krsmith17

Maybe you read that he played really solid as an offensive defenseman at the World's? He's been a shot generating machine at every level. He's great at getting shots through from the point. He's a very good skater for a bigger defenseman, but his defense needs work. I heard an interview with Nelson when Sulak came over. His original plan was to pair the two Czech's (Sulak and Hronek) together, but he didn't want to have two offensive defensemen on the same pair, running around in the offensive zone.

I agree that we don't need Jensen, but if he re-signs for $1M for another season or two, I'd be completely fine with him playing 3rd pair minutes. Now, if we can trade him at the deadline for a mid-round pick, I'd be okay with that as well. I don't see Jensen blocking any of the kids as much as I do some of the other defensemen on this team. But hey, if Blashill is true to his word and spots are actually up for grabs, and DeKeyser, Daley, Kronwall, Ericsson, Hicketts, Hronek and *Bouchard* all outplay Jensen, I'm more than okay with trading him.

I'm guessing you're not too familiar with Sulak's game? He's all about offense, and his defense is rather weak. I doubt he'll be able to play the same style game that he's been accustomed to at the NHL level, so he'll likely have to round out his game. Maybe the defense comes, but I doubt he'll ever be anything close to a shut-down defenseman.

LOL I wouldn't worry too much about that. The Red Wings don't mind bottom 6 / bottom pair righties. It's the top 6 righties they loathe...

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily "done" with Athanasiou, but I'd definitely be shopping him (which I think they are). If there's a decent enough return, I'd move him. I wouldn't want to sell low on him though. Ouellet should be traded before the draft for a late round pick. If there's no takers, waive him before the season starts. I'd rather keep Jensen as a low cost, bottom pairing defenseman. Possibly shop him at the deadline.

https://theathletic.com/381059/2018/06/05/nhl-trade-big-board-20-players-who-could-be-on-the-move-this-summer/ 16. Andreas Athanasiou, Detroit Red Wings – Athanasiou’s name in trade rumors is nothing new, and the Red Wings aren’t necessarily highly motivated to make a move here. But both sides – the Athanasiou camp and the Red Wings management – aren’t against a deal. There also still seems to be some strain between Athanasiou and the coaching staff. Athanasiou is arbitration eligible this summer so he’s going to get a raise from the nearly $1.4 million he held out for last offseason. With young forwards Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha also in line for significant salary increases, Detroit may prefer to let another team do Athanasiou’s next deal. And he has a weapon that opposing teams find attractive. “Love the speed,” said one GM. “Worry a bit about the production.” 19. Nick Jensen, Red Wings – The Red Wings are actively shopping defenseman Xavier Ouellet, who has one year remaining on a contract worth $1.25 million. “He wants a fresh start,” Red Wings GM Ken Holland said last week at the draft combine. That’s not necessarily an easy assignment since Ouellet had trouble cracking the lineup on a Detroit team that wasn’t particularly good. Trading Jensen would be much easier and there’s definitely interest. He’s a 27-year-old right-shot defenseman who slots into any team’s bottom pair for under $1 million. That’s attractive to both a budget team and teams up against the cap. The problem is, one source outside Detroit suggested that the Red Wings weren’t too eager to make the move yet. There’s uncertainty as to whether Mike Green is coming back and who the Red Wings will get at the top of the draft. The preference for Detroit would be to wait until training camp to see how things all shake out, but by then, interested teams might have moved on.

I didn't take this as a negative at all. We hear this every year, but I think it's finally starting to become more of a reality, which is a good thing. We didn't make the playoffs last season (far from it). Would you rather hear that the exact same roster is back again, regardless of performance? I'd like to think that they will assemble the best roster possible, giving a lot of hungry kids every opportunity to make it. I'm hopeful that we'll see 4 or 5 new players from the start of the season, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Hopefully Holland will be very aggressive at the draft and trade a few players to make room for some of the kids. If he does that, the direction will be very clear. Youth. They're saying all the right things, now do it!

"cry that you're being too specific"? What the f*** are you talking about? You're not even making sense... When did I agree that we agreed? I didn't. I said "agree to disagree" because that's the only way we'll get out of this dumbass debate... Obviously balance of left / right shooters alone doesn't make a team successful, but it definitely helps. I know that's very difficult for you to grasp. Stop trying to put words in my mouth. I never once said that handedness is what is separating the good teams from the bad. Tampa and Washington would still be good if Stamkos and Ovechkin were left-handed, but there power-plays wouldn't be as lethal, with a completely different setup. If you disagree with that, just say so, and we can be done with this... We already have right-handed shooters do we? LOL. We don't have a single top 6 forward that shoots right. We might not even have one in our top 9 next year. And we might not have a top 4 defenseman that shoots right either. We have Glendening, Witkowski and maybe Frk, and Jensen and maybe Green, and Hronek (doubtful) going into next season. No s*** it's about having quality right-handed shots. That's been my argument from the beginning. Are you really that dense? For a team full of left-handed shooters, yes we would benefit by adding a couple high end right-handed shooters. To say otherwise, is saying handedness "doesn't matter whatsoever". Is that what you're saying? No, of course not... What more do I expect? I expect us to add some "high end" right handed shots, and no, bottom 6 grinders don't count. This is by far the dumbest debate I've ever had. The fact that you don't see how teams (power-plays in particular) can benefit from having one-time options all over the ice, is astounding. Teams that can move the puck fluently on the power-play, do so because they rarely have to take passes on their backhand. There's a reason our power-play looks so slow. Skill plays a part for sure, but it also has to do with all the left-handed shots, causing us to filter everything from one side of the ice. Let's say our future number one power-play is Larkin in the middle, Mantha on the right side, Rasmussen as the net-front, Cholowski as the quarterback, and one of two players somehow with the exact same skill set, same hockey IQ, same speed, same passing ability, and same shot. The only difference is one shoots left, and one shoots right. Which one do you choose to play the left side of the ice? This is such as easy question, but you will somehow turn it into something completely out to lunch, or avoid it altogether...

You said "Yeah, TBs PP would still be good with a LH Stamkos". Nowhere did you say anything about it being "as good". But whatever. I never said anything about it being "the exact same", so that's your "stupid question", not mine. Stop trying to put words into my mouth. I'm not talking about variance from year to year, I'm talking about last year specifically. I believe that if Stamkos were a left-handed shot, with the exact same setup, that power-play isn't near as effective. You want to talk about past years? Okay, I think it would have been slightly less effective in each of the previous years as well. Frk is good enough to make a positive impact on the power-play. He isn't good enough to make the same level of impact as an elite player would make. He is a bottom 6 player. Why is this so difficult for you to follow? Now you're talking about replacing Frk with a left-handed version of Stamkos? How many f***ing times do I need to repeat myself? Skill level matters! Frk isn't even in the same stratosphere as Stamkos. It's kind of crazy that you don't think having a right / left balance makes any difference whatsoever. You said that was a strawman before How so? You're clearly saying that handedness has no effect on scoring. Otherwise, why the f*** are you still arguing the point? Or do you even understand the point? Here it is one last time... Skill is the most important variable when evaluating individual players. But when you're building a team, handedness should play a part in that. No different than age, size, position, etc.

"Illusion of a KR-centric universe"? LOL. That's cute coming from you. Yes, Tampa's power-play would still be good. I already said that. Would they be as good though? That's the question I was asking that you're not surprisingly avoiding... No, I wouldn't still list them as balanced because as I said, I was looking at the biggest power-play producers from each of the top power-play teams. Johnson and Point aren't close to the top guys in Tampa. You know what though? I bet if we lived in a world where Stamkos was a lefty, Tampa would have one of Johnson or Point on the top unit. Still wouldn't be as good as their current top unit though. If Nyquist were a righty, I do believe their power-play percentage would increase. It obviously wouldn't jump to tops in the league or anything, but I'd bet anything they'd be marginally better. 1-2% higher would be my bet. Where are you getting this "not a good enough triggerman" bulls*** from? I didn't say Frk wasn't good enough, if that's what you're referring to. I think without Frk, we'd drop from 17.5%, down to 16.5% or lower. I think if Frk were a left-handed shot, he wouldn't be on either power-play unit, and might not even be on the team. We don't need more Luke Glendening's / Luke Witkowski's / Zach Nastasiuk's, we need more top end right-handed shooters. Players that are actual legit top 6 snipers, not bottom 6 grinders...

Typical Buppy. Even when you're wrong, you have to spin it that you were "right" and we were just agreeing with you all along... Not a single person has said that handedness matters more than skill. We've all said that overall ability is more important, but handedness should be a factor. How big or small that factor is may differ from fan to fan, scout to scout, team to team. It obviously hasn't been much of a factor for the Wings over the years, but I think it should be a little more of a determining factor. They're more concerned about whether or not each and every player is captain material. I'm not saying that isn't important, I believe it is, just not as important as the Red Wings organization thinks it is. From the beginning I said that we should not trade any left-handed players for lesser quality right-handed players. And we should not draft any right-handed players over more skilled left-handed players. That indicates that I, and literally everyone that you've been arguing with, value skill over handedness. This all came about because I prefer Wahlstrom over Kotkaniemi, and Bokk over McLeod. Yeah, it's partly because of handedness, but it's also because they're similarly skilled. It's not like I'm saying I'd rather Kaut over Kotkaniemi or something outlandish. Of course the Red Wings scouts know more than any of us, and they have their own criteria, so if there are any red flags on any of these right-handed players, I'll understand them passing on them. I'm assuming that's what happened with Vilardi last year, although I still think he'll end up being better than Rasmussen (really hope I'm wrong). I really want Merkley to fall to us with our 2nd or 3rd pick, but I know there's no way the Wings will take him because of the "attitude issues" (red flag). I'm fine with that, but not every single player needs to be captain material either. I think, based on everything I've seen and read on these players, that Wahlstrom and Bokk are supremely talented players, and I'd love to add both, it's just a huge bonus that they're right-handed. One final point I'd like to make, that you'll probably disagree with... If Stamkos is a left-handed shot, do you think Tampa's power-play is as successful at 24%? I don't. Of course it's probably still going to remain above league average, because they have some of the best players in the world (Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman) on that unit, but I think it drops by at least a couple percent, having three left-handed triggermen. If you can't see the benefit of having that right-handed shot setting up on the left faceoff dot, I don't know what else to say. Agree to disagree I guess...

Some notable rankings... He has Kotkaniemi at 5. Bouchard at 9 (behind Hughes and Dobson). Wahlstrom dropping to 10. Wilde, Thomas, and Dellandrea ranking from 16-18, three players I'd like to trade up for. Veleno, Bokk, Miller and Samuelsson ranking from 28-33, all interesting options with our picks 30, 33 and 36. Kaut at 47, a player I think could be a steal that late...

Exactly this. Playing against a team like the Wings who lack right-handed snipers and are forced to run their offense on the right side of the ice makes defending / penalty killing so much easier. Our better players are going to put up points regardless, but having more options everywhere on the ice would benefit the players and team.

Yeah, I had already read most of those articles, including Custance' Athletic article. The one I hadn't seen was the last Kahn article, so thanks for that. I still don't see it happening and I still hope it doesn't happen, unless it's very cheap (which it won't be)... One thing that confused the hell out of me though... In what world is Zadina the player we so badly need but Svechnikov isn't? I don't get that. Isn't Svech regarded to be the better player at virtually every aspect of the game?

Again, it's Chiarelli we're talking about, so all common sense goes out the window. My hope would be that he wants a quick turnaround (or he could lose his job). As much as some think Wahlstrom could step into the NHL next season, it isn't a sure thing. Athanasiou gives them immediate help up front, and like you've said, he could be a good compliment on McDavid's wing. Of course, I know it won't happen, but that's my dream scenario... I still say trading up would be a huge mistake. As much as I'd love to get Svechnikov, the price would simply be waaay too high.

I wasn't being selective at all. I was simply listing the top power-play teams and the top producers on those power-plays. Yes, every team has left and right handed players, but not every team has elite left and right handed shooters that they utilize on the power-play. That's my point. We need some elite (top 6) right-handed shooters. I'm not saying that having balanced handedness would fix our problems, but it would certainly go a long way in helping our problem scoring and setting up in the offensive zone. I never said "Frk would fix our power-play". I said he would help our power-play, which he did. Just like I'm not saying that a right-handed sniper would fix our power-play, but he would certainly help. I also didn't say "Frk doesn't count as a right-handed shot because he isn't good enough". All I said was that he probably won't even be back next season. That's a knock on management, not Frk as a player. I think Frk should be back, because he is good enough. I'm not saying two different things at all... I'm saying that adding some high end right-handed shots should be a priority, but we shouldn't pass up on better players just because of handedness. Why is this so difficult for you to comprehend? I believe a balanced attack on forward and defense plays a huge role in a teams success. You don't think it matters whatsoever. Whatever.

https://theathletic.com/377049/2018/06/02/evan-bouchard-is-ahead-of-his-years-and-his-nhl-draft-class-after-historic-season/ This is a big reason I'm so high on Bouchard, and why I think (assuming he's still there) the Wings will take him at 6. I'll bet anything that one of Bouchard or Dobson will be a Red Wing in three weeks. I'm hoping it's Bouchard, but if we trade back and take Dobson, I won't be too upset. Now if we could just put a package together to get another top 10 pick to get Wahlstrom. I doubt he gets past 9, but if he's still there when the Oilers pick at 10, I'd be calling Chiarelli and offering him Athanasiou and a pick or two (2018 1st (VGK) / 2019 2nd (NYI))...

It doesn't matter where they finished in the standings. It only matters where they finished in the draft lottery. Carolina finished the season with 10 more points and about 16% less odds at a top 3 pick than us. They obviously wouldn't sell low on the 2nd overall pick, and neither would Montreal on the 3rd overall pick. Has there been anything more to that rumor than Holland saying that he'd be willing to move up or down though? I'm not sure if there was ever an actual deal on the table involving Montreal, was there? Would Bergevin dare to make a bold (dumb) move? Never! If I'm Bergevin and Kotkaniemi is seriously at the top of my list (no idea why...), I do whatever I can to trade back. If I'm Holland, there's no way I trade up to 3, unless it was extremely cheap. Even then, I'd probably prefer to stay at 6 and take Wahlstrom over Zadina at 3 and lose any assets.

For me, it's probably... 1. Bouchard 2. Wahlstrom 3. Dobson 4. Boqvist 5. Hughes I think trading up with our 6th overall pick would be a huge mistake. The price would be astronomical. Just out of curiosity, what would you be willing to trade to Montreal to move up 3 spots? Mantha? That's probably what it would cost and I definitely wouldn't do that.

I'm not sure if Athanasiou and the Vegas pick would be enough to move up to 10, but it is Chiarelli we're talking about, so you never know. If that package could get us Wahlstrom (if he falls), I'd be ecstatic. Unfortunately, I think Wahlstrom will be gone before then though. Maybe take Wahlstrom at 6, and hope one of Bouchard or Dobson is available at 10 would be the better option. Getting another top 10 pick is a pipe dream though. I think Holland will be busy at the draft, but I highly doubt he can pull that off. I'd use Svechnikov in a package for Bean to reunite the brothers in Carolina. I'd like to trade up for any of the defensemen I mentioned, or Bokk, Kaut or Dellandrea, depending on who we take before that. I was hoping we'd draft one of Kylington or Andersson back in 2015, but I wouldn't have much interest in trading a high pick for either of them in this draft.

Of course handedness isn't the be-all end-all, but it definitely does factor into a team's success (especially on the power-play). No one is saying we should trade left-handed players for worse right-handed players, or draft right-handed players over better left-handed players. All else being equal though, we should be looking to acquire more right-handed players for balance. It's not really much different than us being deep up front, and shallow on the back end, and looking to acquire defensemen via trade or through the draft. It's common sense. It's no coincidence that the top power-play units have triggermen on both sides of the ice. Here are the top power-play units in the league last season... Pens - Kessel (R) / Malkin (L) and Crosby (L) Leafs - Marner (R) and Nylander (R) / Matthews (L) and Kadri (L) Lightning - Stamkos (R) / Kucherov (L) Bruins - Pastrnak (R) and Bergeron (R) / Marchand (L) Jets - Laine (R) and Scheifele (R) / Ehlers (L) and Connor (L) Islanders - Barzal (R) / Tavares (L) and Lee (L) Caps - Ovechkin (R) and Oshie (R) / Kuznetsov (L) and Backstrom (L) Aves - MacKinnon (R) / Rantanen (L) and Landeskog (L) Canucks - Boeser (R) / Horvat (L) and Baertschi (L) All of these teams have a balance of right-handed / left-handed shooters on the power-play. Here are the worst power-play units in the league last season... Oilers - McDavid (L), Draisaitl (L) and Nugent-Hopkins (L) Blues - Tarasenko (L), Schenn (L), Schwartz (L) and Steen (L) Flames - Monahan (L), Tkatchuk (L) and Ferland (L) Hawks - Kane (L), Anisimov (L) and DeBrincat (R) Sens - Duchene (L), Hoffman (L), Brassard (L) and Dzingel (L) Coyotes - Keller (L), Perlini (L) and Fischer (R) Jackets - Panarin (R), Bjorkstrand (R) and Dubois (L) Wings - Mantha (L), Tatar (L), Nyquist (L) and Frk (R) Most of these teams only have left-handed shooters on the power-play, with the exception of Columbus, DeBrincat with the Hawks and Fischer with the Coyotes, who are both rookies, and Frk with the Wings, who is a bottom 6 forward, and might not even be back next season... We need some elite level right-handed shooters. If you think it's not an issue whatsoever, and we should continue to employ a team completely left-handed shooters (top six), I don't know what else to say...

I'd love to take any of Wilde, Samuelsson or McIsaac with our 2nd pick, but I don't see any of them being available at 30. I think we'd have to trade up anywhere from 5-15 picks for any of them. I really think we should try to trade up to get another top 10-15 pick. I'm not sure what it would take, but maybe Athanasiou, the Vegas pick and a 2019 2nd round pick could get us up there.

Sorry for your loss Lefty...

For what?

It's kind of surprising how well Evgeny understands and speaks the English language and how poorly Andrei does. Apparently he understands a lot, but can't really speak it much at all. Still, it would be pretty cool to see the Svech bros together, but it's obviously not going to happen. Not in Detroit anyway. Maybe we'll end up trading Evgeny to Carolina (assuming they take Andrei 2nd overall).