krsmith17

Nielsen wears an A as well. So what? There will be plenty of leaders in that dressing room in 2-3 years time. Abdelkader won't be needed for his "leadership"... Wearing an "A" shouldn't mean s***. If a player isn't performing, and is a hindrance to his team, the coach should scratch him. If that player that the coach is scratching is making a huge amount of money, the GM should buy him out. Simple as that. Troy Brouwer is a very similar player (probably slightly better), same age, and was in a very similar situation in Calgary last year. He was one of the alternate captains playing in the bottom six, making way too much money ($4.5M). He was bought out with 2 years remaining on his contract. That's exactly what the Wings should look to do with Abdelkader in 2-3 years time. Brouwer signed a one year contract with Florida worth $850K. That's what players like he and Abby should be making... Sure. The problem is, Abdelkader is a 4th liner now, and probably won't even be that throughout the next 4 years...

This is the point I was going to make as well. A ton of players in the league are able to hold onto the puck for long periods of time. Not all players need to rely on give-and-go. The majority of the players that can rag the puck are similar stature and half the skaters as Hughes. Larkin is one example for sure, but I still say the best comparison is Patrick Kane. Hughes' game is very reminiscent of Kane, and I think he has the potential to be even better. I don't see an argument for Hughes' game not translating to the NHL. Doesn't make sense to me...

Yeah, I pretty much agree with all of this, and I'm okay with it. We need one more season of pain before we turn the corner. At this point, I'd just assume all of Rasmussen, Veleno, Zadina, Svechnikov, Cholowski, McIsaac play the 2019-20 season in Grand Rapids. Rip it up down there and be ready to become full time Red Wings in 2020-21. We'll likely be a similar (bottom 5) team next season. Hopefully we get lucky in at least one of the next two drafts...

A lot can change in the next three years. I'm not saying he will be bought out with a year left, but I wouldn't doubt it either. This team will be competitive by then, and cap space could be tight. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Abdelkader and / or Nielsen get bought out in the final year or two of their contracts. You also don't know what the management team will look like by then. It's very possible that Mr. Loyalty Holland could be gone in the next year or so.

Nope. To be honest, I don't think there's many Red Wings fans that dislike Big Ras. What's not to like? Big body, only going to get bigger (bulk), that can protect the puck extremely well for a kid (still only 19 years old). Great in front of the net, extremely soft hands. I think he's better suited on the wing, than down the middle, which is fine. I'm not sure if he'll ever be a top line winger, but top six isn't out of the question. I really like what I've seen from him in a limited role this season.

I'd be fine with Rasmussen playing big minutes down in GR. Veleno likely starts down there. Put them on a line to see if they can gain some chemistry. I wouldn't be surprised if Cholowski starts down there either, but think he should be up full time. Get rid of Daley and Ericsson (or Kronwall). We already have a major logjam on the back end. With Green, Daley, Ericsson (and maybe Kronwall) all having expiring contracts after next season, that would be the time to shop free agency. Not this offseason. Faulk, Schultz, Krug, Trouba could all be possible targets in 2020.

Tanking for the best odds in the draft lottery, vs. Relying on luck, letting the balls fall where they may... 2 years ago (2016-17), we finished the season with 79 points, 25th in the league. All three of the bottom feeders (Colorado, Vancouver and Arizona) got bounced out of the top three draft slots. New Jersey won the number one pick with 9 less points than us. Philadelphia won the number two pick with 9 more points than us. Dallas won the number three pick with the same number of points as us (more ROW). So basically, if we had earned one extra point in any of the 82 games that season, we would have picked 3rd instead of 9th. We would have had our pick between Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, Elias Pettersson, Cody Glass, etc. Instead, all of those players were gone and we picked Michael Rasmussen. I remember reading an article after that draft that two teams other than Vancouver were really high on Pettersson. One of those teams was the Detroit Red Wings. Imagine how much different this team would look right now with Elias Pettersson instead of Michael Rasmussen... Or how about a future top pair of Heiskanen - Hronek... Luck... Let's hope it's on our side this year...

Yeah, he's still relatively young, and for a defenseman that was once thought to have top pair potential, there could still be more there. Right now, I really like him on the 3rd pair, but you never know. He may still be capable of filling a top four role in the future.

Karlsson won't be signing in Detroit. I know I'm in the minority, but I don't want us to sign him either. He's going to cost way too much, for far too long. $11M+ until he's 35+ for a defenseman that has had injury issues the past couple years... No thanks...

Rasmussen and Cholowski in Grand Rapids? I wouldn't be surprised to see Holland sign a UFA forward (I don't think he should), but no way he signs a UFA defenseman.

No, I highly doubt it. It doesn't really make sense to buy-out a player with 4 years remaining if you're not in desperate need for cap space. You don't want a but-out on the cap for 8 years. The only way I see Abdelkader ever being bought out is if in a couple years (in the final year or two of his contract), we're turning the corner to be a contender and need the cap space to sign a free agent. I would buy-out the final year of Daley's contract though. He's been terrible and we need the roster spot.

I've been pretty impressed with Bowey in general. I think he's been solid since the second or third game here, improving every game. Probably won't ever be anything more than a bottom pairing guy, but an upgrade over Daley and Ericsson in my opinion.

The problem with that is, one of those defensemen would have to sit every night, unless there's an injury, or we run 11 and 7 every night. So who sits when everyone is healthy? If it's one of the vets, great. One of the kids, no thanks. I also disagree with Daley and Kronwall over Bowey. I'd much rather have the 24 year old, that can still learn and develop than the 38 / 36 year olds that should be retired / bought out. Hicketts is just a filler as the 7th defenseman. Sure, if you want to have one of Kronwall or Daley as the 7th defenseman, by all means... Holmstrom? You mean Lindstrom?

I agree that he likely gets an extension. I'm against it though. Especially considering I doubt Daley (or anyone) gets bought out either. So we go into next season with the exact same old, slow defense as this year. Not good. Cholowski and Hronek need full time spots in the lineup to start next season. I've liked what I've seen from Bowey as well. So who sits when Green, Daley, Kronwall, Ericsson, DeKeyser are all healthy? You need two of those guys to be injured to get all three of the young guys in on a nightly basis. Again, not good...

FIFY

Bertuzzi - Larkin - Mantha Hirose - Athanasiou - Rasmussen Svechnikov - Nielsen - Zadina Abdelkader - Glendening - Helm Turgeon / Ehn DeKeyser - Green Ericsson - Hronek Cholowski - Bowey Hicketts Howard Bernier Kronwall retires. Daley bought out.

S*** man, I forgot for a minute what a mess the Sens are... Well swap out Ottawa and Chabot and insert Colorado and Makar... But again, it would take MUCH more than that to get McDavid...

Not even Edmonton are dumb enough to trade McDavid. But yes, it would take a LOT more than Hughes to get him. McDavid isn't just a franchise player, he's a generational player. He doesn't have the same resume as Gretzky had at the time of the trade, but he's that sort of player, and would command a MASSIVE haul. Let's say the Sens win the draft lottery. If they wanted McDavid, they would have to give up Hughes, Chabot, plus pick(s) / prospect(s) to get the conversation started. If Hughes is lucky, he will be half as good as McDavid, and that would still be one hell of a player.

Yup, and the same can be said for a number of guys. Any of Podkolzin, Cozens, Dach, Byram, Zegras, Turcotte, Boldy, Krebs, etc. can go in any order in the 2-10 range. This is exactly why I'm not as concerned as some about the draft lottery. Winner the draft lottery (top 2 pick) was going to be a long shot regardless where we finish, and while I'd obviously rather get a higher pick, it doesn't really matter too much to me if we're drafting 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. Regardless we're getting a high end prospect, and of that list, I'd be okay with just about any of them.

This. Right. Here. Completely agree Lefty. Seems so simple. Logical to most. Unfortunately, common sense and logic is lost on some...

For sure. Easily top 5 pick of that draft. I'd probably rank him in the top 3. He's not the only recent draft day steal either... 2012 Athanasiou - 110th overall -> top 15 pick. 2013 Mantha - 20th overall -> top 10 pick. Bertuzzi - 58th overall -> top 30 pick. Too early to say on the past 3 drafts, but Cholowski (20th overall) and Hronek (53rd overall) could be in the top 10-15 in a couple years. All of Zadina (6th overall), Veleno (30th overall) and McIsaac (36th overall) could be steals as well.

Svechnikov and a pick for Fox...

I'm not sure who this guy is, but he gets it... B-b-b-but... we were basically s*** for the first 72 games of the season. Why go on a winning streak now?... F***ing Stop.

LOL you're one angry child...

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