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Zetts-Nielson-Nyquist Tatar-Larkin-Abby Mantha-AA-Vanek Sheahan-Glen-Helm Lots of depth at forward DD-Green Smith-Marchenko Kronwall-E Lots of questions on D. Can Green play efficiently enough at 20+ minutes a night? Can Kronwall bounce back and be a good top 4? Need another RH top 4 badly. Marchenko is likely over his head in the top 4. Adding a RH'd top 4 and ditching E really solidifies all three units Kind of crappy outlook as a fan. Only interested when they're contenders? Would you watch them be a lottery team like you wish they were? I enjoy these rebuilding years. For this first time since Steve Yzerman we're watching a 20 year old kid be the best player on the team. Mrazek, AA etc. Our best players are the youngest on the team

...and even more when you consider Jurco, Pulkinnen, Ott, and Miller. A lot of flexibility. I too like watching the Wings build on the fly. Is Holland doing everything that I wish he were? No. He continues to be over cautious and too measured in his approach, which to be honest, is getting a bit stale. Will the team be worse if we overpay a bit for a defenseman? Probably not. So, while I understand the frustration that others have towards the upcoming season and see it as more of the same old same old... I think it's wayyyy to early to be this doom and gloom.

Lol okay but a fans opinion doesn't trump national and international recognitions and accomplishments by official committees who gave him those titles. So Howard's an olympian (rare feat) and a former all star goalie.Officially.

I would disagree with this. If they were not re-building they would be trading guys like AA, Mantha etc. for vets in their prime. The Wings are re-building while trying not to tank (ie. on the fly), and personally this is something I am a fan of as I dont want to be a Columbus, Winnipeg, Buffalo etc. who are absolutely dreadful for 10+ years and are still not contenders. I 100% agree with e-prime, do I agree with every decision that Holland makes? No. But, overall I like what they are doing as they have a lot of young prospects that I believe are going to be legit stars in this league. Hopefully we trade for that d-man, or a guy like Sproul, XO, Russo etc. surprise us and break out to be a top pairing D-man.

20: Larkin 22: Athanasiou 23: Jurco, Ouellet, Sproul? 24: Mrazek, Sheahan, Pulkinnen, Marchenko 25: Tatar 26: Dekeyser 27: Glendening, Nyquist, Smith 29: Abby, Helm 30: Green NHL average age is 27.5. Look how many of our key players are on the young side. And 15-16 of the 23 man roster 30 and under. Hasn't been that way in a while. It's a rebuild. I think Mantha will be on the team by the end of the year as well. Not sure who else we'd want on the team from the prospects.

Predicable is boring. I am more excited for this season than any in a few years. I am really intrigued to see what kind of players we have developing and whether they can take that next step. Can Vanek contribute? How good is Neilson going to be? How good can Mrazek be? Can't wait for this season....

https://www.bravenewlook.com/products/winter-is-not-coming-1?s=5&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social for those of us who still have heat indexes of 105 in September... sigh...

with the whole Team Europe, I was waiting for a Brexit joke, wasn´t disappointed

There is an official anthem for Europe, it's the Ode to Joy. I hope they go with this version:

I agree, if that would work, that would be great for Trouba, but I believe, once he gets shopped around, that another team will offer something better than Nyquist for Trouba. I'd overpay for both, just to beat out the other teams... Mantha, XO (or Sproul) 1st, 3rd for Trouba is overpayment, but not many other teams would want to match that. It could happen, but I think Winnipeg would jump at that deal. We would miss Mantha, but getting Trouba in return makes up for that because he is near the same age, yet has a lot of NHL experience. Another reason we wouldn't miss XO or Sproul. They need a 3rd pairing guy with a relatively small salary, so XO or Sproul would help them. The 1st and 3rd I don't think we'd miss at all. I fully believe we are again a playoff team (especially if we acquired Trouba, even more so if we also added Fowler) so that 1st, once again, would be around #17-#24 I'm thinking. The 3rd is the 3rd. We wouldn't miss those, I believe, because we have players now that we have no room for, that are ready, and soon we'll have even more ready. I think one year of not having a 1st wouldn't kill this team's reload. Again, I firmly believe with Vanek and Nielsen and Larkin getting more ice time, Z getting less, this team will finish much higher in the standings. Z will last longer with less icetime too. Nyquist, Smith, conditional pick for Fowler. Again, overpayment? Maybe, but we'd have to open up another spot on D for both Trouba and Fowler, plus open up cap space to sign Trouba. Nyquist could be replaced with AA while Pulk and Jurco are out. If I wanted to collect some more later round picks, I could try to shop one of/or both Pulk and Jurco to get a couple more 4th-7th rounders. Holland created this jam up front to shop for a d-man, he knows he'll have to move a few assets sooner or later so he doesn't have to waive anyone. I'm sure he felt that prices weren't going to be so high, but IMO, losing Mantha, Smith, XO (or Sproul,) Nyquist and the picks is not gutting the roster if you are getting back Trouba and Fowler, PLUS opening a spot for AA to be on the team. It would take some doing to work it out under the cap, but it could work and we'd be a better team. I only wish it would happen, because we have no idea what Holland would offer, or what Winnipeg and Anaheim would ask for. I'd balk on trading AA for either of them. Larkin is a no trade, as is Mrazek and DD. ANd with the history of all GM's trying to rape Holland, I am sure one of those 4 names would be asked for from both teams, so we'll probably be out of luck in acquiring either of them... I'd trade anyone from the team, except Larkin, DD, Mrazek and AA. BTW, did y'all know that Sproul has not re-signed yet? He is an RFA and is probably holding out for some similar guarantees that Trouba wants. Like guaranteed to make the club, and get some playing time or sign and trade him to a team that will play him. Did he or the team got file arbitration does anyone know?

for team NA what better than Let the Children play-Santana

Here's another question. What National Anthem will play first if Team North America wins the tournament? What if Team Europe wins the tournament? Will they play "The Final Countdown" by Europe in lieu of an anthem?

Insert Robin BigSnake joke here.

I've said it before, but will express again, his leaving has left a very bad taste in my mouth. While I think the team will likely be better without him now, that's not the point. He could have put the team in a very bad position and be much worse off without him...on hook with cap hit. That's also not the point. I'm all for a player deciding they don't want to play anymore, or retire due to injury, etc. However, I don't think a player should decide to retire with time left on their contract (if they've signed past 35)...unless injured. The thing is, if you are over 35 and sign a 2-3 year deal, at that point in your life, you're not going to all of a sudden decide that you don't want to play anymore. This is why the cap hit stays if a player retires early (if signing past 35). There is the thought that a player might not play out the contract, so if you sign something for 3 years, you better be committed to fulfilling the contract (i.e. not signing for 10 years to keep cap hit low and retiring early). So, even if he simply retired, I'd still have a bad taste in my mouth. Magnifying that is that he hasn't retired from hockey, he simply didn't want to play in the NHL anymore and is now playing in another league. I now all the family reasons, etc., but that stuff doesn't all of a sudden pop up and you can easily commit another 6-8 months away anyway. I couldn't care less how well he plays in Russia for a couple reasons (1) I'm not pissed about missing him playing for the Wings, it's the principle and (2) regardless of the first reason, the KHL is so different than the NHL it is pointless to even look at stats and consider how that could translate. I don't want to have bad taste, because I really liked the guy as a player and a person, but I can't help it.