krsmith17

No, my argument isn’t that other people believe it too. I’m just pointing out that I’m not the only one that thinks players may have been mishandled at some point over the past few years. “Mountain of evidence”? So because we’ve drafted well and other players have developed well in our organization, that proves that no players have been mismanaged in this organization? Yeah, okay… Why are you talking about our drafting success anyway? I’m well aware of our success at drafting and developing players. That doesn’t mean we’ve done a great job at developing every player we’ve drafted though. A player being brought up too early or too late, constantly in and out of the lineup, asked to change their game, etc. All things that could hamper a player’s development, and coincidentally, things that happened with Jurco and Sproul. The fact that Jurco has gone on to do nothing in a different organization has nothing to do with anything here. His confidence was already shot. It’s not like Jurco and Sproul were my two favorite prospects, and I wanted them to succeed above anyone else. I just thought they were mishandled early on in their development. I was one of the few (along with Jesusberg) that said back then that Jurco should spend another season in Grand Rapids. The same way I believe that another season in Grand Rapids is best for Svechnikov’s development. If Svech starts this season in Detroit playing 10-12 minutes a night on the 4th line, constantly in and out of the lineup because he’s not altering his game to suit a 4th line, grinding role, rather than playing 20+ minutes a night in all situations in Grand Rapids, and he ends up struggling, you’re damn right I’ll say he’s been mishandled. I don’t get why you get so bent out of shape about differing opinions, or opinions in general. Not everything is black and white or stats driven. I can’t prove for certain that Jurco or Sproul would have had any more success if handled differently, just like you can’t prove that they wouldn’t have. It is an opinion. For whatever reason that bothers you…

Coming out of junior, Sproul was the best defense prospect we've seen in years. He had a ton of potential and a ton of skill, so it's not just that he "isn't very good". So far he hasn't come close to reaching that potential but the skill is still there. He's a big, smooth skater defenseman with a great shot. Countless players are waived and clear every year and go on to have successful NHL careers, so please don't use that as a reason Sproul "isn't very good". Most would consider one full season a small sample size, and you're trying to say 27 games is a large sample size? Not even close. Especially when you consider how well he played at the beginning of last season. He started with a goal and three assists, +1, in six games. Management and the coaching staff were happy with his play, and fans were ecstatic. I'd love to hear the 9 or 10 NHL-ready defenseman you'd put ahead of Sproul... "Won't even get a sniff at the NHL"? That's a rather bold statement...

I'm not the only one that believes certain players may have been mismanaged over the past few years. But because you don't believe in that sort of thing, we're wrong? Yeah, okay bud...

Well Sproul cleared waivers... I'm shocked but happy he went unclaimed.

We play our first pre-season game tonight in Boston, but apparently none of the first 3 games (all away) will be aired. The first game we'll be able to watch is this Saturday, the 23rd, also against Boston (first game ever at the LCA). Why in this day and age is there no broadcast for ALL pre-season games? Even if it was only available via stream, that would be fine. But to not allow fans to watch these games is a crime... Anyway, not that it really matters, but here's the lineup for tonight's game... Mantha - Larkin - Parenteau Bertuzzi - Sheahan - Glendening Witkowski - Rasmussen - Frk Nastasiuk - Turgeon - Shine / Elson Lashoff - Jensen Cholowski - McIlrath Sulak - Saarijarvi McCarron Mrazek Coreau

Please. I was in no way comparing the two. At this point, it's unlikely that Sproul becomes a top 4 defenseman, let alone an elite number 1... The Karlsson comment was obvious hyperbole (maybe not so obvious to some...), but I do believe this organization does stifle offensive production in order to improve defensive play. I do think Karlsson would have been a good player with any organization, but I don't believe he would have been nearly a point per game, 2-time Norris winning defenseman with this organization. You probably disagree though...

Well a move will have to be made before we sign Athanasiou, so even if / when we do sign him, we would still have 20 skaters and 2 goalies.

I agree with your lines, except I'd swap one of Abdelkader or Helm with Booth. I don't like DeKeyser on the top pair, but we know that's where he'll end up. Yes, the deadline is today at 5pm EST. With Sproul being waived yesterday, and once Franzen is placed on LTIR, we should have just under $200K in cap space. Bertuzzi is on IR, and once he's activated, either he ($661,667) or Booth ($700,000) or Witkowski ($750,000) (hopefully the latter...) will be sent down to Grand Rapids (unless there are other injuries before then)... Like you said though, another move will have to be made to get Athanasiou signed. Hopefully there's something in the works as we speak...

Great news! I'm pretty sure Anderson circled back to Columbus' original offer from a few months ago as well. $1.85M x 3 years. Maybe Ferris smartened the f*** up and advised him to take the deal. Hopefully AA does the same over the next day or two too.

I don't believe Athanasiou ever even considered going over seas. It was nothing more than an empty threat to gain some sort of leverage. It clearly didn't work. He should just sign a one or two year deal, and work his ass off to prove that he's worth much more on his next contract. Sitting out training camp and pre-season didn't do him any favors, and missing the start of the season won't either. I still hope every time I check Red Wings news that there will be an "Athanasiou Signed" headline. It's looking unlikely that anything will be done before opening night, and even if it were, he wouldn't likely be in the lineup for a while anyway...

Imagine. A young player not getting a fair shot on this team? Because of defensive issues?... This organization would have found a way to stifle the offense of a young Erik Karlsson...

Any player claimed has to stay on the big club for so many days (30?), before he can be sent through waivers again. Some process would apply again. That's how we got Frk back from the Canes last season. Something like that anyway...

Yup, and I also agree with going for a pick rather than Pouliot. We don't need any mediocre defenseman clogging up the pool...

Some as in the underlined portion?...

Even with these two moves, they don't have the cap space to sign Athanasiou. Trade in the works?

Not sure why I'm taking the bait again, but the only thing I will say is that confidence is extremely important in any sport, and it's a tough thing to build back up once it's taken a hit. Jurco is a bust. Would he have been a bust if drafted by a different team or handled differently? Of course you will say yes, but we'll never know for sure. The raw skill was definitely there, just didn't have the mental toughness to be a successful NHLer.

Definitely expected, but the wrong move in my opinion. Regardless of what people think of Sproul as a player, to waive him over Witkowski is asinine. Oh well, I fully expected this, and I also expect him to be claimed tomorrow...

I got it from James Mirtle, retweeted by Pierre LeBrun, but Khan is tweeting just Sproul on waivers...

Sproul and Booth placed on waivers today. F**** sake!

Coreau, along with everyone else cleared waivers.

It does look pretty bad on paper, but that's to be expected for a team that should be rebuilding. I don't think it's worse than last season though. We basically replaced Smith with Daley, who should be an upgrade, and Miller with Booth, who is definitely an upgrade. Athanasiou missing hurts for sure, but I don't expect him to miss the whole season. Hopefully he signs pretty soon here...

We're also going to need to make some sort of move to get cap compliant, before the 12:00pm EST deadline tomorrow. We're currently $4,371,212 over the salary cap. Once Franzen ($3,954,545) is placed on LTIR, we will still be $416,667 over the cap. The likely move is Sproul gets waived (and undoubtedly claimed), but I'm selfishly hoping Kronwall ends up on LTIR along with Franzen...

Looks like it will be... Tatar - Zetterberg - Nyquist Mantha - Larkin - Frk Abdelkader - Nielsen - Helm Booth - Sheahan - Glendening DeKeyser - Daley Ericsson - Green Ouellet - Jensen Howard Mrazek Can't believe Athanasiou still isn't signed...

Good signing. Great guy to have as a 12th/13th forward. $700K in Detroit, $250K if demoted to Grand Rapids.

Hopefully Coreau clears. A lot of speculations that he will be claimed. Happy to see Parenteau released, and that Booth is still in the mix for that 12th/13th forward spot. Everyone else will clear.