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Maybe they're hoping if he gets traded enough times in one day that his fiance will get lost in an airport somewhere,

I mentioned this in a previous post, which is a huge reason I'm saying we shouldn't trade up. Pick best player available at 6, and try to move up after that.

So.... how about that Parade today... you know, the topic of this thread at the current moment. Not whatever WAY OFF TOPIC shenanigans this is.

Good riddance. He's way too right-handed anyway.

Well Holland pulled off the Tatar trade so we can't criticize him ever again. Half-hearted trolling, really. It's not even my final form. I am bored to tears and I need it to be draft weekend.

What? You mean the media and activists were too quick to rush to judgment before all the facts were known and before the accused had a chance to defend themselves? That never happens.

IF he is willing to sign a year deal, it could be more strategic for Kovy to sign with a team like the Wings then a team he thinks is a contender. With that being said, I dont think he's coming to Detroit. I think he's negotiating with as many teams as possible in order to up his value. The argument for coming to Detroit would be that they are not likely making the playoffs, meaning that at the TDL he could be traded to a legit contender. For a UFA, best case scenario is signing with a legit contender (but that's easier said then done), 2nd best scenario is signing with a bad team that can trade you at the TDL, worst case is signing with a fringe team that may be a playoff team, but not good enough to do any damage, and not bad enough to trade you (think us in 2014). At least by signing with Detroit, he has a high chance of being traded to a legit contender come TDL, especially if its 1 year with a modified NTC.

The NYI are gonna play 'most' of their home games at the Barclays Center, and the 'rest' at the recently renovated Nassau Coliseum until the 'new' arena in Belmont Park is to be completed...This will take place starting 2018/2019 season, and will apparently last for 3 seasons (although if I were a betting man - don't be surprised if this lasted 5 seasons). https://arenadigest.com/2018/05/01/new-york-islanders-arena-project-schedule/ In other words - it's just yet another NYI clusterf**k. Why Tavares would stay with that franchise is beyond me...I'd leave that $hithole in a NY minute.

This seems like the most appropriate place to put this video.....scary stuff.

Cause unlike Ottawa, what happens in Vegas.......

No. This is now the folks who probably gonna be banned (again) thread.

I'd rather sign Green and have Hronek make the big club with Jensen or Hicketts as the 7th. Dekeyser Green Daley Ericsson Kronwall Hronek Jensen/Hicketts

I agree. Hronek plays a similar style game as Green, but he's not going to step in as a top three defenseman, logging 20+ minutes a night, on the top power-play. IF he is ready, and that's not even a guarantee, Green is the exact type of defenseman I'd want him learning from. I'm all for bringing Green back on a short term, one to two year contract. Ouellet is as good as traded. Jensen can be traded. Maybe one of Daley or Ericsson get traded at the deadline. There will be injuries. Maybe a player (Kronwall) misses significant time this season. Point is, re-signing Green doesn't mean that all the kids are doomed for Grand Rapids all season. Hicketts, Hronek and maybe even Cholowski or Sulak will get looks, if not full time roster spots at some point this season. Given the cost? Sure, Carlson is going to cost a nice bit in cap space, but that's all it's going to cost. Going after a player like Hanifin (or to a lesser extent, Faulk) is going to cost a ton in assets, plus just as much to re-sign in a few years time. It will likely cost our 6th overall, plus to get Hanifin. You'd get a few years of great value on his ELC, but after that, he's likely going to get PAID. At least you'd hope his play would warrant that. In saying that, I'd probably stay away from Carlson. It's not so much the cost though, as much as it is his age and where the team is at right now. Bean would be my number one target out of Carolina, just because of cost vs potential.

So how about them playoffs.....................?

Personally rather have Big Ras on this list vs Kovalchuk. I would like to see that young core start to jell for future runs.

That is a funny edit! I want to thank everyone for all the kind words! I am good, I am moving forward, I don't want to talk about it and I NEED this forum to keep my mind going forward! Thanks Again! Here is (are) my (fantasy) trade scenario(s) for draft day: Both Nyquist and AA address the offense and dynamics that Vancouver is in need of. Could very well become 1st line players there. Calgary is in DESPERATE need of another line. They have become a 1 line team, adding Helm and Svech gives them 2/3 making a very good line! To sweetin the deal the 2019 1s round is NOT lottery protected, so they get it no matter where we finish. But we get a #1 in Hamilton, so we're good. Here I take Chicago up on their desperation to get rid of Hossa's contract. I'd give them a couple of mid to later round picks to take his contract and their #8 overall. Worst case scenario, Hossa rides out his contract on LTIR much like Franzen. Best case scenario, he becomes healthy and gets us 15-20 goals a year for a couple of seasons. This eliminates the need to sign either one of Vanek or Kovy. Win-Wn for us and Chicago. (not that I am really into helping Chicago, but I'd piss down their back and call it rain to steal that #8 pick to get Oliver Wahlstrom.) Here is the good one. Sure, at first site, it doesn't look like a great deal for Montreal, but considering they are getting the #6 in return, two good old French Canadian kids to add to the team, PLUS they still should be able to draft the center they need in Kotkaniemi with that #6. So that gives us #3, #7, #8 in the 1st round. With those picks I take #3 - Zadina #7 - Best D Available #8 - Wahlstrom With Larkin as our #1 center, Z will slowly transition out as the #2 over the next couple of season's giving way to Ras. Nielsen will remain #3 for the rest of his contract unless he allows us to flip him to a contender on a future TDL day. I think, even with eliminating the 2019 1st round pick, that sets our rebuild on fire. (BTW, SO glad I was absent during all that political stuff in the other thread! I might be the only one left here when the MODS return!) Thanks again everyone for the kind words! I needed a break from life, but I need to move forward now and I had to get back on here to help keep my life moving on! Bring on Friday! Too bad I'll be working a 16 hour shift that day and will have to rely on my phone for updates! Here's to Holland ripping those tires right off the truck this year!

Hahaha wow. Sharks basically dumped Boedker’s 4 mill cap hit for a bunch of picks. Impressive job taking advantage of Ottawa’s situation.

My body is ready for a classic Holland "trade back"

Draft is gonna be lit, my dudes.

The more I read/get excited about the draft, the more I hope we can manage to get another top 10 pick. Picking Zadina/Wahlstrom and Bouchard/Hughes/Dobson is sounding better and better the more I think about it.

Bob McKenzie said on his podcast Zadina might slip out of the top 5. But mainly because C and D prospects have really stepped it up and because of team needs in the top 5.

Ummm...I don't really want to go back and read all this Hicketts stuff so I'm just going to assume that some people REALLY want Hicketts on the team, and some people (correctly) think he's not very good. I'd only add that he was resoundingly outplayed by Hronek last season in the AHL and still got a call up, where he was gifted minutes he didn't earn (Blashill even acknowledged this) and scored enough powerplay points to make some folks overlook how abysmal he looked at even strength. He got badly outplayed in the AHL last season by Lashoff and McIlrath, so I'm not sure why anyone thinks he's better than Ouellet or Jensen. And we're leaving out the obvious fact that despite his supposed "grit" or whatever, the plucky little pluckster from Kamloops is one Tom Wilson forecheck away from death at the NHL level. He's neither big, nor quick, nor overly skilled. He's the Rudy Ruettiger of hockey, and while it makes a good story folks need to remember that Rudy never played an NFL game.

You can tell it’s the off-season when we have 3-4 pages straight of Hicketts chat

Of course fans base opinions on simplistic and usually biased evaluations of limited data. That's why fans shouldn't make roster decisions or constantly act like they'd make better roster decisions than people who have won championships in roster-decision-making. I don't think I (or anyone here) could come up with a truly accurate list of criteria used to make a proper evaluation, but generally speaking I would say real game-situation physical abilities, puck skills, decision making, off-ice habits, and history at lower levels. The sum of all of that (plus whatever I missed) for Hicketts would be, in the opinion of management, somewhat below Jensen at least, and certainly below any of the actual vets. (Ouellet is debateable. It's plausible enough that the team would rather have Hicketts play in GR than sit in the pressbox in Detroit, even if they thought he was better. But let's not argue that this proves your point. It's conjecture, Ouellet isn't a vet, and you're not arguing for Hicketts to be a healthy scratch anyway.) You say "just the easy way out" as if it makes any sense. It doesn't, nor does it actually fit the data. Too many exceptions. Just a couple years ago we waived Frk and Pulk to give waiver-exempt AA a spot. Larkin walked on at 19. Like half the roster earned their full-time spots while still exempt. 2013 with a rookie Smith and a fairly new Kindl, Brian Lashoff still managed to push veteran Ian White out of the lineup, and later that year we brought Dekeyser straight out of college. In fairly short order we dumped Kindl and sent Lashoff back in favor of Ouellet and Marchenko, with the latter soon being jettisoned to make room for Jensen. I'd bet there will be some waiver-exempt kid on the roster next season. Maybe more than one. There is no evidence that the team is at all unwilling to move fringe players when they think they have a better option. The only logical conclusion is that the team just doesn't agree with your assessment of Hicketts relative to our other defensemen.

Oh man, on the HOF boards Habs fans are going nuts! Arizona fans seem to be disappointed because they liked Domi, but they get it. First Weber for Subban, now this.....Bergevin is giving Chiarelli a run for his money.

Are we done talking about the harassment now? Because I want to talk about how Karlsson's wife got pregnant by another teammate's fiancee.

Never been so amped for a draft. And the closer we get, the less confident I am on who are pick will be. Really hope that we trade a 2nd rounder and our 30th and move up somewhere in the first round. Our success with 2nd rounders hasn’t been great and with all the ammo we have there isn’t much stopping us from moving up and grabbing someone we love.

This. Obviously Bouchard has the on ice skills too, but his off ice confidence when he was interviewed is his quality that sticks out most for me.. especially for how young he is. He didn't sound nervous at all and thinks he can make a difference in the NHL next year. He's full of confidence.

So what I learned from this: Draper will be the next GM. Really impressed with him. Draper doesn't know how many picks he has in the top 100. He kept saying 7, but he actually has 8 (which is AWESOME, BTW) There was one player the Wings interviewed that Draper REALLY likes, but he won't say who it was. The drafting of Rasmussen was as much about the interview process than anything else. They really liked his poise and answers. This will be the year to watch the draft (if you don't already), lot of fluidity, lots of stuff will happen with the 1st 5 or 10 picks. Should make for good TV. Cleary is BAAA-AAACCCKKK as Player Development Assistant. "Overripe" is a thing of the past. I am really excited about our draft this year!

I just don't know why Kovalchuk would have any interest in leaving Russia to finally make a return to the NHL, only to sign with a basement team like the Wings... Maybe he hasn't had any access to North American sports news in the past 5+ years, and he still thinks we're an annual Cup contender... Seriously though, I think we have a better shot at Tavares than we do Kovalchuk. He's at the tail end of his career, and likely wants a legit shot at a Cup. At least with Tavares, he's still fairly young, coming from the Island to Detroit would actually be an upgrade, and he'd be THE guy here, and likely future captain once Zetterberg retires. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we're getting either. I think Tavares re-signs in New York and Kovalchuk signs in Vegas, San Jose or LA...

Coke can yummy, And then i'll see you, Apple fritter, Chill out skis, Sorry harvey. Got it.

I can't prove it, but I think ur a Sharks spy. Every time a player is mentioned, you bring them up. Admit it, you take what you learn here and take it back to your Bay Area Cronies in order to help them pull a Caps and finally win a cup. I am on to you.

Maybe the hold up was Garth Snow. If I were JT, having LL running the show instead of Snow would definitely increase the odds in me staying.

Awful situation, and if the allegations are true Hoffman's GF is just horrible, but I don't get why people are mad at the Sens. What one player's GF does to another players wife on social media is not something that can be controlled by the team, and I'm pretty sure you can't reprimand a player for something his GF does.

Not necessarily. It wouldn't matter to me if there were 18 solid D prospects in the system. If you have a guy who truly wants to be here (not a money chaser), who was just selected to the All-Star team, and is willing to take a shorter term, cost effective contract, then you absolutely sign that guy. Period. If that "blocks" an NHL ready kid from making the roster, than you make room by getting rid of other dead weight. If anyone is blocking Hronek, Cholowski, #6...it's guys like Jensen, HIcketts, and Ouellet, not Green. True, but from all of the articles I've read about Green, his comments seem genuine to me, not contrived. He's not the "grass is greener" type (no pun intended). I really think he truly would like to finish his career as a Red Wing, and as long as he's playing at or above his contract, I welcome it.

Just read the recent article from Khan and he seems to indicate that Hronek, right now, is the front-runner for the open D spot.

I couldn't agree more. Dream scenario. There are also rumblings of the Jets possibly having issues re-signing Trouba again this summer. I'm sure they'll work something out, and much like Wahlstrom and Bean, it's just a pipedream, but imagine somehow acquiring Trouba as well... Our D could look something like this in a couple years time... DeKeyser - Trouba Bean - Bouchard Cholowski - Hronek And our top 6 could look something like this... Mantha - Larkin - Wahlstrom Bertuzzi - Rasmussen - Bokk But of course, none of this will happen. We won't make any meaningful trades or free agent signings, and we won't draft any of the players mentioned...

Should've drafted Hossa.

It's why the draft weekend can't come any sooner. That way we can divert our attention to what really matters...How Ken Holland screwed up at the draft

Yeah. So? Kenny took Rasmussen ahead of Tippet and Vilardi. Call me when the Sens fan base have to deal with that

Some people just love being rude because "reasons." I like how points are trying to be made and people just skate over them because they've already made their mind up on the subject. Why are you here if all you're going to do is just dismiss everything without actually diving into the data.

Draft weekend can’t get here any sooner...

Looking for BottleOfSmoke after a Hampus Melen reference like...

Hampus Melen is just a late bloomer. Just you wait and see

Yeahhhhhh. Kovy ain't coming here. I doubt Detroit is truly interested. But man, you guys have soft spines. You've been imagining and strategizing your way through a full rebuild on the back of all of the things Holland has said about 2-3 year plan/accumulating draft picks/3-5 young players making the team, etc. along with Blashill's statements about the roster being wide open. And rightfully so I think. Then one stupid little tweet from Dreger and that's all out the door and now Holland's trying to win the cup this year or something and nothing ever changes? Pleez