kipwinger

I don't really care about the lefty righty thing either. We have enough righties to make balanced pairs now with Green, Marchenko, and maybe Sproul. I wouldn't trade Tatar thought. I want a team based on possession and he's been one of the best possession forwards in the NHL for the last two years.

Vatanen got 4 years at less than 5 million dollars. I'd be thrilled if Dekeyser signed a similar contract.

I don't know how true it is but I read somewhere recently that Malkin struggled with Sullivan's new faster system. Supposedly he feels more comfortable in a slower more controlled offensive scheme. Could be the source of the rumors.

I hope that Anaheim giving Vatanen a big contract means Fowler will become available. Would be my first preference on defense. He's got excellent possession numbers, logs a ton of minutes, has shown he can put up good offensive numbers, is big fast and athletic, and he has roots in Detroit. Plus, Anaheim is rumored to want a left winger for their top six. Something we could/should have a surplus of after free agency.

If we have to keep Datsyuks contract I'd like to see us sign okposo, trade for Hartnell (bad contract for bad contract), and trade Nyquist (plus) for a defenseman. Okposo-Larkin-Abby Tatar-Sheahan-Hartnell Z-AA-Mantha Miller-Glendening-Jurco We could weather the storm for a year with this lineup until Days was off the books.

Stats aren't an opinion. Tatar scores slightly more with significantly less opportunity. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Looking at total numbers when one guy plays WAY MORE than the other guy, especially on the powerplay doesn't tell the story. That's like saying that Pulkkinen and AA are roughly as good offensively as one another because they both played wing this year, their point totals are close, and they played about the same number of games. You're completely discounting the fact that Pulkkinen gets more minutes, and more powerplay minutes, and still scored slightly less. So he is, in effect, a less potent offensive player. I don't care who you like better. That's not the subject of debate. I care about representing the facts. And the facts are that both are scorers, and Tomas Tatar scores at a better rate than Nyquist does by a healthy margin when you adjust for usage. If you like Nyquist better anyway, that's up to you.

Similar production belies the fact that Nyquist produces slightly less, with much more opportunity to produce. In that regard it's not similar at all. The totals, as a function of their usage really aren't.

The differences aren't negligible. In the two full seasons they've played, Tatar has more points, and goals, than Nyquist. In fewer minutes, with worse linemates. And Tatar does more damage at even strength. He doesn't need to be on the powerplay to score in the way Nyquist does. Last year Nyquist got 42 more minutes of powerplay time than Tatar and didn't out score him. This year Nyquist had 37 more minutes of powerplay time and didn't outscore him. That's pretty significant. Tatar's possession numbers are also WAY better. The kind of possession numbers that indicate you're driving offense for your teammates. The very same possession numbers that make people gush over Brendan Smith (but for some reason they conveniently overlook when it comes to Tatar). Defensively, Tatar has had more takeaways than Nyquist in two of the three years they've played regularly. But admittedly the numbers are close. Otherwise, neither are great defenders. The only time Nyquist out performed Tatar was in 2013-2014, which was a partial season, and in which Nyquist put up a wildly unsustainable shooting percentage. In every other, quantifiable, way Tatar is a better player. Definitively.

Shaw is their version of Darren Helm. He will get paid accordingly. I think the reason they were willing too move Teravainen is because Panarin panned out and having both of them, plus Kane in their top six made them too small up front. St. Louis wore them out in the playoffs. A little like us with both Tatar and Nyquist. Maybe we should take a page from their book and move the worse of our two little guys (Nyquist).

I don't think there's any reason to over inflate Smiths value, but there's no value in denying it either. He's a good possession defenseman given the minutes he's getting. Currently, he's no problem for the wings on the third pair. But should you find yourself gushing too much over him remember that Green's possession numbers are almost as good AND he scored way more points. That's what stops Smith from being good instead of situationally good. He hadn't, so far, translated his puck possession skills into active offensive contribution. So he's decent, not nearly as good OR bad as his detractors or proponents suggest. Saying all that, I'd keep him. I think the league is trending toward athletic, puck possession, defensemen. And I think he has value in that regard. But I think ideally he will always be a third pair guy unless he starts producing enough offense to counterbalance his poor defensive zone play.

Except that's not true at all. You absolutely CAN isolate individuals performances using advanced stats. In simple terms, by aggregating the shots for and against accrued by a players most frequent linemates when said player is on the ice w/them vs. when they aren't and someone else is. Its no different than measuring someone's possession numbers, just in reverse. Instead of counting the shots for, you'd count the shots against. And I assume you're perfectly fine with those stats, you've used them repeatedly in the past to analyze the play of Brendan Smith. And using those same measures you find that Miller's unit gives up a ton of chances when he's on the ice rather than say Jurco or Anderson. Probably because despite his shot blocking, he's too slow and weak to gain control of the puck, and too unskilled to advance it when he does. Either way, Miller sucks.

In a vacuum, I'd want a big minute, strong posession, defenseman. However, there aren't any available in UFA. So we would need to trade, and it would be easier to sign forwards (and use our extra guys) to trade for that kind of a defenseman. So I'll go with top six scorer. He will make someone like Nyquist expendable, and therefore able yo be traded for the defender we need.

Damn, pretty bummed about this. Really was looking forward to seeing a more aggressive Red Wings team. Hope whomever we get is the same style. I REALLY don't want to watch any more boring trap hockey out of this team.

Preferred the whale tail did you?

Given how bad our offense and powerplay were, I think the assistant coach matters quite a bit. Don't agree, look at home much less successful Pat Ferschweiler was with essentially the same roster as what Jim Hiller had. Otherwise, I agree with you. Whether or not we have an extra 7.5 million to spend in this offseason vs. next year (this season has WAY better UFAs than next) is a pretty big question mark.

Well then I like their rose logo lol.

But also means more money to further inflate players' salaries. Tough call for the PA.

Agreed, with one caveat. I think the Hurricanes' alternate flag logo is really cool.

I wish Datsyuk would hurry and make up his mind. The two big pieces that will dictate this offseason are A) Datsyuk's decision, and to a lesser extent B) Who they hire as assistant coach. Once the organization knows those two things they'll formulate a strategy. I wouldn't expect much until then.

I don't think it's Radulov or Stamkos in terms of their desires. It's math. If we sign Stamkos, that's pretty much the only impact forward we will be able to afford. Maybe a depth signing, but that's about it. Otherwise we have to re-sign our RFAs. I think if they sign Radulov early they'll still be in the hunt on July 1st. But if they wait and sign Stamkos on July 1, I wouldn't expect much more. Which is why I've always favored passing on Stamkos, signing Okposo AND someone else.

To put things into perspective, Jurco played every game in November of last season and scored 1 goal and 1 assist. He also played every game in February and scored two goals. That's 24 games, in two 12 straight game segments. So while I agree that he's seen spotty usage at times, he's also seen prolonged usage at times as well. In neither case has he produced to the extent that he should given his skill set. He may need more time, and maybe he'll get it, but he's been undeniably disappointing thus far in his career. For comparison's sake, Teemu Pulkkinen played every game in October a scored 4 goals and 2 assist, and every game in November and scored 2 goals and 3 assists.

Howard would be expensive, but no more than Hartnell. Plus Bobrovsky has been injured A LOT lately, so I think Howard would be more like a 1B goalie. I think the thing for them, from what I'm hearing, is that they don't want someone they'll have to protect. They wouldn't with Howard. But you're right, I wouldn't do this as a first option. Definitely a "if Pav comes back and we can't make a big splash in FA" type move.

Hey, here's a question for the board. From what I'm reading, Columbus wants to trade Hartnell. They don't want to have to protect him in case of an expansion draft, and his contract is bad. They also need decent backup goaltending. How would everyone feel about a trade package that centered around Howard for Hartnell. I think both sides would have to add lower end picks or prospects to make it work, but it's interesting. We'd gain a veteran power forward who's still playing good hockey. They'd gain a backup goalie that they wouldn't have to protect. Keep in mind that we're probably signing Todd Richards as assistant coach, and Hartnell played very well in Richard's system for a year and a half in Columbus. Thoughts?

I'm not dying to get rid of Jurco by any stretch, but I wouldn't be broken hearted about it either. He's at best a huge question mark going forward, and a number of younger guys are pushing for that spot. Same goes for Pulkkinen. If either, or both, are needed to sweeten the pot for trade deals I'd be ok with losing them.

Look at all the iconic logos around the league: Wings, Leafs, Habs. They're all really simple. Not to busy. I like that. The new Florida logo is a step in the right direction.