ogreslayer

I've always considered the overripe/lack of youth thing to be a myth more than anything else. As you mentioned, the Wings have done a good job of getting a mix of youth into the lineup over the years. I think were many get frustrated is that you don't see propsects move right into top 6/top pairing roles with the Wings like you do with other teams, even if that's where their skillset says they should be. And as for where they sit now with the logjam at forward at least, I do wonder just how further along the integration of the Nyquists, Tatars, & Anderssons would be now if not for the lockout last season. I still think if not for that looming last off season, you don't see Kenny bring Sammy back into the fold at the very least. Now on the issue of "next up", I think the next two prospects who should see extended action with the big club when injuries happen up front will be Sheahan & Ferraro (depending on what happens with Eaves & Tootoo who I think are the two odd men out right now) with an outside shot of seeing Jurco get some time too. I could see the organization potentially wanting though to keep Sheahan & Jurco in GR to get as much experience as they can as the Griffin's top line.

From NBC Sports though it looks like they're pointing to St James' tweet as the source of their article: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/15/wings-gm-tomas-tatar-will-be-one-of-14-forwards-left-standing/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Personally, I'm cynical enough to not consider this to be 100% true until the Wings are officially down to 14 forwards.

Tatar with the first goal in today's scrimmage between Team Lindsay & Team Delvecchio. Evidently a beauty of a goal too.

Cleary was on the ice yesterday wearing 71 & was supposed to switch to 11 today.

And it appears Alfie with stay with #11 now. Isn't it always about the money? Helene St. James‏@HeleneStJames Hearing that for marketing reasons, Daniel Alfredsson will remain no. 11 with #RedWings. Things already produced for Winter Classic, etc.

He really did seem to "get it" near the end of the season & into the playoffs imo. What I remember is seeing him get knocked on his face less & less from all the hacking in front of the net and being able to maintain a presence like he hadn't been able to do when he was first put in the top 6. Based on that, his showing at the World's, & early reports on how he's looking in camp, I can honestly say I'm really comfortable with him in that role.

And Kenny saying on record in an interview that he likes both Nyquist & Tatar and expects them to be on the team is in no way a 100% guarantee that he wouldn't put Nyquist in GR for the season or trade Tatar if that's what he had to do to get cap/roster compliant. It would be foolish to assume that 100% of what comes out of Ken Holland's mouth is gospel & immediately dismiss anything that conflicts with it. In fact, it would be organizational suicide if people could count on everything Kenny says on the record in the media. To outright dismiss a potential source saying that he's "full of it" based on your opinion glommed from an interview with Kenny you read seems a bit naive or over emotional (take your pick) based on current evidence, or do you have a better source within the organization that's guaranteed he's not being discussed that you haven't shared with us? It is entirely within the realm of possibility that the Wings would trade Tatar if the circumstances dictated it in my opinion. In fact, I personally think that pretty much any player slotted for a spot in the bottom 6 or is waiver exempt like DeKeyser is being considered as a solution to the cap/roster issue. Given the circumstances as they exist now, the most tradeable bottom 6 assets that Kenny has that he might be willing to part with are Tatar, Eaves, Tootoo, & I would add Miller into that mix personally, even though he was just extended. So if we know that the organization is looking at a combination of trades, waivers, & IR to take care of their roster crunch, it really is only logical to assume that Tatar, among others, is in play as far as I'm concerned.

And from all reports from yesterday's camp action, Abby looked really good in that role. I wouldn't be surprised to see him wind up centering a line instead depending on what roster moves are made to get roster/cap compliant i.e. moving down to center the 3rd or 4th if Emmerton is still let go while Helm's out. That's why I wouldn't dismiss seeing a Hank-Dats-Clears, Hank-Dats-Bert, or even Hank-Dats-Sammy line at some point during the season.

We should get a message to Kenny & Babs right now about how revolutionary of a change that could be!

Which of course can in no way, shape, or form can be seen as a leading indicator of what the organization may want to see during the season. Just not possible.

All 3 of those players if waived & not claimed by another team will still count towards the cap. Eaves would still have a cap impact of $275k, Bert $1.975m, & Sammy $2.9m so none of that solves the Wings being ~$2.4m over the cap.

No, because that is actually the best case scenario probably to deal with roster/cap crunch as long as it's the right players.

Like the metaphorical gun of 29 GMs knowing you need to move bodies out and there being no trade market for two of the players (Eaves & Tootoo) you prefer to deal? There will be a market for Tatar and Kenny would be crazy for not trying to include Eaves or Tootoo in discussions to get closer to solving his roster issues if trading Tatar becomes a serious consideration. If Kenny's not willing to do that, then he is pretty much forced to use waivers. Given that most of the potential targets for that (Eaves, Tootoo, Sammy, Bert) would still count against the cap if not claimed (and they wouldn't be imo) or would mean leaving Nyquist and/or DeKeyser in GR for the bulk of if not the full season, the Wings will be dealing with this mess all season. In all honesty though, I actually don't think Kenny will be able to find a trade partner at all because I don't think he'll be willing to trade from a position as weak as he finds himself in now, but I also didn't think he would further compound his cap/roster problems by signing Cleary in the first place. So I'm not suggesting that Kenny should "dump" Tatar in order to get rid of Tootoo, I'm saying that Tatar is really the only player Kenny will find a trade market for & when he does, he really should find a way to turn it into a multi-player deal if he even considers trading his AHL playoff MVP.

Given Abby scored 2 in today's scrimmage playing along side Hank & Pavs, I'm thinking that line is pretty much set.

I still say contact Ewe Krupp about a dog sled.

Yeah, because package trades with multiple players never happen. "OK you want Tatar, the price is that you also take Tootoo off my hands". Certainly 100% completely impossible.

This makes me want to immediately start a fake John Tortorella Twitter account & start tweeting out the most narcissistic content I can think of.

Well first off, Emmerton's not going anywhere this season until Helm proves he's healthy. As for the rest, if you were another GM in the league & Ken Holland calls you about making a trade right now, are you going to be more inclined to go after Tootoo, Eaves, or Sammy or are you going to say, "Kenny, I'm more interested in your asking price for that Nyquist or Tatar kid." knowing he has to clear space in just a few weeks? Now I don't think Kenny will trade either one but the possibility does exist given that the trade market for those two will exist while I have doubts on the others, especially since Sammy will have veto power with his NTC. Not a laughable idea imo, it's a possible one. That odds may not be high but it is still possible.

Yup, unless Kenny can find a trading partner to take Eaves, Tootoo, or Sammy off his hands for picks (and for Sammy then to waive his NTC) or find another combo of players to trade for a bigger name, there's a pretty good chance Nyquist will be in GR to start the season. The only other player that is waiver exempt is DeKeyser & I don't see the Wings going with 15 forwards & 6 d-men to start the season.

Going off the top of my head instead of looking it up, but I believe that the WIngs would have to count all of Sammy's salary except for a $100k exception against the cap so he would still have a cap hit of $2.9m while playing in GR.

His chances of playing in GR this season are already 0%. If the Wings put him through waivers with the intention of sending him to GR, he'll never get there because there's no way last year's AHL playoff MVP does not get claimed by one of those other 29 teams.

For starters, Andersson isn't going anywhere with Helm being injured given he's 4th on the depth chart for centers. Why it might be Tatar over the others is trade value. He simply would have more worth in the trade market than any of the others plus with Bert & Sammy you're dealing with no trade clauses.

Let's see... Franzen at $3,954,545, Quincey at $3,775,000, Sproul, & Sammy while retaining half of his $3m salary clears up $9,229,545. The Blues get a scorer long term, a couple of transition players in Q & Sammy with contracts that expire at the end of the season, & a stud of a defensive prospect in Sproul. Maybe sweeten the deal with a pick. Worth exploring I think.

Is there some way we can arrange an dog sledding accident for Sammy & keep either Eaves or Tootoo around instead?

Probably a 3rd line of Cleary-Andy-Bert more than likely.