Shep talks with Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland about his team, including playing without Nick Lidstrom and the importance of a quick start in a shortened season.

"Expect teams to make the playoffs by a point and miss it by a point... I believe we're going to be in the playoffs, but hte margin for error is so much tighter."

"Nick Nidstrom comes along once every 90 years, there's no Nick Lidstrom in the NHL right now."

Take a listen:

[PODCAST] Ken Holland

Shep's Take: Casualty of Lockouts

There is a good news/bad news feel with the NHL lockout ending and the 48-game season fast-approaching.  The good news is just that-we will have hockey.  We don't like the way the league and its players have treated us, but we do now get the chance to watch the best in the world play the sport. 

The bad is that this disgusting, unncessary and unfortante lockout cloud/subject will hang over the game for the entire season and into future seasons.  Questions will constantly be asked about the why's and how's and what for's.  The problem with that is that the people most responsible for the chaos are not there to answer them.  We'll approach and ask people like Mike Babcock, Ken Holland and Henrik Zetterberg....but it's not their fault.

You think Ken Holland thought it was good for hockey to put fans through this test? Hell no.  You think Mike Babcock wanted this "extra time" so he could watch more film or join his subdivision committee? Absolutely not.  Do you believe Henrik Zetterberg was enjoying playing in Switzerland rather than working out here to prepare for an 82-game grind? Not a chance.

They all wanted a training camp in Traverse City.  Holland wanted a chance to evaluate prospects and bring in free agents to push those who weren't necessarily guaranteed a roster spot.  Mike Babcock wanted to coach systems and Henrik Zetterberg wanted to work out the communication between himself and his teammates as he gets set to captain his first club in Detroit. But we've been left no choice to angle our questions and frustrations toward them because we can't talk with Gary Bettman or Donald Fehr or even Mike Ilitch. 

Someone had to pay the price for the lockout. It was the fans who are emotionally attached; it was the workers in and around arena's who rely on the sport to help their business, or in some cases, make a living; and it is now the men who are usually front and center with the media answering questions.  Only this time rather than discussing personnel, strategy and their play on the ice, they will have to face questions about the business side of hockey and why others have errored with such poor judgement.