krsmith17

Well, no s***. If we could offload Nielsen and Nyquist, I'd offer Tavares $10.5M for 7 years. If we could offload Ericsson and Daley, I'd offer Carlson $8.5 for 6 years. Except that's not going to happen. I've never acted like Holland has not overpaid UFA's. In fact, I've been very vocal about how I haven't liked many of Holland's UFA signings over the past several years. Again, I'd love to sign Tavares and / or Carlson, but where this team is at right now, I don't think it would be smart to get into any sort of bidding wars for these players.

Well yeah, they're obviously going with BPA according to who the organization feels is the best player available, not what any outsiders are saying. They thought Rasmussen was BPA last year, despite what many others believed, and maybe he was, but there's also a chance that he wasn't... I just want them to have a crystal ball and know who is the BPA. I really don't think that's too much to ask...

The biggest mistake this team could make is trade up to 3rd for Zadina in my opinion. The price would be way too steep. With this being such a deep draft we should take the best player available at 6, or trade back a couple spots, assuming there are still multiple players we like still on the board. Best case scenario for me would be to take Bouchard (or one of the other defensemen) at 6 and trade up to take Wahlstrom (or Kotkaniemi) with our 2nd pick.

That was a rough game, but that one game doesn't define him as a player. Far from it. He's had a very solid season / playoff run. 0.5 points per game as a defenseman, still only 22 years old, in his first full season. Of course he's going to make mistakes, but he'll be fine. If we did trade for him, it probably wouldn't have cost a ton, considering Anaheim basically gave him away to Vegas. He'd be one of, if not the best defensemen on the Red Wings today and going forward.

That's the problem with you and a lot of Red Wings fans in general. This fall into "bottom feeder land" was inevitable. Do you honestly believe any other GM or YOU could have kept this team competitive longer than the two decades that he did? Not a chance. We had to bottom out, and the best thing for this organization is to continue to bottom out for another couple years. The worst thing this team could do is try for quick fixes, and massively overpay for 2 or 3 UFA's. Continue to hope for it though. It's not gonna happen.

I don't think the Red Wings should get into a bidding war for UFA's, so no I don't think they should overpay, or in most cases, pay at all. We're rebuilding, stay the course and build through the draft. We don't need any quick fixes. I guess it makes sense that you disagree with me so much. I like Holland's mentality of "kicking tires", which you hate. I'd love to have Carlson, Karlsson, Doughty or Tavares, but no I don't want us to massively overpay for any of them.

Hronek AND Cholowski need to get some reps in with the Wings at some point this season. I expect them both to make the team in 2019-20.

Sure, most players in the league are left handed, and most teams have more left handed shooter than right, but no team has been as right handed deficient as the Detroit Red Wings have been for the past decade or more. We haven't had a top 6 right handed forward since Alfredsson, 5 years ago. Before that it was Lang, 12 years ago. That is a serious issue in my opinion. Of course we're not struggling solely because of the lack of right handed shooters, but I think it definitely plays a part. The best power-plays (and offensive attacks in general) include both left and right shooting forwards and defensemen. To say it doesn't matter is wrong. There's a reason most teams and coaches in particular value balanced shooters on each side of the ice. No, handedness doesn't matter as much as skill, but to me, handedness is somewhat similar to position. We should draft best player available, regardless of position or handedness, but all else being equal, we need defensemen and right handed forwards. That's just my opinion. We're talking about the best players in the world for their age group. The difference in skill level in each tier of the draft is negligible. Give me a left handed forward and a right handed forward ranked similarly by various scouts, assuming all else is relatively equal, I take the right handed player because he fills a bigger need on our team.

LOL I somehow want him even less now...

Yeah, I read the article yesterday. I was going to post it, but was too lazy... Thanks for the talking points. I'd be okay with trading up for Kotkaniemi if he falls to the late teens, but even then, I think I'd prefer to wait it out to see if Bokk or Kaut fall to us at 30. Or maybe trade the 30th and 67th to move up a few spots...

Dylan Cozens

I agree 100%. We do need to add a high end skilled center, but I just don't see Kotkaniemi fitting the bill. Maybe he would, but for our highest pick in two and a half decades, I'd prefer a little more of a sure thing.

I've always been a big fan of Carlson, and felt he was extremely underrated. I'd love to sign him this summer, however, I don't think I'd go near that contract. I'd give him $6.5-7M for 5 years. Of course he likely wouldn't accept that because there will be better offers on the table, but I don't think this team can afford any more big dollar, long term contracts, even if it's to add a player of Carlson's caliber.

Just a personal preference I guess. I'd prefer any of the other 5 or 6 players before him. This will be our highest pick since 1990 (Primeau), I don't want to trade back unless we're guaranteed one of the top guys, and even then, only if it's for a significant return. We need to add some high end centers, but Kotkaniemi has played significant time on the wing. He may develop into a center, but I see him as more of a winger at the NHL level. The last thing this organization needs is another left-handed winger. Always go best player available, but all things being equal, take the defenseman or center over the winger.

Kotkaniemi is the one player I really hope we don't draft. I'd be good with any of the 4 defensemen or Wahlstrom at 6. My order assuming the top 5 are Dahlin, Svechnikov, Zadina, Tkatchuk, and one of the defensemen, would be Bouchard, Wahlstrom, Boqvist, Dobson, Hughes, Veleno, Kotkaniemi...

Yup. He was... three years ago...

Edmonton? Chiarelli? I'd do 6th for 10th and Puljujarvi... I'm thinking this is what happened in 2013 when they knew they could still get their guy (Mantha) at 20. But yeah, assuming we know we can still get one of "our guys", I too like the idea of trading back two or three spots to gain another pick. I'm okay with pretty much anyone consistently ranked in the top 8-10. The one player I'd be a little disappointed with is Kotkaniemi...

I wouldn't really consider 31 "youngish". I'd actually consider 31 kinda "oldish" in today's NHL, especially considering the style of hockey Abby plays. I wish we could have exposed Nielsen and Abdelkader in hopes that Vegas would have taken one of them over Nosek. I highly doubt it would have made any difference in their selection though. We'll never know for sure though, so agree to disagree I guess...

I'm not too worried. This seems to be as much of a can't miss top 7-10 as we've seen. There probably will be one or two busts in the top 10-15, but I think we'll be good at 6. Also, scouting and player development is light-years ahead of where it was even 10 years ago. There will obviously always be players that rise and fall post-draft, but I think the percentage will continue to decrease. I think that's a definite possibility. The league is getting younger and younger every year. More 18-21 year olds, less 35+ year olds. Makes sense.

I was really hoping Nelson would be the assistant under Blashill, and maybe take over as head coach at some point. He's very similar to Gallant in that he's a player's coach. It seems a lot of teams are having success under these types of coaches lately. Have we ever had a "player's coach"? I though Blashill was, but not really. Babcock was the complete opposite of a player's coach. Lewis? No. Bowman? Ha NO! Murray? Maybe...

What about all the players selected before Kindl that were complete garbage? 6 - Gilbert Brule 7 - Jack Skille 9 - Brian Lee 10 - Luc Bourdon 13 - Marek Zagrapan 14 - Sasha Pokulok 15 - Ryan O'Marra 16 - Alex Bourret 18 - Ryan Parent What about all the players selected just after Kindl that were complete garbage? 20 - Kenndal McArdle 22 - Matt Lashoff 23 - Nicklas Bergfors 26 - Matt Pelech 27 - Joe Finley 30 - Vladimir Mihalik 31 - Brendan Mikkelson 32 - Tyler Plante 34 - Ryan Stoa 36 - Taylor Chorney 37 - Scott Jackson 38 - Jeff Frazee 39 - Petr Kalus 40 - Mike Sauer That's 23 players in the top 40 that were MUCH worse picks than Kindl. Just because you can pick out a handful of players 10+ years later that we coulda / shoulda picked means nothing. You can do that with literally any team, any draft. That's why "re-drafts" are such a big thing these days. The funny thing is, Kindl would still be an early to mid 2nd round pick in a re-draft. Kindl was not a bust, he just wasn't a homerun pick. Draft are complete crap-shoots after the first 3-7 players depending on the year. Teams that pick the homeruns are lucky. Teams that pick the busts are unlucky.

Yes. So is it suffice to say that Holland is doing a very good job trying to rebuild this team? If he and his scouts manage to hit on half of the picks he's built up in the first three rounds of these three drafts, this should be a fairly quick turnaround. Here's to hoping we made / make the right picks with these top picks (Rasmussen / 6th overall this year / lottery pick next year) and hit a couple home runs in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

Yeah, I'm really high on Dellandrea and hope he falls to us in the 2nd round. Yeah, Carlo dropped a bit that year. Timmins was that player for me last year. I was hoping he'd drop to us, but Colorado snagged him at 32. Dream scenario... 6th - Bouchard 7th - Wahlstrom 31st - Bokk 33rd - Merkley 36th - Dellandrea Likely scenario... 6th - Hughes No way Vancouver trades us the 7th overall pick... I doubt any of those players will be available in the 30's, let alone all three...

Bold, I disagree with. I don't think Vegas would have taken Nielsen or Abdelkader over Nosek, unless we offered them a pick to go along with it. They wanted cost effective players. They got that with Nosek. Underlined, I agree with. Some people just want to complain about everything and anything. I'm sure it's somehow Holland's fault that Vegas are a Cup contending team...