A Piece of Advice For Ken Holland

Note: I, in absolutely no way, am trying to be critical of Ken Holland. He is arguably one of the best general managers in hockey, if not all of sports. Look at his track record; salary cap or not, he is a winner.

The Detroit Red Wings have been the most consistent team in the National Hockey League for the past twenty years and believe me; there is plenty of credit to go around. The Ilitch family resuscitated the Dead Wings. Scotty Bowman is looked at as the coach who took them over the edge. Steve Yzerman and Sergei Federov filled the seats as the Wings youth rejuvenated hockey in Motown. Even though the Wings wouldn’t be the franchise they are today without these contributors, Ken Holland and his front office staff worked to surround the Wings’ stars with the talent and role players to build a well-rounded winner.

Holland, along with Assistant GM/VP Jim Nill and Senior VP Jim Devellano, have built the Red Wings in such a way that while every other team in the NHL has ebbed and flowed with the river of “rebuilding years”, the Wings have stood on top.  There is no need to go into the four Stanley Cups and amount of division and conference titles; the Wings are winners.

Before the salary cap was instituted, Holland transitioned a team that won two cups with youth, talent and chemistry to a crafty, veteran team that formed together like the Super Friends. Have you ever heard of multiple players taking serious pay cuts to come to one team for the chance to win a cup? The Wings are a special franchise.

After the salary cap came into play, Holland and the gang was written off. For years the Wings were grilled for buying cups and that they would fall back into the river now that they had to compete on a level playing field. Wrong. Holland and the gang played by the rules and continued to win another cup and consistently be a force in the playoffs.

Holland is great. He is a genius. He is a legend. Here is my point: Could he be better? I think so.

If there is one negative to the front office’s game plan, it may be how they use their farm system.

I reside in Grand Rapids, the home of the Wings AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Every year, I take time from my busy schedule of watching copious amounts of sports to head to the Van (to watch sports…only in a less comfortable chair).

From what I can see, the Wings and Griffins have both capitalized from their relationship. The Griffins host the “Wings of the future”, while the Wings have firmly installed “Hockeytown West”. It is great to see all of the Wings prospects and geek out by breaking down their skills and making ridiculously bold claims for their careers. Maybe I am just getting bored, but I’ve run out of new players to see because I feel the roster has been the same for the past three years.

With the lineup that Holland has put in place, there is little room for any of the Wings prospects to break in with the big club. Jimmy Howard was drafted as the goalie of the future and we finally got our first good look at him last year. He got four full seasons in Grand Rapids prior to being named to the club full-time in 2009. I am all for getting adequate seasoning, but after four years of Jimmy Howard while the Wings plug in free agent after free agent? I got a little salty.

Listen. This is just nitpicking. I understand that. The lineup is solid and once again, the Wings will enter the season as cup contenders, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Wings head into the season with just one or two question marks. Not big glaring question marks (like who in the world is going to start as Michigan’s second corner now that Woolfolk is down), just some small ones.

I think Holland was playing it safe by picking up Ruslan Salei to patch up the back end of the blue line, but couldn’t the Wings have let it ride with Jakub Kindl? He has played with the Griffins for three plus years (No regular season appearances in 2006-07, but did play in seven playoff games). They have been lauding his potential since he arrived in Grand Rapids. Why can’t he get a shot at the third pairing? Instead, he will be relegated to being the call up guy.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like the kid to get a look.