This past week in Sports could possibly be one of the worst in Detroit History!! The Red Wings were eliminated in 5 games by the Lightning, the Tigers lost 5 of 6, including getting swept at home by the Indians over the weekend and the Pistons who made the playoffs for the first time since 2009, got swept by the Cavaliers in 4 straight games. Good thing the NFL Draft was a week away based on previous Lions drafts! Here is a breakdown of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly moving forward....
Detroit Red Wings The Red Wings made the NHL playoffs for the 25th consecutive year which is remarkable in this day and age in Pro Sports but in doing so showed the team and its fans how far the iconic Red Wings have fallen in recent years. With little to no room with the salary cap and big contracts to underachieving and older veterans, Red Wings GM Ken Holland seemed to take a page from ex Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski and sign aging players to big contracts that hurt the teams chances at signing free agents or making moves at all. Holland gambled that this core of players would get the Red Wings into a deep run in this years playoffs but it was evident early on that it was going to be a struggle. Lack of goal scoring, no success on the PP and couldn't PK cost the Wings big time. The questions going forward are, is it time to totally rebuild? Or to try and tinker with what is here? Does Pavel Datsyuk come back for another year? Is Jeff Blashill the right guy to Coach the Red Wings? Has Ken Holland's time as GM taken its course? Will the veterans respect Blashill and listen to him? Will the team address the locker room divide and be able to correct it with the current players? Can the team lure a big time free agent to Detroit to play for them?
The Red Wings have a few good young players to build around but they must address many glaring weaknesses which will be tough to do with the salary cap issues that surround the team. It will be a very interesting off season to say the least for the the Red Wings. The biggest question will be, can the Red Wings make it 26 straight years into the playoffs next year? The Red Wings have a very loyal fan base and they know they need to make some serious moves especially when they have a new arena to fill starting with the 2017 hockey season.
Detroit Pistons The Pistons made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and show promise of being a good team for some time. If they would of played some defense this season they could of easily won another 10 games or more. Stan VanGundy has done a good job of rebuilding the Pistons into a good team but to become an elite team the Pistons have some serious questions surrounding them this off season. The Pistons who were swept in 4 games by Cleveland, showed good signs of what is ahead but also signs of areas that need to be improved for next season. Figure out a way to get Andre Drummond to make at least 60% of his free throws. To get the team to play defense once in a while would be nice. There need to develop a mental toughness. Also need to convince Jackson that He isn't the only player who can take a last second shot in a game. Stan VanGundy needs to play to win games not play to not lose games.
Detroit Tigers After an off season filled with Free Agent acquisitions, there was allot of excitement going into the season. Coming off a very disappointing season last year, the Tigers and Mr I., opened up the checkbook and went out and spent allot of money to try and make the Tigers a contender again. The Tigers rebuilt their bullpen, added another starting pitcher and also brought in another power hitter. The Tigers started out the first few games hitting the cover off the baseball to win a few games. But after the dust settled on the new season, it seems the starting pitching has some big holes in it right now and the hitting has gone ice cold. The bright spot so far has been the bullpen that has been trying to keep the runs given up by the starting pitchers to a minimum. If the teams keeps up giving up runs at this rate,the offense will have to be called upon to score 5 or 6 runs a game to have any chance to win. Good thing that baseball is a 162 game long season so there is no reason to raise the white flag as of yet. Lets see how the next 2 months play out as we get to the All Star game. If things haven't turned around by then it is safe to say it will be another long season. Most sport pundits picked the Tigers to be 3rd or 4th in the AL Central. I said from the beginning of the season 85 wins would be a good year 90 wins would be awesome. So lets see if the Tigers can start tonight and turn around this dismal streak where they have looked uninspired and lackadaisical at best.
Detroit Lions The Lions who are usually on the top of bad week like this have been sitting back quietly awaiting the NFL Draft which is just a few days away. The Lions who have 10 picks in this years draft will be under new GM Bob Quinn. Everyone is waiting with baited breath as to who the Lions will select in the first round and will they finally draft better players with the selections that they have. Only time will tell if they do or don't have a good Draft thus year! No one has said this in a long long time but could it be the Detroit Lions that will turn around the bad mojo that have encompassed Detroit Sport teams the past week or so?
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