Shaman

But, I fear the flesh may become weak again

How would Detroit even pay what he wants?

Ejdsell is a 21 year old who hasn't cracked SEL yet. The chances of him being a top center are low, and beyond that Chicago and Nashville both want him as well, so it's not even a done deal. Also top centers are a lot harder to find down the draft, boom/bust defense prospects aren't nearly as hard to find.

Unless the best d-man isn't a project player (spoiler alert they all look that way this year), I would draft them lower in the draft this year and focus on getting some centers.

The press release calls him a left wing. If he were used as a center they would call him a center. Especially because he was drafted in the OHL as a center. He was converted to a winger.

It says he wasn't used as a center. He played as far back as juniors on the wing. His skill set and his usage makes him a winger.

He's not a good center. His skill set doesn't work well with being a center. As for the OHL he was listed as a center but he played left wing for the colts: http://barriecolts.com/colts-andreas-athanasiou-assigned-to-grand-rapids

AA hasn't played significant time as a center in a few years. He was never a very good center in the CHL, because he isn't very good defensively and doesn't distribute the puck at all. He was moved to wing and has pretty much stayed there since. AA is not a center prospect, he is a winger.

This team needs centers much more than D or Ws. They literally have nothing outside of the NHL that resembles a C prospect.

Holland trades back, I am calling it.

A lot of old names here. It's too bad that 10 years later it all feels so unreal.

So first Holland is gone, so half my problems are solved. #1 Try to snipe Anaheim or Nashville's defense scouting and development group. This team hasn't developed a real top pairing D-man in over a decade. #2 Trade the any of the following in such a way that prospects/picks come back: Abdelkader, Tatar, Nyquist, Smith, Nielsen, Helm, Howard, AA, and Jurco. These are all complementary pieces. None solve any problem Detroit has now or in the future. #3 Play the next two years as a total youth movement. The team won't make the playoffs, but high draft picks, chemistry and experience>>>>first round exits. #4 Move Blashill back to GR, he was great there. Find a coach that has already handled transitions before. #5 Continue to rebuild until the team is closer to the floor than the ceiling. Once cap flexibility has returned then start to move towards contention through FA/Trades.

Helm's contract, taken right now, in isolation isn't terrible. But, that's not how the world works. The contract is too long for a player of his caliber, on a team with a very easily tapped replacement (AA), for too many years, with a player with injury issues on a team with lots of players with on long term contracts with injury issues. Holland right now is the anti-Bowman. Instead of learning from successful teams on how they deal with the cap, namely trading middling players when it comes close to their paydays and trusting the youth/cheap players to fill in the gaps, Holland has signed or tried to sign every impending FA in recent memory to lifetime contracts. This has left Detroit being the literal worst team this season in dollars spent per win, and will cripple the team down the road when it comes to negotiating with future players.

Abdelkader is too much of a brainless banger to get it. Give it to Danny D.

To those who want Okposo: He's looking at a contract of at least 7 million according to sources and there are rumors that with Stamkos gone that could balloon to near 8, as a lot of teams need to answer scoring concerns. He's got a skill set that has been shown to potentially age like milk and wants a massive contract, well beyond his worth. This could be David Clarkson level bad contract before it's over.

As I said, they both had major red flags. One season of good production shouldn't lead to a long term high dollar contract. And with new league rules on concussion protocol, signing anyone coming off of a head injury isn't a smart idea. Especially one that declined right before they went FA.

Stamjesus the one who was supposed to resurrect this team from the dead.

The American economy, where a lot of these signings occurred, though, is doing wonderfully. I could see your argument if Stamkos was on the board, but with Stamkos off the board Staal becomes one of the top centers available. This was a win-fall for him.

Weiss says hello. Clarkson says hello. Semin says hello. Pouliot says hello. Orpik says hello. Clowe says hello. And those are just off the top of my head. Seriously, there have been 2-3 terrible signings a year of players who had series red flags, just because teams were desperate to fill a position. Staal's agent isn't stupid and with Stamoks gone it's a sellers market.

At 31, and being the best available center on the board he has no reason to take a value contract. He's had a couple down years, but, who else are teams like the Wings going to sign? I don't know if this is your first year following free agency, but a lot of players a lot worse than Staal have cashed in on being the best available player, despite huge red flags.

Why would he take a reasonable term? He's at the end of his prime, this is his last long term high dollar contract. With Stamkos off the board he would do himself a disservice taking a value contract.

Don't worry, Helm is due of a raise. Detroit will be #1 soon!

Teehee.. But I agree.

Don't try to reason with people. Pulkks is providing scoring depth this team desperately needs yet he gets blamed for all that's wrong with this team. How about blaming players like Abdelkader or Kronwall who are top minute players who look between mediocre and hot garbage instead of a rookie?

Yeah, I mean 10 points, on pace for 25/40 this year is terrible out of a rookie. And I mean Detroit has no problem scoring so they should get rid of their players that can score.