kipwinger

It's all in good fun. You are a reasonable guy, I'm just giving you a hard time lol.

It wasn't a critique of European support. It was a critique of how aggressive North Americans can be when fueled by a healthy dose of booze and groupthink.

I predict the games will be more fun...right up until fans from the supporter sections start beating the hell out of opposition fans. I get the feeling that in North America this will turn violent. Then again, maybe not. The Canadiens already have an atmosphere very much like this, and as far as I know nobody had been injured.

That fight slays me because the announcers are laughing and lamenting that they didn't have Colton Orr mic'd up for that game. It's not everyday that sportscasters openly mock players during play.

They'd need to take back equal salary or else eat some of his current salary. I'm not paying Semin 7 million a year. But I'm certainly intrigued by the thought of him on Pav's wing. Most of the same criticisms that Semin gets were leveled against Gaborik before he got put with a big time center and started scoring like a monster. I don't know if it would work out the same way, but it's an intriguing thought.

Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reporting that Brunner, Semin, Stafford, and Chris Stewart are all on the trade block at the moment. Any thoughts? Keeping in mind, of course, that teams can now retain up to 50% of a player's salary in a trade. http://www.ottawasun.com/2014/09/06/ottawa-senators-in-the-market-for-top-9-forward?token=a6f6ffb3f7280c952b2e844b025c59fd

I don't really care about whether we got Diaz or not. I saw no harm in offering him a tryout, but it's not some big loss. I also don't think it's some indication that players don't want to play for the Wings. That said, I think it's a bit simplistic to think this decision was entirely about opportunity. Our defense isn't that good. Spots are ripe for the taking. And even if it's mildly harder to make our team, it seems like it would be worth the effort considering how much better we are than Calgary. So all that said, I don't know why he picked Calgary. But I'm not convinced that this was some rejection of our franchise, any more than I'm convinced that it's just that much more difficult to make our team. Both cases seem implausible.

Yep, you're correct. Got my wires crossed there. Yep, you're correct. Didn't do my homework. Yeesh...this topic isn't doing me any favors today. I guess this is the cosmos telling me to shut up about Raphael Diaz. And I'm taking it's advice.

I"m not sure that's a fair comparison. But dumping Kindl wouldn't be hard...waiving him isn't a problem. Trading him would be hard, you'd have to package him with something much more valuable cap wise. Which gets me speculating...any chance this Diaz thing is the precursor to some future trade? Seems unlikely given Hollands debilitating fear of trading away homegrown players. But never say never. Why not waive Kindl? It would give you about 1.3 million in cap savings as opposed to Lashoff's 900k.

I said this in another thread, but if you look at their numbers, Diaz and Anton Stralman are basically the same player. The biggest differences seem to be that the Rangers went to the Cup finals so Stralman immediately gets a bump, and Diaz was mismanaged by the Canadiens so his icetime is a little lower. Either way, provided he isn't rusty I'd sign him and dump Kindl or Lashoff. Why not?

Diaz is the exact same player as Anton Stralman, one of the guys everyone wanted Holland to sign as a UFA. Diaz will come cheaper and do about the same things. I'm for it. Cut Kindl, or Lashoff, or whoever if the kid shows he can play.

He played on the same Swiss team as Zetterberg and Brunner that year. I'd imagine Z has a good idea of what this guy can do, and if he got offered a tryout I'm sure that Zetterberg must have given a nod of approval.

Weiss is also really fast. Hard to tell from last season given his wonky groin situation. But he's actually a really fast skater. He and Gus should be able to fly together.

Totally agree. I'd just add Dats, Z, and Helm to the lineup we've already got and not mess up the chemistry the other lines formed. I'd actually rather have that happen and leave the kid line intact than have Alfie come back, forcing Helm into the bottom six and Jurco out of the lineup. But that's just me.

Yeah, but so did Mule and Nyquist. Franzen-Legwand-Nyquist was the best line we had all year. So I don't see any reason to not try and replicate it with Weiss. The second best line was the kids, and barring a return by Alfie we'll have Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco back together too. We'll essentially be adding a Zetterberg-Datsyuk-? line to the two best lines from a year ago.

That's not even remotely true. He did not play Left Wing for Grand Rapids. At all. Again, he was drafted as a center, and has always played center. I have no idea where you're getting this. I'm really not trying to be contrary here, but you're just not right on this one. The most recent example I can give you is that a year ago, when the Wings were eliminated, Sheahan centered Jurco and Callahan for GR. Go to the player page for every team he's ever played for and he's listed as a center. Go to press releases for when he was drafted and they'll say "Detroit selectes center Riley Sheahan". Aside from one random sports website that nobody has ever heard of or used, nobody has ever listed Sheahan as a left wing. I have no idea why you're making this your Alamo. Get over it. Sheahan is a center. Here's an article referencing his position at St. Catherine's...http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2010/04/30/riley-sheahan-arrested Here's an article discussing him being a center at Notre Dame...http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/06/red_wings_pick_riley_sheahan_2.html Here's one referencing his center position in GR...http://www.cbsnews.com/news/red-wings-prospect-riley-sheahan-found-clad-in-teletubby-costume-faces-dui-charges/

Scrolling back through this thread makes me chuckle. How funny would it be if Dekeyser was the one who played hardball and not Tatar. Ya know, after a lot of folks made Tatar out to be some ego maniac who was just biding his time before holding the team over the coals.

I think it's a pretty big stretch to say that he's a "natural wing" when he's played the vast majority of his career since juniors at center, included every single game he played in the AHL and NHL. He may have played the odd game at wing here or there, but he was drafted as a center and has never deviated from that in any meaningful way. Again, you had a point with Glendening, but you're stretching with Sheahan. I mean, Spotrac? Really?

When?

I know, that's why I said that. Filppula was good for a year and bad for a year. But considering he's maintained that level of play after moving back to center suggests that it was more about him taking a big step forward in his development, and less about some positional advantage.

Agreed. He had the big year on Z's wing, but then he remained there the following year and it was a disappointment (albeit he was injured throughout the season). But he just posted 58 pts. as a center in Tampa, leading me to believe that his production increase that year with Z had less to do with his position and more to do with his linemates/ice time.

This whole thing makes me think of that time Babs put Filppula on the wing. I can't imagine this turning out any better. Which isn't to say Fil was bad on the wing. He was ok on the wing. But I'd rather have a winger. Plain and simple.

Sheahan is not a natural winger. He's played center since his days in St. Catherine. I can't speak for Glendening though.

I know this will seem like a totally crazy concept but here goes. If we've got so many centers that we can't find spots for them all...and one as good as Helm has to be moved to the wing...couldn't we have traded one of them in a package for a natural winger? Isn't that how other teams do it? Trade the thing you have in abundance for the thing you don't have much of?

Why don't we just have an entire team full of two way centers of varying degrees of effectiveness and then we can play them at every position? "And starting in goal, number 8, Justiiiiiiiin Abdelkadeeeeeeeer!"