DickieDunn

Smith is one of, if not THE dumbest NHL players I've ever seen.

+/- isn't a good stat to judge much of anything, especially in a short time frame. The issue I have with him is that he's a small one dimensional offense only winger. Doesn't skate well, not physical, no defense.The real issue is his linemates though. Sheahan and Andersson are softer that Persian kittens, Andersson has little skill and is at best an average skater, and Sheahan is looking like he's peaked. Give him a couple guys who are better skaters and Pulk wouldn't stick out as much.

Is AA going to stop working hard? If not, he's not going to be in the same position.

He hasn't been good, that's for sure. Million dollar talent, nickel head.

So this year.

At what point does upside become unfulfilled potential?

Skating ability isn't an issue with him.

Blashill was talking about Jurco needing to skate better a couple weeks ago. My take away from his comments was that Jurco hasn't been putting forth the required effort in practice. Whether that's because of back issues or a poor attitude, I don't know.

Kronwall Dekeyser Quincey Green Hot garbage the rest of the way down

Yup, there has to be a line between ok and bad. Good would be $4 mil for 4 years.

Abdelkader is a decent player, but nothing special except that he's the only really physical guy the Wings have with any amount of skill. Depending on how long and how much, this could either be a decent contract or terrible. If he gets close to $5 mil for 6 years, I'm going to be pissed. If it's 4 or 5 years at $4.25 mil a year, I'll be ok with it. Pros: He scored 44 points last year and showed he has the skill that made him a 2nd round pick. He's the only Wings' forward who is big, plays like he's big, and has shown NHL level skill. Cons He has one year where he scored at a good rate, other than a 20 game stretch where he was hot the previous year. He's approaching the age where physical players start to tail off. Lots of guys could score 20+ goals playing as much as he does with Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

But he was our guy and you can't go from best in the world easily to just ok overnight just because he leaves. Give it a year and he won't be the best anymore

YupBut if you don't insist your guy is the best them you're a hater.

He brought in coaches for new ideas and kept doing the ae thing for years. He dumbed down the game plan instead of letting players use their skillset. He decided what a player was early on and nothing could change his mind about it, good or bad.

Babcock's biggest issue is he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. Once his ego shrinks a bit he'll be back to being a great coach.

Suspensions carry over from last be league to the other

Like Kozlov did to Foote fungus?

As long as they have their heads up their collective asses the struggles will continue.

He can't skate well enough to play D in college much less the pros. He was always projected as more likely to be a winger

This team isn't as good as any of those teams. Too many small one dimensional forwards, too many bigger guys who play like they're tiny, and the D isn't close to good enough.

He had 3 points in 34 games last year. WMU is starting their season tonight. Unless he starts showing he can do more than hit and fight he'll never be an NHL player

Give them Nyquist or Tatar and move him to wing. Better yet get Burns from SJ and play him at wing.

Richards is an aging center coming off a 35 point season, how is he an upgrade? Green is offensively on paper, but not defensively.

The goalie doesn't make them cough up the puck entering the offensive zone, mishandle passes, ignore their linemates, or cause a big guy to play like he's 5'6" 135 pounds.

If they don't get their heads out of their asses they're looking at a top 10 pick