Leaderboard

You do realize that 80% of an 82 game season is approximately 65 games right? And Helm has played 75 and 77 games the past two season respectively (over 90%)... Helm went through an extremely rough stretch in which he couldn't get out of bed without injuring himself in some way. That however has not been the case the past two season. When a player plays as hard and as fast as Helm does, you have to expect some broken / fractured bones along the way. This injury is a huge blow to the team, I just hope he's back sooner rather than later, and is good to go around Christmas...

Now, to be fair, and I am far from a fan of his, he did play in 77 games last season and 75 the season prior... That's 93% and 91% of the games.

I disagree with a lot of s*** Holland has done over the years, but one thing I agree with was re-signing Helm. Of course I would have liked a lower cap hit or shorter term, but that's the going rate for UFA's these days... Hindsight is 20/20 and there's no way Holland could have foreseen this injury coming...

The thing about the Helm contract, is people are making it sound like it is some outrageous contract, but when you really assess it for what he is which IMO is a very good third line center and good PK guy, I don't think it is a bad deal. It was mentioned in an earlier thread, first line centers are typically paid now a days anywhere between 7-11 million per year (ie. Toews, Crosby, Malkin etc.). Second line centers are typically paid anywhere between 4-7 million per year (ie. Nielson, B.Sutter, Krejci, Brassard etc.) and third line centers are paid between 2-4 million. Helm being a very good third line center is being paid right around where he should be. Does it go great with the other contracts we have? Probably not, but that is not the debate here. I get it, when you look at Helm's contract next to the contract's of E, Howard, Weiss (I realize he was bought out), Abby, Nieson, etc. it tends to be looked at in a different light as all of these contracts together are leading to cap issues. But if you look at Helm's contract for what it is and on its own in a bubble, that being 3.85mil for a very good third line centre for 5 years, it is not close to as bad as what Red Wings fans who clearly have a bias towards long term deals think it is. I could easily see other teams who feel Helm could solidify their third line offering him an offer similar or slightly better. Imagine him on a team like Dallas or St. Louis etc. he could be a great addition.

Happy Sproul is in, this kid needs to be playing, but what is with the second pairing. As annoying and over the top as Bill is, there is something to say about possession and taking out Smith and keeping these two in the lineup is just going to make us worse. Is Smith injured and I dont know?

We dont need Elliot, but he is a UFA at the end of the season, and without trading him Calgary would be holding 3 goalies. Plus its a way for Calgary to dump salary on us to offset Howard. Plus, if we take Elliot maybe we can ship him out at the deadline to a team like LA.

Dont forget Subban and Weber for the third pairing.

That's pretty good, but I would also add Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty and Roman Josi.

If Trouba or Hamilton could be had, absolutely. Absolutely no to Shattenkirk or Fowler. Jersey has absolutely no reason to move Santini.

...and Bertuzzi has been recalled...again. he had to make a u-turn at the Lowell exit.

I would love to get Dougie, its just odd that a team trades for someone, locks him up long term, and then shops him. I would take trading for an already established 23 year old top tier player, then hoping to find one in the draft any day.

I honestly don't know. He scored 43 points for them last season, and his advanced numbers are excellent, so it's not like he's played bad. He's also 23 years old and like 6'6 and 210 lbs. I'm baffled why they'd be looking to move him. But if you're Detroit you've gotta look hard at this. Dekeyser isn't playing too well, and Kronwall legitimately could (speculation) retire soon if his knee stays this bad. Even with as good as Sproul has looked you've got to take a run at Hamilton if he's available.

There really is no set format, it's however you want to post it. Very generalized, I include the date, time, who they are playing (obviously), the starting lineups and starting goaltenders. You can add in additional stats like team leaders, overall record, etc. You have full creative freedom as long as it is appropriate and within the rules of the forum. I have done a few dozen over the years, you can contact me with any further help or questions, and i'm sure Hockeytown0001 here who has submitted a plethora over the years may offer up some help also. Thanks for wanting to participate!

Most likely not, however, one will give us a better chance at "stealing" a game. That kind of thing is important when you're grasping for a playoff spot at the end of the season.

I wouldn't trade for Shattenkirk, if you dont think we are a cup contender this year why risk losing future assets when you can try to sign him for nothing July 1st. If we can trade Howard, and even possibly Green as he has a very easy to trade contract come the summer (1 year at 6mil) we could easily have the cap space to sign Shattenkirk. Sign him, then make a trade for Trouba and I think that changes our back-end dramatically. DD is a very good player, but he seems to be getting exposed playing as a #1 guy. If we got those two and bumped DD down to second pairing, everyone would fit in where they should.

I agree. Fowler, Trouba, Hamilton, Shattenkirk, Santini, ok I just threw that last one in there...

Damn hope he makes a full recovery. Helm can't seem to catch a break.. He did skate off looking like he was in a lot of pain (not sure if they showed that on tv?) so I expected him to be out but was hoping it wasn't too long. Hopefully AA comes back on fire. Helm may not be the most skilled player, but we could definitely use all the speed we can get..

This mean we get to see more Riley Sheahan. We're so lucky.

Welp, another LTIR. Just in time for Vanek to return....so is Bert on his way back down I96?

How shocking, you dismiss the first bit of info provided. If only I could had seen that happening. Please tell me Dickie, what is it you are looking for? Is there anything possibly out there that anyone can show you that wont lead to a cynical response? I dont recall anyone getting upset with you for "cluttering threads". What people do get annoyed with is your obsession with Helm & Abby's contracts. We all get it, you don't like them.

It may take 5 years if you get your picks perfect, but when you get a couple wrong it takes ALOT longer, and that's if you ever get it right. Chicago made the playoffs 1 time in 11 years between 1997 and 2008 LA didnt make the playoffs for 7 years.between 2002 and 2009 Pittsburgh didn't make the playoffs for 5 years, their re-build was actually done fairly quickly but lets not forget they got lucky with Crosby as that was the year where it had nothing to do with standings. but rather a random lottery where every team had a 1/30 chance to land him. Lets not forget, these are the best 3 examples. Lets look at some other team that have done this and not had the same success with the "top 5 picks guarantee everything to change" philosophy: Columbus Blue Jackets - Came into the league in 2001, missed the playoffs 13 times, made the playoffs twice and did nothing. All those high picks did nothing for them. But hey, they got Nash. Atlanta/Winnipeg - Came into the league in 2000, missed the playoffs 14 times, made the playoffs twice and did nothing. All those high picks did nothing for them. But hey, they got Heatley/Kovie/Kari Lehtonen Carolina Hurricanes - Since their Cup, they have made the playoffs 1 time, missed the playoffs 9 times. Still waiting on their franchise player that is going to lead them to a cup. I wont even go into the Oilers pre McDavid, its just too easy. I could do more teams, but what's the point. I hope you see what I am getting at. Sure drafting high gives you a higher probability of finding a franchise player, nobody would deny that. But you are making it sound like re-building is some easy task that will always workout buy constantly bringing up the 3 outliers. Re-building usually fails and leaves a large percentage of the teams out of the race for years, some times up to or over a decade. Do you really want this? Do you want the Wings to become the Lions? I would prefer the Wings trade away/dump some vets (E, Howard, Ott, Miller) play a combo of kids/vets but put more of the focus on the kids. I don't want to see every decent player older then 25 gone and traded for picks. It's not like players like Tatar/Nyquist are going to get you top 5 picks anyways.

Tanking for 8 years?? lol I don't even know what to say anymore...

The thing is, with the stockpiling of talent Holland has done over the last few years, this team could be a lottery team for 1 or 2years and be right back in the hunt. The depth is there, talent is there, we just lack that elite talent. Draft one or two guys in the top 10 (or even top 5), and the assets are there to make the moved needed to fix the defense. To sum things up, I'd be fully on board seeing the team suck for a shot at Nolan Patrick. If the streak ended in any of the last few years, I'd have been heartbroken. This season I just feel ready for it. As a fan, I am within a window where I am prepared for a basement season and a clean slate. This is because the alternative is to keep the streak going and be stuck in mediocrity for a bunch more years.

Given those two options, I think most (if not everyone) would pick option 2... the problem is, there's an option in between the two extremes...

I'll take the 10th, 20th and 25th