"Less can be more exciting." - Ken Holland

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Well gang, the Red Wings are 2nd to last in the division, Gus Nyquist hasn't scored a goal in about six years, Riley Sheahan is invisible, and they have the 30th ranked power play.

Is this "more exciting" to you in the words of our esteemed GM? 

[kylee 727]

-make the playoffs and anything can happen

-(Player we already have but is coming back from injury) Is our trade deadline accession

-The Streak

-We like our team  

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

Wait....what?

[sputman 1,268]

Is he talking about kicks to the groin?

[GMRwings1983 8,802]

When did he say this? 

I started a thread several years ago where I polled people about Holland's favorite quote, and that wasn't one of the options.  Here's the thread, BTW.

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/76584-favorite-ken-holland-catchphrase-quote/

[Richdg 267]

He said it over the summer. Don't remember the month. It was part of his parity/hard to win rant trying to excuse himself about letting the team fall apart.

[Wings3:16 322]

28 seconds in...

"Should Red Wings fans expect less..."

Just a really dumb thing to say

[RedWingsRox 614]

Holland is getting old .. the game has gone past him.  Time to step down or get out of the way, be Vice President or something and let someone else be the GM, day to day hockey ops.  

[Richdg 267]

For years Holland joked about retiring when Lidstrom did. if only........

[NerveDamage 4,176]

11 hours ago, Wings3:16 said:

28 seconds in...

"Should Red Wings fans expect less..."

Just a really dumb thing to say

I remember this well, his whole attitude, how he stutters and his "cap is coming, cap is coming" phrase made me laughed so hard I had to make a pic back then.

Ho-ho-ho-hold your horses Ken Stark. Less hasn't been more exciting thus far, just ask Howard

 

 

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Less vets can be more exciting.  Less talent because you sign mediocre players to long term deals, not so much.

[Jacksoni 418]

Less IS more exciting. Be happy with what you have and don't be spoiled.

Joke aside, Holland should have retired when Lidström did. What he's saying now is that the rules force his team to suck and that we as fans should rejoice that other teams come forward, or at the least try to enjoy our smaller cake.

What we need is someone that doesn't see it that way, someone who disregard the cap and parity. So we need a stubborn and somewhat stupid GM or if lucky, a genius who see things we ordinary folks cannot.

[DatsyukianDekes 2,428]

3 hours ago, NerveDamage said:

I remember this well, his whole attitude, how he stutters and his "cap is coming, cap is coming" phrase made me laughed so hard I had to make a pic back then.

Ho-ho-ho-hold your horses Ken Stark. Less hasn't been more exciting thus far, just ask Howard

 

 

You must keep reading....

32 minutes ago, Jacksoni said:

Less IS more exciting. Be happy with what you have and don't be spoiled.

Joke aside, Holland should have retired when Lidström did. What he's saying now is that the rules force his team to suck and that we as fans should rejoice that other teams come forward, or at the least try to enjoy our smaller cake.

What we need is someone that doesn't see it that way, someone who disregard the cap and parity. So we need a stubborn and somewhat stupid GM or if lucky, a genius who see things we ordinary folks cannot.

Edited January 2, 2017 by DatsyukianDekes

[NerveDamage 4,176]

35 minutes ago, DatsyukianDekes said:

You must keep reading....

let me guess how it ends... Keon Greyjoy gets his  cut off and Ramsay Ilitch feeds it to the doges? should I start calling him Reek Holland?

Edited January 2, 2017 by NerveDamage

[Jacksoni 418]

31 minutes ago, DatsyukianDekes said:

You must keep reading....

Completely the wrong man retiring in this picture. He would still be productive. Gordie returned. Why can't he?

[kickazz 5,459]

Ooooof the Holland hate is gettin real on the 10th Holland thread.

2018 he'll retire (or get promoted) and we'll get Steve Yzerman don't worry.

And Yzerman will come here to become the Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes. 

On a serious note, let's be real. Holland said "less can be more exciting" to be optimistic. What did people expect him to say? "Hey guys, lets be honest, we have some s***ty players and our best players either ran away to Russia or skates slower than my grandmother. We are totally screwed"

No respectable man is going to come out to the media and fans and say "we're screwed"

Edited January 2, 2017 by kickazz

[LeftWinger 5,110]

Imagine my surprise coming here and not seeing anything to do with a trade. Ken Holland cannot believe this team will get any better...even with Green and Abby and Helm returning, whenever they return. Maybe we'll get 2008 green, Helm and Abby back? We held out for so long hope for a different 2008 player to return, we can't lose again can we?

[Richdg 267]

53 minutes ago, kickazz said:

Ooooof the Holland hate is gettin real on the 10th Holland thread.

2018 he'll retire (or get promoted) and we'll get Steve Yzerman don't worry.

And Yzerman will come here to become the Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes. 

On a serious note, let's be real. Holland daid "less can be more excited" to be optimistic. What did people expect him to say? "Hey guys, lets be honest, we have some s***ty players and our best players either ran away to Russia or skates slower than my grandmother. We are totally screwed"

No respectable man is going to come out to the media and say "we're screwed"

How about just being open and honest? We are going through a tough time and have a ton of work to do so that the team can return to the top. Would that be to hard to say? Most of us fans already know it, so admit it so we all can move forward. There is no hiding who and what we are. Tell us where we want to go! The past is the past, so it no longer matters. The present sucks, but the future can be whatever we want it to be.

[kickazz 5,459]

1 hour ago, Richdg said:

How about just being open and honest? We are going through a tough time and have a ton of work to do so that the team can return to the top. Would that be to hard to say? Most of us fans already know it, so admit it so we all can move forward. There is no hiding who and what we are. Tell us where we want to go! The past is the past, so it no longer matters. The present sucks, but the future can be whatever we want it to be.

If he did that, he'd be a bad businessman. Part of his job is to sell. He's been doing that with the 260th or whatever sell out crowd in a row or whatever it was last home game. 

There is no "sentimental honesty" in the world of business. 

Some of you people are being so naive. 

We all know how it is, expecting him to say something to make our egos feel better aint happening.

At the same time he's not bsing either. He's been blunt with the media and said it like it was at times. 

I'm actually surprised people here dont question the Illitches more. If anything they bear more responsibility than someone who simply works for them (Holland).

Edited January 2, 2017 by kickazz

[GoalieManPat 1,007]

5 minutes ago, kickazz said:

If he did that, he'd be a bad businessman. Part of his job is to sell. He's been doing that with the 260th or whatever sell out crowd in a row or whatever it was last home game. 

Lol I always chuckle at when they mention that during every broadcast and you look and see atleast 20+ empty seats in every section of the lower level. Im willing to bet very few of those 260 or whatever straight sellouts were higher than 90 capacity. Mostly only when Toronto or Montreal are in town and their fans fill up the stadium. 

[kliq 3,763]

50 minutes ago, kickazz said:

If he did that, he'd be a bad businessman. Part of his job is to sell. He's been doing that with the 260th or whatever sell out crowd in a row or whatever it was last home game. 

There is no "sentimental honesty" in the world of business. 

Some of you people are being so naive. 

We all know how it is, expecting him to say something to make our egos feel better aint happening.

At the same time he's not bsing either. He's been blunt with the media and said it like it was at times. 

I'm actually surprised people here dont question the Illitches more. If anything they bear more responsibility than someone who simply works for them (Holland).

100% agree, some fans just don't get it. It's similar to politics, GM's say what they need to say to attempt to get the narratives they want out there, and/or to pushing something (ie. ticket sales). As much as a vocal minority want to see the Wings tank, I would put money on it that the casual fan would be upset to hear the Wings actually say "we are re-building". 

People can argue all they want about if the lower bowl is full or not, but what Wings management care about are the ticket sales and this is something they are very good at keeping up.

[kickazz 5,459]

44 minutes ago, GoalieManPat said:

Lol I always chuckle at when they mention that during every broadcast and you look and see atleast 20+ empty seats in every section of the lower level. Im willing to bet very few of those 260 or whatever straight sellouts were higher than 90 capacity. Mostly only when Toronto or Montreal are in town and their fans fill up the stadium. 

The seats are 100% sold out through Joe Louis. As in the Red Wings sell all their tickets. The reason those seats are empty is because whoever bought them in bulks didn't sell them. For instance you will see Ticketmaster, Stubhub tickets still on sale as 3rd party. 

That's most likely why it's "sell out" because on their end (the franchises end), they've sold all their tickets to consumers. 

[Buppy 1,720]

58 minutes ago, Richdg said:

How about just being open and honest? We are going through a tough time and have a ton of work to do so that the team can return to the top. Would that be to hard to say? Most of us fans already know it, so admit it so we all can move forward. There is no hiding who and what we are. Tell us where we want to go! The past is the past, so it no longer matters. The present sucks, but the future can be whatever we want it to be.

Except that is essentially what he means by saying we should probably expect less. He just added, "but hey, try to look on the bright side." 

It doesn't matter what he says. You can lie to yourself and pretend there's some particular turn of phrase that's going to make you happy, but there isn't. If he says we need stars, as he has many times, or we're trying to find a defenseman, or whatever...it just changes the rants to "well then do it already" or you whine that he didn't spell out some foolproof plan in exacting detail.

We're in transition, no matter what term anyone wants to use to describe it. No one has ever denied it or tried to hide it. Your mistake is in thinking that because this is where we are now, it's because we want to be here and we're going to stay here forever. Lower expectations now doesn't mean permanently lower. That's just you reading too much into things.

[GMRwings1983 8,802]

5 hours ago, kickazz said:

Ooooof the Holland hate is gettin real on the 10th Holland thread.

2018 he'll retire (or get promoted) and we'll get Steve Yzerman don't worry.

And Yzerman will come here to become the Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes. 

On a serious note, let's be real. Holland said "less can be more exciting" to be optimistic. What did people expect him to say? "Hey guys, lets be honest, we have some s***ty players and our best players either ran away to Russia or skates slower than my grandmother. We are totally screwed"

No respectable man is going to come out to the media and fans and say "we're screwed"

 

 

[Mckinley25 679]

15 minutes ago, GMRwings1983 said:

 

 

Good film.