DickieDunn

Neither

In other news water is wet and Colton Orr can't play hockey.

He's not bad for a lower level league. BTW, I don't see the Swiss league as the same level as the AHL. He should be one of the better players there

Fedorov was offered a good contract in 97 and wouldn't sign because he wanted out of a high end organization. Bourque only left Boston because they were bad and there was no chance of short term improvement. Completely different situations.

Triple the term and $1 mil more than Quincey for a guy who is basically a right shooting version of Quincey.

There's no thinking. He held out, said he'd never play in Detroit again, and worked with Carolina trying to get a deal the Wings couldn't match. Then as soon as he hit free agency he bolted despite getting a hell of an offer from Detroit.

He did not want to come back, he wanted out way back in 97. Had he been unrestricted, or had the KHL as a legit option, he would have been gone after the first Cup. Anything else is revisionist history by his fans.

I think they'd get hit with a cap recapture penalty on top of the ca hit for buying him out, so no, it's not a real option. Even without the recapture penalty, I don't think it's feasible. They also can't buy out an injured player. Abdelkader was projected as a potential second line player when he was drafted. it is far too early to give up on Jurco. He has good speed and size, he uses his size well, and despite his lack of production he still has enough skill to make him a probable top 6 winger in the near future.

did you expect much offense playing with Miller and Glendening most of the time?

If Franzen plays, they'll have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan, Abdelkader, Helm, Jurco, Franzen, Weiss, and Pulkkinen fighting for 9 spots on one of the scoring lines. Miller and Glendening are pretty much set as checking line players, and Andersson, Callahan, and Ferraro will be competing for spots. Something is going to have to give.

Best pick of his draft year. There might be a couple players better, but they were obvious top 3 or 5 picks.

Sometimes a midseason coaching change from a bad coach, or a coach that's burned his team out, can re-energize a team. Sometimes the team continues to suck. Babcock isn't a bad coach, though, and even though some guys probably didn't like him or disagree with decisions he makes, you can say that about any coach.

KHL draft is pretty meaningless. They have junior teams as a feeder system that they don't need to draft players from. You're right, he probably won't be that good.

Any improvement the team makes will be mostly the result of the kids improving. And back tracking will be mostly the result of them regressing or stagnating. And I stand by my belief that most people drooling over Blashill will turn on him when he plays Ericsson with Kronwall and Abdelkader and Helm in scoring line roles, and doesn't give Holy Slapper 4 minutes of PP time a night.

Blashill is great until the first time he trots out lines people hate. Assuming he gets the job, he will do good things and bad things. People will disagree with him. In the end I doubt he's better than Babcock even if he gets a bit better results. Even if the players are mostly the same next year, which is likely, young guys will be a year more experienced, older guys will be a year slower, meaning it won't be the same team.

He went from playing 2 minute shifts in juniors to 45 second shifts in the pros. You can't skate balls out for 2 minutes, you have to pick your spots. He has to learn to not do that. Once he does, and it can take awhile to break a bad habit like that, he should be fine. I still don't see him as a 40 goal scorer, or a guy who is going to be consistent from game to game, but I think at the end he'll be a 25-30 goal scorer. And be hated because he's perceived as a floater and he's not as good as some fans think he should be, like Franzen.

I would be surprised if he plays another professional hockey game. Nothing I've read about his concussions sounds good.

The Oilers managed it

Bowman was GM for a bit, but Holland handled most of the day to day stuff. Minimizing his contributions is just bs. When Yzerman wanted to he a GM I don't blame Holland at all for not taking a different role. He's the GM, he wanted to continue to fill that role.

NHL RFA players can go to the KHL. Drafted players can go to the KHL. Fetisov wants all Russians to have to stay in Russia until they're 28, not just be bound to their contracts.

I can't see Babcock having much info on who the Wings are looking at. He had other things to worry about.

They're dumpster fires defensively. I don't want a so-so defenseman just because he shoots right. Go big or go home.

I thought you wanted a top pair D? There aren't any on the market

Wasn't he the kid with reports that the only reason he scored like he did in juniors is because his dad gave him all the plum minutes and told his linemates to set his up or get benched?

Last I heard McKee was moved to wing and still couldn't play regularly.