DickieDunn

Not until he's actually gone

They're working on Cleary now. Dan wants one year at $950k, but Holland is pushing 3x$1.4 mil with a full NMC

A player with a NTC can be waived. It depends on if the PA wins the argument or not, which would mean a concession in a different area most likely.

Like I said, that would mean some teams would only have a couple players available. if a team had 5 forwards and 2 D with a NTC, they's have 12 forwards and 5 D protected, leaving 2 forwards, 2 D and a goalie. That's not going to fly. I'll be shocked if NTC players don't have to be on the ptected list, meaning other players who should be safe won't be.

It depends on the rule. If players with a NTC have to be protected, that means it's more likely that a guy like AA would end up exposed. If the rule is set so that the Vegas Cash Grab can't take a player with a NTC regardless of whether or not he's protected, it will meant hat they won't have hardly anyone to choose from, which makes me believe that anyone with a NTC would have to be on the protected list. I also saw something that said a team would have to leave a certain percentage of their cap unprotected so they can't just sign a half dozen scrubs and leave them exposed instead of protecting all of their good players.

By that logic Yzerman was worse in 97 and 98 than he was before Bowman got there because his scoring dropped off. Stamkos is a more complete player now than he was when he was up in the top in 3 scoring every year.

Datsyuk is still putting up points but he's not close to the same player he was 4 years ago.

we saw a different game after the first Florida goal

In other words, he needs something to write and comes up with this

That means mediocre Or they should have not had their heads up their asses to be down that much and needed luck to bail them out

Anyone still think the Wings are anything more than a mediocre team?

I've seen ball hockey players who are smartet with the puck than Ericsson

Good

Then that's not playing well, is it? Regardless I don't think he'd want to come back To his point, they'll have Zetterberg Abdelakder Nyquist Tatar Sheahan Glendening Mantha AA Helm Larkin Jurco Pulkkinen Bertuzzi Svechnikov and possibly a few others either on the roster or fighting for a spot unless the GM makes a trade or lets a free agent walk.

If Datsyuk plays well next year and wants to come back it's a no brainer. If there's a roster issue it will be because Holland has flooded the roster with mid and low level players on long term deals complete with NTCs.

You're giving him way too much credit

Jagr

FFS Blashill is a mouth breathing moron. Helm shouldn't EVER be used on a scoring line Richards should be swapped with someone in Toledo

Hopefully AA or Larkin take over the 1C role by then

You don't tell Pavel Datsyuk that you don't want him. I don't know why he'd want to come back though. He can go to Russia, play a year or two there and be close to his family if he leaves. If he comes back, he'll be on a team hoping to make the playoffs with no real chance at winning the Cup.

6 years ago

Issues: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Kronwall are getting old and declining. Nyquist and Tatar, AKA "The Next Great Wings forwards" according to some people a couple years ago, are small one dimensional scoring wingers. Guys who can help you win but aren't going to carry a team. The guys who might be able to carry the team aren't there yet and might never get to that point. The defense is a mess and there's no help in the system. Kronwall's been so worn down by injuries that he's no longer even arguably a #1. Abdelkader has the contract of a core player, and he's not. Even if he gets to 20, that's the minimum acceptable number for a guy with that contract. Since the first 2 games, he's had 14 goals in 68 games, that's a goal every 4.86 games which is a 17 goal pace over a full season. That's not "great." Terrible contract that will only get worse as he ages. Howard never got over his mental fragility and has been passed by Mrazek, making his contract an anchor. Ericsson's injuries reduced his effectiveness, making his contract an anchor. Holland either can't or won't make a trade or let any of the "home grown" talent leave even if it means overpaying them. Decades of drafting relatively low have finally caught up with them. Blashill is in over his head. The system is bad, the players aren't playing to their capability, "grinders" like Glendening aren't being nearly hard enough but still get a tn of ice time, his line combos are atrocious, AA has been one of their best players lately but Trashill won't play him more than 10 or 11 minutes a night, and he's been unable to make any effective in game adjustments. The attitude of "we're doing everything to win the Cup" has changed to "we're doing everything we can to squeak into the playoffs and hope for the best." In short, fixing this mess is going to take a long time. It will take longer unless Holland either starts being more decisive or moves upstairs and brings in a GM who will be decisive and aggressive.

There are 2 ways to go. Get aggressive, move some of the bad contracts any way you can. get a physical goal scorer and top pair D. The other way is to let Datsyuk ride off to Russia, make a few other trades, play a bunch of kids and do a traditional rebuild. My money is on Holland trying to stand pat again and do neither.

First fire Blashill. If an entire team falls off it's on the coach

Who said sit AA? Blashcock?