krsmith17

They still have one of the top fan bases in the NHL. The only U.S. teams that might be ahead of them are Detroit, Boston, New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh, and even a few of them are doubtful. The Oilers are a VERY popular team, and it's not just in Alberta.

What does being in the U.S. have to do with anything? Edmonton has a MUCH larger fan base than most American teams, let alone Arizona or Carolina...

No worries there. Yzerman is moving "home" to Detroit to be with his family. He's not going to all of a sudden have a change of heart, say f*** the fam after giving up a dream job in sunny Tampa Bay, to go to freezing cold Edmonton, an organization that has been a dumpster fire for the past decade...

Peter Chiarelli was a special kind of stupid, but there are still some dumb GM's that will make dumb trades. Holland just needs to kick ALL the tires...

What??? NOOOOO... Holland didn't even get to take advantage of him at the deadline... I was really looking forward to a Nyquist for Puljujarvi and a 1st trade...

I hope Jimmy gets a shutout and scores the game winning goal on Pekke Rinne with a clap bomb from his own zone, ala Goldberg. Julien BriseBois decides that Howard is obviously an upgrade over Vasilevskiy, and trade us Vasi, a 1st, Cal Foote and Taylor Raddysh for Howard...

Again, if mackel had just said, we should have taken Hughes or whoever ahead of Zadina, and that was his gripe, I'd be fine with that. Because a legitimate argument could be made that we could have or maybe even should have taken Hughes ahead of Zadina. I would disagree, but whatever. But to say that Zadina is a bust just a few months into his pro career, in my opinion, is insane... So again, I don't see the similarities in how I, and many other acted when Rasmussen was drafted, and how mackel is acting toward Zadina. Anyway, it's whatever. I think Zadina will be fine and to me, what professionals are saying about him, holds much more weight than some dude on a forum...

I didn't once say "I" know more. I'm saying countless other draft analysts, who get their information from the pro scouts, may have been right, and Tyler Wright may have been wrong. That is a possibility is it not? How do you figure "29 other pro scouts were not" high on Veleno? That's completely false. He wasn't expected to go until the middle of the 1st, so that would leave roughly 15 teams passing on him. Players slip all the time. It only takes each team to have one player above that player. It's entirely possible that every team had Veleno in the top 15-20 on their pre-draft board. Countless people "in the know" were shocked to see Veleno slip all the way to 30. We lucked out. Imagine if we had passed on Veleno and taken McLeod or Noel instead. I would have been pissed because Veleno was highly regarded by scouts and draft analysts, he slipped to us, we had an opportunity to take him, and we pass him up for a lesser player. McLeod or Noel may end up being fine players, just like Rasmussen, but I just prefer the higher ceiling players. That is Veleno / was Vilardi at the time.

If "I" were the head coach, I'd have Athanasiou in the top six ahead of Vanek, despite his defensive deficiencies. And as far as I've seen, that's all anyone has been saying. Again, no one that I've seen is calling him elite or anything. But yeah, I'd probably consider giving one of our most explosive offensive players more minutes and better linemates for a few games... And yes, Vanek does blow, but I've been just as disappointed with him in the offensive zone as the defensive zone. I can't count how many times we've had full control in the attacking zone and he's thrown a blind pass to no one, or the other team. He's been extremely hard to watch, but he continues to get top six minutes and power-play time... because "he's a veteran", and "he's paid his dues"...

Big difference bud. I wasn't as mad that we took Rasmussen as I was that we didn't take Vilardi. Vilardi was a player I was really high on, long before the draft, again, for all the reasons above. He was very highly touted, was expected to be a top 5 (some had him top 3) pick. He was someone I had actually watched live, and was very impressed with. His numbers were much better. He was a much better skater. He was a right-handed shot. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 on that injury. No one could have predicted that. But I would have bet on Vilardi being the better player, had he not gotten injured, and he may still be if he can ever get fully healthy... And I didn't once come on here ranting and roaring about how Rasmussen is going to be a complete bust. Again, huge difference. Prime example, Elias Petterson. Not saying Zadina will have the same sort of impact as Petterson, but I think he could very well be in the Calder conversation, and possibly win it next season.

My point is that no matter how much any of us watch these prospects, I'll trust the pro's over anyone online. I mean, what's the most that any of us really watch any of these players? Most of us are basing our own opinions on the few times we might see them play, the highlight videos on youtube, and scouting reports from the pros. I was right there with you on the Rasmussen pick, and I didn't see him play a single game live. I based my opinion solely on the criteria I stated above. It's not like mackel is saying we should have taken a player instead of Zadina, like most of us thought when we took Rasmussen. He's flat out saying that he will be a bust, which is absurd, for the reasons you've stated above; his age and what he's been able to do in his first half season of pro hockey. I haven't watched as many Griffins games as I would like this season, but from the dozen or so that I have watched, Zadina has shown flashes of that elite skill set. I think he will be an elite, 35+ goal scorer in the NHL. Is it possible that he could fall short of that? Sure. But will he be a bust? Highly unlikely... Most of what I've seen and read from sources I trust, have said that they're not at all worried about Zadina. Therefore, I'm not at all worried about Zadina, until he gives me reason to be.

This is a very bad team right now. No one is saying that Athanasiou is elite or anything, but he is definitely deserving of top six minutes over Vanek. If you disagree with that, you're either not watching the games, or just trolling Jonas...

You don't actually trust multiple professional scouts and hockey analysts over mackel do you? If this guys says he's going to be a bust, he's obviously going to be a bust. Didn't you know he's seen him play in Halifax on multiple occasions? He obviously knows his s***...

What are you talking about? Who's getting angry? Great player? I said he's an upgrade over Christoffer Ehn. That's it. That is literally the extent to how "great" I think he is. If we don't claim him, oh well. I just wouldn't mind seeing him given a shot over Ehn. I also think he could be an upgrade over de la Rose, who we claimed a few months ago... If we're claiming one of them (again, I dont care if we do), I'd much rather claim the $800K over the $3.1M bottom six forward...

Oh... He must be a bust then...

You're acting as if the only thing he has on his resume is those 100+ point junior seasons... He's been very good at every level, including the pro's. Again, it's zero risk. Red Wings would be #2 on the waiver wire, LA being the only team ahead of them. Spooner is a salary dump. No one's taking that contract ($3.1M for another season) for a mediocre bottom six forward.

I see Ehn as another Joakim Andersson, aka, replacement level, aka, he sucks. Claiming a player like Rattie would have zero impact on any of our top 6, or even top 9 players, this year or next. He would be taking a spot from someone on our 4th line. And who knows, he may find that scoring touch again. He had back-to-back 100+ point seasons in the W, was nearly a point per game in the A, and put up 9 points in 14 games with Oilers last season. There's zero risk or gamble in claiming a player off waivers. If he works out, great. If he doesn't, whatever. Waive him. Nothing lost.

That's actually a good question... Tough call. I'd consider it, but probably wouldn't do it. I wasn't a fan of the Rasmussen pick either, and I still don't think he'll be anything more than a 2nd line winger / net-front weapon on the power-play. But that's probably about all Puljujarvi is going to be at this point too. Basically the only reason I'd think about making that trade is the right-handed shot, but that alone wouldn't be enough for me to pull the trigger. In saying that, I'd say Puljujarvi still has the higher ceiling, but Rasmussen may have the higher likelihood of hitting his ceiling.

No we don't "need" Rattie, but if he's an upgrade over anyone on the current roster (I think he is), I don't see the harm in it. He wouldn't be taking a spot from Zadina or Rasmussen, he would be taking Ehn's spot, who is a replacement level player. Or sure, Frk could be the player waived, but I'd still have Rattie in the lineup over Ehn.

Wings should take a flyer on Rattie (reclamation project) and waive Ehn...

They currently have a 5% chance at the #1 overall this year...

Like kliq said, I'm only asking for sources because you specifically said that you've "been reading that he could get all of a low first, a prospect AND a roster player". If you had said that it was your opinion, I would have just said the last sentence, "I'd be surprised if he could get us a 1st, let alone other pieces along with it". So yeah, sources are important if you're reporting a rumor. Otherwise people won't take it too seriously... As for sources, I would say Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun or any of the other big names from TSN are the most reputable. Ansar Kahn or Craig Custance are good for Red Wings specific news.