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Although Jensen was the most "tradeable" of all the defensemen, he was the last one who should have been traded. I would have preferred DD, Daley, E, or Kronner be traded. Green and Jensen are the only 2 I would have wanted to keep.

Don't look now but Bowen Byram is having one heck of a season. Kid has all the tools to be a top defender in the league. Hard not to think about a trade back scenario here. I still think I want Zegras at 3, given that I think he's going to be that damn good, but depending on how the lottery shakes out there's potential here to get a really good player and another higher end pick.

check out the hands on this Kakko kid

Yzerman heavily involved in present, but future uncertain with Lightning [NHL.com] "He is involved. He is so involved. I cannot begin to adequately convey how involved he is."

I'll admit I've been sleeping on the kid because I want a center, but he's pretty impressive. Definitely a big fan of his tool kit. Has a little of the Doughty or Keith in him in the sense that he's really good offensively but also is pretty mean and feisty.

I'm all for a trade back, depending on the return, and I agree, Byram looks like he could be the real deal. He looks like he could be a Morgan Rielly type defenseman in a few years.

Rumor was Babs liked Jensen so much that he would've driven Matthews to Detroit himself as part of the trade. On a more serious note - Jensen is real gud.

I agree. The return was solid, but I would have preferred to keep Jensen and move one of the other defensemen. I still think DeKeyser is a solid top 4 defenseman though, given the proper usage and defense partner. And Kronwall has earned the right to retire a Red Wing. I hope that comes after this season... One of Daley or Ericsson should be gone after this season, whether that's via trade or buy-out. Doubt it happens though...

Zadina is GOOD. He will be the left handed Mitch Marner of our team. Excited to see him with Larkin and Kakko.

Yup. Honestly, all I really care about right now is getting the 1st or 2nd overall pick. If we can do that, I think Wings fans will generally be much happier people, regardless of what happens with the front office.

I agree that Yzerman wouldn't do all of this, but I do think he would look to shake things up a little, to make it "his team"... once again. It's not very often a new GM steps in and keeps the exact same team intact without making any trades. I do think he'd be pretty quick to trade / buy out at least a player or two.

For perspective: Kakko has 34 in 42 games and is the consensus #2 for the 2019 draft, while Kivenmaki has 14 in 30 this season in the Liiga. Considering Kivenmaki has 11 of those 14 points in his last 9 games is VERY encouraging. Kakko is almost exactly 1 year younger and is like 7" taller and 60 pounds heavier than Otto. Kivenmaki is now producing in a mens league at about the same clip as Kakko despite his size. Hes still a long shot for the nhl, but hes making the right strides in that direction. From what I've heard he's not exactly a defensive slouch either. Gives me tingles of Datsyuk. The ONLY thing holding this kid back is size. He's tiny. If our nutritionists can get him to become a Marty St Louis beefcake we might really have something here.

There's definitely whales in the puget sound, but they just pass through twice a year on their way to California or Canada/Alaska. There's like one pod of Orcas that hangs around the San Juan islands consistently. Still I love that Whalers sweater and name, wouldn't mind it. Interesting, but the NHL will scrutinize any trades with Vegas leading up to the Seattle expansion draft: Article I think it's kind of BS that Vegas is exempt in the first place. Vegas already has two drafts under their belt with 20 picks total. They will get another 3 drafts and some where between 18 and 25 picks depending on trades during that time. 5 drafts with added picks should be more than enough to establish a solid farm IMO. They also have that time to sign projects and NHL FAs and AHL FAs. They should have to give up a player. Screw the expansion fees.

Well this video seems to be making the rounds right now. A+ tank vid

I mean do you have any substantial evidence that proves this? Or is it all theoretical. Signing Nyquist now for 5 years when we’re not even a contender makes no sense. And don’t exactly know when we will be able to contend. It could be 10 years from now. If you hold onto al your players you don’t get draft picks other than the default ones you’re granted. If you’re trying to build thru the draft then you have to trade to get more picks. Thus is GM 101 and precisely why NHL GM throughout the league in every sport do this. You sign a secondary scorer when you’re ready to make the push. You don’t keep one around assuming you’ll contend tomorrow when in reality it could be 2030. By which time Nyquist would be 40+ but another secondary scorer might be 28 years old and we sign that guy at that point in time. It also goes both ways. Nyquist may not want to play here due to the fact that we’re not ready. He’s may end up staying in San Jose to win the cup who are closer to it then we are. It’s not as simple as you make it seem. It takes two to tango.

His pace during this current call up would make him the most productive player per game in the entire Liiga, behind only former NHLer Jussi Jokinen. And he's doing this on the worst team in the Liiga.

another kivenmaki goal

Build that wall

$5M(+) x 5 years. For a 29-year-old complementary winger. Having a career year, in a contract year. Who put up 40 points last season. And 48 points the season before that. And 43 points the season before that. Agree to disagree -- but I will die on the "Hell no, I would not give Nyquist a 5(+) x 5 extension" hill.

We've seen some forward progress this season. Larkin's become a legit 1C. Our forward group is led by young players. We're getting younger overall. But we don't have the talent to be especially competitive and I don't think there's much we can do about that aside from being patient and having another big draft or two. This was always going to be a rough year. Do we pull the plug on Blashill because the bad team he's been given is performing the way you'd expect it to perform and the way we need it to perform (because we need a top-five pick)? Does adding Joel Quenneville actually take this rebuild forward or does it just put us back in no man's land? My guess is he does neither, i.e. he sits back and doesn't get involved and watches how things play out. He can bide his time. Don't quote me on that tho.

The Wings are going through a rebuild (finally). Holland has embraced the rebuild, icing a fatally flawed team and stocking up on draft picks. Holland has presided over two drafts in this new rebuild era, and from those drafts he's pulled five 1st-round-caliber players in Rasmussen, Zadina, Veleno, McIsaac, and Berggren. The Wings are currently in 30th place with 17 games left. The Wings currently own 10 picks in the upcoming draft, including our 1st, our 2nd, and two other 2nds. If the Wings keep playing the way they're playing, we could be looking at Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko. Getting Kakko would immediately accelerate the rebuild. Getting Hughes would change everything. Hell, getting Bowen Byram -- who no one's projecting to go in the top three -- would give us that elusive stud D prospect who projects as a legit #1 defenseman. All of which is to say the Wings are where they should be. Yzerman wouldn't be doing things in a noticeably different way. Yzerman wouldn't buy out Abdelkader and Helm and DeKeyser and Nielsen. Yzerman wouldn't say, "We need this roster to be filled to the brim with kids. Younger is always better." Yzerman probably wouldn't be making huge trades, because we don't have much to trade and we don't have any malcontents like Drouin. If we replace Blashill and we finish next season in 20th place, people will complain that we're not tanking properly.

This schedule is dumb. Geez. Points update: Larkin (1G) - 27 goals and 62 points thru 64 games Mantha (1A) - 16 goals and 32 points thru 50 games Tank Watch: https://www.nhl.com/standings/2018/league

It is what it is, I suppose. *shrug* With only two tank drafts under our belt, it's not surprising that we've quickly exhausted this season's supply of high-end(ish) young players. But Zadina's only up for a short while and Veleno and McIsaac should be joining the Griffins next season and we've also got the upcoming draft haul to look forward to. And I think there's a possibility that Gustav Lindstrom could be coming over to the States next season. So good things are coming for both the Griffins and the Wings. (Worth noting that the Griffins are having an excellent season.)

College Free Agent Market Hirose might win the Hobey Baker and he attended the Red Wings development camp last year. Goes without saying we probably have the inside track on him. The article also has a bit about Dante Fabbro as well. If Fabbro doesn't sign with Nashville in the coming weeks he will likely go back to college for his final year and then become a free agent the following summer, as he may not want to spend time in Nashville's minors fighting his way up their deep defensive chart.