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Can't believe its finally here!!! Also, larkin got the most shots for Tampa and Detroit last year lol.

Pulk and Frk will both be regular healthy scratches for their new teams by the end of December. Some people wil still complain about losing them. Smith will be one of the Wings' best defensemen. This will not be a good thing. Austin Mathews will run away with the Calder and the Leafs will still suck.

Kevin Bieksa fools Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes as 'Shovelboy' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEhKCq8dQZo I thought it was pretty hilarious. Love the "Beep, beep Coyotes!" line he uses a couple times

3 straight division games to start the year. Hopefully a minimum of 3 points are obtained out of those. LGRW!

Ken Kal is just carrying water for the organization. First of all, Ott-Glendening-Miller isn't all that tough. We're not talking about Clutterbuck-Cizikas-Martin here. They're only marginally more "gritty" than average and probably LESS gritty than a line of Sheahan-Helm-Callahan/Bertuzzi/Jurco/Nestrasil would be. Secondly, who cares about "grit" if it means you're getting trapped in your own zone and getting scored on all the time. Ott, Miller, and Glendening are AWFUL at getting the puck out of their zone. Quantitatively. They're amongst the worst players in the entire league in terms of CA/60. So unless someone can tell me how to "grit" the puck out of the back of your net I'd say that's just a bulls*** excuse to agree with the status quo by Ken Kal.

I'm not sure why people don't understand how stupid this is. Andrej Nestrasil, for example, scored roughly as many points last year in 55 games as Drew Miller and Steve Ott have in their last 200 combined games. He's younger, bigger, and cheaper too. He's quantitatively better at the game of hockey than they are. So while losing him doesn't amount to anything earth shattering, the fact of the matter is that we are currently paying MORE money for worse players than we would be if we had simply done nothing at all. None of Pulkkinen, Frk, Ferraro, Nestrasil or anyone else needs to be a budding superstar to validate their spot on our roster. They only need to be better than someone who's currently on it. In most of those cases they are. I can't believe how cavalier people are being about the fact that our GM seems content to ice a WORSE roster than he has to. For more money (while we're over the cap). It's absurd. Holland's Red Wings are getting as bad as Team USA was in the World Cup. He genuinely believes that things like heart, and grit, and moxie, and pluck, and gumption, are to be valued MORE (in some cases) than being good at hockey is. I'd understand if the choice was Pulkkinen vs. Helm, or Frk vs. Jurco. But it wasn't. It was Pulkkinen and Frk vs. Miller and Ott. Neither one of which has any value to our team which isn't surpassed by someone else who was already a regular on the team. They aren't good defensively, they aren't good penalty killers, they don't provide speed, or energy, or skill, or anything at all. They are, at this point in their careers, nothing more than Cory Emmerton was during his. A plug. And not even a cheap one. A fourth line of Jurco-Helm-Sheahan, or Bertuzzi-Helm-Sheahan, can do ALL the things Ott-Glendening-Miller can do. Only better. And we could ice that lineup more cheaply by inserting guys on ELCs on the third line and as the healthy scratches.

I think they deserve to be together because of their phenomenal nickname!

Can't wait. Go Wings !!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

plus/minus is far more flawed than corsi and is not really a relevant indicator of player ability anymore. Both the Kings and Pens (and Blackhawks/Bruins for that matter) won cups with 4 balanced lines. Bergeron in Boston, Kopitar in LA are two examples of 1st line players used in shutdown roles. Luke Glendening, Drew Miller, and Steve Ott are examples of how the NHL looked 20 years ago with a grinding 4th line. It just isn't needed anymore. I would much rather match up Sheahan/Pulkkinen/Jurco or something similar against a line of Glendening/Miller/Ott. Guess which line wins that battle?

15 goals would still be more than Ott/Glendening/Miller combined. In 2013-14 Glendening's Corsi was a whopping 45.7%. In 2014-15 his Corsi was a stellar 43.5%. Last year it was a fabulous 43.9%. Yeah, very strong numbers for a 4th liner. This archaic idea that you still need a grinding 4th line to "shut down" the opposition (something this 4th line is not capable of doing in any case) is the reason the Wings are behind the curve in the NHL. If you watched any of the Pens games in the playoffs last year you would understand how and why the Wings are behind.

Our "fourth" line last year played as much as our "third". Glendening had more ice time than Tatar. So play Helm and Sheahan on the fourth and call it the third, who really cares what they're called?

No lol I know it's not you. You're one of the more level headed posters that actually understands what is considered good , bad and okay in hockey and management.

I live in raleigh. Today Ron Francis gets on talk radio to talk about the canes. He said his management team had "banged on the table for frk since last year". That's a direct quote. Why did we lose him for nothing again?

I have to complement your post Frank, this was a very well written assessment. I give you you crap at times lol, so I have to give you credit when you make a very valid point. I have mentioned on here numerous times that I believe the Wings are going through a re-build, and I stand by that. With that being said, I do agree with your assessment that their isn't a crystal clear direction. I do believe that Hollands mandate from ownership it to 1) make the playoffs, 2) build for the future. While I do like the strategy of building on the fly, certain signings (ie. Ott, Vanek) to me are just blocking younger talent like a AA or a Frk. I think that sometimes Holland acts on a "fear of not making the playoffs" opposed to doing what is best for the long term success of the team. Again, I am not pro tanking and I do not want the Wings to trade every player under the age of 25 hoping to get lucky with lottery picks, but I do wish that their veteran to ELC contract ratio was a bit more on the side of ELC's. Though I do not think Helm/Abby/Glen are the problem. If I were Holland/Blashill I would do the following: - Try everything I could to trade E and if you cant and he plays bad put him in the press box or waive him. - Same thing for Jimmy.....I think that Holland hangs on to him as a safety net for Mrazek because of the fear of not making the playoffs. Though who knows, maybe nobody is biting. - Not have signed Vanek, played AA in that spot - Not have signed Miller or Ott, and had a 4th line of Glendenning/Helm/Sheahan or at least not signed one and had Glendenning-Sheahan-Miller/Ott and let helm centre the third line. - I would fill the other 2 top 9 spots (if we didnt have Ott/Miller) with Jurco and Mantha. (or a guy like Frk while Jurco was out). - I would find a way to get XO and Sproul in the lineup even if it means benching vets that are under-performing regardless of contract. A guy like Kronwall doesn't need to play 82 games. - I would do what I could to trade for Trouba (though this is easier said then done if Chevy is demanding Larkin and Nyquist).

I don't think anybody is saying that Frk or Pulkkinen are future stars, or top line material. In a nutshell my argument for why losing them sucks is that this lineup (Blashill and Hollands): Tatar-Neilsen-Z Abby-Larkin-Sheahan Nyquist-Helm-Vanek Ott-Glendening-Miller AA Jurco Is worse (AND more expensive) than something like this: Tatar-Larkin-Abby Z-Neilsen-Vanek Nyquist-AA-Mantha Jurco-Helm-Sheahan Pulkkinen Frk So why lose those guys when the alternative is better and cheaper?

Now, to be fair, Babcock doesn't explicitly say, "Ultimately, I don't have the final say in who plays and who doesn't. Like, if Kenny wants a guy in the press box, that guy is sitting in the press box." Babcock seems to be talking more about decisions re: where [x player] is playing (i.e. Grand Rapids or Detroit). So, maybe it was (and remains?) a situation where the head coach had (and has?) total control over who plays on any given night. But if Holland was (and is?) over-exerting his power as GM re: who is and isn't on the Red Wings roster...that, to me, raises questions. I don't believe the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, in this day and age, has full control of the roster in terms of who is and isn't on the roster and who he does/can and doesn't/can't play.

Pulky to play on 1st line with Mikko Koivu and Erik Haula. HTTP://WWW.HOCKEYFEED.COM/NHL-NEWS/BREAKING-RED-WINGS-BLUNDER-TURNS-PLAYER-INTO-1ST-LINE-FORWARD?REF=ANDREW

We gotta be careful with exactly what these advanced stats are measuring. Team shot attempt differential is a loose association with possession at best, and its skewed by a lot of things. For example, Pulkkinen had a higher percentage of offensive zone starts than any other forward save for Mantha and Cole, who combined played less than half the games Pullkinen did in that time. He also had very few defensive zone starts in his time with Detroit. Its much easier for your team to shoot more than your opponent when coach is putting you out there 25 feet from the opponent's net, and 175 feet from your own. He was also shooting the puck literally any chance he could, whether it was a legitimate scoring opportunity or some ill-advised, low-percentage shot from the boards with no net support. I wouldn't call Pulkkinen a possession player at all. In fact he probably raised my blood pressure more than anyone else on the team the last two years because more opportunities seemed to die off his stick than anyone else on the team, and besides for the fact that he was a one-trick pony, I suspect his tendency to end offensive zone opportunity was another reason why he was waived. But yes I will admit, for the situations he was put on the ice, and the teammates he was put on the ice with, and the opposition he was played against, and the specific instructions he was given to shoot the puck whenever physically possible, when he was on the ice he and his line tended to attempt shots more than the opposition, for whatever that's worth.

Sorry for the late answer (very busy time atm), nope I don't follow Baseball I tried but for whatever reason there are too many minutes were absolutely nothing happens. As far as I'm concerned Mr. I owns the NBA, NFL and MLB teams from Detroit too right? That's exactly my concern I wish he would focus on making the Red Wings great again, the MLB doesn't have a salary cap so it should be easier to make that team a strong contender. The problem for me is, that Holland doesn't seem to have a clear direction in mind. If you want to go for it, go for it fine...but if not don't just be a middle of the pack team be bad and build something that can sustain itself for a long period of time. My fear is that the Wings might become the Canucks of the east...I know a lot of you don't share that opinion but looking at the rosters it's pretty close...Wings have 1 (in words one) highend talent (Larkin), Canucks have Horvat...Wings have one bonafide top pairing guy (Dekeyser), Canucks have Tanev...other than that both teams are pretty thin prospectwise. I fully agree with your assessment, this would have been a great year to let AA and Mantha learn the ropes of the NHL game, As far as Winnipeg I have a feeling at least one team will meet their asking price, Cheveldayoff knows Trouba is worth it and sadly most do all the other GMs in the league. A young bonafide top 4 defenseman (with number 1 upside), good size and in his prime that's going to cost a lot. Anywaay I don't understand Minnesotta taking Pulkinnen, their team is overall already to small and other than his shot he doesn't add much to their lineup, maybe Fletsher sees something in him.

It's funny how people are outraged we couldn't trade any of these guys that got waived then they go on to do nothing for the teams that claimed them but that is irrelevant I guess. None of these guys will be sticking around the NHL for long Look at Kindl. Shouldn't we be applauding Holland for snaking Florida? This mess is Holland's fault but it's just a result of desperately trying to make a reasonable trade to upgrade the defense

This is amazing. I can't wait for the juck effing pot gdt lol!

You should look at those drafts again. If anything, we drafted too well and got more than we had room for. We got Sheahan and Mrazek in 2010, plus Jarnkrok and Pulk. Jurco, Ouellet, Sproul, and Marchenko in 2011, AA plus Frk in 2012, Mantha, Bertuzzi, and Janmark in 2013. It's rare to get more than 1-2 NHL players in any given draft. Sure, we can question the roster management, say we should have traded more prospects, but people got pissed when we did that too. It's a no-win situation. People have unrealistic expectations.

Right here... what did he do wrong? Pulkkinen is awful