Richdg

Kill this. BTW one hab I do like is Eller.

Yes Gilbert would be a nice little pick up. But he is a UFA after the year. So maybe a mid round draft pick? More than that, no thanks.

If it bothers you then don't reply. You may call it negative, I call it honest. The goal is to win the SC. We are not a SC caliber team right now and will not be for a couple more years. We have issues that need to be fixed. Pretending that we don't is why dynasty's die. We need a major infusion of young talent. It will come, but it takes time. You rarely get more than 1 or 2 quality NHL players per draft.

True, and 8 game streak one way or the other would really change things. But what is the chance of a 8 game winning streak? Stranger things have happened.

Yes! hell yes! it is time for Red Wings hockey! The time of year when hope springs eternal, and everyone thinks they can win the Cup! Now, set your heart aside (hard to do I know) and tell us what you think will happen? I will go first. First thoughts. this team is a lot like last years team. going to be pretty good on D and struggle to score goals on a regular basis. IIRC we finished 8th in goals allowed and 22nd in goals scored last year. I really don't expect that to change much. But the D could get worse. I love our group fo talented young and big Dman. Of the 7 that should make the roster only 1-Kronwall is under 6-2. That is a big time change from just 3 years ago. The problem isn't talent, we have plenty. it is experience. There are legit reasons for the term "sophomore slump". I expect all of the younger guys to have down periods over the course of the year. Kindl-less than 2 full seasons, Smith-less than 1 full season, DeKeyser-less than 1 full season, Lashoff-less than 1 full season, are collectively very young and inexperienced. Q is Q and will look good some games and just terrible in others. Over the course of the season I think it will average out and we will end up in the top half of the league. maybe top third. Forwards are a different mix. We are still very much an offensively challenged team. Our forwards are very good defensive players which will help keep games close. But scoring goals will be a struggle all year. as of today there are only 5 forwards on the team that most of us would consider sure 20 goal scorers: Z, dat, franzen, Weiss, and Alfie. alfie is really a maybe. I don't think we have a 30 goal guy this year. if anyone does it Z and dat are the only real candidates. On the plus side young talent is on the way. tatar and Nyquist should be on the team-may not be due to numbers, Jurco and Sheahan are nearly there, with others coming. When injuries happen-and it will be an issue, we have some depth to step in/up. Overall I expect this team to end up somewhere between 6th and 10th in the east. I expect us to start strong. Our speed will help for the first 30-40 games. it is in the second half of the season that our lack of size and toughness will catch up with us. I see 40 wins, 8-10 OTL's and somewhere in the 95 point range when the season is done. In other words-same as last year but for a full season. of course a key injury and we are screwed-not going to tempt fate and name any names.

SOW, follow closely. I wrote: "this could be a long term/career ending injury". That means MAYBE. Fact is it is already long term. When a guy misses 30 games in one season-2012/13 gets healthy, then comes back and misses 39 games the next season 2013/14 with a repeat of the same injury, that is now long term. Worst part is, no one is 100% sure what it is yet. Anytime you have injuries to the CNS, those are serious injuries. many players in many sports have had their careers ended by those things. Now is anything final? No. Until the medical professionals find out what it is, no one is even sure how to treat/correct the problem. There is a story online from "ourwindsor.ca" from January about this. As for other questions, no I don't decide who is a prospect, the players do. As for cutting out half of the D, I haven't even included half of the Dmen that the RW's control. Nicastro, Nedomlel, Wheaton, McNulty, Marshall, and Fournier. History says one of them should become something. But until they step up and show it, we don't know. The F's I have mentioned have stepped up and have shown they can play at high levels in their respective leagues.

So I was crazy before the season? Looks spot on don't it....... I know shameless self promotion! LOL

Go read about Tuzzi on the prospects page.

Buppy we are thin. very thin. I have already moved up most of the guys ready. tatar, nyquist, Callahan, Pulk, Jurco, Andersson-forgot him earlier, and Sheahan. That is just about everyone off of the Griffins. mantha, AA, Nastisauk need at least a year more of seasoning. Then they will be up. The rest of the guys we own the rights to are either: 1. not producing, or 2. several years away. Many are still playing college hockey, junior hockey, or yet to be drafted. Couple over in Europe. 3. This doesn't allow for any guys to fail. Which of course several will. Not everyone makes it. Some get hurt. That is why more depth is needed. Be it via draft, trades or UFA. We need more F's. Stars would be great, but just depth would be a major help right now.

Pumpkin. You brought up jarnkrok. Some thoughts. 1. he is always the smallest guy on the ice, regardless of what they list him at. 2. he is already 22-turns 23 this year. 3. He is being outproduced by that offensive dynmo Emmerton, and Cory has played 20 fewer games than jarnkrok has. Yes he has some more time-2 more years. But to date I don't see anything that screams star or even above average NHL player. Sa,e with frk and Tvardon. yes both have talent and produced to Junior. But that is not pro hockey were neither has made much impact yet. Again, first year for Frk and he has 2 more years to make or break it. Point is, at some point potential has to turn into production. One last thing. Little Tuzzi is done for the year. Same injury as last year-concussion/neck injury. Cleaned out his locker and is in Detroit for medical evals. This could be a long term/career ending thing. It is serious.

That explains why Sproul came up for depth instead of one of the other guys.

I just don't see why we would make a move now. Our season is crap and going to get worse. Unless we are getting Crosby for Quincey, there isn't a good fit atm. Deadline deals are very expensive. More than off season deals. Why pay the higher prices now, when we need several pieces. better off waiting until summer. let the kids come up and play and see what they can do.

I hope datsyuk plays tomorrow. Looks like franzen will be back, but Weiss is out until the weekend at the earliest. Same for Kindl.

That doesn't sound good at all.

Buppy, now whop is cherry picking? have you ever read anything about Weiss's career? he is always hurt. basically every season he is hurt. Just in case you haven't followed, here are the highlights: 2002/02-His first full season. Plays 77 games-has a broken toe 2003/04-plauys 50 games-broken leg and sprained knee 2004/05-lockout 2005/06-plays 41 games-major wrist injury 2006/07-plays in 74 games-knee and shoulder injuries 2007/08-plays in 74 games-shoulder injuries again 2008/09-plays 78 games-groin injury-best season to date 2009/10-plays 80 games and is largely healthy all year 2010/11-plays 76 games-only minor injuries but numbers drop-49 points 2011/12-playus 80 games-no major injuries 2012/13-plays 17 games-major wrist injury 2013/14-played 26 games-hernia surgey, missed 32 games so far Now I ask you, who is Weiss? is it more likely he is the guy that gets hurt in 6 of his 11 seasons or the guy that remains healthy for 5 of the 11 seasons? He is also 31 soon-in April. We signed a guy to a long term deal for good money that 1. can't stay healthy overall and 2. His best days are already behind him. That means 1 thing: Bad deal.

But for every O'reilly-who is very good and getting better, you have a Kindl. My point before the flaming began was we are thin at F prospects. That is true. I have in my mind moved tatar, Nyquist, Jurco, Glendening, Callahan up to the RW's for next season. mantha, pulk, nastisauk and AA are the next group, 3 of those 4 will be in their first year in the pros. Yes we all hope, but let's be honest. That chances that all 4 work out is very very slim. Again-Kindl. We have major needs for top flight F. Our 2 best could be done at anytime. Age and injuries are a real thing. On D we are set a little better off. Kronwall is the only one over 30. E is 30. Means both should have 3-5 more quality years left. DD is just beginning his career and so is Smith-if he stays. That mean 4 of the 7 spots are already filled long term. lashoff is a good cheap option for the 6/7 spot. That means we have 2 D spots open over the next 3-5 years, baring injury of course. To fill those 2 spots we have a ton of talented young Dmen coming.

Dark, I put Pulk on the "second" line because he isn't a checker for Helms line nor do I want to break up the Jurco-Sheahan-tatar trio, they are/were playing well. Rick, what I mean is/was, in a league were everyone is cap tight, having CHEAP young talent is very important. With the Cap jumping back up and everyone having lots of cap room the premium on CHEAP disappears. BTW according to Cap Geek as of today 23 teams have 15+ million in cap space for next year. Most of the 7 teams with less than 15 million still have buyouts they could use. What this does is puts the focus back on talent-regardless of cost. teams have the room to do whatever they believe they need.

Callahan picks up garbage most of the time. he does have a good shot and scores that way as well. But he crashes the net and drives in goals.

Weiss's first full season was 2002/03. From that season through today, his teams have played a total of 844 regular season games. Weiss has played a total of 673 games out of those 844. he misses 20% of the total games played by his teams for his career. he missed most of last season and now this season. Why should he and the guy that signed him be given a break?

Ok not really the thread for this but: 1. Little Tuzzi just cleared out his locker in Juniors. he is hurt-again and will not play anymore this year. hard to call a guy that can't play more than 30 games a prospect. 2. Ferraro will walk this off season. 3. Pulk was included in my 4 left in the minors. 4. Jarmark (spelling) isn't here yet and not sure when he will be. 5. Tvardon (spelling) is playing his way out of the system fast. So once again, after this season we have 4 legit F prospects in the minors: mantha, AA, Pulk, and nastisauk. That is it. Teams typically carry 14 forwards and 7 Dman. We need twice as many F prospects as D prospects. We have 4. We all know without any doubt that every prospect doesn't make it. If half of our prospects make it we are doing GREAT! The hard part is of course figuring out which ones are which....

Now if we stand pat, and I hope we do, play the following lineup: Nyqusit-Datsyuk-Alfie Franzen-Weiss-Pulkinnan Jurco-Sheahan-Tatar Abby-Helm-Callahan E-Kronwall DD-Kindl/Q Lashoff-Smith Let the kids play and see what we got. Once Franzen and Weiss get hurt again-within 10 games is my bet, move in Glendening and Miller. Everyone else can sit the bench, go play in GR or be cut.

I hate to disagree, but picks have just been devalued. Next year just about every team has 15+ million in cap space, thanks to the new TV deal. There are also very few high value UFA's out there. The cap has just become a non factor for about 3 years. Now yes in general you need to draft well to be good. Let me rephrase that. You have to draft early to be good. About 2/3 of all 1st round players become career NHLers. After that it is a 1 in 5 chance. I do agree that over the past couple of years Holland put himself in a bad position. multiple bad contracts to old broken vets that used up all our cap room. That is about to change this summer. We will see if anything major happens. I doubt it does between now and March 5.

Shaman, that is/has been the problem for 3 or 4 years now. We have AS future HOF players leave and no major deals are done to replace them. Far to many patch jobs. Now we are in a spot where we have to make some major changes and everyone knows it. Thus it will cost more. Also we just don't have many pieces with value to move. On top of that, I am not sure Holland-this close to the end of his career is willing to take a big risk or 2 anymore. Yes sometimes risks blow up in your face, and sometimes those risks work out. But he does seem to be afraid or overly cautious the past few years.

Pumpkin I have to disagree with you here. After this year our system is pretty depleted at F. The only top prospects left in the minors are Pulk, mantha, AA, and nastisauk. On D we will have Oullett, Jensen, Sproul, Merchenko, De Haas-he is slipping, and Backman. McKee is also down a feel levels and may be a F in the end. Yes there are others that could still develop: Frk and Jarnkrok come to mind. But only 4 Forwards vs 6 Dman and we need twice as many F as D to have a team. Our stars at F as also much closer to the end of their careers than on D. We need 1 more F focused draft to reset.

Who cares about the assist difference. Doesn't matter in this conversation because they play different positions. C's are supposed to have assists, wingers should have goals. At least that is the traditional roles in hockey. Weiss was good for 50ish points per year as a #1 C, which is pretty run of the mill. he is an average NHL Cman, nothing more. he has also been hurt the last 2 years now. Let's have him prove he can stay healthy and play for a while then we can revisit this again.