joesuffP

Well then you’re probably right. I think a team will take a chance on Mrazek as a UFA. Next offseason is going to be dicy if we have to re sign Howard (we will). We’ll probably have a competent defense by the time our goaltending is terrible

I’m not certain on our financials but it might come down to Howard or Mrazek in order to re sign our RFA’s. You go with Howard you need to sign another goalie down the road to bridge the gap before a prospect emerges. Mrazek will be cheap with a lot of gas left in the tank. Most likely Holland stays loyal to Howard but maybe our new GM....

Darn must have misread

We’re only 2 points up from being the second last team in the NHL. Coyotes are running away with dead last

Buying out Howard in the off season and signing Mrazek for 2 or 3 years would make the most sense.

I bet Ouellett gets waived and Hicketts is called up for the next game after the All Star break.

Larkin and AA need to hit the weight room hard in the off season. Mantha looks like another guy with confidence issues. He has never regained that form of the first 15-20 games of the season when he was dominant

I think they’ve played pretty well actually they’re getting their chances. Howard blew the game before it could really start Mantha is going back in the dog house soon and he deserves it. Oh and Ouellett isn’t an NHL defensemen

It’s the best retirement home in the league I’m the most scared that Holland will slap the franchise tag on Larkin, AA and/or Mantha on their new contracts just to justify what he’s been doing the last 5 years

Hot take: Howard is going to be terrible so he doesn’t get traded at the deadline

Nestrasil waived and out of the league, Ferraro waived and idk where he is now. Pulkinnen NHL career is over. Wings can draft forwards that make the NHL some even hit their projections but nobody since Franzen has surpassed expectations. Most teams can draft bottom six forwards in the NHL especially when you draft them in the first three rounds. The wings have had 7 skaters that have hit the 20 goal mark at least once in their career if you count Mantha since 2002. Add that to 1 top four defensemen. (Quincey) That’s not very good at all

This is true but I’m not thrilled with the teams drafting in the last 5-7 years

If Ouellett could skate I would take more of a chance on him and see if he can develop further (he’s only 24) but he just has too many shortcomings to be anything more than a borderline #6 D. Jensen has his shortcomings as well but is clearly the better of the two. The Wings bottom pair has actually been pretty good compared to third pairings around the league. Offering up XO is probably only done so guys like Hronek, Hicketts and Russo can get some games to end the year w/o putting someone on IR

Smith can’t stay in the lineup in NY, Quincey’s career is over, Jurco is barely playing with the Hawks. I don’t know if it’s good we didn’t miss out letting these guys go or it shows bad management that we drafted, developed and played these guys longer than any other NHL team was willing to. I don’t think Sheahan and Jarnkrok put up those numbers here in Detroit and they’re rather pedestrian anyways. Still, bad return for Holland on those deals

Tough loss. Can’t give up goals in bunches like that but I like how they battled back. They’ve been unlucky lately but I see way more push back than they had last year. Larkin looks strong night in and out. His development is right on track. At 20 years old he’s quite clearly our second best player. Jensen and Ouellette had a tough start to the season but look way better these last two games. Overall the team has looked a lot more fluid moving the puck and are getting chances and zone time but they’re just not getting the bounces. These are good things.

Some bad puck luck but they still had a chance all the way to the final against one of the conferences best. I’m okay with a loss like this

Tough loss. Played well enough to win, they had their chances.

That’s what the trade deadline is for. No way Z or any other professional athlete would be okay with this

The team could really use Smith this year or another good puck mover to round out the D. Jensen and Ouellette should be alternating sitting in the press box

So stoked to see Larkin excelling at center. He was fantastic last night even though he didn’t end up on the score sheet. Winning faceoffs, good defensively, back checking and aggressive on the forecheck. Couldn’t have asked for a better start from him

Jensen and Ouellete wouldn’t make a lot of NHL rosters. Ericsson goes through terrible stretches but he’s been decent to start the season and when he’s good it’s exactly what the team needs in the lineup. Strong in front of the net and safe with the puck. If Ericsson can keep playing like he did last night with Green then he’s no issue in the top 4 imo. He looked like 2013 Ericsson last night. Which isn’t exceptional but will make a huge difference in this defense

I think Blashill has been progressing with experience. I would like to see what he does with a decent defense group. The execution is just way off for me to blame the system. Routine plays aren’t made consistently and it costs us zone time, penalties and goals against needlessly

That 20 game stretch is the closest Babs ever had to a roster like this. It’s like asking Babs to do what he did minus their best forward and best defensemen. Considering he barely made the playoffs year after year with them I highly doubt he makes it last year. Was Babs a better coach? Of course. But considering the difference has been so marginal compared to the best coach in the league I don’t think he’s the problem. Just ride it out people. We’re supposed to be bad One year our PP was good. What about the other years? With a much better team. Remember we had a revolving door of Assistant coaches too because our PP sucked

The D has gotten progressively worse and Datsyuk left since Babs could barely squeak them into the playoffs and he was the best coach in the game. Babs never had a roster this bad

Lmao what kind of source is this? The team is bad I don’t understand what you expect a coach to do. He’s nowhere near the same situation as other playoff caliber teams. If the team is anywhere near the playoff hunt he has done a great job as coach I can’t believe you guys allow yourself to get so worked up about every aspect of the team when everyone knows they are bad. They are going to do things poorly. Theirs no magic trick that will make them good instantly. Blaming the coach when a half ass roster doesn’t do well is for casuals who don’t understand sports