krsmith17

No surprise here.

I agree, but this notion that Ouellet is a "lock to make the team" over Sproul is what frustrates the hell out of me. And I'm not just talking about you saying it, it's what every Red Wings reporter is saying. Khan writes it in every other article... I think Sproul has been the far better player in training camp as well as the two preseason games they played. 2 assists, 9 shots, +2 vs. 1 assist, 3 shots, even +/-. F*** always taking the safe player. We need defensemen that are willing to take risks jumping up in the play to create offense. I just wish our system would allow these types of players to play their game and get the offense going... Anyway, for me it's Sproul >>> Ouellet and it's not even close...

Jesusberg, I agree that that's likely what will happen, I just don't agree that that's what should happen. I know it's too early to tell with either, but I'd personally take Frk over Pulkkinen if it came down to one or the other right now. I think Sproul should be on this team come opening night, even if it is as a number 7. Although it would sting a little, I'd be able to stomach losing Frk to waivers. It's way too early to give up on Sproul though, and if he's waived, that's exactly what we'd be doing, because there's no chance he clears waivers.

I get that Ericsson is one of the players on your hit list and you like to call him out as often as you can, but Ericsson did not look bad in the two games he played. He actually looked the way we should want / expect him to play. Solid in his own end, no noticeable gaffes, and capable of eating up minutes in the bottom 4. And by the way, despite what your biased opinion says, Ericsson was better than Jensen in both games they played. Don't get me wrong, I'd still take Jensen on this team over Ericsson without a second thought, but in this very small sample size of pre-season games, Ericsson > Jensen...

I agree kip, Jensen looked awful in the game the other night. I've been very impressed with Frk, in tonight's game in particular. Sproul looked solid, not spectacular, but I'd love to see those two make the opening night roster, two right handed weapons on the power-play...

Haha Glendening from Ott and Miller. 1-0 Wings! 2-0. Frk!

I missed most of exhibition. I was referring to the past 3-4 games in which they were on three separate lines. I do remember hearing before the tourney started though that they were supposed to form one line. Like I said, I didn't watch those games, but I would assume they didn't gel well together?

Leafs will finish higher than us this season? Not a chance. I'll take that bet any day... Also, please stop lumping Nyquist in with the useless and / or overpaid players. He's neither and you're the only person that would suggest that he is. Just another player you're going to inexplicably hate on forever I guess...

Yeah, ideally Vegas would take Howard or Ericsson, but unfortunately I doubt they will. I see them taking a Sheahan or Helm (if not protected). If we could somehow manage to get Vegas to take one and trade the other (retaining $1-1.5M in salary), that would be huge for this team going forward...

Both Howard and Ericsson CAN be traded, it just involves the will / want to make it happen. Unfortunately, I don't think Holland really wants to move either bad enough. Although Howard was "available" this summer, I'm not so sure Holland really wanted to move him. And I think he still believes Ericsson is a solid top 4 defenseman. I do think Howard will be moved after this season (if not before) and Coreau will be our backup next season (hopefully). But unfortunately I don't see Ericsson going anywhere. He will either finish that contract in Detroit or go on LTIR at some point over the next 4 seasons...

Yes, Howard could be sent down to Grand Rapids in favor of Coreau, but that would never happen. We would save money by doing so but assuming Howard went unclaimed, we'd still be on the hook for most of that contract. You can waive players with NTC's, you just can't with NMC's, and the only player on our roster with a NMC is Nielsen. Howard has a modified NTC, which he would have to give a list of 10 teams he would be willing to waive for, and I highly doubt Carolina would be on that list. Although I guess you never know. If he felt he had a good shot in taking the number one spot there, he might be willing to go there...

No, none of our three European players played together in the tournament other than a scattered shift and a bit on the power-play. Tatar played on the top line with Kopitar and Hossa. Nielsen centered the second line with Zuccarello and either Gaborik or Boedker, and Vanek was on the third line with Bellemare and Hansen.

Coreau has been one of the better goalies in the American League for over a year now and he's been great in training camp / preseason. I think he is an NHL quality goaltender right now. Hopefully we don't lose him on waivers this week...

This isn't and never was about Callahan for me. So I'll say it AGAIN... if it were any of the other guys you mentioned above that made the roster over Miller and / or Ott, I would be thrilled. So yes, this is about how useless I think Miller and Ott are, not how awesome I think Mitch Callahan is... So AGAIN, if Callahan is waived and claimed, I won't care about the quality of the player we are losing because players like Cally are a dime a dozen. I will however care that he was waived in order to keep two scrubs in the lineup... We're likely going to see a 4th line of Miller - Glendening - Ott and I think that will be absolutely awful. From an analytics standpoint, they have been among the 3 worst in the entire league, and now we're going to throw all 3 on a line and see what happens... They will continue to get hemmed in their own zone for 15 minutes a night and get talked up for their defensive prowess...

Sheahan, from Green and Lorito.

7:30 start isn't it?

Not a single person is saying that Callahan will get claimed when he inevitably gets waived in the next week or so. And not a single person would be to torn up if he did happen to get picked up by another team. No one really cared about Ferraro either except for the fact that he should have been kept over Miller and Andersson... If a team does claim him, they don't "have to keep him on the roster for the entire season"... They just can't send him down without having to clear waivers again. I can't remember how long they have to keep him but it certainly isn't a full season... And again, Callahan does have decent speed, and he's certainly faster than Miller and Ott. No, he's not big, but he is bigger than those guys as well...

Buppy, just because teams have passed on Callahan doesn't in any way mean that he isn't as good as or better than anyone currently on our 4th line. Just like if he is waived this season and a team does pick him up, won't necessarily mean he is better than players on our our 4th line... The only player ahead of him in my opinion that could / should fill a 4th line role is Bertuzzi, and I'd be okay with him as well. My point was never that we must make room for Cally on this team, it was that we should have never signed Ott, or re-signed Miller when we have better, cheaper options in our system...

Dickie, did Mitch f*** your mom or sister or girl or something? I don't get it. Not a single person is saying that he needs to be on this team, or that if he gets claimed he'll be a big loss or anything. All anyone is saying is that he should be given a shot to make the team over Miller or Ott... Why is that so crazy to you? "To play the style he plays, you need to be big or fast. He's neither." The style who plays? Needs to be big or fast compared to who? Callahan is definitely faster than both Miller and Ott, and he's also bigger than both, listed at 6'0", 195lbs. vs. 6'2", 180lbs. and 6'0", 189 lbs. respectively...

The problem there is that waiver eligible players hold as much value as Kris Draper to the Winnipeg Jets back in '93...

I'm not at all worried about losing Callahan to waivers, and I agree that players like him are a dime a dozen. I just wish that we had given him a shot rather than signing Miller and Ott. Same way I felt last year losing Ferraro. No big loss, but I'd take Ferraro and Callahan over Miller or Andersson or Ott any day. That's just my opinion... I do think that losing Sproul or Ouellet to waivers would be a much harder pill to swallow than any player we've lost in the past though...

You as much as anyone, complain when we lose kids on waivers, but now we should sign a mediocre defenseman and waive all three of Sproul, Ouellet and Jensen? I'd take any of those three over Kris Russell, and they'd come a hell of a lot cheaper as well... Signing a mediocre player is the last thing a team with our log jam at all positions needs. One thing we do agree on though is that we should be going hard after an upgrade on defense, via trade.

You're right, the team as a whole didn't do great short handed with Helm in the lineup, but I attribute that to the system we were implementing not the players we were using. We have been way too passive on the penalty kill and I believe that Houda will make the appropriate adjustments, which will make our penalty kill better defensively as well as more dangerous offensively. There's a reason we've been toward the bottom of the league every year in short handed goals for and Boston has been toward the top, and that's coaching and systems. Helm has been one of the best in the league in short handed advanced stats such as icorsi and ifenwick. He is a great penalty killer, and a very important player to this team, but just keep turning a blind eye, and continue with the whole "Helm sucks, is an overpaid 4th liner" nonsense...

I'm aware that Russell is a defenseman. So you only value penalty killing in defensemen? Great penalty killing forwards don't really matter right?

Yes he will. He's no longer waiver eligible.