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That's the point of arbitration. It will prevent them getting overpaid long term. Holland filed for arbitration against Mrazek because he's smart. And Mrazek probably wanted a 6 or 7 year deal with ridiculous amount of money.DK is priority imo because he's a proven defender. I'm hoping Mrazek actually does go to arbitration because he's still inconsistent and I don't think he deserves any big time contract just yet.

No, rfa deals can take awhile

Unfortunately more than one will have to be waived to get back down to GR if the Wings are over the 23 man roster limit when the season starts. I would really hate to see Sproul, Ouellet, and Frk all get claimed on waivers while Glendening/Miller/Ott/Helm/Ericsson get 15 minutes per night. Ugh.

Consider that Doug Houda is our new defensive coach. I imagine he should have a pretty good impact on the defensive core. Hopefully Ericsson's play improves under the guy.

My opinion. "Rafters" honor should be reserved for people, who are faces of the franchise. Fedorov was great player, one of the best in NHL, but he spent 7 seasons elsewhere. He definitely deserve some kind of honors for his seasons in winged wheel, but i'm not sure if the number retirement should be one. I will always remember Osgood in red&white, but in that time there were more great players. Are Datsyuk and Zetterberg faces of the franchise? They are, for sure. I personaly think, that lack of trophies isn't a problem here. Let's take a Shane Doan example. He has only two trophies, but he is the face of Coyotes, and his number should be retired by them. But I would wait a little bit with any retirement now

problem is, as of right now, with LTIR Holland has a complete roster with 3 fwds that can start in GR with no danger of being claimed AND 2 of 3 D Kids that MUST make the team or be wiaved. So Holland can not do a thing the rest of the summer and start with only a couple of decisions to make. He can either save 2 of the D kids and wiave Frk, or only save 1 and save Frk. (not line combos) Zetterberg - Larkin - Abby Nyquist - Nielsen - Vanek Tatar - Helm - Sheahan Miller - Glenny - Ott Jurco/Frk DD - Green Kronwall - Smith E - Marchy 1 of XO/Sproul/Jensen or remove Frk and add another D kid. Notice no AA, Mantha or Nosek. (they all have waiver eligibilty) Not sure what will happen when Pulk comes back, one of the extra D kids or Frk will have to be waived. Of course barring ANY trade this is the current roster with LTIR. IMO, if Holland gets Fowler, et al. He will need to trade 2-3 fwds, 1 of our NHL D and a prospect D total. (not all for Fowler, but in order to become compliant with a healthy roster.) But noone wants E, Smith is pretty good, so I could also see him trading a fwd and a D kid only. Lets say Nyquist(or Tatar) and XO for Fowler. Now who becomes #7, Smith or E? I just think Holland will either overload his D or just stay pat and do nothing. Either way, we risk Frk and/or 2 of the D kids to waivers... BTW, is Jamie Benn really worth $9.5M per season?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think you got that backwards kip... If we were to waive Howard and / or Ericsson, we'd retain their entire cap hit minus the $900K or whatever it is... If you bury a bad contract, only a small fraction comes off the books, otherwise every team with these awful contracts would be sending them down to the minors, with little repercussion...

As mentioned earlier, historically with the Wings, the arbitration was to prevent tendering of an offer sheet. Personally, I think DDK signs before, and if Kenny wants to gamble for a short term bridge deal it goes to arbitration. I think Mrazek has said he wants either two or four years previously.n I wouldn't be surprised if he got it done before the hearing as well.

If I were the Leafs I would definitely want Anderson over Howard, but I wouldn't say he is "much" cheaper. Anderson's caphit is 5million per year, Howard's is 5.3. Elliot is much cheaper though, but he is also a UFA in 1 year.

Getting Fowler would require Uncle Kenny to trade one of his boys, he'll never do it.

Miller is not getting waived dude. In their eyes he's more valuable than Larkin probably. #cuzblockshots

Comparisons between Helm and Cleary include... - Canadian - play(ed) for the Red Wings - shoot left So yes, this is definitely Cleary 2.0...

Same here. I'm ok with kids having to earn their ice time. I'm not ok with how the Wings go about enforcing this policy. It's like something out of a Joseph Heller novel... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic) (Catch-22 is one of the greatest novels ever written, IMHO.) Exactly. I hate the Helm extension and the Glendening extension, largely for this very reason.

I certainly think players need to earn their ice time. That theory is not incorrect. The issue I have is some of them already have earned it but didn't get it last year. If AA doesn't make the squad I'll be pretty pissed. The guy definitely deserves to be in the line up by all eye ball tests and math freak metrics. Mantha imo has earned a shot too. I don't know about full time but he definitely should be spending the time up with the big club than down in GR. It should be a major transition year for him this upcoming season like it was for AA last season. If he ends up spending a bulk of the time down in GR that's pretty sad.

I doubt it. "Y'know, we only missed the playoffs by a couple points. If we win one more shootout, we're probably in. And once you're in, you've got as good a chance as any other playoff team. At the end of the day, we're a team in transition. We like our team. I know there are people who want us to tank, but I've never bought into that kind of thinking. We're gonna keep doing what we've been doing. We're not going to blow everything up because we missed the playoffs by a couple points." We'd have to miss the playoffs by a country mile. (And even then, I dunno.) If it's close, we stick with the status quo. Because Red Wings. Our best/only hope: kids. More specifically, we need a new prime-years Datsyuk and a new prime-years Zetterberg. I think Larkin is (going to be) that good. I think Athanasiou has that kind of top-end potential. I think Mantha can grow into a new prime-years Franzen. I've always felt Mrazek has Vezina potential. I think Saarijarvi is an elite talent. But it's probably going to be several years before Holland and Blashill are willing to truly hand the keys over to the next generation. Because kids have to "earn it," or some such bulls***.

This article seems spot on... http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/the_red_wings_are_looking_for_continuity_in_all_of_the_wrong_places/s1_10240_21315478 I bet we just have to wait for Holland to retire for this nonsense to stop...

I'll also add that last year Glendog actually didn't matchup against opponent top lines all that much. Especially not when Datsyuk came back from injury. The few times he was matched up against top players was against Stamkos in the regular season games where he did a good job. The other time Glendening was matched up against a top line was against Alexander Ovechkin (who managed to get 15 f****** shots on goal and break the godam shot record on Mrazek). And guess what Blashill did the next game against the Caps... Didn't put Glendog against Ovie's line lol. Ended up putting Datsyuk's line against Ovie.

It's not a black-or-white, all-or-nothing issue. Holland's making it one, but it's not one (or, it shouldn't be one). The team needs more youth. It doesn't need all youth. It needs more youth. And more skill, more talent, more high-end ability. Greater possession prowess. Goal scoring. Being able to play without the puck. Young legs. Size. These are things we're lacking. These are things that an Athanasiou or a Mantha can provide, and for a dirt-cheap cap hit--and neither of these players has even come close to hitting his respective ceiling yet. We're looking more and more like the Canadiens, and that's not a good thing. It's a bad thing. All this garbage about Grit and Character and Experience and Playing Without the Puck and Veteran Leadership and Knowing Your Place and Earning Your [insert whatever the hell it is you're supposed to be "earning"] -- it's all bulls***. And, accordingly, we'll be lucky to make the playoffs this season, just like 2015-16, 2014-15, 2013-14, 2012-13.

You know when you are at a job interview, they always ask, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I guess Holland takes care of answering that question for everyone on the team.

Draper was a good shut down defender. The grind line wasn't constantly penned in the D zone like Glendening and Miller are. Just because he defends all the time doesn't mean he's a shut down center. And nobody is going to trade for a guy like Glendening., especially at that cap hit

When the team captain photobombs the hell out of you. Even on the re-take.

I don't think there's much of a chance we'll see Frk unless its on a later call up. When's the last time a player made the team without earlier call ups? (Larkin's situation doesn't count) I think if he had a future he would have been chosen instead of AA or Mantha for earlier call ups. I still think Ott won't play much and will be sent down to make room when come upon roster problems. The D situation will be very interesting to see play out. I do think the # of NHL games shows what the organization thinks. XO's 25 games says to me that the 7th spot is his. Jensen's never even had 1 NHL game so I think he's definitely sent down. I've really wanted the 6'4" righty, Sproul, to get more of a chance than his 1 game. I hope we keep him up as a group of 8.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

For me it comes down to two things: 1. Were they the best player in the league at any point in time? 2. Would I be genuinely upset if someone else wore their number while on the Wings? Out of the four you listed above, only Datsyuk and Fedorov meet 'my' criteria - Datysuk never won a hart trophy, but he was voted by his peers as the best player in the league, and is considered one of the most talented stick handlers of all time. - Fedorov is in the HOF, was a hart trophy winner, and even though he left on semi bad terms, was one of the best players on the Stanley Cup teams. Most importantly - I would be upset if anyone wore either of those numbers, which is really how I judge it haha

Overall Fedorov had better linemates long term but during their primes I'd say Datsyuk had better linemates. Federov had Koslov and Larionov in his peak. Shanny came around a bit later. Datsyuk basically had Zetterberg and Hull from the get go. Had Zetterberg all the way until he turned 30 before Babcock split them up