SwedeLundin77

I feel like Larkin will be best suited as a winger in the NHL. Wait, are you saying that Athanasiou will be on the 4th line?

I don't know if Rasmussen can make the jump this season, but he sure does look good in camp so far (not at 100%). Also, he's a center so I'm pretty sure they'd put him there due to his size alone. I also hope they keep Larkin as a winger, he's much more effective in that position. I think Zetterberg proved last season that he still has gas in the tank in the middle. It would also drive me nuts to have Helm on the 2nd line. Dude just doesn't have the hands and I believe would be wasted there. I don't see Nyquist being moved and I believe Holland should hang on to him in hopes that he bounces back and ups his trade value. If your lineup is to stand, though, I see it more like this: Larking-Z-Mantha (perhaps Larkin takes some reps at C to give Z a break. Svechnkov-Nielsen-AA Helm-Rasmussen-Abdelkader If Rasmussen is, in fact, the real deal, flip him and Nielsen.

Sorry, I meant on our roster. Much depends on whether he goes pro or stays through college.

Tatar has said that if he goes to arbitration and is awarded the 1-year contract that that would be his last contract signed in Detroit. I'm not liking this tactic of either trying to get Kenny to give him a better deal/longer term or really just wanting to be in Detroit much longer. I'd trade him in a heartbeat. Yes, he can score goals, but he is mostly one-dimensional. He scored 25 goals last season but didn't crack 50 points. Would I prefer him over Nyquist? Absolutely, but the reality is that we have Nyquist for 2 more seasons and I don't see Kenny being able to move his contract unless he has a good bounce-back season. You have guys like Mantha, A2, Svechnikov, Bertuzzi, Frk... I'm not worried about losing Tatar or Nyquist. I believe Mantha and A2 both have 30+ goal potential. It would be another indictment of Holland if we lose Tatar for nothing. After what he said, if he gets a 1-year deal, you trade him as soon and for as much as you can get. Probably futures.

There were several different analysis done at the camp that I read regarding Rasmussen. All were pretty solid takes on his skating, puck handling, and shot. I think/hope we might have gotten a solid player with leadership ability and strong character. Time will tell. Also saw that Hronek, Saarijarvi, and Cholowski were impressing on Friday and Saturday. And I think we got a winner in Petruzzelli, hoping he's ready in 2 years to jump up and be our starter. Again, time will tell.

The situation with Tatar is intriguing. Sounds like he doesn't want to play here anymore or he is just trying to maximize his deal (if he doesn't make it to arbitration). After what he said, I'd personally prefer Holland trade him for futures. Of course, I'm not sure Holland has the balls to do so. We really don't want to pay 5.5 million long-term to a Tatar that will probably max out at 55 points or so. With all the bad contracts, that would just add to it and make it harder to rebuild on the fly. We'd be investing 14-15 million on 3 wingers (Nyquist, Tatar, Abdelkader). Pitt invests 15 million in 3 of their wingers, but those wingers are Kessell, Hagelin, and Hornqvist. A lot different trio. So I'd prefer Holland try and trade Tatar now, if possible. Larkin-Zetterberg-Mantha Svechnikov-Nielsen-Athanasiou Nyquist-Sheahan-Abdelkader Bertuzzi-Helm-Glendening Witkowski Ouellet-Green Dekeyser-Daley Ericsson-Jensen Sproul Howard Mrazek The defense is a mess... I don't prefer Ouellet on the top pairing, nor do I prefer DeKeyser, but I also don't want to see Green on the second pairing. It's just not a good situation. I see Kronwall and/or Ericsson on LTIR. I see a slight chance of Sulak making the roster if those two are injured, but would definitely like to see Sproul get a longer chance to show what he can do so we know.

Tatar should get a deal similar to Galchenyuk. 3 years at 4.9 million per.

They are over the cap, but will get relief from Horton and Lupul being LTIR ($10.55 million), so they actually have around 8-9 million to spend if they want. I know Horton is on there indefinitely but not sure about Lupul. I would be annoyed if he didn't at least reach out and maybe offer him a 1 year 1 million contract. That guy's got some freakin' wisdom and can still put up 40+ points. Not a good trade... at all. Haha Yeah, but they overpaid for Radulov.

I think that they grossly overpaid for Marleau, who at this point in his career is only declining and putting up less and less point-wise. Having said that, he'll be a great veteran to help along some of those kids and be a mentor for the next 3 years. It's just a really bad contract for a 38 year old declining forward. Of course, he had 27 goals last season, and I think he'll be playing on Matthews left wing so.... yeah. Haha, he may clean up.

You're confusing people, or at least me, getting upset when I'm just nitpicking the move given all the data that is available.

Do you not remember McCollum being a Wing draft pick from 2008? Played in Grand Rapids for a long time, played only 3 games with the big club and then decided to leave as a free agent after the 15/16 season.

He's got pretty quick hands when he gets in close, never realized that. Sounds like he'll play a ton of minutes here. Breakout year as a 34 year old? Haha

It matters when you are trying to rebuild on the fly and draft picks are important. Trading picks for a player that can actually contribute to the NHL roster makes sense, but McCollum is an example of just not being prepared and jumping the gun a bit. There are goalies in the free agent market that I guarantee he'd be able to sign to a minor league or at worst, 2-way contract. Hell, he let Patterson and Pasquale just walk... why not attempt to try and keep one of those guys if it's just a GR depth move?

This. Even if you feel the value is lower than you'd like on Nyquist, you make the trade, get what assets you can, and either let the kids play or sign Hartnell, Vrbata, etc to a cheap 1-year deal. +48 on the Grifs...

Hopefully, he's our 13th forward and Bertuzzi gets a good look.

Holland blunders again. I don't mind Daley, but I would have preferred one less year on that term. Witkowski makes absolutely no sense when you already have McIlrath on a 2-way and Bertuzzi ready to make the jump. They just pushed Bertuzzi back a year, which is stupidity at its finest. They then give up a pick for McCollum when they could have easily found someone on the free agent market to play in GR or just kept Patterson. I thought the idea in a rebuild was to grow your picks, not hand them away unnecessarily. Now we have too many defensemen, too many goalies, and just enough forwards. Holland has to go.

So we have Howard, Mrazek, Coreau, McCollum, Machovsky.... we have one too many goalies.... Hopefully, this means Holland will actually make a trade now, but I doubt it.

Ericsson was a very solid penalty killer for a while but that's faded now. He is just mediocre now and slower. If we didn't have several other bad contracts, we could buy him out more than likely.

So they say he'd be added for some toughness.... why do we have McIlrath then?

Oh, and Colton Parayko is a UFA.... I know he'd be more expensive and may not even leave the Blues, but still... I'd grab that kid and give him a deal, he'd be awesome to have. 6'6", 214 lbs, shoots right and can put up points as a 24-year-old!

So if the rumor is true about him wanting to get 2 D and 1 F then let it be short term deals, hopefully. My wish list, if this scenario is true, and trust me, I'm all for going with the youth and not getting anyone, but if it has to be true: Daley, 2 years @ 2.5 per Kulikov, 2 years @ 2.75 per (reduction in salary due to injury issues and under-performance) Vrbata, 1 year @ 1.25 million (plus performance bonuses) This would bridge the gap until our young D are ready to jump in and fill in for injury needs immediately (Kronwall, Sproul, and possibly Ericsson). Vrbata would give us an inexpensive 20 goal scorer since we are short on forwards presently.

Well and that's my thought. They don't have confidence in Sproul making it at all and they don't see Ouellet in the top 4. I just find it odd that Ericsson broke his wrist back in February and we haven't heard a thing about that since. It's all been quiet on Kronwall as well.

Something HAS to be up with Kronwall & Ericsson. Especially since Khan had said that we are looking to add 1, maybe 2 veteran defensemen. Although, I don't understand why we don't just let the kids play and grow unless they aren't completely confident in Ouellet & Sproul. I don't have a problem with signing FAs so long as it isn't a long-term deal. Daley for 1-2 years isn't going to have any adverse effects on the club. My guess would be that Holland either can't hack it with a trade to bring in a 25 or under d-man for the top pairing or the prices are ludicrous, so he's looking for reliable, inexpensive options to bridge the gap until, hopefully, Hronek, Saarijarvi, and/or Cholowski are ready to jump in. That's a definite IF because none of those guys are necessarily going to be top 4, let alone top 2 defenders in the NHL. I think at this point the outlook is bright for Hronek and Saarijarvi, but time will tell. In either case, if the deal is for 1 or 2 years for south of 3 million per, then I don't see the damage with that. We're either in the playoffs or not and if not we trade Green, Daley, etc to load up on more picks for the next draft.

The Cup will be ours!!!!!

Why?