JmanWingsFan
Your average Jman
This question is so stupid... Of course Detroit is still a free agent destination. The Tigers have no problem signing players. The Lions have no problem signing players (And they are the Lions). Heck, the Pistons signed some guys in free agency as well. This ain't about the city one bit. That's easily debunked and the myth should die a horrible death by a really hot fire.
What has happened is that, by a stroke of incredible bad luck, every major target the Wings have gone after have had ulterior motives. And it just so happens that those motives were such that the Wings could not possibly meet them.
Suter wanted to play with Parise and satisfy the wife. Detroit couldn't geographically offer that.
Dan Boyle wanted to go to New York City. Detroit is not New York City. They couldn't geographically offer that.
Detroit did not have Matt Niskanen's mentor as an assistant coach, nor did they overpay for Brooks Orpik. They couldn't offer that.
Detroit didn't have Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. They couldn't offer that to Ehrhoff. Only one team could.
It was not geographically or physically possible for the Wings to offer what these FA's had. It was beyond their abilities to offer these things to free agents.
Ken Holland's not a sales person. His job is to bring in personal by trade, draft, or FA. We draft well, which is why we don't like to trade. So our only other measure of adding talent is FA. It's hard bringing in talent because you're dealing with multi-millionaires who have everything they want and are playing a sports game. They'll go wherever they want to go, especially if they have something specific in mind.
When Ken Holland says he doesn't know what happened, he's not saying he doesn't know why the FA's didn't want to come. He likely means that he doesn't know how the heck all of their FA targets of late have had these ulterior motives that the Wings couldn't offer. He doesn't know how they got this unlucky. I'm pretty sure he knows why they didn't bite. He's much more in the know than your average NHL Insider working for TSN or CBC.
What has happened is that, by a stroke of incredible bad luck, every major target the Wings have gone after have had ulterior motives. And it just so happens that those motives were such that the Wings could not possibly meet them.
Suter wanted to play with Parise and satisfy the wife. Detroit couldn't geographically offer that.
Dan Boyle wanted to go to New York City. Detroit is not New York City. They couldn't geographically offer that.
Detroit did not have Matt Niskanen's mentor as an assistant coach, nor did they overpay for Brooks Orpik. They couldn't offer that.
Detroit didn't have Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. They couldn't offer that to Ehrhoff. Only one team could.
It was not geographically or physically possible for the Wings to offer what these FA's had. It was beyond their abilities to offer these things to free agents.
Ken Holland's not a sales person. His job is to bring in personal by trade, draft, or FA. We draft well, which is why we don't like to trade. So our only other measure of adding talent is FA. It's hard bringing in talent because you're dealing with multi-millionaires who have everything they want and are playing a sports game. They'll go wherever they want to go, especially if they have something specific in mind.
When Ken Holland says he doesn't know what happened, he's not saying he doesn't know why the FA's didn't want to come. He likely means that he doesn't know how the heck all of their FA targets of late have had these ulterior motives that the Wings couldn't offer. He doesn't know how they got this unlucky. I'm pretty sure he knows why they didn't bite. He's much more in the know than your average NHL Insider working for TSN or CBC.