Red Wings Lose Six Straight Games to Open Season for the First Time in Franchise History

KCC

Registered User
Aug 15, 2007
18,190
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Awful Veteran leadership and a very inexperienced defense. 6 out of 18 skaters on opening night were rookies, 4 of them Dmen. Holland has prided himself on a winning culture and a winning mentality in the locker room, but has brought in losers in Nielsen and Vanek. They have been losers their entire careers and look perfectly content getting obliterated on the ice game after game. Anyone out there that still actually believes the Wings wanted Zetterberg gone?

Geez that’s harsh. Lol. I get that the roster is bad and are having trouble scoring so naturally you point fingers at the vets vanek amd neilson, but they don’t play on defense and that’s where most of the problems lie right now. 6 games, 30 gaa. Tough to outscore that. If you get Daley, Ericsson and green back that would go a long way.
 

ArGarBarGar

What do we want!? Unfair!
Sep 8, 2008
44,017
11,677
Current defensive pairs:

Cholowski - Hronek
Kronwall - Jensen
Hicketts - Sulak


I don't mean to kick dirt on them, but good lord that's atrocious. Take away a broken-down Kronwall, and the only other guy with relevant NHL experience is Jensen who made it out of the AHL as a 25-year-old a couple of years ago. If Kronwall were to go down, it would literally be a bunch of guys who should be in the AHL or juniors, trying to figure out the NHL together.

At least they'll know what they have. But I'm not sure this is really a good plan for their development.
Of the youngsters Cholowski is the only one who has really impressed me. He definitely belongs up.
 

Tatar Shots

Registered User
Feb 2, 2014
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Geez that’s harsh. Lol. I get that the roster is bad and are having trouble scoring so naturally you point fingers at the vets vanek amd neilson, but they don’t play on defense and that’s where most of the problems lie right now. 6 games, 30 gaa. Tough to outscore that. If you get Daley, Ericsson and green back that would go a long way.

Have you watched the games? Nielsen must have had the worst game of his career against Boston and was a careless turnover machine. He has been playing with zero fire. You can point fingers at the rookie defense, but the atrocious defensive play by centers Nielsen and AA are making things incredibly hard on the young defensemen.
 

Tatar Shots

Registered User
Feb 2, 2014
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Of the youngsters Cholowski is the only one who has really impressed me. He definitely belongs up.

I think Hronek has been fine. He has done well offensively and plays with some grit in his game. There have been plenty of defensive lapses, but I think that is more growing pains of a young defenseman exacerbated by playing to many minutes and without a veteran partner. If he was breaking in to the league on a 3rd pairing of a competent team, I think people would be gushing about him. Hicketts is likely nothing more than a 7D and Sulak could use time in the AHL to develop.
 

newfy

Registered User
Jul 28, 2010
14,718
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Abdelkader 4 more years at 4.25M
Nielsen 3 more years at 5.25M
Helm 2 more years at 3.85M

Just a bunch of dead weight average veterans.

Those contracts will luckily be done with when the wings are likely contending again. I think Helm will have some interest at the deadline as a bottom 6er for a playoff team, especially if some salary gets retained. The wings are in bad cap shape for sure with a bunch of mediocre vets but it does look like theyll all be gone in perfect timing for copmeting again with a whole new core.

Current defensive pairs:

Cholowski - Hronek
Kronwall - Jensen
Hicketts - Sulak


I don't mean to kick dirt on them, but good lord that's atrocious. Take away a broken-down Kronwall, and the only other guy with relevant NHL experience is Jensen who made it out of the AHL as a 25-year-old a couple of years ago. If Kronwall were to go down, it would literally be a bunch of guys who should be in the AHL or juniors, trying to figure out the NHL together.

At least they'll know what they have. But I'm not sure this is really a good plan for their development.

I dont think they belong in the AHL or juniors necessarily. Cholowski is actually a player and should be in the NHL, hes impressed even on this garbage team. I would say only him Larkin and Bertuzzi have looked good this season. I think Hronek is a legit NHLer as well, hes solid. The issue is that even the borderline guys like Sulak (who could maybe use an AHL year but is still ok) have no support whatsoever. If you have one or even 2 rookie dmen making some rookie mistakes its not that noticeable if theyre surrounded by some decent veteran support. But these guys have their mistakes magnified without a solid vet to play beside them mostly. Sulak could play on a lot of teams, but most teams only option wouldnt be to play him beside Joe Hicketts either. And if it wast Hicketts it would be another rookie that is going to have growing pains
 
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LarKing

Registered User
Sep 2, 2012
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How many more losses in a row does it take for us to be “eliminated” from the playoffs? 5? 10?

Hughes is ours.
 

Pizza!Pizza!

Registered User
Sep 25, 2018
4,716
7,183
Not that the Wings are going to be a bubble team this year, but everyone does realize that its only 6 games into the season and none of our injured players are out long term right?

Remember a couple of years back when Montreal won the stanley cup in October, only to have Price get injured and then not make the playoffs? This season is just like that so far, but in reverse.

I for one will not hit the panic button until ~20 games in. Besides, no matter how bad things get - at least we don't have to endure being Rangers fans, the poor bastards.
 

NyQuil

Big F$&*in Q
Jan 5, 2005
95,345
59,251
Ottawa, ON
Not that the Wings are going to be a bubble team this year, but everyone does realize that its only 6 games into the season and none of our injured players are out long term right?

Remember a couple of years back when Montreal won the stanley cup in October, only to have Price get injured and then not make the playoffs? This season is just like that so far, but in reverse.

I for one will not hit the panic button until ~20 games in. Besides, no matter how bad things get - at least we don't have to endure being Rangers fans, the poor bastards.

We're just bored and want to talk about stuff.

Sample size would end every thread on this board.
 
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ZeroPucksGiven

Registered User
Feb 28, 2017
6,338
4,275
Wow. I guess the rebuild is in full swing.

Well the thing is, they aren't even doing that correctly. Wings are pressed up against the cap because of moronic contracts that are difficult/impossible to offload

Wings should have positioned themselves to land a guy like Tavares or EK. Instead they have a bunch of rookies and has-beens littering their lineup at astronomical cap numbers.
Holland is a decent trader as a GM , but man don't let him touch the contact side of things.
 

AD1066

Registered User
Sep 30, 2011
7,597
3,865
This has been in the making since 2012 or so, and it's going to take a few years to shed some of Holland's dead weight contracts.
 

YpsiWings

Registered User
Feb 5, 2016
1,191
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Not that the Wings are going to be a bubble team this year, but everyone does realize that its only 6 games into the season and none of our injured players are out long term right?

Remember a couple of years back when Montreal won the stanley cup in October, only to have Price get injured and then not make the playoffs? This season is just like that so far, but in reverse.

I for one will not hit the panic button until ~20 games in. Besides, no matter how bad things get - at least we don't have to endure being Rangers fans, the poor bastards.

If you wait until 20 games in to hit the panic button it will be far too late. I appreciate your patience even if it is misguided. Detroit is a bad team, probably the worst in the league. Getting the veterans back on the blue line is not going to be the lifeline this team needs believe you me. It’s going to be a long season, lots of losses ahead.

On a side note if anyone thinks size isn’t important in the NHL anymore I implore you to watch Joe Hicketts.
 
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ricky0034

Registered User
Jun 8, 2010
14,862
6,942
Abdelkader 4 more years at 4.25M
Nielsen 3 more years at 5.25M
Helm 2 more years at 3.85M

Just a bunch of dead weight average veterans.

yeah it's pretty ugly

tough to say it matters all that much right now though,not like the Wings really have any talent they need to worry about paying at the moment and any they acquired the bad contracts would be starting to expire by the time they even left their ELC

that's all assuming Holland doesn't go out and sign some more with all his cap space this offseason though which you never know with him :laugh:
 

DuncanMacpherson

Registered User
Apr 6, 2010
7,489
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After decades of winning they are now rebuilding properly. They play in the same division as Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Eichel, Dahlin, Kucherov, Hedman, Pastrnak...they know they need to draft some elite talent if they’re gonna compete in this division in the foreseeable future.
 
Mar 11, 2013
2,051
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QC
They have some good prospects/young players coming up or getting better with potential of adding more (Hughes?), give them a few years and they'll be fine. Those bad contracts should be off the books or just about expiring too.
 

Hischier and Hughes

“I love to hockey”
Jan 28, 2018
9,408
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Red Wings have the worst future in the league bar none right now. Not even a first overall would save them , theyd need a lot more after that
 

WingsMJN2965

Registered User
Oct 13, 2017
18,106
17,699
Abdelkader 4 more years at 4.25M
Nielsen 3 more years at 5.25M
Helm 2 more years at 3.85M

Just a bunch of dead weight average veterans.

Thank God those come off the books before we'll need to raise our younger guys.

Abdelkader gonna be a prime candidate for the next lockout induced compliance buyout.
 

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