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Abel to Yzerman

Official A2Y Super Tuesday Endorsement:  Stand Pat

by IwoCPO on 02/22/08 at 04:07 AM ET
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Hate the deadline, just like I hate the playoffs.  I can see four days into the future and my visions would typically have me nervous.  I see us rocking back and forth, clicking, refreshing, reloading, clicking and waiting for the word that Kenny’s made that deal to bring us Cup Number 11.  I know for certain that the pain will ensue as we watch Sundin go to Anaheim, Jokinen to Dallas, Hossa out East, Blake back to his granola in the King room because he could care less about a Cup, only his personal comfort.  Too much talk about Fedorov: not coming.  Brad Stuart? Same thing. Too much talk.

I see those things and I have a recommendation for Kenny.  Do…nothing.

Kevin Allen gave you a list yesterday afternoon of teams he feels are buyers and others he knows are sellers.  The Wings fell in at number six on the buyer’s list and Allen says Holland may be going big.

General manager Ken Holland is looking at every possibility of landing a big scorer because Holland always looks at every possibility. He’s made overtures for most of the premium players, but Holland is saying he also doesn’t want to give up his future for a rental player.

But what if that rental player increases your chances of a Cup by a big fat margin? What then Kenny?  What if landing Sundin keeps him off the Poultry roster?  What if a deal for Hossa includes dealing away Filppula or Hudler or even Franzen?  If you’re convinced that a deal of that magnitude increases your Cup-worthiness, do you forsake the future and go for it?  How hard would it be for Holland to tell Fletcher or Waddell that they’re just asking too much, even when he knows that deal may seal the Cup this year?

Yeah, yeah. I know he “learned his lesson” with the Mathias/Bertuzzi thing last year.  But did he? Maybe he learned a long time ago that the real lesson is to do whatever you can when a Cup is within reach.  Maybe Holland made that move last year because he’s of the mindset that you don’t operate for next year or the year after, not when you have a legitimate shot at the ultimate.

“Even when he knows that deal may seal the Cup this year…” .  I said that above and it’s an idiotic statement.  There is no way you secure a Stanley Cup in February.  Sundin could be here Tuesday and hurt Thursday.  No one knows that better than us right now.  Ken Holland’s got the money under the cap and he has the assets to move if he’s so inclined, if the lure of the 11th is so strong that the future holds no meaning when compared to what could be in June of ‘08.

You’ve read plenty of stories from the MSM the last few days about the demise of the Wings.  All of a sudden, the goaltending’s weak, the blue line is small, the lack of toughness up front, the secondary scoring concerns.  Read some of those stories and you’d think the team in question played out of an Ass Can in Denver instead of Detroit.  The Wings haven’t lost six of their last seven due to a collective discovery on the parts of 29 coaches.  No formula’s been derived on how to finally beat Detroit.  It’s injuries and the toll of a long season where the expectation to win is there every night.

And because those are the reasons the Wings have been struggling of late, you have to think Ken Holland is tempted to roll the dice and give a hearty “screw you” to the GMs asking for the Hudlers and the Fils and the Franzens, Howards, Kindls, Ericssons and Hat Trick Dicks.  How gratifying would it be to Holland (and especially Babcock) if this team did absolutely nothing at the deadline and put their money on the team that couldn’t be beat through mid-January?  Let Anaheim hire their mercenaries.  Let San Jose try to acquire some heart for a franchise that refuses to learn how to win.  Let Calgary and Dallas give away whatever it takes to land that “final piece.”

My endorsement for super Tuesday is this: have Uncle Mike gather the troopies around Tuesday morning in Edmonton and tell them it’s their Cup to win or lose.  Healthy or not, this team is the one the organ-I-zation feels is best prepared to compete for the Cup, with maybe a sprinkle of Big Frigging Mac thrown in for good measure.

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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