Richdg

www.generalfanager.com is pretty good as well.

Silly talk. Nevermind the fact the hundreds of goalies have been great for short spells only to flame out. But 2 is still better than 1. The first haf of last year-untill the AS break Howard the All Star had better numbers than Mrazek had for the season. Then the injury happens and now everyone wants to move Howard. ya that would be smart. How many G's get hurt every year? Like Howard just did. How many years has Gus been hurt as a G? Now if Mrazek beats him out and plays great and we have another G ready to step up as the backup, then maybe next summer we move him. But that is a bunch of if's. To many to rick right now.

Those company's don't exist. All major sporting goods manufactorers are owned by a larger company. Easton-Bell-Wilson, Warrior-New Balance, CCM-Reebok-Adidas-Taylor Made, etc.... Bauer was owned by Nike for a time but is currently back on their own. Graf is a very small company and doesn't have the $$$ needed. I haven't been to a RW game in maybe 15 years-can't afford it. Imagine the cost without the huge sponsership deals. We may not like it, but that is the business of sports. It has worked its way done to high schools. Several HS's in the Grand Rapids area are now sponsered by the big name brands. Everything costs money and money must be raised. As for Adidas as a company, it is one of the biggest and best in the world. TBH I like their products far more than Nike. Their history is to keep the experts around of the companies they buy. They didn't buy taylor Made and then change the way TM made golf clubs. They dumped more money into TM to produce better products. I am sure that is what they will be doing here.

What part of Adidas owns CCM did you not understand?

For many years many of us have whined about the RW's being a team of "small euros". That of course has been changing. As the average size of players in the NHL gets bigger the RW's are now following suit. If one goes to the RW's home page and clicks on the "prospects" rosters it is very plain to see. There are currently 22 F and 9 Dmen listed on the prospects roster. Of those 31 players, only 2 are listed as being under 6ft tall. Pulks and Hicketts. That is it. of the 22 forwards listed, only 9 are lsited as 6-1 or shorter. The other 13 are all 6-2 or taller. For the Dmen only 3 are listed at 6-1 or shorter. Clearly the team is getting bigger. That is a good thing. The average size of players in the NHL is about 6-1/210 and growing. Kudos to Holland and his team for drafting players that fit the modern NHL.

No it is spot on. I did not say more physical. I said bigger, which is in fact true. We are getting to be a bigger team from a system stand point. Teams don't have to be physical to win- blackhawks prove this point. But they are a decent sized team. Toews is a good example. he is lsited as 6-2/205. That would make him one of the biggest F's on our team atm. Kings on the other hand are big and physical. Both have great skill.

In many ways the NHL is trying to follow the NFL-the worlds most financially successful league. Everything is controlled by the league. As for adds on the jerseys, we will see if/when/how much that happens. Going with Adidas is fine. They are the parent company of CCM. Adidas owns Reebok which owns CCM. CCM is THE hockey equipment provider and always will be.

That is the market. 4-4.5 million per season is a fair deal. he does more than just score. he currently is our only F that even thinks about physical play. he is strong in his own end as well. datsyuk and Z love to play with the guy, why should any of us fans question this at all? the bigger question in my mind is Helm. he currently makes more than Abby and also is in his walk year. Does he also get resigned and at what rate? if he worth 4 million +/- per year? I like helm but he is at his best as a 3rd line checking C. IMHO I would use him in a trade to upgrade the D.

Are you talking just RW or LW? Or all 3 positions? If C's are included backes and Kesler are clearly in the top couple of names. Yes Kessel scores goals, but that is all he does. No D, no physical play, doesn't do faceoffs etc.... Kreider is an up and coming name. if I had to take one..... I would go with one of the C's. Kesler or Backes. of course age, money, injuries, etc are not being factored in.

Convicted felon being resigned. Interesting...... Grant returns after a year with Mil.

This isn't loyalty anymore. it has crossed into the obsession area. Kind of like when parents give their adult children money out of 'love" then the children use the money for destructive behavior.

Very good deal. Surprising. Figured it would be longer and for more. But lets not look a gift horse in the mouth!

Meyer is going to be at the prospects tourney in a couple of months. A step in the right direction.

Paetsch. He plead guilty to the charges. He is now a convicted felon. I thought that "the Classy RW's" didn't want scum bags on the team. At least that is how many on this forum react to so many players in the NHL. I would rather have a guy that throws an elbow over a convicted felon. "

Less than 20 even with injuries. he needs time to get bigger and stronger. As of today he is about 8th on the depth chart at C. So no need to rush him. let him grow and develop.

Ok we have made it past the UFA rush. So how do you rank the EC teams? Who is better? Worse? The same? Predit your PO teams. just some thoughts... Habs-about the same. TB-no major changes but they should be better with experience gained. BJ's-destroyed by injuries last year. A couple of big moves in the off season. Should be much better. OTT-young team that made the PO's. still 1 or 2 players from being a great team. slightly better due to experience gained. Isles-better. Rangers-slightly worse but still very good. Caps-better. Pens-better RW-slightly better overall Panthers-young and improving, just shy of a PO team. These are the ten teams that will be fighting for the PO's. In our division it still looks like TB, Habs, RW's, and OTT in that order. Getting to 3rd is key this year. The other division is very strong and could get both at large births. of course all of this is as of today before any further trades, injuries, etc......

About what the hockey writers were talking about earlier this summer. he was going to eat up much of their cap space. This doesn't help us and those that think Nyquist is going to get a "bridge" deal.....

As of today before any other moves here is the depth chart for both teams. Looks pretty good overall. Red Wings: Z-Datsyuk-Abby Nyquist-Richards-tatar Helm-Sheahan-Pulks Jurco-Glendening-Miller Andersson-ferraro Dekeyser-Green Kronwall-Ericsson Smith-Marchenko Kindl Howard/Mrazek That leaves KFQ to be moved for at least a 3rd round pick-to replace the one we traded away for 2016 and Franzen on LTIR. The only thing I would like to see is a true RHed power forward for the top line with Abby moving to the 3rd line LW. Griffins: Mantha-larkin-Svech Burtuzzi-AA-nastasiak Tvrdon-Nosek-meile ???-turgeon-Campbell Bruton-Frk Oullett-Sproul Lashoff-Jensen Evens-Hicketts ???? McCollum-Coreau That leaves 2 holes on the grifs. 4th line LW for the checking line (if we were bold we would sign McKee for the spot!) and a 7th Dmen. UFA's summer 2016: Richards-let him go, Helm-trade bait?, abby-should be resigned. Guys out of options: Oullett, Sproul, and jensen. Team now had great depth. The hard part is waiting and being patient with the young guys to develop. The good part is they now have to earn jobs instead of being handed jobs. the best spot to be.

True. But and this is key, Holland and Blashill have both talked about dekeyser-Green and Kronwall-Ericsson being the top 2 pairs with YTD being the 3rd pair. Now we just resigned Smith to a 2 year deal. So he is going to get first shot you would have to think. That leaves Kindl, KFQ, and marchenko fighting for minutes on the 3rd pair. if marchenko is up he has to play. Otherwise leave him in GR. Kindl is in the box most nights. Yes to much money but it is what it is. Buy him out next summer baring a major step forward this year. Now because KFQ was good last year, his value is at an all time high. he might get us a second round pick. it is hard to imagine him ever playing better than last year, history suggests he can and has played much worse, which would drop his value. Make the move now and rejoice!

On KFQ. 1. he has trade value. Kindl doesn't. 2. To many Dmen on the roster. 3. Holland has already said that Oullett and Marchenko are ready. marchenko played in the PO's remember. 4. You are not going to keep him as the 7th Dmen. 4.25 million cap hi sitting in the press box is piss poor cap management. 5. True the young guys haven't shown much/anything yet. How is that going to happen if they don't play? 6. To date this still isn't a SC caliber team. For that to happen we need to have more talent. Do we have that talent in the minors or not? No one knows. The only way to find out is to play the guys. KFQ is not part of our long term plans. So move him add the pick we are short in the 2016 draft and continue to build.

last year Sheahan had 3 whole points more than Richards. maybe he gets better over time. But and I think this is the plan: Sheahan has to earn the minutes. Which is the way it should be. If he does: GREAT!

Oshie is a very overrated player. 7 full years in the NHL only scored 20+ goals once-21. Those are 3rd line numbers not top 6. Big and growing cap hit as well. He is great in shootouts however. Now why did the Blues do this deal? they wanted to become a faster team. so they trade a guy with good speed for a guy with none.... odd......

On Callahan, yes we may want him back. But does he want to return? What else can he do in the AHL? he is blocked with the RW's and may want to go to another team where he would get a shot at the NHL. If Svech goes back to junior the is a need for him with the Griffs.

Could be with marchenko. which is why I am hopefull-but not holding my breath, that there is one major trade this summer. we have the pieces to do it and the need. I was going through the news feeds by the RW and griffs and didn't see anything were Aubry has been resigned. Same with Hoggan, Porter, Zeingerle, Callahan etc..... Now some may have 2 year deals. If they come back or so do, then we can do a depth chart for Toledo! More depth! of course all these prospects at some point need to step up and become actual players, but good days are ahead! We think......

Paetsch? How do you play hockey from prison? The only way marchenko isn't with the RW's is if we still have both KFQ and Kindl. using him in PO games last year should tell us all what the RW's think about him and his development. BTW this was just a means of showing the depth and talent we have. Yes some guys could go to Juniors. IIRC Turgeon signed a pro contract and can't go back to junior anymore. Svech can as of today. But there are some funny rules between the NHL/CHL/AHL etc....