Bring out the octopii, tip your caps and salute the Great Winged Wheel!!

RoarIn84 · April 12, 2014 9:59AM

Sorry, but I felt it necessary, especially in these times when it is fashionable to trash Detroit, to pay some respect to the team that has made the playoffs for the 23rd straight season! No team in the four major sports has ever done this. Everyone thought they were done last year and they came within one win of going to the Conference finals. This year they were dead meat until the youngsters stepped up and said otherwise. Hate Detroit all you want, but this is a respectable streak!! Nice article in SI about what the world was like the last time the Wings didn't make the playoffs!! Thanks for making Detroit truly HOCKEYTOWN!!

Estil · April 12, 2014 5:51PM

And let's not forget that one of the greatest sitcoms ever (Home Improvement) takes place in Detroit, and if you remember Tim loves all four of the local teams there, especially the Lions.

lanemyer85 · April 13, 2014 8:14AM

I think equally as impressive as the playoff streak is, Holland's ability to essentially rebuild on the fly is just as noteworthy considering how many teams (CalGary, Toronto, any team GMed by Brian Burke or Garth Snow or at times Sather, or this year's Devils) have failed at it. However I think the whole "Hockeytown" thing passed away about a decade ago. Even in the late aughts when the Wings were icing great teams they weren't selling out. Last year I walked up to the rats den that is the Joe and expected to have to purchase scalped tickets from some guy in a U of M hoodie only to discover there were good seats remaining at the box office 45 mins prior to puck drop. Conversely, it's nearly impossible to purchase Leafs or Canadiens home game tix on the secondary market well in advance to gamedays unless you're forking out 5+x face value or more. Hockeytown USA, maybe, though the Hawks will trump the Wings in tickets sold and most national game ratings these days, and Pittsburgh draws crazy high local ratings shares in the Crosby/Malkin era. Like 16%+ shares which Detroit will not equal in this era.

RoarIn84 · April 13, 2014 1:43PM

yeah yeah...sales. Who has consistently played the best hockey over the past quarter century? The Joe is a hole and should have been replaced 10-15yrs ago, but they are finally getting around to building a new venue. Besides, all the stomping and cheering of crazed fans over the years and more to come will have the Joe looking like another one of the many rundown buildings in our decrepit little city. That said, bring on the Bruins!! For better or worse, what beats an original 6 showdown???

MGLICKER · April 15, 2014 12:15PM

<< <i>Who has consistently played the best hockey over the past quarter century? The Joe is a hole and should have been replaced 10-15yrs ago, but they are finally getting around to building a new venue. >>

Nothing better than going to see the Wings in Detroit. Many games at The Olympia.

Need a new arena, let Ilitch write the check for the new place, not the beleaguered taxpayers that will most likely never attend a game.

Justacommeman · April 15, 2014 8:53PM

The Bruins made the playoffs a record 29 times in a row. The streak ended in 96. With that being said, Go Wings!

MJ

jdip9 · April 15, 2014 11:06PM

lane, good point about the team's consistency, but I think you have be fair about the sales situation. You're talking about a city in bankruptcy right now. Most times sales is a good arbiter of fandom, but I think there are extenuating circumstances here. I won't hold it against the people of Detroit if they aren't shelling out money for hockey tickets.

That said, I'm not sure the Detroit fan base is any more rabid than any of the other Original 6 teams, except maybe the Rangers.

rjcoy06 · April 16, 2014 5:20AM

Are you guys talking about the Ken Holland that started Nyquist in the AHL because he resigned Dan Cleary?? Or the one that traded a 1st round pick for Kyle Quincey who is terrible? Or the one that resigned Mikael Samuelsson?? I think everyone overrates Holland a bit and I am sorry, but just barely making the playoffs the last couple of years to keep the streak alive doesn't deserve praise in my opinion. Holland is fortunate that the Wings did have all these injuries this year or else all the kids would have never got a chance to play and save their season.

lanemyer85 · April 16, 2014 8:48AM

<< <i>lane, good point about the team's consistency, but I think you have be fair about the sales situation. You're talking about a city in bankruptcy right now. Most times sales is a good arbiter of fandom, but I think there are extenuating circumstances here. I won't hold it against the people of Detroit if they aren't shelling out money for hockey tickets.

That said, I'm not sure the Detroit fan base is any more rabid than any of the other Original 6 teams, except maybe the Rangers. >>

The Tigers drew almost 3.1 M fans last year and 92.3% capacity compared to baseball strongholds like STL at 94.6% or your Red Sox who drew 94.4%. So the Tigers are drawing what the Cubs and Cardinals typically draw in a normal year. There is money in the suburbs which I'm sure is where most of the fanbase is located anyway. I don't know whether they've actually lost some small portion of the fanbase, or it's regular season apathy, but I think that is the most plausible reason - Atlanta Braves Syndrome. Being spoiled from this 20+ year run which probably sprouted a portion of the fanbase who only pays attention to the team when playoff time rolls around. Understandable if one isn't a hardcore hockey fan. You have to figure the Wings have averaged something along the lines of what...90-92 games played per year over the course of this streak...if not a bit more? I'm sure the Tigers being good at baseball for this recent stretch has sapped some of the ticket buying portion of the fanbase as well. The second best Original 6 sweater is still a top 5 US national TV ratings and road game draw, it's just not what it was in the previous era for whatever reason. Maybe they lost the meatheads when the Probert/Kocur era transitioned into being the Swedish Elite Red Wings in the mid aughts and the bloodlusters went bye bye. Some of, if not most of it, IMO is being spoiled. They drew 99% capacity in their last Cup run in '08-'09, but the year after they drew 96.4%.which was actually lower than their road draw.

are you guys talking about the Ken Holland that started Nyquist in the AHL because he resigned Dan Cleary?? Or the one that traded a 1st round pick for Kyle Quincey who is terrible? Or the one that resigned Mikael Samuelsson?? I think everyone overrates Holland a bit and I am sorry, but just barely making the playoffs the last couple of years to keep the streak alive doesn't deserve praise in my opinion. Holland is fortunate that the Wings did have all these injuries this year or else all the kids would have never got a chance to play and save their season.

that's a fair point now....since Cleary was hot garbage this season. Not so much last year when Cleary was skating top 6 minutes while rolling up a 53%/54% Corsi/Fenwick at even strength. I mean you had the bricks tied to Abdelkader's wrists skating top 6 minutes at various intervals over the last 2 years so I can understand why Holland resigned him. Philly tried to throw, what $3-4 M per year at him too, after all. Burying guys in Grand Rapids a year or two extra has kind of been par for Holland & the Wings over the years and it's served them quite well in the salary cap era. Would you prefer to have a Sabres situation where they've burned two years of Grigorenko's entry level contract to waste time on the bottom six while he's getting his head kicked in nightly? It's smart to let the kids gain experience in the A instead of wasting their (cheap) entry level contracts while struggling to carry bottom 6 minutes. Nyquist showed flashes last year but he also registered all of 6 points over 22 games last season so it would be impossible to predict he would have the run like he had over the final two months or so of this season. And to be sure, he's highly unlikely to have another run like that ever again. He isn't going to bank another 18.3 Shooting% when the league average is 8.9% and even the greatest goal scorers like Ovechkin hold a career 12.3 S%.

The Samuelsson and Tootoo signings were bad. But you have to understand how difficult it is to sign FAs to short term contracts these days. You either have to get a guy who is rebounding from injury who will take a one year deal to rebuild his value, or an old guy looking to sign with a playoff team ie Iginla. Otherwise if you aren't throwing 5 year deals at FAs now you aren't going to sign anyone. That's the reason for the Samuelsson signing. You can also give him credit for not overpaying to keep Brunner, btw. The Tootoo one, I will never understand. He never fit on a team like Detroit. The Quincey trade was awful then and it's worse now...but I can also understand it. It was desperation, no decent blueliners were available for trade, and you can't throw all of that on Holland as Illitch does have some input on the roster and you can't understate how much extra revenue playoff teams grab. This is a sport whose revenue is largely centered on the box office. This isn't the NFL or NBA where the TV revenue trumps the gate and merch. You can easily argue that Wings squad with Quincey certainly didn't seem like a Cup contender, but we also just saw last year's cup contending Bruins get their ears pinned back by a terrible Leafs squad in the first round, and we aren't that far away from a mediocre Hurricanes team winning a cup based on a goalie catching fire and (career) peaking in his rookie season. Not to mention almost watching a league average goalie like Jimmy Howard almost scrub the champs from the playoffs last season. Stuff happens in hockey. But yeah it's obviously much more difficult for Holland now that he can't exploit A) no salary cap so the mercenaries like Hull and Robitaille are largely no longer a factor.

he can't exploit the market inefficiency that was European players any longer. The bias most Canadian born GMs had for Euros is largely gone save for the Russians so he can't load up on Swedes falling in the draft like he could back in the 90s or early aughts. The quality of GMs had improved dramatically over the last decade. Now Holland and Lamoriello aren't miles ahead of their peers like they used to be. Mix in the salary cap and now the field is much more even for better, or in Wing fans' case, worse. But if you've had your fill of him, I think pretty much every other organization not named Chicago or Boston would probably be thrilled to take him off of your hands. Personally I'd take Holland over Chiarelli and Stan Bowman is pretty much a Ken Holland clone anyway.

rjcoy06 · April 16, 2014 9:28AM

I would rather any of the kids have been in the line-up from day one over a 35 year old Cleary. Cleary was terrible last year too, but everyone forgets about that because he got hot in the playoffs and the Wings "almost" beat Chicago.

The league has also changed in the fact that almost every team has an 18 or 19 yr old in the line-up now. Gone of the days of guys playing 2-3 years in the AHL to get seasoned.It's a speed game now with the rules changes. Teams need young, fast skaters. Holland should have know what he had with Nyquist cause that is what he is paid to do, evaluate talent. I think sometimes Ken Holland and the whole Wings organization are too loyal to a fault. They let Draper and Maltby hang around way to long, and now were seeing it with Cleary, Bertuzzi and Samuelsson.

lanemyer85 · April 16, 2014 10:47AM

I disagree. Cleary on a one year $1.75M contract was a good contract even though he ended up being injured and horrible.

SH% at 5 on 5
2007-2013 On-ice SH%: 7.90
2013-14 On-ice SH%: 4.58

you couldn't have predicted he would be both injured and unlucky. Not buying out Tootoo was a much greater error.

I will agree somewhat to the speed factor, but the Bruins and Kings and while they haven't won anything that matters, the Blues, have proven you don't necessarily have to have a ton of team speed. I mean they have some speed at individual positions here and there, like Schwartz and Tarasenko and Oshie for the Blues, but if you use a pseudo-trap...or whatever you want to call it...maintaining a strong defensive system, layered system, left wing lock, 1-3-1, keep everything to the outside or whatever phrasing you want to use. Puck possession equates to winning more than anything and the PP leaders over the last half decade are the teams that have won. Chicago, LA, Boston, prior to about two years ago, Detroit etc. The Oilers have a ton of speed...at least in their forwards group. It hasn't worked. The Avs have a ton of speed...probably about the only forward group around who can match the Hawks, but they didn't really become good this season because of their speed. I mean I'm sure it has helped, but they just had one of those seasons which doesn't make statistical sense. Varlamov played well over his head, probably, being one factor. The team had terrible possession numbers largely thanks to their blueline which is probably even worse than Detroit's. They were on the high end of luck when it comes to shooting percentage as a team. 102 PDO I mean the Bruins ice two Holmstroms on their first line wings in Lucic and Iginla, and Krecji is an average skater at best on top of those two. If you play the Ambian on Ice gum up the middle sludgefest that teams like the Bruins and Devils and Preds and Coyotes and Kings use, you can get by without speed. Even the Wings played this system at certain points last year against the Hawks in the playoffs to slow them down, whereas they've normally just run the old left wing lock.

Bring out the octopii, tip your caps and salute the Great Winged Wheel!!

Comments