krsmith17

Haha I never even bothered to check Streit's contract. $5.25M. No way there's any truth to that one...

Trade deadline I could see it, although it would still be dumb, but no way he makes that kind of trade in the offseason...

I refuse to believe Holland is that stupid. However, if this were to happen, I would officially side with the F*** Ken Holland crowd...

If that is true, I will break a lot of s***... How reliable is the source?...

Great at drafting, not so much at developing...

Speaking of Callahan, the Wings have just re-signed him for one year, $600K.

I agree, but I would still rather leave those two spots open for say Frk / Callahan than Miller / Ott...

I get the frustration, but I personally think the Nielsen signing was needed. We couldn't go into the season with Zetterberg / Sheahan / Larkin as our top 3 centers. Zetterberg needs his minutes cut, Larkin isn't ready for number one center duty, and while Sheahan can play 2nd line center in a pinch, I think he's better suited in the bottom 6. I'm one of the few that wanted Helm back, and while it may be half a mil too high and a couple years too long, I think it was a good signing. Vanek is a low risk, high reward signing, but I would have preferred to see a kid get that spot. The Miller and Ott signings are a complete joke... Without the latter three signings we could have had a few more spots open for the kids, who are mostly deserving of spots anyway... Of the players that you mentioned though, I only think Athanasiou and Mantha are ready to be full time NHLers. I'm completely fine with Bertuzzi spending another season in Grand Rapids, and honestly, I don't see Nosek as a high quality NHL player anyway. He might be a decent 3rd line center, but I'd much rather have Helm or Sheahan fill that spot...

Anyone know Svechnikov's middle name?...

... Or if say, I really hated Darren Helm (for whatever reason...) and I made the conscious effort to bash him in every single thread whether it's related or not... Who should get the A? Not Helm, he sucks... Should we retire Datsyuk's and Zetterberg's jerseys? No, because Helm sucks... Pulkkinen re-signs... Yeah, but Helm sucks... Tampa re-signs Stamkos... Helm SUCKS!

LeftWinger, please provide a link to where any hockey "insider" has said that Fowler is Holland's target... I've seen plenty of speculation and sources saying that it would be a good fit, but I've yet to hear a single report that Holland is actively pursuing any specific defenseman... A forward, which I would assume would have to be Nyquist or Tatar, a defense prospect and a pick would be massive overpayment for Fowler in my opinion. Also, if Smith is going to be on the outside looking in (I don't think he would be), I'd prefer to move him in the trade. There's no way a guy that skilled should be any team's number 7 defenseman, and he wouldn't be on any other team. For whatever reason, this team has been terrible at utilizing some players the past few seasons... nyquististhefuture, the Jets do have a solid forward group there, but Nyquist / Tatar would easily slot into their top 9 (likely even top 6) and make them even more potent up front. Trouba is a very good young defenseman, but they can't afford to keep him or Meyers on the bottom pairing any longer. Although I think he definitely will be, Trouba hasn't proven that he is a legit top pair defenseman yet. DeKeyser is a top 2, Smith is a top 4, and a 1st round pick? No matter what Winnipeg would want in return, that is massive over-payment. Not to mention it makes no sense from our perspective. The one defenseman that should be off limits in any trade to upgrade our backend, is the only defenseman we have that would be considered a top pair defenseman... I do agree that we may not be the best trading partner for Winnipeg, but I wouldn't be shocked to see one of Trouba / Meyers traded in the near future... Who knows, maybe Trouba wants out of Winnipeg. He is an RFA, and neither he or the team filed for arbitration. I'm betting he would love to be a Wing. Unfortunately though, he may have to wait another 10+ years before he can fulfill that dream...

I think you quoted the wrong person, I didn't say anything about Nyquist or Pulkkinen there... Although I do think he can be had for a similar package, as long as there's a defenseman going back the other way. You're massively over-valuing Trouba though if you think it would cost near that much... We wouldn't have to give up DeKeyser in order to land him, just like we wouldn't have to give up DeKeyser to land any of the other potential top pair guys rumored to be available... Winnipeg probably don't want to get rid of Trouba, but they're going to be forced to trade one of Trouba or Meyers before the expansion draft. Byfuglien and Enstrom (NMC's) have to be protected and they can only protect 3 defensemen. If they wanted to protect 4 defensemen, they would then only be able to protect 4 forwards, which I'm sure they're not willing to do... If we put together a nice enough package centered around Nyquist and add in a defense prospect, and a high pick, I think it could get done. It's a moot point though, since I don't think Holland is even looking at trade options right now...

I agree with everything except it should be Smith - Green and Kronwall - Marchenko. No way should Smith be in rotation with Ericsson... Also if we trade for Trouba, I would think that a defense prospect (Ouellet) would be going the other way...

I say we retire Fedorov's number in 2032, Osgood's in 2034, and Zetterberg's and Datsyuk's 2070...

If Helm finished on half of his short handed opportunities, he would probably be right there with Draper now... But like Echolalia said, even when he's not scoring on all of the opportunities that he creates, he's still amongst the best penalty killers, just by eating valuable time off the clock down in the oppositions end...

Helm is and has been one of the better penalty killers ever since he entered the league, aside from those couple injury riddled seasons... When I was doing up my ideal penalty killing units, I was forgetting about Nielsen too. You always need more than 4 or 5 PK forwards anyway, so I'd throw him into the mix along with Sheahan and Abdelkader as well...

Both are contributing factors. If you don't have skilled players on the penalty kill, you should play it safe. The problem is, we have the skilled players to put on the penalty kill, so that we don't have to play it safe... Of course, the main objective of a penalty kill, is to... kill the penalty, but being aggressive can lead to much more than a successful penalty kill. Aggressiveness will lead to scoring opportunities going the other way, and on occasion, that will lead to short-handed goals... I just hate the sit-back, passive approach, where all we're trying to do is get in lanes and block shots. Be more aggressive and when an opportunity presents itself, you take it. But in order to do that, you need the right guys on the ice, aka skilled players, not "gritty" players...

Yeah, that is basically what we've been alluding to, although my lines, pairings and special teams would look a little different (as would pretty much every other persons', including the coaching staff). Speaking of which, like I've said before, I'm really excited to see what Houda can do with the penalty kill unit this season. I'm hoping he continues his ideology of using skilled players that can gain possession of the puck and actually be somewhat of a threat while down a man, rather than players that can't do anything other than chase the puck for the entire shift and block a scattered shot... In saying that, we all know that Glendening will be in the lineup every single night, and I'm okay with that. I'm also okay with using him on one of the penalty kill units, since I think he is capable of doing (a little) more than just blocking shots. Miller on the other hand, shouldn't be anywhere near this lineup in my opinion... I wouldn't use Kronwall, because we really need to get his minutes down, especially the hard PK minutes. Instead I'd use Smith, unless he's being used on the power-play, which I doubt he will be. Sheahan would be the next guy in line if there's an injury or one of the main four are in the box serving a penalty... Anyway, I'd like to see something like this... Glendening - Larkin DeKeyser - Smith Helm - Athanasiou Ericsson - Marchenko

Cholowski was a little off the board in that he was projected to go late 1st or early 2nd, but there's no chance he would have still been available at 46... I didn't love the pick at first either, but the more I read about the kid, the more I like it. In the end I trust the Red Wings scouts much more than I do myself or any other fan, and I too originally wanted Jones with that pick...

I really like the looks of that lineup, with the latter bottom 6... Miller - Glendening - Ott - - - Worst 4th line in the league. Sheahan - Glendening - Helm - - - Best 4th line in the league. Both are options, I wonder which one we use... I don't think either of Miller or Ott should be in the lineup, but unfortunately one definitely will, I doubt two of them will though... If both Athanasiou and Mantha are sent to Grand Rapids in favor of those two scrubs, Blashill is a f***ing moron...

I understand that mentality later in the season when it's getting down to the wire and the streak is on the line, especially it being Blashill's first season as head coach. I just hope he improves on a lot of things he did last year, line combinations and player usage being the most important in my opinion...

"a game or two"... That's the problem... Just like Jurco never really got any more than a game or two with any consistent linemates all season...

One of the best bottom 6 players in the league. One of the best penalty killers in the league. One of the fastest skaters in the league. One of the most tenacious forecheckers in the league. Good top 6 forward? No. Good bottom 6 forward? See above... Slightly overpaid? Yes. Way overpaid? Hell No. But keep trying to create the narrative that "Helm sucks"...

I agree that both Zetterberg and Kronwall will both be protected. I also agree that neither should be protected... There's also no way we should protect Green with one year left at $6M. I would leave Smith unprotected, only because he'll be a UFA. Hopefully Holland would be smart enough to work out a deal after the expansion draft... I don't see Sheahan being one of the players exposed, and if he were I think he would absolutely be picked up. Best case scenario, we lose Howard or Ericsson. Likely scenario, we lose Pulkkinen or Ouellet...

The chance of Vanek ever scoring 30+ goals again is slim to none. But to put him in the best position to do that again, would be to play him on the 2nd or 3rd line and give him plenty of power-play time (which I'm sure he will get). Vanek should play on a line with fast skaters that can make up for his lack of speed. Helm and Athanasiou are two of our fastest skaters (along with Larkin) and in a support role, against lesser competition, he should be able to put up solid numbers...