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I wouldn't sign Bert long-term period. Offer a one or two-year deal, take it or leave it. Sell him on betting on himself on a one-year contract to have a rebound season. If it works, we have a valuable trade piece again. Then he can go and get paid his big contract elsewhere. Otherwise, we just got to hope he heats up within the next month.

I'll be pissed if that happens. If Horvat wants to be in Detroit, he can wait until UFA.

Sebastian > Yesssper. Name one decent Jesper. I dare you. Sebastian was that singing crab in The Little Mermaid. That dude ruled. You could total win a Cup with that crab in net.

I don't think it's at all wise to sign Bert for more than 3 years... I'd pay him more on a shorter term. He's not aging gracefully at all. He is injury prone... regardless of the nature of the injuries their are a lot of them.

wait. i thought we hated Zadina. We hate Bert now?

To be clear I was talking about a few years down the road. Obviously Larkin fits into the top six now and in the near future. Just maybe not when he's 30+. A few other things I'd say. Kasper just matched Lucas Raymond's D+1 scoring rate despite playing a harder position on a worse team. He's also bigger, stronger, and faster. Based on everything he's done up to this point in his career (which is all we have to judge him on) there's absolutely no reason to think he won't be a top six player. He's not flashy, but flashy isn't the same thing as effective. Larkin's not flashy, wasn't when he was drafted either. I don't see any reason why Kasper couldn't develop into that. Likewise, Mazur is...a stud. He's not David Pastrnak, but he's very likely another Tyler Bertuzzi or Riley Smith type winger. He was one of the top NCAA freshmen a year ago and played like a monster on Denver's way to the National title. Then he was USA's best forward in the World Juniors. And now he's tied for 2nd in the nation in NCAA goal scoring. On top of that he brings decent size, plenty of grit, and tons of speed. While I think he can play up and down the lineup, those type guys (think Alex Killorn for Tampa) are not out of place at all in the top six on a contender. Which brings me to Ras. Ras has been the best player on the ice for the last 5-6 Red Wings games. Not coincidentally he's playing a power forward role in our top six. And he's scoring. A lot. And he's only going to continue to improve if they keep him in that role. He's an absolute force every time he's on the ice, not just with his physicality but with his skill. He's beating goalies clean with his wrist shot (he did this a lot last year too) and his playmaking is massively improved. He's another guy who can play up and down the lineup, but he's showing every game that he's a top six winger. If he finishes the season with 20(ish) goals and 50(ish) points as "the other guy" opposite a scoring winger it's hard to argue that he doesn't belong. Especially when you consider he spend most of the first part of the season centering a 3-4th line with guys like Erne and Sundqvist.

So Bedard it is then

If I'm not mistaken he only had surgery after the 2nd injury. The first didn't require surgery. However, after watching him play last night it wouldn't be hard to convince me his hands had been surgically swapped with Michelangelo's David. In other words, at one point they were stone and now they're just gone completely. #hesucks

I wouldn't be mad, but the man can't stay healthy.

This would be lovely. As much as I'd love Bedard, getting another center in the system with 1C potential is ESSENTIAL. We need guys that can take over when Larkin starts to decline in the coming years. My one and only concern with Larkin as 1C and nobody in the pipeline to take that spot is how short our contention window would be. Moving up into the draft to take the best center not named Bedard would very much curb that issue.

I've thought about Chychrun a lot. He's an awesome player and I wouldn't hate it. But given what we've got in the pipeline I'm willing to gamble that our LD will be just as good with or without him in a few years. It's a risk, but not an insane one given how good Edvinsson and Wallinder are and how good Walman has turned out to be. What we don't have is a genuine #1 center prospect. A Fantilli or Carlsson would give us that. If I'm the GM I'm putting every single asset I have to use finding that guy. A top six and top four that looks like this in a few years would be siiiiiick: Ras-Carlsson-Raymond Berggren-Kasper-Mazur Wallinder-Seider Edvinsson-Hronek

Here's my newest, and perhaps smartest idea yet on how to improve this team. Fire sale everyone that isn't essential. Bert, Maatta, Suter, Erne, Zadina, Vrana, Ned, maybe even Kubalik and/or Perron. Get what you can get, firsts are great but don't turn your nose up at 2nds or 3rds. Then turn around and package the best of those assets at the draft to move up. We'll likely be drafting somewhere around 8-12. Trade that pick, plus the best assets you got in the trades, and maybe a decent prospect to get into the top three. Bedard's going first, and nobody is trading that pick. But Fantilli and Carlsson are both REALLY good centers. Land either one of those guys and our rebuild is basically complete. At that point we'd have depth at center (Fantilli/Carlsson, Kasper, Veleno), productive young wingers (Berggren, Ras, Raymond, Mazur), and studs on defense (Seider, Edvinsson, Wallinder, Johansson, Buium). That's a powerhouse organization in the making right there.

Ras with a sweeeeeet assist in overtime to Fabbri to end it. 4-3 win for the good guys.

Truth be told - I wanted Wallstedt since by most scouts analysis he was more likely to make the NHL as a regular...Maybe not flashy - although a few said they saw Lundqvist like qualities...But the 'high end potential' of Cossa apparently won Osgood/Yzerman. One report that really caught my attention - and I for one will claim ignorance when it comes to prospects/drafting/etc...A scout mentioned about how a guy like Cossa - playing in Major Jr in Canada - be wary of his inflated numbers when he has a good team in front of him...Inflated #'s at that level can be misleading...

A 2nd alone isnt enough for Walman imo. Walman should be resigned. Maatta should be traded along with any/all Suter Sundqvist Erne Oesterle Hagg. Vrana/Ned need to get back up playing in Detroit hopefully up there trade value again. Bertuzzi should of been traded but unfortunatly his value is at a all time low now. Larkin will be resigned.