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Saarijarvi is the same height as Brian Rafalski...a player he's been compared to by broadcasters calling the OHL playoffs. I've watched some of those games as well. Saarijarvi is most definitely an NHL prospect

I see him getting a very similar contract to Nyquist, and I think he gets traded anyways (or Nyquist gets traded). I would truly be surprised if the Wings kept everyone this summer, I really do think that someone or a few are being moved. Dont forget the expansion draft, someone will be moved which will clear up some cap even its if a small amount.

Just a little history of the 9th overall pick from the last 10 drafts. Not too shabby actually. 2016) Mikhail Sergachev 2015) Timo Meier 2014) Nikolaj Ehlers 2013) Bo Horvat 2012) Jacob Trouba 2011) Dougie Hamilton 2010) Mikael Granlund 2009) Jared Cowen 2008) Josh Bailey 2007) Logan Couture

At 5-7 and 170lbs...Alex DeBrncat is small. Martin Necas at 6-0 and 170 isn't small. He's light and will need to add some quality weight. But an 18 year-old professional athlete ought to be able to do that with the right diet and training regimen. I think I'd prefer Mittlestadt (not likely to fall to us) or Glass..maybe even Suzuki, but Necas sounds like he fits the profile of what we need just fine

That's the tough thing with D, with guys like Hronek, Saarijarvi and Chowolski we could have three top 4 D-men OR three busts, its so hard to tell this early.

Exactly how I feel when people argue a kid 6' or 6'3" is too small Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

Thoughts on a potential Finnish defense pairing of Saarijarvi and Valimaki? I like the fact that Valimaki has spent some time on NA sized ice in the WHL, and should compliment Saarrijarvi nicely with a LH shot and physical presence.

I'm starting to get worried. Kostin, Necas, and Tolvanen are all in the area of the nine spot. They top my no go list.

The one thing that may attract teams to Howard is we'd most likely be just looking for the salary dump, so mayb w Howard would be cheaper to acquire than some other goalies. If all it costs is a draft pick, he'd be worth the gamble for a team who may not want to lose many assets...

Exactly and I think this will be a problem for Toroto when it comes down to attracting the top free agents. In Tampa you pay no tax, no media and players actually can walk around without being recognized that's a huge plus. That being said I hope TSN brings back Lebrun

This. WiiM is pretty meh at best most of the time. But I'd be stoked with liljegren at 9. Still hoping a center drops a little but I'd take him.

No team has repeated since the Wings. Please, if there is a god, do not let the Pens be the next team to do it.

Yea I was disappointed yesterday in the results but I'm not angry. If we make a selection I don't see a big talent drop from 4-10. I still think knowing Holland he trades back to somewhere in the 10-20 range. He loves to acquire extra picks and with such a murky draft I can see our scouts valuing a player in the 10-20 range as much as who we could select 9th overall.

I agree they aren't the best source but they voiced some of the same thoughts I had about Liljegren. The bout with Mono really set him back this year. It's hard to miss that much time and then come back strong afterward. I personally think he would be a great pick at #9. He has great vision, moves the puck well and can QB a PP. Something the Wings need.

Funny thing to say in a year when two teams who had worse odds (one significantly worse) than we did moved up. Lol, trade all the vets except the one who makes the biggest difference. There are two problems with "blowing it all up". One, losing doesn't automatically give you a great player. Even winning the first pick doesn't. And two, blowing it up means you have to do that much more to rebuild. Go that route you better plan on being bad for a long time, and there probably won't be any payoff either. Without missing the playoffs, we have added a number of young guys who are as good or close to the vast majority of those picked by lottery teams. and now we have a top 10 pick to work with. It takes a lot of luck to go from loser to contender. Trying to stay competitive, while drafting well and transitioning to the kids, is just as valid a rebuild strategy.

2017) Owen Tippett

This is interesting. The one good thing about the draft this year is no one can agree on where people should be drafted. So we may have someone we want fall to us. In this mock we best be taking Tippett if he is still there at #9.

Who pissed in your Cheerios Frank? Why so angry? This is a discussion board, and this is a thread to discuss the draft. Us being one number away from winning was a story last night so we are discussing it. Nobody is "blaming" anything, if anything I like the luck of it all, I'm happy a team like Colorado was not rewarded with #1 after their miserable season while a team like Philly got #2 after trying to make the playoffs and just falling short. This type of thing will just further hurt the argument of the "pro tank" crowd. If ownership wanted to do this, it would be done. The fact that they are not doing it, tells me ownership is not down to do this.

I look at the list and see 7 solid NHL players(not super stars but guys who could def help the Wings), 2 young promising players, and one bust in Cowen. Although Cowen was a huge reach when he was drafted 9th so that was sort of expected.

Ok so I'm not really one of those "conspiracy theory" guys. But if I were the league and I wanted to send a message to teams that may appear to have tanked (Cough Vancouver cough) I would make sure none of the bottom 3 teams were picking in the top 3 picks to show that just because you are the worst, it doesn't guarantee you will get a top 3 pick. Then I would take someone from the 10-15 range and move them all the way up to show that with the draft lottery anything is possible so you might as well try to win till the final whistle cuz it doesn't matter where you end up. Hmmm.

I don't think anyone here is "blaming the lottery." They're just pointing out that we were one number away from the #1 pick and that this is a bummer. It's not like we pulled a CBJ and went on a late-season tear. And it's not like Holland loaded up at the deadline and hurt our ability to suck. We were bad all season long, including the final stretch. Wait...what? You've decided that our season has provided "no rewards at all" because we didn't get a lottery pick. ... And you're asserting that "trying to increase our odds" is "for sure better than" what it is we did, even though "it doesn't always work out." ... So, we should've tried to suck harder (how? By not trading Smith and Vanek for picks? By telling the players to wave the white flag and deliberately lose games? "Hey! Red Wings! Stop scoring so many power play goals! The power play is too good!") because that for sure would've been better for us, because all that matters is a top-three pick, which no team is guaranteed. Seems legit.

I would rather have Rasmussen

Hoping Holland will use the pick to pry Trouba out of the Peg

It's a free asset. If he turns out to be a dud, who cares, move on.

That's what she said!