krsmith17

What would be the point in sending Howard to Grand Rapids?...

You say that Tatar has looked "real good" with Zetterberg and Larkin, so Nyquist would be the preferred player to move in a trade... But what about how great Nyquist, Vanek and Helm have looked together? That has been by far our best line, the only line that has stuck through the 3 games... I know you're high on Vanek, and hate Nyquist and Helm but take off the blinders for a moment and give credit where credit is due. Nyquist has been far better than Tatar based on these (small sample) three games. Vanek has looked great, but he's not the only driving force on that line.

No personal connection. He's just one of our best defensemen, so why let him walk? I'd package him in a trade for a true upgrade, and I'd let him walk if he's asking for a massive payday (doubt he will be), otherwise he's on my future roster...

I agree. There are quite a few Wiim articles that aren't great reads, simply because they put out so many, written by so many different people, however they do still have a lot of quality content in my opinion. I certainly don't agree with everything they have to say, but they are educated "fans". I listen to their podcast every week and for me, I think it's one of the better Red Wing podcast out there...

kliq, we went from starving for right-handed shooting defenseman to icing a team with 5... Not sure if that's a good thing... I personally hope we re-sign Smith (I know, shocking right?). I'd rather see something like... DeKeyser - Trouba Smith - Green Ouellet - Sproul / Russo

Frank, why would Anaheim want Trouba? They're trying to offload defensemen to make room for Lindhold. They're carrying 8 defenseman not including their stud RFA. Now, a three way trade involving some other team with top 6 wingers to spare and a need for a top pair defenseman... that could work... If only there were a team out there that fit that description...

Capfriendly.com

Trouba will eventually get moved (probably not to Detroit), and it will be for significantly less than Cheveldayoff is currently asking... He will eventually have to come down on his demands and when he does, I'm betting Boston are the first in on him...

Yeah, he can't turn pro for another couple seasons, unless he were to make the Wings before then (not going to happen). Regardless nice to see the kid ink his first contract with Detroit. Can't wait to watch him in Grand Rapids in a couple years.

The reason we lose so many players for nothing on waivers is because this organization takes way too long to determine what they have in a player. Why is that? Because for the most part, they refuse to bring them up until they're waiver eligible. None of our scouts are able to tell before year 5 after a player is drafted whether or not they have a future with this organization? Forget about the players we've lost, they're gone, whatever... What if we end up losing Sproul without giving him a real shot? How has this kid been with the organization for five years and he's only played one game three years ago? That to me is what I see as the real problem with this team and their inability to manage their assets...

I understand the benefit of home ice, but what does last change have to do with our 4th line? I can see if you were talking about a top line, but who do you think Cooper was trying to match up against our amazing 4th line that made them struggle so much? I'll agree that Glendening was effective in that series, but that may have been the worst thing that could have happened. Because Glendening was so effective at shutting down the Johnson line, he now get matched up (over-matched) by pretty much every top line in the league. By the way, I like Glendening, and I think if utilized properly he can be an effective player. However he is way over used and misused in my opinion. Regardless, my beef isn't with Glendening on this team, it's with the other two plugs I mentioned, Miller and Ott. Those guys are useless and the fact that we waived Pulkkinen and Frk in favour of them, and they're in the lineup over Athanasiou, Mantha, Bertuzzi, etc. is what pisses me off...

Awesome to see Athanasiou in for Ott. Not sure how I feel about the line combinations, but a huge improvement for sure. I would say that I wish Sproul were in, and even though I'm not Ouellet's biggest fan, I think he had a very strong game, so unless Ericsson is coming out (he's not), Sproul's going to have to wait it out...

How about... Zetterberg - Nielsen - Nyquist Abdelkader - Larkin - Tatar Mantha - Athanasiou - Vanek Sheahan - Helm - Glendening

What does being on the road have to do with our 4th line being f***ing terrible? Miller and Ott are awful at every aspect of the game, no matter which ice surface they're playing on, whether it's 5-on-5, short-handed, up by a goal trying to protect the lead, or down by a goal trying to eat 40 seconds while other lines get a breather... They're flat out bad at hockey, and should not have a place on this roster, certainly not in the lineup every single night. I sure hope Blashill and co. realize this and scratch them / send them down to Grand Rapids... I'd rather literally any player in the entire organization in over these scrubs... It sucks losing any assets for nothing, but this was never specifically about Nestrasil, or Frk, or Pulkkinen for me, this is about losing assets while s***tier, more expensive players remain on the team... It's terrible asset management, which is something teams can't afford to do in today's NHL.

I'm not sure what article you read but like Fife said, it was purely a cap move, nothing more. It definitely didn't have anything to do with wanting another look from him...

I agree e_prime. Those first two are way too likely to be considered anything close to a bold prediction... Scrap them, here it is... 1.) Sheahan has a breakout year on the wing, scores 20 goals, 45 points. 2.) Frk out-produces Vanek this year. 3.) Ericsson is a frequent healthy scratch, and Sproul is in the running for Calder... - Bold enough for you?

Today has been a long time coming... Can't F***ing Wait!!!

1.) Miller and Ott play a combined 160 games (>15 mins. per game) and get less than 25 points between them. Still get praised for their awwwesome defensive ability and penalty kill prowess, but are bottom of the league in possession stats... once again... 2.) Athanasiou and Mantha play a combined 60 games (<10 mins. per game) and get more than 40 points between them. Still get criticized for their defensive ability, but are top of the team in possession stats... 3.) Sheahan has a breakout year on the wing, scores 20 goals, 45 points.

Obviously Ott and Miller >>> Athanasiou... AA wasn't even an elite player in the American League, how can you expect him to be better than those guys in the National League?...

Lefty, we don't have to worry about waiving Sproul or anyone when Kronwall comes back because he's on IR not LTIR. Although he's not currently on the 23-man roster, his full cap hit still counts against the cap. So once Kronwall comes back, we can just send Pasquale back down to Grand Rapids. My biggest concern is, once Kronwall does come back, Sproul could be a healthy scratch every night, despite being a better option than some others (Ericsson) in the lineup. Also once Kronwall comes back will we continue to go with 13 forwards and 8 defensemen? I guess that depends on other injuries... Regardless, we shouldn't have to waive anyone else until Jurco is ready to come off LTIR, which isn't for another couple months, and by that time someone else will likely be injured anyway... As far as the expansion draft goes, and despite the questionable calls Holland has made, I'd be shocked if he protects both Kronwall and Ericsson. He may even (should) leave them both unprotected...

The move was made to get cap compliant before the 5:00pm EST deadline, nothing more. Even with Franzen, Jurco and Vitale on LTIR we were slightly over the cap. We sent Street down ($600K) and called up Pasquale ($575K). We now have a whopping $1,667 in cap space...

I really can't see there being a trade in the works, especially at this point when rosters have to be finalized to fit the 23 man roster. It is quite odd though that we just waived two players that everyone knew would be claimed, all to get down to the now 22 man roster, with Kronwall on IR...

Frk's biggest knock was always his skating, but that has improved leaps and bounds since then. He's still not a great skater or fast by any stretch, but he can definitely keep up to the pace of the NHL. I think he will go on to have a better career than Pulkkinen. Frk is very strong on the puck and seems to be a much smarter player. I would have liked to keep him over signing Vanek. Vanek is probably the better player today, but Frk would likely be the better player next year and in the future. Not to mention it would have saved the team $2M in cap space. Holland is terrible at cap management and a big part of that is taking advantage of entry level contracts, something he is incapable of doing...

I don't think anyone is actually over-valuing Frk or Pulkkinen here. They will both be middle 6, likely 3rd line players. None of this uproar is really about them, it's about keeping lesser quality players on the roster over them. Holland continues to make terrible signings at the expense of better, younger, cheaper players that the team has put time and money into to draft and develop. It's like Wings3:16 said, Holland continues to preach "building through the draft" but loses talent every single year. You can say all you want that these guys are not NHL quality players, or they're no big loss, but both of these players are better than anything we've lost in the past. When there were 3+ claims on one and at least that for the other today, I think it's clear both are quality talent. Look at all the players going through waivers this week, every single one has cleared so far except Frk yesterday, and Pulkkinen today... That is terrible asset management. But hey, we still have Miller and Ott on the team... What happens when Kronwall is healthy? Do we continue to go with 8 defensemen? I doub it. Meaning one of Sproul or Ouellet will be waived and definitely, 100% claimed. Unless of course there's a trade made before then... I'm not going to hold my breath...

Terrible assets management. I was actually surprised to see Frk was waived, I thought he had a very good camp. Not at all surprised he was claimed, apparently 3+ teams put in a claim and Carolina was the lucky team to get him. I was shocked Pulkkinen was waived and there's no chance he doesn't get claimed. I'm actually more upset that Frk was claimed than I will be when Pulkkinen gets claimed tomorrow...