krsmith17

Absolutely, I just wouldn't want to give up the assets for Myers. I'd have no problem giving up assets for a more established player, but not a player that has been in a downward spiral since winning the Calder Trophy back in '09-10...

I still say no to Myers but that's just me. I would much rather over pay for Niskanen. Better player, slightly higher cap hit, without giving up the assets...

I wasn't one of the one's that REALLY wanted Kesler to begin with, sure he would have been a nice addition, but I think that if we were on his short list, we could have had him for Tatar, Kindl and our first, and I would have been completely fine with that...

Canucks acquire 50th overall pick from Tampa Bay for Jason Garrison, the rights to Jeff Costello and Vancouver's 7th round pick in 2015.

Vancouver still making moves and probably more to come. Just traded Garrison and the rights to Jeff Costello to Tampa for 50th overall pick.

So Kesler to Anaheim is a done deal. Bonino, Sbisa and 24th overall plus swap of 3rd round picks...

Tyler Myers would be too costly in assets, not to mention he is massively overpaid. 5.5M for a defenseman that has been in a steady decline since his rookie season, no thanks...

I really like this, but it obviously won't be retroactive will it?...

There is no way the Hawks can afford to trade for Kesler. They only have 4.6M left to sign 4 players. That to go along with both Toews and Kane looking to add on another 3-4+M each after next season. They're definitely not going to trade any of their big names (Toews, Kanem or Keith), They're not likely to trade any of their support guys either (Sharp, Hossa or Seabrook), and the Canucks aren't likely to take on any of their overpaid players (Bickell, Hjalmarsson or Oduya). I just don't see them adding a 5M Kessler to that lineup. Either way, the Hawks are going to be in for a world of hurt after next season when Toews and Kane are looking for their HUGE paydays...

Well how is he supposed to do it at the highest level if he doesn't get his shot? To be fair, he looked great in his first and only NHL game against the Blues in a 3-0 win on the road. He played over 18 minutes, had 3 shots on goal, 2 hits and 2 blocked shots. He looked very poised and was able to rush the puck extremely well. He made one bad decision on a pinch, but overall didn't look out of place at all. He also, made a great play defending a 3 on 1 to keep the Blues off the board.

I think that Almquist may have gotten a slightly better look if he had been a right handed defenseman, but in the end I think he would have ultimately been cut due to lack of size and foot speed. Maybe if he were a little more committed to adding a little bulk to his frame, things would have worked out differently. Almquist was always a long shot to make the NHL and in the end he came just short.

To think that we NEED to miss the playoffs for a few years to stock pile some top 10 draft picks is absolutely crazy. Our scouts are still more than capable of finding great players in the later rounds. But it's a lot more than just our scouts, it's the way we groom our players, and make sure they are good and ready before they step into the NHL. We don't have one of the top prospect pools in the entire league by accident, the Detroit Red Wings organization does it right, and that definitely does not involve tanking for top 10 draft picks. Besides, I guarantee at least two or three of our current top prospects will be viewed as a top 10 draft pick in their draft year in 10-15 years.

What's your point? My point was that yes, there is a lot of luck involved in every draft and that is precisely why there are success stories in every round of every draft. Also, there is at least one player taken outside of the first round every year that should have gone in the top 5 or 10. So for anyone to come to the conclusion that we need more top 10 draft picks is beyond ridiculous.

I never take anything Richdg says seriously but this is just ridiculous. You can't actually believe that a team loaded with top 10 picks is going to be the better team. Just look at all the top 10 busts in every draft year. It would be very difficult to find a single draft that didn't include at least one complete bust taken in the top 10. It all comes down to scouting and drafting, and we have proven to be very successful at both in the past couple decades. If there was a re-draft in 1989 when we selected Nicklas Lidstrom 53rd overall and Sergei Fedorov 74th overall they would be guaranteed to have been taken top 5 and more than likely top 2 or 3. Then there was 1994 when we selected Tomas Holmstrom 257th overall, I bet he would have been in the top 5 or 10 in his draft year as well. What about in 1998 when we selected Pavel Datsyuk 171st overall and in 1999 when we selected Henrik Zetterberg 210th overall? They would be guaranteed to be drafted top 3 if there was a re-draft in those two years. I would be willing to bet if in 10-15 years there is a re-draft on the past 5 drafts, some of our current top prospects would be top 10-20 picks in their respective draft years. Possibly Petr Mrazek (141st in 2010), Tomas Jurco (35th in 2011), Ryan Sproul (55th in 2011), etc. And I definitely believe that Anthony Mantha could possibly be a top 5 pick in 2013 re-draft. The point is, success in the draft comes in all rounds, right through the draft, and a top 10 pick doesn't guarantee anything, and definitely does not necessitate a great player.

Lol it literally comes up in every single thread. It's kinda funny actually. G E T T H E F U C K O V E R I T ! ! ! F R A N Z E N I S N O T G E T T I N G B O U G H T O U T ! ! !

I watch 70-80% of Griffins games every season while never ever missing a Wings game, and I'm high on both players, but definitely a LOT higher on Jurco. I think Pulkkinen has the potential to be a pretty solid player in the NHL, I hope he can become somewhat of a power play specialist and use that amazing shot along the left faceoff dot, a la Ovechkin. But in the end, I see him more as a Jiri Hudler type, 2nd or 3rd line player. Jurco on the other hand, I think has the potential and all the tools to become something really special. I think he has the ability to become every bit of a player in the mold of a Marian Hossa. He has the size, he will gain the strength, he has the drive, he definitely has the hands and foot speed, he has a pretty decent shot that will get better, I think he is going to be a top line two-way player in this league for a long time.

Lol Franzen drafted 4th overall, behind Malkin, Ovechkin, and Rinne. Love it! Eat it all you Franzen haters! LOL

I don't get why the same people that are saying that we shouldn't bring Gustavsson back because he is too injury prone are the same people that are saying we shouldn't sign a backup and just promote Mrazek... If Gus is going to be injured as often as some of you claim, wouldn't it be the same as promoting Mrazek, I mean, he would still get the same amount of games as if we didn't resign Gus right?... So you get the same result without handing the kid the job. In saying all that, I still think Gus is a very capable backup and will push Howard and start 20-25 games, at around 0.550-0.600 win percentage. I think the best option is to sign a capable backup (Gustavsson), while Mrazek gets 50-60 games in Grand Rapids and maybe 10 or so in Detroit, and promote him in 2015-16, when he has another year of pro under his belt. What does Mrazek sitting for 70% or more in the NHL do for his game? Not much in my opinion.

There are a lot of goons in the NHL that do not belong in the league. Who wants a guy on their team that plays about 5 minutes a game and / or is a healthy scratch for the majority of games? Someone that doesn't produce a lick of offense, is terrible defensively, and just gets in a staged fight every chance he gets... I would love to have a McCarty type player but the honest truth is that those players are very hard to find these days. A guy that stands up for his team when he needs to, but can also contribute in other aspects of the game. The only players that I can think of that are somewhat close to that, that I wouldn't mind having in a wings jersey are Tom Wilson, Patrick Maroon, Antoine Roussel, Milan Lucic (even though I hate the guy), or David Clarkson (before the Leafs paid through the roof for him)...

Cleary on a one year, two-way contract definitely isn't a bad thing in my opinion. Added depth is never bad, as long as he doesn't push out any of the better, youth. Having young guys down in Grand Rapids seeing the heart and determination of Cleary, and watching him go about his daily routine on and off the ice definitely can't hurt. Like the guy or not, he is a warrior. He could definitely help the development of some of the kids. Personally, I would love to see Cleary get a job with the training staff helping out Pete Renzetti with the strength and conditioning of our players but another year, helping out the kids down in Grand Rapids doesn't seem like such a bad idea either.

Are people actually serious about offer sheets? I don't get how you guys are arguing what Kip is saying... Everything he has said is completely accurate. There is no point in offer sheeting a player. There is no way we would get him without ridiculously overpaying. And the most important thing... There is absolutely ZERO chance Mr. Ken Holland offer sheets any player. He knows it is bad business and why make enemies when it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

We desperately need immediate help on the back end. Why not make up a package of 3 or 4 of the following (depending on who we'd be getting in the deal), Tomas Tatar, Jakub Kindl, Xavier Oulette and this years first round pick, for a capable top 3/4 defenseman (preferably a right handed shot)? Who would we be able to get in a trade package such as this? Obviously some of the names such as, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Brent Seabrook, Alex Pietrangelo, John Carlson, P.K. Subban, Erik Karlsson would be out of the question right off the bat. But what about someone along the lines of, Erik Johnson, Dustin Byfuglien, Kevin Shattenkirk, Mike Green, Cody Franson, Dan Girardi, Johnny Boychuk, Kevin Bieksa, James Wisniewski, Jacob Trouba, Justin Schultz, Dougie Hamilton. Toronto and Boston probably wouldn't trade with us, being division rivals, so there goes Franson, Boychuk and Hamilton. I'm not a huge fan of Byfuglien or Wisniewski but what about one of the others? Surely one of those guys would have to be attainable with such a package... I'd like to see something like this... Kronwall - Ericsson DeKeyser - Johnson Smith - Sproul / Marchenko / Backman Lashoff

Dickie, I hear what you're saying but I would never make that trade, even after expressing my love for Jamie Benn. I would bet any amount of money that the 5 pieces you would trade to Dallas would end up being the better package then the Benn brothers. Yes, I'm well aware that Mantha could become a 40-50 point player at the NHL level, but I would bet he will come closer to a 70-80 point player, which is basically what Benn is / will be. And I guarantee the combination of both Smith and Sproul (if not each of them) will be much better NHL players then Jordie Benn. Then you add in another promising prospect and a first rounder. NO WAY you make that trade... EVER! By the way, terrible analogy, not the same situation at all. It would be more like someone having two briefcases, telling you each one has $5000 in it. He also has 5 other briefcases, each having between $1500 and $5000 in them. Would you take the 2 briefcases with a guaranteed $10,000 or would you take the 5 briefcases that could range between 7500 and 25,000?....

Agree to disagree... I don't see his contract as a risk whatsoever. I also don't think it is an untradeable contract either. I think there are a number of teams that would love to have Franzen, I also think he would get a decent return. But there is a reason Holland probably won't trade him either, he is still a very valuable player, and no number of LGWers saying otherwise is going to change that...

Lol no, Holland did not tell me himself, but he did state in interview after interview that he would not be using his remaining amnesty buyout on Franzen and hinted at possibly using it on Tootoo. I don't think Franzen will necessarily be "worth" his contract in 5 or 6 years but by then we will have gotten great value on the majority of his contract and I think that's what you can hope for with a contract of this length. No one, including Franzen, including Holland, including Ilitch, fully expected Johan to play until his contract expired, that's why it was front loaded. But with the new CBA, teams can't get away with these front loaded contracts where players could opt to retire in the last couple years anymore. Franzen's contract may hinder our salary cap a little in the final couple years of his contract but not enough to justify a buyout at this stage, in my opinion...