Buppy

A roster spot.

No doubt, and that's part of the fun. But really that was just a subtle attempt to turn the thread back on topic.

Wait four years for him to become a somewhat decent complimentary scorer? Yeah, I'd still trade him. I'm hoping he turns into the next Franzen.

Aside from game 1, the possession numbers were fairly close. Slight edge to the Wings even. We dominated game 7. This has been a weird playoffs for fancy stats. 22 times so far a team has posted a corsi for % of 58 or higher. Only five of those games were won by the dominant team. 5 times those teams were shut out, and 6 times they lost by 3 or 4 goals. They left out the best Wings stretch. 71 wins and 3 Cups from 96-02. Makes you wonder how much more the Wings or Avs might have won if they hadn't had to face each other 5 times in those 7 years.

Kip's just trying to be clever, but being too subtle about it. What he's saying is that all this well-wishing and concern about his long-term health is disingenuous. Just a convenient excuse for people to say "good riddance" without looking like an ass or having the legitimacy of their criticisms called into question. Sure, there may be some genuine sympathy felt at hearing about someone suffering; it's only natural. But that isn't why people want him to retire.

Even though I know rationally that the Soviet Union was one of the most powerful and influential military and political super powers in the history of the world, having grown up at the end of the Cold War it's very hard to think of anything regarding Russia or Socialism/Communism as anything other than a Yakov Smirnoff punchline.

To be fair, Fetisov was 31 when he came over. Kids these days need a little oppression, builds character.

With Meile and Nosek we still have good center depth. Much better than the editor depth at mlive, apparently. Bert with AA and Larkin. Mantha down with Zengerle and Nosek. Hoggan or Tvrdon up with Meile and Pulk. Should be three dangerous scoring lines.

Are you trying to suggest that the photos in Putin's mother's apartment weren't already of McGrattan?

But if Utica wins, the series will start there.

Interesting that St. Louis is in there, if true. Haven't heard anything new about Hitch.

So Babcock is a primadonna because other people are more interested in him than other coaches, and even though you don't want him to come back, the amount of attention he gets annoys you so much you would rather he'd signed an extension than receive that attention? And that's why he should make an important decision on his future in less than a week. If you're sick of the hype quit paying attention to it. You've commented more about Babcock than probably 90% of NHL fans, and likely a fair few reporters. You're part of the hype.

McCollum is a UFA, going to be 26 next season, and in an organization where he has essentially zero shot at making the NHL roster. He may not want to come back even if we want him back. If we do get him back, it's likely only because no other team in the league thinks he has a chance to be an NHL goalie. Paterson and Coreau could maybe one day be NHL backups, if they can develop further. Perry is too soon to tell. But we're getting a little far afield from my original comment. In terms of prospect depth, goalie is our weakest position. I didn't say we need to draft 7 of them. Didn't say we need to take one in the 1st (in fact I said we shouldn't do that). Ultimately, there's not much difference between a 3rd or 4th and a 6th or 7th, or this year or next. But I don't know why we'd wait. And I'm not arguing the need for a defenseman. I specifically agreed with that. I'm saying we also have the same need at center.

Lol. Cover up Kip, your hate-on is showing. He's been allowed to talk to other teams for a week. Carlyle, McClellen, and Bylsma have all been available longer. Hitchcock has been "reflecting" for twice as long. Why should he be in any rush. Because some nobody on forum doesn't like him?

The whole point of having a prospect pool is organizational depth. So you don't pin all your hopes on one person. A lot of things could happen. He could fail to pan out. Could get injured. Could leave in a year or 4 years. But it's not about that really. You can be confident in Mrazek but still want to have some depth in the system. Right now our goalie depth is poor. We do need a high ceiling defenseman, but we need a high ceiling center too. Both would be good first round options. Whichever has the better player will be the better option.

We also added Coreau as an undrafted FA in 2013. We took 5 in the 4 drafts from 2000-2003. Regardless, our depth in goal looks weak. The point of bringing up Pav and Hank is that even though we have time, it doesn't change what our prospects will develop in to. Larkin and AA aren't more likely to become top 6 centers because they have time. It's a lot easier to be confident about the future when the present is in pretty good shape. I said it is unlikely we'll find a top player. I didn't say it was impossible. While there are occasional home runs, there are 10 times as many that aren't. Our last big hit in the first round was Kronwall in 2000. It IS unlikely. If you want to say it is likely, go ahead and try. If you just want to say it isn't impossible, please find someone who said it is to say it to. I was saying Larkin had a good year, not Mantha.

Not quite. He would be paid 2/3rds of his remaining salary over double the term, which works out to $1.78m/year. Then you subtract that amount from his contracted salary for each year, then subtract the result from his cap hit for each year. So his cap hit would be: $678k the first two years, $2.68m the third, then $1.78m for three. Still better to trade him, but not too bad really since we can probably count on the cap going up as well as having a number of cheap kids. If we wait a year, it would be $1.4, 3.4, 2.5, and 2.5.

Well, we only had Zid for 21 games (27 counting playoffs), and he scored 11p. He's not as good as Green, but he'd be a lot cheaper and wouldn't get in the way of the kids.

After Mrazek we don't have anyone who looks to be better than a longshot to make the NHL. McCollum may not be back. We may have to make a choice between Howard and Mrazek after next year. Again, it's not necessarily an immediate concern such that we need one in the 1st round, but it does need to be addressed. Most of those guys aren't centers and half of them don't even look like they'll be NHLers. Yeah, I see now. Turgeon is kind of a stretch but whatever. I think you're letting the current Wings roster color your opinion of our prospects. Bet if Datsyuk and Zetterberg were already gone you'd be a lot less confident in our center depth. Regardless, we're not likely to find a top d-man or top center picking 19th. What were likely to get is more of what we already have. Good promise but a long way to go.

You gave 6 actually, and even with Sheahan and Glendening as locks for two spots, it is an enormous leap of faith to think any of our prospects can fill the two top 6 C spots. Sheahan is maybe close to be a 2/3 tweener, but doesn't look like he'll go any higher. AA and Nosek both had mediocre first years, slightly better than Helm and Emmerton, slightly worse than Abby. Hardly very promising. Holmstrom wasn't anything special, good playoff run aside, and has yet to play in NA. Dekeyser is already closer to being a top pair D than any of our centers are to being top 6. Smith is at least 3rd pair. XO and Marchenko both spent time in the NHL, and looked decent. Both look more like good NHL players than AA, Nosek, or Holmstrom have shown. Sproul and Jensen have more questions, but I wouldn't say they're any worse than our centers. All we really have at center is Larkin being way over-hyped. Just like we had people wanting to buy out Franzen to give Mantha a spot on the Wings before this year. He had a good year, bot not amazing or anything. It's a huge gamble to assume he's the answer to our future center needs. Not trying to say we have everything we'll ever need on defense. We have needs at both positions, but we have good depth at both as well. Looks like there will be a better selection of defensemen available at 19, but if there's a good center available it would be just as good a pick. Biggest organizational need is probably goalie, though since the immediate future seems set I wouldn't want to see one in the 1st round. 3rd or 4th for that is fine. So did Jarnkrok and Janmark. Take out our top 4 prospects at any position and it would look bad.

Saying those guys can fill all 4 center spots is like saying Dekeyser, Marchenko, Ouelett, Jensen, Smith, and Sproul can fill all 6 defense spots. Might turn out to be true, but very far from a sure thing. Bert makes it 1-0!

You're a little late

No one was defending Weiss. It was noted that he was one of the top UFAs available, in respone to Richdg trying to argue that Holland is trying to build a team solely with drafting. No comment was made regarding whether it was a good signing or not and the only comment made on his performance here was me saying he hasn't met expectations. You then responded that the people who thought he was a top UFA were idiots, and you knew all along he'd be a bust. Fact is, no one knows s*** about the future. There were good reasons to think Weiss would be a good addition, and there were reasons to question it. Same goes for Clarkson, Clowe, Brunner, Alfie, Lecavelier, and anyone else who's ever been brought up. No one is smart for making a correct prediction nor stupid for making a wrong one. It's not like anyone was predicting anything ridiculous. Instead of analyzing the accuracy of past predictions, let's get back on on topic and make new predictions. Otherwise we won't be able to have any stupid arguments two years from now. Here's mine. This UFA class sucks and will be even worse come July.

He's not a UFA

2nd was for Cole. Zidlicky was next year's 3rd.