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Hate The Drake?
by IwoCPO on 07/09/07 at 10:29 PM ET
Comments (14)
Udpated 0315: added Pete’s analysis of the Drake deal, as seen over at Yzerman is God.
Seinfeld reference. Sorry. I deliberately held off on this post because I had a hunch Dave from Gorilla Crouch would make the wait worthwhile. He didn’t disappoint, and he’s hating the move.
Whatever mystical presence Dallas Drake brings with his physical/gritty play, it sure doesn’t seem to do much as far as helping his team kill penalties, draw penalties, or just outscore their opponent. And I haven’t even really touched on the fact he’s one of the biggest cheapshot hitters in the league. That doesn’t concern me if you can actually bring something else to the table. Right now I highly doubt Drake can.
Dave makes a concrete argument, several actually, as to why this shouldn’t have happened. He’s eloquent, on the money and well-researched. All fine qualities I admire, but rarely replicate.
In other words, I disagree. I think the 550k was a steal for what Drake could bring this team. I think the role he could play is one of leadership and violence. And I think Ken Holland has an idea of what he’s doing. It almost reminds me of last August when Hasek was signed. On the surface, it appeared a desperation move. But we know it turned out better than any of us expected. Holland seems to have a plan, and I’m going to go with it for now. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt.
Christy Hammond agrees.
Drake is only costing the Wings $550,000 for this season making this signing much more attractive. He’s a physical player and it’s costing us $100,000 over the league minimum. Not too shabby Mr. Holland.
Matt Saler at On The Wings sees the positive with a few conditions.
Drake’s a gritty player who plays a rough game, as you might remember from his high hit on Brett Lebda this past season that resulted in a two-game suspension. He’s never been a guy to put up big numbers (he maxed out at 45 points in ‘99-’00 in Phoenix), but he was big on the penalty kill for the Blues last season and would be a likely candidate for a regular spot on the Wings’ PK if he makes the team.
And there we have the question. If he makes the team…
Well, will he?
I’m guessing that’s going to depend on one guy, one guy who we’re not even sure can get into the country in time for Traverse City. Igor Grigorenko. Grigorenko makes the team and we may never even see Drake in a Wing uniform. But if that “80 percent of what he used to be” isn’t enough? Then Drake may have himself a spot. And if he hangs around long enough, contributes just enough in December, in February? If he’s healthy come April? You’re going to see a heckuva lot more Drake than you do Hudler.
Yzerman is God examines the possible lines and also points out that the Drake signing could be the end of any hopes Matt Ellis had of making the roster.
The Drake signing means that, Matt Ellis included, the Wings have 14 forwards, and Ellis is likely the odd-man out. Which is too bad, because I think he would do very well in Babcock’s system (and, actually, has done well already). Ellis will provide excellent depth, unless of course Igor Grigorenko falters and doesn’t make the team. Holland has said it’s Iggy Grigs’ roster spot to lose, so I don’t expect that. But then again, Ellis might Filppula his way onto the roster.
Wing bloggers weren’t the only ones commenting today. As expected, Bitter Blue nation has chimed in.
Dally… how could you do this to us? I know the Blues bought out your contract and pretty much kicked you to the curb, but of all teams did you have to go to Detroit? Sure it’s where your career started, but for the last 5 years you’ve hated Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby. Now you share a locker room with those turtles. This is how you wanted to end your career? Oh well, even though it’s a stab right into the back of Blues fans everywhere I guess in the end it’s a good thing for the Blues. As much as we love you, I just don’t think your body has anything left. Good luck in Motown! (Well, not really)
“Dally”? Cute. That’s from The Checking Line, featuring Klessel groupie Chris Degroat. Enough said.
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Comments
Not surprised that Wings Blog-Nation is lapping up the Holland Kool-Aid. That goes without saying.
Must really suck to have to bust out the knee-jerk defenses every time your idiot GM makes some boneheaded move.
Hell, last year, our GM made a couple boneheaded Hollandesque moves (earning him the honor of spending the entire 06-07 season being referred to by nothing other than “Moron”) last year, and I just couldn’t stand the taste of that Kool-Aid.
But Wings fan just doesn’t seem to have any problem stomaching whatever ridiculous flavor that Kenny Dutch makes them slurp down. Sad.
Posted by Thomas on 07/10/07 at 12:22 AM ET
I don’t agree with everything Ken Holland does but c’mon, “Thomas”. The Wings last won in 2002 and have won not one, not two, but three Stanley cups in the last ten years. THREE! How many times has your team won the cup in the last ten years?
I’d have to say Ken Holland has some idea what he’s doing.
Posted by John from Michigan on 07/10/07 at 12:36 AM ET
Drake will be the 12th or 13th forward, sharing those roles with Tomas Kopecky. Here’s how I see it. Lines may be juggled a bit. Without the addition of a top six forward, Zetterberg and Datsyuk will probably be split up, for example.
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Filppula-Grigorenko
Samuelsson-Franzen-Cleary
Maltby-Draper-Drake
Kopecky
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Chelios-Lebda
Quincey
Hasek
Osgood
Posted by PRStoetzer on 07/10/07 at 12:42 AM ET
Thomas, you’re a troll and your comments don’t really add much intelligence to the hockey discussions around here. We get that you think Holland is a bad GM. The problem is that your comments don’t have any basis in reality and make little sense. The Avalanche have mismanaged themselves out of a rivalry with the Wings, the glory days are over, and the Avalanche are now a mediocre team (that is getting better). Good luck on your season, I won’t comment again on your asinine statements.
Posted by PDXWing from Portland, OR on 07/10/07 at 01:52 AM ET
The Wings last won in 2002 and have won not one, not two, but three Stanley cups in the last ten years. THREE! How many times has your team won the cup in the last ten years?
How many Cups my team has is entirely irrelevant. This isn’t a comparison between GMs. This is a simple, factual statement. Ken Holland is an awful GM.
I’d have to say Ken Holland has some idea what he’s doing.
Not really. He was left with a fully loaded team when Bowman “stepped down” and did his GMing from behind the bench. When Bowman really did leave the GM duties behind when he retired from coaching, he left Holland with a team loaded with stars committed to a system built around defensive responsibility.
It didn’t help that he had an owner with deep pockets who was willing to buy his way out of Holland’s many blunders.
As the team that Bowman left him started to turn over, the results of Hollands many mistakes became more and more apparent. Had it not been for Calgary giving up on Playfair, you would have been bounced from the playoffs in the first round by an eight seed YET AGAIN this year.
This offseason, you have seen Holland sit on his hands while his entire 2nd line, a first pairing DMan, and his 2nd pairing anchor have all left town, with only Rafalski, Ference and Drake to replace them.
You saw him have an absolutely AWFUL draft, in which Jim Nill stated clearly before the Draft that the Wings were going to go with a solid strategy. Apparently, Holland put the kibosh on that, and drafted as if this were still the pre-CBA NHL.
This has been a pattern with Holland. Whenever the rules change, he lags behind.
When the expansion draft posed new challenges, Holland had the chance to get something for Chris Osgood the day before the expansion draft, but chose to let him go for nothing instead.
When unrestricted free agency really came into the limelight, the first move of Holland’s career as GM was signing Uwe Krupp to a 4yr/$16m deal, when anyone and everyone associated with the Avs knew that Uwe was seriously injured. Holland didn’t even ask for a physical, and your team spent the next four years paying Uwe Krupp to mush his sled dogs.
Then there’s always the 03-04 season, in which the Wings had $16m worth of goaltending and still couldn’t make it past the second round. Oh, and that ridiculous Derian Hatcher signing, with the lockout clearly on the horizon, which everyone and their brother knew would force the Wings to have to buy Hatcher out. And it did.
In the post-CBA world, Holland has completely missed the boat as far as his ability to manage the cap, signing Datsyuk to a ridiculously large and long contract. This offseason, instead of using the Wings’ depth on defense to soften the blow of losing an entire second line, Holland went out and signed another defenseman, eating up any sort of potential to sign a halfway decent forward.
I could go on and on. Holland is an absolutely AWFUL GM. The only thing that a Wings fan can point to is his record, yet you can see a marked drop-off from when Bowman left the team until now.
This team is being run straight into the toilet, and you are all sitting there drinking his Kool-Aid.
I’ll tell you, if my GM was ruining my team like Holland is ruining yours, I would be PISSED. You can damn well bet that I wouldn’t be talking about how great he was like you guys are about Holland.
Thomas, you’re a troll
A troll? No, kiddo, I am a poster who isn’t a Wings fan. In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t a Wings blog. I actually add intelligent commentary and discussion to a blog whose slappies tend toward mindless Kool-Aidism.
If you can’t take the fact that someone has a strong, logical opinion well supported with facts that doesn’t mesh with yours, well, that’s your problem.
The Avalanche have mismanaged themselves out of a rivalry with the Wings,
As if that were even remotely true.
The Avs and Wings aren’t rivals anymore because the teams have no reason to hate one another now that everyone but Mush-face has left. The Avs were a better team than the Wings by the end of last season, and they are much, much better right now. And unless Kenny Dutch can find a way to coax three forwards to sign with the Wings for peanuts, or unless some wild phenomenon were to inject Hudler and Grigorenko with some actual NHL-caliber talent, the Avs will remain better than the Wings for this season at least.
And unlike the Wings, the Avs’ prospect system is absolutely LOADED at every position.
Your GM is the one running your team into the ground, not mine. FG took a little time to get his footing, but he has shown this offseason that he knows what he’s doing. Yours has done nothing but prove that he’s one of the worst, most un-imaginitive, most clueless GMs in pro sports. Clearly. Without a doubt. Irrefutably.
You’re pissed at me when you should be pissed at the guy who is ruining your team.
Posted by Thomas on 07/10/07 at 02:30 AM ET
Kenny Holland: 10 years of ruining the Detroit Red Wings and counting.
Posted by HockeyinHD on 07/10/07 at 06:32 AM ET
Probably shouldn’t wate much more breath on “Thomas”, it’s clear that the team’s success under Holland speaks for itself.
And honestly, who will take the Avs seriously with that defense?
Posted by Nathan on 07/10/07 at 07:45 AM ET
Thomas: Holland took the gamble that previous contracts would be grandfathered in under the cap some way. He never anticipated having to buy out players to come into compliance.
Posted by PRStoetzer on 07/10/07 at 08:22 AM ET
Heh.
Thommy-boy takes his schtick from the newsgroups (where he’s roundly hated and ridiculed for his asinine and bizarre commentary, save for a couple very pathetic fan boys… Hi Chris! Hi Elz!) to the blogs (where he’ll be roundly hated and ridiculed for his asinine and bizarre commentary, save for a couple very pathetic fan boys.)
You really do have some serious, serious issues, sonny.
*Paid for by the JoeTed for Vezina 08/09 Committee*
Posted by TeamDub from The Fifedom of Finkbeiner on 07/10/07 at 08:23 AM ET
Thomas:
Since you are a Colorado fan, could you let me know how Marek Svatos is doing? I thought I heard someting about another shoulder surgery, and wondered if he would be ready for the season. He’s a fun player to watch when he isn’t hurt.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/10/07 at 10:05 AM ET
Bring Mac Back!
Or at least let him come to camp this year…
Posted by HippyDave on 07/10/07 at 01:01 PM ET
Holland is the worst GM in the league and the Wings have remained one of the most competitive teams since the mid-90’s. Agreed that Holland didn’t build completely the SC teams but every team has a number of people making decisions. We still have Scotty Bowman, Jim Nill, Jim Delevano, and now Stevie Y; Holland doesn’t make any decsison before contacting these people and others. Unless Holland is the most lucky of all GMs in all of sports who just happens to build solid teams every year that can compete for the cup, then is is one of the few brilliant GMS out there in any sport. But the only way to prove how ridiculous your comments are, is to wait for the season to be over and hopefully you will return so you can defend your statements. I’m sure they will be interesting.
Posted by Josh from Mich on 07/10/07 at 07:03 PM ET
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Thanks for the link. The one difference I’d point out with the Hasek analogy was that Dom was amongst the best netminders in the NHL before he was injured. He’s also a proven playoff performer. Does that really describe Drake? I just don’t think so.
Posted by Dave on 07/09/07 at 11:34 PM ET