Well, that did not take very long. The Boston Bruins thoroughly out-played Detroit in the brief five game series. Detroit had moments of promise against the Bruins but Boston was never really in any danger, even after dropping game 1 at home.
I'm not sure anyone is that surprised. This was not like last year when the Red Wings knocked off an overrated Ducks team, totally lacking in depth. As a fan, I silently hoped Detroit could at least make a real series of things. Maybe their speed would give Boston the same fits that Chicago did in the cup final a year ago. If Detroit got by Boston, the East was wide open enough that they could very well have made it all the way to a rematch with Chicago. Alas, it was not to be.
My hope is that the drubbing Detroit took will open Ken Holland's eyes to the realization that he can no longer paper over the team's weaknesses. While injuries to Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Jonathan Ericsson didn't help Detroit's chances, I think it's pretty clear that even if fully healthy the end result would likely have been the same. Boston has remarkable depth and, just as impressive, clear structure and roles from top to bottom. I'm sure it's not true, but it felt like I could count on one hand the number of times the Bruins were ever really out of position in that series. Every rush, Boston seemed to have four guys back.
Would it have been more fun if Detroit had made it into the seven spot to knock off the Penguins? Or maybe into the 2-3 match up with Montreal/Tampa Bay? Sure. But if the goal is to win the cup, then why waste time? For the next few years, the road to the cup is going through Boston and the Red Wings need to get used to trying to measure up.
Obviously things have gone disastrously when the calendar has not even hit May and the Red Wings are already done playing hockey. I've complained a lot about Ken Holland's wasted millions on useless players, so I won't go into that. It's hard not to wonder what could have been if the roster had been built a little more soundly.
But there are some positives to come out of this season. The young, speedy forwards are not going anywhere (well, maybe Tomas Jurco. I could see him starting in Grand Rapids next year). Gustav Nyquist, Riley Sheahan, and Tomas Tatar will be able to provide depth scoring at a really cheap price. Danny DeKeyser and Brendan Smith proved they can be top four defensemen. Also for a bargain price. And Holland and Babcock realized they can get the same crap numbers and mediocre penalty killing that Dan Cleary provides at the scrapheap price they're paying Luke Glendening.
That should give Detroit the cap flexibility to bring in at least two more elite-level players. With the right additions, suddenly everyone moves down to a proper role, reducing mistakes, and getting results. In today's parity driven NHL, that can be all you need to get back on top.
As a son of the Midwest, I grew up watching the classic battles of the Norris Division. This blog is my tribute to the frozen game. It's a place for me to share thoughts and ideas about the sport I love above all others. I've invited friends to post their thoughts here as well. I hope you enjoy. - Adam
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Drop Pass: Episode 8
College chums Amy Fiscus and Sarah Larimer call the Center of the Universe to hand out some end of the year awards.
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Saturday, April 5, 2014
3 more years of Luke Glendening
While there are a fair number of off-season questions ahead for Detroit, they did take one of them off the table by extending Luke Glendening with a three-year contract, paying just more than the league minimum.
In one way, this is a low-risk deal. Glendening will just have to out-perform an AHL replacement-level player to live up to this deal. In every other way, this is probably not a good contract.
As I said, this is a very low-bar for Glendening to clear. What's disturbing is that he has not done so this year. The 24-year-old center should be in the middle of his prime scoring years, but he has yet to score an NHL goal. In fact, Glendening is one of only five forwards in the entire NHL to play in at least 50 games and fail to score this season. That puts him on a list with Krys Barch and Colton Orr.
You would think just out of sheer luck he would have potted one by now. Of course, it's easier to get a lucky bounce if you occasionally are able to get the puck out of your own end. That's another thing Glendening has struggled to do. Detroit has been a middling possession team this year, with a 5-on-5 close Corsi of 51%. Glendening's rating is 48.7%, better than only Stephen Weiss and basically tied with Todd Bertuzzi. The story only gets worse when you consider two players in a similar role, Drew Miller (50.1%) and Joakim Andersson (53.1%), are easily out-performing him in that metric. In fact, Miller would probably have even better numbers if he was not so often paired with Glendening.
It's true, Glendening's role is a defensive specialist and he plays the second most time on the penalty kill among forwards. But Detroit is not exactly hanging its hat on defense this year (ranked 19th in goals against and 11th in penalty kill).
The Detroit broadcast crew likes to play up Glendening's role as an agitator. However, when you look at his penalties drawn versus penalties taken, he's only plus 4 on the season. Good for only 9th on the team.
In the salary cap era, when every dollar and roster spot counts, strong depth is what makes elite teams elite. Too often in the past couple of seasons Detroit has tried to achieve this by dolling out overly long contracts to depth players (when they were completely unnecessary). Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, Tootoo. Four years for Kindl, three years for Lashoff. These players have had the type of production that can easily and cheaply be replaced every year in free agency. On the flip side, locking up these mediocre players leads to situations where Gustav Nyquist is forced to sit in the minors for the first two months of the season.
So Glendening may play a small role on the team and his deal is going to count almost nothing against the cap, the fact is, he's thus far contributed less than what most teams would expect from any AHL call up. There's basically no reason to lock him up beyond one year, and some pretty obvious reasons not to.
In one way, this is a low-risk deal. Glendening will just have to out-perform an AHL replacement-level player to live up to this deal. In every other way, this is probably not a good contract.
As I said, this is a very low-bar for Glendening to clear. What's disturbing is that he has not done so this year. The 24-year-old center should be in the middle of his prime scoring years, but he has yet to score an NHL goal. In fact, Glendening is one of only five forwards in the entire NHL to play in at least 50 games and fail to score this season. That puts him on a list with Krys Barch and Colton Orr.
You would think just out of sheer luck he would have potted one by now. Of course, it's easier to get a lucky bounce if you occasionally are able to get the puck out of your own end. That's another thing Glendening has struggled to do. Detroit has been a middling possession team this year, with a 5-on-5 close Corsi of 51%. Glendening's rating is 48.7%, better than only Stephen Weiss and basically tied with Todd Bertuzzi. The story only gets worse when you consider two players in a similar role, Drew Miller (50.1%) and Joakim Andersson (53.1%), are easily out-performing him in that metric. In fact, Miller would probably have even better numbers if he was not so often paired with Glendening.
It's true, Glendening's role is a defensive specialist and he plays the second most time on the penalty kill among forwards. But Detroit is not exactly hanging its hat on defense this year (ranked 19th in goals against and 11th in penalty kill).
The Detroit broadcast crew likes to play up Glendening's role as an agitator. However, when you look at his penalties drawn versus penalties taken, he's only plus 4 on the season. Good for only 9th on the team.
In the salary cap era, when every dollar and roster spot counts, strong depth is what makes elite teams elite. Too often in the past couple of seasons Detroit has tried to achieve this by dolling out overly long contracts to depth players (when they were completely unnecessary). Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, Tootoo. Four years for Kindl, three years for Lashoff. These players have had the type of production that can easily and cheaply be replaced every year in free agency. On the flip side, locking up these mediocre players leads to situations where Gustav Nyquist is forced to sit in the minors for the first two months of the season.
So Glendening may play a small role on the team and his deal is going to count almost nothing against the cap, the fact is, he's thus far contributed less than what most teams would expect from any AHL call up. There's basically no reason to lock him up beyond one year, and some pretty obvious reasons not to.
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