Z Winged Dangler

That's interesting... Sakic is great, but just below Yzerman and Lemieux never was much of a leader if you ask me. His team was good with him, Jagr and an all star cast, but he never got the team from obscurity to a championship caliber team and KEPT it there. Messier is great, but homer or not, he's #2 to Yzerman for reasons stated above. Yzerman took a s***ty team on his back and didn't get much help til Lids was drafted but was made captain at a very young age because of his poise and leadership qualities. Messier wasn't even captain until Gretzky left. and with NYR, he had an all star cast agian in 94.

that's what i was thinking. when those guys are done, it'll free up room for Jurco, Frk and Sheahan (if Sheahan's not already up). either way i'm looking forward to seeing how things unfold the next few years.

One thing I don't get whatsoever... the Devils have won 3 stanley cups since 1995. How in the hell do they not have a cult following with that track record? Are the fans in NJ that terrible that they don't even support a winning product? and they just made it to the SCF and generated above average revenue last season and are still in the financial crapper...that's brutal.

This really sucks for the Flyers. Don't really mind the Flyers team...fun to watch, got skill. was looking forward to seeing them with Meszaros actually in the line up this year. He's a guy that I would have always liked on the Wings.

There's a lot of capable difference makers on this team (Flip, Mule, Helm, even Quincey can put up .4 points per game) and some wild cards that could prove very useful (Nyquist, Brunner, Smith, even Tatar). Point is, add all the help stated there to Dats, Z and Kronwall, you have a Wings team that has potential to be as good as any other team in the league. Vancouver's 2nd line is not that great, nor are the Sharks, Preds lost depth, Chicago has 2 really good lines and then it falls off considerably after that....the Kings weren't supposed to win the cup last year with Kopitar, Brown, Doughty and a bunch of role players, but they did it. People also seem to forget it's only been 4 years since the Wings won the cup, before that it was 6. As far as i'm concerned, we're only 2 years away from the next batch of Wings to win the cup and silence the D bag critics once again. For lunch, i would like chicken fingers and a poutine please

So it's settled then, we don't need Yandle.

We're on par with a team that hasn't made the playoffs since....when? Give your head a shake. The current Wings roster is still a playoff team and is WAY better than Calgary who just paid $4mil to HUDLER! 5 foot 8 table scraps that only got 50 points on a line with Z and Flip and held that line back all year. He'll have fun next year getting 35 points on the Flames with Iginla (feel bad for him cause he's always been one of my favorites) and who else do they have? Daymond Langkow? Anyone who says we're on par with Calgary needs to go to the dark room until playoffs start next year and the Wings have home ice. Completely absurd.

i'm pretty high on Smith and until proven otherwise, i'm gonna be a stubborn SOB and say he'll be as close to Weber as we can get. I don't think Wiz will be comparable to tie Smith's skates once he blasts out the gate this year. And i sincerely hope Sproul is better than Souray in the longrun. I see him as more of a complete package than Souray, who is bad defensively and slow as molasses. Sproul to me looked a lot more like Kronwall minus the Kronwallings, going by his video anyways. McKee, i'm looking at Stuart from the Jets. Defensively relieable and can toss em'. Haven't seen much of Oulette yet, but i'll go online tonight if i remember and give you my comparison. But if he's like Giordano, then i'm happy with that. Carkner is also a good fit for McKee...big nasty mother.

And in hindsight, Robert Lang was not worth Tomas Fleischmann and whatever else was in our last risk/reward trade. This year is a youth tryout and to see how far our depth can go.

There, i fixed your problem. And until Cleary is 100% and can contribute like he used to, he has to play his way back into the line up. and Eaves deserves his spot back and his return could spark the Wings along with an insurgence of 2 young super fast wingers to play with Dats on the top line and the 2nd line, we can continue the chemistry that Flip and Z have as well as Mule and Z at the World Championships. Could be what Mule needs to get going and stay consistent with 2 guys that don't take shifts off. Either way you slice it, i like the line up above and i strongly believe that it could top the central div and contend for the west.

I'm liking the way that looks. Personally i think that Smith is going to be a lot like Weber and anyone who thinks him and Gus would be required plus picks to get Yandle are crazy. Our top 2 prospects and picks....glad Holland doesn't jump the gun and offer that s***. Gonna go on record right now saying that Smith will be a better Dman than Yandle within 2 years. Nyquist wil be a 60 point guy within 2 years as well. It's kind of sad how many guys on here see value in every other teams guys like Ryan and Yandle and Nash before he was traded, but do not see the value in our guys like Flip, Smith and Nyquist to name a few. I have a feeling there's gonna be a record amount of crow eating here this coming year especially when our boys finish tops in the central and blow the Wild away in the standings. wait for Smith and Nyquist to finish 1 and 2 in Calder voting and then offer them both and picks for 1 good #2 dman.

Probably a new account so he won't have a bad rep in his profile... And Backstrom has to be in the playoffs to be an elite playoff goalie. Brunner wanted to sign here. Tootoo, a div rival for many years came here. Sammy wanted to come back. Gustafsson fits well in the organization with fellow Swedes. Suter would have come here if he were wearing the pants. The Wings have lots of interest from players all over the world.

Ott's a D-bag that thinks he can push coaches around...no thanks.

the Kukla's Korner talks about Flip and Smith for Yandle....if Kenny does that i'm not watching hockey next year. or if it's Flip and Nyquist. Franzen and Tatar or keep your precious Yandle. not worth Flip and one of our top 2 prospects at all.

Lidstrom plays 24-25 mins a night. The rest of the night there's other dmen in front of Howard not named Nick Lidstrom. Just sayin'

Wow champ...hard to believe you even PRETENDED to be a Wings fan. Oh wait, first and foremost you're a "fan of hockey"....whatever. 1-Howard was a Vezina frontrunner last year when the Wings were in 1st place before his injury and he played great in the playoffs. 2-Kronwall's points are fairly equivalent to the likes of Weber and Chara over the past 4-5 years and are better than your beloved Suter's if i'm not mistaken 3-Filppula IS a top 6 forward and 66 points that would lead the Wild last season BY 13 POINTS proves that fact. And that's his 1st year in the top 6 after he paid his dues 4-f*** Hudler in his face. he wasn't re-signed cause he's very replacable. 5-38 points on D is not 3rd pairing....give your head a shake. As much as i was disturbed by Q's play when he came back to the Wings last year, he's still a top 4 dman. Take your constant Red Wing bashing back down the street to LETS GO WILD where you post about how great your team is even though they still have less depth than the Wings team you apparently love bashing so much.

that's exactly what i said when Lids retired, but we've been agreeing on things all summer while most people are discounting everyone in the Wings org from Holland to Brunner saying people need to be hanged and ALL of our prospects and signings aren't gonna measure up and will be busts. what a pathetic offseason...and not by Holland.

Question for you off the top of your head. Who is on the Wild's bottom 6 forwards and 3rd D pairing? No looking on their site either dude time's up...NO ONE OF NOTE!

Wings Blues Hawks Jackets Preds there's my 2 cents. Wings are tops in my books until PROVEN otherwise, and honestly in the central I don't see a roster that's currently better than the Wings. At least we have tons of fwd depth. i feel more comfortable with Dats or Z going down than other central teams top guys. Weber goes down, Preds are pooched. Toews or Kane, Chicago plummets again. St. Louis, Pietrangelo or Shattenkirk go down, we'll see more easy goals against them. Jackets....whatever.

You can even add Nyquist to that list cause he was on GR most of the year at a point per game. On top of that he was scoring at about .70 points per game when Franzen was out and he was on the 2nd line and didn't get another point after he was relegated to a line with Homer and Emmerton after Mule's return and much less ice time. For guys to say Gus, a Hobey Baker runner up and leading scorer for GR last year i believe, can't put up 50-60 points playing in the top 6 as well as Brunner who no matter what league he played in last year, he led it in points, then people need to sit back and watch this year and criticize when they don't reach 50 pts this year. Barring a lockout of course.

I think it's time to reinstate the "Neg" button.

Just wanted to amplify a few of your key points. Very good post and with the salary cap era and the Wings being competitive for so long, we may end up seeing the core of our team get younger and that's what a lot of people around here wanted. Maybe Nyquist and Jurco are the next Dats and Z in the making. Maybe Smith is the next Scott Stevens. No one knows until they get a chance and I for one can't wait for the puck to drop on this season. The unknowns going into this year are pretty exciting. Not like every other year where the only question is if the old dogs will stay healthy enough to get past the 2nd round...

And Dan Girardi.

Filppula > Dubinsky Nyquist > Anisimov Smith > Erixon 1st rounders are equal No s*** Kenny didn't want to give that to Columbus.

agreed. Like Drake Marcus said in a very well constructed post, guys like Flip, Dats and Howard are going to need to be re-signed next summer and Holland unlike most GM's keeps money around to make sure he doesn't lose the core of his team. Good to see not everyone is writing the Wings off 2 1/2 months before the season starts. And we got players like Gus and Brunner that are capable of playing in the top 6 until proven otherwise.