[News] Red Wings owner Mike Illitch passes away at age 87

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

Weird.

I must be weird as well because I kind of thought something similar in that he passed while the run was still intact and if he lasted a few more months he would have seen the end of that incredible run.

[Northendzone]

He sure lived a productive life

Eff u 2017

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

RIP to a great franchise owner.

Although I dunno about the community thing. He took public dollars from a poverty-stricken city for their new arena. But that's not his fault. The city gave it to him.

What an ignorant statement.

Do some research on the Illitch foundation or anything pertaining to the man. The city of Detroit has greatly benefitted from the generosity of Mike Illitch for a long time.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

What an ignorant statement.

Do some research on the Illitch foundation or anything pertaining to the man. The city of Detroit has greatly benefitted from the generosity of Mike Illitch for a long time.

And what about taking money from a poverty stricken city to build a new arena? Are you ignorant of that fact?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Just in terms of owners, is he the best any NHL franchise has ever had? Tough to judge these things, but usually the best you can expect from an owner or ownership group is that they don't actively harm your team or embarrass themselves in the media. Ilitch is actually a huge part of making that franchise the measuring stick for the entire league for, what, a decade and a half or so?

It says a lot that the best captain in NHL history, after leading his team to Detroit's first cup in over 40 years, didn't hand it off to a teammate or even Scotty Bowman, but to Ilitch. Yzerman understood what Ilitch did for Red Wings hockey.

Originally Posted by Steve Yzerman

Both Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch, as well as their entire family, have had an immeasurable impact on not only my career, but my life. Going back to the age of 18 when I arrived in Detroit, the guidance, generosity, concern and love Mr, Ilitch had always shown me and my family are things I will forever be grateful for. I was extremely fortunate to have played my entire career for a man whose love of hockey and burning desire to win were the catalysts which drove the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup Championships after purchasing the team in 1982.

Mr. Ilitch has left an incredible legacy in baseball, hockey and Metropolitan Detroit. He will forever be remembered for all the ways he enriched our lives. Mike Ilitch will live on vividly in my mind and heart forever.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I must be weird as well because I kind of thought something similar in that he passed while the run was still intact and if he lasted a few more months he would have seen the end of that incredible run.

I guess you are? Thought it was weird thing to say. Not he was weird. So many more important things than their playoff run. Ya it's a hockey board. But I think it's good to think a little beyond hockey for a moment.

[HappyGilmore]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I must be weird as well because I kind of thought something similar in that he passed while the run was still intact and if he lasted a few more months he would have seen the end of that incredible run.

Oh derp, how fitting he's dead before a playoff streak is ended. Yeah it's weird. A family lost their loved one and you morons are thinking about a playoff streak.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by HappyGilmore

Oh derp, how fitting he's dead before a playoff streak is ended. Yeah it's weird. A family lost their loved one and you morons are thinking about a playoff streak.

Internet sensitivity police to the rescue!

I thought the same thing that its weird/fitting/whatever he doesn't witness the end of the streak.

And I'm sure his loved ones are sitting around really worries what members of a Flames message board are saying.

Heck, i'll bet one of his sons of grandsons has already made the comment "At least he won't have to witness the Red Wings missing the playoffs!"

[HappyGilmore]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Internet sensitivity police to the rescue!

I thought the same thing that its weird/fitting/whatever he doesn't witness the end of the streak.

And I'm sure his loved ones are sitting around really worries what members of a Flames message board are saying.

Heck, i'll bet one of his sons of grandsons has already made the comment "At least he won't have to witness the Red Wings missing the playoffs!"

Oh ok.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by HappyGilmore

Oh derp, how fitting he's dead before a playoff streak is ended. Yeah it's weird. A family lost their loved one and you morons are thinking about a playoff streak.

People are capable of thinking about multiple things at once.

1. It's a terrible loss for the Ilitch family.
2. Not just that, but it's also a terrible loss for the Red Wings community.
3. That community has gone through some tough times of late, losing Gordie Howe last year and now facing uncharted waters with their first poor season in recent memory. Bad news just seems to be piling up for the Red Wings community in recent times, and that's sad.

Sorry for being a moron, though. I wasn't trying to trivialize this terrible loss.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by HappyGilmore

Oh derp, how fitting he's dead before a playoff streak is ended. Yeah it's weird. A family lost their loved one and you morons are thinking about a playoff streak.

I never said anything about how it was "fitting" he died before the streak ended. Certainly not trivializing his death and it was more a note that he left this world while the streak was intact. I didn't even feel the need to post it until some people took offense to someone else posting it. Total dick post by you and it's the sort of stuff that brings this forum down.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I never said anything about how it was "fitting" he died before the streak ended. Certainly not trivializing his death and it was more a note that he left this world while the streak was intact. I didn't even feel the need to post it until some people took offense to someone else posting it. Total dick post by you and it's the sort of stuff that brings this forum down.

I did, though, and I think that's what he was getting at. It was poor word choice on my part, I understand that. I apologize for that. But I meant absolutely no ill will to the Ilitch family or Red Wings fans.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I did, though, and I think that's what he was getting at. It was poor word choice on my part, I understand that. I apologize for that. But I meant absolutely no ill will to the Ilitch family or Red Wings fans.

We know you didn't mean any ill will. No need to apologize.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I did, though, and I think that's what he was getting at. It was poor word choice on my part, I understand that. I apologize for that. But I meant absolutely no ill will to the Ilitch family or Red Wings fans.

I understood exactly what you were getting at and thought it was a pertinent and interesting observation.

[FireGilbert]

Yeah I don't get the hate for Scorp on this one. It was an interesting observation similar to noticing Roberto Clemente died with exactly 3,000 hits.

Anyways I feel for Detroit's loss. He seemed like the ideal owner who was all about winning and helping the community. I would have taken him in a second over a current Flames owner who has been known for meddling in hockey operations and fled town at the first sign of trouble.

Also he introduced crazy bread to the world for which I will always be grateful.

[sureLoss]

Illitch was quietly paying rent for civil rights icon Rosa Parks for a decade:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/mik...inkId=34539531

Shortly after her famed defiance of segregation sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, Parks moved to Detroit and became an important presence in the city for years afterward.

But in 1994, Parks was robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81.
Keith, himself an important legal figure in the civil rights movement, worked to find Parks a new, safer apartment at the Riverfront Apartments in Detroit, according to the Sports Business Daily.

Ilitch read the story in the newspaper and called Keith, offering to pay for Parks' housing indefinitely. With no fanfare, Ilitch continued paying for the apartment until Parks died in 2005, Keith said.
.