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Good point, and let's not kid ourselves, we missed a guy like Franzen this year big time. Imagine how well he would have contributed to offensive zone time, and as a result, total offense this year. If Mantha becomes another Franzen I'll be thrilled.

I do wish we were able to part with Ericsson and keep Q, however.

As long as Mantha can score goals I could careless. We need goal scorers. Team needs some size. On paper he fills those needs. Just has to translate it into NHL and I'll be happy. Could care less about his ability to hit, play defense blah blah.

Free agency shouldn't even be a thought this year for a defenseman. Quincey should and hopefully will sign with another team, and no one else should be brought in, other than a top pair guy via trade...

It's official... Quincey and Richards will not return Helene St. James ‏@HeleneStJames 8m8 minutes ago Detroit Red Wings to part ways with Kyle Quincey, Brad Richards http://on.freep.com/27DL6Ch via @freep

I disagree with the bolded. Richards was a turnover machine and play killer for large parts of many nights. Every now and then he would have the wiley veteran play but he was also a hindrance to the team. I really hope he doesn't come back.

Mantha doesn't have to be a Z or Dasyuk replacement. I've always figured him for a Franzen replacement. Kind of a floater but a safe player and effective scorer.

The fan base would've hated Gordie Howe, too. He was a "floater" as well. In reality smooth skaters and strong positional players often look lazy because they're not flailing around to make things happen.

How is AA ever supposed to learn the defensive game at center ice if he never plays? We are not cup contenders, it's time to move kids into the spots they need to be and have our coaches make them better. That's part of the job. If you have a strong system, you don't need every player to an ace defensively. We couldn't score to save our lives this year, that was our main problem. So get the kids who know how to score into the lineup, let them do what makes them successful and over time develop their defensive games.

I don't believe you need some magic recipe to win a Cup. There are far too many intangibles to be formulaic about it. Look at St. Louis, who just trounced Chicago and Dallas despite having Jori Leterha as a top line center and Brian Elliott in goal. Hell you could even argue that Chicago, all during their Cup runs, only had one out of three top center, goalie, OR defenseman. Meanwhile, Los Angeles probably has all three and missed the playoffs last year and got waxed this year. Acting like landing an elite center, to the exclusion of other parts, makes us closer to contention ignores the fact that tons of top centers don't have Cups. Thornton, Spezza, Seguin, Stamkos, Sedin, Backstrom, have zero cups between them. Conversely, our only recent cup win saw zetterberg on the wing, and our three best players were Franzen, Z, and the much maligned Osgood. In my opinion its better to have a disproportionately good team, not a disproportionately good player. Signing a guy like Stamkos at 10 million all but ensures we can't address other needs.

If they bring Richards back as a player I'm going to track Holland down and kick him in the balls so hard his kids get headaches.

Realistically speaking Zetterberg will likely still be the 1C. I know we all keep coming up with scenarios of how Larkin will be 1C, AA will be 2C etc. But unless we fill the 1C spot with another NHL developed centerman... Zetterberg keeps the spot and Larkin likely takes 2C at best. Otherwise he'll continue to be on Wing. This is why I'm hoping either Datsyuk miraculously stays one more year or we miraculously get Stamkos. Or we try to sign Backes. Otherwise read paragraph one. We have a crap ton of wingers. We have a lot of young D-men coming through the system but we have zero NHL 1st line or 2nd line centers. Larkin was atrocious on the faceoffs and AA wasn't any better. They'd rather have Zetterberg win his usual 50% draws than have Larkin winning 40% or maybe even 30% when he's up against guys like Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar etc. We're in a pretty s***ty transition to be honest. I know in time things will be better, but Datsyuk dropping the ball on us and Zetterberg's decline does screw us pretty bad for next season. I'm only speaking of next season btw.

And 10 more points and we're first in the division.. Ahhh parity But I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that we'll sign a big name UFA and/or make a splashy trade.. And it's unlikely, yes.. But just that there are other factors at play. And those were just a couple examples. Obviously it's bad if any of your first round picks are busts, but my point was just that it wouldn't necessarily kill us to miss on one of three.

The Abdelkader salary argument doesnt even make sense anymore. Nyquist has a higher cap hit than Abdelkader and had two less goals and one more point than him. Nyquist - $4.75 mill. 17 goals 43 points. Abdelkader - $4.25 mill 19 goals 42 points. Tell me again why this is an issue? The only issue I had was the length of term. Oh wait maybe the issue is Abdelkader actually hits his opponents, kills penalties and stands up for his teammates.

Let it go man... Do you have a monthly quota on mentioning Abdelkader's contract?

Missing with any would be less than ideal for sure but it's not make it or break it.. There are a lot of other factors (free agent signings, trades, mrazeks development to name a few) and even if 2 of the 3 became stars, I think we'll be ok.

Stamkos is a no brainier if he was willing to sign in Detroit. People defend Abdelkader's deal then say one of the best players in the game isn't worth a huge deal

Can't believe what I'm reading here people would rather have a known lockerroom cancer (Radulov) and some good - but not Stammer good - players instead of an elite center not even in his prime yet? Yes, the Wings priority #1 needs to be the blueline at all costs but other than drafting into the top 10 or trading for Trouba there is nobody available so the options here are (sadly) limited. BUT all Stamkos would cost is money, guys of his ilk usually don't make to UFA and people would pass on that opportunity? Seriously the Wings also need to replace an elite #1 center in Pasha because the truth is Z's top 6 center days are over and if Larkin takes a bit of a step back, the Wings would be without a number 1 center. So Stammer would make a lot of sense. The funny thing is, I don't even expect to sign here but taking the afore mentioned guys over him? Wow that's just insane.

Yeah why bring in someone like Mitch Korn who has worked with elite goalies like Rinne, Holtby when you can just hire another GR guy with no NHL talent experience.

Arguably? I don't think it's arguable. He finished top 5 in scoring again despite having a terrible start to the year. Kane is just now joining the party. Crosby has been in the Hart trophy and Art Ross discussion for years. Doing it year after year is what makes someone the best.

After his performance this season and in the playoffs, he'll have a chance. Depending on what happens at the draft and FA, I would be shocked if Sproul isn't the #7 out of camp.