Leaderboard

Cholowski Stronger, Eager To Assert Himself Seems like Shawn Horcoff is working closely with Cholowski. He compares himself to Trevor Daley, and appears to be dedicated to growing in size and strength to make the NHL. In regards to what he's working on: “I think being more assertive on the ice, imposing my will more, skating with the puck more, creating more offense" - Cholowski From his college play at St Cloud and from Horcoff it sounds like Cholowski is elite at positioning, but needs to work on imposing his will in the O-zon , as well as getting bigger and stronger.

They lost 4 of their top 6 forwards. Owen Wilson probably has a decent shot at making the team.

Wake me up when there is a game featuring Tippet vs Hague. That'll be one for the ages. Screw Ovi vs Sid

Cole Fraser shatters the glass at camp Rasmussen & Cholowski Impress at Camp The same drills that Cholowski looked very good in, I guess also went very well for Libur Sulak

This is a bit much. The streak being over doesn't mean its time for a fire sale. Also, the value of these players you listed is pretty low right now and selling low and buying FAs while their value is high is a sure way to continue to have cap problems. The truth is I bet we'd get much better performances out of guys like Helm, Nyquist and Abdelkader if they weren't playing in their own end most of the game because the defensemen can't get the puck out of the zone. This team, for as long as I can remember, have lived and died by its defensemen. We don't have good defensemen right now and its affecting the team as a whole. Its like the Wings forwards are this fancy Corvette, but its missing a steering wheel. You wouldn't scrap the whole car because of that. Just get what you need to make it complete.

Is it in his best interest to make every dime he can when he'll make enough in one year to live the rest of his live in relative comfort, or to help his team win a Cup? How many all time greats are knocked down because they "never won?"

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.

No one is suggesting to trade Athanasiou just for the sake of trading him. Anyone that has brought him up in any trades is to bring in a top pair defenseman. A top pair defensemen is a much bigger need / hole to fill than top 6 winger. In order to get a top 2 defenseman, we're likely going to have to give up one of Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou or Svechnikov. If one of those 4 need to be moved, it's one of the latter 2 for me. Of course we'd like to keep all 4 and trade one of Nyquist / Tatar, but for the same reason, other GM's are going to want one of the big 4, and not Nyquist / Tatar. Ideal situation, we land a top 2 for Nyquist / Tatar, Hronek / Saarijarvi, and a pick. But it would likely take more than that. Which is why people have brought up AA in trade scenarios.

This is pretty hilarious coming from Bill

Pulks, Jurco, Andersson, Nestrasil, Emdog, Mursak, how many more will we let slip through our fingers?

Yup. Goes to junior if he doesnt make the Griffs

They peed on his ******* rug dude

IT'S ALL I GOT WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME Offensive defensemen

That is complete and utter bulls***. To think these guys, who do this job for a living don't see "the big picture". How many interviews do Holland, Blashill have to do where they talk about the godam big picture. The guy spent a godam one hour on July 1st in an interview talking about the stupid big picture to fans; but people are deaf ears because they refuse to listen. For the record, I'm not a Blashill fan and I don't agree with all of Holland's approach. New perpective, new views, fresh start, trade or two. Such superficial words. First of all, people wanted Babcock gone "because of his stale voice". 2 years later, that's not good enough. Holland changes his view from keeping kids in GR till they're 23+ years old to bringing up Larkin when he's 19, Mantha when he's 20 and Svech when he's 19. Apparently not good enough. Holland makes deadline aquisitions with Cole and Zidlicky, everyone is happy, but then Tampa beats us and then everyone says the aquisitions were terrible. Then, Holland trades players at deadline to get picks this past season, literally something he hasn't done like ever and apparently still not good enough. For pete's sake the guy is actively trying to draft bigger players and offensive defenseman. That's a miracle. After years of the Red Wings been called "soft", "too small", and been criticized for forcing offensive defenseman play too defensively, this GM goes and does the complete opposite in the draft of 2017. If these two things don't strike people as a significant change in view, then holy cow. This guy just signed a literal goon to a 2 year contract (Witkowski). So much of the philsophy has changed since Lidstrom left, it's scary. For years we stayed away from big players, powerfowards. The views have changed. Trades have happened, perspective has changed. For better or for worse, I don't know. But they have.