Nev

Much depends on what kind of contract you're talking. But Niskanen is younger, and he's a righty. Promote Marchenko and we've suddenly got 2 RHD's and a LHD who can play on the right. Kronwall - Smith DeKeyser - Niskanen Ericsson - Marchenko

Wow, double pay day for Erhoff. He gets $12M over the next 14 years from the buyout, plus he's about to get another contract which will probably pay as much, if not more, than the contract he just got bought out from. AND he gets to go to a team of his choosing.

Source or no source, its pretty obvious there isn't a roster spot opening up anytime soon for him. Same with Oullet/Sproul/Backman/Marchenko/Jensen - there is 1, maybe 2 spots on the roster coming up on D in the next few years, so some of them are going to have to be traded. Save them for now, package them up when the right player becomes available on the trade market

I read a list recently and I was amazed by how many there are, it was in the hundreds. Most teams have at least 7 or 8 on their roster. Wings have - Howard, Smith, DeKeyser, Lashoff, Nyquist Abdelkader, Glendening, Sheahan...8?

Larkin is going to play college hockey at Michigan. And unless he's the next Kariya or Toews, expect him to play at least a couple of years there before turning pro.

You answered your own point. Many years the Wings haven't had a 1st rounder, when they did it was often nearer a 2nd rounder. So they had to go for "value" . That often meant smaller, skilled players, or bigger less skilled players. Because the big, skilled players are gone by picks 10-15. You think a 6-3 Kronwall is available at 29? A 6-0 Hudler at 58? A 6-2 Filpulla at 95? A 6-2 Nyquist at 121? A 6-1 Tatar at 60? Most of our bigger, less skilled players didn't work out, whereas we had more success with the smaller, skilled guys. But the last few drafts the Wings have publicly said they know the pendulum swung too far that way.

We had one of those in Filpulla, and everyone hated him because he wasn't a 70pt player

Everyone keeps bringing up Rafalski, but keeps forgetting that Rafalski could skate. Almquist can't. Remember Rafalski his last 2 years when his back and his knees went and he couldn't keep up? It was painful to watch opponents repeatedly beat him round the outside because he had neither the size nor the speed to stop them.

A right handed PMD?

No idea what Doughty is talking about...

Brian Rafalski could skate. And then look what happened to him the last couple of years when his knees and back gave up. He still had the elite puck moving skills, but lack of size and inability to skate made him a defensive liability.

Personally, I believe someone, somewhere, soon, will get an 8 year $80M contract. Toews, Kane, Subban to name but a few have all got big contracts coming up...

Actually, I think the way the cap works is changing. Between lockouts 2 and 3 it was constant turmoil and teams only had a 2 or 3 year window to win the cup. Now, all the best teams have all their star players locked up on 6, 7, 8 year contracts. Because the cap will still keep going up they are able to afford to keep most of their good 2nd tier players which is what truly turns a team into a contender and the contending window is being pushed wider. Anyway, reasons for wanting the Kings to win 1) Because Detroit were the last team to win back to back cups. Lets keep it that way. 2) Kings wear black, white and silver these days, just as they should 3) Because Detroit were the last team to win back to back cups. Lets keep it that way. 4) Daryl Suter is pure awesome 5) Because Detroit were the last team to win back to back cups. Lets keep it that way. 6) Kopitar and Doughty don't get anywhere near enough recognition for their game because they play on the west coast. 7) Because Detroit were the last team to win back to back cups. Lets keep it that way.

If the want Babcock or Blashill, they need to wait another year since they're both under contract till next summer. As for what Babcock can do with Crosby, just look at how he got him to sacrifice his offensive game for another Olympic gold

Its weird, he's been really bad at signing + trading, but his performance in the draft in the same period has been exemplary, including repeatedly trading down (with success). (waits for blah blah "but Nill" blah blah)

I could have forgiven the Sammy contract if it was just for 1 year. A cheapish veteran stopgap. But 2 years was just brutal. Same with Bert.

"All of his accomplishments"??? In 14 seasons as GM of Hartford, Vancouver, Anaheim and Toronto he failed to qualify for the playoffs 7 times! He failed to get past the 1st round another 4 times. That means in 14 seasons as GM he has gotten past the 1st round just 3 times. Think about that, and not just the 07 Ducks. He's 3 for 16 if you include the last 2 Leafs seasons with his players and his coach. As for his Olympic silver, thats worth about as much as Hollands golds ie not a lot

What? This makes no sense whatsoever? This "mess" is of Burke's making. The players are Burke's, the coach is Burke's. The Leafs failed to make the playoffs season after season under Burke. The year he was fired, his team of players and his coach gave one of the most spectacular choke jobs of all time. So 7 (?) seasons of Burke's Leafs, 1 playoff appearance, 1 first round exit. In Vancouver he did nothing. In Anaheim, his patented strategy of throwing players at the wall and seeing who sticks, combined with the stars aligning (Niedermeyer falling into his lap, getting Beachamin a player he admitted he'd never heard of, Getzlaf and Perry on ELCs) for one season. The following season he continued to throw players at the wall throwing piles of money at the likes of Bertuzzi and Schneider and through being "left alone" started to dismantle one of the best post lockout teams. And in Toronto he continued to do nothing. A huge bunch of trades, FA signings.....and the team is no better than they were 7 years ago. But he likes fighters, and the Canadian media loves him, so he ends up with this massively over-blown reputation.

Its definately not a certainty that he will be here beyond next season, he's certainly keeping his options open in interviews, but as I posted in another thread, he said the other day - before you leave "you better make sure the grass is greener on the other side". So, if there's a vacancy at a realgud but underachieving team (Pittsburgh I'm looking in your direction) I could see him moving on.

I'd definately play him with Pav. Read lots of comparisons to Brett Hull wrt being able to "hide" in the O zone and then pop open to receive the pass and get a shot away

Except all the vets are gone - Bert, Cleary and Sammy ain't coming back. Babs is in Montreal watching Mantha for a reason, he's bigging him up in interviews for a reason (I love guys who are 6 foot 5 who can skate and shoot the puck), and that reason is because they think he can make the roster out of training camp. Unless Holland makes a big trade or a splash in FA there are going to be 1 or 2 spots for Jurco and Mantha to scrap with the likes of Ferraro and Callahan for - of course, if its as the 13th forward, then Jurco and Mantha will be sent down. Weiss isn't a Babcock old-time favourite either, so he'll happily bench him to play Mantha. Babs has also repeatedly said that Backman will be on the roster next season, he sounds super excited about him.

Ideally you should always try to trade from a position of strength to fill a position of weakness. Our strengths? Good young D prospects, and good young wingers (of the skilled but undersized variety). We have SEVEN young D-men knocking on the door right now for maybe 2 spots in the next 5 years. There isn't room for all of them, so we may as well flip them for something better. Same at wing, unless we buy out Franzen and Weiss, and Alfie retires, and Mantha is a bust, there is just no place for Pulkinnen. Our biggest weakness is a top-4 RHD. There's a really interesting thread on HFBoards right now around trade proposals for a RHD to Detroit - unusually for HFBoards, its populated by sane fans of other teams making rational, reasoned proposals instead of the usual "Nyquist + Mantha + 1st for Edler" that wrecks the place. Some examples: Cody Franson for 3rd Tatar + Ouellet for B. Schenn + L. Schenn Pulkkinen + Ouellet for L. Schenn Tatar + Ouellet + pick for Bogosian Wideman for 3rd + Jensen Wideman for 3rd + Nestasil Byfuglin for Tatar + Ouellet Byfuglin for Tatar + 1st Niskanens rights for 3rd Gardiner for Tatar + Frk Shattenkirk for Nyquist Jensen for 2nd Wideman + 2nd for Mitch Callahan + 1st None of these break the bank and upgrade the team. To give one example - Tatar + Oullet for Byfuglin. The loss of Tatar is easily replaced by Jurco and Mantha. Losing Oullet only leaves us with Almquist, Backman, Marchenko, Sproul and Jensen - I mean, how will we cope with such a pitiful group of D prospects That one trade leaves us with something like Jurco - Datsyuk - Alfie Nyquist - Zetterberg - Franzen Abdelkader - Sheahan - Mantha Miller - Helm - Glendening Weiss Kronwall - Smith DeKeyser - Byfuglin Ericsson - Marchenko/Backman

You probly need to add a 4th in there as well to really tempt Florida to bite

Just like the "we never replaced Lidstrom" because you can't just go out and replace a player of that caliber, how do you replace the best net-front player since Phil Esposito?

I know there is a Griffs forum here, but its usually deserted, and we had a thread on the main board last year. GR opened on the road in Abbotsford last night and won 2-1 in double OT with a Ryan Sproul shot and a 55 save performance from Mrazek. Backman also scored with a beauty toe-drag and shot. Highlights: http://sendtonews.com/#!highlight/story/fzz5nkRr4w Note, the first round is a best of 5, first 2 on the road, then next 3 in GR.