krsmith17

I'm not blaming Blashill for this. This has been the Red Wings way for the past couple decades. I think it's coming from upper management to be honest. It makes sense to bring the kids along slowly, or even scratch them from time to time when you're in the playoff hunt. But when you're at the bottom of the league, and you have veterans playing much worse on a nightly basis, it's inexcusable. Cholowski has been far from perfect the past dozen games or so, but when you have Ericsson in the lineup every night causing turnover after turnover, he shouldn't be immune to being scratched. I'm happy Daley is returning. Maybe he can play well enough over the next 7 games for a team to call and pick him up for a playoff run... Doubtful, but maybe... Cholowski was healthy scratched for the first time in his home town. Watch him be scratched again on Thursday against Ottawa on his bobble-head night...

LOL This f***ing team...

Scratching Cholowski in favor of Daley is the only decision that would make sense here...

... and rightfully so... I can see it, but an Ericsson extension only happen under Holland, which is pretty much the only reason I'd be okay with Holland moving on. He's sometimes loyal to a fault, and re-signing Ericsson would be a huge mistake.

You think we can find a defenseman as good as Jensen that plays on the right side for under $1M? I don't see it. We don't have any in the system that could come in and fill Jensen's skates, aside from Hronek, and he will be on the team next season regardless. I'd take Jensen over any of Hicketts, Sulak or Saarijarvi at this point. Going the UFA route, I highly doubt you'd be able to find a defenseman around the same age, and value for production as Jensen. I'm not completely opposed to trading Jensen, I just don't see the value coming back outweighing the player we'd be losing.

I don't see how he has the leverage to command more than $2.5M. That's a conversation that could be had before the deadline though. If he isn't willing to sign a short term deal for a reasonable cap hit, trade him. Suck again? I guess that's where we disagree. I don't think Jensen has ever sucked. I think he's always been a reliable 3rd paring defenseman, that can skate and carry the puck, and put up 15-20 points. That's great value for a bottom pairing defenseman.

Yeah, I'm with you. Jensen is a solid 3rd pairing defenseman. If we could get a 2nd round pick, I'd consider it, but the most we'd probably get would be a 3rd round pick, in which case, the return wouldn't be worth it in my opinion. I can see the reasoning behind trading him for some people though. We need to free up roster spots. But for me, Jensen isn't the guy to move. I'd much rather trade Daley for a 4th or 5th round pick, then trade Jensen for a 3rd. Jensen is younger, cheaper, right-handed, and just a better defenseman. Daley may even be viewed as a better fit for some teams. He's got plenty experience and has actually won a couple Cups. The injury may hurt his trade value, but he appears to be getting close to a return now. So if he could get into 4 or 5 games before the deadline, we may be able to trade him... Ideally, I'd like to trade Daley at the deadline for a mid round pick, and let Kronwall walk (retire) after this season. Go into next season with... Cholowski - Green Ericsson - Hronek DeKeyser - Jensen Trade Ericsson at next year's deadline, or just let him walk (retire) after next season. Go hard after Trouba in the offseason. Promote McIsaac if he's ready. That defensive group will still need more help in my opinion, whether that's through the draft, trade, or free agency, we need to add another top tier defenseman... Easier said than done. It depends on what you think Jensen would be asking on his next contract. He's currently making $812.5K. I can't see him making any more than $2-2.5M on a 2 or 3 year extension, and in my opinion he's worth that as a bottom pairing defenseman.

Done. The day he was drafted.

I'd also add that I don't believe by any stretch that Veleno becoming a 2C is an absolute lock. However, from what I've seen, I think the chances are good that he can reach that sort of ceiling. Time will tell, but keep in mind that he was considered likely to be a top 3 pick a year prior to the draft, and top 10-15 leading up to the draft. He fell a LOT. The question remains, should he have dropped that low?... I was and still am ecstatic to have him in Detroit. There's not a doubt in my mind that he'll be an NHL player, it just depends on whether he hit his ceiling (2C), or settles at his floor (bottom 6 C)... My bet is on the former...

Absof***inglutely. The probability of anyone from 25-35 in the draft becoming an impact player (top 6 F, top 4 D) is approximately 15%. But the probability of at least one of the players in that range becoming an impact player I would say is fairly high. I think Veleno could be (hopefully will be) that player for us.

Fringe NHLers / plugs is all that is expected beyond the top 20 picks... Again, people really need to do their research on probability of draft picks turning into NHL players. Smith, Mrazek, Jurco, Ouellet and Frk were all solid picks, considering where they were drafted, and the likelihood of that draft selection becoming an NHL regular. No, none of them moved the needle, but all have played / will likely play 100+ games in the NHL. Teams have roughly a 15-20% chance in 2nd rounders hitting that mark, even less beyond the 2nd round. I do agree that it would have been nice to had gotten a Kucherov or Josi, but only a handful of teams are lucky enough to pull those gems out of the 2nd or 3rd round every 10 years. You can't really fault Holland for not getting any true game breakers in the later rounds in the past 10-15 years. The best value pick we've gotten in that time is probably Nyquist taken in the 4th round.

People really need to do more research on the draft, league wide before they spew this bulls*** that we've had so many draft busts over the years. It simply isn't true. Please name one player that is a true bust over the past 10-15 years. Maybe Svechnikov could be if he doesn't pan out, but even then, he was picked 19th overall, and the likelihood of a player picked in the latter half of the 1st round is only like 50% or something. Until we have top 5-10 picks that are true busts, I don't think you can discredit Holland for his drafting. Looking just at the past 15 years, Franzen was a major steal at 97th overall. Abdelkader was a good pick at 42nd overall. Helm was a steal at 132nd overall. Matthias was a good pick at 47th overall. Smith was a good pick at 27th overall. Nyquist was a steal at 121st overall. Jensen was a steal at 150th overall. Tatar was a great pick at 60th overall. Mrazek was a great pick at 141st overall. Sheahan was a good pick at 21st overall. Jarnkrok was a great pick at 51st overall. Jurco was a good pick at 35th overall. Ouellet was a good pick at 48th overall. Marchenko was a steal at 205th overall. Athanasiou was a steal at 110th overall. Frk was a good pick at 49th overall. Mantha was a great pick at 20th overall. Bertuzzi was a steal at 58th overall. Larkin was a steal at 15th overall. There are others as well, but these are the main ones that stand out. It's too early to say on the last 4 drafts, but Svechnikov, Cholowski, Hronek, Rasmussen, Lindstrom, Zadina, Veleno, McIsaac all look like NHL players to varying degrees. Holland has done a fantastic job these past few years, trading players for futures. Maybe he should have started the rebuild a year or two earlier, but what's done is done. Point remains that since the rebuild has started, he's been very good. I fully expect a big move or two again in the next two weeks before the deadline. I'm not saying I wouldn't want Yzerman back. I'd love to see it happen. Admittedly, a lot of it because of the nostalgia, but I do think he'd do great things in Detroit again. I just don't think people should be so eager to push Holland out the door. Ideally, Holland moves up into some sort of executive position and Yzerman becomes the GM. Yzerman making the final decisions, but will be able to bounce ideas off of Holland...

FIFY. Seriously though, are you against trading Nyquist? Or do you want to see him traded and then come back to Detroit after his Cup run? I think not trading Nyquist would be extremely foolish, given the current state of this team.

No player is "untouchable" in the true sense of the word. It's cliché, but true, if Gretzky can be traded, any player can be traded. I'm sure if Edmonton were offered Dahlin, Eichel, Mittelstadt, and a 1st round pick for McDavid and Lucic, they'd bite. Larkin is untouchable in the sense that there is no trade that another team would be willing to make that would make enough sense for us to pull the trigger. We're not getting Dahlin or McDavid for Larkin. Why would we want to trade him?

Well no s***. Which is why Buffalo would never make that trade. If Winnipeg offers Laine for Athanasiou, I do it in less than a second...

I don't necessarily disagree with any of this. I was basically just disagreeing with you on Larkin. Babs voice was getting stale. It happens. Even the captain was sick of his s***. I definitely don't miss Babcock. Leafs fans are starting to feel the same way most Wings fans were feeling for the past couple years he was here. If he doesn't win with that roster in the next 2-3 years, he'll be out of Toronto.

Probably pretty accurate. I just really hope Kronwall hangs them up after this season. He's had a great career, but he's definitely lost a step, and just not an effective top four defenseman anymore. We have a log jam on defense as it is, and need to make room for Hronek full time next season. Call it a career Nik.

We have plenty "young goalies", just none that are close yet. I would say that any of Larsson, Petruzzelli or Eliasson have as good a shot as any young goalie prospect to become a quality NHL starter. Projecting goalies is near impossible, but I would say the probability of at least one of those three panning out is fairly high. I don't know how there's anyone still questioning Larkin being a legit 1C. He's not elite, but he absolutely is a number one center in the league. He's among the top 20-30 centers in just about every category, despite having relatively weak linemates. Imagine what he'd be able to do with an elite winger like Kucherov or Pastrnak. Hopefully he'll have one over the next couple years in Zadina, or Hughes / Kakko. He's still only 22 years old. Give him another year or two to continue his development, and some help on his wings, and he'll be over a point per game player for sure. The biggest holes on this team right now in my opinion are top six right-handed sniper, 2nd line center, number one defenseman, and number one goalie. The top six right-handed sniper is not currently in the system, so we'll have to acquire one through the draft, free agency or trade. I don't think the number one defenseman is in the system, but teams have proven they can win without an elite, number one defenseman, as long as they have four or five really good defensemen. I think we should have three in the three that you mentioned, and maybe the other is in the system as well, or maybe we'll get one in the upcoming draft. I think Veleno will become our number two center, and like I mentioned above, I think one of the goalie prospects currently in the system will develop into a number one goaltender. Holland has done a fantastic job the past couple years acquiring picks for the future. We had four picks in the top 36 last year and hopefully we'll have a similar number after the trade deadline again this year. If we can acquire another one or two picks in the top 40, and get lucky in the draft lottery (both likely), I really like our chances of filling another couple of those holes.

Ansar Khan reports Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland intends to step up discussions with several of his pending UFA players in an effort to re-sign them before the trade deadline. Of their seven UFAs, the Wings would like to re-sign goaltender Jimmy Howard, winger Gustav Nyquist, and defenseman Nick Jensen. Khan speculates a two-year deal for Howard at around his current annual average value ($5.3 million) seems possible. Nyquist is set to surpass his career-high of 54 points this season while the Wings value Jensen’s skating and penalty killing. Let's hope this is just posturing... I'm okay with holding onto Howard, especially if there's no goalie market. I'm okay with holding onto Jensen, if we plan to re-sign him this offseason. But Nyquist has to be traded...

Right? We only want guys that project to be 1st line / 1st pairing players in the 3rd and 4th rounds...

Or Tolvanen, 1st round pick, plus.

What? Ottawa traded for Fabbro?

I said he's been an elite goal scorer, not that he's elite. If he were elite in other areas of his game, he would be a 1st round pick, and I would say he could be more than a middle six winger. He likely won't be either. He's only 17 years old. He was drafted 6th overall in the OHL Priority Draft. He's the type of player I'd like to see us use a late 2nd or 3rd round pick on.

He'd be a 2nd or 3rd round pick, but could be a steal there. He's a good skater, has great hands, and he's been an elite goal scorer at every level. Could be a solid middle six scoring winger.