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I disagree. Saying that Pulkkinen / Frk are "low-tier" prospects would suggest that there are no prospects lower than them on the totem pole (which there are). To me, top-tier are your Mantha / Athanasiou / Svechnikov type prospects, mid-tier are your Bertuzzi / Frk / Nosek prospects, and low-tier are your Aubry / Callahan / Nastasiuk prospects... So yes, I stand by them being "mid-tier" prospects. They are not 4th line plugs though, that is (Miller / Ott) who we decided to keep in favor of these guys. I was never mad about losing Pulkkinen or Frk to waivers because I thought they were huge loses. I was mad that we lost them in favor of two 4th line scrubs. If we lost Pulkkinen in favor of keeping Mantha in Detroit, I wouldn't have said s***... Anyway, we did give them away, and although they likely won't / wouldn't be a huge loss, it is nice to have Frk back, if for no other reason than depth in the minors.

Probably you have to take his "introductory stat class" to comprehend it.

Do we dare call this hitting the Juck Frk-ing Pott?

The Tuscan Raiders almost got him, but they were scared off and he escaped before they returned with larger numbers.

Frk'n A! Just checked. He was on the Jedi rosters, but was claimed off waivers by the Gungans... Poor kid...

That guy's all right with me, he's a Frk, he's Super Frk!

Wait.. Frk's a Jedi? Glad we got him back. Poor kid had to take a detour to get where he was headed in the first place.

AA could have been sent down, or Kronwall could have gone on LTIR, or both. Then Pulk and/or Frk could have stayed on the roster, they could have even played. The issue is that they wanted to keep Sheahan and Helm off the 4th line, and Trashill wants pluggers or guys with speed on the 4th line. That means Pulk and Frk can't play there, and since they don't want Helm or Sheahan there, there's no room for them in the lineup. They aren't mid-tier prospects anymore. They're guys who don't have NHL level talent and aren't likely to develop it at their age. These guys just have no value because EVERYONE has guys like them. Sure, MAYBE they're just late bloomers and they'll suddenly "get it" at 25 years old and turn into regular 20+ goal guys at the NHL level. And MAYBE my wife brings home a hot 20 year old and tells me that she's my birthday present. Both are pretty unlikely. And no, I don't particularly care about helping GR. AHL level talent is all over the place, they lose one guy they get someone else instead, and I'd rather see legit prospects getting the ice time.

I think the thing I find comical are all the fans who were claiming that we gave away the talent in Frk and Pulkkinen for nothing. Yet, each of these players played a game or two for their new clubs and then were waived. If Holland is the worst GM for waiving these players and getting nothing in return, then I wonder how fans of the Wild and Carolina feel. You see, the waiver wire is littered with a bulk of 4th line players. Everyone knows this. So when a player like Pulkkinen and Frk hit the wire, other teams aren't finding gold when they pick them up. They are doing it for short term evaluation. Anyway, the point is that the Wings aren't shedding top tier talent to waivers. They are dropping 4th line pieces that anyone can get off the waiver wire. The Wings could go hunting like this as well, but every team has 4th line plugs waiting to get into the lineup.

Well, that's one way to send a message to players. "If you don't shape up, we'll send you to Carolina!" "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

I know, I know, it's Kypreos. So, take it for what it is: Rumor... but... Spooner (a second/third line winger,) Carlo (their top prospect/rookie defenseman whose played exactly 9 NHL games) and a draft pick... I can see how Boston isn't going to make that trade with their depth problems, but how do we not have something along those lines or better to offer Winnipeg?

I'm guessing the bone of contention is the "mid-tier" part. Neither of these guys could garner even a late round pick in a trade, then once waived and picked up, they couldn't stay on another NHL team either.. That, to most observers, isn't mid-tier - it's low-tier.

Yea he did don't kid yourself if we had only Mrazek last season we would not have made playoffs. Jimmy has single handedly won us some games in the last few seasons. He definitely has some confidence issues but without Jimmy our streak probably would have ended around 22.

Please explain how they could have kept Frk / Pulkkinen without waiving anyone with under $600K in cap space... What part of the statement "And now we only lost one mid tier prospect in favor of Miller / Ott..." is "untrue"? Did you miss the part where I said "Who knows if he'll ever make the Wings roster, but regardless he's a solid addition to Grand Rapids"?... You may not care about these players because you don't think they'll ever develop into NHL caliber players, and that's fine. However, I don't like losing these players because they do still have potential to become decent NHL players. But more than that, I'm also a fan of the Griffins and players like Frk help that team. If Frk becomes a career AHLer, I'd still prefer him in Grand Rapids, rather than Charlotte or any other American League team.

lol, out his ass. Howard has a Save % of 97.3 this year, and 91.5 career. Not to mention he has not had a single season where his Save % was ever 92.15. He's trolling as per usual.

We are going to be a bit more open to leaving more specific threads as their own this season to broaden different conversations and not have them all merged into one large bulk one. The Howard thread is primarily about his individual play and whether or not he has a place here or should be dealt, trade options, possibilities, etc.

will try thank you very much

Pulkkinen cleared waivers and will remain in the Minnesota organization. He will be playing in Grand Rapids this Friday... against the Griffins as a member of the Iowa Wild... Yes, Frk has already been assigned to the Griffins and will likely suit up this weekend. They didn't do the same for Pulkkinen because there was a little risk involved in putting in a claim for both players. If any other team after us in the order, put in a claim, we would have to make room for Pulkkinen / Frk on the Red Wings roster. Because we are up against the cap, there was no way to do so without losing another player... and we obviously couldn't make room by waiving a key player like Miller or Ott... I think Holland was a little surprised Pulkkinen went unclaimed, so he was willing to risk putting in a claim for Frk. It worked out, and Frk is back with the organization. I'm personally happy that of the two players, we were able to get Frk back. Who knows if he'll ever make the Wings roster, but regardless he's a solid addition to Grand Rapids. And now we only lost one mid tier prospect in favor of Miller / Ott...

Why are so many people acting upset about Howard playing well and getting in games? It's silly. BTW, the last time a Cup winning goalie played in 70+ regular season games was Broduer in 02-03. Quick had 69 in 11-12, only one other guy had 60 games played.

You realize that when someone says that, they mean NHL caliber, right?

"Best 4th line in the NHL" And the source isn't even Winging it in Motown! "On their first night together they didn’t disappoint, going -13 in shot attempts in just six minutes of five-on-five ice time." Like holy s*** man how do you even allow 13 shots in 6 minutes?!?!? There are fans who will still try to justify that 13 shots in 6 minutes is okay because this line can block shots. If Scott Bowman was still around he'd smack the crap out of these guys for allowing so many shots.

This 4th line has been terrible. They get pinned into their own zone and cannot create offense all the while giving up shots. Only guy on that line worth keeping is Glendenning.

Green - DK Kronwall - Sproul Ericsson - Smith XO/Marchenko

You play the hot hand. Right now Howard is playing better than Mrasek. A month from now that may reverse. But you always play the better guy.

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