Lombardi?

[WingedWheel1987]

It doesn't feel like Holland wants to "retire" or be promoted to any role that doesn't still have him being the GM of the Wings.

Let's just hope his "I don't believe in rebuilds was just talk." Cause if he continues to operate like he has been the past several years, the Wings won't have to worry about an eight to ten year rebuild. They will have a 10-20 year rebuild, and that's me being optimistic.

 

[FlashyG]

It doesn't feel like Holland wants to "retire" or be promoted to any role that doesn't still have him being the GM of the Wings.

Let's just hope his "I don't believe in rebuilds was just talk." Cause if he continues to operate like he has been the past several season, the Wings won't have to worry about an eight to ten year rebuild. They will have a 10-20 year rebuild, and that's me being optimistic.

Well the plus side for you is that our core is so bad, the FA class is so weak and we have so little cap space that he'll have no choice but to suck next year.

Hopefully we get a game changer in that draft and a few complimentary pieces with the bevy of middle round picks this year.

Either way I think its going to be a long time before the Wings are a cup contender again.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

Well the plus side for you is that our core is so bad, the FA class is so weak and we have so little cap space that he'll have no choice but to suck next year.

Hopefully we get a game changer in that draft and a few complimentary pieces with the bevy of middle round picks this year.

Either way I think its going to be a long time before the Wings are a cup contender again.

I don't disagree, but Holland can make moves which continue to place the Wings in the 7-11 draft range. That would be absolutely devastating for the long term success of the franchise.

The Wings can't take any shortcuts to contending again. They need to secure the 1st/2nd overall pick for the next couple of seasons (not including this year).

 

[Reddwit]

Oh, come on, guys. Holland was obviously going to stay beyond this year, but this "into the future" business is being blown way out of proportion. Holland isn't going to have an infinite leash as the GM of a team that is perennially out of the playoffs like he did when we were perennially in the playoffs. Loyalty is easy to find when you're defying the odds; let's see what happens if/when one of the "best GMs in hockey" is facing down a third straight year without playoff revenue.

 

[mouser]

Even if there's the slimmest chance of Holland getting bumped up or out, Lombardi would be the last person on my list as a replacement.

Some of his signings are Hollandesque(Brown, Gaborik) while his trades have mostly backfired.

Plus, wasn't he one of the main guys tasked in assembling the US World Cup team that bombed?

Yeah, Lombardi was eventually fired for mostly making the same sort of mistakes the Wings faithful want to see Holland removed for doing as well.

 

[The Zermanator]

I don't disagree, but Holland can make moves which continue to place the Wings in the 7-11 draft range. That would be absolutely devastating for the long term success of the franchise.

The Wings can't take any shortcuts to contending again. They need to secure the 1st/2nd overall pick for the next couple of seasons (not including this year).

I would say completely tanking would be the shortcut. And I agree with you by the way.

We have a lot of the framework for a good team in place already. Just no elite young players. Maybe Mantha gets there but apart from him I don't see any of them being more than very good. But add whoever we pick this year, and Dahlin if we're bad enough, or Svech Jr? And then another high end player the year after that?

Larkin, Mantha, AA, Svech, and hopefully a couple dmen will be hitting their primes right when we infuse young, elite talent. And as we can see in the league today, if you pick high in a great draft there's a good chance you'll have a high end player very quickly.

 

[InjuredChoker]

lombardi was the GM of USAs WCOH team. which had players like justin abdelkader but not players like phil kessel. players like jack johnson but not justin faulk.

 

[Pavels Dog]

I don't disagree, but Holland can make moves which continue to place the Wings in the 7-11 draft range. That would be absolutely devastating for the long term success of the franchise.

The Wings can't take any shortcuts to contending again. They need to secure the 1st/2nd overall pick for the next couple of seasons (not including this year).

You can still find great players in the 7-11 range. And if you're a team that drafts #11 if everything goes right, you're a team that can draft #1 if you have an awful year full of injuries and some lottery luck. Pretty farfetched to think we'll settle into some sort of perfect level of mediocrity where all our players are just slightly too good to let us fall towards the bottom but bad enough to never lift us into a playoff team.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Yeah, Lombardi was eventually fired for mostly making the same sort of mistakes the Wings faithful want to see Holland removed for doing as well.

Lombardi did a fantastic job building that Cup team, but he definitely seems to have the same loyalty weakness as Holland.

Signing Gaborik as a free agent was a fantastic move and paid off in their Cup run. Re-signing him to a 7 year deal, not so much. It's seriously like Lombardi was handing out contracts while still drinking from the Cup.

I don't know that you could fault his trades overall though (not referring to you but the post you quoted). Iginla and Lucic maybe. But the blockbuster moves like Richards and Carter are why the Kings have two Cups.

 

[The Zermanator]

You can still find great players in the 7-11 range. And if you're a team that drafts #11 if everything goes right, you're a team that can draft #1 if you have an awful year full of injuries and some lottery luck. Pretty farfetched to think we'll settle into some sort of perfect level of mediocrity where all our players are just slightly too good to let us fall towards the bottom but bad enough to never lift us into a playoff team.

Why is that far-fetched? Seems to me this team has been slightly too good to fall out of the playoffs but bad enough to not have any realistic chance at a Cup (or even the 2nd/3rd rounds) for probably 5-6 years now. With the continued decline of this team, it seems they've finally sunk just below the surface.

The question is, do you look at this roster and think you can swim your head back above water? Holland seems to think so. I can't imagine how that would be the case, especially looking at the good young teams in the league. We need elite young talent and the only way we'll acquire that is through being very bad for a few years. But with Holland's insistence on banging his head against the wall and denying what is pretty plain to see, could be much longer than that.

 

[Frk It]

You can still find great players in the 7-11 range. And if you're a team that drafts #11 if everything goes right, you're a team that can draft #1 if you have an awful year full of injuries and some lottery luck. Pretty farfetched to think we'll settle into some sort of perfect level of mediocrity where all our players are just slightly too good to let us fall towards the bottom but bad enough to never lift us into a playoff team.

When you don't want to do a full tear-down re-build, and think you are a playoff team when you may not be, it's entirely possible to continually fall in that range every year.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Next year Vegas, new jersey, Vancouver and colorado will all still be bad

Buffalo, tampa, Florida and Dallas should all be better than current draft position

At best we will be 5th but it would take a Herculean task effort to get into that top 4

 

[Syckle78]

Next year Vegas, new jersey, Vancouver and colorado will all still be bad

Buffalo, tampa, Florida and Dallas should all be better than current draft position

At best we will be 5th but it would take a Herculean task effort to get into that top 4

I don't know about that. Seems we could get there pretty easily if z falls off and what happens with our goaltending. Holland said today that he has a hard decision to make on which goaltender to protect. Now imagine for me if you will a world, a world where petr gets snatched up by Vegas. In this world Howard is your starter and he sustains his annual long term injury. Now place a journeyman backup or inexperienced rookie behind that defense and tell me where we end up. Or even in a more realistic scenerio we don't end up with something like a dozen extra points from shoot outs.

 

[Dotter]

Can't blame him. The guy has it made.

100% job security and people will just point to his past successes to deflect any criticism.

It's not like he has earned an extension based on his performance over the past five seasons.

Heck, if any other GM made the exact same moves as Holland the past five years, they would have already been fired.

I think it's safe to say the Ilitches love Kenny because he has done everything (and more) they asked of him. Including keeping the streak alive up til this year, and now they know he'll do his best to start a new streak without trading valuable assets.

I get why the Ilitches want to re-sign him. He's done everything they asked of him.

 

[Retire91]

I am bitter about the decline but I do get the financials and pride of keeping the streak alive even if it meant the team bottoming out. However now that the streak has come to an end if they come into this off season with the same strategy of pluggin this roster with a few vets to get closer to the bubble that will be really telling that this wasn't about the streak and is actually delusional.