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Detroit Red Wings: Time for Ken Holland to be bold

By Mike Rizzo

Apr 9, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Fans wait outside to enter the Joe Louis Arena prior to the game between the Detroit Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils, this is the last Wings' game being played at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 9, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Fans wait outside to enter the Joe Louis Arena prior to the game between the Detroit Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils, this is the last Wings' game being played at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the NHL season officially over and the offseason underway, Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland needs to make some bold moves.

The Detroit Red Wings miserable 2016-17 season has been over since the beginning of April but the official NHL offseason is just getting started. This offseason will be even busier than normal due to the Expansion Draft on June 21st.

The Stanley Cup Final between the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins showed just how far away the Red Wings are from being Stanley Cup contenders again.

Starting with the annual NHL Buy Out period, which starts June 15, busy times are ahead for General Managers. With the Expansion Draft and NHL Draft coming up next week, Ken Holland will dictate how the next few years goes for the Red Wings.

The list of players that teams are protecting from the Expansion Draft will be released to the public on Sunday.

The time is now for Ken Holland to finally make some bold moves. The first bold move should be to take advantage of the annual buyout period. Sportsnet has Jonathan Ericsson as a possible buy out candidate. I know that will make a lot of Red Wing fans upset to lose him….

Another bold move would be to trade either Petr Mrazek or Jimmy Howard. Ken Holland really hasn’t made a big trade since the 2008 Brad Stuart trade. Also, trading a young guy like Andreas Athanasiou could fetch a pretty good haul for the Red Wings.

In the Expansion Draft, the Red Wings will lose one player. Some mocks have the Golden Knights selecting Darren Helm. IF Vegas selects Helm, that will get rid of one bad contract. If they can move Jimmy Howard also that would really help free up flexibility for the future.

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Ken Holland has dug a really big hole for this team, the million dollar question is can he get this team turned around. For things to turn around he needs to be bold and finally take some chances.

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