Detroit Red Wings: Have you lost confidence in Ken Holland?

The Hockey News did a survey recently about how much confidence each fanbase has in their front office. Where did the Detroit Red Wings rank?

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t made it past the first round in three seasons and haven’t been to the Conference Finals since 2009. Fans have been losing confidence in General Manager Ken Holland but where does he rank among NHL GM’s.

The Hockey News did a survey a couple weeks ago about how much confidence each fanbase has in their front office.

Of the 30 NHL teams, the Red Wings ranked 21st in confidence level for their General Manager. Frankly, Red Wings fans can’t be blamed for lacking confidence in Ken Holland.

Coach Jeff Blashill said the right things about the young guys needing to step up but the moves this offseason make fans wonder: do Holland and company really trust them to take the next step?

More from Detroit Red Wings

Here are the moves made so far this offseason:

Re-signing Drew Miller to a one year deal. OK, it’s one year. I’m not that upset by it.

Re-signing Darren Helm to a FIVE year deal. This I have an issue with. It’s clear that Andreas Athanasiou has more upside right now than Darren Helm. The issue that myself and a lot of other Red Wing fans have had with Holland is his loyalty. While loyalty is admirable there comes a time when he just has to let go.

Signing Frans Nielsen to a six year deal. Length is long but that’s most contracts now in the NHL. Plus, that’s the replacement for Pavel Datsyuk so I don’t have an issue with it.

Signing Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott to one year deals. Vanek hopefully can have a rebound season this year and Ott’s job is to keep teams from taking runs at the Red Wings young guys. Both are only one year deals so once again no issue.

Re-signing Luke Glendening to a four year deal; Again not a fan of the length but other than that, not a big issue.

Re-signing Danny DeKeyser to a six year deal and Petr Mrazek to a two year deal. Those two are part of the future of this team. The Red Wings had to keep both of them. My only complaint is I wish Mrazek’s deal was longer but at the same time this gives him a shot to prove himself.

Of the moves the only one I really was upset about was the Helm signing. Helm does add speed to this team but this contract just has the makings of one that will haunt the Red Wings in a year or two.

Contracts like that are a reason why the Red Wings fan base is lacking confidence in the front office.

[recent-posts]

The six categories of the Hockey News survey were: Roster Building, Cap Management, Draft/Develop, Trading, Free Agency and Vision. Of those six, the Red Wings ranked 19th or lower in five. The only one that made the top ten was draft/develop.

Which once again brings me back to my point; give the young guys a chance. The moves that have been made this off-season seem to guarantee that Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou will not be on the Red Wings this fall and will be in Grand Rapids.

The reason for this is they can send them down without having to put them on waivers. Also, with the amount of forwards the Red Wings have, a trade has to be in the works for a defenseman. I would be very disappointed if come October the Red Wings still haven’t made a trade.

We can all agree the biggest issue on this team is defense. Holland has a glut of forwards and has to get a defenseman in here. Hopefully between now and training camp we can talk about the new defenseman that the Red Wings got.

Next: Detroit Lions Give Darius Slay Four-Year Extension

Have you lost faith in Holland? Vote in our comments or tell us on Twitter @detroitjockcity and @mikerizzo87!

Home/Detroit Red Wings