kipwinger

Push comes to shove they can always waive Howard and Ericsson at some point. They'd retain about 900,000K on both contracts but the other 7 million (ish) would be freed up. AND they'd have to pay their full salaries to play in the AHL. So I'm sure the Ilitches wouldn't be too thrilled, but the money would be there.

That's actually not too far from what I'd envisioned. With no additional roster changes I'd like to see this: Tatar-Larkin-Abby Nyq-Neilsen-Vanek Z-AA-Mantha Sheahan-Glendening-Helm Frk Jurco On defense I'd like: Dekeyser-Green Smith-Marchenko Kronwall-Ericsson (I don't want Ericsson, but lets me real) Sproul That's with no changes. But sooner or later the Wings are going to have to move some cheap younguns' into the lineup and ditch some overpriced vets. They need to re-sign Dekeyser and Mraz this year and Tatar, AA, and Smith next year. And they won't have a lot of money to do it with. They probably should have done that this year by ditching Helm and Glendening for cheaper options but what's done is done. Losing Ott, Miller, Ericsson, and Howard next season should just about cover it.

Best Red Wing, or best player who ever played for the Wings? Because any or all of Fetisov, Larionov, Hull, Robitaille, and Chelios are among the best players ever at their positions. Just maybe not when they played for the Wings.

I don't think that's necessarily true. I dont think two guys signed to one year contracts for less than a million are necessarily going to be penciled into the lineup. Obviously Helms going to play (and he should), but not the other two. I dont think they're safe. Especially Ott. Holland waived Tootoo, why would he be reluctant to waive Ott?

At this point I hope we don't trade for a defenseman. Go with this. Its not terrible. Tatar-Larkin-Abby Nyquist-Neilsen-Vanek Z-AA-Mantha Helm-Glen-Sheahan Jurco Frk Dekeyser-Green Smith-Marchenko Kronwall-Sproul Ericsson Ltir Franzen, pulk, vitale. Waive Ott and Miller. Trade Ouellet.

Yikes. Six years?

Subban is significantly better than Weber. Bergevin is dumb.

Neilsens most common winger last year was okposo. We can easily get both AND still have money for more. If Holland lands those two, plus trades for a defenseman you've got to consider that an off season win. This Stamkos thing is a blessing in disguise. Watch.

Can't post a link, on a s***ty phone. I did see RNH for Severson +, but I didn't see that it was limited to a center. I read they wanted offense.

Devils looking for some scoring and put defenseman Damon Severson in play. Jump all over this Kenny!

Four 1st round picks! Who do they think they're getting? Erik Karlsson?

Bruins to offer sheet Trouba? Apparently so. Geesh, what a terrible idea. It'll cost them between 7-8 million dollars a year and 4 first round draft picks. For a guy who's all potential at this point. Yikes. http://www.csnne.com/boston-bruins/Source-Boston-Bruins-preparing-offer-sheet-for-Winnipeg-Jets-D-man-Jacob-Trouba

Speed kinda is everything though. What's the difference between Matt Cullen, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, and Matt Martin? None of them have good hands. None are noticeably smarter hockey players. But the first three, because they're fast, get more scoring chances (and as a result capitalize more often). And they can kill penalties...because they can skate. Martin can't. And so he doesn't. I don't have a problem with physicality. But if that's all you're getting then you're not really helping yourself. My ideal fourth line for the Wings is Glendening-Helm-Bertuzzi/Callahan. None hit like Martin. All are WAY better players though. It's not splitting hairs. Hitting doesn't win games. Offensive and defense do. Neither Miller nor Martin are great offensively. But only one of them is good defensively. It ain't Martin.

Help us do what? Hit people? It would be a help if he could score. Or defend. Or kill penalties. He doesn't do any of those things better than Miller does.

Only if they can skate. Otherwise it does hinder us. Slow hockey is losing hockey. There are plenty of big, physical, wingers who are fast. I'm all on board for those guys. But Lucic and Martin aren't them. That's all I'm saying.

Better at what? Hitting? Nobody. We've got nobody who hits as good as Martin. But pretty much all of our bottom end guys are better players than Martin. Did you know that Martin doesn't kill penalties? Really, he's supposed to be the "ideal" bottom end winger and he doesn't even kill penalties for his own team. .02 short handed minutes per game for Martin this year. You know who does? Clutterbuck. And he scores WAY more than Martin too. If everybody were going nuts for a guy like Clutterbuck I'd agree with them. But not Martin. He's not even the best fourth line winger on his own team. Say what you want about Miller (and I don't even want the guy on the team) but at least he does one thing reasonably well that helps teams win games. He kills penalties reliably. Martin does nothing but chase the puck around and hit guys. Whoopdie do! You know who else used to do that? Jordin Tootoo, and what a stud he was for the Red Wings.

I don't have a problem with big wingers who can skate. But that excludes guys like Lucic and to a lesser extent Backes and Ladd (who are only going to get slower as they age). None of them play with the tempo that we should be playing with to maximize our potential. Okposos can. And he's bigger and tougher than any of our current wingers (aside from Abby), so I'd be fine with him. Otherwise we're just negating our biggest asset. Team speed. The the only big winger on Pittsburgh's team (who actually played) was Fehr, and he's a fourth liner. The only big winger for Tampa (who actually plays) is Killorn, and he's 6'1, 200 lbs. Hardly a brute. Chicago? Ladd (after the trade) and Weise (after the trade). Before that? Hossa. Hardly a brute. Point is, people thinking that you need these giants to "add another dimension" are dramatically overvaluing that "added dimension". Big brutes are struggling in today's game. They can't keep up. As unpopular as it may be, I'd be thrilled with a couple of Franzen's. Guys who are big enough to hold the puck in the offensive zone, but who can skate and score.

Did anyone else notice that a smaller, more skilled, speedier team just demolished a bigger, tougher, grittier team in the Cup Finals? Like, embarrassed them. We already have a fast team. We need a little more skill in key positions and we are built to win. Going to the other extreme is silly. We finally have the personnel in place to play a type of game that we know can be successful (Pittsburgh, Tampa, Chicago) and we have people clamboring to get biggest and slower. Why? Cuz big is good apparently? Tell that to San Jose, and Anaheim, and Winnipeg, and Boston. Those giants are hearing it up eh?

2 year contract huh? So he will probably play one year, retire, and go play in Sweden then?

I think Miller is overrated. But I don't mind the signing. If a kid outplays him in camp, waive miller and nearly all of his contract can be stashed in the minors. If not, he's serviceable. No harm no foul on this one for me.

Agree with the above. Moving the contract is enough for me.

There are a few lower tier guys I like but whom I don't think have a place on our team. Dale Weise, Jason Demers, Radim Vrbata, and Kris Versteeg to name a few.

Anybody who thinks Buffalo is some desire able landing place for Stamkos has obviously never spent much time in Buffalo. Yikes.

Smith's usage doesn't diminish Fowler's talent one way or another. Also, over the course of his career Smith's best points per game averages have come when he's played less minutes, not more. So if you think he's going to bud into some offensive force with more minutes you're probably off base. He seems to do better offensively when he's playing more sheltered minutes not vice versa. I'm genuinely fine with Smith. I like where he's at and what he's doing. But there's a reason why the guy has consistently earned less ice time, and more sheltered minutes, from two different coaches. And it's not because he's more dangerous when he plays more. At his best I see Smith as an Oduya or a Stralman. A guy who's good in transition, physical, and reasonably good on special teams. But he's probably never going to be an offensive threat at the NHL level. He's 250 games into his NHL career and has never shown an offensive inclination thus far, regardless of how much or little he plays. And in today's NHL a guy who can do all that AND score 30-40 points will ALWAYS be more valuable.

No difference between Smith and Fowler? Lol. Talk to me when Smith averages more than 20 minutes a night or scores more than 20 points in a season. Until then, there's a pretty big difference between the two. Fowler, while not a superstar, has (to this point in their respective careers) out performed Smith pretty much across the board. No knock on Smith, he is what he is, but the only two defensemen on our team who have ever performed better than Fowler in any pro season are Green and Kronwall.