Robbie Moore

February 9th, 2017 at 10:59 PM ^

...a bad combination of mediocre defense, uninspired goaltending, overpaid nonentities at forward, young players not growing, miserable power play, nothing special coaching and a GM who has seen better days. 

Joined: 12/01/2008

MGoPoints: 46320

Skiptoomylou22

February 9th, 2017 at 11:24 PM ^

Pretty much it. I've also never seen a team give up so many goals in one season less than 7-minutes into the first period. Some pretty uninspiring deadline aquisitions as well in Zidlicky, Erik Cole and David Legwand. The young players not growing also leads back into missed opportunities for trades. Guys like Jurco, Tatar, Nyquist, Mrazek, Oullett, Sheahan, Pulkinnen, etc, all would have yielded some pretty good talent if they were shopped sooner but by letting them play it out, that value isn't as high as it once was. Obviously nobody could have forseen that, I for one was a big supporter in keeping them all but 20/20 and such. Throw in all the misses of the Parises, Suters, Myers, and so on and so forth in free agency.

Luckily, we have some very very talented young pieces in Mantha, AA and Larkin that they can build on if they decide to shake it up eventually. Gotta at least think about calling Claude Julien. Love my Wings but it is just soooo hard to watch of late.

Joined: 11/29/2008

MGoPoints: 11778

Sam1863

February 10th, 2017 at 6:27 AM ^

Would have to be the 85-86 team. Led(?) by Harry Neale and then Brad Park to a record of 17-57-6, they scored the fewest goals, gave up the most goals, and had the most penalty minutes in the NHL - a real triple threat (to themselves).

The Dead Wings' Plus/Minus champ was defenseman Randy Ladouceur with -54. Their entire +/- category looks like a list of December temperatures in Anchorage.

Joined: 04/27/2014

MGoPoints: 29076

WorldFlyer747

February 9th, 2017 at 11:22 PM ^

The Wings need to sell at the deadline, get what they can as far as prospects, fire Holland, and call Yzerman home. He has proven that he can win in Tampa as well as with team Canada. It's time to bring someone in who can operate effectively in a league that is set up for parity.

Joined: 11/20/2015

MGoPoints: 602

Pepto Bismol

February 10th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^

Tampa went to the Cup Final in 2015. They went to the Conference Final in 2016.  This year they have 54 points, tied with Detroit at the bottom of the conference.  If they miss the playoffs as it appears they will, that means TB will have missed the playoffs 3 of the 6 years Yzerman has been there.

Nothing against Yzerman. I love that guy. But his teams miss the playoffs, too.  I'm honestly not sure Red Wings fans are aware of that.

 

Joined: 02/03/2015

MGoPoints: 7857

goblueram

February 10th, 2017 at 11:13 AM ^

I would say that Tampa's roster (GM control) is set up much better for success than Detroit's though.  The Wings are performing at about the level expected given the talent sadly.  But the Bolts are underperforming at a crazy level this year (coaching?)

Joined: 08/18/2009

MGoPoints: 11701

Skiptoomylou22

February 10th, 2017 at 2:43 PM ^

A lot of Tampas season has been attributed to injury but their roster is still crazy talented up and down. They had 12 players selected for the World Cup and were my pick to win the cup before the season started. Even their third and fourth liners know (or knew I suppose) how to get the puck in the net. They are definetely one of the stranger stories in this NHL season, but I would love that roster in Detroit.

Joined: 11/29/2008

MGoPoints: 11778

TB12

February 10th, 2017 at 12:22 AM ^

It was bound to happpen. We were lucky to land Pavel and Z late in the drafts, otherwise we would have had to rebuild a long time ago. Just look at what's happened to the Colorado Avalanche since Sakic and Roy retired. I'm actually looking forward to a rebuilding process, especially if Holland is gone. It would be nice to have a young up and coming team like in the late 80s. Those teams had no shot at beating the Oilers, but it was fun watching Yzerman grow and become a leader.

Joined: 01/25/2017

MGoPoints: 575

Michifornia

February 10th, 2017 at 12:33 AM ^

But bound to happen.  This team, after Yzerman, was built on genius lower round drafts and deadline deals.  And having some of the best players to ever play (Stevie, Sergei, Lidstrom, Datsyuk) their entire careers (save Fedorov) with the Wings.  Never getting blue chippers in the draft and having some guys retire with good years left has put the Red Wings in this situation.  I hope that if we don't make the playoffs we get a top draft pick and can rebuild.

Die hard Wings fan for 40 years and always hopeful.  But it is hard to watch this year.

Joined: 10/03/2013

MGoPoints: 13813

stephenrjking

February 10th, 2017 at 2:12 AM ^

What a sad and bizarre way to close out the Joe. And the new arena might find itself characterized early by silence and empty seats. The article is quite good, and there is nothing encouraging to read about the team at all. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20144019

Wolverine In Iowa

February 10th, 2017 at 8:06 AM ^

The Wings ran into a buzzsaw last night, though it took until the third period for that saw to start working efficiently.  The Caps are no joke.  Not only do they score seemingly at will, but they have two good keepers now...which is nice.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 10767

mgowild

February 10th, 2017 at 9:23 AM ^

Drafting well is so important in the salary cap era. Teams who are successful have a lot of talent that they drafted and developed. Gone are the days where Detroit had an advantage scouting European prospects and could wait for them to develop while they signed whatever big name free agents they wanted. 

There's a cool website that tracks the NHL draft results, you can view by draft year or by team, but it shows every pick and gives any stats accumulated in the NHL.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/

Here are Detroit's draft results:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/draft.html

The big problem for Detroit is because of this playoff streak, they haven't had access to the most talented players in the draft since they're often picking in the last half of the first round. Compounding the problem is they haven't been as successful at finding or developing guys in the later rounds. Add in years of free agent acquisitions who don't live up to expectations, and you end up with the 2016-2017 Detroit Red Wings.

 

Joined: 08/10/2016

MGoPoints: 1631

m9tt

February 10th, 2017 at 12:03 PM ^

Play the kids, Blash. This is an unpopular opinion (probably because he's a Michigan kid), but Danny Dekeyser is atrocious. He can't skate, has zero the offensive instincts, and routinely gets manhandled in the defensive zone. For as much hate that Kyle Quincey earned over the last few years, I'd take him in a heartbeat over DD right now.

Joined: 06/16/2015

MGoPoints: 3692

lilpenny1316

February 10th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^

Dekeyser has really fallen off and Ericsson is just an abomination back there.  Our PP is somewhere around 11% which is like historically bad.  If that was up to 15% or 16%, they probably have a few more wins and in a wild card spot.  That goes to show how important special teams are.  Back when we were humming, teams feared putting us on the PP.  Now, we're lucky to not give up a shorthanded goal.

Joined: 11/19/2009

MGoPoints: 61859