Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Get Dirty, Kenny

07/01/2016 at 9:02am EDT

Zero Point Zero Zero.

Yes, it's Blutarski's grade point average. Well earned, I might add.

It's also the numbers you saw on the clock on draft day as we waited for the Wings to select at #16. No pick. Pan to Kenny. Happy. Content. Glazed. Post coital, almost.

He'd done it and every one of us knew it. He'd shed the weight of Datsyuk's contract and that could only mean one thing: Stamkos.

Naturally, Stamkos went back to Yzerman because Yzerman's Yzerman and he doesn't back down. Ever. He didn't back down and Stamkos did his very brief tour of "what was out there". Naturally, that tour didn't include Detroit ("next stop if he hadn't signed with Tampa"...uh huh) and back to Tampa goes the Greek kid.

So here we sit, with three hours until the grocery store opens. Here we sit, knowing that since the Ingalls sisters went to Mankado, we are not allowed to get our hopes up.

Well, my hopes are up. They always are. As much as common sense tells me we're going to hear Holland say, in about 8 hours, "Bringing Helmer back was always a priority. Steve brought his guy back. We got ours," I rarely deal in common sense.

My hopes don't just hinge on lineup dynamics. They don't sway with logic. My hopes are three tiered:

1. Make the Wings better. Obviously, this must be number 1. More scoring. Better D. A new GM in a sign and trade with Tampa, finally. Kenny needs to re-sign himself and then trade himself to Tampa in exchange for Steve Yzerman.

2. Make the Wings tougher. Make the Wings uglier. Make them gritty and make them filthy. You don't like Lukic? I do. I'd take him right now. He's hated. Good. Bring him. I like it when the Wings are hated. Naturally, they're despised the world over as excellence is always hated. You are hated and you revel in it. I'd like the Wings to be hated because of guys who play hard, who protect one another, who get batteries thrown at them. Lukic would come with a huge price tag. He'll be overpaid. And he's probably going to Edmonton or back to LA, but I'd like him here. If not Lukic, or in addition to Lukic, Matt Martin. Troy Brouwer. Not Ott. Too old, even for us.

3. Get a player from a team who hates us and listen to them sob. Oh my god. Can you imagine the heaves from St. Louis if we got David Backes? It would be glorious. Plus, he's a leader. He's gritty. He does it all, at age 32. He will absolutely rake in the money today. I'd like that money to come from Mike Ilitch.

But it has to be more than just Backes, or more than just Lukic. It has to be one big one (Backes), and a few other key pieces. Backes, Martin, Brouwer. Or Martin, Brouwer....Kris Russell?

The biggest name is gone, back to Yzerman, because Yzerman gets what he wants at the price he wants to pay. Noted.

If not Stamkos, give us grit. Give us some fire. Today could be pleasant if Kenny Holland turns the Wings into pure filth.

If it's anything at all it will probably be Nielsen or Okposo, probably frigging Boedker. More polish. More nice men. More guys who are gentle and fun to have in the room. That's not a win for us, though. With Stamkos gone, the best possible direction is to get us dirty men with attitude and edge. Bad men who don't like it when people do bad things to nice little kids like Dylan Larkin.

Make us tougher, Kenny. Spend the money that isn't yours on ugliness.

Tick Tock.

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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.

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