I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be posting more analysis on the playoffs, and more content in general, in the near future. With the Sharks’ season ending a few weeks ago I decided to take a brief hiatus from the blog, but I will be back with more content shortly.
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When Raffi Torres’ brutal hit in game-three of the western conference quarter finals knocked Marian Hossa out for the rest of the series, there is no question the Chicago Blackhawks missed his speed and defensive strength on the way to being eliminated in six games. However, when it comes to creating offense and scoring goals, let’s face it, Hossa was not doing much before the hit, either.
In fact, few players have seen their production fall as much in the playoffs in recent years as Hossa has. It might surprise you that since joining the Blackhawks in 2009, Hossa has scored only 5 goals in 33 playoff games, good for a 12-goal pace over a full 82 game regular season. That would be mediocre production for a third-liner, let alone someone like Hossa who gets top power-play time. Even Hossa’s 6 goals in 23 games in 2008-2009 with the Red Wings were relatively poor.
The question is why has Hossa struggled to produce in the playoffs? CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING FULL POST
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With the Chicago Blackhawks having just been eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes, I thought it would be a good time to finish writing a blog I started months ago, which looks at the true reasons behind the Blackhawks’ fall from an elite, Cup-winning roster to one of the many, ordinary and flawed contenders. Enjoy.
Every time I have watched the Chicago Blackhawks the last two seasons, their weaknesses have been obvious to me. Even at their peak, when they still had Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, and Kris Versteeg, they were a team primarily built around finesse, in a league that rewards finesse less and less with every year that distances us from the 2005 NHL lockout. And this current version of the Blackhawks’ roster has only become more dependent on finesse since winning the Cup, while the league climate continues to punish teams that aspire to play a skilled game. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
Fantastic comment DCA and thank you for taking the time to write it. I was aware of RFA-gate in Chicago, although I had never heard the detailed version such as you just gave. My view of that as it pertains to the blog was that, bad as it was, the Blackhawks were still able to win the Cup, and they still had all those players under contract at good cap hits in terms of league-wide value, and thus they were tradable. Meaning., for example, Kris Versteeg at 3M per season obviously was bad for the Blackhawks once they ran out of cap room, and they would have preferred him at 2M per season or whatever it may be, but even at 3M per season he was still a good deal and very tradable.
The same goes for Byfuglien, etc.
So while RFA-gate is a big reason why Stan Bowman was not able to simply keep more of these players on the roster under the cap, RFA-gate does not explain why, once he decided (or was forced) to trade these players, he did not get a significantly better return.
And that’s what the blog focuses on. I guess I take the stance that, whatever Tallon’s mistakes and the problems with the Blackhawks before Bowman got there, they were still in a pretty damn good position. RFA-gate definitely hurt the cap situation, but they were still in a good place. It was not until Bowman came along that everything really went South.
I did not mean to ignore RFA-gate entirely–I thought I’d mentioned it but apparently I didn’t, but the blog focuses more on the personnel decisions that were made after the Hawks won the Cup. I allude to it when I say that I understand Bowman was not in an ideal cap situation, and he had no choice but to trade some players (in other words, the position wasn’t his fault (unless he had something to do with RFA-gate), RFA-gate contributed), however I mention he still should have done so much better.
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Two seasons ago it was the Western Conference semifinals, last season it was the Western Conference semifinals again, and late last night, after only five games, the Detroit Red Wings were unceremoniously eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third year in a row, this time in the first round to the Nashville Predators, and they really did not put up much of a fight.
Nashville deserved to win, as they were the better team, just the latest in a suddenly expanding list of teams that can make that claim about the Detroit Red Wings. And that’s new for the Wings.
Yes, something very, very weird is going on in Detroit, and the time is long overdue to start asking questions CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING FULL POST
I think Holland is afraid to fail. Any long term commitment has its risk–a long term salary cap hit. Just look at Franzen. He’s already not worth his $4m cap hit, yet the Wings are still stuck with him for EIGHT more seasons, which is insane. With players looking for long-term job security (and I don’t blame them), and with young guys like Helm, Smith, and Abdelkader looking for significant raises in the near future, Holland values cap flexibility over star power. The last thing Holland wants is a NYR-Drury/Gomez/Gaborik situation. That said, adding Parise and/or Suter is an imperative for the Wings this coming offseason. Will Kenny do it? With Stuart, Quincey, Holmstrom, and Hudler (combined $11m) coming off the books, I think he’ll be looking to add at least a top-six forward.
You make a great point. I just think I would rather take my shot at putting a great team together than go every year with an okay team, but one that’s low-risk. Zetterberg and Datsyuk are also on long-term contracts, and they are working out. Franzen’s only problem is injuries, anyway. When he’s healthy, even 75%, he’s worth his 4M cap hit. 4M does not go anywhere near as far as it used to in the NHL, that’s actually a very good cap hit for even a semi-healthy Franzen (at least in the regular season).
The other thing, though, is not every contract has to be long term and risky. You can have both cap flexibility and improve the roster. I don’t want to anger Wings fans, I’m not exactly a huge fan of the Sharks GM, but one thing he has done that Ken Holland hasn’t the last few years is improve his team through the trade market, including bringing in elite players, without really taking any risk at all contract wise. 5 year commitments are the longest he has.
That’s the downside to relying on bringing in your elite talent through free agency. The positive is you don’t have to give up any assets, and you will have more control over the cap hit, but any top player is going to want long term now. I personally think its worth it for the likes of Parise or Suter, or rather you just have to bite the bullet. No one knows what will happen 10 years from now. If you have the chance to get a player like that on your roster for next season at an affordable cap hit, you take that guarantee of something great despite the risk (which is not a guarantee) of something bad happening later on.
Overall, I think there plenty of ways to improve a team while managing risk. If Holland has truly been inactive due to fear of making a mistake, that’s just not being a good general manager. This is not a zero-risk business. Every single move has the potential to go bad. You would have to deal in only fourth liners signed to low money low term deals to completely avoid risk. I guess that’s sort of what Holland has been doing hah.
Anyway, there are ways to improve a team while managing risk, and Holland simply hasn’t done it. Even just looking at this past summer’s free agent pool, and it wasn’t the best pool, forgetting all the other trade options we never heard about, Chris Higgins signed for 3.4 million over two years in Vancouver. Even if you had to up that to 5 million over two years to get Higgins to come to Detroit, for a 2.5M cap hit, that’s still a decent deal, helps the forward depth. Michael Ryder just scored 35 goals in Dallas for 7M over 2 years. I’m pretty sure he would have picked Detroit over Dallas for the same price or less. I’m not saying Ryder is the perfect player to fit Detroit’s needs, but adding another 30 goals for a fair cap hit certainly would have been a lot better than what Holland did, which is leave that cap space completely unspent.
Benoit Pouliot is a very low-risk signing the Bruins made, with a cap hit of less than 2M I believe, he’s having a very good playoff.
Tomas Fleischmann has been very good this season. Who knows if he would have wanted to come back to Detroit, and that would have been a higher risk move.
Point is, there were a lot of options, more I haven’t mentioned, just in last summer’s free agent pool. That doesn’t count the two years before in free agency, or all the trade possibilities that we know are out there because other GMs take advantage of them, just not Holland, mostly, although I really liked the Quincey trade for Detroit (until I saw Quincey play for Detroit. Yikes!). But I have to believe he just doesn’t feel comfortable there yet. Once he does he could even be the Wings third best defenseman after Lidstrom and Kronwall (I’m not a Stuart fan).
Here’s the thing: by now I think Holland expected the kids to have HAD more of a chance. Babcock has not given them that and has insisted with stay older guys too long. Brendan Smith was ready this year to play 70-some games. He was not given that chance. Gustav Nyquist and probably Joakim Andersson were also ready. Tomas Tatar has been ready for a shot. This SHOULD have been the transition year fore them. Instead, none of them really played significantly, and only Cory Emmerton but even then with sparing ice-time. When guys like Dan Cleary and Todd Bertuzzi were clearly not earning or deserving their ice-time, Babcock continued to give it anyways and said to heck with the kids and their development.
I think the depth would be there if Babcock had not held back kids the past two seasons, and had given them more NHL ice-time. Babcock’s way is to deny a kid like Jakub Kindl ice-time until he’s forced to give it, and then just throw them out there and blame them when they make mistakes. And then in the playoffs, he uses the excuse of “The kids were too new” to try and play them because he didn’t play them in the regular season when he had the opportunity either.
Ken Holland gave DET the tools to reload from within. That’s even aside from signing any UFA’s and trades. Babcock’s not using them. That’s why I think if Illitch likes Babcock enough, Holland will retire this offseason along with Lidstrom and make it someone else’s problem. Maybe Jim Nill gets his shot, and he does the housecleaning and forces the kids to get their chance. DET has loads of highly-thought-of young talent in the waiting (Jarnkrok, Pullkkinen, Sheahan, Smith, Nyquist, Tatar, Emmerton, Jurco, I could go on). I can appreciate letting some of them spend 2 years or so in the AHL but after that…. they need their shot or there’s no point. The kids need their day and chance. Unless DET gets a coach that will give that chance though, it doesn’t matter who the GM is or what they do, because the coach is not using the assets correctly.
I think both Babcock and Holland deny the kids opportunities by signing guys like Bertuzzi to extensions and having Cleary on his contract for this long, etc. Didn’t need to bring both Eaves and Miller back. The list goes on. Holland sets Babcock up to deny the kids ice-time.
Yeah but all the kids are undersized. The Wings need someone out there to play with some grit and muscle and go to the net, do the little things, win the battles. Not that Bertuzzi does those things. He looked so bad last postseason to me, like he lost his legs and maybe was done for good, took so many bad penalties, but then for a good portion of this season he looked faster again, and when he’s skating, he has talent. In my opinion his achilles heel is his hockey sense, he just does not seem to play intelligent hockey, which really comes back to bite his team during the playoffs, but at least during the regular season when he was skating, he did more good than bad most games I thought.
But then once again, this playoffs, he looks slow again and at best he’s a non-factor, at worse he’s a negative influence.
Cleary, I think like a lot of Red Wings players, just needs to get healthy. There were reports they were draining his knee leading up to the playoffs. Thats no good at all. You’re supposed to be healthy and rested up going into the playoffs. This is actually why I tweeted something about a month ago that got me some flack from Red Wings fans. I said that it seemed like the Red Wings had a really bad medical staff. When a Sharks player gets injured, like Mitchell with his leg or Clowe with whatever he had for the whole season, they’re out until that injury heals, and then they are never out with that injury again. Zero recurring problems with practically anyone.
Maybe the Sharks are just getting luckier, but it seems like more than coincidence at this point because it could not be more the opposite with Detroit. The Red Wings players, it’s like once one of them suffers an injury, they have it forever. Franzen is still missed some games with knee problems this season I believe even though its been two or three years since he suffered that injury and had the surgery. Cleary seems to have a recurring knee thing. The list goes on. I’m not convinced Datsyuk is ever 100% healthy, which makes what he does even more amazing. I remember he had an interview where he said he wasn’t completely healthy last offseason, but he didn’t have time to heal up fully because there were just so many things he wanted to do in the summer.
Honestly, that’s not the best attitude for the team, either. I understand the attitude, and if I were him I might feel the same way for myself and my happiness, my life enjoyment, because who wants to spend any more time than necessary focusing on an injury and rehabbing it? But from the perspective of whats best for the Red Wings, they’re playing largely healthy teams like the Sharks or Preds this year, other teams always seem to be healthier than them, and they could use Datsyuk at 100%. But that’s a topic for another day.
Thanks for the comment! Come back any time and comment on any of the blogs guys.
Primis you make some good points, but how could Babcock ever have passed this off as a transitional year to the fans, or more importantly the veteran players (cough Lidstrom cough), when this is one of Lidstrom’s last seasons? Lidstrom came back with the understanding they would chase the cup, not to break in rookies. Smith, Emmerton, Tatar, Nyquist, you mentioned all these guys, they certainly could have gotten more ice time on the 3rd and 4th lines or Smith in the depth on defense, but none are exactly game-changers, either, not yet.
I think the fact is, this could never have been a transitional year. As long as Nicklas Lidstrom is agreeing to come back to play, and Datsyuk and Zetterberg are still in their primes, it would be a crime to have transitional years in Detroit. Every transitional year during these guys career’s is just wasting a year of some of the best players in history. I wasn’t writing the blog from the perspective of whether Holland was making the best moves to transition the youth of the team, I was writing it from the perspective of whether he was making the best moves to build a Cup winner. Unfortunately for Wings fans it didn’t really work out as either.
As for next year, I think you can hope some of these young guys will have a big impact, but I think they’re still a little ways away. All the forwards you mentioned, especially, are undersized. The league is about size now, if you wonder why I say that I explain it here http://sharkcircle.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/our-game-is-a-joke-right-now/, and the Wings’ undersized prospects are going to need to develop more physical strength while continuing to develop their skill before they can be impact NHL players, I think.
But Smith could break out at any time I think, and I really like Kindl, thought he never should have been scratched for the playoffs. The Wings have a handful of non-physical, very smart and mobile defenseman, like Lidstrom, White to an extent, etc, and a handful of physical, not-so-smart defenseman like Ericsson and Brad Stuart. Then there’s Kronwall who combines both (and Lidstrom does sort of too).
I believe that the Wings really benefitted from having another guy back there who could do both, who could stand up to the physicality that opposing teams bring on the forecheck against Detroit because of his size but without sacrificing that Detroit style game. I think Kindl’s presence and I guess the balance of his game was underrated and underappreciated by Babcock.
Overall, though, I think the prospects you mentioned could all play in the NHL, but I dont expect any of them besides possibly Tatar (havent seen him play in awhile) to make an impact. I think the Wings need to do a lot more than simply decide to play their prospects next season. You’re right, that might not be the best for each of the prospect’s development, although they can still develop very well in the AHL, but as long as Lidstrom is playing and the team is in win-now mode, it’s about what’s best for the NHL team in terms of winning, not about what’s best for each prospect. Hopefully you can achieve both, of course, but Im saying if you have to pick, you do what’s best for the team.
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I still can understand this situation, because we really had those cap problems at summer of 2009 and 2010. There wasn’t room for major moves. Last summer we had room, but the UFA-class was kind of weak. Only Brad Richards was great talent.
But at the summer of 2012, the UFA-class lokks kind of great and the Red wings will have 25 million cap space to be used. If Ken Holland now stands pat, I really start thinkin what a fuck is going on.
But I think they will press the pedal to the medal, look for “Hasek”, “Robitaille”, “Hull” and “Olausson” coming in.
Hank,
I agree, I think you guys are really well positioned for this upcoming free agency period. If there’s ever a window for Holland to come through, this is it.
As for the last few years, I’m not saying he missed any obvious home runs, but there are always players available out there to improve your team with, and other GMs have found ways to improve the last few years while Holland simply hasn’t. And that’s why other teams have overcome the Wings. They get better, the Wings stay the same or get worse, and eventually the balance of power shifts. Holland has not even filled the hole of Mikael Samuelsson. That’s not even improving the roster or hitting a home run, it’s just replacing someone you lost, not even a star, but a 2nd line winger. It’s going on three years now and he hasn’t replaced him. I think that’s what I was writing about, it just seems strange to me. I can’t remember a time before where Holland has been this inactive, and I don’t just mean with acquiring stars, but even good depth or underrated pieces like Samuelsson was for the Wings, Holland doesn’t sign those guys anymore, or sign anyone. At least not lately, I should say, and that’s why I wrote the blog. It’s hard to explain coming from a neutral perspective, but you’re used to the Wings operating a certain way, and I do think the way Holland has stopped making moves almost entirely is very unusual.
Ken Holland is smarter than he is getting credit for on here.
1)With the current CBA it has become much more difficult to trade for talent. Parity rule the Western conference. That means few sellers at the deadline. The draft picks that once were expendable because you simply outspent the competition are valuable commodities. Without those assets it becomes difficult to trade for talent. Instead the strategy is to clear cap space to go after top talent unless you lose and can get a top draft pick (something the Wings even today don’t have a chance at).
2)The CBA is being bargained and Holland was given information from Detroit’s owner. That information is obviously that the cap will be lowered significantly or there will be a lockout. A lowered cap (with an amnesty buyout clause) will hit many clubs. If the cap goes down to levels of even just two years ago: watch out there’s going to be a fire-sale. If not you have enough cap space to hurt divisional teams (esp Nashville with bids on Suter and the next year Weber).
Quincey was let go because the Wings chose to keep Chelios on the team for leadership and penalty killing purposes the year they lost in the Cup finals. Meetch could play forward or defense and was more valuable as the last roster spot on THAT team. Quincey however developed quickly after being given a ten fold increase in ice time. With the Van example the previous Stanley Cup playoff year: you cannot have enough depth on defense (esp true when you have older defenseman) Holland reacquired a defenseman at the deadline. In addition it was a hedge against Lidstrom retiring the following season as Quincey could eat minutes.
AND FYI
The financial restraint isn’t the result of a problem. It is the result of the Wings maneuvering for a new arena. The 30 yr lease at Joe Louis expired 2 years ago. There is no way the Wings will get public financing. The owner is going to build one with his own money (similar to what the old Piston’s owner did). He has already acquired huge parcels of land in two locations. Properties that are dilapidated buildings in the area are now going for millions.
Thanks for the information on the building DCA. As for the other points, I understand what you’re saying, but the fact of the matter is every other NHL GM is facing the same constraints as the Red Wings, many are facing more of them (internal budgets, etc), yet almost every other NHL GM of a contender has improved his roster more than Holland has improved his the last three seasons.
It’s too hard to make trades now? Tell that to Doug Wilson. There is only one reason the Sharks overtook the Wings and were able to beat them two postseasons in a row, and that was Doug Wilson’s trades. This team never had enough horses just based off Wilson’s drafting. Pavelski, Clowe, Couture, etc, they are good players, but alone they would not have been enough. If Wilson hadn’t traded for Thornton, Heatley, and Boyle, gotten them all very cheap, the Sharks wouldn’t have been able to beat the Wings. And Wilson keeps doing it, trading for Burns in the offseason. So even in the current league climate, its doable.
Thats why I dont let Holland off the hook for not being able to do it. If no one else could improve their rosters either in this uncertain CBA climate, I would let Holland off the hook, but other GMs have been able to.
Same goes for free agents. There weren’t good free agents available? The Panthers have gotten huge benefit from Fleischmann, Michael Ryder was great for the Stars, Radim Vrbata for the Coyotes, or smaller name guys like Benoit Pouliot and Chris Higgins were cheap UFA signings that really helped teams’ forward depth.
This is why I can’t let Holland off the hook. I’m not saying he’s an idiot or anything, far from it, but the fact of the matter is a handful of GMs have simply done better jobs improving their rosters the last three or four seasons than Holland has, and that would explain why those teams are overtaking the Wings.
Thanks for the comment!
Written like a true Red Wings fan. Nice article and it touches on many points my Wingnut fans and I have debated. Holland should not get a free pass. One other thing not mentioned in the comments or your article: Ilitch Holdings also owns the Tigers who spent big pizza dough on Prince-Ton Fielder. Mike Ilitch is first and foremost a hockey-man, which makes it tough to see the team sit on $5 million or so during the season and not try to bring in any piece that might improve the team.
I agree somewhat with what your saying about other GM facing the same situation; however, not everything is equal.
you also have to look at those GM’s job security and how some of them mortgaged the future (just like the Blackhawks did previously) to make a run at the cup now. Think of it as the anti-Yzerman Tampa reasoning (where he stock-piled future picks and still kept their core+depth players together). The Wings don’t mortgage their futures to win now. They are patient with player development and often over-ripen players in the AHL that’s why they’ve made 21 straight playoff appearances.
2ndly, the Wings don’t pick as high as some of these other teams to reload (or have trade-able assets to do so) so easily–so again it’s not an equal playing field.
Being frank Wilson is one of those GM’s.
San Jose gave up it’s 1st round picks in 2011, 2009, and 2008. In 2007 they had a top 9 pick to get a talented player (Couture). In 2005 it was a top 8 pick to get Setoguchi. It was a top 6 pick in 2003 since that was the year he was hired not sure you can hold that pick against him (Milan Michalek). But that is where they have the assets to trade from and build a team all things are not equal.
One of the names you mention is Thornton who came from Boston. Boston used the financial flexibility and leadership change from that trade to win the Cup (SJ hasn’t done that and could/will be in real trouble if the Cap is decreased significantly), but in short that trade wasn’t strictly a hockey deal. Heatley killed someone and was traded then became a cancer in that locker-room and was traded again in a non-hockey type deal too. Boyle was also a trade that was made for beyond hockey reasons–it allowed the Lightning to resign their franchise player.
All those deals were smart for SJ, but they have little to show for it as of yet. That speaks to their GM not targeting the right role players. Like I said their cap situation is going to be an issue going forward. They remind me of Chicago the year after it won the Cup by spending over the cap and having their next year’s cap docked by 5M.
Nashville is a similar in that it is one of those teams that mortgaged their future to win now. They have a good reason to do so. They have very little time left with (Radulov), Suter and Weber given their future contracts. The paid a high price to acquire 3 rental players. Their 1st-Round Pick (2012) for a faceoff specialist in Paul Gaustad. Their 2nd-Round Pick (2013) for Andrei Kostitsyn. Hal Gill for their 2nd-Round Pick (2013) and a prospect that just hit the NHL level. Those are some heavy prospects they are going to be missing going forward.
Your point on free agents is kind-of a similar biased argument:
Free agents don’t always go to the highest bidder or best chance to win the cup. Hossa signing with the Wings is the best example of that. So I can’t fault them for not getting some of the top guys. Despite what everyone thinks hockey players can care more about $ than a chance to win the cup. The contract structures some of these players got would never fly on the Wings or other top teams.
Fleischmann was given 4.5M and a full NMC that is an example of a move by a desperate GM (and oddly enough reminds me of the Blackhawks over paying for Brian Campbell and Khabibulin to get people to fill the seats that bites him a few years down the road). Ryder was a great move. Vrbata was given a NMC contract again an issue.
Beyond the contract structures: the Wings bet on Hudler greatly improving (based on his KHL conditioning going away) and Filppula breaking out. They had forward depth at that time (Eaves wasn’t concussed, Helm was also healthy). It was the Wings depth at forward particularly on that 3rd line that carried them the 1st half of the year. However the inability to grab a top 6 guy at the trade deadline is a very fair criticism. The Wings did go out and got the smaller name guys White, Commodore, and Conklin. White had a career year–essentially matching Rafalski for 1/2 the price.
Thanks for reading my comment, but I think Holland is one of the best GM’s in the business. The Wings last 4 seasons includes a Stanley Cup Finals appearance–not many of those other GM’s can say the same. The next year they were able to get to the 2nd round of the playoffs despite losing a 40 goal scorer and a 20 goal scorer (Hossa and Samuelsson) and having to move to a rookie goaltender. The following year they went down 0-3 to SJ and forced a game 7. San Jose is a Western Conf powerhouse as was Nashville this year.
The CBA again will be an issue this off-season. Will GM’s go crazy only to have to release top players through buyouts later this fall? Those GM’s with little job security could be a large issue for the handful of GMs that are considered top-notch.
PS Ilitch is above all a baseball guy (having been a minor league washout). Baseball doesn’t have a hard cap so it’s not the same. Prince’s contract also brought in more money through season ticket and higher ratings…the Wings don’t have much room to grow on either of those areas. It’s not the same business model.
I don’t think Doug Wilson inherited most of those high draft picks. He saw the value in trading up in the 1st round, something Holland never does, and Wilson has reaped the benefits. It goes back to the same point, there are plenty of things one can do to improve the team, plenty of creative ways, and the Red Wings having a 1st round pick that’s usually 2 picks behind the Sharks is not something that I think is enough of an excuse to explain why Holland has been unable to improve the team.
It sure isn’t money!!Ole Mikey owns a casino!!That is a license to print cash!!I think his worth is around 2.8 billion,so I’d have to say it all rests with the front office!PULL UR HEAD OUT UR BUM KENNY and get this train back on the rails!!I hope to see Sutter/Parise here come next season!!
dude worry about your underachieving sharks. Wings have not had a top 15 pick in the last decade and a half have won in that time. Sharks have not made it past the conference when they have been picked to win it all. I will watch what my team does in the summer and not worry about my GM. He has had his success. NHL is set up to reward failure….I guess the Wings need to tank a few seasons and MISS the playoffs.
Jay, I’m a hockey fan and an NHL blogger before anything else. I write about interesting stories around the NHL, interesting angles, and I think what’s happened to the Red Wings the last three seasons is definitely interesting.
I don’t know why, instead of addressing any of the points I made in the blog or giving your own opinion on it, you criticized the Sharks, a team I share no affiliations with.
And I agree about this summer, I expect Holland to awake from his slumber. But that doesn’t explain why he was asleep the last three seasons, unless it’s really as simple as he was waiting for a summer like this next one with a lot of big-name free agents and cap room.
Sorry I have to admit I only made it half way down the ariticle a friend sent me the link & I assumed it was a hatchett job by a Sharks writer to which I am thinking really the Sharks are out also/
You have some valid points and I apologise for not reading this through.
No problem at all Jay and I appreciate your honesty, rare these days. Its a long article, that’s sort of my writing style but I understand it’s not for everyone. And you’re not the first one to react this way, even though this article has gotten mostly positive response from Wings fans, it’s still “I can’t believe a Sharks writer/fan could write this well about the wings.” Unfortunately I think thats unavoidable when my blog is called Shark Circle and it’s obnoxiously teal, I will be seen as a Sharks writer instead of just a writer about hockey.
But I appreciate the apology and come back any time.
This is a pretty interesting article. I’m a Wings fan and I live in the Metro-Detroit area. On the topic of whether or not the Wings are in financial troubles of some sort, I don’t think it is the case, because Illitch seems to not have a problem spending money on the Tigers, and Little Caesars is pretty much rolling deep bankroll wise. So, again, I don’t think it is money. However, there may be some reluctance in Holland, towards both his own failure that could result from a faulty roster move and the Salary cap that makes it harder to correct those faults. I’m not sure, but Holland might not be so intuned with the way the CBA effects the game as we previously thought he was. Because, even though I love Bertuzzi, he’s a good locker room presence for the kids, it just seems like he puts way too much stock in certain players that really have not proved themselves up to scratch. Franzen’s contract, immediately after the fervor that surrounded it had died down, we realized that we would be saddled with a 29 year old inconsitent forward, who vocally despises the regular season, and seems to only care about the playoffs, for the next 11 years (now 8 years) for just under 4 million dollars.
It would’ve been a steal, I think, if Franzen had actually performed the way we thought he would, but he is injury-prone. Holland, in the local press, has made excuse after excuse about this team, and his most famous excuse is the one of “biding time”. And this offseason is definitely the time, more so than waiting another season or two, so that we fall out of contention completely, and Babcock goes onto greener pastures.
Also, the prospects/youth of the Red Wings depth not being used is not even fair to be levied onto Babcock’s shoulders. He does not control roster moves. He is given the pieces that he is given, and he must use them to the best of his abilities. Bertuzzi is not a top six forward. Cleary is not a top six forward. And arguably, we have depth that could fill those positions that they hold (i.e., Nyquist, Brunnstrum, Tatar, Andersson, etc.).
Holland will learn, I think. Or it won’t be long before Nill takes over. Also, another big issue is that of Nick Lidstrom’s seemingly neverending offseason retirement-pondering session that takes longer than it needs to. Nick knows that he realistically could go for a couple more seasons, he is an athletic phenom, but for whatever reason, we have to play this game with him. I’m sorry, but the future of the team must not be contingent on 40-somethings, even if they were the best defenseman outside of Orr. Either you come back, or you don’t. Please make up your mind so that we can plan meticulously next year’s Cup Contender.
Great points Ray. I’m sure it would be ideal if Lidstrom decided right away, but you kind of have to do it his way, whatever it takes to get him back, otherwise Holland is really in trouble. He couldn’t replace Samuelsson so how is he going to replace Lidstrom? Luckily Suter and Weber may be available this offseason so Holland would have an opportunity.
Great points. Like I wrote in the blog, Holland’s inactivity has just seemed unusual to me when you consider this is the NHL’s model franchise, and you would never see inactivity like that from the model franchises of other leagues like the Yankees in baseball. I understand there is no cap in baseball and that’s a big difference, but still. Isn’t there a cap in the NBA though? You would never see this from the Lakers, either. This year might be the one exception, I don’t follow basketball that much, but they at least tried to acquire Chris Paul and almost did. So once again they went after the best player available, and hard, like every model franchise in every sport does, like the Red Wings used to. So why don’t they anymore? That’s what’s unusual.
Franzen, he was good a couple years back, I think he’s had problems not just with injuries, but with adjusting to the tight-checking style of the game. A lot of skill players have had problems with that. Franzen used to stickhandle by people and score these incredible goals, especially in the playoffs, but there just isn’t room on the ice to play like that anymore, and he seems lost. I wrote an article about that phenomenon, why the league is so tight, here if you’re interested more in what I mean. http://sharkcircle.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/our-game-is-a-joke-right-now/
Thanks for the comment Ray.
You provide a lot of valid points and it has been strange to see, but I think one of the things that the Wings management feels is that they want to sign their own contracts, especially in a salary cap era. There’s no denying that a lot of organizations sign guys to some awful contracts and trading for them can handcuff you for years. There were a lot of people in Detroit who wanted Nash, but I wouldn’t touch him. His contract is simply too much. The way the Wings seem to think is to make a splash in free agency where you have control over the negotiations. I was disappointed like many others when we didn’t sign a marquee FA this past season, but when I saw the amounts of money being thrown at some guys I was happy. White though not a legit #2 DMan, is a solid top 4 guy who we got at a bargain and was a pleasant surprise this season. The Wings almost have a #2 by platoon in which Kronwall, Stuart, and White all have the capability to play there.
Another part of me thinks that the entire organization knew this may be a down year for the team and that they will have to make a big splash this summer (Parise or Suter). Both of them would be a cannonball splash, but that doesn’t seem likely. There wasn’t really a player available at the deadline that was going to make this team a contender. They were good, but it was obvious it wasn’t happening this year, so there wasn’t a point in trading prospects. I will admit the trading of Quincey for a first rounder was perplexing. Even more so after how he performed this season.
With that said if we sit on our hands this year again I will have alarms going off left and right. We are certainly spoiled as Wings fans and I don’t expect a Cup every year, but I do expect better than what we have gotten over the past few seasons. With the team eliminated July 1 can’t come soon enough.
Wings Fan, great post. Just a note that you might not have noticed.
Addressing $7M Left in Cap Space: Ilitch owns Little Ceasars, a realty company, the Detroit Tigers, and the Wings. The Tigers did pretty damn well knocking off the yankee, then losing to the the rangers in the playoffs last year. This year, with an already stacked line-up, they made a pretty big 1yr deal for the slugger Delmon Young for ….. you guessed it $6.75M. So one might bring up the question that Holland had the word from Illitch that he wants a World Series Championship, and that the Wings can’t spend that $7M because this is “the Tiger’s” year. Logical? Yes. Why would Illitch do this? I think you nailed it when referring to the Wings getting hit financially. Detroit yada, yada, recession, yada, deteriorating manufacturing, etc. these fans aren’t shelling out money for those new jerseys and the Joe’s season ticketholders are declining. But with the Tiger’s making runs in the playoffs, I am seeing people all over the state buy anything Tigers affiliated. Might just be all business I’m afraid.
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It’s been a crazy first round of Stanley Cup Playoffs action. Here I will offer some thoughts on the events that have stuck out the most to me.
• Is winning everything? The players seem to think so. As a Sharks fan, I have seen more diving and embellishing to draw penalties over the past few seasons than any hockey fan on the planet, or for that matter, soccer fan. It made me lose some respect for my team because I saw it happening night after night to gain an advantage and win important games, while almost all their opponents simply refused to stoop to their level.
Even in the playoffs, when it may have cost the Detroit Red Wings their series against the Sharks in 2009-2010, Lidstrom, Datsyuk and company refused to stoop, refused to start diving back and evening out the huge power-play disparity. In the end, the Wings predictably lost the series, but succeeded in gaining my respect, while the Sharks lost some of it, but won the series, a tradeoff they seemed more than happy with. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
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(1)Vancouver Canucks vs. (8)Los Angeles Kings. Vancouver Canucks win in six games.
The LA Kings’ unique forward mix of cerebral two-way stalwarts, physical power-forwards, and skilled playmakers will cause the Canucks some problems on the forecheck, possibly out-possessing the Canucks for stretches over the series, but in the end, the Canucks superior ability to turn their possession into actual goals will win out. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
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(1)New York Rangers vs. (8)Ottawa Senators. New York Rangers win in six games.
Although I like the Ottawa Senators attack and team-speed throughout their lineup, I think the Rangers are deeper at every position, more physical, and better defensively. It’s not like the Senators have no chance here, but I have to go with the more complete team in this one. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
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Most hockey pundits are predicting a snoozer of a series here, but I actually think it could be one of the most intriguing of the first round, at least for the hockey connoisseur. The Vancouver Canucks are the Vancouver Canucks, a balanced, exciting team with speed and skill galore. And coming in to Vancouver to face them, these are not your great grandfather’s brother’s Los Angeles Kings.
Traditionally, the Kings may not be the most high-flying team, but the additions of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter have brought some different dimensions to the team’s game. The Kings have finally added some star power to their strong foundation of defensive structure and size, and that makes them an intriguing team to watch. If they can get their new-found skill, their physicality, and their poised defensive game all going full-force at the same time, they have the potential to not just beat Vancouver, but be one of the best, most complete teams in the west. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
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With the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche losing last night, the San Jose Sharks clinched a berth in the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The only question that remains now us whether the Sharks will win their division and clinch home-ice advantage in the first round, and who they will play.
There are four possibilities at this point: the Vancouver Canucks, St Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. Let’s take a look at what each of these match-ups could mean for the Sharks.
If the Canucks are the most complete team in the Western Conference when at their best, then the Blues are a close-second, if not tied with Vancouver. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
With the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche losing last night, the San Jose Sharks clinched a berth in the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The only question that remains now us whether the Sharks will win their division and clinch home-ice advantage in the first round, and who they will play.
There are four possibilities at this point: the Vancouver Canucks, St Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. Let’s take a look at what each of these match-ups could mean for the Sharks.
When the Canucks are healthy and running on all cylinders, they are the most complete team in the Western Conference. The past two seasons they have the best record against the Sharks of any team in the Western Conference, regular season and/or playoffs. They are the fastest team top to bottom in the Western Conference, along with the Chicago Blackhawks, but unlike the Blackhawks, their speed does not come at the expense of size, grit, or defensive structure. While the Sharks are still a bigger team than the Canucks, the difference is not as drastic, and their size advantage has not been great enough the past two seasons to make up for all the Canucks’ advantages. CONTINUE READING FULL POST
FYI You may want to add a paragraph about how the Hawks cap was even further squeezed because of another mismanagement.
Skipping the whole sign Hossa to hurt division rival Detroit’s chances going forward, but really limit the team’s already tight cap space going forward argument.
In Summer of 2009 what is known as RFAGate occurred in Chicago.
In last days of June/beginning of July 2009, Chicago failed to tendered contracts properly (contracts were sent by ground courier instead of 2-day air or faxed and therefore not counted as being received prior to the deadline stipulated in the CBA is what I heard) to qualify it’s restricted free agents (RFA): Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Aaron Johnson and Troy Brouwer.
This was brought to the NHLPA’s attention by the agent Allan Walsh who represented Johnson (and previously Martin Havlat–who the Hawks had dumped at the last minutes of a contract negotiation) on Friday July 3, 2009. The NHLPA then filed a grievance.
Before that grievance was heard (and knowing they would lose the arbitration) the Hawks scrambled and signed Ben Eager, Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Corey Crawford and Aaron Johnson to contracts above what they would have gotten as RFA. They then signed Cam Barker for 3yrs x $9.25M. On Wed they signed Versteeg’s to a 3yrs x $9.25M as well (in what was viewed as the most significant overpayment at the time). The did all this so that those players would not be declared unrestricted free agents by a yet to be assigned arbitrator and those players lost for nothing.
Overall, the Hawks had probably paid slightly more (maybe $1-2M more) than what it would have taken for the group as RFA’s (if the paperwork had been properly filed), but this was a huge mistake despite Dale Tallon’s quote at the time was “We’re in good shape and we’re legal,” he said “We’re under the cap.”
So onto the regular season where the Hawks were aware of even larger contract issues going forward (they shuffled players back-and-forth to and from the AHL just to save thousand dollar cap hits): How to sign their big three players coming off EL contracts (Kane, Toews, and Keith). After negotiating an multi-year extension with Keith (one that drew heavy NHL league office scrutiny because they wanted such “cap-cheating” contracts out of the game (Chris Pronger and Marian Hossa’s recent contracts expired well after normal retirement age to get their cap hits down to more reasonable numbers)–the Hawks had 2 more young superstars to sign: Kane and Towes.
Their negotiations in Dec included an issue with the CBA tagging rule (can’t commit more salary to next year’s team than what the cap is currently set at for the then current ’09-10 season) the Hawks now knew they would have to move someone by the deadline to be tagging rule compliant. They wanted to move Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet but found no takers. They then were forced to move Cam Baker to be tag complaint.
As you have pointed out the Hawks won the cup and those EL contracts hit their performance bonus inflators. Meaning those unqualified RFA contracts that cost more than they should have did ended up hurting them.
In addition to that RFA issue: while Huet was sent to the AHL to dump as much salary as possible. But Campbell didn’t have to report due to a NMC (no movement clause at that time which later became a limited no trade clause) in his contract which would have left his salary on the books at the NHL level.