Paul Holmgren Not in the Same League as Detroit's Ken Holland

Is anyone watching how the Detroit Red Wings are taking apart the most powerful team in the NHL's Eastern Conference?

I hope so, because it is downright ugly, folks.

This Red Wings team is fast, extremley talented, tough, and downright ornery.

Somebody has to be responsible for this fleet of red dynamos flying up and down the ice at will—Zetterberg, Holstrom, Hossa, Franzen, Cleary, Hudler, Lidstrom, Fillupa, Rafalski, Draper, Kronwall, and right on down the line.

Who is responsible for all of this? There is so much explosive talent, chemistry, synergy, toughness, speed, leadership, grit, passion, and guts on this team it is quite remarkable to watch. They are a rare group, a team, of which we have not seen here in Philadelphia in quite a long time.

If I am Paul Holmgren, Philadelphia Flyers General Manager, I am calling whoever is responsible for the construction of that hockey team in red with a wing on their jersey.

If I am Paul Holmgren, I am going to find out what makes up those critical ingredients we call a championship hockey team.

If I am Paul Holmgren, I am going to find out as much as I can about the rules of the salary cap and how to fit the right pieces within that framework.

Paul, you must find out how to find twelve forwards who play with heart. Paul, you must find a way to get defensemen who want to knock people down in front of your goalie.

I am pleading with you Paul to find players that play this game like it is their last game. I have not seen that from this group of Flyers to date.

I see a team that is satisfied with being just good, but certainly not a team that wants to be the very best. There is no killer instinct to speak of—and it is not a pretty scene, folks. 

All I am asking right now is that Paul Holmgren dial a few numbers on his cell phone and ask that man who has assembled the most dominant team in hockey over the past ten years what he needs to do moving forward.

He has to, he must do this, and he must do it now.

Paul, please make that call to Ken Holland in Detroit.