dat's sick

Just because he'll never be a Selke nominee doesn't mean he's one-dimensional. He has plenty of tools offensively. He can challenge 1-on-1, or even 1-on-2, he can snipe, and he's also not afraid to drive the net and create those "ugly" goals. A lot of people compare him to Hudler who imo is much more of a 'one-dimensional scoring line winger' than Tatar is or ever will be. Tats is a perfect secondary scorer, he creates a ton of offense on his own instead of relying on linemates or powerplay time. And if he just improves on a few things here and there he could definitely become a star player in this league.

You should probably look up what young 20 goal scorers get in this league these days. This is a good deal if he never gets more than 20, if he gets 25+ it's fantastic. It's also worth noting that Tatar is very much his own product, he hasn't been feeding off Dats or Z or the PP for his production.

Yeah I read somewhere in the description that everything would be open even when nothing is going on in the arena.

Looks good. I was a fan of the mockup somone did of a barn-style arena but this is modern and seems to have kind of an innovative design. That roof is gonna look amazing too.

Out toughest injuries were to Z, Pav and Weiss. All 3 are highly unlikely to miss as much time this season. It would be extreme bad luck. I also think Helm finally has a good chance to stay healthy now that he gets a full summer and camp to work out 100%., Injuries won't stop but we have to get some kind of 'break' from it eventually... we can't keep being one of the top 3 teams in mangames lost year after year, I refuse to believe we can't get a "healthy" season.

What I remember the most is that we did really well in the early part of the season despite Howard playing bad and us icing a 3rd line like Bertuzzi-Andersson-Cleary and Weiss completely failing. Let's see what happens when we have Pav and Z healthy, backed up by Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan and Helm, possibly a contributing Weiss and a Howard playing like himself. That team is a good team.

I'm not worried. 2 months is a long time and I'm not sure they're in very intense discussions right now considering everyone's probably off on vacation.

Babs did keep guys like Bert and Cleary as healthy scratches even when we had injuries. Though it took a while before it happened. I like the sound of Pavel's knee maybe being 'fixed' and that Z hasn't felt this good since 08. If those two can have a relatively healthy season it'll make such a huge difference for us.

I don't think it matters much, but anything positive at this point is welcome. Key to the season will be health. Can't have yet another year with 400+ mangames lost.

Agree completely, well said. Except, I would easily trade a Jarnkrok-level prospect for Green. Say.. Frk? Athanasiou? Nestrasil?

I don't see a scenario where Mantha's development is hurt by spending a year in GR. And our team won't really be worse by having Alfie/Jurco on it instead of Mantha, as I assume those 3 pretty much our options for the same roster spot. Looking forward to seeing Mantha in training camp, I have a feeling he could struggle a bit with the transition to the pro game initially but I hope he can prove me wrong.

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm really excited about our forward group I'd almost agree with the OP. But having Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan and possibly Jurco on the team from day 1?? Super exciting compared to our opening night lineup last season. Add to that a hopefully healthy Weiss, possibly hungry to prove himself, and the fact that Z and Pavel are always amazing to watch when they're healthy. They should also be playing together. Of course, the defense puts a damper on things. I hope and pray Holland is not done. At the very least Kindl or Lashoff should be moved out to make room for Ouellet or Marchenko. Otherwise the one thing to look forward to is the continued development of Dekeyser and Smith. I'm as disappointed as most with how yesterday went, but overall I actually do LIKE our team. What I wanted this offseason was at least 1 new d-man, but that's about it. We didn't get it (yet), but I could live with that. Maybe there will be some options at the trade deadline. Maybe injuries will open up a spot for a kid and that kid will have a Nyquist/Sheahan/Jurco impact. Every season is full of possibilities, even if Holland has so far done a really poor job of building excitement for this upcoming one.

Look on the bright side guys, without Quincey we wouldn't have a huge anchor dragging our team down!

Please let this be another UFA that doesn't want to come to Detroit. Though that may be even worse. What does it say about us if not even Kyle F****** Quincey wants to sign here???

Sproul is probably not at all ready defensively. Give him a minimum of 1 more year in GR. Marchenko should be up next season but he should be more of a Kindl/Lashoff replacement, not as the replacement for Quincey in the top 4 which is what we're looking for Niskanen/Ehrhoff/Boyle/etc to be.

I always find the reactions to draft picks amusing because, come on, none of us knows anything at this point. In 2-3 years we'll start seeing who made good selections or not this draft. That said this seems like a solid pick, filling our need for a good center prospect. Sounds like he is a "safe" pick and I'm fine with that, in our development program he should have a very good opportunity to reach his potential.

That's about the worst comparison ever. No one has ever thought Datsyuk was average, and he is much more than a "good player". As for Callahan, I never saw the big deal. He's a slightly more talented Abdelkader in my eyes. I get that he brings more than points but it's still way more money than I'd pay for that kind of player.

Actually it does. You haven't considered that one reason our current defensive squad looks so terrible is because they can't move the puck very well? We get stuck in our own zone because Lashoff, Kindl, Quincey, even Dekeyser, Ericsson and to some extent Kronwall struggle to cleanly start breakouts. It doesn't matter how good you are at winning puck battles if when you win the puck you do nothing constructive with it. Fingers crossed Holland has some big plans because if we go into next season with Kindl and Lashoff still around I'll be a bit upset that we let our best puck-moving d-man leave for Russia.

The 2 games he played for us he looked like the best PMD on the team. His ability to run a PP is also something we're sorely lacking on our blueline. Not crazy about losing him to the KHL, I'd love it he returns eventually but with so many young d-men coming up it'll be difficult for him. I thought he would have a good chance to outbattle guys like Kindl, Lashoff, Sproul, Backman and Ouellet this season, it won't be easier in a year or two.

Give Lidstrom a call.

If we trade some forwards to acquire a d-man I guess I could see us having room for Cleary on a two-way contract. I would absolutely hate it, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. If they had a gentleman's agreement I think Holland should try his best to honor that. But priority #1 is improving the team and if Holland/Babcock really think Danny has anything left to offer in that regard they're smoking some good stuff.

I'm not really surprised, never saw Nashville as the kind of team where he would be a good fit. I hope he finds a home in the NHL though, he's a solid player and if I was the GM of a team like Edmonton, NYI, Ottawa, Buffalo etc. I wouldn't hesitate to pick him up.

Ouellet playing to me means that they think XO is safer. Which he is. He is great defensively, very reliable. I still look at our defense and see one of the worst groups in the NHL in terms of offensive play. I don't know where we ended up but I know at one point this seasons we were close to last in the league in points from our D. We have no one to man our 2nd PP, heck I don't even think Kronwall is that great at manning the 1st PP. XO doesn't help with that, neither does Marchenko.

Our defense struggles a lot with puck movement, and our PP is dysfunctional largely due to Kronwall being the only one being decent at quarterbacking it. Marchenko seems solid but he's not that gifted offensively. Sproul might have potential, but I get the impression he's not ready for the NHL. Ouellet is safe, but again, more defensively than offensively. You could be right, that we would want him off the team if he gets the chance. But I feel it's important that he does get that chance. He was impressive in camp last year, in his 2 game call-up he showed a lot of good things. And obviously he's been great in Grand Rapids. Kid deserves a shot.

He's played 2 NHL games. And he scored a goal in one of them. If we let this kid walk while we continue to give icetime to bums like Lashoff and Kindl, I will be very disappointed. Almqvist would help us with two of our biggest problems: puck movement and powerplay. Unless Holland makes some great moves to significantly upgrade our defense I don't see why Almqvist should just be let go.