Whose seat is warmer: Holland or Blashill?

[Satrebil]

Ultimately, I suspect nothing will change until Mr. I dies.

Not so sure, as Chris is calling some of the shots now.

 

[Ricelund]

Wasn't Dave Lewis canned?

No, they just let his contract expire.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Management is crazy delusional. If the results of the last 5 years don't speak for themselves, nothing will.

The Ilitches have never meddled with their management teams. They are suddenly going to tell a guy who has won 3 Cups as GM, has the third longest playoff streak in NHL history, and is a lock as a HHoF inductee what to do? I don't buy that for a second.

Holland, like Joe Dumars, has too much pride to do anything other than try to tinker their way back to being competitive. Both regimes will likely end the same way. However Holland will never feel the slightest heat from the Ilitches, and I have no real problem with that. My hope is this will be his final contract and that he will retire. Then after 10 years of wandering aimlessly we will have a GM like Steve Yzerman who is hungry to build a Cup champion. With the new arena and a tired GM out of the driver's seat I feel pretty confident the Ilitch family will want to make the commitment to having a great hockey team once again.

Hockeytown sounds depressingly aspirational right now and that's not going to change until Holland retires.

Just about all players regressed under Blashill last year by objective standard.

Yes, this is absolutely true. Blash also made commitments to playing Kindl and Smith big minutes early last year. He's giving DeKeyser matchups he cannot handle. He's playing the absolute worst line in the league in Glendening, Miller and Ott. He is delusional and that does not bode well for his career as an NHL coach.

 

[Ricelund]

The Ilitches have never meddled with their management teams. They are suddenly going to tell a guy who has won 3 Cups as GM, has the third longest playoff streak in NHL history, and is a lock as a HHoF inductee what to do? I don't buy that for a second.

You must not follow the Tigers. Dombrowski was let go and he's one of the best GMs in the game. Sure, his teams never got it done but they definitely were capable of winning it all and the MLB playoffs are a total crapshoot.

The Ilitches have gone over the heads of Tigers management multiple times -- signing Prince Fielder, signing Anibal Sanchez, trading Doug Fister for nothing, signing Justin Upton, etc. Dombrowski made an absolutely stellar trade to get out of the albatross Fielder deal and was still let go.

 

[Run the Jewels]

You must not follow the Tigers. Dombrowski was let go and he's one of the best GMs in the game. Sure, his teams never got it done but they definitely were capable of winning it all and the MLB playoffs are a total crapshoot.

The Ilitches have gone over the heads of Tigers management multiple times -- signing Prince Fielder, signing Anibal Sanchez, trading Doug Fister for nothing, signing Justin Upton, etc. Dombrowski made an absolutely stellar trade to get out of the albatross Fielder deal and was still let go.

I don't follow the Tigers at all so I can't comment on that. All I know is I've never heard of them meddling with the Wings and if it were to happen I'm sure you would be able to rattle off all sorts of examples like you have with the Tigers.

 

[GMR]

Obviously it's Blashill. Holland has immunity.

However, it should be Holland. The Wings are one of the most untalented teams in the NHL, despite having a high cap number. It takes an incompetent GM to allow something like that to happen.

 

[jkutswings]

You must not follow the Tigers. Dombrowski was let go and he's one of the best GMs in the game. Sure, his teams never got it done but they definitely were capable of winning it all and the MLB playoffs are a total crapshoot.

The Ilitches have gone over the heads of Tigers management multiple times -- signing Prince Fielder, signing Anibal Sanchez, trading Doug Fister for nothing, signing Justin Upton, etc. Dombrowski made an absolutely stellar trade to get out of the albatross Fielder deal and was still let go.

Illitch has consistently handled the two franchises very differently. The Tigers are his white whale, and he's been desperate for a World Series ring for a very long time. And the sport doesn't have a hard cap, which allows him to do far more meddling than he would otherwise be able to in the NHL these days. Not to mention that Dombrowski got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, floating his name around to various other franchises without team permission. (He is still a good GM, but it wasn't exactly a shock when his tenure ended.)

While there's plenty of ways that ownership can continue to screw things up for the Wings, I don't see them emulating the Tigers anytime soon.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

The Ilitches have never meddled with their management teams. They are suddenly going to tell a guy who has won 3 Cups as GM, has the third longest playoff streak in NHL history, and is a lock as a HHoF inductee what to do? I don't buy that for a second.

Holland, like Joe Dumars, has too much pride to do anything other than try to tinker their way back to being competitive. Both regimes will likely end the same way. However Holland will never feel the slightest heat from the Ilitches, and I have no real problem with that. My hope is this will be his final contract and that he will retire. Then after 10 years of wandering aimlessly we will have a GM like Steve Yzerman who is hungry to build a Cup champion. With the new arena and a tired GM out of the driver's seat I feel pretty confident the Ilitch family will want to make the commitment to having a great hockey team once again.

Hockeytown sounds depressingly aspirational right now and that's not going to change until Holland retires.

Ownership =/= Management.


While ownership is probably a problem too, management is what is clearly delusional.

 

[Flowah]

Yes, this is absolutely true. Blash also made commitments to playing Kindl and Smith big minutes early last year. He's giving DeKeyser matchups he cannot handle. He's playing the absolute worst line in the league in Glendening, Miller and Ott. He is delusional and that does not bode well for his career as an NHL coach.

Lol. Who else should be taking those matchups

Smith, Marchenko, E, XO, Sproul, none of those guys are good enough for top pairing. Kronwall is donezo. Green maybe, but you still need another d-man. The defense, as it has been for like 5 years now, is in dire need of help. Holland has failed.

 

[Retire91]

Holland's seat has a cooling refrigerant mechanism installed by the illich family. His ass is literally frozen to the seat, you couldn't yank him off.

Blash is the fall guy 100 times out of 100 if it goes that way. Still want to see him get a few years being a rookie coach.

 

[Hammerheart]

Why would anyone put Blashill on the hotseat? This roster is crap and it should be obvious to everyone. I'm surprised they've done as well as they have.

Exactly...he's just playing the ****** hand he was dealt. We can't fault him if we have players who'd rather pass into crowded lanes than shoot the open shot.

 

[ap3x]

So, Blash is getting 100 % out of this roster? Interesting.

 

[Bench]

So, Blash is getting 100 % out of this roster? Interesting.

Maybe not, but they are performing about the same as the Babcock years. You can nitpick here and there, but bubble team that can occasionally play good teams well.

So to me, it's the roster first, coach second.

 

[ap3x]

Due to the aforementioned reasons, there's no point in putting Blashill on the hotseat. At the same time, we all know that he's not getting maximum out of this roster either. Or why else is so much talk about coaching decisions as well? My post was exclusively directed to Hammerheart and Spitfire. Way too easy explanation if you ask me. Bad roster aside.

 

[Dotter]

I don't follow the Tigers at all so I can't comment on that. All I know is I've never heard of them meddling with the Wings and if it were to happen I'm sure you would be able to rattle off all sorts of examples like you have with the Tigers.

Yes Mike Ilitch does "meddle" http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2012/07/red_wings_led_by_owner_mike_il.html

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

So, Blash is getting 100 % out of this roster? Interesting.

I don't think he is getting 100% out of them, but I am not sure that any other coach would get materially different results. I think a lot of the bad habits we exhibit have been around since about 2010 if you want to be brutally honest.

For purposes of full disclosure I am one that thinks that coaching is really only relevant at developmental levels and to some extent during a seven-game series. Apart from that show me a good coach and I will show you good players, especially at the highest levels of a sport.

For the record Blashill's seat is much, much warmer than Holland's.

 

[Flowah]

For purposes of full disclosure I am one that thinks that coaching is really only relevant at developmental levels and to some extent during a seven-game series. Apart from that show me a good coach and I will show you good players, especially at the highest levels of a sport.

Babs says the same thing about good players and good coaches.

I mean, does anyone think we bring Bowman out of retirement and give him this roster we're playoff locks? Cup contenders?

 

[Tatar]

Holland is on the hot seat, but Blash will be the first one fired

 

[Bench]

Holland is on the hot seat, but Blash will be the first one fired

Which honestly makes sense, even if it's not Blashill's fault. Coaches come and go. Even good coaches go for seemingly no reason on teams. Much easier to shake up your coaching message than retool and entire roster or replace key management positions.

Removing Holland would signal an entire restructure of the Wings brass. If there was going to be more continuity that ship left with Jim Nill.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Yes Mike Ilitch does "meddle" http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2012/07/red_wings_led_by_owner_mike_il.html

LOL, I wouldn't exactly call that meddling. The Wings wanted Suter and made their pitch for him. He wasn't making Ken Holland's life more difficult, that's for sure.

 

[aar000n]

I do not see Blashill getting the best out of people. He must have learned this from the last guy. Give old wore out vets tons of mins, put stone hands players on the power play, put defensive players 3 on 3. He has shown poor judgment in lines poor judgment in playing time and poor judgment in personal ie sproul

 

[ap3x]

Exactly. The roster may clearly limit his capabilities, but - in terms of coaching decisions - he isn't really fulfilling high expectations that most of us had either.
I'm not expecting him to make us a cup contender or suchlike, but to develop players. Development isn't as good (yet) as I hoped for it to be though.

 

[Suavecito]

As of right now - neither.

Holland will remain with the club for as long as he wants.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

Holland will never get fired. The only way he's not our GM is if he retires or gets "promoted."