krsmith17

Here come about 12 "I told you so('s)" on Alfie and Helm... Wait for it, waaaait for it... Why would Aaron Rome get a tryout? I get the whole competition thing but c'mon, this guy isn't going to provide any competition, even for a career #6/7/AHL guy Lashoff...

Awesome! That's the line I wanted to see formed from the beginning. I hope Athanasiou and Mantha can gain enough chemistry to warrant keeping them together in Grand Rapids as well. Bertuzzi - Athanasiou - Mantha Tvrdon - Nosek - Frk invitee - Turgeon - Nastasiuk invitee - invitee - Campbell

Absolutely. I watched a lot of Mooseheads games after we drafted him too, and you're right, he was something to watch. To be honest, he was one of my favorite prospects 2 years ago, I even had him ranked ahead of guys like Tatar and Jarnkrok... I still believe he can and will turn it around and have a huge year down in Grand Rapids this season. I don't expect both Frk and Pulkkinen to make the Wings roster in the next couple years, mainly due to the overloaded depth we have on the wings, but I hope at least one of them can make it. They play very similar games and have many of the same strengths (cannon shot, shoot first mentality, deceptively great passers) and weaknesses (skating speed, defensive awareness). Neither are very tall but both are fairly broad / stocky builds and both shoot right handed. I hope at least one of them can become an impact player for us in a few years and help out our stagnant power-play.

That is definitely a strong possibility but I think Frk is just a lot more prepared, both mentally and physically than he was at any point last year. He found out the hard way that coasting from junior to pro just doesn't work without putting in the work. I don't really think he was put in a position to succeed last year so I hope that after a strong camp and preseason he can gain some confidence and get off to a good start in his second year pro. I've always liked Frk and I'd love for him to become relevant as a prospect once again.

Jurco - Nosek - Pulkkinen Athanasiou - Miele - Mantha Tvrdon - Nestrasil - Frk Hoggan - Porter - Campbell Ferraro / Zengerle Paetsch - Sproul Ouellet - Jensen Backman - Marchenko Evans / Nedomlel Callahan - Red Wings 14th forward No way Frk doesn't make the roster, Tvrdon is still a bit of a question mark.

I agree with kliq, I think they will definitely give him at least one full season backing up before they ship him out. As I said, I think it's hard to place Mrazek as the next coming but I would be disappointed if we traded him away at this point in his career, even if Howard plays lights out for the next year or two. I don't see any problem with a solid 1-2 for a year and up both players trade value before you have to make a decision.

Some people are so damn impatient. I think a huge reason why I am patient with the way the Wings do things is because I am huge fan as the entire Red Wings organization. I am just as much a fan of the Griffins as I am the Wings. I watch 82 Wings games plus every playoff game every single year, I've watched about 90% of Griffins games the past few years and every single playoff game, as well as a scattered East Coast and Junior game to follow prospects down there as well. I don't want to see Mantha or Jurco or Pulkkinen rushed into the league because I'm quite content watching them develop their game down in Grand Rapids. I'd be happier to see three of them down in the AHL getting huge minutes, playing in all situations, possibly finish the season in the top 10 in scoring while helping the Griffins win another Calder Cup, then see any of them on the 3rd line in the NHL, playing 10-15 minutes a night and no special teams... I do believe some of these guys will be unbelievable in the next few years, and credit to the Wings organization for being patient with them and making sure they're good and ready before they're thrown into the best league in the world. Be Patient! And Watch Them Develop!

HockeytownRules19 - Are you streaming the game? If so, can you PM me a link?

Anyone have a stream they can PM me? I had one but lost it...

Go ahead and buy your jersey. There is a zero percent chance DeKeyser doesn't sign. I believe he will be yet another career Red Wing. As high as I am on Mrazek, I wouldn't buy his Red Wings jersey yet... I do think he will be a great goaltender in this league but you never know with goalies. There have been plenty goalies more highly regarded than Mrazek that didn't pan out... Just my advice, take it for it's worth... probably not much...

I'm not a big fan of these rule changes every year but I really want to see some sort of coaches challenge rule. Leave all the rules the same and leave every call to the discretion of the referees, the only difference being that the coach has the option to challenge certain calls. Some of which would include a missed high sticking penalty (drawing blood), or if a player inadvertently high sticks his own player and the opposition gets called for it. The player that is getting penalized can tell the coach that it wasn't his stick and the coach can then challenge, the play has to be reviewed and can be overturned. Other such rules that could be challenged would be disallowed goals on things such as goaltender interference (we really could have used this one, the thousand times Holmstrom got a good goal disallowed...). Also, "good goals" that should have been disallowed such as the puck going out of play, off the netting, back down, hitting the goalie (Quick) in the back and into the net... or if a play is blatantly offside and a goal is scored on that rush, the coach can challenge the offside non-call. This is something that could definitely work but it could also get out of hand, so there would have to be something in place so that the challenge rule is not abused. Maybe something along the lines of each team gets one per game but they can challenge multiply plays as long as they don't get one wrong. If they do challenge a play and it was not valid then the team is assessed a bench minor penalty and they cannot challenge any more plays for the remainder of the game. This would be a massive change to the game, which is why I doubt it would happen any time soon but there has to be something done to improve the calls and non calls in the game. We have the technology to review every play from a hundred different angles, so why not use it to improve the game? I think the biggest sticking point with introducing this to the NHL would be exposing the referees. No ref wants to be thrown under the bus for a bad call but in the end it's better to get it right and force the refs to maybe be more accountable... Just an idea...

I was one of the very few that believed Ericsson would become the solid shut down defenseman he is today, but I just don't see it in Kindl. I believe what you see is what you're going to get with him. I still think he can be a solid number 6 / 7 guy and is a decent option in a pinch but he is massively over paid. I don't think many people would have a problem with either Lashoff OR Kindl as our 7th defenseman if they were both on similar 2-3 year 700-800K AAV.

I do realize this may be a little too positive for some of you, but what the hell... http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/09/red_wings_danny_dekeyser_still.html I'd be surprised if he misses any of training camp, let alone any games...

I completely agree that Quincey gets way more flack than he deserves on this board. He is a solid defenseman, he is just often times confused with the offensive game he showed in LA and Colorado, which he is not. I'm not in any way, shape or form trying to defend Kindl. I want him off this roster as much as the next guy but what people tend to forget is that he is still relatively young in terms of Red Wing defenseman standards. He is 27 years old, 3 years younger than Ericsson. Does anyone remember the outrage on this board three years ago when Ericsson signed that new contract? There is still plenty of room for Kindl to grow, I just think he is running out of time. There are plenty of hungry kids that will pass him on the depth chart within the next couple seasons. Also, I wouldn't say he has NO trade value at this point. I do think his value to other teams may be very minimal, but I do believe he could garner at least a mid to late round draft pick.

Couldn't agree more Dabura. Especially about the point in making sure they get this one right, for future use with Smith and then Sproul / Ouellet, Backman, Marchenko.

I see where you're coming from Jesusberg, but I don't see it being an issue whatsoever. His finger is healing, just not as fast as was originally thought because of how shattered the bone was. I think the only factor would be, which hand the broken finger is on. If it is on his right hand it could be a slight worry, however if it is his left hand it shouldn't effect his game at all. Still, until it causes him to miss games (which I highly doubt it will) I will remain optimistic.

frankgrimes - translation - "Told you so..." The more I think about it, the more worried I'm getting... I mean, I'm not so sure that Ericsson will be able to skate the same with his middle finger only at 95%... C'mon people, quit reaching... And there were a lot of people that were completely okay with Alfredsson not being offered another contract this season, but now that he may not be 100% healthy, the sky is falling...

toby91_ca - Who is "pinning the hopes of the season" on whether or not Alfredsson is signed? I hope he plays, and I'm sure many other people do, including the Detroit Red Wings management, coaches and players, but I don't think anyone would suggest that Alfredsson is the going to make or break our season. If he can play 60-65 games for us and produce like he did last year, great, if not, someone else will get an opportunity.

WTF is wrong with some people? Do you actually try to find the negative in everything just so you have something to ***** about? Ericsson stated that he will be ready to go for the first game of the season and this Alfredsson situation has been well known for months now. He is 41 years old and it has been stated numerous times that management would be happy to have him back if he decides he is healthy, even if he can only play 60-65 games. But all of a sudden the sky is falling. I swear some of you lie awake at night, hoping and preying a Red Wing gets injured just so you can say "I told you so".... Pathetic...

There is over $5.9M in cap space remaining once Jurco is sent down, more than enough to sign DeKeyser to a reasonable contract as well as Alfredsson to a bonus heavy contract. Both Alfie's and Cleary's bonus' can get bumped to next years salary cap, so that is not an issue. I don't believe that this DeKeyser situation (if you can even call it that) has anything to do with any other player (Quincey, Alfredsson, Cleary, or whichever other player you can think to blame). This is between Holland, DeKeyser and Morris (agent) and a deal will get done, DeKeyser will not miss any games because of this and there will be no bad blood once it is done.

Thanks Dickie, finally a logical post in here... I'm a huge fan of DeKeyser and I do believe he is going to be a great defender for us for many years but he is 24 years old and has only played 83 NHL games. He has been very solid ever since his NHL debut in Colorado but one full season in the NHL as an RFA doesn't warrant the same contract as a veteran UFA. How people don't understand this is beyond me. I don't care if the player is better or has more upside, the sample size is just too small. Also, s*** on me all you want but Quincey was one of our most solid defenders in the second half of last season. Like Dickie said, Quincey was not a knee jerk signing and he was not overpaid by much at all. In saying all that, I still think the deal gets done in the next couple weeks, before training camp. I don't get all the panic and overreaction...

Our Marian Hossa is coming soon... Tomas Jurco - Fellow Slovakian, will be the same build (6'2", 210lbs.) in a couple years, and in about 5 years will be putting up 35-40 goal, 80 point seasons... Book it!

I've wanted Alexander Semin on this team for years and I would still love to have him now. I don't want to hear all the s*** about his "shortcomings" and his "lack of defense" and his "lack of effort" and "if you think Franzen is lazy / streaky, you'll hate this guy", etc, etc... I love his game and he is exactly what this team needs in my opinion - a pure goal scorer and a right handed shot on the power-play. Imagine Semin on a line with Pav and Hank? Insane... As for the other three, I wouldn't be all that interested in any of them. It would definitely take a lot to get Semin away from Carolina but I would at least throw out an offer. I do still think we need to upgrade the defense before we do anything else with the offense, but I'd have to make a call on Semin for sure...

I agree. I really like what I've seen from Mantha thus far. I watched quite a few games he played last year and he did dominate the Q but like you said, he also had a couple years on most players in the league and size over almost everybody. The real test will be to see how he performs against men in the American League this season. I'm really looking forward to see what he can do in training camp and preseason with the Wings as well as down in Grand Rapids. I definitely won't be missing any Griffins games again this year.

I HATE when people get on with this sh!t about how no player wants to play for the Red Wings anymore. We're the most undesirable team in the league? Really? Note: This is not entirely about Diaz specifically but Free Agents in general, and the constant b!tching and moaning on here... People are quick to point out and always remember the players that don't come here for whatever reason, but quickly forget about the players that choose to come here. There are 29 other teams in the league that want to sign players. We're not going to land every big name free agent, and it's insane to think otherwise. Diaz seen two things in Calgary, a fellow Swiss native (Bartschi) and a much better chance in cracking the Flames lineup. He will more than likely make the Flames roster and had very little chance in my opinion (and more than likely his as well) to make the Red Wings roster. How about some players that have chose the Red Wings in the past few years; Alfredsson, Weiss, DeKeyser, Nosek, etc. A lot of teams were trying hard to sign all 4 of those players but they chose to sign with the terrible Red Wings organization over every other team... No, of course we're not the same team we were 10 years ago (that every single player in the league wanted to play for), and for good reason. Whether people want to see it or not, we are currently going through a rebuild and we have been for the past couple years, ever since Lidstrom retired. We are a team on the rise again, and in another short couple years we will be annual Cup contenders once again. That along with the new arena and district, players will be lining up to sign with the Red Wings once again.