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I think that has more to do with the fact he will have way more opportunities and a lot better chance of making an NHL roster.

You put no stock in dd coming because he grew up in Michigan yet you talk about free agents we missed out on who all went to their hometown or to play with friends? It's either one or the other, you either put stock in hometown guys coming over or you don't, if you don't then you have to discredit everyone we missed out on pretty much.

I HATE when people get on with this sh!t about how no player wants to play for the Red Wings anymore. We're the most undesirable team in the league? Really? Note: This is not entirely about Diaz specifically but Free Agents in general, and the constant b!tching and moaning on here... People are quick to point out and always remember the players that don't come here for whatever reason, but quickly forget about the players that choose to come here. There are 29 other teams in the league that want to sign players. We're not going to land every big name free agent, and it's insane to think otherwise. Diaz seen two things in Calgary, a fellow Swiss native (Bartschi) and a much better chance in cracking the Flames lineup. He will more than likely make the Flames roster and had very little chance in my opinion (and more than likely his as well) to make the Red Wings roster. How about some players that have chose the Red Wings in the past few years; Alfredsson, Weiss, DeKeyser, Nosek, etc. A lot of teams were trying hard to sign all 4 of those players but they chose to sign with the terrible Red Wings organization over every other team... No, of course we're not the same team we were 10 years ago (that every single player in the league wanted to play for), and for good reason. Whether people want to see it or not, we are currently going through a rebuild and we have been for the past couple years, ever since Lidstrom retired. We are a team on the rise again, and in another short couple years we will be annual Cup contenders once again. That along with the new arena and district, players will be lining up to sign with the Red Wings once again.

Absolutely. It's about getting a job. Plain and simple. I would think that would be clear as day...but judging by the comments above, I'm obviously mistaken.

Yet, both are still fruit

Definitely not better than kronwall, and it's up for debate if he's even Ericsson level quite yet. But he's definitely going to be a top pair guy soon.

I don't get why people say "11 points in the world juniors..." The kid scored 120 points with Val last year, he had 20 more points then the next player on the team an 30 on the one after that. Babs and Holland have both said how exciting it is to have a natural goal scorer like him in our system, and the first one in a LONG time! I'm stoked for how this kid is going to compliment our current kids Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm cautiously excited about Mantha...however, I don't put much stock at all in his 120 points in the QMJHL. I am a bit excited though as the production didn't completely come out of nowhere...he was seen to have enough ability to be drafted at 20th overall. In terms of Junior stats though, I almost always ignore them unless they are put up by someone in their first couple years in junior and are clearly leading the pack (e.g. Crosby, Lindros, etc.). If you have a look at Daigle as an example....I think most think he put up huge stats, blew everyone out of the water, was drafted 1st overall and was a bust. In reality, he never lead the league in scoring in Junior (was never top 2). He probably went 1st overall though and came with a lot of hype because he put up very high scoring stats as a 2nd year player (even though not leading the league). If you go back and look at scoring stats in junior, most leading scorers are guys in their 3rd and 4th years and most of those guys don't go on to have spectacular NHL careers.......so I really look for the ones that are putting up huge stats early in junior or I most ignore the stats (which is tough to do).

I am not going to argue semantics and how DD has played, but he is very good and if he grows more as player, he will give Kronwall a run in comparison.

Yup, good call. I just brought up Cleary because it shows the Wings themselves have had success with the tryout option at least once.

Mason Raymond did the same thing last year with the Leafs.

Eh, not necessarily. Cleary, for example, originally came to the Wings on a tryout basis. I like Diaz. I think he'd be good for our third pairing and capable of filling in as our #4 in a pinch. He wouldn't singlehandedly fix our blue line, but, at the very least, I'd take him over Lashoff and Kindl. Maybe even Quincey.

My sincerest apologies. Although as the saying goes "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" so you shouldn't worry about seeing skimpy pics of Bettman- unless his Icloud account gets hacked that is.

Do not ever place in my head the image of Bettman in a thong again or I will force you into a Penguins jersey and leave you in Philly. Ew. Ew ewewewewewewewew. The Las Vegas Thong and Dance?

Does anyone think that DeKeyser isn't signed yet because they still don't know the status of Alfredsson? Signing one, or both of them could dictate the amount and length of the deal. If Alfredsson signs for 1 year, they could tell DeKeyser to take a 1 year 2 million deal and then sign long term but if Alfredsson retires then they could offer 5 years at 3.5 per or something along those terms.

Rather just play Marchenko. But since the Wings seem opposed to young D getting any ice this year, rather him then Kindl.

He played on the same Swiss team as Zetterberg and Brunner that year. I'd imagine Z has a good idea of what this guy can do, and if he got offered a tryout I'm sure that Zetterberg must have given a nod of approval.

He's better than you might think.

While I do not love the Quincey signing, and I am NOT defending it. People need to realize that a UFA does command much more then an RFA. Especially when the RFA has not even yet played 82 games. (I am not saying Quincey is better or more valuable then DD, I am just saying that in hockey its all about what a player commands given his status) Also, I don't think the Quincey deal has anything to do with DD not being signed yet. If Holland didn't sign Quincey, he probably would have gone out and signed or traded for another veteran D, If we landed Niskanen, Boyle, Erhoff etc. nothing today would be any different, if anything the cap situation would be even tighter. I think they are just waiting to see whats going on with Alfie to see how they can structure DD's contract......either way, lets just wait and see.

​DEVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS!

http://mapsaboutnothing.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/819-yada-yada1.png?w=300&h=225 He converted into a Leafs fan just for the jokes!

High talkers, low talkers, close talkers. It's the re-gifters that you really need to watch out for!

Or cripple the guy's confidence if he comes up and gets destroyed, for that matter. I'm more than comfortable with letting him ripen up in the AHL.

As excited as I am about Mantha - if we're being honest, his presence on the Wings this season affects our cup chances exactly 0%. He isn't going to put us over the top, so I really don't mind giving him one transitional year in the AHL, a league that I believe he can he can score a lot a points in, while refining the other parts of his game. We all want to see him play, but the last thing I want is for him to get small minutes on the bottom two lines with the Wings with non-offensive linemates when he could be getting big minutes in GR with other offensive and two-way guys.