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George Paros is letting his good buddy Gudas off the hook again, and he knows it. Radko has cross checked multiple players already. It’s time for new leadership at DPS
Detroit has nothing to lose right now. They have cap space, expiring contracts, and a stretch of games against teams that want to be in the post season. Detroit sits 2-4-1 in the season series, and sits third from the bottom in the league. If the season ended today, Detroit would pick no lower than 5th overall (just plan on losing the lottery). In fact, winning might be the only hiccup in the ideal end to another rough season.
For what reason, I don’t know, but the Free Press and Red Wings writers gave an update on Bertuzzi. He “could” miss the rest of the season. Being that it’s just 19 games, let’s go ahead and let him miss the rest of the season. It’s not that I don’t miss him, life is way better when you’ve got your pit bull on the ice. It’s just that it would suck for him to come back now, get hurt in a high intensity game vs a contender, and spend the summer healing up again.
Much of the team is pretty banged up at this point. The early scheduling was pretty rough in terms of days off after 10 months not playing any competitive hockey. This has been another rough ride on the rebuild railroad. For anyone keeping track of the waiver wire, Nikita Gustav, Yzerman’s 2012 7th round pick, has been waived by New Jersey. His 4.5 million salary and pending UFA status are probably enough reason not to think to long about this grab. Tyler Ennis is in flux again, but at this point what the season almost done and a 7 day quarantine, not a lot of sense in that grab. All is quiet on the Red Wings ranch.
And so, to the title. You all know I love movies/pop culture tidbits. Friday the 13th, as a child, was possibly the scariest (and most inappropriate) thing I’d ever watched as a first grade youngster. My brother had a birthday on December 13th, so any given Friday we’d push to rent the slasher series. That blissful period of, “how bad could it be?” As the parents laughed and wine flowed on the other side of the house, there wasn’t much though on the impact of media on children. My poor mother saw the exorcist when she was pregnant with my brother, maybe that’s what got him hooked on the macabre.
Regardless, each iteration of the Voorhies line of films grew steadily cornier. It is poetic justice that the scariest part of Jason was his mother. She was nuts. Just about lost her head over everything (horrible Joyce). I remember being through with high school seeing another Friday the 13th come out (they’re still making this stuff?). Hollywood seems to go on skip for decades at a time. If it made money once, it can do it ten more times (congratulations Marvel Universe, you’re the current poster child for overused plots and iterations). Just once, can’t poor Jason find himself in Sunrise, Fla, rocking his troubles away in an alligator infested swamp? Maybe have Mike Myers over for smoked “long pork” and swap death stories? Neither is much for talking, better get Freddy Kruger in via an inception crossover.
I guess what has landed me in this bizarre fixation with putting an end to something that’s gone severely past being entertaining, or even palatable, is the state of the rebuild. I remember chuckling at Ken Holland when he said, “Detroit fans don’t have much of an appetite for a rebuild”. Man, he was right. Post salary cap rebuilds are brutal. No matter how hard you try and play by the rules, you have to get lotto luck and somehow try to be worse than Buffalo. We’ve watched as Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Ottawa have pushed past in the lunch line, leaving mostly freezer burned nuggets in their wake (ok, Seider is a gem. Raymond, not the best season to judge). Still, they got the last of the Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes while Bettman shakily called their names. Yzerman and Sakic did their best to remain pleasant on camera, but man did Stevie Y let them have it at the GM meetings. Apparently, for about 2 hours.
Somehow, Anaheim has to hit a hot stretch and Detroit needs to be “steady as she goes”. Finishing 2nd to last gives a likely 4th overall pick. (I’m not sure how much winning Buffalo wants to do). Add another piece that won’t be ready for 2 seasons, and hope that Seider, Berggren, Veleno and another prospect or two are ready to make the team a little better next year. It has to be better than this, right? I’m guessing if we finish 9th to last we’ll probably finally get a lotto pick (just in time for it to be illegal to win more than twice).
Where are you at? It is way more fun to watch a win, but is it worth it at this point? Can you stomach 19 more games, just over a month, of losses in order to try and draft a potential star? Or, let the chips fall and do the best they can? Give me your 2 cents, and I’ll see you after the game.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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