krsmith17

This has to be as close to the ideal lineup as we'll ever see... I'm sure most people would have a tweak or two here and there but those lines and pairings look pretty damn close to what I'd have for sure...

Great to see Ouellet get the call. Regarding Jensen, I think he'll be waived and claimed next season, which is a shame because I really like the kid. For me, more so than Ouellet and even Marchenko. He's been the most impressive in each of the past two training camps / pre-seasons in my opinion and he always plays a very smart, efficient game down in Grand Rapids. I don't think he's anything more than a solid number 5 in the NHL, but I don't think Ouellet or Marchenko will ever be anything more than that either. I also don't think if he gets picked up by some other team next season that in a few years time we'll be kicking ourselves, saying "I can't believe we let that stud Nick Jensen go a few years ago", but I do think he'll be a solid pickup for some team. He doesn't do anything extraordinarily well, but he does everything well. He's a very smooth skating, puck moving defenseman, with an above average hockey IQ. He rarely finds himself out of position, but has the speed to recover in the rare time he does. He also has a bit of nastiness in his game and doesn't shy away from the rough stuff. I'm hoping we can find some way to keep him on our bottom pair next season, or even as a number 7...

Like I said in another thread, I really hope Holland has been paying close attention to what the Leafs have been able to do over the past year, in regards to shedding contracts. Getting rid of Clarkson, Kessel and Phaneuf is no easy feat but they made it happen. Nearly $20M in awful contracts off the books. It may take some creativity but trading Howard along with his entire contract is definitely doable...

Anybody here going to the Stadium Series game?

DeKeyser and Green both confirmed to be in tonight. Mrazek starting.

Mrazek is the real deal. #mrazekforvezina

I've been to the Joe a bunch of times but I'll definitely be making one last visit before it closes down. I'd love to go to the last regular season game next season. I'd also love to go to the home opener in the new building in 2017... I doubt I'll be able to do both though, unfortunately...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/the-heart-of-dylan-larkin/ Another great Larkin video!

Great news with DeKeyser. Green is still day to day but will likely miss another couple games minimum. Don't want to rush a groin injury, especially when we're winning games. Kronwall is eligible to come off LTIR Sunday against Boston (if I'm not mistaken?), but will likely miss another game or two after that. Kindl hasn't been awful the past couple games but I really wish we would send him back down and call up Jensen. I'd like to see what he can do in an actual NHL game before he runs out of options next season... Also, great news on sending Andersson down and keeping Athanasiou up. I hope he doesn't have to play another game in Grand Rapids ever again...

Pretty sure it was just the flu and he'll likely be back in the lineup tomorrow night against Dallas...

I agree that they have looked decent together but I'd still prefer Tatar and Jurco together. It seems like they always feed off each other, and there's always magic when they're on the ice together. I also think Jurco is better suited for top 6 over Richards. Nonetheless, those forward lines look pretty good as is.

Love the forward lines. Switch Richards and Jurco and they'd be as close to perfect as I'd like to see. Defense pairings are pretty awful looking. Happy we have Mrazek to lean on...

You can still see the video on YouTube. Just type "Dylan Larkin D-Boss"...

Awesome news!

I know he was just a kid, hell he's still just a kid, but that was terrible... I hope for his sake, that video is whipped from every site on the internet. I'm sure he's quite embarrassed looking back at it, and I'm sure he's getting his fair share of s*** from the boys in the locker room. I feel bad for the kid haha.

I'm not going to say that giving up a 1st, 2nd and a prospect is "giving up our future", but it definitely sets us back, especially considering there is absolutely no guarantee we would be able to re-sign him. Chances are, Byfuglien would want to test the market, especially considering he would be one of the top defenceman available this summer. We would have to massively overpay to keep him, and he's not a guy I want to overpay, especially on term, which he would be looking for for sure. So we give up those assets for a couple months of Byfuglien, in a year when we're not one player away from being a legit Cup contender... We need to stay the course, and continue to build this team. We should be looking to trade for a top pairing defenceman, but Byfuglien is not that guy in my opinion. We need someone that is still relatively young, has term remaining on his contract, and someone that we'd be able to lock up long term. If we're calling Winnipeg, it should be to see if we can make some sort of deal for Trouba. Now that is a player you could overpay for. Imagine a top pairing of DeKeyser - Trouba going forward, that is a legit top pair, something we haven't seen in Detroit in quite some time...

Stay the f*** away from Byfuglien please. Unless we're able to get him for Richards and Kindl... Obviously not.

I wouldn't mind trying Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Larkin together for a couple games... Nyquist - Richards - Abdelkader Tatar - Sheahan - Jurco Helm - Glendening - Athanasiou

Red Wings have recalled Andreas Athanasiou from the Griffins.

Nothing real serious. He injured his knee in a game against Rockford (I think it was) in early December. He tried to get back into the lineup a couple weeks later, which turned out to be too early, as he tweaked it again. He's been back for 4 games now, in which the Griffs have lost every game, getting shut out in 2 of them. He didn't look good in his first game back, but has looked much better in the last 3 games, despite going pointless in all 4 since his return. Bob Kaser mentioned in one of the games that he is still wearing a knee brace, so he's being cautious about it, but he should have it off after the All-Star break.

Yes his contract is up after this season and they can trade him at any point. If they don't have any intention in re-signing him, and they are trying to up his trade value, I guess that would explain his usage... I still don't like it, because I don't really think any other team would buy that Helm is a legit top 6 forward, and I don't see much in a return for him. I would have much rather see him used as a bottom 6 forward and pay him accordingly to retain him in the offseason...

Yeah, the Joakim Andersson thread has evolved into how we should remodel our 4th line now that that scrub has cleared waivers... I've said it before, I'd rather Helm at $2.75M than Miller at $1.5M, but if Helm is asking more than $3M, I'd let him walk. I really want to keep him, I just wish he weren't forced into the top 6. He's not a top 6 player, but because he's been up there for a year or so, he'll expect to be paid like one...

I agree. I don't think Tangradi will be anything more than an emergency call up for us. He's a UFA after this season too, so he may try his luck with another organization again next season. I wouldn't mind keeping him down in Grand Rapids for depth though. Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing what one of Nosek or Callahan can do in a 4th line role next season. I wouldn't mind seeing Miller re-signed, but I think I'm leaning more toward letting him walk...

Exactly my point Dickie... He'll never be a scorer at the NHL level, which is why he should concentrate on his defensive game in the AHL. If he ever were to get a call again, he could potentially stick as a 4th line, penalty killer, tough guy, but he would definitely need to improve his defensive game. He'll never become a top 6 goal scorer that drops the gloves like Milan Lucic. If he wants to make it in a permanent role in Detroit (I don't think he will), he would need to mold his game after a Cody McLeod or Chris Thorburn, a bottom 6, defensive minded guy that can kill penalties...

Pretty much all of Tangradi's goals have come in the "dirty" variety, which is a good thing. They've mostly been crashing and banging in a rebound or a backdoor tap in on a pass from Mantha or Athanasiou. I don't think he will ever be a scorer in the NHL, but he does have a skill set, one that I think we could use on our 4th line. One thing I do wish though is that Nelson would use him more as a shut down penalty killer with the Griffins rather than top line power-play. If he ever has a shot at making the Wings, he would be a bottom 6 guy, now way he ever gets beyond that...