Jason_R

It’s easy to conclude that if they tanked their draft position would have been better and the rebuild would have gone faster but maybe not. How is it working out for Chicago so far? And we know as well as any franchise that tanking is not a sure thing. Looking back at Holland’s drafts is infuriating. It is astonishing how frequently and how badly he missed. A dozen players picked after Evgeny Svechnikov in 2015 outperformed him. Would you like to have Sebastian Aho right now? In 2016, Tage Thompson and Alex DeBrincat went after Holland picked Dennis Cholowski. In 2017 they could have had Martin Necas or Nick Suzuki instead of Rasmussen, not to mention trade targets Robert Thomas and Jason Robertson. We all know how Zadina worked out, and again we could not pull together a trade to get a player that Ken Holland could have had in the draft. Yes, it is easy to second guess draft picks, but if we are going to second guess Yzerman, we need to do the same for Holland. In most of these seasons Holland had his choice of multiple players who have turned into good to excellent NHL contributors. If Holland had even gotten two of these drafts right this year’s Wings would be a playoff team.

Fans may want to believe Copp and Compher were signed to help take the next step, and if that next step was from the basement of the NHL (17 wins, .275 points percentage in 2019-20) to the mushy middle, maybe those fans are right. But they were most certainly not signed to be the straws that stir the drink. They are still on the roster because their contracts are not expired. I have said before, the market is the market, and the market means you pay too much in dollars and in term, especially if you are a basement dweller. It sucks to suck. They are also still on the roster because nobody has stolen their jobs. I’m sure there have been times where Stevie would have liked nothing more than to trade away Compher and even retain salary but he couldn’t because nobody was ready for his minutes. And they are still on the roster because Stevie was more realistic than fans about how bad the roster was and how long it would take for the kids to be ready. They have done their job, which is to eat minutes and years for a rebuilding franchise. There is no glamor in it, no glory, but the pay is good.

Brad Holmes needs to take out an ad in the Detroit Free Press, right next to a Carlos Monarrez article, saying, “Larry Borom is our starting left tackle. We will not be drafting a tackle at pick 17. Also, we will soon publish our full draft board alongside a compilation of the best work from Rob Parker.”

And Borom was as good as Decker was last year. It would not be ideal if he ends up the starter, but with an upgrade at center and the depth they have added, the OL will be much improved even if Borom starts. Which he won’t, because they will draft their new tackle for the next ten years in the first round, and the tackle depth is deep enough that they might be able to move back from 17 to do it.

They were not misses. They always were average players signed at market prices to fill out the roster while the talent pipeline was restocked. The market is the market. This is why Yzerman does not want to build a team through FA. But it’s time now for the prospects to do something. Finnie is a great story. Kasper needs to produce. Danielson and ASP and MBN need to produce. Either on the ice or in a trade for a top line forward.

kasper, danielson, ASP, MBN all had the chance to give the roster a jolt. Nobody has done it.

IIRC JVR had a deflection chance go off the post.

Disappointing. Another game they get a goal disallowed by inches. Multiple posts. Some great chances turned away. Some questionable calls. But they just aren’t that difficult to play against. They aren’t abrasive.

Yeah if they get run out of their own rink by a team with all these injuries, they’re done.

Well, that might be it for the playoffs.

All true. The most alarming thing in my view is that they are the only legitimate contender in the East that has allowed more goals than they have scored. They are a -3 as of today. Defensively they have been solid, tied for 5th in the conference for goals allowed but they are one of the lowest scoring teams in the East. None of this is a surprise. There is a reason they’ve been on the outside. They’ve tightened up their team defense a bit this year, going from about 3.2 goals allowed per game to under 3. Offense hasn’t been much better, though. This season was always about internal growth. I believe Stevie was in on Thomas and Pettersson at the trade deadline but believes his options would be better in the offseason. I expect he will get one forward this offseason who will move the needle. This season they will scratch and claw to get in.

It was good to get Copp back. It will be better to get Larkin back. It looked like he was a full go at practice and is now a gametime decision. The Boston game was disappointing. They outplayed Boston. They had one goal waved off by a fraction of a second. Swayman stood on his head. Somehow Boston ended up with 1:53 of a two-man advantage AND a penalty shot. I still think Detroit gets in.

The fact that ASP made the team out of camp was partly an indication of how much talent he has, but it was also an indication of a lack of depth at the blue line. Especially now that Faulk is here, ASP needs to go to Grand Rapids, get some heavy ice time, and get some playoff experience.

Pissing off the fan base is inevitable and has already happened. But nobody knows how the CBA situation will work out. Almost anything could happen in a situation like this. I don’t blame Ilitch for not wanting to be the first and last owner to sign a pitcher to a $400 million contract.

I agree that the CBA and potential work stoppage are factors that are influencing this process. If you are Boras, you are advising your client to test the market before a salary cap is possibly introduced. If you are Ilitch, you are not going to bid against yourself in a situation where mega contracts may become obsolete. Finally, I don’t believe for a second that Boras is in charge of Skubal’s decision. One does not become the best in a highly competitive field by being stupid, lazy, or passive. Skubal will make his own decision.