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I was so incredibly pumped up for 2013-14. And we know how that went. So I'm gonna be cautiously optimistic this time around. The nice thing is that the youth means things are more up-in-the-air than they've been in quite some time. With a heavily veteran team (and, granted, we're still a heavily veteran team), you know what you have, you know what you're getting - the ceiling is more or less set in place. The high-end youth we have gives us a bit of an x-factor. We can hope, dream. There's room for didn't-see-that-coming craziness, e.g. Sheahan killling it. Beyond that, almost everything that could've gone wrong for the Wings this past season went wrong. If we see improvement on even just a couple of those fronts, we should be a better team for it. Weiss, for example. Yes, a healthy Weiss is like a big acquisition. I hate that it fits Kenny's favorite rationalization narrative, but it's true. Howard can't be much worse than he was. Quincey singlehandedly cost us games in the first half; the hope, of course, is that he plays more like he did in the second half. (He was pretty good before we re-acquired him.) Z and D should be much healthier. Smith should be improved. Etc. Arguably the biggest thing going in our favor is that the Eastern Conference looks wide open, a welcome change after all those years in the tougher Western Conference. (It's been the better conference for a long time, folks.) I don't buy that the Rangers, Canadiens, Penguins, or Lightning are really any better than a healthy Wings team that has its s*** together.

DeKeyser is still unsigned with us, and we won the sweepstakes on him... What's your point? So you weren't enthralled with the signings of all of the Nosek, Miele, Porter, Zengerle type players, but you wish we signed a 26 year old AHL checker with all of 25 NHL games on his resume?

Two things I noticed when I watched that video that Hockeytown posted: 1) Almost all of Tatar's goals came within 6 feet of the net. Tatar may have Hudler's size, but he has Helm's heart. 2) Several of those goals came in the third period, during a tie game or the Wings down by a goal. I wasn't sure whether there was any statistical significance so I rewatched the vid and came up with these numbers: Tatar scored 4 first period goals, 7 second period goals, and 8 third period goals. This is especially impressive because the Wings only scored 8 third period goals all year (joke). Anyway, of those 8 goals in the third, the Wings were down or tied in 6 of those occasions (more specifically meaning his goal either tied the game or put the Wings in the lead. The one exception was when the Wings were down 3-1 to the Habs, when Tatar scored to make it 3-2. Then again to make it 3-3. I originally wasnt going to include the first goal, but because he scored the second one to tie it as well I decided to keep it in.) I didn't do any actual statistical analyses so take what you want from these values, but at the very least there may to be a trend that this kid gets better as the game progresses. I don't know how to statistically analyze "clutchness", or more specifically what the actual definition of clutch is. Scoring anytime in the third? Last 10 minutes? Down by 1? By 2? Anyway, someone with a better grasp of stats and clutchness can tackle this one.

Also I still hate the "diesel" nickname

You should probably look up what young 20 goal scorers get in this league these days. This is a good deal if he never gets more than 20, if he gets 25+ it's fantastic. It's also worth noting that Tatar is very much his own product, he hasn't been feeding off Dats or Z or the PP for his production.

I mean, in a full season Tatar's going to give you 20+ goals. To me 20 goals is worth 2.75 million, every day of the week. 20+ goals and shutdown defense will get you 5 million plus. Ask Kesler or O'Reilly. Tatar's getting paid what he should.

Thought this was worth pointing out: How Mike Vernon set the stage for Patrick Roy's trade from Montreal [sBNation.com] Adds a neat little wrinkle to the Wings-Avs rivalry.

#isitoctoberyet

Well, Weiss was never healthy last year so he can be thought of a new asset. Without considering him, though, I don't think there was ever a time last year when vets were healthy (Z, Dats, Franzen, Helm) and the kids (Nyquist, Tats, Jurco, Sheahan) were on the team. That combination, Weiss playing realgud, and if Howard returns to form, then I really think this is a very different team. Lots of ifs, but I'm pretty optimistic. Bolts and Pens also have uncertainty as well: Pens: How will they play under a new coach? How will their defence be with Niskanen and Orpik being replaced by erhoff? How much will the loss of James Neil be felt? Bolts: What will it be like without St. Louis for a whole season? Will Bishop be that good again? - he did have wrist surgery during this offseason. Will Stralman and Wideman fix their defence problems? (alright so the last question is almost certainly yes)

The Wings are one season removed from beating an excellent Ducks team in seven and choking against an even better Blackhawks team. Those Ducks and Blackhawks were better than any of the current Eastern teams, aside from maybe the Bruins. That Wings team wasn't much better than what we have right now, maybe not better at all. What it had - at least in the playoffs - was Datsyuk, Zetterberg, a surprise third line, a red-hot Jimmy Howard, and the underdog thing. Smith and Quincey were disasters, and they'll be better this season. DeKeyser was getting his first taste of NHL action, wasn't as good as he's going to be this season. Kindl was overachieving. Andersson and Brunner were key contributors. Flip had already checked out. All of this and more tells me we can do damage in the East, we just need to be "healthy and humming," as I like to put it. You mention we weren't very good this past season even when we were healthy. I've made that point before, but I don't know if I really buy it. All teams have ups and downs. You can't really look at a few games and say that's our team. Or, if you're going to say that, you have to look at the bad and the good, and I think being able to say we choked against the Blackhawks in the second round in 2013 is, while not really something to be proud of, a "good" thing. I feel like if we're talking up a team like the Rangers or Pens, we're just doing it to do it, we don't necessarily believe what we're saying. Like, having seen The Mighty Rangers and Canadiens and Penguins and Lightning in action in the playoffs a few months ago, did you find yourself saying, "Damn! These teams are great! No way do the Wings compete with them in a best of seven"? Bulls***. I'm not crazy about the Wings, but not for one second will I believe that a Wings team *that has its s*** together* (that's the key, of course) isn't in the discussion for a top seed in the conference. We had what was in many ways a miserable season, but I'm still not remotely scared of the East (except for maybe the Bruins). None of us should be. I can't stress this enough.

Thank you. I say this all the time, Carlyle had 2 of the best defenceman to ever lace them up playing almost 30 mins a night on different pairs. I could've coached that team and won a cup. Plus they never get past us if our defense didn't look like - Lidstrom-Markov Quincey-Chelios Lilja-Lebda. And we forced em to 6 games and handed them a freebie in Game 5. (Carlye sucks and I still hate Anaheim)

In a menage a trois with Matt Ellis. After breaking up with Brad Norton.

I can't put into words what you missed.

No one ever knows much about any of the assistant coaches Babcock picks out, until 3 years later when they're the most desired coaching candidates in the league.

Tatar knows what direction this team is going.......

The dots in the title..... WERE SO UNNECESSARY!! Had a half second heart attack

It always blows my mind in hockey how two guys can have this much mutual respect and then pummel each other during one of the best goalie fights ever.

Not saying Tatar is a money guy, but he's been up and coming for years for the wings and has always been held back, this is a good show of faith. Hopefully he hangs around longer than happy face.

This is a good number, especially on a three year deal (and he's still an RFA when this contract expires??). Like kip said, he's going to be a 20 goal scorer (he almost was last season), and he has that Helm like tenacity and heart, even if he doesn't have the 6'2" frame. The team seems to feed of his energy and he's capable of being an integral part of the team moving forward. The caphit this season will be slightly overvalued, unless he really grows as a hockey player this season, but the following two seasons if he really continues to develop, he just might be able to push 30 goals a season. This is a fair contract for both sides, but the potential deal in the second and third years outweighs any negatives the cap-hit brings.

Lol, no doubt. The last couple years, this has become one of the most overly PC and heavily censored websites I have experienced in my 15+ years of internet. Especially absurd when you consider this is a hockey website. Whatever...

****'s is not a curse word filter on here is it? Holy crap, it is. Feels like I'm in the 6th grade.

I think we’d all love that.

In 3-4 years, Helm will be skating circles around a pile of crows for LGW to feast upon I hope he plays 82 games next season and everyone forgets the past 2 years.

Hossa is an elite defensive forward. I have never heard anyone call him lazy around hockey. Hossa is always creating something and noticeable on the ice, even when he isn't scoring. There's no comparison to Franzen. Besides, that fanbase started watching hockey in 2010, so that's probably not the most accurate gauge of a player's worth.

Hilarious gif! To answer the OP though... Hindsight is always 20/20. Even at his current contract vs. points/goals produced, Franzen is a good deal. People like to forget that because he is streaky and admittedly looks lazy as f*** out there a lot of the time. Name another player that can consistently put up those numbers at his cap hit though. Can't. Its not possible in the current NHL. Filppula has great potential, but for whatever reason was unable to reach it with us. To say Weiss is half the player is silly. You are seriously going to judge him as a hockey player based on one season where he played the first half severely injured, and had to leave for surgery the second? Come on... Its way to early to speak on Weiss as a Wing. Tootoo was bought out as a courtesy to him, so he could continue his NHL career (if a team picks him up) instead of being buried in the minors. And you didn't even mention Quincey or Cleary. Those are the two players that are going to handicap the team this season. (not to mention they are both getting absurd paychecks for sucking)