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I know Chicago fans that would rather have Howard. Not kidding

IMO that's not what you want from a 4th line C or any 4th line player. You are on the 4th line to shutdown defensively and fight, check, and agitate. Everything the top lines don't do. Andersson has a good defensive mindset and can win FO's but Glendening is a gym freak, mouth running, maltby type. I'd take his 7 pts over Andersson's 17 pts on the 4th line everyday of the week. Plus Glendening is tremendously faster than Andersson. Speed has been the name of the game for years now. The point I'm advocating is keeping our top guy (Jurco) while also giving our unproven guys a chance. I think that's incredibly fair. Everyone stays with the team as long as they perform. Jurco was good, but was by no means the difference maker. You act like if he doesn't play the wings are going to lose those first ten games. He was secondary support at best. That, of all things, can be gambled with for the betterment of the team as a whole...

Hoping for a great year out of Jimmy this season, new year, fresh opportunity to play some confident hockey and maintain the standard that we know Howard is capable of. Glad to hear he feels like he is in top shape going into the season. That can only do positive things for his attitude and confidence levels.

It does free up Zetterberg and Datsyuk. That's what Glendening's value is. We've often had top guys on defensive assignments and it means they're not creating offense. If we can trust Glendening with top guys then he won't be on every time Malkin's on, but he allows us to get our top guys with better matchups. That said, I really didn't notice Glendening much last year. That's due in part to his role, but he'll have to develop other parts of his game to be really effective.

Some people are saying andersson is better than disney.com. That is nonsense. Andersson can't shut down top lines and frustrate an entire team the way disney.com does, to me he is worth keeping on the fourth line just because he aggravates people. 4th liners shouldn't be expected to go out and score a bunch of goals. It's a checking line for a reason. He works hard, plays gritty and throws people off their game.

Having a team in Vegas is great for those days when Bettman wants to get away from the wife. "Honey I need to go check up on Vegas. What's that? Why am I packing so many thongs? Uh... Uh... Cab's here, gotta go"

Glendening just isn't that good. He's Matt Ellis with better wheels. He's fine as a reserve, but that's about it. I'd rather balance the ice time between the lines more and have a third scoring line and a checking line playing about the same minutes as the game dictates. Helm can handle a role on a scoring line but I think he's better as a check line center. Andersson has some skill, but he's too slow and has zero grit. Callahan has never scores at any level until last year. Take into his low assist numbers and that screams fluke season. I think he can be a decent 4th liner, but you don't build a the trying to keep those guys. Ferraro has Drew Miller upside, if he ever even gets that good. Losing him will not hurt at all.

I would gladly give up Quincey, Franzen, and a prospect

I think Howard is the most under-rated player on the Wings. If he can stay healthy, I think he can easily be one of the top goalies in the league. It was just last year ESPN experts ranked him #6 in the NHL. http://espn.go.com/nhl/notebook/_/page/2013_nhlrank_goaltenders/goaltenders

Yup. Howard = Modern Osgood. No respect from the Hasek/Mrazek fanboys.

I honestly think he does none of that. He plays positional D with very little grittiness. He's more expendable than Cleary IMO. the fact that he's young is the only reason I feel like keeping him around at this point.

Half the teams in this league wish they had Howard *perspective*

Even the best goalie in the league can't win a cup for you without firepower.

I've always liked the idea of Helm flanking Datsyuk (provided the other winger is a high-skill player, e.g. Zetterberg, with Helm being the pitbull of the three). My only issue with it - and it's a legitimate concern - is that our bottom six will be without our best bottom-six shutdown center and, arguably, our best bottom-six defensive forward, period. I want three scoring lines and a fourth line that can go up against anyone, anytime, anywhere. While I like Glendening a lot, a fourth line centered by him is not going to be as good as those same two wingers centered by Helm. And while I like Andersson and would probably take him as our fourth line center over Glendening in that role...he's not Helm. And while I love Sheahan, he was seriously sheltered this past season in terms of zone starts and quality of competition, so I wouldn't necessarily want him centering our (hypothetical) killer shutdown line that can go up against anyone, anytime, anywhere. Then again, Abdelkader on the fourth line and not the first = good. And Abdelkader, Miller, Glendening, Andersson, Cleary, Callahan (?), Ferraro (?) is a good pool; you could pull a better-than-average fourth line from it. And, again, I like the idea of Helm on Datsyuk's wing, even if he's out of his depth skill-wise. If he can stay healthy, he could be a respectable point-producer. About our situation at center - being overloaded at the position is a good problem to have. From a tactical standpoint, I know Babcock likes for his wingers to be capable centermen, mostly for faceoff purposes. Also, there's always at least one team that's dying for a good centerman. Edmonton, for example. I like Jeff Petry...

He's fast, good on the defensive side, and nasty to play against. Andersson is slow, good on the defensive side, and not agitating what so ever. There's a reason Babs loves Glendening. Callahan seems to be shaping up to be a Clarkson type (before Toronto). He goes to dirty areas and scores. Great compliment to more skilled players. To say they are both worthless expendable players is just as much a cop out as clinging to the over-ripening strategy for no good reason. I'm more interested in seeing Jurco start the season in GR for business reasons. Say what you want about over-ripening. Starting Jurco is extremely poor asset protection. Giving away anything for nothing is just dumb, bad business, no matter how disinterested you seem to be in our other young players. At the very least play them 10 games with Jurco in the minors so you can see which ones you want to keep and which you want to trade. Then trade or send the expendable ones to waivers and call up Jurco.

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That's a good idea except that Weiss is still a big question mark. If he doesn't work as our #2 center we'll need our extra centers. If he proves to be the player others say he is, someone could become expendable. I think we just wait and see. Love this idea from Babs. Helm is too good for the fourth line, but I couldn't see a way around it. Helm absolutely has better hands than Abby. 12g in 42 games without playing with Datsyuk or Zetterberg. And for whoever said he doesn't have the ability to finish all the chances he creates - How about having D and Z around to pick up his rebounds?

Exactly. And this is why I wonder why people are so hesitant about this. personally I think it's a great idea. With Pavel and Hank together, we don't necessarily need someone with all the tools of a top line winger. With Helm's speed and his ability to crash and bang and generally create havoc, and Pavel dishing the puck, it frees Hank to shoot more. (remember, it wasn't so long ago that he scored 40) Plus, I think Helm's offensive ability is a tad underrated. He's got better hands than Abby for a start. And he scored 12 goals in only 42 games last year, well above his career pace, playing 3rd line minutes. With a better quality of line mates surrounding him, who's to say he can't get 25 in a full season? And if it's not working, then change it up. But there's certainly no harm in trying.

Helm on the top line is very interesting, providing it lasts more than 2 periods in the preseason. He demonstrated flashes of offensive talent when he returned last year, much to the surprise of LGW, so maybe he can be a contributor. What interests me the most is his speed paired with Datsyuk's vision/hands. With Helm's wheels, its going to force the defense to back off and respect that a bit, especially on the breakout. At the same time, a player like Datsyuk you want to play tight, and stick close to him. That dynamic could be trouble for defense if they aren't careful (especially if Helm finally learns how to capitalize on his opportunities). I just don't know if he'll be as effective in real life.

We need relocation, not expansion.

Whatever helmet he wore that time he beat up Crosby. That’s the best one.

Tourists go to Vegas to see Celine Dion, Carrot Top, Penn and Teller, etc. along with gambling. They don't go to see a hockey game. Even if they do come from Detroit, or Toronto, or wherever to see their team play Vegas, they're not going to be buying $150 Las Vegas Regrets jerseys, and $20 hats, or the other merchandise.

Cleary used to be a very good role player. Now his knees are shot and he can't skate. Unless he found some magic pills that healed them, he shouldn't be anywhere near an NHL ice surface. If they really wanted him back he should have gotten a tryout deal. Now I'd he doesn't make it the Wings are stuck with 2.5 mil in cap hit because you know he'll get his 10 games in.

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.