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We will be cup contenders in the next 3 years

July 7 - 11 in Traverse City Prospects to watch: John (Jack) Adams RW Age 20 6'5" 211 lbs Lead USHL in goals last season Dennis Cholowski D Age 19 6'1" 185 lbs Has to head to the WHL if he doesn't make the Griffins this season Cole Fraser D Age 17 6'2" 195 lbs 2nd in the OHL in fighting majors last season. Must return to the OHL for one more season. Patrick Holway D Age 20 6'4" 201 lbs Had impressive freshmen year in college. Must return to the U of Maine for one more season. Filip Hronek D Age 19 6'0" 170 lbs Looks like a draft steal. Was Saginaws MVP last season. Will play for the Griffins this season. Adam Larkin D Age 22 6'0" 182 lbs Free agent invite. Dylan Larkin's older cousin. Led Yale D-men in scoring last season. Gustav Lindstrom D Age 18 6'2" 187 lbs Hakan pick. Will spend at least one more season in Sweden. Matej Machovsky G Age 23 6'2" 187 lbs Will compete for one of the two jobs in Grand Rapids this season Chase Pearson C Age 19 6'2" 189 lbs Lead U of Maine freshmen in goals last season. Must return to college for at least one more year. Father Scott played 300 NHL games. Keith Petruzzelli G Age 18 6'5" 180 lbs Central Scoutings #2 ranked North American goalie (#1 midseason) Michael Rasmussen C Age 18 6'6" 215 lbs Highest draft pick since Keith Primeau. Must play at least 1 more season in juniors unless he makes the team. Ville Saarijarvi D Age 20 5'10" 165 lbs 1 of 6 finalists for OHL D-man of the year award last year. Will play for Grand Rapids this season. Dylan Sadowy LW Age 21 6'1" 195 lbs Needs to have a break out season with GR this year after disappointing first year as a pro. Jordan Sambrook D Age 19 6'2" 193 lbs Grew up a Wings fan and family friend of the Draper's. Led his team to a memorial cup appearance last season. Malte Setkov D Age 18 6'6" 192 lbs Hakan pick. Will return to Sweden to play this season. Givani Smith RW Age 19 6'2" 209 lbs Rough, willing to fight, power forward who can score. Must spend one more year in juniors. Libur Sulak D Age 23 6'2" 207 lbs Played well at the World Championships. Will return to Finland unless he makes the team. Mattias Elfstrom C Age 20 6'3" 194 lbs Hakan sleeper pick. Greatly improved this part year in Sweden.

Yes, you are correct, he most likely will be a 4th line forward this fall at the age of 22. Making him the youngest player on the team behind only Larkin. Do you think he will remain there for the rest of his career? Checker? Yeah he can check. He can also score. He's been a scorer at all levels. His first season after being drafted he posted over a point per game season. The next season he put up 98 pts in 68 games, including 43 goals. This last season in GR he looked much more adapted to the pro game and posted 37 pts in 48 games, including a record setting playoff run in scoring. But yeah... he's just a checker lol. All those scouting sites you follow from behind your computer screen... Guess what? They were wrong. I know this may come as a shock to some people, but the Red Wings scouts ARE better and are privy to MORE information than whoever is compiling the 'reports and mock drafts' you are reading in your den. They took what they believed was the best player available despite your hand wringing and god bless em for it lol.

Yeah, I'm very interested to see how all of our defensemen develop over the next few years. I'm hoping one of Hronek or Lindstrom (or anyone really) can develop into a stud. Interested to see how Rasmussen and Smith do as well.

It is

And here come the Bertuzzi haters lol... Just because CSS or whoever had Bertuzzi projected as a 5th, doesn't mean the Wings or 29 other teams didn't have him a lot higher. Hate to burst your bubble, but Fasching and Hayden haven't done much at all at the NHL level. Bertuzzi just carried his AHL team to a Calder Cup championship, won the Butterfield trophy as the leagues MVP, set a franchise record for playoff scoring, and is a much more rounded player than former AHL standouts like Pulkkinen. Keep up that 2013 narrative while you have it though, you don't have much time until Bertuzzi makes the team full-time.

I'm not too wrapped up in the whole Chychrun thing - at the time it gave us a legitimate chance at Stamkos

If you're anti-opinion, why the hell are you on a discussion forum on the internet? Unless you have some sort of complex where you have to try and convince everyone you're always right. Oh, wait...

So, what exactly is the whole "Holland talked THAT MUCH s*** about him"? Did he insult his mother, grandfather, and sisters husband or something? Seriously what kind of s*** did Holland talk about Mrazek?? Fill us in on the scoop. I feel like you're coming up with theories in your head to justify why Mrazek wasn't selected by Vegas lol. Other than the actual fact that Mrazek didn't get selected because they had better options available...?

It seems to me, in this post and other previous ones, you've conflated revenue with the owners' profits. Revenue is the total amount collected before salaries and other expenses are subtracted. Revenue isn't effected by salaries. It's the full pie before the CBA dictates how it is cut up. You get revenue to go up by selling more tickets, making more lucrative TV deals, merchandise, successful expansion, etc. And, If those things happen, profits go up for both players and owners since the pie is bigger. If you wanted Owner's profits to go up by lowering salaries, you'd have to renegotiate the CBA so that they keep a larger portion of the pie. As it stands, McDavid eating a big piece or not doesn't effect profits because they have to hand over a set percentage of the overused metaphor anyway.

Alright good. So then we agree that the Daley signing isn't going to affect Sproul's future whatsoever? Cool. I say your opinion is wrong and we make the playoffs within the next 3 years. And making the playoffs automatically makes us a contender towards the Stanley cup. One of the 16 teams contending for the cup in best of seven series. You like to tag the whole "my opinion" thing as if it's going to bail you out. Not really. Opinions can be right and wrong. And what I'm saying is. You're wrong (not about the cup contender thing, but about the Sproul thing). I certainly hope you are right about Sproul down the road though. And I CERTAINLY hope that your opinion is wrong about us not being a contender within the next 3 years. Btw if the following (below) is an opinion; it's not much of a Newsflash then lol. It's not news (which generally is supposed to be factual information). It's not flash. It's nothing. Because opinions are meaningless and facts are meaningful. "Newsflash. We won't be contenders for the next 3 years (aka duration of Daley's contract)." "A judgment is said to be true when it conforms to the external reality" - Aquinas. Ya'll can ponder on that.

I was thinking about the McDavid contract, all this contract does is lead to another lockout. I can't believe the Oilers agreed to it. Contracts for young stars are now going to skyrocket! Just watch, the next CBA, the owners are going to lockout the players so they can have a cap on RFA's.

I haven't looked into Tippett, so I can't comment on him, but I like Rasmussen too. One thing that stood out to me was he was 3rd in the fitness tests. I think that's a big deal, it means Rasmussen works hard.

I'm an MSU guy

Found this on Setkov Hard/accurate shot, can play either side, not fazed by forecheckers, good checking ability and board work, plays PK, plays clean and disciplined, excellent outlet passer, agile for a big man, clears low slot, uses size and footwork to not get beat to the outside.

Johnathan Toews sucks

Haha fair enough. I hope you're right. I have to ask though, since you didn't really clarify, is that opinion or fact?

It's nice hearing about Hronek! If he and/or Cholowski turn into stars it could very easily change narrative of the Datsyuk deal.

You know what else would be nice that two or three or four guys do? Score goals. Stop sitting guys because they aren't a future Selke candidate my god.

Was just about to post that. Good on him for leaving money on the table. With the lower cap hit, it slightly increases his chance of winning a Stanley Cup in that time.

Well, that "pizza pizza" guy is going to have an extra topping of bird s*** on that slice. And I have to ask: Why he got no legs?

"The Arizona franchise has been a great success!" -Bettman, probably

Just because he doesn't get "wins" or his plays don't lead to "goals" or his d doesn't "stop pucks from going to the net" and his goalies don't "make saves" doesn't mean he is a bad coach.