Red Wings GM Ken Holland talks ‘holes’ with Pleiness; Hudler is g-o-n-e

Red Wings GM Ken Holland has some serious needs to fill on Sunday, but he told the Macomb Daily’s Chuck Pleiness (via RedWingsFeed) that his team does not believe that it’s dealing from anything other than a position of strength going into July 1st:

“We’ve got cap space, we’ll explore the market, but it’s got to make sense,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said Friday. “We have lots of pieces in place, players ready to step up and play a bigger role. Some of this has to be internal evolution.”

And Detroit has some major holes to fill, namely on the blue line and perhaps another top six forward. This offseason the Wings lost defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom (retirement) and Brad Stuart (trade). They could also lose Jiri Hudler to another team that’s willing to offer the winger more money.

“We don’t have as many holes as some people think,” Holland said. “I attribute that to the development of Brendan Smith. You’re not going to replace Nicklas Lidstrom. He’s going to be replaced by all defensemen picking it up. Brad Stuart is a loss. I look at the addition of Kyle Quincey, the development of Brendan Smith, Jonathan Ericsson. We got Nik Kronwall, Jakub Kindl is 25, Ian White had a good year. We don’t have big names, but we have good players. Jonathan Ericsson is developing into a shut-down defenseman.”

So what does Holland’s assessment mean given that Nicklas Lidstrom’s retired?

Source: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tmr/comments/red_wings_gm_ken_holland_talks_holes_with_pleiness/

Jamie Lundmark Nick Spaling Pikka Rinne Mathieu Carle Lars Eller Hal Gill