Claypool
Registered User
- Jan 12, 2009
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I'm not asking him to sell right now. I'm asking him to resume holding a standard of excellence.
I have no idea what you're arguing about anymore.
I'm not asking him to sell right now. I'm asking him to resume holding a standard of excellence.
That simply making the playoffs is not only an acceptable year now, but appears to be as high as management is willing to set the bar for the foreseeable future. That's a very shallow and mediocre way of thinking, bordering on loser mentality.I have no idea what you're arguing about anymore.
He's said for several years now this team doesn't have any superstars and that he is trying to keep them competitive while the younger players (hopefully) transition in and take over. I guess I just don't see the problem with that line of thinking. How is trying to compete for a playoff spot while also focusing on drafting and development a loser mentality?That simply making the playoffs is not only an acceptable year now, but appears to be as high as management is willing to set the bar for the foreseeable future. That's a very shallow and mediocre way of thinking, bordering on loser mentality.
That's not at all what it sounded like in 15-16 when they made the playoffs. Holland wasn't pleased at all and admitted he didn't think the team was good enough.That simply making the playoffs is not only an acceptable year now, but appears to be as high as management is willing to set the bar for the foreseeable future. That's a very shallow and mediocre way of thinking, bordering on loser mentality.
There's no real direction, let alone a bigger picture or 5-year plan. To borrow a line from South Park, it's:
1) Try to make playoffs.
2) ???
3) Profit.
I'm not asking him to sell right now. I'm asking him to resume holding a standard of excellence.
If the GM of Chicago or Boston or any other team that hadn't won a Cup in a few years stepped to the podium, and essentially said, 'winning championships is too hard now; fans need to lower their expectations', they'd be deservedly ridiculed.
My gripe with Holland is that, after so many years of historic success, he's changed his aspirations to act as if landing that sweet, sweet 8th seed is a year worthy of high fives all around.
Sooner or later, everybody's run is over, and that's fine. But that doesn't mean you then move the goalposts, and set the bar at making the playoffs for the next 5-10 years. He's not only acting like last year was a fluke, but that, if the stars aligned a bit better, that Detroit could return to The Promised Land of 'playoff bubble team'. As if that's the gold standard for NHL aspirations for everybody, and the core principle around which every team should be built.
I certainly don't expect any team to achieve excellence every year, not even the defending champs. But I darn well expect a team to pursue excellence. Fervently.
Whether that's reloading or rebuilding or maintaining, you strive to be the best. To have a team that can win it all. To shoot for the stars...not to shoot for the bubble.
There are a handful of teams that are locks to make the playoffs at this point. And some likely don't have the need or the room to add what we're selling. There's no reason to think Holland isn't already taking some calls on guys like Mrazek/Green but if 3-4 teams are bidding now the value is lower than closer to the TDL when maybe 9-10 teams feel they're in a position to gear up for the playoffs. There's also the risk that you sell Green for example and it makes our D so much worse that the bottom falls out on the team and you hurt the value of remaining players even more. To maximize value of selling you really want to playing decent hockey for as long as possible. I mean you're not even seeing AZ/Buffalo/Ottawa selling and they're in worse position than us.We should be open for business right now. 10 points out at Christmas is not going to be reversed by a squad lacking in high-end talent.
I understand the rest of this, but Ken Holland's first act of business after Christmas break should be to call the 30 other GMs and say we are interested in moving players right now. It is white flag time, start talking now and if it is good enough to move the player do so, but if not it gives you two months to weigh offers instead of a couple weeks when we know nothing is likely to tangibly improve.
I do think Holland has been a little more honest than some of his larger detractors like to point out. However, those claims will have a lot more merit if he doesn't do the right thing and start selling right now, this season is over aside from development of the young guys that are the future of this team.
As he will. The forward group is not crowded. We've been playing with 11 forwards a lot of the time. Booth/Witkowski are not part of our long-term plans and could be gone at the TDL. Frk is not someone whose job is safe and beyond that there's an outside chance a guy like Nyquist/AA is gone and a Z retirement is not out of the question. There is plenty of room for kids to challenge for jobs.The player this thread is about should have every opportunity to make the team next season. It is important to our long-term future. We need to be thinking three or four years down the road first not really about the present.
There are a handful of teams that are locks to make the playoffs at this point. And some likely don't have the need or the room to add what we're selling. There's no reason to think Holland isn't already taking some calls on guys like Mrazek/Green but if 3-4 teams are bidding now the value is lower than closer to the TDL when maybe 9-10 teams feel they're in a position to gear up for the playoffs. There's also the risk that you sell Green for example and it makes our D so much worse that the bottom falls out on the team and you hurt the value of remaining players even more. To maximize value of selling you really want to playing decent hockey for as long as possible. I mean you're not even seeing AZ/Buffalo/Ottawa selling and they're in worse position than us.
As he will. The forward group is not crowded. We've been playing with 11 forwards a lot of the time. Booth/Witkowski are not part of our long-term plans and could be gone at the TDL. Frk is not someone whose job is safe and beyond that there's an outside chance a guy like Nyquist/AA is gone and a Z retirement is not out of the question. There is plenty of room for kids to challenge for jobs.
Mike Green gets hurt a decent amount. We are out of it this year. Selling now if the offer is good enough makes sense.
Also I would like the Ilitch family to step up and cover percentages of the contracts to improve the return. You don't think we can get more by offering to cover nearly half of Mike Green's remaining contract? Heck lets just take 20% off the rest of the year and his deal becomes really enticing for probably a couple of teams.