By Jeff Moss
DetroitSportsRag@GMail.com
September 29, 2016
There is a recurring pattern with regard to recent transactions and signings, roster construction and other assorted decisions made by Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland.
Here is the blueprint. The franchise makes some sort of decision. Then the intelligent portion of the fanbase that bases their appraisal of such moves on advanced metrics and basic logic bashes Detroit’s NHL franchise. This is followed by many in the Canadian and American hockey press commenting on Holland’s continued idiocy.
Finally, the local beat writers (Helene “The Scarf” St. James, Ansar “Hanzi” Khan, Ted “I Am So Nondescript Moss Won’t Give Me a Nickname” Kulfan and Bob “Grit” Duff) circle the wagons and defend Holland at every turn as if they were a Donald Trump surrogate on CNN.
And at this point, I am not sure who has the tougher gig, the sycophantic beat writers who fellate Holland for a living or Corey Lewandowski, Jeffrey Lord and Kayleigh McEnany.
(I know this isn’t the first time I have made this comparison, but I like it so shut up.)
We have seen this exact scenario play out over and over and over again. The entire bit is as tiresome as the Hockey Jockey’s Joe Louis Arena playlist. Hell, at some point there should be some sort of collaboration where St. James posts a video blog defending the Steve Ott signing with some garbage Third Eye Blind song blasting in the background.
I’d really like to see St. James whip her scarf around during a stirring rendition of “Semi-Charmed Life.”
And it doesn’t matter if the move is an exorbitant and indefensible contract, like the ones handed out to Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser, superfluous free-agent forward signings that leave Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha on the outside looking in, or Holland’s continued failure to improve this roster via trade. It’s the same pattern ….
1] Prashanth Iyer and Jiff Myst ridicule the move.
2] National writers like James Mirtle shake their heads at said transaction.
3] Khan goes to bat for the organization while Duff explains that everything will work out fine because ….. Belle River, Ontario ….. ????
4] Blogger George Malik posts a blog on Dan Milstein‘s website explaining how Thomas Vanek’s signing will be great for refinancing your mortgage.
Wash, rinse, repeat. This is currently our lot in life as Red Wings fans.
But yesterday provided a rare occasion where there was direct evidence that Ken Holland is currently one of the WORST GMs in the NHL. This was no subjective argument as to how Abdelkader’s style of play will impact the later years of his contract. It wasn’t a philosophical disagreement over letting the kids rot in Grand Rapids. Nor was it a debate on the pros and cons of Jimmy Howard‘s status as an expensive backup.
No, this was all factual and, of course, the Four Musketeers who make their bones writing about this team were nowhere to be found.
You see, defenseman Kyle Quincey signed a free-agent contract with the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. Yep, on September 28th with training camps already in full swing and actual exhibition games already being played, the former Wings blueliner FINALLY found a gig.
Now, keep in mind that Quincey just turned 31 years old last month. He is not old by any stretch of the imagination. That age could still be considered the prime of his career. Particularly for a defenseman.
Not only did Quincey get the last chair as the “Defenseman Musical Chairs” music ended, he signed a one-year contract for the paltry sum of $1,250,000.00. That’s not exactly the league minimum for veterans, but it’s in the same school district, that’s for sure.
One year.
$1.25 million.
And why am I bringing this up today? Because in the past, Holland had signed Quincey to two separate two-year deals (after giving up a FIRST ROUND PICK to re-acquire Quincey in the first place) totaling a little over $16 million.
This is how badly Holland has misjudged Quincey’s career. In October of 2008, Holland decided to place Quincey on waivers so he could keep a decrepit Chris Chelios (who at the time was closing in on 47 years of age) and perennial Norris Trophy candidate Derek Meech.
The Los Angeles Kings picked up Quincey for bupkis and he outplayed both Chelios and Meech that season. Significantly. Quincey ended up in Colorado a year later and THEN was reacquired by Holland in what basically amounted to a three-way trade at the 2012 deadline.
In return, the Lightning received the Wings’ first round pick in that summer’s draft and turned that selection into goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. And, playing in the same division as Tampa, I am sure that chain of events won’t end up haunting us for years to come.
Steve Yzerman is looking for a way to get rid of Ben Bishop so Vasilevskiy can take over between the pipes.
Anyway, Quincey averaged $4 million per year while carrying out his second tour of duty in Detroit while playing 19:46 minutes a game last season. There were times that Quincey was even getting run on the team’s FIRST defensive unit.
Quincey played in the first two games of the Wings/Lightning series while the organization’s best defenseman (Brendan Smith) enjoyed a box of popcorn in the press box.
Quincey was so indispensable to the 2015-16 Wings that he played nearly 20 minutes a night when healthy over the team auditioning Xavier Ouelett, Ryan Sproul or Nick Jensen to see what they had with those young defensemen. Meanwhile, ALL three will need to pass through waivers before being allowed to return to Grand Rapids this fall.
[Spoiler Alert: The Wings are almost positively going to lose at least one of those gentlemen without ever knowing if he is ready for the NHL. Maybe one day Holland will be able to bring them back at the low, low price of a first round pick.]
Yep. With preseason games already underway, Quincey finally received a contract offer from an NHL team. And at 31-years old he will be receiving a one-year audition for one-quarter the salary Holland has been paying him for years.
The same guy who played 20 minutes a night last year for Detroit. Picked up off the scrap heap in the shadow of October for peanuts.
Good luck spinning this reality, Bob, Ted, Helene and Ansar. You’d probably have more luck explaining why Trump called a Latina pageant winner, “Miss Housekeeper.”
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