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That means that Nielsen will be bought out by the 27th day of October...

Ah. That explains it. I like CRL. We've talked in DMs a buncha times, just shooting the s***. He's actually a very chill, very normal dude; he's clearly playing a character with his trolling. I would argue that every self-respecting online forum needs at least one divisive heel. Back when the Wings were still contending and this place was buzzing, there were always multiple beefs. Beefing is good for business. Though, I suppose maybe now might not be the best time for a CRL type. Or, on the other hand, maybe we need a CRL type now more than ever. I dunno. *shrug* Fs in the chat for our fallen tovarishch. I *am* pissed that my Stacher post got deleted. Oh well. The gist of it was that Stecher appears to be low-key legit -- and I am here for it. (That's how bad things are right now.) Think a hardcore shutdown guy like Nemeth -- but capable of 1) potting points at even strength and 2) playing in all situations. I love that he has the shutdown chops he does while being 5'10-185. That means he's an outstanding puckmover. Some stats: https://www.nhl.com/player/troy-stecher-8479442 https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/s/stechtr01-advanced-ev.html Look at that f***ing zone starts split. Beautiful. (And, as a matter of fact, damn near identical to Nemeth's.) In adding Stecher and Merrill, Yzerman basically pulled a respectable middle pairing out of his ass. Nemeth Hronek Merrill Stecher DeKeyser Seider Staal/Lindstrom All of a sudden, we've got a blue line that looks like an Yzerman-constructed group. That is to say: We've got a bunch of big, mobile, quietly effective two-way guys. That's the formula. We've got McIsaac, Wallinder, Tuomisto in the pipeline. The 2021 draft class features a bunch of really good defensemen in Brandt Clarke, Carson Lambos, Owen Power, and Luke Hughes. Dougie Hamilton could hit the UFA market next year -- and Yzerman's going to have crazy cap flexibility to work with. I think we should feel pretty good about the future D situation.

Bertuzzi scheduled for arbitration on the 25th day of October.

What those executives said seems to be in line with what most of us on this board thinks. Would we have wanted to add more assets for the future? Sure, but those kind of deals haven't happened yet so we are not missing out so far. The offseason is far from over I think and the rest of the league know by now that Detroit is open for business. The only deal I m a y b e would have wanted Detroit to be the ones to make is the 5th for Ryan Murray by NJD.

The Athletic interviewed some (anonymous) exec's around the league about each teams offseason so far: Execs Unfiltered: Thoughts on Hall, trades and every NHL team’s offseason so far Here what they had to say about Detroit: Detroit Red Wings The work turned in by GM Steve Yzerman and his staff was praised across the board. “I like Detroit’s signings but they’re not going to amount to Detroit winning the Stanley Cup,” said one. “I think those guys are good value for those price tags.” Yzerman spent some time in the bargain bin and turned up very reasonable deals for Bobby Ryan, Vladislav Namestnikov and Troy Stecher. He paid a bit of a premium in a competitive goalie market for Thomas Greiss (two years at $3.6 million per) but the Red Wings should be much more competitive because of it. “To be honest, the Red Wings have done a good job,” said another executive. “They’ll be somewhat competitive. They brought in character and leadership. Stevie Y does a great job.” “Detroit had a good offseason,” said a Western Conference exec. “Namestnikov for $2 million. Bobby Ryan for $1 million. It fits exactly what they’re doing. They’re not going long term with anybody. They’ve got some good, cheap players who will improve their team right away. They’ve got a couple more D. They got more assets for the deadline. They’re movable contracts.” Multiple execs brought up the character element. All the players signed seem to be oozing in character. “Stevie is very deliberate who he puts around his team,” said one. “If a player is not a culture guy or does not serve a specific purpose, they get shipped out pretty quick. I like Namestnikov. Bobby Ryan is fine. I like Stecher. I like Greiss. Those guys are pretty good.”

Oops, didn't mean to derail this thread too. I just don't like to miss an opportunity to mention how s***ty the Ilitch family is. For all our sake, let's just let this one go.

Enjoy the player strike if the league were to ever push for such a thing. It would be taking money from the players and putting it into owners pockets. The cap is based on how much money the league makes. The league has revenue sharing to help smaller market teams. Their fault if they don't utilize that to make their team as competitive as possible.