marcaractac

A team will never improve if they don't take a risk from time to time.

Myers might cost more just due to the fact that it would be a within the division trade. Although according to TSN, Myers is more of a priority for Holland than Yandle is.

If Detroit is unable to land Niskanen or Boyle, Dreger just said Wings have inquired about both Myers and Yandle.

In the end, Holland needs to make sure money is not the reason Niskanen signs elsewhere (within reason, of course). Sure he will have to overpay now. But the cap will keep going up.

Would be great to get him here for 7 years at 6 million per. Sure that sounds like a lot of money, but the cap is only gonna keep going up. A couple seasons from now that turns into a great contract if his production doesn't drop off.

Dammit you're right. Maybe Holland can sign that Lebron feller? I hear he is free. Edit: I'm sure Kindl and LAshoff can land us Weber. 2 players for one, how can they refuse?!

Also, if the Wings were to tank. The vets would all leave to try and win elsewhere. Then our current youth would have nobody to learn from. This organization is where it is because of how the youth is developed and what they learn from veterans. You think Hank would be the player he is today without learning leadership, work ethic, and sacrificing points to become one of the best 2 way players in the world? Tanking seasons would break this. Sure you could end up becoming the next Blackhawks with a skilled, young core. But guys like Toews don't grow on trees either. People can hate on him all they want, but in 20 years from now people will look at him as one of the greatest captains in the modern era. Sure, you may find another Toews in a future draft with a top pick. Yet you may end up with a Yakupov. Tanking isn't the answer. The team is struggling in the rebuild because we lost #5 and have a LOT of young players in the lineup at once. They'll get to play a lot more with the eurotwins this season. They will get better.

Truth. In the end, the Oilers 100% debunk the original argument. If top 10 picks were key, the Oilers would be repeating their 80's success right now.

I'm getting the impression if Alfie gets healthy, wants to play, and there is cap space for him, he'll be back. I'm glad they aren't just jumping the gun and signing him and hoping for the best. As far as other names you have mentioned, I think Weiss will have a big bounce back year.He seems very focused on conditioning this summer and if healthy he will be an important player. Hopefully Pasha can stay healthy. If the kids keep improving that will make things easier on him. I think Hank will have a big season now that he finally has his back fixed. Like Quincey said, it is the same type of surgery he has had, and health-wise he has been fine. The fact that Hank said he felt like a new man soon as he woke up from surgery is also very promising. I can see him having a big season without his back hindering him. The emergence of the kids will also help Mule a lot. With depth that can score, there is less pressure on him. As long as he can play responsible in his own end when he isn't scoring, no harm. A cold streak doesn't necessarily make him a liability. Now for Helm. When you look at the injuries he has had, it was more bad luck than anything. Sure he is a player who will miss a few games here and there because of his style. But things like his back, sliced tendons, groin issues after trying to come back after barely playing for almost 2 years. Not the types of things players have to deal with regularly. I think he will be fine this year. Kronwall used to have the same issues. A lot of bad luck. Dekeyser had a couple unfortunate injuries himself.

Teams might not be so willing to help us after Holland turned those 2 picks into Mantha and Little Bert

Either would be a great fit for one season. If healthy I'd love to see Alfie back, but Iggy can provide pretty much the same in terms scoring and leadership. Both players looked underwhelming in the playoffs (with Alfie of course getting big time overplayed in Sochi), so regardless of which, my guess would be limited minutes during the season with no back to back games to keep them as fresh as possible for April. An Olympic-free year would definitely do Alfie wonders. It basically comes down to Alfie being familiar with the team/system Vs Iggy being a tougher player.

100 is still a lot to go around, even with half of them in Edmonton.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Franzen, Kronwall, Rafalski. All in their primes, all big time players in the cup run. None a top 10 pick. Draft number is relative. A top 10 pick tends to have a better chance of being NHL ready sooner, sure. Not gonna argue that. What I don't buy is teams with higher picks having more young players turn out than the Wings will. Wings have been great at the draft, and their prospect pool is proof of that. The kids on the team now prove they belong, the kids who got a taste have shown that they will likely develop into key players for this team over the next few seasons. Guys like Jurco. You can see there is potential there for a real special player. There is a lot to be excited for. It is simply too soon to give up assets to fill holes on a roster where many of them can just be filled with the youth getting more experience. Anything beyond the top 10 in a lot of draft years is a crap shoot. Heck, this year you can say that about anything beyond the top 4 or 5. A lot of top 10 picks also tend to take a few years to start reaching their potential. Some never do. Health has been a big problem for this team as of late. A lot of the older, injury prone guys will be gone. If Alfie is back, he won't play as much as last season. I'd bet money on that. Him in a reduced role can be huge come playoff time. At the same time the kids can learn a lot from guys like him. Hank fixed his back. Mark my words. He is going to have a huge season. He is gonna be healthy, he is gonna be fired up, and he will be clutch. Helm's injuries have almost all been freak injuries. Then some groin issues when finally trying to return after almost no hockey in 2 years. That was to be expected. I feel Weiss will bounce back and make a lot of Wings fans eat crow. There's your top 10 pick. There will be a lot less pressure on Franzen with the continued development of Tatar and Goose. Dekeyser will learn to protect himself better. A healthy defense with an added puck mover makes for a nice, young mobile blueline. Kronwall got a lot of flack, but he was huge for the team all year long. So yes, even with much of the same roster as last year, there is a lot of improvements that can simply be made with better luck. Being younger to start the season will translate less injuries. Keeping the same roster together for an entire season will allow the team to grow together, and get better. I get that there are holes in the roster. Most teams have em. But when this team is on the right track as far as getting 2 points on a regular basis and staying healthy, the right moves will be made. This team is a lot better than the stats last season showed. Now the right roster will be together right from the beginning to prove that. Just gotta have a little faith! I am aware I went way off topic. But that is a rant that just started to flow.

Except this is hockey. Young players will continue to get better. A lot of great things happened in the past 2 seasons, but all some people focus on is the growing pains. Even when the Wings won it all in 2008, that was a planned 3 year process by management to get there. Stevie retired, Shanny left. Datsyuk and Zetterberg had to learn how to win. When the team showed they were ready to win, Holland brought in the missing pieces like Stuart to make it a complete, unstoppable team. It took 3 seasons for that to happen. Now we are basically one year into a new changing of the guard. Except this team is getting younger on a much larger scale than last time. When the kids learn how to win, the moves will be made to make a complete team once again. For the time being, having guys like Alfie around is a great thing. The kids learn a lot from guys like him. He is a leader. That will rub off on the younger generation of Wings. I get that some people find losing frustrating. The team has won for a long ass time. But there is a lot of exciting things ging on with this team if people can just take the time to appreciate it. There will be growing pains, but this team will make everyone proud once again. Some simply look at their win/loss records over the last few seasons and are quick to point out that the team is on a downslide. Not the case what so ever.

Pretty well every team is gonna have at least one former top 10 pick on their roster. Of course Stanley cup winners are gonna have top 10 picks on their team. Is Edmonton gonna win a cup because their roster is loaded with top 10 picks? The Wings top 10 pick in 2008 was Stuart. An important piece no doubt. But the guys who made that team what it was were far from top 10 picks. This is a VERY skewed way of looking at things. There is a lot of young talent in the system. Moves will be made when they make sense. Not made for the sake of making moves. And when moves do get made, Holland will look for the right players to make the team better. Not simply trade for players because of the position they were drafted in. Talented players come from all over the place. Sure high draft picks more often than not are NHL ready at a younger age. On the flip side, sometimes they are a bust. But there are also a lot of great players out there who weren't even drafted in the first round, let alone the top 10. Sure sucking for a few years can allow a team to stock up in high draft picks in a timely manner. But that doesn't always translate to success either. There are teams who have been sucking for years, and they still do. Detroit hasn't had the leisure of drafting a high, NHL ready prospect for a long time. So yes, they have to take the time to develop their players. But time has proved over, and over and over again that this team develops great players despite their draft position. Yeah, this particular rebuild is taking longer and hard to deal with for some fans. But that's what happens when you no longer have an all time great on the blueline to hold things together. But sure, lets trade rosters with Edmonton. We'll have loads of top 10 picks so we'll be destined for a dynasty!

100% this. Not to mention dmen tend to take a lot longer to develop than forwards. Guys like Karlsson looked terrible there for a little while before he broke out. If my memory serves me correctly, that child custody issue would have only been for one more year at the time his contract with the Wings was up. But it was enough to get him back to Cali. I could be wrong, though. I liked Stuart while he was here. But I just don't see him as the type of dman the Wings really need right now. Sure he would be nice to have if he came without having to give up much. But a puck mover is a much more important need for the time being.

Great to see him coming back. Even better that there will be no Swedish Olympic coach making him play insane minutes to wear him out for the stretch drive of the season.

He was great in the first half of the season sure. Even then he was on IR after every other start. I think it is dumb to sign Gus when Mrazek has nothing left to prove in the AHL.

Spezza is a guy who wants out of Ottawa because he can't handle the finger being pointed at him when the team is losing. Is that the kind of guy some people really want to see here? He is getting paid to be a go to guy, but can't handle the pressure of being one. Let him go to Florida where nobody will care.

I hope he signs so there is no chance the Wings end up with him

Bertuzzi being helped off the ice after a knee on knee. The classy London fans boo him. What is with all the knee on knee hits in the Memorial Cup? It's nuts.

Are people not watching these playoffs? Vanek is NOT the answer.

I'm pretty sure I read that Weiss is. I also think Hank is gonna have a big year next year finally having a pain-free back.

You know what this Wings in the playoffs reminded me of this year? The Habs in the playoffs last year. Experience is a big thing.

Hard to call the most consistent goalie of the last decade overrated. I don;t deny the Wings had trouble scoring for most of the season. That's what happens when you have a revolving door of players coming in and out of the lineup all year. The team doesn't develop chemistry. Regardless of that, Howard hasn't been great this season. Far from it. Not a knock on him, he had an off year. The season before he was the teams MVP. The Wings were in no better shape in that season than they were this one. But when the team struggled, Howie stood on his head and won us some games. This season he did not. Howard is a good goalie. But he is no Lundqvist.