yave1964 Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 2016-17 A QUICK LOOK BACK: After making the playoffs for a quarter of a century the team looked to finally hit the wall. Long time iconic Wing Pavel Datsyuk begged out of his contract and retired to go home to Russia, the Wings replaced him with Thomas Vanek, frans Nielsen and Steve Ott and hoped it would be enough. It was not. The Wings were well beaten all year never coming close to looking like a playoff team. Henrik Zetterberg played his heart out and put up fantastic numbers, Tatar caught fire in the second half and scored 25 goals, Anthony Mantha inexplicably was sent down to start the year but was a force after being recalled. Andreas Athanasiou was a thrill a minute player, a breakaway waiting to happen nightly. Nielsen was a solid two way player and the teams all star game rep, Vanek rediscovered his love for the game and was a breath of fresh air before being traded at the deadline.Mike Green rediscovered his offense a bit including a hat trick early in the year. Jimmy Howard when healthy was brilliant. The other good news is they managed to parlay Jurco, Ott, Brendan Smith and Vanek into a slew of extra draft picks both this year and next. In fact the Wings have 6 picks in the first 86 this week. It should be interesting. Now the bad, and lots of it. Howard could not stay healthy, Mrazek was borderline awful. Green while discovering his offense forgot most nights to play defense, and speaking of defense, Kronwall and Ericsson are tied into contracts and are absolutely done, they cannot play anymore. Dekeyser looked like a deer in headlights especially in the third period of close games. Abdelkader and Helm rewarded the teams long term deals by disappearing. Sheahan did not score a goal all year until the final game of the year when he somehow scored two. Dylan Larkin lost his mojo. The veterans were hideous and killed the streak. Even the long time owner Mike Ilitch passed away late in the season, the last one ever at the Joe Louis Arena. It was a year lost in the wilderness and fans of other teams who were sick of the streak gloated. FREE AGENTS: Drew Miller is certainly gone, a 4th line winger who cannot score or check anymore. Nobody else of any consequence bares mentioning. OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS: 1) WHO IS IN GOAL? It may be answered in the next day for them as Mrazek was left exposed and may be selected by Vegas. If not the Wings are spending almost 10 million this year on Mrazek and his attitude and Howard and his hammy. One has to go, I can see the logic of exposing Mrazek, he is tantalizing for the Knights to take and would free up over 4 million in cap space and allow Calder Cup winning goalie Coreau and his cheap contract to slide into the backup tender role behind Howard. If Mrazek is not dealt one of either he or Howard has to go even if the Wings eat some salary to make it happen. 2) HOW LONG DOES JEFF BLASHILL HAVE? I was a fan, a full 14 months before it happened I predicted in here loudly and for over a year that Blash would take over when Babs went to Toronto. I was thrilled after watching the way he masterfully worked the kids in Grand Rapids. It simply has not translated to the NHL. The players dont buy into his system, for two years we hear about the vets and their egos running the show. It is now or never Jeff, Nobody expects you to be Babs but we were hoping you were not Dave Lewis either. 3) WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE CONTRACTS OF KRONWALL, ERICSSON, ABDELKADER, ECT..... What a mess. The Wings have been loyal to a fault and supplied long term deals to players who cannot live up to them, they should have taken the Branch Rickey aproach and always traded players away before they turned 30. They are stuck with players who are shells of their former selves with no chance of being productive within any role at all. Abdelkader is at least somewhat useful, the big E and Kronner simply need bought out and take the hit, let the kids play or bring in fresh blood. 4) CAN ANOTHER STREAK START THIS SEASON IN THE NEW BARN? Probably not but in this day and age of parity a hot goalie and the talented kid forwards could help them squeek into an eight seed or so. I would not bet on it. A lot would have to turn out right to fix what ails this team in one year but the extra draft haul combined with some talented young forwards at least gives the team something to be pleased about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted June 27, 2017 Share Posted June 27, 2017 @yave1964 Red Wings grant Coyotes permission to interview Todd Nelson Report: Red Wings grant Coyotes permission to interview Todd Nelson http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/06/27/report-red-wings-grant-coyotes-permission-to-interview-todd-nelson/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 @OccamsRazor I saw that, he would be a good solid signing for the 'Yotes. He has a long history of working with kids and maximizing their talent. @JR Ewing pointed that out during Richards time with the Oilers, I stuck it in the back of my mind and made certain to pay attention to it when he came to the Griffs, guys like Nosek and Bertuzzi found confidence and abilities that they did not even know they had under him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJgoal Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 1 hour ago, yave1964 said: @OccamsRazor I saw that, he would be a good solid signing for the 'Yotes. He has a long history of working with kids and maximizing their talent. @JR Ewing pointed that out during Richards time with the Oilers, I stuck it in the back of my mind and made certain to pay attention to it when he came to the Griffs, guys like Nosek and Bertuzzi found confidence and abilities that they did not even know they had under him. I think Todd Nelson deserves a chance. After the Oilers decided to fire Dallas Eakins just before Christmas in 2014 (Ho ho ho) and they brought in Nelson, the team saw marked improvement in just about every area possible. If it weren't for Todd McLellan becoming available, I thought it likely that Nelson would stay on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 27 minutes ago, AJgoal said: We need it, Hainsey is a nice safe boring signee, the type who you dont notice but who is a defensive zone specialist. He would be my first pick of the bunch, probably followed by Campbell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Looks like the Wings will lose Griffins head coach Nelson. He's being interviewed for a few NHL head coaching vacancies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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