number9

Bump I think the biggest questions are where do Weiss, Alfredsson, and Abdelkader slot in. If Weiss holds up... Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Franzen Nyquist - Weiss - Alfredsson ---------------------- Play as 2nd or 3rd line Sheahan - Helm - Tatar --------------------------- Play as 2nd or 3rd line. Sheahan & Tatar have chemistry Miller - Glendening - Abdelkader ---------------- Great checking line If he doesn't... Tatar - Datsyuk - Franzen Nyquist - Zetterberg - Alfredsson --------------- Nyquist & Zetterberg have chemistry Sheahan - Helm - Abdelkader ------------------- Checking line that can score Miller - Weiss - Cleary ----------------------------- IMO Cleary compliments Weiss better than Glendening My only worry is that Alfredsson may be better suited on a third line at this point

You mean I have to wait? PASS

I agree. Let me revise my opinion. I don't think that just bc a player is ready and can or could play means he should. Playing them later, closer to their peak, is better for their all-around long-term development. Hence why I'm equating readiness with peak age.

That article seems to conclude most forwards peak around 24, which is precisely the one of the ages I cited. How is that considerably off at all? The article states that 21-22 forwards show good production in the NHL, but don't get played because their defense is under-developed, aka they aren't ready.

I don't know how long you've been in the hockey community, but it's pretty universally understood that the Pens purposefully tanked for the team they have now. The Crosby selection made them the poster boy for the tanking strategy, like what will be done for McDavid this season. The financial hardships they had forced that hand in many ways, but that's what happens when you resign to "being bad". If you are insistent on arguing this point I suggest researching those teams and the late 70s early 80s wings before commenting further. http://fromtherink.sbnprivate.com/2010/7/16/1572579/when-is-an-nhl-players-prime-age http://news.ubc.ca/2014/05/15/nhl-study/ Some cite a players prime age as early as 24, some as late as 29. I have no idea where you are getting 22-24 from. Those players are rare, but usually dominant. The Wings want their kids to enter the league in a dominant year. That's what over-ripening is all about.

They didn't tank. They tried but went through a drought anyway. The whole notion of tanking is mostly a cap era phenomenon anyway. Therefore it's arrogant of you to just assume the Wings tanked the team in order to get a guy like Yzerman when you weren't even there. Because that's not what happened, and Stevie, even though he's heralded as such, was not the savior of this organization. He very well could have been the first coming of John Tavares had Wings not played their cards almost perfectly. In regards to your above statements. Hindsight is 20/20. Just because we didn't win a cup those years doesn't mean the wings couldn't have. And the organization as well as most of us believed, and still do believe, they had a fair shot. Playing older vets kept younger players, like Nyquist, in the minors to build their confidence and develop their game better than they would being rushed into the NHL. Since vets, like you said, got essentially the same points that a rookie would have, there was more good done than harm. I'm glad you're well-rounded in most sports. It means you obviously know that most hockey players aren't normally ready until 24, 26, or sometimes even 27, unlike most American sports where the ready-age is between 18 and 22. This organization is going to continue sheltering prospects as best they can until they hit those years despite anyone's impatient clamoring. Aside from the rare few who can truly squeak in at an earlier age. Also, Wings players have routinely expressed their pleasure with Ken always putting together a veteran team.

When you have a Crosby/Malkin/Letang or Toews/Kane/Keith, you pretty much know you have them for the next 10 - 15 seasons to build around, so you're not thinking about building a new core right now, you don't know what you'll have in the next 10 to 15 seasons. With Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Kronwall we have them for the next 3+ years. We are very much thinking about building a new core. And for the Wings a core comes from within, not from without, for a variety of reasons. If our core was younger I'd definitely expect more risky trades to be happening, because we could afford to make those possible mistakes with a young core.

No and no.

There's a veryyyy different strategy when you have a young core, opposed to an old one.

Leino?

To me it sounds like Calgary or Florida. If he's ok with the AHL then Boston.

HA, suck it hawks

I really do believe every team who makes the playoffs is competitive for the cup. Are our chances as good as say Chicago, Boston, or LA? No. But there's 26 other teams in a similar position as us, or in a worse one. It's going to be a few years before we are a true powerhouse again, but the fact that we are still making it to the show in the mean time is pretty darn good, and hard for any GM to do.

Exactly! It's about making the playoffs, not winning a silly cup. We have enough of those already anyway.

We've always been strong at D and up the middle. Which I think is the ideal. Now we're still strong down the middle, but our D is lacking and our wingers are exposed because of it. Nyquist and Tatar making gains can correct that, but we seriously need a pro puck moving D-man.

precisely

Fast forward 350 years to one of my favorites "Don't try"

If you don't do anything... you can't make any mistakes *wisdom from Ken*

Holland has been with us since 94 I believe, but still doesn't get any credit. Nill doesn't even work for us anymore and he sometimes still gets credit. Baffles me. Actually the most shocking thing to me is how shocking this is to some people (Holland being reupped)

We know. We get it. You love fighters. By people I'm assuming you mean me. Yes I do. He doesn't have any FA's or trade pieces available that are going to make any real impact on the team. They're going to tank. And since they're not going to be any good they've signed a lot of tough guys to put butts in seats.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/wings/2014/08/14/ken-holland-detroit-red-wings-four-year-extension/14052063/

That does not mean he's going to be fired at all lol. Red Wings fans HATE Holland right now and the guy just got an extension. Why? Because 99% of fans are blithering idiots who can't see past the next immediate season, so I'm sure the organization really couldn't care less what we think. EDIT: There's no option available better than Holland

With that roster Hiller is probably going to have a worse season statistically than he did in Anaheim. Hiller's prime has been past him for a few years, not just last season.

Plenty RFA's around the league haven't signed yet. It's absolutely nothing to be worried about. When it comes to Holland, who exactly are you all hoping we were going to replace him with???

With Babcocks comments earlier this summer it seems like he may have been waiting for this before a re-sign. Also, once again Yzerman and Hollands contracts expire at the same time. Quite convenient for us.