krsmith17

Unanimous top 3 amongst these three apparently... 1. Hughes, 2. Kakko, 3. Podkolzin Any idea where Kakko and Podkolzin would stack up against Svechnikov and Kotkaniemi? I think Kakko could be a lock at 2, but I'm not as sold on Podkolzin. From what I've heard / read, he has all the raw skill / talent, but lacks hockey sense. That's the exact type of player I'm looking to take in the mid to later rounds, not in the top 5. Hockey sense is so vital in today's game, and only having the raw tools could end up being another Yakupov... If we don't land Hughes, I'm still hoping we take Cozens. Even if we're picking at 2, I'd strongly consider trading back. Cozens has great hockey sense, strong two-way game, is an elite skater, good puck handler, and passer, and has a decent shot. He lacks strength and needs to fill out that big frame, but when he does (and he will), I think he could be a force, similar to prime Getzlaf.

A: I guess they'd like to showcase the two teams, and grow the game even further in the southern states. B: Nah, they have icemakers and cooling systems to maintain the ice at much warmer temperatures than that. Wasn't it nearly 80°F for the game a few years ago in LA?

If we can get a 21-25 year old Mike Green type defenseman, I'd be all in. I don't want anymore 28-33 year old Mike Green (Trevor Daley) type defensemen.

Both of these scenarios scare the s*** out of me... I don't think we should be looking for any quick fixes, regardless if we land Hughes / Kakko... A few smart hockey trades, sure. A big free agent splash that we'll regret in two years time, no thanks... I'd much prefer to stay patient, "trust the process", and continue to rebuild through the draft. While also, like I said, making a few small trades that will benefit us long term.

I'm really high on Cozens, so I'd take him at 3, but at 4, I'd definitely be okay with a trade back. Cozens is an elite skater, probably the best in the draft, which is huge in today's game.

Well, a few days ago (before Chiarelli got fired), I would have said Bouchard and a 1st round pick... Now, Puljujarvi straight up would probably be in the ballpark... I'm not sure if I'd pull the trigger, but I'd definitely consider it... I'm also not sure if Keith Gretzky would be that quick to give up on Puljujarvi, a high 1st round pick, after all the scrutiny Chiarelli received for trading away Hall and Eberle, and then Strome too early...

The unfortunate thing is, we don't really have any defensemen in the system to get all that excited about either. Hicketts likely won't ever be anything more than a filler, 6th/7th depth defenseman. I don't see Sulak or Saarijarvi ever becoming regular NHL defensemen. McIsaac and Lindstrom will likely become regulars, but probably not anything more than bottom pair defensemen. Maybe one of them becomes a top 4. One of Kotkansalo, Regula or Barton could make it, but the odds are against any of them being anything more than bottom pairing defensemen. I like Barton a lot, and he's the guy I hope can become our mid-round steal, ie; Letang, Yandle, Slavin... I don't see much help on the horizon, and unless we get lucky in the upcoming draft, I don't see how we fix the blueline outside of a trade or free agency... I think we'll need to add at least one (more?) top pairing defenseman to truly become a legit contender over the next few years.

And to think it should be (in theory) an upgrade to what we have this season...

Nyquist, Howard and Daley traded at the deadline for 1st, 2nd, and 4th round picks respectively. Win the draft lottery and draft Jack Hughes. Howard re-signs for 2 years, $4.5AAV. Jensen re-signs for 2 years, $2.25AAV. Kronwall and Vanek retire. Frk and Witkowski walk. Ehn and de la Rose waived. Hughes - Larkin - Mantha Bertuzzi - Nielsen - Zadina Rasmussen - Veleno - Athanasiou Abdelkader - Glednening - Helm Svechnikov / Turgeon Cholowski - Green Ericsson - Hronek DeKeyser - Jensen Hicketts Howard Bernier

Broberg is projected to go in the top 10, and if I'm picking there, he wouldn't be my pick. If he drops to our hypothetical second 1st round pick, sure I'd take him. Soderstrom would also be a good pick around there. Helleson would be a good pick with one of our 2nd or 3rd round picks. Another player I'd consider with one of those picks is Graeme Clark. As for the rest of the guys you mentioned, I don't know much about any of them yet...

What? I'm so confused... I thought you thought that him going back to Russia was a good thing for this team??? Which is it?

You say that we would have been a better team, and finished between 9th-14th in the lottery. You're right, but that's my point. If we were 11 points better that season, we could have had Svechnikov instead of Zadina. The year before, if we finished 10 points better, we could have had Patrick instead of Rasmussen. It's a total crap shoot, and there's no way to know if we would have been better or worse based on keeping or trading Datsyuk's contract. We wouldn't have "walked away from Datsyuk at 37". He would have walked away from us (gone back to Russia), like was his plan for the past several years. I'm not "sticking to my guns". I'm just pointing out that there's no way you can say that Datsyuk leaving made the Red Wings a better team today. I have no opinion on the matter, because there's no way to know for sure.

Hopefully we acquire another 1st round pick at the deadline for Nyquist. There are a ton of talented forwards projected to go in the middle of the 1st, and I'm sure one of them (hopefully Newhook) could drop to us again. Leason is a player I've been keeping a close eye on. I'm not sure if I'd use a 1st round pick on him, but if he slides, I'd use one of our two (maybe more) 2nd round picks. Outside of Byram and York, there aren't really any defensemen that excite me...

Even if you think Cholowski is better than Chychrun, the Wings could have drafted him at 16 if the trade had not happened. Chances are, they had him in mind at 16 anyway, likely attempting the same trade they pulled off in 2013 when they traded back from 18 to 20 and still got their guy (Mantha) as well as the 58th overall pick (Bertuzzi). If Detroit didn't trade Datsyuk's contract, they wouldn't have had room to add anything of significance because they would have been right up against the cap. You don't think we would have been worse in the 2017-18 season without Nielsen (and Datsyuk)? We may not have been bad enough to drop 11 spots to land Dahlin, but it probably would have been close. Who knows... If Datsyuk stayed for the final year of his contract, he would have likely walked the following season anyway. I don't know if we would have traded Tatar. That's my point. There's no way of knowing any of what would have or could have happened. It's all conjecture. The difference is, I don't have an opinion. I have no idea if we would have been better off keeping or trading Datsyuk's contract. You're saying it benefitted us. Maybe. Maybe not...

If Datsyuk stayed, and honored the last year of his contract, we wouldn't have Hronek, but we might have still taken Cholowski with that pick that we traded to Arizona. Or maybe we would have taken Chychrun, who is arguably better (when healthy) than Cholowski. We also wouldn't have signed Nielsen to that 6 year, $31.5M contract. How much better do you really think we would have been in the 2016-17 season with Datsyuk instead of Nielsen? Maybe slightly, but I doubt it would have been a drastic difference. We wouldn't have been a playoff team with or without Datsyuk. The team was on the decline regardless. Maybe Datsyuk gets us a few extra wins. Maybe we finish with 89 points (instead of 79) and end up in the Flyers' lottery slot and land Patrick instead of Rasmussen. The following season Datsyuk's contract was up anyway, so he wouldn't have effected our 2017-18 standings. Maybe we're worse because we don't have Nielsen though, and we end up with Dahlin instead of Zadina. Or maybe because we didn't sign Nielsen in 2016, and Datsyuk was heading back to Russia in 2017, we go out and sign Marleau that offseason. Or maybe something else happens... maybe, maybe, maybe... Point is, while yes, Datsyuk leaving definitely changed what would have otherwise happened in Detroit, there's no way to say with any certainty if the team is better or worse from it. The same can be said about any single player signing or not signing with a team. If we didn't sign Green back in 2015, this would be a dramatically different looking team. Would we be better or worse right now? There's no way of knowing for sure...

For sure, and it wasn't even close in my opinion. That's why I think Veleno could crack the lineup out of camp next season. I hope Zadina does as well.

You're legit the most frustrating person to have a conversation with on here. You go from superstar to 3rd liner, when I specifically said I think he will be a very good 2nd liner. So no, not a superstar, not a 3rd liner, but still a very important piece to a rebuilding team. Larkin is our number one center, so he won't be blocking Veleno. Mantha, Athanasiou, Bertuzzi, Rasmussen and Zadina are all wingers, so they won't be blocking him. We will likely have 3 vacancies in Nyquist, Vanek and Frk moving on, and I don't think there's any reason to believe Veleno wouldn't be able to make the team over Ehn or de la Rose. Anyway, this has gone on long enough. I'm not saying Veleno is guaranteed a roster spot next season, but I think it's possible, if not likely. And again, I'd definitely put the likelihood above zero percent...

There you go again with the "star"... No one is saying he will become a star. You don't need to be a star to make a bad NHL team in your draft +1 year...

Why do you keep throwing in words like "greatness" and "dominant" and "superstar". Literally no one has said or suggested any of this for Veleno. Like Dabura mentioned, it's his 4th season, only because he was granted exceptional status and entered the league a year early. It's still his draft +1 year, and he's been very impressive every step of the way since being drafted. You'd be impressed if he put up 2 points per game in his first or second season? Well no s***. That's Crosby type production...

Most people that are high on Veleno feel that his dominance in the Q is a small part of the reason he could make the team out of camp next season. It's more so how he looked in training camp / pre-season this past fall. He was the best player on the ice most nights. He's an elite skater, great puck-handler and passer and had an extremely high hockey IQ. Yeah, pretty much this. Unimpressive in the WJC? He was an 18 year old, playing in a 19 year old dominated tournament. Not a single 18 year old forward made team Canada the year before. The fact that he made the team, is an accomplishment in itself. He got limited ice time, didn't look out of place and still managed to put up a couple points. You can downplay the Q all you want, and I agree to an extent, but he's still outscoring every other player in that league. He's been very impressive. Who do you hear saying he'll be a "dominate force" or a "superstar"? Even the people that are the highest on him (I'm probably one of them) say that he'll likely be a very good 2C. That's far from a superstar, and I certainly don't expect him to dominant next season, if he does make the team. I like Chase Pearson too, but I doubt he'll ever be anything more than a 4th line center at the NHL level. That's if he makes it. I see him similarly to Dom Turgeon, and he's still struggling to make an impact with the Griffins, let alone crack the Wings lineup full time.

I'd say chances are, he'll start next season in Grand Rapids, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he made his way up to Detroit full time at some point next season. I also wouldn't be surprised if he made the team out of camp, considering he looked close to ready at the beginning of this season. We'll see, but I'd definitely give it more than a "zero" percent chance...

I doubt this is true, even with nearly 10 times the population in the U.S....

... and use all eight picks on left-handed forwards. Give us ALL the Lefties!!!

IF we get a top center in this year's draft, I'd rather run with Larkin, *Hughes*, Veleno as our top 3 centers. I highly doubt Datsyuk will make a return, but IF he did, I'd consider a one year contract at around the same cap hit. Three years just seems like a waste, and I doubt he'd even be looking for that sort of term.

You'd sign a 41 year old to a THREE! year contract??? Why? So we can trade him back to Arizona again after a year because he wants to "go back home to be closer to his daughter"...?