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FWIW... I just ran the NHL Lottery Simulator 50 times. Here are the results:

We know Glendogmillionaire, Abdelkader, Helm, Nielsen, and Ericsson will be here. Nobody is going to want those crap deals. Larkin, AA, and Mantha will also probably still be here. Zetterberg, Mantha, Larkin, AA, Nielsen, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan, Abdelkader, Helm, and Glendening are a good base for a forward corps. Add a legit top line center and a decent coaching staff and it's good to go. The biggest issue is the defense. The lack of a #1 guy makes everyone else play a role they can't handle, and having Ericsson and one legged Kronwall locks up 2 spots that should be used on cheap players. Goaltending is a coin flip. Will Mrazek bounce back or is he just another flash in the pan? Howard is what he is. He plays well for awhile them he gets hurt and isn't the same as he was pre injury. You can't count on him to be a full time #1. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

If there really was a "conspiracy", Uncle Gary would be smart to give Detroit the top pick and keep the franchise relevant. The league can't afford the wings being the "dead wings" again and losing the huge fan base we have amassed over the past 25 years.

I don't think a hard ass like Hitchcock is the answer. They need a teacher who is good with kids. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

The stealth tank is over. Embrace the tank has begun. Manthas been losing a lot of board battles lately. Perhaps hes been getting lazy and needs a "break". If it helps us lose, cool whatever I dont care. Pretty checked out of the season at this point.

Hold on............... Mantha a healthy scratch tonight. Blashill calls it a "teaching moment." How about firing Blashill and calling it a "teaching moment?"

Definitely not the style of play here. IMO Northern teams have always been more physical, but that's seemed to have evened out lately. The game is at 8 CT tonight, I'll keep ya updated.

It is too talented to be playing this poorly. The product on paper sucks because of what is happening on the ice. What is happening on the ice, imho, is the direct and immediate result of an inexperienced NHL coach with a system that doesn't even come close to working and a team 2 years into Blashill's tenure that looks more confused, less prepared and hemorrhaging confidence with each passing minute under Blashills lead. Blashill is a bust and a liability to our future. Think in the past, we have had rockstar lineups that got pwned by (arguably) inferior teams then this. 2005-6 season comes to mind coached by Craig McTavish.

Watched Middlestadt last night during the MN state tournament, he didn't look to impressive. A lot of floating around, not very fast. I'll keep an eye on him the rest of the tournament but he doesn't look like a top 10 pick to me.

I think we should take a center with our first pick. I know Larkin is young, but he has shown nothing to make me think he could be a good center let alone a top line center. AA may develop into a top 6 center but that leaves us needing another.

If we're going Offense, I like these is this order: Patrick, Tippet, Vilardi, Mittelstat. If we're going Deffense, I like this order: Hague, Liljegren Honestly though, I saw a February ranking that had Hague around #19. Wouldn't it be grand if we drafted one of those 4 guys early then traded up to get Hague in the later part of round 1? Talk about a perfect scenario! ...of course I've seen some mocks where they have us taking some players that I've never even heard spoken about. Finnish and Swedish players that aren't even on the top 5 radar. I guess these mockers figure they know how Holland operates...

If I'm The League, I'm salivating over the prospect of the Wings and Leafs becoming bitter rivals again. Maybe they'd like to, um..."accelerate the process." (*nudge nudge, wink wink*)

This is just not true. There is a huge difference between not having a core, and not having a core that you are a fan of. The young core of the Wings is Larkin, Mantha, AA, DD, and Mrazek, you don't just like it. Do they need more? Of course, but like I have said a million times, add Patrick and Trouba and we are looking very good. A fully admit that it is a lot harder said then done, but that would be my goal if I were Holland. In terms of elite talent, no doubt we are a basement team, as far as overall talent, that's not true. The key is having a good mix. Look at Colorado, they are littered with "elite" talent, look at Edmonton pre McDavid, littered with elite talent, but both were/are garbage. The key to being a good team in the NHL in 2017 is having elite talent (which we dont have) surrounded by good secondary talent (we do have), being coached by a good coaching staff (we dont have). Out of curiosity Frank, how many games have you actually watched this season?

Actually didnt see either of those. Nice!

Howard can be traded, and assuming he can stay healthy and get in a handful of games to close out this season, he will likely be picked up in the expansion draft or traded this summer. Buying him out is a terrible idea. Like kliq said, even if you have to retain salary, or throw a pick a teams way, you do that before you even consider a buyout. You know what else is a terrible idea? Trading a 25 year old goaltender that has a ton of potential. He's had a bad year, but so has the entire team. We keep saying that players should be given the benefit of the doubt because of bad coaching / bad team, well so should Mrazek. I'm not too worried though, because Mrazek will be protected, and won't be traded unless Holland is offered a deal he can't refuse (Norris calibre defenseman)...

It would not surprise me if Hitch was brought in. He's of the Scotty Bowman mold and could potentially turn things around if he wants to work for another 5-10 years.

If anything, I would choose to trade Howard and retain salary. I hate buyouts because the caphit goes double the term.

I dont buy this. Every player has a ceiling and a floor, and pretty much every player we have is closer to their floor then their ceiling. Not by any stretch am I saying we are contenders or anything, but this team is too talented to be playing this poorly. Eichel and Matthews should even be spoken of in the same breathe as McDavid, this is why Eichel is being referred to as overrated. The gap between these two players is tremendous. As far as the other two go, who knows if Patrick is going to be at their level, way too early to tell. I see Colorado or Arizona getting him anyways, but if we get lucky and get that 1st pick, that could fill a huge hole for us and give us some flexibility with Larkin and AA as trade bait for a 1A d-man.

Why do you want to buyout everybody, that is going to hurt us for years. We need to just eat the contracts, or trade them. If we buyout Howard that is 4 more years of a caphit instead of 2. It's not like there is some giant UFA this summer that we need that Howard is preventing us from getting. If we we're talking 2 years from now and we could sign Jonathan Tavares but need to buyout Howard, then sure buyout Howard, but until we NEED the cap space to sign a UFA or sign a Mantha/AA/Larkin, or to even trade for a 1A d-man a buyout makes no sense and just keeps us down longer.

Because both showed the ability to score before Blashill drove the team onto the ground. If it was just them not scoring you could put it on them. When it's 80% of the forwards, it's coaching. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

Haven't had much hockey after then in the last few years anyway... To me, both Holland and Blashill need to go. Holland is very obviously in over his head in the Salary Cap world, and I'm sincerely hoping he walks after his contract is up next year. Blashill has seen significant player regression in his 2 years here. Obviously, much of that lies on the shoulders of the players themselves, but the coach has to be responsible (read: Held Responsible) for that regression as well. The roster is too talented to be playing as poorly as we are playing. It's too bad Montreal jumped on picking up Claude Julien. Would have liked to see him have a chance with this roster.

It's time bring some FA prospects, Zach Aston-Reese, Daniel Brickley, Michael Vecchione...

And they said this season wouldn't be exciting!

those are some advance stats right there

Even if I weren't a big fan of this team, I just really want to see the rest of the hockey world react to the wings missing the playoffs once and winning the draft lotto