krsmith17

What exactly is Blashill failing at when it comes to coaching? In my opinion systems and approach is fine, the only issue I have right now is player usage. He needs to stop relying on the same old / s***ty players, and start leaning on the youth. If he were somehow able to do that, I think he'd be fine. The most frustrating thing about all of this is that his player usage was one of the things I was most excited about prior to last season. In Grand Rapids, he seemed to rely heavily on the star players, while the s***ty players sat. Which is why I'm kind of starting to think that it may not be Blashill at all. Maybe it's coming from above him. I mean, Holland is the one that re-signed Miller and signed Ott isn't he? He obviously wants them playing. Does Blashill feel the same way? Maybe. Maybe not... I'm not convinced that Blashill is the issue, based on his track record. Babcock relied heavily on the same type players in Detroit, but doesn't at all in Toronto. In fact, Babs is relying heavily on the kids while the 4th liners like Holland, Martin and Smith are getting 10-12 minutes a night. I'm starting to believe this may be an organizational issue, not necessarily coaching. I don't think Blashill is going anywhere, nor do I think it would help much if he did...

The rotation shouldn't even include Sproul / Ouellet in my opinion. It should be Marchenko / Ericsson. I'd go with... Smith - Green DeKeyser - Sproul Ouellet - Ericsson / Marchenko / Kronwall Man, do we ever need an upgrade on D...

Zetterberg is still leading all forwards in time on ice. That is unacceptable. The fact that he started the overtime period is mind blowing to me. 3-on-3 hockey is all about speed, that's when the bench should be shortened. I'd start with Larkin - Athanasiou - Green, then throw out Nielsen - Nyquist - Smith, then Helm - Tatar - Sproul / Ouellet (if it gets that far)... Slow / shut-down players should never see the ice in OT...

Who is this Gagne player you speak of? I assume you mean Simon Despres?

All these blown leads are on the coaching staff (Blashill). I don't understand the mentality to sit back on leads. Instead of trying to defend a lead, why not try to extend it? I'm sick and f***ing tired of seeing a shortened bench at the end of games, with our "defensive studs" out every other shift, while the kids / offensive players sit... Up by a goal with just over a minute remaining and we throw out Nielsen (I don't mind him being out there, although he was a big reason they scored the tying goal last night), Glendening, Miller, Ericsson and Marchenko... Like seriously, what the f*** is that s***? Let's try to defend the one goal lead by out-gritting / blocking shots, spending the entire shift in the defensive zone, rather than putting players on the ice that can actually gain possession and move the play up ice... Another thing, why the f*** do we always go with two defenders on the power-play when up by a goal at the end of games? Again, to defend the lead... Why not try to score an insurance goal to cushion the lead? Terrible f***ing coaching strategy... Don't f***ing sit back! Go for the jugular!

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Matchups usually tend to even out over the course of a season. The home coach has the advantage of last change, and with 41 games at home and 41 on the road, it makes sense that it would even out. If your trying to get your top line out against weaker lines / defense pairs at home, then chances are when you're on the road, the opposing coach is trying to get his best defensive line / defence pair out against your same top line. Same applies to your 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines... I agree though, that Miller and Ott should be replaced by younger / better players. The insistence to have these guys in the lineup every night, constantly getting hemmed in their own zone is very frustration to watch...

They would be reserves on my team as well. I'd still rather have Frk, a player that could potentially turn into something on my 23-man roster over any past their prime scrubs... I consider a kid that just turned 23 a few weeks ago still a prospect. Odds are against him for sure but I don't see it any less likely that he becomes a 3rd liner at the NHL level than Nosek or Holmstrom or whoever else... Anyway, I'm done with this topic. Glad to see Frk back with the organization.

I don't think it's that Carlo is that good, I just don't really think we have anything comparable. The closest we would have in my opinion is Sproul, and when you look at Carlo being 19 with 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in 9 games and Sproul being 23 with 2 points (2 assists) in 6 games, chances are you'd value the guy 4 years younger a little more. Maybe such a package would get it done, but if so, why hasn't it been done yet?

We definitely don't have anything comparable to Carlo, but you'd think Tatar would at least be somewhat comparable to Spooner. I'd do Tatar, Ouellet and a high pick without hesitation, which is why that probably isn't enough to get it done...

Dickie, I don't think we're that far off on our line of thinking. We both agree that our 4th line could be a lot better with certain players scratched and other players moved down. Like I said, I would have been completely okay with waiving them, if that were the case. And we Athanasiou and Mantha in the lineup. Like I've been saying all along... I just didn't like losing them (no matter what you or I see them being worth) over scrub 4th liners...

I disagree. Saying that Pulkkinen / Frk are "low-tier" prospects would suggest that there are no prospects lower than them on the totem pole (which there are). To me, top-tier are your Mantha / Athanasiou / Svechnikov type prospects, mid-tier are your Bertuzzi / Frk / Nosek prospects, and low-tier are your Aubry / Callahan / Nastasiuk prospects... So yes, I stand by them being "mid-tier" prospects. They are not 4th line plugs though, that is (Miller / Ott) who we decided to keep in favor of these guys. I was never mad about losing Pulkkinen or Frk to waivers because I thought they were huge loses. I was mad that we lost them in favor of two 4th line scrubs. If we lost Pulkkinen in favor of keeping Mantha in Detroit, I wouldn't have said s***... Anyway, we did give them away, and although they likely won't / wouldn't be a huge loss, it is nice to have Frk back, if for no other reason than depth in the minors.

Please explain how they could have kept Frk / Pulkkinen without waiving anyone with under $600K in cap space... What part of the statement "And now we only lost one mid tier prospect in favor of Miller / Ott..." is "untrue"? Did you miss the part where I said "Who knows if he'll ever make the Wings roster, but regardless he's a solid addition to Grand Rapids"?... You may not care about these players because you don't think they'll ever develop into NHL caliber players, and that's fine. However, I don't like losing these players because they do still have potential to become decent NHL players. But more than that, I'm also a fan of the Griffins and players like Frk help that team. If Frk becomes a career AHLer, I'd still prefer him in Grand Rapids, rather than Charlotte or any other American League team.

Pulkkinen cleared waivers and will remain in the Minnesota organization. He will be playing in Grand Rapids this Friday... against the Griffins as a member of the Iowa Wild... Yes, Frk has already been assigned to the Griffins and will likely suit up this weekend. They didn't do the same for Pulkkinen because there was a little risk involved in putting in a claim for both players. If any other team after us in the order, put in a claim, we would have to make room for Pulkkinen / Frk on the Red Wings roster. Because we are up against the cap, there was no way to do so without losing another player... and we obviously couldn't make room by waiving a key player like Miller or Ott... I think Holland was a little surprised Pulkkinen went unclaimed, so he was willing to risk putting in a claim for Frk. It worked out, and Frk is back with the organization. I'm personally happy that of the two players, we were able to get Frk back. Who knows if he'll ever make the Wings roster, but regardless he's a solid addition to Grand Rapids. And now we only lost one mid tier prospect in favor of Miller / Ott...

Same here. I said before we played a single game this season that this would be the worst line assembled league wide, but I've actually been somewhat impressed with them thus far. Ott has been better than I expected, Glendening has been decent, and while Miller has been the worst of the three, he has two goals... I still think we could put together a MUCH better 4th line, but they haven't been as bad as I thought they'd be...

Boston as well.

Frk claimed by Carolina. Pulkkinen to be claimed tomorrow. All to keep Miller and Ott on the roster... Great f***ing job Holland you a** hat... I swear, if Sproul gets waived, I will officially be on the #fireholland band wagon...

We're riding a ridiculously high PDO, and we have been fortunate to win some of these games, but it's good to see the team is fully aware of this. Both Blashill and Zetterberg, as well as the rest of the team have admitted that they're not playing their best hockey despite being in the midst of a 6 game winning streak. I'm sure their "luck" will wear out a little, but when it does, I'm also fairly confident they will be able to up their game. Of course this early stretch of games isn't sustainable, we're currently on pace for 123 points, but this team isn't nearly as bad as some like to think. Im expecting the streak to hit 7 tonight!

According to Dreger, there were "at least 3 teams" that put in a claim for Pulkkinen when we waived him...

Serious question shocky, who's your team?

I don't think Nyquist alone would be enough to get Fowler. I'd consider a one for one deal, but I wouldn't add anything of significance with it... I'd personally rather trade Tatar but I know I'm in the minority there...

The way I understand it is that the only way we could have gotten Pulkkinen back in Grand Rapids is if we were the only team to put a claim in on him. If any team before us in the order did, they would get him. If any team after us in the order did, we would get him, but he'd have to stay in Detroit, counting against our cap (which we don't have)... The only thing I'm confused about is, if there's no minimum day / game rule that he must stay on the roster, couldn't we just hope we were the only team that put a claim in on him (we would have been), and if we weren't, just waive him again right away?.. That would be pretty rough for the kid though, being waived three times in the span of a few weeks...

What would Vegas want with any of those players? The idea of all these loop holes is to help them become competitive right away. They're certainly not going to have any interest in mid level AHL players. There will be much better players that will be left unprotected.

If the Wings had put in a claim on him they could have sent him down to Grand Rapids, instead he ends up in Iowa. Oh well...

I'd waive Miller. He has a slightly higher cap hit ($225K), and Ott has been the better player, despite Miller's two goals. I'll admit, I've been impressed with what I've seen from Ott early on and I'm okay with him remaining in the lineup for now.