kipwinger

I'm really not so sure about that. His cap hit makes him mighty attractive to other teams. The term of his contract is bad, but nobody realistically thinks he'll play until the end of it anyway. The only thing stopping him from being moved is Holland's reluctance, which very well might be wearing thin. Not because Franzen is a bad player, but because if you haven't had success after repeatedly doing the same thing, a lateral move might be necessary. I wouldn't move him just to move him, but I'd definitely move him for Gaborik if NY was interested.

I'd move Smith for Yandle. Yandle is only 2 years older (26), so it's not like we wouldn't have a young d-core. Plus, Yandle already is everything that Smith is projected to be. A stud on the powerplay, super durable, capable of producing in transition as well as in a defense first system, and amazingly fast. Not quite as aggressive as Smith perhaps, but we don't really need our offensive d-men to be too aggressive. Plus Yandle is signed through 2016, which means you've got stability on the back end while these other young guys develop. I like Smith, and think he'll be good. But I don't think he projects any higher than Yandle, and the latter has been doing it for a while now. Who knows whether Smith turns into an all star one day, with Yandle you've already got it and will have it for quite a while. Then you can get Kronwall back to doing what he should be doing, leading the second d-pairing. Look he's a good player, he's just not better than Yandle and even if he reaches full potential, he's only projected to be what Yandle already is (and has been for a while). Yandle helps us now and in the future. Brendan Smith is still a crap shoot. He'll probably make it as an offensive d-man, but for the right return (and Yandle is that) I'd move him.

Yeah but a couple of non rentals might really help us and given what we've got coming in a few years I'd be willing to take the chance. Say Fanzen + 2nd for Gaborik, and Smith + Tatar + 1st for Yandle. All predicated on signing Dekeyser of course.

If they sign this kid we've got a whole lot of d-men with few places to put them. We've also got a lot of them coming up soon from the minors to the AHL. With all that defensive talent, Holland could possibly take a chance and move a higher end piece. I know it's not a popular opinion around here, but I'd be willing to move a package with Smith as the center piece for Yandle. We'd be so boss with that guy.

I agree, I'm just repeating what he was saying in the interview. Here's his words from the interview and the link if you're interested... “We got to win some games first,'' Holland said Friday, prior to the game against Anaheim. “I look at the trade deadline and there's buyers and sellers and (teams that) stand pat. Those that stand pat are teams on the bubble. “You don't want to throw a lot of assets at something (if) you're not sure you're going to (make) the playoffs. So we need to win some games.'' http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2013/03/red_wings_gm_ken_holland_says_3.html

John Keating rules! His analogies are legendary. Anybody remember when he compared complaining about the refs to listening to Pearl Jam? Something about how it feels good at the time but in the end it doesn't make a lot of sense. Killed me. Unfortunately he splits time with the Tigers so I don't think he'll be the replacement, which is a bummer. It'll probably be Shannon Hogan for some dumb reason.

The funny part is, the way they're playing right now, CBJ would absolutely murder the Rangers in a 7 game series. I thought all along that while Columbus could have probably got more for Nash, what they did get made them a better team. They're definitely a blue collar bunch, but there's a ton of guys on that team that play a tough hard working brand of hockey. Back to the Gaborik thing, I think it would all depend on whether Holland was willing to come off Franzen because the Rangers aren't likely to get anything better on a return and they like their big bodied players. Plus we could pretty easily handle Gaborik's contract, which will price him out of the market for most other teams. I think it's a real possibility, depending on whether Holland has the will to do so. If you added Gaborik and (in a dream world) Yandle to this team and we'd be lethal.

Well none of the fights were all that impressive, but we gave as good as we got. Anaheim didn't have their A game last night and they were clearly frustrated, which led to them doing the only thing they know how to spark their team...which is apparently having your core skill players fight our depth players to draws. All of those fights should have turned out worse for them though, they're lucky. They were mismatched each time.

I'm now reading that the Rangers want a replacement forward for Gaborik. Think they'd consider a 1 for 1 swap for Franzen? They get a big body who's capable of producing, and they get to shed salary. We get a scoring winger for Pavel. All would be right with the world.

He didn't say we had to win them all, he said the next six games will likely determine whether we're in the playoffs or not, and if we are then there would be a trade. His exact words were something like, "we need to win some games before trading makes any sense" or something to that effect.

I don't think I enjoy anything more than watching Scott Hartnell get punched in the face. What a clown.

The scouting report on him is that he's a stay at home defender with a little offensive upside. I wouldn't get too carried away by the Nic comparisons.

Don't know if this was already posted or not, but here's a link to a petition to get Murphy back for those who are interested. http://kuklaskorner.com/a2y/comments/give-us-back-our-murph

Anybody see that Volunteer Energy commercial with Drapes and Osgood? If you have there's no way you can say either of those guys would be better in front of a camera than Murph with a straight face.

Anybody remember the Nashville game earlier this season when Murph shot his intro from the stage of some honky tonk bar? Pure comic gold. I loved Murph and all his goofy wonder.

Don't know where you're watching this game, but it's after midnight in Michigan, I might just have to run down the street for a late night snack.

Smith and Tootoo are within a few pounds of one another, and Tootoo would pound the hell out of Smith.

Halifax isn't bad or anything, but St. Johns way unreal when Jurco played. They won the league championship three years in a row. One of the knocks on Jurco was that his team was so good it was hard to tell whether his stats were padded because of team depth.

I've seen a few videos of Lashoff fighting in GR and he usually handled himself pretty well. I'm actually surprised it took him this long to get a fighting major in the NHL. Either way, good for him.

Haha, my bad I honestly had no idea. Thanks for the heads up though, and thanks for being a generally decent she.

I seriously cannot believe that just happened. Thanks for the curly fries Abby!

I'll send you a message with a link, you should be able to view it on that.

What kind of device are you on? Repeating homophobia still makes you a homophobe. And he's not being oversensitive, he's just being a generally decent human being, with consideration, and class. Also, he's not the only one offended by it, so you should probably just stop with the hate speech and smart assy comebacks.

Not really sure what Kindl did wrong on that one?

Do we seriously not have anyone better than Abby for the top six, like Sheahan, or Ferraro, or f****** anybody else?!? Christ.