Pavel Datsyuk says he will leave the Red Wings after playoffs
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2016/04/10/albom-wings-datsyuk-column/82835594/

Another great Holland move in the salary cap era. Convince a guy who wants to leave the country to play one more year and then sign him to a 3 year deal when the NHL won't allow his contract to come off the cap when he leaves early. Dude was good at handing out the checks and that's it.

Another great Holland move in the salary cap era. Convince a guy who wants to leave the country to play one more year and then sign him to a 3 year deal when the NHL won't allow his contract to come off the cap when he leaves early. Dude was good at handing out the checks and that's it.

Whoa. Did it just get honest in here?

Another great Holland move in the salary cap era. Convince a guy who wants to leave the country to play one more year and then sign him to a 3 year deal when the NHL won't allow his contract to come off the cap when he leaves early. Dude was good at handing out the checks and that's it.

I agree with whole shit-ton of this. Especially the implication that Holland NEEDS TO GO.

Holland didn't make the transition to the cap that he said he would. The Pavel deal was wrong. The idea was right, keep him without breaking the bank or sacrificing too much long-term. Also even on short deals they do try to squeeze in that extra year shit like they'd play past Gordie Howe's record just so that they could front load it.

The bigger failure of the Pavel deal comes from what it really implied. Other than this year (finally!!!) Holland hasn't brought in all-star talent for the team in years. The game got bigger and faster. And that's important. Dudes well over 6 feet today are stronger and faster than just about any player 20 or 30 years ago. But the Wings were willing to sacrifice size and speed for their "let's get skilled centers at almost all costs". Now we have an amalgam of this hybrid better-than-mediocre forward TatarNyquistHelmJurcoMillerGlenndenningSheehan. And while I do think it was time for Babcock to make the jump, Holland wasted the last 6 or 7 years of having Babcock by repeating this failure over and over and over again. He'd have been waaayyy better off having traded 4 of those for 1 Stamkos for example..

He only this year got 2 decent free-agent vets and both are over 30. Only this year do we see actual breakout talent at forward.

And his policy for defense (similar I guess to the forwards) has left us with the underwhelming continual combination of EricssonSmitQuincyYoungDudeWhoDoesn'tWork and has NEVER created a good D after Lidstrom left. His defense of the last 5 years was only beaten by the Tigers bullpen.

And we lost so many series and playoffs because Pavel was getting hurt. Think that should have clued them in to how they needed to re-think how to create a roster? With more talented defensive forwards and a better D maybe we get another year or 2 out of Datsyuk.

Finally, like Joe D. has his Darko, Holland has his Franzen. If you put Franzen and Hossa in their absolute primes side by side, there's not a GM in the world, other than Holland, that wouldn't sacrifice losing both for getting Hossa first. Hossa would have given them 3 of the top 10 2 way forwards IN THE FUCKING WORLD. God, Franzen's offense was always less than Hossa's and he wasn't even in the guys league defensively. We traded top NHL talent for loyalty to an underperforming, always injured good player by one of the worst contracts in history. The team still hasn't recovered in talent from that stupid move.

I'm fucking upset, Datsyuk was without a doubt my favorite current Red Wing and only behind Fedorov and Messier for best 2 way forward I ever saw. He could have contributed here until his 40th b-day, even with being homesick, if the Wings had brought in enough talent to support him and Z as they age.

One of my personal theories, the kind I get from my ass with no proof, is that the old man has gotten way, way to caught up with his Tigers obsession to see the Wings correctly. I think if Ilitch doesn't do that, Holland's gone maybe 3 or 4 years ago even.

Sorry for the long post. Fool spot on hit a nerve.

And I will always know in my heart that the Wings take back to back cups over the fucking Penguins if Pavel had been even 85% the second go around.

I agree with Fool and DE

Another great Holland move in the salary cap era. Convince a guy who wants to leave the country to play one more year and then sign him to a 3 year deal when the NHL won't allow his contract to come off the cap when he leaves early. Dude was good at handing out the checks and that's it.

Another thing about how right this is. They had to convince him to the sign the 3 year contract but what they didn't deliver on was supporting talent. I swear I believe with no proof whatsoever that Pavel is leaving because he has to take a beating because he has little to no talent to support him. He almost always has to carry the second line while Z got Larkin and Abdelkader. And Pavel was no Lidstrom in this but he (and Z) covered a lot of D fuckups. He's pushing 40 and the Wings aren't getting the cup by the time he retires so why not take almost as good money, be a hero in your home country and have a much easier time skating into your 40s like he can do in Russia.

If the Wings could compete for a cup and he could center a second line or be on one with Z where he doesn't have to carry the team most of his ice-time, I wonder if he'd have stayed out his contract.

Traded to Coyotes.

A lot of people praising Holland for this one. Thoughts, DE?

Forgetting how bad he handled that for at least, what, 5 years, this last move is decent. He got rid of the contract and even got something back in return. It's a good move. He fucked up the cap at the beginning because he thought it vital to follow the NHL way of paying big stars with 90 year contracts. He fucked up the team when he decided to continue with the same formula even though for the past 5 years, the best teams have guys like the Wings, only 6 foot 2 and faster. Tahoe should be gloating on this one, but with Howard he screwed the salary cap on the wrong goalie; evidence how he never figured out a good solution to Ozzie leaving. Seriously. I love Pavel Datsyuk. Only Federov beats him as best two way centers on the Wings and only Messier gets added to the list above him when we talk about the best two way centers ever (two way, he he he). But, and I'm sure I say this too much, Bill Walsh was absolutely right that it's better to let a veteran go a year too early than have him on the team a year too long. Holland let Datsyuk's agent rope him into a three year contract when an older and more broken Datsyuk (which is Holland's fault when he didn't find real players to support his top 2 or create a solid D so that said top 2 centers didn't have to fucking bail them out so much) already started looking at going home. This move is the only thing he did right.

Totally agree with you, DE.

Do you think :we: are the favorites to get Stamkos? Also, what do you think of Stamkos?

Totally agree with you, DE.

Do you think :we: are the favorites to get Stamkos? Also, what do you think of Stamkos?

Lastly, who is Stamkos?

Totally agree with you, DE.

Do you think :we: are the favorites to get Stamkos? Also, what do you think of Stamkos?

I don't know if they're favorites. That's for the press though I don't think the Wings are as attractive as a contender or destination right now and under the cap. I fucking hope they get him though. It would be a coup. Datsyuk was my favorite Wing but today in 2016 Stamkos is a definite upgrade. And he's 26. It would give Holland an inch of rope IMO.

Stamkos staying in TB.

Who would you like to see the Wings target, DE?