Marginalization.

It’s the one word that comes to mind after recapping Ken Holland’s end of the year press conference. Statements such as, "Less can be more exciting," and, "I think if you expect cups, you’re in the wrong league," signified a nauseating surrender to mediocrity on behalf of the organization, as well as an incompetence to operate as a General Manager under the restrictions of the salary cap. Standing alone, these two quotes have sent fans of the Detroit Red Wings into a tizzy – and for good reason.

Holland’s stance on the hockey future of Detroit has imploded an elite attitude projected toward the franchise from several sides of the spectrum. Lifetime fans of the organization – especially those of younger generations – no longer have confidence in the team. It’s clear that this is exactly what Holland intended, but it does pose the question: Why would he want to lower expectations for his own franchise?

The answer can be found on Woodward Avenue. The organization as a whole is in quite a unique situation. Talent is dwindling, their core veterans seem to be hurting the team more than they’re helping, they’re in the process of building the finest arena in all of hockey, all the while in the midst of a playoff appearance streak that just eclipsed the quarter-century mark. If in recent years, you’ve angrily shouted at your television, radio, or phone, "All Ken Holland cares about is making the playoffs!" you’re probably right.

But it’s not just about making the playoffs; it’s about creating a distraction. It’s about having something to sell.

Since the Wings fell in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Penguins in 2009, they haven’t made it past the second round of the playoffs. It’s reasonable to believe that the idea of building a new arena was already in the works as they headed into the 2010 season, due to the fact that in-depth details of the $650 million structure were announced early in the summer of 2013.

Since this time, Holland hasn’t produced a single trade or free agent signing of any relevant magnitude (sorry, David Legwand). He knew he had a team that was good enough to get to the playoffs, and that’s what the team has been selling the past six years – the chance to see a team with an incredible postseason streak. Holland also knows that because of the four Stanley Cups he’s won in this city, his reputation would buy him an overload of patience from the Detroit faithful, allowing the team to remain stagnant while the fans continue to give him the benefit of the doubt because of his history.

His job was simple: Get the team to the playoffs until the final season at The Joe, so the team can have something to sell. It’s a brilliant tactic, really, and one that the Red Wings can afford to implore. If not for the streak, what entertainment experience would the Red Wings have been able to sell? The team plays a rather boring style of hockey; it’s slow, low-scoring, nonphysical, and appears as if all they’re trying to do is ‘contain’ the opposition.

The 2015-2016 season was even more underwhelming than the previous five or six years, but in the eyes of fans, a swift dismantling in round one at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to have been the last straw. Not only did the team receive another first round playoff exit, but their flaws were exposed in the most gruesome way possible. The powerplay was absolutely dismal, Tampa’s quick forwards exposed a defensive core that is subpar in both the speed and positioning departments, and a lack of size accounted for a severe disadvantage in physicality on both the offensive and defensive fronts.

The pressure on Holland is higher than ever to make successful signings in an offseason that contains several pieces to fix these glaring issues such as Andrew Ladd, Kyle Okposo, Keith Yandle, Milan Lucic, and – although it’s unlikely – Steven Stamkos. However, as Holland has proven, he’s unbearably incapable of making these signings in the salary cap era. And now, with his recent statements, he has an excuse not to. No veteran will have an interest in a team that is publicly retreating into mediocrity, and no fan will hold expectations of acquiring valuable players through free agency.

As the team begins to roll forward into the final season at Joe Louis Arena, the first year of the "less can be more exciting" era will officially be underway. This means that they’ve officially stopped selling a hockey team that’s talented enough to do damage in the postseason. Rather, they’ll be selling an opportunity to get one last look at the building that created landmark moments in every Red Wing’s fan’s life.

And it’s going to work.

The organization knows that nobody will threaten to cancel their season ticket plans like they have over at Ford Field, because it’ll remove them from having priority to season ticket plans at the new arena. And if nobody’s cancelling season ticket plans, then a season dedicated to saying goodbye to Joe Louis Arena will be a successful one, monetarily.

Last November, the team boasted a sellout streak of 200 games. Now, if you watched any home games from the past year, you’d know that just because every ticket was sold, doesn’t mean that there weren’t thousands of empty seats on a nightly basis. So if tickets for these seats were actually sold based on what the organization said, you can safely assume that thousands of fans were simply opting to not attend. Next year, these tickets will continue to sell, and a desire to see the old barn one last time will cause more tickets to be put to use. In turn, this will create more revenue from parking, concessions, merchandise, etc.

Similar to the year before it, the 2017-2018 season will be driven on selling an experience – but this time, ‘experience’ is a lot more than nostalgia. The newly named Little Caesars Arena will demand its spot as the most incredible rink in all of hockey. Not only will they have zero trouble selling tickets, but prices will most likely multiply; especially in the earlier months.

A fear of sheepishly telling coworkers, "No, I haven’t seen the new arena yet," will draw in even the most proud fans that adamantly detest the way the team is being run. Corporate salesmen telling prospective customers, "I have two tickets for the Wings game tonight, why don’t you take them?" will no longer be turned down.

For those who are passionate about Red Wing hockey, it’s going to be a rough couple of years. The playoff streak is no longer impressive to fans, so it would be safe to assume that making sure the team gets there will be relatively unimportant. Best of all, Ken Holland’s job will be safe after setting forth his expectations for the upcoming years.

The optimist in me wants to believe that this may actually work out well in the end, and that the transition into a new arena will allow the team to rebuild, while the fans still have the opportunity to enjoy some sort of ‘experience.’ However, a rebuild will never work as long as Holland is in the front office.

I understand, and even appreciate, retaining players who have served as a major role in multiple Stanley Cups, such as Yzerman and Lidstrom. But dishing out lucrative contracts to unproductive players that are far past their prime like Nik Kronwall and Dan Cleary is unacceptable. Signing players to sizeable contracts through the age of forty while they’re in their late twenties and early thirties is unacceptable. Most of all, Ken Holland "absolutely" and "undoubtedly" having full support from the Ilitch family is unacceptable.

"Less can be more exciting," marked the end of an era in Red Wing hockey. It signified the end of commitment to building a championship hockey team, a shift in concentration from on-ice talent to off-ice operations, and the beginning of selling a new experience – one that’s not limited to just hockey fans.

Maybe the word I was looking for to describe the end of the year press conference wasn’t "marginalization." In the following years, fan engagement will be everything but marginalized. In fact, it’ll be at an all-time high. But the hockey product will surely suffer.

So for the fans that live and die with their team; for the fans that can name exactly where they were during every marquee moment of the past twenty-five years; for the fans that won’t be able to afford a ticket into the new arena, but will still watch every game on television; I guess that maybe the word I should have used was "abandonment."





