Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Absolute Failure

07/02/2014 at 12:48pm EDT

Anibal Sanchez and Victor Martinez had no problem with it. Neither did Torii Hunter or Joe Nathan. Golden Tate came here within hours of free agency opening. Those guys came from renowned land fills in Anaheim, Seattle, Miami and Dallas.

They don't mind the "blight", the rundown downtown, the decaying suburbs. Somehow, and money cures all those ills--I know, somehow they've been able to overlook the easy answer: that Detroit isn't a geographical or financial location of choice.

The Lions get 'em. The Tigers do. I have no idea if the Pistons do, or not.

Something is downright rotten in the Wings organization and the stench is keeping quality hockey players away.

And yesterday? Yesterday may have sealed the fate of two guys. In our minds, one fate is and has already been cast. Ken Holland needs to go. More in a minute.

But Mike Babcock? He needs to stay. Unfortunately the former's failures may be the Uber car Uncle Mike has hitched his skateboard to with the intent of flying out of town to a place where the hurdles aren't so high.

The best players aren't coming here anymore. Sorry, but they're not. Alfredsson and Weiss? Second tier. Don't make a mistake about that. If Daniel Alfredsson had to do it over again, he'd be having a Cuppy summer as a Bruin--because they very well could have won it with him, had he signed there. Weiss was injured, overrated and perfect for Kenny Holland because he specializes in signing the infirm and also ran.

Marian Hossa was the last impact move Ken Holland made. We've said it again and again.

Model organization, my ass.

Model organizations do not have the likes of Tom Fuching Gilbert saying no. Model organizations have guys like Christian Ehrhoff signing long-term deals because signing a long-term deal with a "Model Organization" is what every kid wants so that he can score goals and score chicks.

The last Wing (not named Zetterberg) to score chicks because he scored goals was Jiri Hudler and those were back-biting hookers.

Nothing wrong with back biting hookers but facts are facts.

Everyone passed on our Wings yesterday. They didn't pass on Novi or Grosse Pointe. They didn't pass on a decrepit JLA.

They passed on the organization and we don't know why.

And that's got to piss off one Michael Babcock. He will be the most marketable man on the hockey planet if he puts himself out there. He's won everything. Patrick Roy may be the Adams winner but nobody on this beautiful planet (covered by 70 percent water) is a better coach than our Uncle Mike. But, his talents are wasted by a GM who can't bring in the players.

And that's what we've got: a GM who simply can not do the job any longer.

The Wings scouted close to 100 games played by Ryan Suter. He was theirs for the taking and so was his BFF. Fail. Dan Boyle was earmarked for Detroit. Fail. Christian Ehrhoff fell off a frigging burrito truck right into Holland's lap. Not only did he fail, but he failed in the most humiliating fashion. The guy signed a ONE YEAR DEAL FOR LESS THAN THE WINGS WERE OFFERING.

Disgusting. Boston and LA did nothing because they didn't need to. Almost every other team in the NHL improved yesterday.

We signed Kevin Porter.

We re-signed Kyle Fuching Quincey.

I'm telling you nothing new. I'm venting, as you all have been.

But it's reached a point of extremis. He literally said, "kicked some tires" again yesterday. He said that. Again.

Oh, well. Oh, bother. Woe is us, but only kinda. We'll be fine. We like our team.

The GM of this team should be Jim Nill or it should be Steve Yzerman. We let them both go. They were aggressive yesterday.

They were aggressive while the Wings kicked the same deflating tires.

Hossa signed in 2008. Actually, Babcock probably had him sold in the handshake line that June. Holland got the famous call from Hossa's agent while at the famous gas station. It was a gift. Holland didn't seek him out. He fell in our laps.

But only for a year, boy. Just one year before letting him go. To Chicago of all places. Jesus.

Since then? Stand by. Stand by, I tell you, for excellence.

February 27, 2004? Ring a bell. It should. It's the last time the Wings made an impact trade. Ten years since The Enigma strolled into town. Bobby Lang.

Jamie Rivers, Kyle Calder, Cory Cross, a Serial Killer, Andy Delmore, KYLE QUINCEY, Legwand. Deadline deals that shook the world.

Free agency? We know the history, or lack thereof. Danny DeKeyser, and that was another gift. Even Holland couldn't have screwed that up.

Got it. The drafts have been good. The kids, oh the kids. They've been good, but we are not Edmonton. Building through the draft year after year.

Oh, speaking of Edmonton, they had a better day than us yesterday too. Along with 26 other teams.

I know. We should be happy with our 11 and our 23, our 13 and our 40.

But 13 and 40 are almost done. 11's looking like 12 is too far away and 23 has become the goal.

Ken Holland's legacy is beyond tarnish. It's in the shitter and the next casualty is probably going to be the best coach in hockey who is joining the best players in hockey: he's going to decide Detroit isn't the place for him.

Create an Account

In order to leave a comment, please create an account.

About Abel to Yzerman

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.

Most Recent Posts

Most Recent Comments