Z Winged Dangler

Does anyone think that DeKeyser isn't signed yet because they still don't know the status of Alfredsson? Signing one, or both of them could dictate the amount and length of the deal. If Alfredsson signs for 1 year, they could tell DeKeyser to take a 1 year 2 million deal and then sign long term but if Alfredsson retires then they could offer 5 years at 3.5 per or something along those terms.

Z and Dats are my 2 current favorite players, but Yzerman, Lidstrom, Probert and Fedorov were my favorite growing up. There is no one else in the history of the NHL that I would rather have on my team than Steve Yzerman. Guy had the compete level and heart of a lion and skills to back it up. When he refined his 2-way game on top of all that, he became what I believe to be the best all around player the NHL has seen. Not just pure offence or defence, Yzerman was the complete package. Fedorov was pretty close but there's a reason Yzerman is "The Captain".

I like Blackjacks

Priceless. I would buy one of each.

I HATE the signing, but after watching tons of Wings videos this summer, I must say if Cleary was as good a player as he is a person, he would win the Hart Trophy this season. I truly hope he proves us all wrong and has a bounce back season. Bettman is still the Anti-Christ. Nothing that man does at this point can undo the wrongs that happened under his rule.

Not only that, but I remember reading that Wayne talked to his dad Walter and they decided that LA would be a tougher place to win and if he went to the Wings he'd get easy Cups with the core that was already there. Paulina I believe was from LA prior as well.

Doesn't everyone love articles that make a big deal about nothing? Girl weighs 120 pounds, Helm squats with what...600?

I always loved the game when Yzerman buried the overtime winner against St. Louis with the dirty clapper he unleashed, Patty Roy's last game as a Hab, and of course the 97 Stanley Cup win.

No worries, they always get their roster spots back from the kids in the offseason

And we'd be looking at the Leafs in the rear view for Cup wins. He was THAT good. Stevens and Niedermayer while great could not hold the jocks of Lids and Vladdy and that's saying something. We all love a good Kronwalling, but those are bumps compared to what Vladdy dished out. Man he could hit. And for some reason, he scored breakaway goals. Pure awesomeness. He would also be my pick.

After dishing out 9 mil per to Subban, the Habs may have issues in a couple years when they need to re-sign Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Bournival, Beaulieu and Tinordi who are all good young players making under 1 mil. The Bolts have Stamkos to re-sign soon but they at least have a core of guys around him already that are already built for the most part.

Tampa is definitely the best on that list. They'll be fun to watch for sure. I'll cheer for them more cause Stevie Y built them.

That's why it's good that the one thing we can never complain about is that Holland listens to his scouts. Without that happening, we would never have had the Datsyuk's, Zetterberg's and Hampus Melen's. Even while Holland is having a rough stretch and I'm no doubt not that happy with him along with most, he's still getting guys like Sheahan signed for under 1 mil, giving Tatar a very fair deal for both sides and drafting guys to play effectively in today's NHL. Things aren't great at the moment for the Wings, but the future looks bright. Like I said in another thread as well, once the kids take over the Wings and the new arena is built and rejuvenates Detroit, players in the NHL are going to wish they came to the Wings. We'll have guys saying "I want to go to Detroit to play with Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Mantha, Sproul, Ouellet, Smith, Marchenko...." They'll chose a contender over milking cows in Minnesota with their girlfriends family or whatever that crap was about with Farmer Suter and ******* Yeehaw Parise. Edit: Add Athaniesou to my list. I have a good feeling about that kid.

Not to mention that the most improved team in the NHL the past 2 seasons is Dallas, and they're in the west and only on the rise now, so with half the teams in the East losing out and the Wings making the playoffs last year regardless of what we had, things don't look that bad.

The final score was what....10-2 I think? I loved how the fans cheered for Roy when he saved one. That's still one of my favorite games ever to watch.

Justin Schultz was a holdout just to get where he was for his "sweepstakes". I'm not sure anyone should be surprised he's not re-signed yet. He went to Edmonton cause he knew with his extremely subpar defensive side of his game, he needed a team with god awful defense to be able to make the NHL roster without any competition. Sure he's good on the PP, but aside from that his game is complete ass. If we have injuries on D, I'd much prefer seeing Sproul, Ouellet and Marchenko get the nod. Those 3 will be a big part of the Wings future no doubt and a 10 game sample for each this year could definitely be a good thing for the organization, hopefully with benchings of Kindl and Q as opposed to injuries.

It also helps that we have the best scouts in the NHL.

Gardiner has more than 1 season under his belt. DeKeyser should get the exact same contract as Tatar.

Tatar was a regular in the line up yes, but was getting garbage ice time to start. It wasn't until Sheahan and Jurco came up that things started to pick up for the Wings in a positive way. So from the start of the season to when the team got interesting, we added Tatar, Sheahan, Nyquist and Jurco. With how well those guys played when they came up, it makes you feel a little better if say 3 Dmen go down and we call up Ouellet, Sproul and Marchenko. Which goes back to my point about teaching Mantha and Jurco to go to the dirty areas for goals....Blashill is the reigning coach of the year in the AHL, so I have a lot of faith that the guys placed in his hands to start the year are going to be NHL players that can play NHL minutes when they get their call. And our small forwards include Z and Dats....not worried about them at all, and Tatar, Nyquist, Weiss and Helm assuming that anything under 6'0 is small. Other than that, our forward core is getting bigger and with the way the draft has been going lately, we will have a team comparable to LA size wise soon.

I know we still have some issues to deal with, but having Tatar and Nyquist on the roster from day 1 is a positive compared to last year. We still have Cleary, Kindl, Quincey and Andersson, but with the season starting with a healthy Z, Dats, Helm and Weiss along with Tatar and Nyquist guaranteed roster spots, you have to at least have a shred of hope that this team can do more than just suck. Hopefully Smith is given a larger role as well and Kindl finds himself in GR and not on the PP. Point is, with a healthy roster to start the year, I'll remain positive until I'm given a reason to be negative.

We weren't that good to start the season cause our healthy players included plugs like Sammy and Cleary and a lame, regressed Kindl with Tatar in the press box and Nyquist in the minors. Undersized perimeter crap will be solved with developing guys like Jurco and Mantha to go to the dirty areas and bury goals.

Everyone has an inside source these days dontchaknow? I met Ryan Sproul in June, we're now the best of friends except he doesn't know my name yet. I have a love bubble for Helm. Every time he's on the ice it's exciting. Some people hate guys cause unfortunate stuff happens to them causing injury.

$2.75 mil per for 3 years for a guy who only got less than 20 goals cause he was a healthy scratch for the first 9 games? I'll take that deal any day for Tatar. His value is high for the team and will only get more valuable. Damn right homie! Agreed 100%. Tatar will be a bargain when he gets 25+ goals next season, and the next, and the next.

Where is Ouellet playing? He won't be the 7th Dman on the Wings. Unless Kindl is moved, you gotta add XO to that list which will help the Griffs chances for another championship season. I may have to look into the AHL Live or whatever it's called and watch all the Griffs games.

Glad to hear. I'm about done with all the negative whirlwind around Cleary and Quincey. I'm looking forward to the future of this team with Mantha, Larkin, Sproul, Ouellet, Mrazek and so on, and looking forward to as much Helm, Z and Dats as possible and for Weiss to silence the naysayers with a solid 50 point season and Smith getting his real shot and showing everyone that he's legit. All the positives are being overshadowed by a few negatives. Sure it was a terrible offseason again, but we also had a 2nd draft in a row that saw us get not 1 guy under 6 feet. Once this team injects more of the top prospects into the line up and the arena is built downtown and the city is rejuvenated, guys are gonna wish they signed here the past few seasons and people will line up to play with the list of guys above....you know, aside from the guys who went to play for other teams to be closer to family and play with a good friend and all that. Kenny can't control those things and I don't blame him for any of those. Next season is pretty far from over seeing as it hasn't started yet. Lots of time to find success. Confused on the direction of the team moving forward? Bad bridge deals to hold the kids back, but once we get the kids, they're ready and f*** me they're good! I guess a little extra time in Blashill's hands isn't the worst thing that can happen.