joesuffP

Stats say Brendan Smith is one of the best possession defensemen in the NhL and he is not so there are instances of analytics being not the end all be all to understanding a players performance. Usage plays such a huge part of these stats I think you should take more stock in the fact that a coach scratches and won't play certain players more than their beastly possession metrics

Well if Buffalo is willingto spend 12.5M per it will seem like a lowball

Obviously he's quick to hop on the hype train

Larkin needs to be training with Gary Roberts If we can't upgrade our centre situation I would like to see Larkin and Z alternate centre duties. Z may have been washed late in the year but he's probably our best centre to start the season

Anderson to Leafs for picks

Comparing defensemen to a goal scoring forward? Strange logic. Pretty much proven fact that Stamkos is a top 3 goal scorer in the NHL. If you can't admit that then everything your saying is flawed

So basically Stamkos leaves if he wants a bunch more money... Pretty good incentive if you ask me Good thing is Holland won't be reluctant to hand out 10.5M per. It comes down to which situation he prefers in the end. Money isn't going to keep him from Detroit

It will have to be Howard and Jurco a pick and eating 1M or something. Can be done. Better than buying out Ericsson which could also happen

A lot of noise about trading Howard being the best option this offseason

I think we'll see some desperate moves by Holland coming up. If no team will take a reasonable deal for Datsyuk's cap hit them he'll focus on Howard and Ericsson. There's already a lot of talk of Howard being moved and Holland himself has mentioned the possibility. Then there's the Khan tweet of Ericsson being bought out. One way or another holland will be pursuing the top free agents. All signs point to it

This just seems like the most plausible outcome not so sure about it being an inside sourceGotta say, Datsyuk not finishing out his contract leaves a sour taste in my mouth. He has been my favourite player for years but I don't think he's in the same realm as Yzerman and Lidstrom

I have no doubt in my mind now that Holland will be making huge offers to Stamkos. This place is going to be a nightmare. Suter 2.0

Trade Pulks, Jurco and picks if it can rid us of Howard and/or Ericsson's contract. Let's be real here, Pulkinnen has a lot of skill but he's never going to make an impact over here. He's not worth the roster spot or the headache it causes thinking up scenarios he could possibly fit in the lineup. Jurco is just so meh and if the coach doesn't like him and scratches him for large portions of the season than its no good for anybody. I'm sure Jurco's unhappy as well

If we lose Jurco, Pulkinnen and maybe a third round pick but in doing so we dump Ericsson/Howard & Datsyuk then I'm all for it. Consider it a house cleaning

Yes absolutely. That's why I see Tatar being traded, especially with our size issues up front. Not a lot of teams are looking to get smaller is the problem so I don't think the return on a 30ish goal scorer is going to be anything close to what we would expect

Management will choose Nyquist over Tatar. Salary shouldn't come into question because Tatar will be signing an identical deal to Nyquists next year anyways Tatar scored slightly more with lesser line mates for like one half season... Other than that he was playing with Dats who was better than Hank. Not to mention Nyquist has scored more over his career than Tatar so I don't know where these facts are coming from Isn't Tatar not scoring on the PP kind of a bad thing and not a knock on Nyquist who is a good PP player. Strange logic

Ah yes I see. I think this just shows how badly Arizona wants Gologoski... It doesn't happen that often around the league

Arizona really wanted Goligoski and the Wings don't need another middle pairing defensemen. I'd rather upgrade the scoring than add another average defensemen. If we go for a dman it should be a guy to play with DD on the top pair

We're a slick puck moving dman away from being able to play a different style of game. Lose Quincey, buyout Ericsson, give Smith a larger role and possibly add a good offensive defensemen and this is a different style of team

Darren Dreger and Bob Mackenzie both reported Ken Holland is working really hard to make moves right now and is planning a big offseason. If only we knew what deals were close or fell through over the years. Would be pretty interesting Strong feeling that Jurco or Pulkinnen will be moved along with Datsyuk's contract. Sometimes I think it's good to just get some guys out of the franchise and out of mind. Maybe they turn things around and become solid players but I don't see it happening here. Time to move on

I think we'll start to see things open up as players get put on waivers/buyouts

Yeah I don't understand being upset at 2M per considering what a big part of the team Sheahan is. Pretty safe bet he'll hover around 40 points while being great defensively for his career. Factor in some down years

Better options could come about. Also theirs rumours of Tyson Barrie possibly being traded. Young dman that produces and has been scratched on the avalanche who have a terrible blueline

Hearing a lot of rumours of some decent scoring being bought out.. Thomas Vanek, Dustin Brown... We could have options. Give a guy like that a shot who would likely sign short deals

Zetterberg-Larkin-Abby Nyquist-Sheahan-Radulov Tatar-Anthanisou-Mantha Helm-Glendening-Jurco Most realistic lineup