kipwinger

Lol. I kind of want it to happen just to see people lose their minds.

The offer sheet system is a catch-22. In order to get a player, you've got to overpay so much that a team isn't willing to match. But then you've got a player on your hands who's making dramatically more than they're worth. So you haven't helped yourself. Sure, you could get Hamilton. But you'd have to offer an obscene amount of money. And then you'd be stuck with it. It's just not a smart move, which is why nobody does it (except dummies like Paul Holmgren and Keven Lowe...of course).

Atta girl. It's important to have standards.

Is that a triple entendre or quadruple? I lost count lol.

Firstly, there isn't a single player available that would cost us Nyquist, Tatar, and Smith. Nobody traded in recent memory cost two 50+ point players, under the age of 25, who have flirted with 30 goals. None. Secondly, if we offer sheeted anyone. Then they'd do it back. And we've got several important RFAs to sign this year. Do you want to inflate the prices on your own guys? We'd end up gaining nothing, and wasting money we don't really need to. That's why most GMs don't offer sheet people. Not because they're "taboo".

The list of your hockey crushes is long and varied. Perhaps one day you should rank order them. Take heed, I'll be truly disappointed if ANY of your crushes wasn't a committed two way player. Just because you like their "flow" doesn't mean you're allowed to sacrifice defensive awareness.

Unless Zboril falls to 19th, I suspect Detroit trades back in an effort to get a second round pick. Edit: Also, Bob McKenzie ranks his top 75 prospects (with the help of Craig Button). http://www.tsn.ca/mcdavid-tops-mckenzie-s-final-draft-ranking-1.300634

We gotta make room in the top six for a 20+ goal scoring power forward, who's big, gritty, and plays in the hard areas. Once we get Abby out of there the only problem will be finding a guy like that. I'd trade half a dozen guys on this team rather than Abby. The NHL is a man's league, and Abby plays a big boy game. Trade Nyquist or Pulkkinen before you trade Abby. He's practically the only guy on our team who A) can score goals, and B) isn't a complete pantywaist. If anything we need more guys like him (Drew Stafford anyone?), not less.

8 straight seasons with 20+ goals. Not too shabby for a power forward.

Yeah! You tell em'! Pile up all your announcements and make them at one time! That way you reduce your exposure and keep your team, and the NHL in general, out of the headlines for the majority of the year. That'll show Bettman!

I was just looking over Mike Knuble's career stat line. That guy was damned impressive. He's probably the most underrated ex-Red Wing in history. Very quality career he put together.

Greg Brady ‏@bradyfan590 8h8 hours ago Two things: #NHL prefers it be announced on off-day between G3/G4 of Stanley Cup Final. Blashill has expressed some interest in.... Greg Brady ‏@bradyfan590 8h8 hours ago potentially retaining 1st-year assistant coach Mike Knuble w/ the big club. Knows the league, smart dude. Blashill was very impressed.

I'm so confused by what's going on here. This has got to be a prank of some sort, right?

I agree with you, but only to a point. Sure things might be a little different. But if the new coaches don't look at what our PP did successfully last year, with roughly the same personnel, (and try to recreate that success) then they're dangerously stupid and should immediately be fired. If you had the second best PP a year ago, and you had almost the exact same personnel, the largely the same system, most of the same coaches, and access to all the technical information and game footage a person could ask for, would you completely scrap everything and start from scratch? Neither would anybody else. Surely Blash is smart enough to build of past successes, and try to improve upon past failures. Reinventing the wheel would just be dumb. The powerplay was our biggest success last season. I wouldn't expect too much to change in that regard, unless of course, it begins to struggle.

And the bedroom, amiright?

Lauranitis is such a ******. How dare you.

He did get a shot. He played 31 games for Detroit. He wasn't that impressive. Ultimately we were a better team with Jurco and Ferraro in the lineup. I'd agree with you if he'd come in and played really solidly in those 30 games. But he really wasn't great. Not bad. But not great. And "not bad" isn't enough to pencil the kid into a regular spot in the lineup.

There's absolutely no question that Pulkkinen will be with Detroit to start the season next year. He's out of waiver options. But I agree with Nawein. Let him earn his spot the way Tatar did. He didn't exactly set the world on fire given a respectable amount of opportunity last season. I don't think he's earned anything yet. Especially not time in the top six.

I like your style.

In these cases, demand determines the price FAR more than the price of comparable goods (players) does. Prices go WAY up because of bidding wars, they go up a little because of inflation. And once the price gets too high (6 millionish?) the demand starts to fall dramatically. Particularly for guys like Green, Franson, or Martin. Because all of them, while pretty solid in most aspects, still have significant shortcomings as players. If I had to handicap it I'd say Martin will get 4.5-5 million for 3-4 years. Franson will get 5.75 for 6-7 years. And Green will get 6-6.3 million on a 2-3 year deal.

I am 100% suggesting that none of Green, Franson, or Martin will get 7 million dollars AAV. And I'll be happy to bet anybody who thinks they will. I'll take it a step further and state that all three will leave the teams they're on now, and none will get 7 million. This whole notion that one bad contract inflates the market is overblown. It happens, but not like people think. The cap still constrains the upper limit on these contracts. For example: Orpik got overpayed. But his overpayment didn't noticeably affect the price for Niskanen, who was the better player. The fact that Orpik was making 5.5 million didn't suddenly mean that teams would be willing to give Niskanen 7 million. That's what people thought would happen, but it didn't. Because that's still WAY too much money to give anybody who isn't a franchise player.

I'll bet you $100, to a charity of your choosing, if ANY of Franson, Green, or Martin get 7 million dollars AAV. I'll bet you $500 dollars, to a charity of your choosing if ALL of them do (as you're suggesting). Deal?

I agree. I'm not against changes, but I suspect that Dekeyser will get put back on the point of the second PP unit. He manned the point before Zids got there, and it was already a top ranked PP before the Zidlicky trade. Just like in years past, Smith will get an opportunity on the PP in the preseason. He'll need to beat out Dekeyser and/or Kindl for that spot. If he does, great. I obviously want the PP to be tops in the league again this year. If that's with Smith, good. But in the past he has not been able to keep a spot over those other two guys, let alone a quality PP quarterback like Zids (or Green, or Franson, should KH make a splash in FA).

I agree. I sure hope that Blash doesn't base his decision off what Babcock did. But I think it would equally foolish to change something that works, just for the sake of being different. I do have a negative bias toward Smith. I think he's terrible. Fortunately, all of his stats and usage tend to support that position. He wasn't demoted down to the third pair because Babs didn't like him. And it's not like he had to beat out superstars for a spot in the top four. If he can't be better than Quincey, Ericsson, or Dekeyser then he really isn't all that great. If Blash comes in and changes the system (or utilizes him differently) and he flourishes, great. Good for him and good for the team. I'll be happy to eat crow on it. I've been wrong about plenty of Red Wings in the past (Abby, Helm, Ericsson, Quincey, Glendening, and Cleary just to name a few). They all worked their way in to more reliable roles. If Smith does the same, I'll be fine with it. But to date he hasn't...and until he does, he probably shouldn't get more opportunity, ice time, and responsibility than he has right now.

Why bother? Two of those guys suck, and the other three don't fit our organizational philosophy. When McLellan and Bylsma were hired elsewhere, the (already low) probability that we'd hire anyone else fell to zero.