Nevermind

Hindsight of better/comparable players for each draft pick (I may have missed a few) ...yeah, I'm bored 2004 97. Johan Franzen 127. Ryan Callahan (as much as I like the guy, you can't argue Franzen's playoff numbers...we should have had both ) 128. Evan McGrath 134. Kris Versteeg 150. Mikhail Grabovski Nothing too bad for the rest of the draft. 2005 19. Jakub Kindl 21. Tuukka Rask 24. TJ Oshie 33. James Neal 35. Marc-Edouard Vlasic 41. Ondrej Pavelec 42. Justin Abdelkader 44. Paul Stastny (this one hurts) 51. Mason Raymond 62. Kristopher Letang (this too...) 72. Jonathan Quick 79. Cody Franson 80. Alex Rappold 85. Ben Bishop 87. Marc-Andre Gragnani 96. Chris Butler 101. Jared Boll 103. Mattias Ritola 105. Keith Yandle 108. Niklas Hjalmarsson 132. Darren Helm (perfect pick!) 137. Johan Ryno 142. Nathan Gerbe (I thought we were the ones to take chances on small players) 175. Juho Mielonen 190. Matt D'Agostini 214. Bretton Stamler 222. Kyle Cumiskey 230. Patric Hornqvist (last pick...Detroit style) 2006 41. Cory Emmerton 44. Nikolai Kulemin 46. Jhonas Enroth 47. Shawn Matthias 50. Milan Lucic (maybe we'd trade him for Bertuzzi anyways) 62. Dick Axelsson 63. Jamie McBain 69. Steve Mason 71. Brad Marchand 72. Cal Clutterbuck 92. Daniel Larsson 99. James Reimer 112. Matt Beleskey 161. Viktor Stalberg 182. Jan Mursak 189. Derek Dorsett 196. Benn Ferriero 212. Logan Pyett (third-to-last pick) 2007 27. Brendan Smith 43. P.K. Subban (I prefer Smith though) 88. Joakim Andersson 97. Linus Omark 116. Keith Aulie 129. Jamie Benn 148. Randy Cameron 168. Carl Hagelin 178. Zach Torquato 194. Carl Gunnarsson 2008 30. Thomas McCollum 31. Jacob Markstrom (ouch...one pick later) 38. Roman Josi 45. Zac Dalpe 51. Derek Stepan 60. Jimmy Hayes 91. Max Nicastro 93. Braden Holtby 121. Gustav Nyquist (looks like he has the best potential) The picks from now on are too hard to tell. 2009 32. Landon Ferraro 33. Ryan O'Reilly (really big loss here) 35. Kyle Clifford 46. Robin Lehner 60. Tomas Tatar (looks like a good pick) Rest of the draft is too hard to tell. Need to wait a few more years. Same thing with 2010 and 2011 draft classes. All in all, we've drafted pretty well since the lockout. Looking back, we've definitely passed on quite a few gritty players for skill players that never panned out though. But, you could just as easily look at it the other way for a lot of teams; they've passed on skilled players for gritty players that never make it to the show. It's all a crapshoot. But, I like our stable with Nyquist, Tatar, Smith, Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen, etc.

Should have been 200 years in prison.

This is bad news for me... I go to college out-of-state so I've been subscribing to NHL gamecenter to get the FSD games. The games nationally televised on Versus NBC Sports or NBC are blacked out though. In the regular season, I just find a stream online...but that's too risky/unreliable for the playoffs. I make sure I find a TV in my dorm somewhere. Now, I'm assuming all the games will be blacked out on NHL gamecenter. So I won't be able to watch with Ken and Mick.

Kopecky? I think the problem with Emmerton is that in junior he was a skilled playmaker. But, he's not good enough to play that same game at the NHL level. At the same time, he's not a physical, grinding type of player either. So his only hope is to learn to be a grinder. Based on his play, I don't see much scoring potential. But, who knows, maybe in a few years he'll be more patient with the puck and make better plays.

This is why in NHL 12 I try to keep keep my number of contracts to around 46-47 players instead of 49 or 50 (yeah, the game actually has the 50 contract limit built-in). Ken Holland could learn a thing or two from me. But seriously, can anyone give an idea as to how good this kid is...I've never seen him play. Is he NHL-ready on one of the weaker teams in the league?

Nevermind I was going to post pictures of Suter, Parise and Lidstrom next to one another. Couldn't get it to work though. Hopefully Ken Holland doesn't give up so easily and can get it to work though...

Exactly. Most of us complain about Franzen because we know he's talented enough to produce much more. If he really wanted to, he could be an elite player in the regular season as well. Instead he tends to float for long stretches and looks bored. Even tonight, he didn't do much until the end of the third period when things got interesting. Based on past history though, I'm sure he'll win us over in the playoffs. Trump? And if you're going to brag about your education, it might be worthwhile to put the apostrophe in "bachelor's degree". And the cents don't count as part of the seven figures. Besides, who actually says stuff like that? It's sad that this country's in a state where its self-proclaimed professionals have so little humility and intelligence left. Then again, you do seem to share a lot of the same qualities as most investment bankers.

He still has to clear waivers before joining the Bruins. So this means that the Isles will claim him to backup Nabokov.

Yes, but I was talking about defenseman developed recently. As was haroldsnepsts' post. Kronwall came into the NHL eight or nine years ago. Not exactly a recent farm product. Then we should have signed that Erickson guy instead of Ericsson. Maybe he actually plays physical.

Yeah, it seems like a while since we've developed a true top-four caliber defenseman. It's easy to not notice this when you have Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall and Stuart as the top 4 for several years. And with White fitting in nicely this year, we haven't really 'needed' a young kid to step up. I think a lot of us thought Ericsson might be an eventual top-four d-man after his '09 playoffs. You would think his current salary is so exorbitant because of the potential he showed back then. Yet, he's hasn't shown any development at all; if anything, he's regressed severely. I won't hesitate to say that if we get more depth on D for next year, I really want his contract off the books. It's not like his cap number is killing our team by any means--but that's way too much for a bottom pairing defenseman. Quincey could be on the top two pairings for a lot of teams, but he's probably more of a #5 guy for us. It's important to remember though, Meech vastly outplayed Quincey when they were both here. When we had all those injuries on the back end in '08 (and won like 1 game in 11 or something), Meech was our best defenseman. Who knew Quincey would develop so well? Hopefully Smith can develop into a very good top-four guy. When the unthinkable with Lidstrom happens, we're gonna need all the help we can get. I'm curious though, does anyone think he has the potential to be an elite first-paring type of guy? IMO, I think he'll be more of a Kronwall type--a #2 defenseman that may still play on the second pair. The thing about Kronwall though is that he could be a #1 defenseman on quite a few teams. I'm not sure if Smith has quite that much potential.

I liked how Smith handled himself in that fight. I didn't like how he kept his visor on though. Then again, he did get jumped in the first place.

This is what's missing from their game right now.

A lot of us take sports too seriously. But, we don't resort to cheating or intentional harm.

Then Tim Thomas refuses to acknowledge that the trophy even exists.

Home ice is the only thing that matters. Nobody's gonna be bragging about a Presidents' Trophy. Well, maybe 'nucks fans since they're that desperate.

Considering who owns the team, shouldn't he get a hot-and-ready from Little Caesar's?

P.A. Parenteau has 58 points in 62 games. Is this from playing with Tavares? Interesting though...

Apparently we're interested in bringing him back (according to Bob Duff as referenced in one of the other threads...I haven't seen it for myself)? Please Kenny, don't bring the logo hunter back. I know we won a Cup and got to a Finals Game 7 with him, but he's definitely not what we need right now. Too much of a perimeter player that constantly takes low percentage shots. He could be clutch at times, but was usually just really frustrating to watch. For whatever reason, Babcock loved him though. I'd rather acquire nobody at all than get Sammy back. If you guys feel the same way, maybe there's a slight chance the Wings' office will read this. Haha...I doubt it.

That's what I thought as well. I don't see Florida moving anyone--being right in the thick of things in the playoff race. If anything, they might think they're a buyer instead of a seller. I'm just reacting to what I saw in the other thread.

If you think of it in a sense of having the most displaced or transplanted fans around the country...then yes. But, I hate the term "America's team". Because the Wings happen to be in America, why should any bandwagon American hockey fan be able to call them "their" team if they advance deep into the playoffs? They're "our" team---whether we're Wings fans in Detroit, Phoenix, London, or Tokyo...it doesn't matter--they're "our" team. The team belongs to true Detroit Red Wings fans. No potential marketing gimmick such as "America's team" can change that. You heard "Canada's team" in the Finals last year, but I doubt any true Leafs, Flames or Habs fans were rooting for the 'Nucks. So the term doesn't really make sense and is kind of silly for real fans. My sentiments exactly.

Don't worry, he can pronounce all the Canadian player names. Though, is Sami Lepisto Italian? I know he's Finnish...but Italian-Finnish? Lepisto doesn't even sound Italian to me.

e5

The only teams that can win the Cup are the ones that make the playoffs.

Worse. Three teams in a row. I have to say again...Carter's not the type of player who would play with much grit or heart in the playoffs. Despite his immense talent, he's prone to taking nights off and becoming invisible when the game gets tougher. At least Franzen shows up in the playoffs and doesn't have attitude problems.

They will be sold to people who have more money than me. Or to those who have season-tickets and are ahead of me in the lottery..