OT: Red Wings will sign Blashill to multi-year extension
Why the hell are they trying to achieve? Why haven’t they hired Yzerman yet?
Stevie is still under contract with TB until June.
But this seems like the "one year's severance" deal they gave Holland last year.
Of course, their current mini-run has virtually eliminatedl them from any real shot at Hughes or Kakko.
Never really know. The Devils moved from 5th to 1st in ‘17 lottery... it’s rare but not impossible.
idk what it is with these Detroit sports teams. But they seriously do not know how to win or lose properly. Speaking of the wings, to drop in the lottery as they have because they keep winning is just mind boggling. It makes no sense. I get that the kids want to win and all but seriously a 5 game winning streak. Where was this before they were eliminated from the playoffs. Good luck with the 6th or 7th pic in the draft... Goodbye Hughes and Kakko
Dumb statement. Not only do they want to win, they want to show what they are capable of so they can continue to play in the NHL. Do you think young players give a shit about another young player who may take their spot?
Young players are playing for their job/roster spot. They don't give a shit about tanking.
This whole tanking idea is nonsense. How exactly do you get professionals to buy into it? They get paid for performance and character. The Wings have some young players with skills and pride who are playing for their first big contract.
You keep speaking of the players having pride and whatnot and that's fine. I wished theyd show that earlier in the season. I understand what you're saying. I'm not advocating the players "tank" but moreso management. There are other ways to lose games than players blatantly throwing in the towel. Calling up more AHLers, sitting Larkin for a few more games when he had back issues, messing with the game lines, etc..
I keep hearing names on lines I've never heard of. Other than giving these young players their chance, I'm not sure what management can do outside of a NY Knicks kind of situation.
Agree that players can’t be expected to give anything less than full effort. You should want that from anyone playing.
But it’s up to management and coaching to set lineups to develop younger players and rest veterans especially those with nagging health issues. Call it passive tanking if you want, but it’s pretty irresponsible to do anything else. It’s frustrating all of our pro teams seem content to be mediocre.
Don’t want them to be champions again? That’s ridiculous, IMO...
Agree. They had s 25 year run. And we stop supporting our team when they lose? Future corporate leader.
We’ll probably ended up picking 4th-5th instead of top 2 now that we’re winnjng meaningless games. Feels like deja vu. We were literally in the bottom two almost the entire season. What a shame.
Big time shame. It's really annoying. Imagine adding a hughes or kakko to this team. They'd be set for the next 10 years. But lets win our last 10 games so we can gain "momentum". So stupid
Agreed and its Hollands fault. When Larkin got hurt a few weeks ago it would have been the perfect time to completely shut him down for the year. Instead they're shitting one of the top slots away.
This team is full of stupid. Good for the kids playing their asses off but we these wins should have come earlier in the year to be meaningful.
My feelings exactly. Even if they didnt want to shut down Larkin because it would've sent a bad message then at least let him sit for a few more games. Whatever, i dont even know what to say about this team. Its depressing because i love hockey, especially playoff hockey.
Adding Hughes and were set for ten years? Yeah, right. I see where McDavid and Eickel have led their teams on long playoff runs. You think Stevie Y would tank? That man is too competitive and has too much pride.
They should have went after Gallant when he was available.
No fucking way!!! Where the hell is Stevie Y to fix this shit???
Stevie Y is arguably the most intense, competitive player I have ever watched. And just the same as an executive. You think he would tell his coaches and players to quit on a season? You think he would want the young players who are the first wave of the rebuild to do anything but play with passion and heart?
The dude even pisses with intensity...standing in the urinal next to him (worked for the Lightning for a little while a few years ago) was so intimidating, I had to wait for him to leave before I could get a stream going.
March 30th, 2019 at 11:04 PM ^
Who said anything about tanking? You didn't see it in my post... Why the hell is Blashill being retained? He's done nothing but lose since he took over. Some of it wasn't his to fix, but he's made some, ahem, questionable game management calls all his own. Blashill should be done, and Yzerman would find a better replacement than Holland would have. Holland is past his time...
Ken Holland = LLoyd
I don't think Blashill is really a problem. They just don't have enough pieces. Just like Babcock was never the problem.
Yeah, I don't get the anti-Blashill crowd. He's a placeholder and is good at developing youth. As soon as the Wings field a competitive roster, they'll dump Blashill for a competitive coach. Why waste an expensive, high-level coach on a roster that doesn't stand a chance at a Cup.
Same thing with Gardenhire and the Tigers.
Is he good at developing youth? What exactly are you seeing to back that up?
I see a lot of the young guys getting minutes because they have to. Are they getting noticeably better? Basically the entire list of our top point getters are the older guys, Larkin, and AA.
And if there are good coaches out there potentially, why would you just hold to some guy because he's a place holder?
Rats, that band of AHL'ers was just one rabble-rousing coach away from taking us to the state final.
The team is going to suck indefinitely, not really sure what there is to get upset about. There are teams that have been garbage for longer, have a lot more pieces, and are still trying to claw their way back. The Wings are nowhere close. Even if every single one of their current prospects (actual prospects, not warm bodies/hobbits playing defenseman for the Griffins) hit, that doesn't even really fill out a contender's team sheet.
Trotz has easily less talent this year in New York and worse goaltending than blashill has had the last three years. They’re second in the metro, blashill is leading us back to our third straight lottery.
Islanders have gotten great goaltending this season, like the best in the league. A lot of that could be coaching and defense, but if the Wings magically had that save percentage they'd probably be in the playoffs too.
It’s because of the style they play. Much like teams in the mold of the 2011 bruins. Made Thomas look wayyy better than he really was.
This is where I'd like to point out that Lehner wanted to sign with us, and Holland chose Bernier instead.
People will hate this extension, I am sure, but I don't think Blashill is necessarily the issue, or at least not the most pressing one. In watching this season, it just seems like we're several players / drafts away from contending again.
I disagree. The team has had talent the past four years, actually more than babcock had in the 2012-2015 era. Blashill’s style works in gritty leagues with gritty players. College and the the AHL are perfect examples. Not nearly as much skill. The NHL has the most skill in the world and requires you to match it every night. Tampa’s players individually are actually really overrated except point and sergachev. But cooper has them playing a perfect system for the players yzerman got. Kucherov on any other team is probably a 60 point guy max, Unless he plays with McDavid or Crosby.
Thats also why Tampa generally loses in the playoffs to teams with more talent that dont play the same system. Once teams like Pittsburgh and Washington get used to playing against it and only have to gameplan for Tampa as opposed to multiple teams a week for a regular season, they shut it down and Tampa gets exposed. Even though the series went long, the bolts got thoroughly dominated their last two playoff appearances once they faced teams with more talent. If cooper coached one of those two teams, they’d be virtually unstoppable.
A good example of how blashill is the problem is if you look at the islanders and how trotz was able to transform them. The wings easily have more talent than New York yet one is bottom five and one is second in the metro. The breakout, power play, in zone coverage and offensive zone cycle game have been atrocious since blashill’s first year. With a new coach, I would guarantee a playoff birth next year barring a barrage of injuries.
March 31st, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
JA, Helm, Kronwall, etc....aging players on longer than practical contracts are what have held the team back. Transition is easier when your GM doesn't give out these contracts that act as an albatross, delaying/preventing the rebuild. For such a bad coach, Team USA sure seems to think Blashill can develop players. And just to point out, AA and Mantha were having major effort issues, until Blashill laid it out for them. Coach has his flaws, but the roster/contract management doesn't fall under his scope, that was all Holland.
Plus hockey isn’t like other sports. You’re not far away from contention unless you’re Ottawa and trying to save money instead of win. Teams jump in and out of the playoffs every year. Once the playoffs start, anything can happen. People get too caught up and think it works like the NBA or NFL. But it doesn’t. Hell the leafs got Matthews and brought up marner the same year and went from worst to playoffs.
I'm so apathetic about the Wings right now that I don't even care anymore.
Fine. The roster won't be ready to contend for years and that's assuming we nail every draft pick and free agent signing. We dont have any defensemen. We're missing a full top line of elite forwards. The coach doesn't matter. This is a full blown rebuild that wont start tracking until Blashill's NEXT contract is up. Everybody settle down.
They won’t contend? The avs went from 56 points to a playoff birth in one year. Anything can happen once you get there. Get a hot goalie or someone goes on a franzen-esque streak and you will easily contend.
Exactly this. A good coach in hockey is so important. Blashill should have been fired 2 years ago. Guess management likes a half empty barn.
The Wings are in full blown development mode for another 2-3 years. Scotty Bowman couldn’t make the playoffs with this roster.
The Wings have brought up a ton of AHL players in the last month of so, for god sakes Jake Chelios is on the ice now. Look at the other Griffins who have come up this season, Absent bringing up players from the Walleye, I don’t know what else they can do to tank. Defensively they have little blue line talent. They don’t have a superstar on offense.
That being said the Wings do have some talented young players who are slowly becoming NHL caliber players. They aren’t going to lay down and tank as they are playing for their futures. Frankly that kind of character is needed to compete in the NHL.
Last year’s draft was pretty good. They will likely get a Defenseman, Center and Winger who will play in the league. They need a couple more drafts to help and for Holland to leave — his bad contracts are a anchor on the franchise. Stevie coming home can’t hurt — and I have no doubt that he doesn’t want guys in the team that would tank.
Wings have more talent then plenty of other teams. Look at the Islanders. They brought in a good coach and despite losing their best player, play inspired hockey and are making a run. Even if one agrees the Wings lack high end talent, they don’t play together and more often than not don’t put forth the effort. It’s on the coach.
Look at the Islanders goalies...almost a goal a game better than the Wings....Howard isn’t terrible but what he has in front of him as defensemen is embarrassingly bad..they can’t consistently clear the zone or clear the front of the net. Islanders Defensemen > Wings Defensemen....that is a talent not coaching difference.
Right Joel Quenneville is sitting out there and we extend Blash?
Makes a lot of sense....
This would seem to indicate that C. Illitch intends to bring back Holland for at least next year. I don’t see how he would approve this otherwise.
“Well, shit”...?
This is a good move. Blashill is nowhere NEAR the problem of this team. The problem of this team has been Defense for years. They have no one on the roster that’s a true top-pair level defensemen, let alone two of them. Not taking Hughes last year might not have been a good move, no matter how much better Zadina May be as a forward. Only time will tell.
March 30th, 2019 at 10:37 PM ^
I agree with your points regarding the defensemen, but a better coach with a simple system could mitigate some of the risks they chronically take in their own zone.
March 30th, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
What the Wings really need are a few Russians players
As much as I hate the idea of "tanking", it wouldn't bother me at all if the Red Wings revert back to being the "Dead Wings" for the rest of this season. While there's no chance of overtaking Ottawa for the worst record, sure would be nice to move back down to 2nd worst.