In a perfect World.....

[yave1964]

The scenario that IMHO would be a perfect offseason for the Wings........

 

Start with the firing of blashill and the kicking upstairs of Holland. Give him his gold watch and pat on the back. 

 

Jim Nill is relieved of duties in Dallas and hired as the Wings new GM. He has proven bold and not afraid to attack problems. Some of his moves didn't work out, but he at least tried going outside of the organization, bringing in Radulov and Bishop among others. Nill has always been known as a fantastic judge of young talent.

 

Bob Hartley is brought in to coach, he is known as no nonsense and does a great job of developing kids.

 

The ping pong balls fall right and we get the first pick and draft Rasmus Dahlen who many are saying is the next Erik Karlsson. The team announces that the previous three first rounders, Cholowski, Rasmussen and Svechnikov will learn on the job next year at the NHL level, combining with Larkin, Mantha and Athanasiou to form a solid core of kids.

 

 We find a taker for one or more of our bad contracts, Helm, Abdelkader, Nyquist, one or two of them moved out freeing up cap space.

 

We sign John Tavares to whatever the hell he wants for however long he wants. 

 

  Wake me up July 2nd and let me know if any of this came true, lol.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964 @yave1964

 

Well, so much for the ideal offseason. Ken Holland is GM for the next two seasons. It’s NOT going to be the complete revolution you have ordered. Having said that, I DO wonder how much influence Mike Ilitch had on KH’s decisionmaking. It is hard for me to believe that KH was being prevented from doing the right things for the franchise. 

 

But I agree with you completely on the other stuff. Much of this we have discussed before, particularly Hartley. I love that idea. I think it would be quite a good thing for Holland to go out and get the coach that Scotty Bowman has called the best coach he ever coached against. Scotty is no longer officially advising the Red Wings, but you can still pay attention to what he said.

 

If you’re smart.

 

I LOVE the Tavares idea too, but obviously it would require losing a key player to make enough cap room to fit him, but if we can do it, BY ALL MEANS!!

 

I don’t even want to talk about Dahlin. Our odds are gonna be less than 1 in 10, so I don’t even want to set myself up for a letdown. Imagine the  “disappointment” we would have if we won the SECOND pick. Soooo close! Not that it would be bad, of course.

 

Truthfully, we have ZERO control over whether we get Dahlin or not. I’d rather ya focus on the things over which we DO have control. That matters to me more. As far as I’m concerned, Dahlin would be a HUGE bonus. It certainly might attract a guy like Tavares, though. IF we could afford him. Not sure we could afford both.  Be fun if we could.

 

Gus who? Darren who? ;-D

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

...aaaaand now to find out that Jeff Blashill will continue as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. Confirmed by Ken Holland today.

 

What do you think the odds are that we get NONE of the things you hoped for?

 

To be fair to Blash, he can’t be expected to make a decent chicken salad out of chicken poop. Where we are now has more to do with KH than it does with Blash.

 

I’m more upset that NOTHING seems to be changing than I am that Blash didn’t get fired. Tatar and Mrazek being traded CANNOT be the only significant change before next season.

[yave1964]

@SpikeDDS

 

Oh, damn.

 

  I was a fan of Blash who won a Calder Cup with the Griffins but the Wings seem to be just putting in their time under him waiting on the real coach to arrive. It looks like one more year of the same, Holland said he hopes the Wings will contend within a couple of years, actual quote, a couple of years. Blashill to his credit said the opposite, as players and coach they have to go into next year thinking they can win but oh, wow, it looks like another lost season on the horizon.

 

  Still holding out hope for the draft and maybe free agency.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

What's hard to know is how much Blash is attempting to teach playing the right way. He talks a good game, when it comes to that. But in either case--whether the issue is that he isn't teaching it as much as he SAYS he is or whether he is and he really isn't being listened to--in Larkin's case, we ARE definitely seeing development into a solid 2-way player, IMHO. But the jury is still out on Mantha and AA. Bert seems to be coming along nicely. I have a feeling he IS trying to teach it.

 

So is the problem that he is connecting with some and not others? Is the problem that some just aren't going to change their game right now no matter how well the new ideas are presented? That some just need more time to mature? Hard to say. At best, it's inconclusive.

 

Remember that Paul Coffey was traded away to bring in Brendan Shanahan by Scotty Bowman because he refused to conform his play to Scotty's left wing lock system. He was a great player, but refused to change his game. Mantha is no Paul Coffey, but he does have the choice to change his game or not, just like Coffey.

 

But the list of players who have come through GR under his leadership who are "good" players that never became great is long! Is it because we didn't have "great" players to begin with? Very possible. Larkin was the first high-first-rounder in a while, but he skipped right to the NHL. He's only had Blash...AND Z! Does that make a difference? I think so.

 

And if you read my other post, would a similar pathway benefit Rasmussen, allowing him to learn under Z while he's still playing to learn how a great pro works and thinks on and off the ice?

 

I honestly think that bringing him up quickly is more of a help than a hurt. It's probably a little quicker than ideal, but losing Z's input and leaving all the teaching to Blashill and "good" but not "great" players will hurt him more--and us too. I think there would/will be a HUGE difference between Blashill trying to do it on his own vs. teaching it with Z modeling it and teaching it too. HUGE!

 

And once Z is gone, who do we have to take his place as the seasoned veteran who due to his experience commands respect like he does? Dunno.

 

So if they are sticking with Jeff--and I said before that I have less problem with keeping him vs. KH at the GM spot--then the thing that has to change are the players. Bring the young ones up and get them learning the game right. Next season will hurt for sure if they do it. But that is far better than the season after Z retires being horrible, whenever that might be. It's not gonna be good when he goes, but I don't want it to be rock bottom either. We need verifiable evidence of guys playing the game the right way BEFORE Z leaves, and if Blash can help make that happen, fine.

 

I will say this categorically: Forgetting wins and losses next season, if there is not significant evidence that the young players are starting to "get it" by the trade deadline next season, there is NO WAY--ZERO CHANCE--that Blashill should continue at the helm after that season. I say bring up the kids, throw them at the wolves, take your licks, but teach and see what sticks to whom.

 

And I'm not even going to THINK about Dahlen.

 

Not at all....

 

(Wonder how long I can hold off?)

[yave1964]

@SpikeDDS

 

When Scotty Bowman was coaching the Blues in the late sixties he famously told his disgruntled team, "I know a lot of you guys want me to reshuffle the deck but there are only so many ways to shuffle two's and three's." That about sums up the Wings.

 

  We have no blueline talent. None. Green is likely gone but he was a 2nd pair guy playing top pair minutes alongside a guy with one knee. 

 

 Goaltending is average to below average with nothing in the pipeline, maybe a couple of decent prospects that are three years out if they develop.

 

 Our forwards are our strength but taking an honest clinical look:

Larkin is a middle six center, a damn good 2C but I doubt he is ever going to be a 1C.

Mantha is a middle six winger and power play guy.

Athanasiou shows glimpses and then disappears.

Bertuzzi was greatbut the truth is he is a third line winger.

Zetterberg is an aging 2C playing top line minutes out of default.

Abdelkader anywhere above bottom six is punching above his weight class.

Nyquist is a 2nd pair winger who is allergic to contact with the opposing team.

Svechnikov was God awful this year at GR, did not deserve his callup and was worse with us andwe are hoping he is not a bust.

Nielsen, solid 3C, nothing more. Helm very good 4th liner,okay third liner, bad anywhere else. Glendening good penalty killer.

 

 So good bunch of forwards but no top line talent, Larkin might be but every year that he isn't is another year that looks like he never will be, same with Mantha. None of the rest really deserve to be in conversation for anythingbeyond the second line. Just a bunch of nice okay players. We could win with them if we had elite goaltending and elite defense but we don't and it is ugly.

 

  Probably no harm in keeping Blash, Holland sounds like he is writing next year off already so it probably don't matter.