krsmith17

It was reported that Sakic was looking for a top 4 defenseman, top prospect, and a first round pick... I'm not sure if he's come down from those ridiculous remands, but if that's close to the asking price, no thanks! It's unlikely that Holland makes a deal with Sakic, or any GM for that matter. Trades are hard...

I'm not sure what toughness has to do with women attending games or alcohol sales, much less winning hockey games... Witkowski, thus far hasn't shown he can do anything that could help win hockey games, therefore shouldn't be in the lineup. You don't think we have a single top 3 forward on our team? I'd agree that we don't have a single top pair defenseman, but disagree on the forwards.

We already did with our win over Ottawa Saturday night. Let's keep it rolling into Dallas tonight though.

Witkowski blows and should not be anywhere near an NHL roster. Booth / Sheahan / Glendening >>> Witkowski

Yeah, pretty much this. The lack of a young elite center is what I believe is this forward groups biggest weakness. The depth is there, but the star power is lacking. If by December Athanasiou is signed and Svechnikov gets called up (doubt it), we could have one of the deepest forward groups in the league, assuming everyone else is healthy... Nyquist - Zetterberg - Mantha Tatar - Larkin - Svechnikov Athanasiou - Nielsen - Frk Abdelkader - Helm - Booth / Sheahan / Glendening The defense is a sad state right now, but I don't think it has to be as bad as it is right now either. If Ericsson were scratched in favor of Hicketts or Sproul, it would drastically improve the defense in my opinion.

Why does it have to be one or the other? Finish top 5 in scoring for defensemen, while rounding out his defensive game.

Well I wouldn't say dominating, but it's a good start for sure. Kale Clague, now that guy is dominating with 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 5 games... Cholowski currently ranks 9th among all WHL defensemen, but with 5 points in his last 3 games, hopefully he keeps rolling and finishes the season top 5 (or number one...).

I strongly disagree with that... Abdelkader's contract is bad, but I would say Ericsson is by far the worst on the team.

I'd like to see his shot clocked. Everyone that speaks of his shot, say that it's the hardest (or one of) that they've ever seen. That would include Chara and Weber. You'd think it would come in at around 105+MPH... Wasn't Chara's shot clocked at around 108 or something?

Make that 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 5 games. They played Saturday night and he scored another goal and assist in that game.

Witkowski's cap hit is $750K. Send him down and call up literally anyone and it would be an upgrade. Hell, just play Booth. I have no idea why Witkowski would ever be in the lineup over anyone. He's awful. Ericsson, as has been mentioned, is awful as well. We just had to waive Sproul though... Sit / waive Ericsson and call up Hicketts or Sproul. Howard has been lights out in these two games. Keep it going Jimmy. This is the type of goaltending this team I see going to need until they get their defense figured out. I know we're 2-0, but we could just as easily be 0-2 with less than stellar goaltending. We need to play our 18 best players every night. That does not include Witkowski or Ericsson. Smarten the f*** up Blashill...

I'd take Carlson over Green for sure, but I don't think he'll be available, and if the off chance he does leave Washington, I think he would command MUCH more than Green. Carlson may not be on Washington's "top pair", but he absolutely is a top pair defenseman. I think he's the Caps best defenseman, and it's not even close.

If Green can stay healthy and keep up a solid point pace by the deadline, I don't see any reason we wouldn't be able to get a late 1st / early 2nd for him. In saying that, of all the 2018 UFA's that may be available, Green would probably be the only one I'd have any interest in. Aside from the off chance that we're able to attract / clear cap space for an elite player like Tavares of course. Ideally, I'd like to trade Green for a late 1st round pick, and re-sign him again next summer on a 2-year contract, slightly lower than his current $6M. We'd still need to free up some cap space to re-sign our RFA's (Larkin, Mantha, and possibly Mrazek and / or Frk). That's where a new, more creative GM would have to come in. If we want to accelerate this rebuild at all, we're going to need a GM that is willing and able to make the necessary moves to rid this team of a few bad contracts (namely Nielsen and Ericsson)...

Same lines they've been practicing with... Tatar - Zetterberg - Nyquist Mantha - Larkin - Frk Abdelkader - Nielsen - Helm Booth - Sheahan - Glendening Kronwall out. Ouellet in. DeKeyser - Daley Ouellet - Green Ericsson - Jensen Howard starting. Looking for win #200!

Happy Birthday Frky! What a great Birthday gift.

First GDT of the season! F***ing pumped for tonight! GO WINGS!

Why? Is this going to be a thing, the same way it was a thing with Crosby? "He's the best player in the world, so I don't like him. I hope he gets run / injured"...

Never mind the countless posters that say a player / coach / GM sucks on a daily basis. That opinion isn't challenged. But when a poster says they believe a player may have been mishandled. That can't be let go... Nah, every player is utilized perfectly in the Red Wings organization... Holland sucks! Blashill sucks! Nielsen sucks! Nyquist sucks! Ericsson sucks! Jurco sucks sucked! Sproul especially sucks! Am I doing it right?

It's not like that at all actually. Not even close. It's more like if you were offered two jobs, you take one and it doesn't work out. Years later you wonder if you would have been better off taking the other job. You can speculate that maybe the other job would have worked out, but maybe it wouldn't have. It is somewhat of a telling sign when you go unclaimed by 30 teams, hence why I was somewhat surprised. But there are countless players that pass through waivers and go on to have productive NHL careers. Like I said, Jensen is a prime example. The thing is, if Sproul doesn't work out, I'll be a little disappointed, but nothing more than that. The only time this bulls*** is discussed is when others bring it up. Jurco didn't work out. I've moved on. I'm not sure others can say the same...

In this case, no, and not because it's 'my' opinion, but because it's all about "what-if's". There's no way to determine whether a player would have been better if X, Y and Z happened. It's not like I'm saying a player scored X amount of points, which can obviously be proven right or wrong.

I don't get upset or have any issue with debating or challenging opinions. What I do have an issue with is when people say that an opinion as simple as player management is "wrong". Like I said, I can't prove that the way any player was handled is right or wrong, and neither can you. It's an opinion. You think Jurco and Sproul were handled properly. I don't share that same view. I also think Jensen was mishandled. He managed to overcome that. Something that Jurco and Sproul have yet been able to do. Of course it's up to them. There's no question the skill is / has been there, they just need to overcome the obstacles. I'm not blaming it all on the Wings. The players are obviously responsible, but it's tough when you're not put in situations to succeed.

I agree. They are apples and oranges, but both were mishandled (in my opinion) in different ways. One was brought up too early, the other was left down too long. Let's not forget that Jensen was waived twice, and finally made the team at the tender age of 26. He went from looking like a complete bust, to being one of the three defensemen protected in the expansion draft. Sproul is more skilled than Jensen. The question is, does he want it as bad as Jensen? I'm not saying Sproul is still a highly regarded prospect. He's not. However, I do believe he could still be a capable bottom 4 defenseman, that can skate and make plays out of the defensive zone. Whether or not he gets there is up to him...

I don't believe Sproul was given a legit shot thus far. You guys do and think he's a bust. That's fine. I think he will eventually make his way back. This was my biggest beef with Sproul being waived. Witkowski sucks and costs $125K more than Sproul. Why did he make the cut? Because he can play defense and wing? Unfortunately, he's terrible at both...

Rasmussen played his first game with Tri-City last night and scored the opening goal of a 3-2 shootout win. He was also named first star.