krsmith17

We won't receive that 7th round pick...

Playing his off-wing is what makes him even more dangerous. Most snipers prefer their off-wing. Ovechkin plays the left side, Kucherov and Tarasenko play the right side, Mantha and Zadina both prefer the right side. Laine is the only sniper I can think of off the top of my head who usually plays his "correct" side. Vanek is certainly still useful, but I think top 6 is a bit of a stretch. He's a solid top 9 scoring winger / power-play weapon. He should probably be looking to sign with a contender at this point in his career though. I'd be open to signing Vanek if we trade one or two forwards for help on D. Otherwise, I think we have more than enough depth up front without signing any free agents. If we were to sign him, and flip him at next year's deadline, the most we'd get would probably be a 4th round pick. To me, that's not worth keeping a younger player down in GR.

What do you mean? It's not that easy?...

I heard they have some scrub by the name of Trouba on their team as well... Mason and Trouba for Athanasiou and 2019 3rd round pick...

I'd take Mason off their hands for one season to backup Howard, if it meant getting an asset in return. This is exactly the type of move Holland should be looking to make.

IF Svechnikov is going to be your 14th forward (I dont think he should be), wouldn't it be better for his development to send him down to Grand Rapids?

Yeah, I can see that side of it for sure. But if Green walls, I'm really hoping Holland can swing a trade rather than going after any of those UFA's.

I still think Green will be back on another short term contract. If for whatever reason he doesn't, I say f*** it, roll with what we have... Ericsson - Daley DeKeyser - Jensen Kronwall - Hronek Hicketts ... or make a trade for a top 4 defenseman. Winnipeg want to bring Stastny back but aren't sure if they can because they have a bunch of RFA's to sign, including Trouba. Maybe they'd be willing to move him this time...

Yeah, Frk will definitely be the extra forward. I'd like to see him in the lineup, but of all the forwards, he'll likely be the odd man out most nights. That defense is bad, which is why I think Green will be brought back for another's year or two. I'd definitely prefer him over deHann or any other sub par UFA on the market. Ideally we'd package a forward for help on defense, but I'm not sure if I see that happening...

Russo and Renouf out. This should give Cholowski, Hronek (if he doesn't make the Wings) and Saarijarvi more ice time down to GR. Good stuff. Holland continues to impress. Even these small moves are telling where his head is at (youth movement). Let's just hope he doesn't go on a shopping spree on July 1st... We need a backup goaltender, and maybe another Booth type player to sit 75% of the season with Witkowski.

Right around where I expected. I was thinking Bertuzzi would get around $1.5M and Frk would get around $1M. Good signings.

Good stuff. I wonder if re-signing Frk had anything to do with drafting Zadina... We need a power-play unit with Frk, Zadina and Hronek...

Yup. He should have said he expects 2-18 young players to make the team this season, just to get us extra HYPED!

Yes please...

My thoughts exactly. I hope he either stays in New York, or signs with San Jose. I still think there's a high probability he stays with the Islanders... Why though? What vets are you suggesting we sign? And what vets are you suggesting we ship out?...

No, seriously man, they do exist... I know it's crazy, but there are some forwards in the league that shoot right-handed... I seen one one time with my own two eyes... Seriously though, I disagree with you on this one. Just because the 2008 team didn't have any right-handed shots on the half-wall of their power-play, doesn't mean they wouldn't have benefited by having one. Their power-play ran at 20.7% that season. Maybe if they had an equally skilled right-handed shooter to plug in, their power-play percentage would have been slightly higher. I don't want to get too deep into this again, but I strongly believe we should add at least one or two *young* right-handed snipers to our team over the next few season. And I do believe it makes a significant difference to a team's offense and power-play. Zetterberg and Nyquist won't be here in 1-3 years. Athanasiou may or may not be. Same goes for Nielsen. Ideally, I'd like to see our two power-play units built something like this in a couple years... Net front - Rasmussen and Bertuzzi / Svechnikov Center - Larkin and Veleno / Athanasiou Wingers - Zadina and Mantha (right side) RH Snipers ??? (left side) Defense (quarterback) - Hronek and (Cholowski)???

Okay, so assuming Blashill is "stupid", and refuses to healthy scratch Glendening... Would you rather give a 22 year old Svechnikov an opportunity, or sign a 34 year old Vanek to a one year contract? Even without Vanek, there are likely 12 forwards "ahead of Svechnikov". Assuming there are no trades, and everyone is healthy, we have Zetterberg, Nielsen, Nyquist, Zadina, Larkin, Mantha, Rasmussen, Athanasiou, Bertuzzi, Abdelkader, Helm, Glendening, and Svechnikov, with Witkowski as the regular healthy scratch. Believe me, I'd be all for signing Vanek, or any UFA to a short term deal, if A) we trade a player or two this offseason, B) there are serious injuries in camp, or C) Blashill is willing to healthy scratch Glendening (not going to happen). But if it comes down to Svechnikov or Vanek, I pick Svech.

Hey man, you're kind of preaching to the choir here... I don't really disagree with any of that. I just don't think we should trade all of these players tomorrow... Nyquist will be traded at some point this season, maybe even before the season starts. Helm will likely be traded at some point this season, if not, next season. Abdelkader isn't going anywhere, which is fine. It's okay to have one bad contract, as long as that contract doesn't dictate playing time. Nielsen is likely here for another couple seasons, which is fine I guess. He's a good mentor for the kids. Like I said, we do need some veteran leadership on this team. Glendening could also be traded at some point this season. Kronwall will be done after this season, if not sooner, depending on how his legs hold up. Ericsson will be done after next season, if not sooner. I still think he could be traded, if Holland wanted to, and was willing to retain some salary. Same goes for Daley. DeKeyser, like Abby, likely isn't going anywhere. Which is fine. DeKeyser is a solid top 4 defenseman, if slotted properly and given a competent defense partner.

All are good players. They're just on not so great contracts... Except Nyquist. Your hate for him is unjustified. Solid top six winger on a good contract. If Nielsen were making $0.5-1M less and 2-3 years less, no one would complain about him as our 3rd line center. If Abdelkader were making $0.5-1M less and 3-4 years less, no one would complain about him as our 3rd line winger. If Helm were making $0.5-1M less and 1-2 years less, no one would complain about him as our 4th line center / winger.

Gotcha. Possibly.

Yes. Assuming one of Hicketts / Hronek makes the Wings out of camp though. RHD... Not that that matters. He was never going to make the Wings full time.

Alleviating the logjam... Pretty crazy we couldn't get at least that for Ouellet though...

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This. I want to believe Holland's mindset has changed and is now more focused on rebuilding / getting younger. He's already made some moves to support this. I just hope he doesn't revert back to his old ways and sign any 30+ year old UFA's... I don't think he will.