nawein

Am I the only one that has a gut feeling someday Franzen will end up in Edmonton? I honestly don't know why and I've never heard any rumors of it, but I think Franzen and a prospect go Edmonton's way for a high first rounder soon. That'd be a trade that work out for both sides I think. I don't know, just a feeling I got last year and still have.

"Main roster currently at full health." That's a feat in itself these days.

Not that it affects that much, but I still believe we'll buy out Tootoo this summer with the second compliance buyout. It'll free up a little more cash and give Toots the chance to actually play in the show somewhere else.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=59885 Midterm 2010 draft rankings have Marchenko at 18th European skater. Interesting that nobody took a late round flier on him that year even if the spleen thing is true. We took him in 2011. Seems legit.

This is a weird situation. I do think Pav is the more skilled player but Z can carry a team as you guys already said. The awesome thing to me is Pav is more skilled but Z seems to be able to literally make his team win games late in the season and playoffs. He wins games by himself. So who's better? Z. Who's flashier and more naturally skilled? Pav. The best part is we got em both.

I think it's more about the quantity combined with the quality of regulars that we're missing. If they were missing their captain and 5 of the other top 9 forwards they'd be struggling too. If we had Z back we wouldn't be struggling so much etc. Lets say we're missing Bert, Sammy, Cleary, Andy, Miller, Tatar, Gus, Q, Kindl, Lashoff, Weiss. That's 10 regulars and Sammy and we wouldn't be doing as bad as if we lost Pav, Z and say Nyquist. It's not necessarily about quantity as much as it is about quality. We're missing a lot of quality players.

Yeah, I do. Sure we have spare parts that cost a lot of money, sure we're not playing good right now, but this team isn't our team. The team that played tonight had by my count 6 people that wouldn't be in the lineup if we were fully healthy, and next game it'll be 7. Jurco, Mrazek, Lashoff/Q, Glendening, Eaves, and one of Bert/Cleary. Add Sheahan to that list for next game. We're missing now 4 of our top 5 players that can play center, our starting goalie, and second best defenseman (my opinion). This is not a bad hockey team. If we get healthy and Howard figures it out I don't think there's a team in the East that can beat us in a 7 game series. If you need me to I can break down the matchups for you. Everyone needs to chill. We'll be fine.

Our second PP unit is a joke.

LGW logic: "I really hope Babs gives Jurco top six time the whole game to give him a chance to show something. Maybe even time with Datsyuk!!! *plays with Datsyuk majority of the game* Man this first line sucks it's totally hampering Datsyuk put Tatar up there. Oh wait Nyquist is playing great with Datsyuk play him on the first line instead of this kid playimg his first NHL game." And yet we complain about Babs not giving lines enough time to get something going.

Swap Quincey for Dekeyser and then they're a combined -5

"@AnsarKhanMLive: Wings goalie Jimmy Howard has a grade 1 MCL sprain and is out 2-4 weeks, Ken Holland said."

I disagree. If his groin hasn't been good all year, him staying out of the line up until it's 100% will do wonders for his game.

Since we can't score anyway I'd like to see Babs try Smith, Lashoff and Emmerton. Simply because I think Smith has an actual shot at scoring and the other two attempts would be hilarious.

Brunner's scoring percentage in the shootout is 22.2%, good for what would be 9th on the Wings.

That roster doesn't include scratches currently. It has Howie dressed too.

"@AnsarKhanMLive: Howard said he's hoping he's out only 1-2 weeks but not sure until MRI tom. Hurt when he kicked out his knee to make save end of practice"

Per Khan's twitter Abby-Datsyuk-Alfie Bert-Mule-Nyquist Miller-Andy-Tats Sammy-Emmerton-Cleary D pairs the same.

Weiss' injury made me lol. Clever and awesome. I love it.

I think by injured they mean injured.

I agree that no one is worth 9.5m right now, or maybe ever, but with the increase in cap and lack of star FA's I could see Vanek getting 8.5-9. And to get him to come here over Minnesota we'll have to over pay. You're right about Girardi, I honestly didn't give the D pairs much thought. In my perfect world it would be Kronner-DK, Girardi-Smith, E-Almquist. E with Almquist because they will never see the other teams stars, making it easier for E to compensate for Almquist's defensive shortcomings. Also I really don't see Kindl as part of the future on our blue line so I traded him so I could use his cap space. If the D remains how it is this year so we can get two scoring wingers, there's really not many viable options. While I'm all for power forwards and would love to have one, the reality is they're not available. Teams just don't trade them. So the only real ways to get one are to develop one (I still have my hopes up for Frk) or the FA market. The only decent gritty "power forward" that could hit the market in my opinion is Callahan. I don't see him leaving New York and even if he did I think he would disappoint here offensively. As far as non power forward scorers go Gaborik could be an option, but all he brings is offense and even that has been underwhelming lately. Moulson could be an option to play on the first line bit he reminds me of a more awkward version of Franzen and I'm not a huge fan. The three best options in my opinion are Vanek, Marleau, and Steen. I'd be happy with any combination of them. All of that said though I think Girardi over Kindl makes us better than Marleau/Steen over Bertuzzi (assuming he's who we wouldn't sign) would.

I would guess Dekeyser with Nyquist as an assistant.

CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER CapGeek Armchair GM Lineup FORWARDS Todd Bertuzzi ($1.500m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($7.500m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) Gustav Nyquist ($0.950m) / Stephen Weiss ($4.900m) / Thomas Vanek ($9.500m) Tomas Tatar ($1.200m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Drew Miller ($1.350m) / Joakim Andersson ($0.733m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) Riley Sheahan ($0.715m) / Luke Glendening ($0.750m) / DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($4.250m) Danny DeKeyser ($2.150m) / Brendan Smith ($1.263m) Dan Girardi ($6.750m) / Adam Almquist ($0.700m) Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($5.292m) Thomas Greiss ($0.900m) BUYOUTS Carlo Colaiacovo ($0.000m) Jordin Tootoo ($0.000m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (estimations for 2014-15) SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,839,545; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,260,455 I would kill for this roster next season. Everyone is talking about waiting for the kids and save money for the kids but then turn around and it's ZOMG Pav and Z are getting old time is running out we need to win now. Let's do both. I feel like I overpaid for Vanek and Girardi to getthem to come here, on two year deals. Bert back on a year to year basis. We all know Kenny will leave Jurco, Mantha, Sproul and Ouellet in the minors long enough to drive us all nuts so why not have stars taking their spots instead of plugs? By the time Kenny feels like they're ready Vanek and Girardi's contracts will be up and we'll have kid replacements. Also say this roster wins us the cup next year and the kids seem ready, the two year deals enable us be sellers at the 2015/2016 season trade deadline with one or both of those guys. I feel like we have enough depth to do that and not hurt the team too much, while we get picks to restock the farm system. Obviously lines are arbitrary but if Weiss can put it together this is what I'd like to see.

A - I would make that trade in an instant B - The isles gave up a first, I believe a second, and Moulson for Vanek. No way we get him for just Weiss. Add a first and Pulkkinen and we might have a starting point for them.

I'm with you here. I love him with Pav. Bert is actually useful and despite what most of LGW thinks, I believe he makes us better.

This. Granted I wasn't in anywhere near as good of shape as these guys, but I came back from a groin injury too soon in juniors and wasn't the same the rest of the year. Still bothers me if I have to turn left too fast and it was 3 years ago. He's probably playing hurt and I wouldn't be surprised to once pav and Z come back to see him take some time off. Whether it's disclosed as an injury or not.