krsmith17

I get that Blashill wants to have his own approach but I doubt he puts Helm back at center just to put Sheahan on the wing. There's no need to change for the sake of change... I think Helm is a much better winger than he is a center, and I also think Sheahan wouldn't be half as effective on the wing as he is at center. I also heard Ferraro talking about Datsyuk on the wing, but I'm pretty sure he just meant to say Zetterberg. I highly doubt Pav has any interest in playing the wing after playing down the middle his entire career. He's still one of our best at winning draws and once he gets back and is fully healthy, I fully expect him to go back to our number one center, and Sheahan and Richards battling it out for the number 2 spot...

I think the depth we have at forward now is miles better than anything we've ever had in Detroit. Larkin, Svechnikov, Mantha, Athanasiou, Bertuzzi, etc > > > Sheahan, Jarnkrok, Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco in my opinion... Not to mention, when the latter ground were prospects, we were lacking depth, with this current crop, we're already loaded on the big club with young talent... I don't see how we can get through a couple more years without making a trade involving a couple of these guys...

I think there will eventually be a trade. May not be this season or the next, but the amount of talent we have coming, you would think something has to give...

It sure is...

So in the next 2-3 years you don't believe there will be a trade to cut any of the forwards?... You think there's room for Helm, Abdelkader, Sheahan, Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Pulkkinen, Mantha, Athanasiou, Bertuzzi, Larkin, Svechnikov? Or do you not think they will all make it?...

You did indeed. Still kind of shocked we drafted some of the players we did, where we did, but hopefully a couple of those head scratchers turn into pure genius in a few years time... When I seen that we were making the pick at 19, Svechnikov was my number one choice, so I was very happy with that pick. I do think eventually we will be forced to trade some of the glut of forwards for a defenseman...

I'm not sure which top line I love more... Holmstrom - Larkin - Svechnikov v.s. Bertuzzi - Athanasiou - Mantha That is a TON of talent up front, but unfortunately very little on the back end...

I really like this signing. We rid ourselves of Weiss' contract, and gained a much better option and only for one season. I believe this is the perfect stopgap before Larkin makes the team full time next season. Richards still has some good hockey left in him and I believe he will be good for 40-50 points next season as a 2nd/3rd line center... Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Abdelkader Tatar - Richards - Nyquist Jurco - Sheahan - Pulkkinen Miller - Glendening - Helm Ferraro - Callahan Waive Andersson Franzen LTIR

I initially didn't want any part of Green, mainly because I was expecting him to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 years at $6M per. I'm happy we were able to get him on a 3 year contract at the same cap hit. I'm not sold on his defensive game, but there's no question he will help out our already potent power-play. I think 50 points is very attainable, and he very well may be our top point producing defender next season. I also agree that pairing him with DeKeyser would likely be a very good 2nd pairing. I'm excited to see how things shake out in trading camp... Kronwall - Ericsson DeKeyser - Green Smith - Quincey Kindl

Happy to see McCollum back. Good re-sign. Same goes for Miele.

I think every coach would prefer to have three lefty / righty pairings. The problem is, there are more left handed shooters in the league than rights. I think it's something close on 70% for lefties over righties...

I'd definitely take him on a 1 or 2 year deal worth no more than $2-2.5M per... He is lazy, but he was lazy back in his Washington days too. That didn't stop him from potting 30-40 goals per season. We have more than enough two way guys that could make up for his lack of defense. Put him on a line with Pav and he would put up 30+ for sure. He would be a massive upgrade on our power-play. Imagine having Semin on one unit and Pulkkinen on the other, coached by someone that will actually use them properly, around the left circle, where they could let off those nasty one-timers...

I can't wait for the 2017-18 season. This "district" is going to be unreal. In saying that, I am definitely going to miss the Joe... I will without a doubt be back for at least one more visit over the next two seasons...

I'm really surprised on the timing of this. I thought they were going to give him one more season to see if he could get back on track under a different coach, one that may have given him a better chance to succeed than Babcock ever did. I don't love that we'll have Weiss on the books for the next 6 seasons, but the cap hit isn't anything unmanageable, so I'm okay with the decision. We're freeing up a fair amount money, and we now have about $14.4M to spend on our RFA's (Nyquist, Jurco, Pulkkinen, Ferraro, and Callahan), with (I'm thinking) r roughly $5-7M in cap space to go after a UFA. I think if we do go after anyone, it's pretty obvious it has to be a defenseman. I want Franson, and I'd pay him anywhere between $4-5M on a 3-5 year contract. If we don't land him, I'm quite content to to stand pat and go with the kids. The only other defender than remotely interested me is Ehrhoff and he's another left handed defenseman, so I'd prefer to see Marchenko or Jensen over him. Franson or nothing for me...

First of all, I am in no way "writing him off"... I never said or implied that players will not make the NHL based on height, I simply said, it is much tougher to make it for players that lack stature... Where are you getting this one inch from? There's three inches between the two... And why would I be more concerned about the weight? Not many players gain a lot of height after being drafted, all gain weight (muscle). Why are we still talking about Karlsson anyway? There are no similarities between the two, other than the fact they are both European defensemen that shoot right... Karlsson is average height with an elite skill set. Saarijarvi is very small with an average skill set... You keep arguing with me as if I'm saying I don't think this kid has any chance in making it. This whole thing is getting ridiculous. Last time I'm saying this... I don't like the pick because there were better options available. This kid is a dark horse, but I hope he makes it. I'm done...

That's my question... There's no doubt they went off the board with this pick. They must have seen something that no one else did. They've been right with these types of picks before (they've also been wrong) so let's hope, we got a player here...

Any bets on where Larkin will start the season?...

I didn't like that we didn't address our biggest need, a high end, first pairing potential defenseman. However, there wasn't a single defenseman available that I would have rather taken over Svechnikov, when we were ready to go up at 19. I think he's going to be a great player and between Larkin and Svechnikov, I believe we have our one two punch of the future. I love our first pick, not a fan of either of our picks in rounds 3 and 4, but think any of the round 5, 6 and 7 have potential to be steals. I don't think we needed to draft a goalie this year, as I believe we had more pressing needs to fill. I think there were much better players available in the 3rd round when we picked Saarijarvi. I was hoping we would pull off a trade to get a 2nd round pick or two as there were a few players I really liked. All in all I think it was a decent draft with the picks we had. I would give it a B-...

There's not a doubt in my mind that any small player can play "hockey", but can these same small players play hockey at the highest level in the world? Some can, most can't... Are you seriously saying that Saarijarvi has the potential to be Karlsson elite? A player that was drafted 73rd overall and not even thought of by any other scouts (experts) to go in the entire draft?... He wasn't even in the top 20 defensemen (offensively) in a very weak USHL...

Sure, he could grow a little more, but most teenage guys stop growing at 17-18... And sure, he could make the NHL someday, but right off the bat, odds are against him because of lack of size... I'm going to say this one last time... I don't like the pick because there were several other players available that I am much higher on. You and several others like the pick, and that's completely fine. We'll see in a few years how it turns out, and I'll be rooting for the kid to make it every step of the way. Where are you seeing Karlsson listed at 5'11"??? It must be a very obscure website... I've checked NHL.com, eliteprospects.com, hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and thehockeynews.com... Every single one have him listed at 6'0"... So no, he is not at all undersized, and even if he were listed at 5'11", like I stated several times now, I don't see that as being completely undersized either... I'm not even sure why we're even talking about Erik Karlsson anyway? This is a guy that was a steal at 15th overall in 2008. We drafted Saarijarvi 73rd overall, and as far as I know, he wasn't on anyone's rankings. I know he didn't meet NHL Central Scouting's top 120 European skaters... We went completely off the board for this one, let's hope it pays off like it has many times in the past...

Buppy, like I said previously, under 5'11" is what "I" consider small for a defenseman. I have no problem with skilled defenseman at that size, but when they are 5'10", 5'9" or 5'8", that's a bit undersized in my opinion... So no, I don't consider Kronwall to be too small, or Eriksson, who is also 6'0" by the way, Shinzaki... I also disagree that any of those 4 guys would make our blue line better. Sure, they may provide a bit of offense, but none are great defensively. I'd take a Kyle Quincey over a Torey Krug any day. That's just my opinion. PavelValerievichDatsyuk, no, you didn't have to read my mind. I thought it was pretty clear we were talking about defensemen here... Anyway, I'm not thrilled about the pick, but like I said numerous times in the "Draft" thread, I'll reserve judgement for now... I hope this kid becomes a stud.

I consider anyone under 5'11" to be on the small end in today's game. I don't see why you would list forwards. I have no problem drafting small, skilled forwards. We have one in Tomas Tatar and another one coming up full time next season in Teemu Pulkkinen that I'm really excited about... I don't like drafting small, skilled defensemen. I think the chance of success as a defender decreases drastically when they lack size. I'm not saying you need to draft big hulking guys with no skill, but there's not a doubt in my mind that there were much better options available when we picked Saarijarvi... There are only about 10 defenders in the league right now that I would consider undersized, none of which I would consider top pair defensemen and none I would want on this team... That's just my opinion though... Some may want a Krug, Ellis, Vatanen or Enstrom, I'd pass on all 4...

If you're comparing the three to Rafalski solely on size, Jensen isn't a great comparison... He's 6'1", nearly 200lbs. The other two on the other hand are very small, even smaller than Rafalski. Rafi was 5'10", Saarijarvi is 5'9" and Hicketts is 5'8"... I'd be shocked if either of the latter two make the Red Wings...

Yeah, some people find it difficult to speak in front of people, let alone in front of millions of people on national TV. Imagine home nerve racking it must be to be interviewed for the first time on such a large stage as an 17-18 year old kid. I'm much older than these guys and I'd never be able to do it. There would be a hell of a lot more "uuuughh's" and "uuuuhmm's" from me, that's for damn sure...

I really doubt any of the kids (Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou, Svechnikov) will crack the Wings lineup next season, and I'm quite okay with that... We have Pulkkinen that will be up full time, and that's more than we'll have room for. We'll have 15 forwards on our roster, not including Franzen (LTIR) or Cleary (GR), once all of our RFA's are re-signed and assuming there are no trades and/or free agent signings. I still believe that these kids should and will be brought along slowly. There's no rush to get them in the lineup this season. I think even if we were to trade away a few players, we would be more likely to sign a free agent than bring one of the kids up too early. Give them another full season in Grand Rapids, or in Svechnikov's case, in Cape Breton...