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Veleno HYPE! https://dobberprospects.com/player/joe-veleno/ https://dobberprospects.com/prospect-ramblings-roster-bubble-prospects/ https://www.nhl.com/redwings/news/red-wings-prospect-veleno-impresses-in-first-wjss-game/c-308399912 https://www.tsn.ca/dach-veleno-and-lafreniere-dazzle-in-top-line-tour-de-force-for-canada-1.1344525

Obvious +10 pts Veleno. Love Veleno. But also Dach looks really good. Any of the fans freaking about reaching for him in Chicago I think should feel dumb. Bowman did the smart move there.

Overall I give the offseason a C so far I think it's important first to distinguish what our off-season goals were. IMO that was sticking to the plan that Holland started: 1. Continue the rebuild/retool 2. Maintain depth and don't rush the kids 3. Begin putting Yzerman's stamp on the franchise If the goal was to become competitive and accelerate the rebuild then I think this offseason is clearly an F. However, based on Yzerman's moves and comments, I think that was clearly not the goal. FREE AGENTS: B - In: Filppula, Nemeth, Pickard, Kaski, Out: Vanek, Kronwall, Frk, Witkowski, Megan, Sulak, A. Holmstrom, J. Chelios, Sadowy, Sateri, Rybar, Fippula should be a slight upgrade over Vanek. His position at 2C will also allow AA to return to the wing where he is better suited. Nemeth is likely the replacement for Kronwall. He won't produce as many points as Kronwall, but he may very well be an upgrade defensively as Kronwall's old broken knees were slowing him way down. Pickard will replace Sateri and Rybar, and should provide a veteran presence in GR for our possible future starter in Larsson. Kaski is a wild card. He could simply be Sulak's replacement, or he could excel and make the team. The departure and lack of replacement for Frk, Witkowski, Megan, Holmstrom, Chelios, and Sadowy, should give more kids the opportunity to assume bigger roles, whether that's as depth players in Detroit or core players in GR. I do think we low-key added by subtraction a little here. With our goals in mind, these tweaks to the roster are not amazing, but got the job done. For that reason I give free agency a B - STAFF: B - In: Verbeek, C. Yzerman, Flemming Out: Ferschweiler, Wright, Finley, Merkosky, Henderson, Dickson Ferschweiler came to us as an assistant coach with Blashill. As a Blash-boy his departure might be a sign that Blash is going to be on the hot-seat for the next two years? Yzerman has not replaced Ferschweiler. Chris Yzerman will likely be head of pro scouting under director Mark Howe. Replacing pro scouts Merkosky and Henderson (who IMO have done a terrible job the last few years) As of now, it seems like Verbeek, Draper, and Stevie himself will take over Wright's duties as director of amateur scouting. So far I do not believe anyone has been named director of amateur scouting. Though I've seen it rumored that that position may be Draper's. So far the only replacement for amateur scouts Finley and Dickson have been Brendan Flemming, who comes to us as a now former assistant coach at Harvard University. I am very pleased that Yzerman has brought in and installed his two right hand men in Verbeek and his brother Chris. I'm also glad to see a few of our older scouts, who've been here a longggg time, move on. Our pro scouting has been terrible lately and even some drafts like the 2017 draft were suspiciously awful. I believe our now former amateur scout Jeff Finley is quoted as saying something like he first looks for "big" players, and then if they have some skills he's all in on them. Glad we are purging these kind of guys. I like what tweeks Yzerman has done with the staff, but he's hasn't made any real big splashes or shrewd moves, done much of anything with our coaching, and hasn't replaced a lot of scouts yet. For these reasons I give a B - DRAFT: ? With this it's too soon to tell. I'm a huge fan of Seider, but I don't think we can grade a draft till years after its passed. PERSONAL EXPECTATIONS: D + This will be the obviously most subjective part of my grade. This offseason has been BORING. I recognize that Yzerman stuck to the plan and asked the fans to be patient, but I'm still disappointed by the lack of moves and creativity so far. I would like to have seen some trades like casting off some bad contracts, or acquiring picks, or anything really. But a lot of this season feels like exactly like what Holland would have done. He's stood amazingly pat so far. I'm hoping when his front office is settled he'll begin to address other things more aggressively. But for right now I'm giving a D +

No

Fair enough. Forgive my natural aversion to Leafbois. I love Babs as a coach so optics aside I'd welcome him with open arms. Would be fun to see him win a cup in Detroit, go to Toronto and fail, and then come back to Detroit and win his 2nd cup lol.

I'd like a little excitement, but looking at what he's done (not the draft, that's been covered) UFA signing of Filppula: Yzerman most definitely has history with Val, from his days in Detroit and to Tampa. Yzerman "watched" this team from day one, plus I am sure he "watched" all of our current prospects. Obviously Yzerman feels that Val is a better option than Nielsen for 2nd line C. I know most of you guys here would like to see Nielsen gone, so this is actually an upgrade in Yzerman's opinion. I also think that Veleno isn't quite ready for the NHL and it will take a year in GR, then some split time in 20-21 and Flip is a perfect stop gap for that time frame. UFA signing of Nemeth: Two words, Ericsson and Daley. Patrik Nemeth is better at this point in their career's than either of them. Mike Green will probably not finish the season due to his nagging virus. If he starts the season at all. Realistically, the ONLY "kid" ready to make the jump up to Detroit is Hronek. Cholowski is not ready and Yzerman said himself that Dennis has to go and work on his D-Zone. So if you look at our D in Detroit, signing Nemeth is also an upgrade for our D. Along with Hronek here full-time. IMO, they should sign Kronwall (if he can play) and waive both Daley and Ericsson. Kronwall at 38 is better than both of those guys as well. UFA signing of Pickard: Face it, our Goalies are horrible. Sure Howard played well enough to earn him some looks around from other teams at the TDL and earned himself a year contract, but he's old and will not be around for much longer, let alone to see our rebuild to the end. Bernier is just hot garbage and was the biggest waste of money. I hope that Pickard plays well enough to get a job here and they waive Bernier to GR. Like I said, I'd like to see a little more bold moves to peak my excitement, but there were reason's why Yzerman signed the above guys, not just for depth, not just for loyalty, not because they called us. He signed them because, even though they were not high end players, they are all better than some of our current NHL roster right now.

In 2 seasons is when I expect Yzerman to put his foot on the gas. I think we're due for another offseason next year similar to this one we just had based on the stop gaps he signed and the looming expansion. By foot on the gas I mean instead of signing a stop gap like Filppula, you go for FAs or trades like Panarin or Gusev, in a general sense. Does that mean I think we'll be big time players after year 2? No. I just think that's the right time based on our existing contracts and the expansion draft passing to get creative and abandon the holding pattern we seem to be in. I think 2 years of successful tweaking and roster building at the end of this window could put us into a position to contend beginning in year 5, the start of Larkin's next contract. We can agree to disagree here then I guess. I personally do not want to cycle out good players like Bertuzzi, AA, and Mantha, for draft picks that might not even be diddly, just because those 3 players might be 29 when we contend again. 1. Because I believe in building team culture (I do not think random FA vets are an equal substitute for team vets) 2. 29 is not that old to me, many players have solid years of productivity after this age. 3. Constantly hitting the reset button does not appeal to me. If we are at serious risk of losing these players then trade them prior to UFA. I don't want anyone who does not want to be here. If that return is slightly diminished because the player is 28 and not 25 it doesn't really bother me at all. That's acceptable risk. I don't think management has written the season off. We're just in a holding pattern. Not ready to invest in big names and cap yet... but here's a Fippula, see what you can do with that for the time being... I agree with you that this year will be all about the kids progression. Maybe if we can have enough success Yzerman will be motivated to accelerate this thing faster. I just think it would be smart to lay low for one more off season after this regular season. Then hit the ground running.

It's bait, and not even good bait at this point. Don't take it.

Who says that? All three could possibly be core forwards on this team till 35 or later. I don't know how their respective careers will play out over the next 4 years, or the next 10. So? I think it's important to keep the core of this team intact for now. If we're going to accelerate and start becoming competitive again in 2 seasons, I think those 3 players will probably be crucial to that. 29/30 is simply the age I think we will need to reevaluate these players. Have their been injury problems? Have their been attitude problems? Are they good leaders/mentors for younger players? Are we close on compensation or far apart? Are there younger players ready to fill their roles? Etc Etc Which is precisely why I think we should take a hard look at them at that point of their career. I'm not willing to say that yet. I think the next 4 year window is a good span of time to evaluate and project that though. Again, I don't share your sense of urgency at all here. Larkin will be 27 when his next contract begins. His window will very much still be open at that point.

Who knows, maybe this year we become competitive, just barely don't make the playoffs and then land the highest pick we have gotten in years like the NYR and Chicago did this year.

Precisely. I will never be against winning. I adore watching the red boys win. The 15 game stretch at the end of the season where Bertuzzi Larkin and Mantha were clicking like the next big thing was awesome to watch. I was very annoyed by fans that were angry that we were winning. Those games were big confidence boosters for the future leaders of our team. And f*** it, Yzerman was taking Seider regardless of where we picked. And of course losing is good for our situation too,so I'm generally ok when it happens. So basically my mood level is: Red Wings Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the rebuild

Agreed with the general assessment of Zadina. His work in the cycle and defensive positioning are exactly what needs refining. Where I might disagree is that he will or should make the team out of camp. But I'd be very happy to be wrong about that. Also agreed with Hronek. Kid is really smart, and I think his steady calmness with the puck and determination to make the correct play go overlooked a bit. He makes a lot of minor things look easy. I haven't watched much Veleno to be honest. But it does seem like he's worked on his goal scoring ability based on his stats like the article says. I will continue to preach the good word of McIsaac. This kid is very good. Deserving of 1st round pick attention good IMO. Smart, fast, strong, skilled. It's hard for me to find faults. He's darkhorse one of our best prospects I think. Most of the other prospects I haven't watched enough of to commen,t or I'd just be repeating what was already said. Solid article. Ben Kerr seems to know his stuff.

Agreed. He's done basically everything Holland would do though. Reached on two top draft picks with low offensive upside (rumor has it Holland even wanted Seider at 8th), signed a washed up 35 year old former Red Wing, signed a stay-at-home depth defenseman, and signed a minor leaguer. And since Yzerman was supposed to be a better option than Holland, I'm not sure how someone could give him a passing grade here if they were anti-Holland.

I pretty much agree with everything you said CRL. One thing though, I'm pretty sure head coaches usually have a big say in who their assistants will be. For that reason, I think Ferschweiler was likely on his way out anyway, and I'm not so sure Blashill is necessarily on the hot seat. I've been a little disappointed so far in the Yzerman era. I wasn't a fan of any of the free agent signings. Not that any of them are bad, I just don't think any of them were necessary, aside from the goaltender (Pickard) for Grand Rapids. I was a big Filppula fan, so for that reason, I'm happy he's back and has a chance to retire with the organization that drafted him. But outside of that, I don't think he was needed. Of course, I'm also of the opinion that Athanasiou or Helm could play center until Veleno is ready (and that could be sooner than a lot of people think). The Nemeth signing still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. We already have a log jam on defense. Unless one or two of the vets are known to be out long term, or a trade is coming, I don't like the signing. Again, neither signing hurts us long term, but neither really help us short term or long term either... Aside from the Seider pick, I was pretty disappointed with much of the draft (the 2nd round in particular). I was hoping for a couple really savvy moves to gain assets, like trading for Marleau or Callahan. It's still really early, and hopefully Yzerman plans on stockpiling picks at the deadline. I agree though, C is around where I'm at as well right now.