DickieDunn

Petry isn't signing here. No room in the lineup.

Put Smith or Sproul in a European league and let them just play offense and I bet they'd score a ton, too. Points is a lesser league are pretty meaningless and there are reasons these guys don't get drafted and don't come here early on.

PP ability is fine but you need a lot more than that in the NHL.

Chelios

Holland should trade for an elite defenseman and a power forward. But only if he can get them for guys I don't really like. And if he doesn't get that done, I'll spend the next 8 months telling everyone how badly he failed and that a GOOD GM would have been able to do it, because 5 average to bad players equals one really good player. Like that time I went to a BMW dealer and tried to talk him into trading me a brand new Z4 in exchange for an '02 Mountaineer, a '09 Ranger, an '87 Escort, and '86 Daytona, a transmission from an old Cutlass Supreme, an '89 Blazer, a '91 Taurus with a blown up engine, and my weird uncle's old Camaro. That's like 7 cars plus a tranny for ONE car, super great deal.

I still think he was told to get a center. People need to remember that Holland has bosses too. Playoff revenue is also free money, and even owners like Illitch like free money, particularly when they're building a huge complex downtown that includes a new arena.

When people are suggesting that Tatar and Nyquist are expendable because they have Pulkinnen, he's being over rated.

Unless a guy like Jamie Benn is coming back Tatar and Nyquist aren't going anywhere. Pulkinnen still needs to prove he can score in the NHL without being a liability in other areas, he's highly over rated here.

Babcock praised Legwand too, right before making him a 4th line winger. Don't read much into Babcock's comments.

Mantha, Larkin, Mrazek, Sproul and Ouellet are the prospects who have decent value. Pulkinnen, Athanasiou, and Marchenko have limited value. The rest have little value. If you want a good player, you need to give to get. If you won't move one of them you're not getting a good player.

Because he has value

Spoken like a person without a history or knowledge of head injuries

Just bases on personal experience with concussions and what has happened with other players. I'm not saying he wontbor can't come back, but there's no guarantee.

I don't know that he'll come back from this one. He very well could finish his career on IR.

Pulkinnen needs to get a little stronger, and play faster, but his biggest need for improvement is getting his shot off quicker.

I don't think that package would get anyone better than what the Wings have now. Nastasiuk, or a similar prospect, simply doesn't have much value, neither does Kindl. Ouellet has some, but not as much as a lot of fans think, and the pick depends on which round. A lot of sub-par to decent pieces generally doesn't get you a higher end piece. With the number of players the Wings have on the roster signed longer term or they plan on keeping, plus the 4 prospects who look like they have a good chance of being NHL players, their best bet is to trade Smith or Dekeyser, plus a D prospect, and a draft pick if they trade for a top 4 D who's going to be around for awhile.

Marchenko is probably going to too out as a second pair guy, Jensen a 3rd. Sproul could be anything from a total stud to a complete bust. Ouellet projects as sy guy who doesn't have any major weaknesses but nothing that dazzles anyone. I'm not sure how much value any of them have by themselves in a trade. Probably not much in terms if Marchenko and Jensen.

For those who think that Petry being the best D in Edmonton means a damn thing, please remember that Quincey was a top pair D on an LA team that was better than the Oilers are now, and was the Avs top D the next year. Being the best of crap doesn't mean you're not crap, it just means you're less smelly crap.

Smith is still only 25, which is young by NHL defense standards. He has talent, he's improving, he should continue to improve. As it is, he's a decent 2nd pairing D right now, and is on the 3rd pair more because of how Babcock wants the other pairings to shake out than how he's playing. If they can move Smith as part of a package to get a legit improvement, the Wings should do it. The players like that who are available are few and far between, though. Yandle. Myers maybe. Definitely not Petry.

You weren't very clear on that

I picture Edzo screaming "Mom the Wings are subtly interfering again!" Could one of the Photoshop geniuses pop the NBC crew into that south park pic?

He's not garbage. Defensemen tend to develop slower, though, and he very well could top out as a 2nd pair D which is fine for when he was taken. The 4 27th overall picks beore the Wings took Smith, 2 of them barely played, Tambelinni played 242 NHL games and is in Europe now, and Jeff Schultz has spent most of the last 2 years in the AHL. The 3 drafts after Smith was taken, Carlson is the only NHL player taken at 27.

He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been good either, and isn't looking ready for the NHL

Mrazek will sign a RFA deal, when Howard's contract is up they'll keep whichever is the best at that point. There is zero reason to trade either. I don't get why you seem to think it's an either/or proposition.

Can we all admit that there's a huge jump from the AHL to the NHL, that scoring a ton in the AHL doesn't mean a guy will score int he NHL, and sendPulinnen back down to learn how to do more than try to fire a slapper every time he touches the puck in the offensive zone? Kid needs to settle the @#$& down instead of trying to shoot the puck through the goalie's chest every time.