It'd be our first + Nyquist for their 1st + Martinez. LA's pick should be about 2-4 spots later than ours. It's not unreasonable at all in Hollandland.

value wise it's really not a bad move in any land. Yeah, I'd rather have Muzzin, but I don't think that would happen. we'd be trading from a strength, still have a relatively high pick in a draft that's questionable anyway, and would bolster easily our weakest spot in the roster.

It might not be a move a lot of folks around here would like, but it's not a bad hockey trade.

 

[Oddbob]

Literally every team, goes through sucky phases, and the Pens, Hawks, Kings, etc., are not far off experiencing some more.

Also, we got to see 4 cup wins, plenty of division wins, awesome playoff battles, with the Avs, Stars, Blues. We got to see two HOF's spend 20 years each with Detroit, in Yzerman, and Lidstrom. Watch perhaps the best stickhandler ever, in Datsyuk, pull off thousands of awesome moments. We also got to see a 2002 All-Star Team, roll to the cup with 9 HOF'ers on it. I think we were more than due for some less than exciting hockey, and non championship caliber teams. I trade it for something different every time.

Also, there are about 22 or so teams, that have gone far, far longer than us without winning the Cup. We are only 9 years removed from our last one, and one win away 8 years ago. Like I said 22 or so have been longer and far less cups and contender-ship than we have. In a couple of years, the cap space problems, and aging Kronwall, Ericsson will no longer be an issue, with an ownership that wants to be a winner. We will be fine, and I don't think it will take as long as we think.

We just have to be patient. Hard to do, but it will be worth it, when we get back on track.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

It's funny that you should mention the Pens and Hawks... Do you know why they became good again?

And save the "just be patient and all will be great again" talk. It's fine being patient when there's a plan in place. And this is all coming from one of Holland's biggest supporters on this board for years.

 

[jolly roger]

One of AA or Mantha and a first will get packaged for a defenseman. Trying to bridge AA for 1.7 like suggested here, will like just create more Holland Blashill trashing AA. Whoever's left can look forward to another season of Blabhillhollandese taking them apart.