DetroitRedWings1993

Every time I defend Howard, he just makes me look like a fool. I'm not even going to bother. Just praying that we at least make the playoffs.

Because he has one goal in the past 18 games. He's fallen off the face of the Earth. Looking more and more like another Franzen every day. I hope a full offseason helps him.

Problem is, everyone behind us is already hot. Edmonton and Nashville have been replaced by Dallas and Phoenix.

This team can't control themselves on the ice, let alone their destiny. With how they're currently playing, it'll be a miracle if we finish the season higher than 11th.

Need to have effort to be creative. This team gives an embarrassing effort every night. They ought to be ashamed of themselves...honestly. Columbus deserves our spot so much more than us it sickens me.

He'll sort his s*** out. A full offseason of workouts and training camp will do wonders for him. He's basically had to make it up as he goes. He's seen the league now and knows what it's all about. Count on him to be stockier and more consistent next season.

I hate to say I told you so... I love Helm. The prototypical bottom-6'er. Very valuable. Does a lot of the dirty work that most just aren't willing to do. He's such a little firepisser. I love that about him.

Suter and Parise were always going to play together in Minnesota. Parise wanted to go home, and Suter wanted to go with Parise. There's nothing Holland could've done about that. He can't force Parise and Suter to want to play in Detroit all of a sudden. They became joined at the hip and hitched their wagon to the Wild, for better or worse. That being said, the team failed to acquire anything of substance after they knew they wouldn't be getting Suter and Parise. It was a domino effect. All the "plan-B" players were already gone by the time Detroit knew they lost out on both players. Brunner has been a nice surprise, and Tootoo has been doing his job admirably. The rest of Holland's band-aid box...not so much.

He's got a lot of baggage and just isn't the player he used to be. Not worth the money.

Totally agree, and you make an interesting point about Kronwall. I have to disagree with one-year deals to vets. We need to be honest about this youth movement if we really want to install one. Everyone who's ready should have every opportunity to make the team. That means that we need less veteran plugs. We need less of guys like Cleary, Samuelsson, Colaiacovo and Bertuzzi and more guys like Andersson, Tatar, Nyquist, Smith, Lashoff and DeKeyser.

This is what teams that are saturated with bottom-6 forwards, are too old, are gutless and soft, don't work hard and haven't had a good draft pick in 21 years look like. It's just how it is. It got this way because we've lost 3 top-4 defenseman in the last 3 seasons and haven't been able to replace them with, at the very least, something close. It got this way because, instead of leaving roster spots open for prospects this season, signed Tootoo (although I've loved his play) and Samuelsson. It got this way because the patchwork defense has mostly failed, as it was destined to, and Howard isn't able to allow 1 goal or fewer every night. It got this way because our forwards are simply unable to generate offense any longer. This is what we are now. We're in a rebuild, and this is what that feels like. It hurts that the glory days are over, but they are. It's time to let the streak go and start managing in the 21st century.

The only kinds of teams who are on the downslope that don't eventually come back are those that have incompetent management who waste draft picks and make bad trades that hurt the long-term viability of the team. While I do not agree with everything Ken Holland has done, he is far from incompetent. And no, we do not need to ask him to retire or fire him. That's absurd. Installing a new regime now would only set the rebuilding process back. This is what happens when your roster turns over and you haven't had a good draft pick for 21 years. No team can perpetuate that kind of success. It just doesn't work that way. This is what a rebuilding team looks like, and we had better get used to it.

Oh, the fun of puns! I say to re-evaluate our position on Smith and you say move him to forward! I love it! And that is not sarcasm. Seriously. I'd love to see what he could do at forward, but he has too much potential as a defenseman. He's really the only one in our system that has #1 ability. Sproul and Ouellet are great #2 options for the future, but Smith is the big dog in that race.

I'm excited to see what DeKeyser can do. It's high-time he got some playing time.