VM1138

Isn't Draper being groomed for a GM position? Anyone hear anything about his prospects?

That'd be a pretty silly deal. No way it's worth it to lose a first round pick just to save cap for a year. Unless we absolutely need it to fit someone like Stamkos, then it's kind of sort of like a first for Stamkos. Kind of. But not really.A deal with a team looking to reach the cap floor shouldn't need a sweetener. It's an even deal as it is.

I'm sure they'd want at least one roster player, too. Maybe we can convince them Ericsson is amazing? Probably have to sent Nyquist, too.

Why risk an injury when he has nothing left to learn? Let him recover and train instead.

That's ridiculous. Didn't it come out that Z was pushing for more minutes for Athanasiou? Also, it just doesn't make any sense for them to push for someone like Andersson to come back. I think Z and Kronwall definitely lead the room, they're the leaders for a reason, but they weren't destroying the team so their buddies could play. That's just retarded. I do think Blashill deferred to the vets too much, and it's because he's so new to the league. But I don't think they were making team wide line decisions. Handling vets and kids requires different approaches. Babcock had a similar problem when he joined the Wings, only he road the vets too hard in practice and tried to micromanage. I think Blashill just panicked and left morale and motivation purely to the vets, thinking they'd find that next level and carry the team. I doubt he makes that mistake next year.

Because Howard has made a career out of moves like hat. Mrazek hasn't. Yet. And hopefully won't. Again, he made a last second mistake, Howard's usually deflate us at several points during a game. But that's another debate.

Blaming Mrazek is like blaming Stuart for losing in...was it 2010? He played amazing, made one goof, and it shouldn't have mattered because we shouldn't have been in that position to begin with.

I know, but watching the two Nyquist just doesn't seem to have that ability to consistently outperform someone like Tatar. They both were disappointments, but Nyquist is just something else and beyond frustrating to watch. He brings down all the lines he's on.

It's probably true, though. Babcock would've tried to fix the PP. Babcock would've started Mrazek instead of the Howard experiment. Babcock probably wouldn't have buried Athanasiou because Athanasiou busts his ass and Babcock loves that sort of thing. Babcock would've buried Tatar or Nyquist long ago. Babcock would never have let them sit back and not give a s*** for the whole season. Also, this is a better team (or should have been) than last year and Tampa was worse. We dominated Tampa most of this series. Babcock definitely would've gotten us a bit farther. Hardly laughable.

It's a good thing we never tried to fix the PP all season long. And it's a good thing Athanasiou barely saw the ice tonight. And it's a good thing we played not to lose. And Nyquist, my God. Shoot the goddamn puck and actually hit the net for once. He needs to be gone, his performance this season has been terrible. Not just stats-wise, but his confidence is completely gone, and he's a totally different player than he was in the first two years. Tatar I'd be okay with keeping, because at least he is a little spitfire and brings something. But Nyquist is just dead weight who scores once in a while.

Imagine if we had some finishers on this team.

I don't think "most have come around." I counted maybe two other posters who started the pro-Smith chorus. Everyone else admits he had a decent game or two, but the fact is he sat a month because he was garbage. It sounds like you're basing this entirely on advanced stats, which have a very limited use and can be interpreted in many different ways. Smith is not a smart player. He doesn't make smart plays. He may hold onto the puck because he gets trapped in his zone, but he's totally a liability all over the ice.

Someone will need to splice that shift together with their first shift. Sad moment man.

He's basically what Smith should have been, plus brains.

Smith is terrible. He's been good this last game or two but he never stays good. And the only place he moves the puck to is the opponent's stick.

Despite Green not being great defensively, he's not even in the conversation for worst defensive player on the backend. I think his skills are the hardest for us to replace, not to mention you can't have 6 defensively responsible people AND have them all be talented offensively. I'm not saying we should re-sign him two years from now. That's two years from now. But we need to keep him next year. We all know all the kids won't be on the backend. Which means at least one of Marchenko, Sproul, or Oullette is a goner. Unless Sproul still has another year. Quincey is going to walk. If he was healthy scratched in the playoffs (not sure if he was injured in Game 3) that's an indicator the team doesn't want to re-sign him. They've already tried to trade Smith a few times this season. I bet they find a buyer in the offseason. So I imagine at that point our defense looks like: DeKeyser-Green Kronwall-Ericsson Marchenko-Oullette Sproul Now, we all agree that we still need additional help, and we all want Ericsson gone. Kronwall could always pull a surprise retirement, too, like Rafalski did. So let's assume that somehow they free up another spot for a new guy, whether it's trading Marchenko or Ericsson. It's doable and Green stays on the backend as we build a puck-moving defensive corps. The addition of Oullette helps in that regard, too.

The Wings don't win must win games, and usually turn in a garbage performance to boot. But what the heck, I can't stay mad at these guys. I'm going to watch and hope for a win.

I'd say Green has been good. Especially considering EVERYONE's production was down, I'll excuse his subpar numbers because he still provided SOMETHING. I rarely found myself cursing at the TV and wishing Green were off the team. Moving forward I think we need to keep him, especially if they rebuild for a puck possession playing style. Imagine starting the whole right handed-shot search all over again. He's pretty essential at this point, assuming the team has to rebound soemwhat next season in the offense department. I can only assume something was seriously off kilter this year and won't be next year.

The thing that boggles my mind is that he didn't mix up the PP. If it's so abysmally bad, why not try out players who generally aren't considered scorers? Maybe he did and I missed it, but the middle of the regular season would have been a perfect time to try something radical. Or perhaps late in the season. Seems like he just stuck with the same players over and over. And I don't care if he scored, but Nyquist has been hot garbage. They need someone to crash the net on the power play or they'll never score. I'm tired of seeing the puck go to the front of the net from the wings and having no one within ten feet.

And they'll have a boatload of Cups. They'll probably win another one in the next few years. That's four Cups in their era. I'd call that a win. That's the whole point, after all, to win. Not to mention that situations are always fluid and they'll find a way to negate at least a few of the negative impacts of those big contracts. Sitting around waiting for cheap players to magically come through your system is a recipe for never winning. You wait 5-10 years, find out you didn't draft quite good enough, then start the process all over. I'd rather a GM take a balanced approach, draft as strongly as you can but don't take a passive wait and see attitude. Life is too short. Careers are too short. Win now. Only worrying about mortgaging your future if said future could win you a cup in under three years.

I don't think anyone predicted it would be such a lopsided mistake to sign Franzen at the time. GMd aren't clairvoyant.

Trouble is, no one would trade for him. Stable defensive defensemen are a dime a dozen.

I'm surprised XO hasn't gotten more of a look. Must be a cap thing because I think he's better than Marchenko and would probably help the team a decent amount. He's going to have to be up full time next year anyway, I think.

Those 1st round draft picks help, but the Hawks didn't win because of Toews, Keith and Kane alone. Every year people say their team will collapse due to cap pressure, yet every year (almost) they make a plethora of depth moves (plus the Hossa signing) that make them competitive year in, year out. So yes, draft picks help but if your strategy to build a winning team is simply to suck for years I'd like to point you to Toronto, Edmonton, Phoenix, Buffalo, etc. It doesn't work more often than it works. The key is developing players, not where they are drafted. The Wings have botched their player development the last eight years or so because of the chaos that massive injuries have caused as well as an over-reliance on veterans and this year a system that doesn't utilize any players' strength. For all we know Tatar and Nyquist just had terrible years because of the system, because everyone else sucked this year, too. Maybe with a new coach, or new assistant coaches, or another year of familiarizing themselves with it, they will bounce back. A team with an effective Tatar, Nyquist, Mrazek and Larkin can be a good core to build around. Get Stamkos at virtually any cost and sign a defenseman. We won't be a Cup contender next year even with those moves, but that's a "rebuild" that promises to be more effective. Make additional changes the following season. I've never been a fan of sucking for early draft picks. It is entirely possible to stay competitive and build Cup caliber teams through a combination of drafting, development, free agency, trades and undrafted signings. We could get more effective role players for some of the pieces we have and that's another step that can strengthen the team long term.

Won't happen. That article also cites the Franzen deal as a reason to fire Holland. But even though it's turned out horribly, especially when compared to Hossa's post-Wings career, at the time it was a logical decision to make. Franzen looked like he would set the hockey world on fire for years to come. He was dominant in the playoffs. He was every bit a Hossa. Now, signing either one would have been good, but Hossa had the reputation as a bit of a playoff choker, at least with the Wings that year. So it's not rocket science to see why he was signed and not Hossa. Yes, it turned out bad, but hindsight is 20/20. People need to stop using that as a sign of Holland's inability to make a smart hockey move. And while Yzerman is a good GM, he's hardly becoming legendary. He's about to lose his franchise forward, the Drouin situation is a black eye, the whole debacle with St. Louis, etc. Yes, his team made the finals, but so have a bunch of teams the last ten years. He hasn't consistently made noise in the playoffs yet. Would I welcome him here? Absolutely. But let's not pretend he's magically the best of the best. And his team isn't going anywhere this year, but they did benefit from playing an extremely weak Wings team.