i don't think the wings will be THAT bad. they still have datsyuk, zetterberg, franzen, filppula, kronwall, howard, bertuzzi, holmstrom, etc.
they just signed tootoo to whoop some ass. have a legit shot at semin. russians do well in detroit. they're still a solid playoff team IMO, but the D needs some work. lidstrom did so much for them. should be interesting to see what happens over the next few years. i don't know much about their prospects.
and the city of detroit sucks a lot of ass, but there are a lot of nice suburbs
but i'm also very glad they didn't pick up parise, suter, or carle. the wings definitely will not be as dominant as the wings i grew up with. good news lol
Losing Lidstrom will do more then just hurt them stats wise, they lost their leader off the ice, their heart and their soul are gone as well, plus they haven't replaced him on the ice. Some of those guys Bertuzzi 37, Holstrom 39, Datsyuk 33, have their best years behind them.
Losing Lidstrom will do more then just hurt them stats wise, they lost their leader off the ice, their heart and their soul are gone as well, plus they haven't replaced him on the ice. Some of those guys Bertuzzi 37, Holstrom 39, Datsyuk 33, have their best years behind them.
I think what this shows is that Detroit is no longer a top free agent destination...and outside of drafting well, thats their bread and butter...
Once players start saying no to Detroit, it will become more and more, and this team will start to struggle...I mean they have been a playoff team for like 20 something freaken years, its time for them to hit the bottom for a few seasons....and though I think they will still be formidable, and they have some solid youngsters, this team is in a complete turn around process before our eyes...
Chicago is a better team than our first round exit this year made us out to be. A few coaching modifications may be all we need as long as Crawford improves.
I can't believe there is so much angst about losing in the first round last year. It was a tight series where the first 5 games went to OT and the 6th was dominated by the Hawks for the first 45 minutes. After their Cup win in 2002, the Wings lost in the 1st, 2nd, and 1st round the next 3 seasons and that last season they had 124 points. Instead of panicking, they went to the WCF the following season and won the Cup the next.
Yeah, can we stop pretending that the West and the Central is stacked beyond competition for us? As I've said elsewhere, I'm confident in our chances of getting at least 2nd in the Central and maybe 5th in the West, which is a good position no matter how you look at it. On top of that, a lot of playoff teams got worse this past offseason, including Detroit, Nashville, and especially Phoenix (who might be getting still worse before it's all said and done), so the Hawks have relatively already gotten better just by essentially staying at the status quo.
Landing Suter or Parise would've been amazing and really helped us out in a big way next season, but I don't think you can accurately say that our inability to land them is a breaking point. As it is right now, I like our chances to not only make the playoffs, but to make it out of the first round. And after that, who knows what could happen?
I don't like their contracts that much... High high Cap Hit when they are 35 and still able to play in the NHL
That's exactly why I wasn't too high on getting them. Yeah they would have made us better, but with the cap hit they limit what we can do with the rest of the team, and set a precedent that our other stars think they will get when they resign. I wouldn't have really complained if we got either/both, but I preferred we didn't and signed a few cheaper pieces to help us compete a little more while still leaving a little room to work.
