The Aftermath

Yes, yes, I know I took a couple of days off: sue me. Some bloggers have taken the entire month off (although they are awesome writers and I miss seeing their daily takes on the Wings). However, I wanted to wrap up the series that I just finished and talk a bit about guys that came close to making the list and address some of the comments that were left on the last post. If you're like me, then you are really wondering what this Abdelkader-Hudler-Delvecchio thing is over at TPL. 2 more days and then we can see what the fuss has all been about. Any guesses?

Before we get into that, some great news yesterday came down the pipe with the re-signing of Justin Abdelkader to a 2 year, $1.57M contract. For those of you that live in Detroit, please let me know if Kenny Holland ever gives a course on how to sign contracts. Part of my professional life involves negotiating, and I would kill to learn how he gets these guys to sign these contracts. Think about what he did this summer:

• He re-signed every single FA he said he was going to, even if we didn't want them all back (Bertuzzi)
• He got Mike Modano to sign for $1.25M to play on the third line.
• He got Tomas Holmstrom - the best net presence player in the NHL - to take a pay cut
• He got the best defenseman in the NHL today to take a pay cut. Not just any pay cut - a 17% pay cut. Would you take 17% less money in your job, no matter how much you loved it? Me either.
  

Basically, the man is a negotiating genius. I don't know what he does. Maybe he has incriminating photos of some of them; maybe he hypnotizes them; maybe he is the world's most boring speaker and guys sign just so they can get out of the room. Either way, I don't care how he does it, because he is damn effective. This is a great signing for the team, because he is slated to get some decent minutes on the 4th line. It also means that the Wings are 2 guys over the 23-man roster limit. It was nice seeing you, Derek Meech. At forward, it gets a little tricky. The smart money seems to be on Mattias Ritola getting placed on waivers in the hopes that he clears and gets sent down to Grand Rapids; me, I think the forward that gets released/cut/sent down will be decided after training camp. If Ritola has a good camp, I could see him making the team.

I want to thank everyone for the nice comments about the site, both on here, on Twitter and via email. I can say that I had a ton of fun doing each post, with some being more enjoyable than others. I loved going on to Youtube to find one specific video only to spend an hour there just watching all the great moments. It was a nice way for me to spend a summer re-living the glory days, especially after a disappointing end to this latest season.

I wanted to talk about the list. I'm hoping that the top-6 were no-brainers, and I understand that some of you still hold a grudge against Fedorov. As wingsluver4ever pointed out in the comments, I focused exclusively on players. Had I included coaches and management, I would have had an extremely hard time placing the Illitches, Kenny Holland, Jimmy D, Jim Nill, Scotty Bowman and Hakan Andersson on the list; would they go above guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg? What about Jacques Demers and Bryan Murray, 2 coaches who were able to make the Wings great in the regular season but could not translate that to playoff success? I just couldn't reconcile their place on the list because their contributions were different from the players. Perhaps I will do another list, although to try and come up with 19 off-ice people will be pretty tough. We'll save that for next year.

I didn't receive a lot of criticism in the guys that made the list. However, one player was mentioned more than anyone: Darren McCarty. Truthfully, he was #20. He scored the prettiest Stanley Cup-winning goal I have ever seen; his hat trick against Colorado was a nice way to deal with a hangover (that's an interesting story - ask me if you want to hear it); and his beat-down of Clau....de.....Le..... (nope, can't type his full name) coupled with scoring the OT winner on March 26 made him an instant fan favourite. Unfortunately, his contributions were too scattered, and he left the team for a time. He did not have great numbers overall, an I just couldn't justify putting him ahead of some of the other players that I got to see, even though I recognize that he was a big part of all of the Cup-winning teams.

Now, on to the comments. I was going to do this in the post itself, but to address everyone would just take too long in one giant comment.

Brandon - thank you for the kind words. While I never did get to meet him, there's still a chance - even if that means cornering him in a men's room at O'Hare.

dorfarm - your story really resonated with me. I could probably have written your story and just substituted "Gordie Howe" for "Steve Yzerman". Thankfully we were able to escape the evil clutches of the Maple Leafs and their fans. As one of the few Wing fans that endured the entire Dead Wings era of the '70s and '80s, I can only imagine how sweet it was for you to experience winning Stanley Cups again.

wingsluver4ever - again, thanks for the kind words. I agree that the Illitches have been and will continue to be instrumental in the Wings' success, and had they been on the list, they would have come in around #3. Like you said, I was only listing players.

Norm - I've read a couple of Yzerman books, and I can't get enough of the man. I think because he's such a private person, our curiosity just expands. That would make a great job: traveling the country talking to Wing fans about their favourite Stevie moment or memory. The different stories that would come out from fans young and old would be really interesting.

Crater - Like I've said before, the Wings have been as important to me as most of the people in my life outside of my family and closest friends. These guys were my heroes growing up and I still continue to look up to them.

Smitty - Awesome story. I am supremely jealous of any person who has had the pleasure of meeting him, even if it was fleeting. Given what I've heard about him and cars, he may very well remember that. I'm a history guy (as you might have guessed) so any time I can talk to someone who saw games at the Olympia and got to see Howe, Abel, Lindsay and Delvecchio play, I consider that a real treat. You seem to have been destined to meet and marry your wife, both for the birthday and for the fact that she yells at idiot Blues fans. I enjoyed all of the personal stories you told. I hope you enjoyed the same.


Well, that's it. We are less than 30 days from training camp, and the start of the season will soon be upon us. We're going to start with some previews soon, both for the team and for the league. Here's a hint: I think the Wings are going to do well this year.

Monday Musings

I was going to put something up on Friday, but couldn't find an "F" word that meant thoughts or opinions without going online, and then I got distracted by something else and....well, let's just say it wasn't going to happen. But, it's Monday afternoon and some stuff has gone down in the last few days that I need to talk about.

Brett Lebda Signs with Maple Leafs - Look, we all had a good laugh when we heard the Leafs had signed Lebda. As I said on Twitter that day, I have nothing against the guy. He was a serviceable fifth or sixth defenseman who didn't do anything particularly well except skate fast and pinch at inopportune times. It's the money: I can't believe that anyone would give that amount of money to Brett freaking Lebda. $1.45M a year for 2 years? Laughable. But what was even funnier for me after the signing was the comments he made to the Toronto Star:

As far as us making the playoffs, and making noise in the playoffs, I found a good mix in that and being able to meet the personal goals I’ve set for myself,” said Lebda, reached by phone at his home in Wonder Lake, Ill. “I’d like to get more ice time. I’d like to contribute more.

“In Detroit, I was more of a depth defenceman, and right now, that’s how the hockey world sees me. I’d kind of like to change that, and be a four or five guy, and contribute more to the team, in special teams, in key situations.”

He played 15 minutes a game as a third pairing defenseman. I'm not sure exactly what he is thinking he can contribute other than drunken antics with inanimate objects, hilarity for Leaf fans, and chips and salsa for the rest of the healthy scratches. It's a shame that he was stuck behind such lame players like Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart. Now he gets to play with such brilliant defensemen like Dion "Sloppy Seconds" Phaneuf and Mike Komisarek. Good luck Brett!

Mike Modano's Continued Wooing: Is anyone else getting pretty tired of this shit? Look, Mike, I'd like to see you as a Wing. I think you'd be a good fit. But if you're going to dick the team around, then just take your shit to San Jose and enjoy being a part of yet another epic playoff failure. I've said before that I would like him in Detroit; just not at the expense of players like Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader. Those 2 guys may not be superstars, but they are quality depth players who have bought into the system in place and will be good for years. They could be big reasons why the Wings have the 3rd and 4th lines that keep them contending for Cups every year. Cups are not won and lost with the superstars; it's the role players chipping in key goals and eating up important minutes, maybe with a big penalty kill or a strong shift when momentum is lacking. I don't think Helm is going to score 40 goals a year; but we all remember his monster shift against Chicago in the WCF in 2009, and that's the type of play that wins championships. I do not want the Wings to give up important players to get him; that's what I have always maintained. But if he feels that he could get more money, then good luck to him. I've always respected and liked him as a player, and that won't change. I just want him to make up his damn mind and get on with it (and don't even get me started on Kovalchuk. Good gravy, he's like the prettiest stripper; everyone knows he's the best one, but you have to look at who you're being compared to).

The Ongoing Saga of the Chicago Blackhawks - We here at THITD (and by "we", I mean me in the royal sense) have not really commented on the happenings of the local NHL team. It started with the trading of Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager to the Thrashers. Then it was Kris Versteeg to the Leafs. Then Andrew Ladd went to the Thrashers (I guess Atlanta's thought is that if you can't beat them, then get all their players that looked good playing along side superstars). Then, in the best development yet, the Sharks signed Niklas Hjalmarsson to an offer sheet of $16M over 4 years (cap hit of $3.5M), which the Hawks matched today. As it stands right now, the Hawks have just over $100K in cap space, and we are still waiting for Niemi's arbitration date to see how much he gets. The Hawks also still don't have a full roster, even with the little cap space they have. Excuse me for a second.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Whew, I needed that.

A lot of people are pointing at Stan Bowman and saying that he is screwing this all up. I say to those people: what was he supposed to do? He was put in salary cap hell by Tallon with the ridiculous contracts to Huet and Campbell, then he had to sign the big 3 of Kane, Toews and Keith. Now we all get to sit back as this team that less than a month ago was on top of the world is dismantled to a shell of itself. And to any Hawks fans who read this, understand one thing: none of the players that are coming in are going to be as good as the guys that left. That's what makes this so funny. We all know they're going to bury Huet in the minors to get some cap space. Even with that happening, this team will not be as good as they were, and now there's talk that Marian Hossa, Brian Campbell and/or Patrick Sharp could be traded to make room. Personally, I think it would be awesome if Hossa got banished to the Islanders or the Panthers and he never comes close to a Cup again, especially the way he did absolutely dick-all to win for the Hawks. I would also like to see Sharp moved, but not because I dislike him; I actually respect him as a player, and I think losing him would hurt the Hawks more than any other departed player has so far this off-season. And anything that hurts the Hawks (and conversely, helps the Wings) brings a smile to my face.

I will say this: in light of all of the recent events (Lebda, Modano, Hjalmarsson and the rest of the ex-Hawks), I am fucking ecstatic that we have Ken Holland as a GM. Yes, we're all still a little miffed at the Bertuzzi signing. But think about this: would you rather we be slightly perturbed at that, or apoplectic that half of our team has been traded? Or that he signed a depth defenseman for almost as much money as Bertuzzi is making? He's made his pitch to Modano, and if Mikey doesn't feel it's worth it, then buh-bye; we'll just sign Helm and Abby, get a depth defenseman, and get back to dominating the division like normal. He was able to sign Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves to decent deals, with more than enough money to finish his shopping. In Kenny We Trust.