krsmith17

Where have you read / heard this? I haven't seen a single reputable mock draft with him anywhere above 20-24... That would be an awful pick in my opinion. Bean or McLeod for me if either is still available...

I don't think I've ever disagreed with so much in one post... Aside from the first sentence I disagree with pretty much everything here... We don't need a Russell or Hamhuis, aka mid tier defenseman. We already have plenty of them on the team now, not to mention any of the kids that are out of options this coming season that could play the same role a hell of a lot cheaper. Quincey played decent this season as well as last, but he needs to go to make room for Ouellet and Sproul. Richards should be gone as well. The only way I see him returning is if we completely strike out on free agency, and Staal isn't the solution either. Both would be a mistake in my opinion, as I think both Larkin and Athanasiou would be better suited to take over the top 6 center positions. Maybe not short term, but certainly looking long term. Switch Abdelkader back to center? In the top 6? That would be terrible... He's much better suited as a winger and would get destroyed as a top 6 center. Zetterberg should also be switched to the wing or 3rd line center getting limited ice time. No way should he be our number one center next season. Helm is terrible? Seriously? No, he's not a top 6 guy and shouldn't be used there, but he is one of the best bottom 6 / penalty killers in the league. Miller is a must? Miller is f***ing awful compared to Helm. Pulkkinen on the top line over Larkin, Mantha, Nyquist, Tatar or pretty much anyone? Marchenko on the top pair and Green as the number 7? The fact that you don't have any of Nyquist, Tatar or Green in your lineup is funny enough, but that you say they're "almost impossible to move" is hilarious... I'm not trying to s*** on your post too much, but I just have no idea how you could be serious about any of this...

You can argue how good he is, people do all the time. The problem is it's always a flawed argument fueled by blind hate. "Sidney Criesby sucks"... Get it? Female name making him "inferior" and he "cries" all the time... herpa derp...

I don't understand the argument here... Are you seriously saying that Kane is a better hockey player than Crosby, based on this one season? Like was mentioned, Crosby had one of the slowest starts of his career and still finished over a point per game. Your going to use career points per game as one of your arguments? Kane has 1.01 pts/g in the regular season and 0.98 pts/g in the playoffs. Crosby has 1.33 pts/g in the regular season and 1.14 pts/g in the playoffs. Crosby is also a much better all around player. The only edge I would give Kane over Crosby in their individual games is stick handling, everything else Crosby is far superior. Sure Kane has three Cups to Crosby's one, but that's also a team stat, and Crosby very well could add another in a few weeks. Crosby also has two Olympic gold medals to Kane's one silver. But if you want to talk individual awards, it's not even close. Kane has won the Calder in 2008, Conn Smythe in 2013 and Art Ross this season. Crosby was the runner up to Ovechkin for the Calder in 2006, and has won Rocket Richard in 2010, Art Ross in 2007 / 2014, Lester B. Pearson in 2007 / 2013 / 2014, Hart in 2007 / 2014, Mark Messier in 2007 / 2010, among many other awards and accolades. Crosby is regarded as THE best player in the world by most, Kane is top 5-10 by most... He would be outside of my top 5, possibly even 10, but that's my personal opinion...

If Datsyuk is gone (looks like he is), Holland will definitely do whatever he can to trade the contract. But why the hell would he say that he will trade it when Pav was still undecided a month or two ago? If there's even a shred of hope that he might come back, you don't say you're going to trade the contract. All that would do is make Pav's decision that much easier. Although I think he may have had his mind made up even long before we first heard about it... Still though, if we've learned anything over the years, it's that what Holland (and other GM's / coaches) say to the media isn't always 100% accurate. Datsyuk's contract will be traded, unless like has been mentioned, the asking price is way too high (I don't think it will be)... I wouldn't mind seeing Pav do something similar to what Selanne did with Anaheim in the 2007-08 season. We could keep his contract on the books, he could stay over in Russia with his daughter, continue to practice and train over there until after Christmas, and come back to Detroit for one last push / playoff run... I guess that would all depend on whatever other moves we could possibly make though. Obviously if that contract is the only thing preventing us to sign a big name free agent or make a trade, then we try to trade it. But if it's going to be dead cap space and Pav would be willing to do that, I'd certainly entertain the idea of him coming back for one last hurrah...

Which is exactly why we should have traded him at last year's deadline... could have gained another 2nd round pick in this year's draft. Oh well...

Who said they want him to bring "30 goals and nothing else"???

We have more than enough two way forwards, we need a pure goal scorer. And to suggest that if he's not scoring he wouldn't be providing anything is ridiculous...

Exactly. My fear is that this organization will try their hardest to turn this kid into a two way player. They should be putting him on a line with two defensively responsible forwards, and tell him to concentrate solely on offense. Do what you do best and score goals...

Free agency shouldn't even be a thought this year for a defenseman. Quincey should and hopefully will sign with another team, and no one else should be brought in, other than a top pair guy via trade...

Great f***ing news!!! Hopefully we can sign Helm to a reasonable contract now.

Zero chance we land Stamkos and Okposo... I think there's going to be a lot of disappointed people here after free agency. Get the pitch forks ready and prepare your Holland sucks barrage now...

I think the chances of us signing Stamkos is about 10% at best and same goes for trading for a top pairing defenseman like Trouba. The chance of both happening this summer is slim to none. I'm not saying it would have to be one or the other, but if we could either sign Stamkos and sign or trade for a mid tier defenseman like Quincey or sign Okposo and trade for Trouba, I'd chose option 2 every time. Bottom line, we need a top pair defenseman far more than we need a number 1 center. We have Larkin that we all expect to become that guy, we don't have anyone right now that projects to be a number one defenseman. We're not legit Cup contenders next season, so I'm okay with letting Larkin develop, and trade for the number one defenseman. Like I said though, regardless of what else happens, if we sign Stamkos, I'll be quite happy...

Bean in the 1st and Day or Johansen in the 2nd would be unbelievable.

I wouldn't rather have Radulov or Okposo over Stamkos, however I'm not sure how I would feel about paying him $10.5M until 2024. What are we going to pay Larkin, Mantha and company in a few years if he's making that kind of money? If we're spending that kind of cap on a player, I'd prefer it be spent on a defenseman. In saying that, if we landed Stamkos, I wouldn't be too upset...

Yeah, Frk and Tangradi were huge loses but I was happy to see Svechnikov get a couple games. He's going to be a good one for sure. The future is bright with a few of these kids.

F***! Werenski... kid is going to be a stud....

Athanasiou has been very quiet... I'm hoping he breaks loose for the game winner.

Going to overtime... Griffins will start short-handed. Way too many blown opportunities with the man-advantage...

Coreau.

F***! 3-3.....

3-2...

Haha how can anyone not like Callahan? What a beauty. Just dropped Rychel.

Ouellet!!! 3-1! There's a lot of stats I wish the AHL would track. It's actually unbelievable how little they track. You would think with the way teams are developing and moving more and more towards advanced analytics, they would incorporate these tools into their farm clubs...

I've said all season that Sproul has been one of our best defensemen down in Grand Rapids. He's far better than both Marchenko and Ouellet in my opinion. I get that Marchenko has been ahead of him because he's "safer", but Sproul has cleaned up his defensive game a ton. Sproul's offensive puck possession game far exceeds Marchenko's defensive shut-down game in my opinion...