I always root for this team to contend for a cup, so I'm actually thinking it'd be better if we miss them and start the rebuild. I think that will help us more in 5 years than making the playoffs and losing to the Blackhawks in 5 will.
I have faith Holland can turn this team around if he wakes up from his dream and makes some changes. I feel like making the playoffs will delay that for very little gain overall.
It doesn't make any sense for me to root for them to suck. What I've said all along is I think this season is a rebuild. And I stand by that. The best move IMO is to play our younger players to see what they bring to the table. I think Cory Emmerton has been a poster child for what happens when you don't give a guy a shot until he's out of options. He was bad last year but he's starting to look like a useful NHL player this season. We need to figure out what guys bring to the table to determine their future in Detroit.
With his impressive play Brian Lashoff will either lock down a roster spot in Detroit or he'll have some trade value. Hell, even if you just replace Quincey with Lashoff you're getting a
better player who costs $520,000 as opposed to $3.775 million. That's a huge win. That gives us an extra $3+ million to spend on free agents.
Tomas Tatar is proving he can play at the NHL level so it's pretty much the same thing as Lashoff, he'll stick or if he doesn't he'll have much more trade value than he had toiling in Grand Rapids. I like what I've seen from Andersson and I think he can be a Paul Gaustad type player without the fisticuffs. I want to see Riley Sheahan get a shot. Let's find out how ready his game is for the NHL.
If we can make the playoffs with a team that includes our younger guys significant roles that makes it easier to say peace out to Cleary, Sammy, Bert, etc. You become a hungrier, more energetic team. It saves you money so you have more money to spend on free agents.
Our team has been good about building leads lately. Once we get better goaltending like we saw last night, once we get the defensive pairings clicking we'll give up fewer shots on net. I'm actually enjoying watching E take on a major role, I like seeing Lashoff play the most mins and shifts during a shutout. Tatar already has two siiiick goals. Our bottom 6 looks so much better than it did at the start of the season.
With as bad as we've been this season the thing I enjoy the most is seeing our younger guys get an opportunity and make the most of that chance.