Jesusberg

These lines are basically what I'm expecting/hoping to see, assuming everyone is healthy at the start of the season. Seems to be some recent stuff out there suggesting Z's back is worse than people thought (he didn't practice the second half of the season - Blash says he doesn't think Z plays if it's that bad again).

Not to mention, the cap situation is pretty tricky, even with Franzen heading to LTIR (Custance article on The Athletic). Seems like an "easy" out of the cap mess/roster crunch is Z starting on LTIR. If that happens, I can see Nielsen jumping up to 2C and Helm shifting to 3C between Vanek and AA.

Plunger just helped our back-end logjam. The Universe smiles upon us.

Minimum roster requirements for Vegas are 14F + 9D + 3G = 26 players. McPhee gets to select 30 in total.

It's silly to think he won't use those four extra spots to select the best players available (regardless of their position) and try to flip them.

Minimum roster requirements for Vegas are 14F + 9D + 3G = 26 players. McPhee gets to select 30 in total.

It's silly to think he won't use those four extra spots to select the best players available (regardless of their position) and try to flip them.

This. Back then it was also common to have a team finish the season having scored 300 goals as well. We never see anyone get close to that anymore.

30 goals is an arbitrary number. Tatar scored 29 before last season. Same thing. 
League scoring has gone down a lot. Pittsburgh penguins won the Stanley Cup last year but had only one 30 goal scorer. 
The year before that Chicago had zero 30 goal scorerd and won the Stanley cup. 

For DET, it doesn't. Think it benefits everyone but the Wings (and other teams who already made pitches).

For Cheveldayoff, he has a young asset signed to a 2-year deal at a modest cap hit. Teams who were out on Trouba because of his rumored demand of 5.5M AAV might take a closer look now. With a bigger pool of suitors, the odds are Trouba will eventually find his way out of WPG. Either way, more suitors = more competition for Holland, whose offer(s) were already rejected by Cheveldayoff.

Not sure he'll moved right away, but I wouldn't be shocked if one of those teams acquired him at the trade deadline. They'll have him for another season at 3M, and assuming Trouba likes the fit, they can sign him to an extension during the offseason that'll kick in for the 2018-19 season.

How does this make him easier to trade for?

I cant see how this shocks anyone. XO and Sproul have been the one's rotating all season. Like everyone, I want to see Sproul playing, but this is hardly a surprise.

There's not 100% confirmation, but it looks like Kronwall's could play tonight. The guys sitting for him might ruffle a few feathers, but at least they're not putting Kronwall on the top pair right away.

Honestly, I'd like to see what Frk can (potentially) do with the Wings before I judge what he's capable of doing/not doing at the NHL level. Pulkkinen played 70 games for the Wings (78 if you include the eight in Minny). Frk's played two with the Hurricanes.

I don't think he's necessarily a 15-20 goal guy, but I'd like to see him get some actual reps in before tossing him into the scrap pile. You can argue that they already did that, but then why claim him? More than anything, I think he was a victim of the numbers game, and they felt as if they'd get more out of Athanasiou. It's always good to have some insurance.

I wasn't beat-up about losing him to Carolina, but I don't think it means he's hot garbage. It's pretty easy to claim a guy is s*** after he's been waived. Plenty of people were acting like it was a big deal, and harping on Holland for poor roster management after it happened. Crazy turnaround.

Honestly, I'd like to see what Frk can (potentially) do with the Wings before I judge what he's capable of doing/not doing at the NHL level. Pulkkinen played 70 games for the Wings (78 if you include the eight in Minny). Frk's played two with the Hurricanes.

I don't think he's necessarily a 15-20 goal guy, but I'd like to see him get some actual reps in before tossing him into the scrap pile. You can argue that they already did that, but then why claim him? More than anything, I think he was a victim of the numbers game, and they felt as if they'd get more out of Athanasiou. It's always good to have some insurance.

I wasn't beat-up about losing him to Carolina, but I don't think it means he's hot garbage. It's pretty easy to claim a guy is s*** after he's been waived. Plenty of people were acting like it was a big deal, and harping on Holland for poor roster management after it happened. Crazy turnaround.

You're right about Russo, but the first two guys are a few years away, IMO.

I know Hronek has some encouraging numbers, but it's his first year in the OHL. Once he's healthy, I'd like to see what Saarijarvi can do on a team that isn't a total dumpster fire. Either way, neither of them is waiver-eligible until the 2020-21 season. Kronwall and Ericsson are off the books by then.

I'd like to see both of them add some size/strength, too. Yes, it means  a lot less than it did in the past, but they still need to add some bulk to deal with puck battles, taking a hit, etc. I'm not saying they have to go crazy, but they both weigh around 165-170 lbs right now.

So just to add to this, someone asked the exact question in today's edition of Ansar Khan's mailbag (I swear, it wasn't me. Thankfully, my name's not Lenny. I'm sorry if you're reading this, Lenny.)

Anyway, here's the link and Ansar's answer -  https://goo.gl/ucU1mb
Q: What happens to (Ryan) Sproul when Kronwall and Jurco come back? – Lenny
A: Sproul will remain on the roster, no danger of being waived. The club has told him to get his own place in the area.
Hard to predict when Kronwall is ready. He's been skating off and on and there's no telling when the knee will feel good enough to play.
When he's cleared, the Red Wings won't need to make any moves because they have the roster spot and he's been on the cap while on short-term injured reserve. They'll carry 13 forwards and eight defensemen.
Who sits out on D? I think it'll be an ongoing competition between Sproul, Marchenko and Ouellet.
The problem arises when Jurco is ready, following off-season back surgery. He's projected to return in mid-November. If Kronwall is back when Jurco is ready and they have no other injuries, they'll need to trim a player. Andreas Athanasiou is waiver-exempt, but I think he's playing too well to be sent down. They might be forced to waived Ouellet.
 

"The 30 NHL Clubs must submit their Protection List by 5:00 P.M. ET on Saturday, June 17, 2017. The Las Vegas team must submit their Expansion Draft Selections by 5:00 P.M. ET on June 20 and the announcement of their selections will be released on made on June 21."
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592

I'm waiting for that "Quick Protect" option to become available on CapFriendly's expansion tool. I could guess at which players each team will protect, but I think other team's fans will paint a much clearer picture with their choices, especially once CF collects enough protection selections/data.

"The 30 NHL Clubs must submit their Protection List by 5:00 P.M. ET on Saturday, June 17, 2017. The Las Vegas team must submit their Expansion Draft Selections by 5:00 P.M. ET on June 20 and the announcement of their selections will be released on made on June 21."
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592

I'm waiting for that "Quick Protect" option to become available on CapFriendly's expansion tool. I could guess at which players each team will protect, but I think other team's fans will paint a much clearer picture with their choices, especially once CF collects enough protection selections/data.

You can just take the tunnel bus. $10 round trip and you'll be home just as fast. that's what I do for every game 

Not that I think Vegas is going to take a 37-year-old, earning 6M+ for four more seasons, but it's probably something management will consider when they select their protected players. The "recapture pool" for 2017-18 sits at $11,983,336, so the Wings would wind up facing a cap penalty of $2,995,834 in each of the four remaining years on his contract if he refused to play/retired.

I wonder if the NHL would threaten to penalize the Wings if Z came out and said something like that. Otherwise, what's stopping other teams/players from doing something similar? Daly's already said teams that don't follow the rules could lose draft picks/players. I wonder if they'd view it as some sort of circumvention. Honestly, the league kind of tweaks and makes up their own rules as they go along, so I wouldn't be shocked.

Either way, I'm hoping for something along the lines of:

Forwards: Nielsen (NMC), Nyquist, Tatar, Mantha, Athanasiou & two of Abdelkader/Helm/Zetterberg
Defensemen: DeKeyser, Ouellet & Sproul
Goaltender: Mrazek

Looks like Vanek might survive without Nyqust, lol

I'd even be willing to take back a bad contract like Justin Faulk...

Looks like Vanek might survive without Nyqust, lol

Looks like Vanek might survive without Nyqust, lol

It will definitely be easier to move Howard next summer if he can keep playing at this level all season. Though with a condensed schedule this season, it's a good idea to have to goalies who can get it done. We're gonna see a lot of back to backs and 3 games in 4 nights situations this season. 

I think it's important for Mantha to get more top minutes in the AHL because he really hasn't been a dominant/high impact guy since he was in the QMHL. He had a tough first year pro with the broken leg, then he was pretty good last year, but we need him to be an elite scorer here, so let him get to that point in the AHL first. I hope he keeps ripping it up, gets his confidence up and then come up with guns blazing.

Man, what a bomb. Outside of the goal, AA's been very noticeable. Used his speed to rush the puck, beat out an icing call and strip the puck on the backcheck.

Between Sproul and AA, it looks like Saturday night's my night to eat some crow.