chaps80

Exactly. As it sits, he missed out on Chychrun to sign a 32 y/o Nielson for 6 years at $6million per. Hardly worth it.

Hopefully if Vanek is traded, he re-signs in Detroit July 1. One season isn't enough. Really like to see what he can do with Mantha and AA in the coming years.

One less than Mike Vernon.

Sounds like fate. If Yzerman does want to come home, Holland better make way this time.

Blash should be gone by now. What if the team did this bad under Lewis when Scotty left? He wouldn't have lasted one season. I know Lewis inherited the HOF roster and Blash started with a fringe playoff team, but he had all the same players as last seasons team that made the playoffs, minus Datsyuk, and added Vanek, Nielson, and Ott. There's no reason they shouldn't be at least in the thick of a fight for a spot instead of in the thick of the lottery for first overall. I'd rather have the pick than the playoff spot right now, but a coach isn't there to lose. And in Detroit, you'd think they'd do something about that, but nothing. Not one word about Blash's performance from anyone above him. Maybe there is an undercover tank job going on. Keep the inept coach who is in way over his head and sail to a top pick.

6 games huh? A few years ago the way Nyquist was playing you'd think that by now having him out that long would be a huge problem for the team. But they won't even notice he's gone. Nyquist was the future. Now he's not even the present.

One game closer to a top 5 pick. Nice. HEY KENNY!! TIME TO SELL!! YESTERDAY!!

Yes and no. I still wouldn't like the fact he missed out on a high ranked defenceman in the draft when defence is the glaring issue on the team. But, if ditching Datsyuk's contract resulted in signing an elite forward like Stamkos, well, you have to give assets to get assets. Stamkos would be well worth it obviously. There's no way Holland could have known Stamkos would ignore him, or could he have? He must have had some idea of how things were going in his camp prior to or during the draft. Free agency was 6 days away. So he does the deal, opens up the needed cap, but doesn't get Stamkos. So why just turn around and hand a much lesser player 6 million for 6 years? Why not stand pat or do smaller short term deals instead? Somehow he felt a need to hand out another long term high dollar contract (along with a NMC which automatically takes up a valuable protection slot from Vegas at the end of his first season. What if he turned into another Weiss after he got here?) to the best guy he could scrounge up that was willing to come to Detroit. Did he simply feel he had to make a move? Or was he just being typical Ken Holland with money to spend? Everytime the guy gets cap space he acts like like crackhead who just found a twenty on the sidewalk.

I guess what I originally said came out a bit different, but you asked for a source that said Chayka contacted Holland and the deal was made. That was the point I was trying to make. It wasn't Holland "working his magic", or "pulling a rabbit out of a hat". Arizona wanted Chychrun and went to Holland to try to get a higher pick because they had talked earlier about Datsyuk's contract but couldn't reach a deal. Chychrun being available as the draft almost started hitting playoff teams made them make that deal. I know Holland was focusing on moving Datsyuk's contract since he decided he was "retiring", but I think he was a bit too eager, because he actually thought he had a chance at Stamkos. Even if he wasn't interested in Chychrun, He could have taken him with his pick and probably traded him for more than a one season salary dump and a 2nd rounder. No i'm not mad about Nielson. I didn't like the signing, but it is what it is. It sucks Holland didn't take the better player in the draft instead of focusing so much on dumping Datsyuk's contract. Not only Chychrun, but Max Jones was still available as well. After Stamkos resigned in Tampa, Holland should have just stood pat in regards to new long term big money deals. If he couldn't land an elite forward, then save the money. Or, sign a couple more Vanek-like cheap short term deals. Spend the cap that's opened up for the season, or two or three, but don't add another huge long deal. Nielson isn't a game changer. He's a good player, but far from the elite guy Kenny was aiming for. He overpaid because he was in a hurry to get someone signed when Stamkos ignored him.

Hey HSJ, still think Detroit should protect Coreau in the expansion draft? Hahaha

True. Neither Babs or Blash have had the guts to though.

It's alll over the place if you just Google it, but here is the nice simple explanation. If you want to dig deeper, there are more detailed ones. Holland said he and Arizona GM Chayka talked numerous times, and around pick 13 at the draft, when Arizona's target pick Chychrun was still available, Chayka contacted Holland and the deal was swung. Holland said it was a win-win with Arizona getting their draft target and moving Joe Vitale, and Holland getting cap space and another second rounder and only dropping four spots in the first round. Then when asked what he'd do with the new cap space, he just said "Hopefully spend it" "We're looking for forwards". This was when Stamkos was still a UFA. Once Stamkos didn't even give Holland a meeting, he should have held onto the cap and only spend it if he could find D help. But he plowed ahead to get a forward signed and gave Nielson too much money and term. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2016/06/24/detroit-red-wings-2016-nhl-draft-first-round/86362374/

More like impossible.

Not wishin injuries on anyone, but it seems the young guys did need him to get injured to get in the lineup. And that's a problem because if Errorsson wasn't making $5 million plus per season (with an NTC too I think?), he would have been off this team long ago. He rarely has a good game, yet he's never even a healthy scratch now and then. Can't have a player making that kind of money sitting in the press box when healthy, so we all have to put up with his defensive brain farts, lazy play, missed assignments, and deflecting pucks into his own net. And we have to put up with it for a couple more years after this.

Yeah cause Mrazek played so bad tonight. He's the only reason it wasn't 10-1 with all the defensive brain farts that the team committed. Mrazek has been solid overall since Blash gave him the net back, besides the Caps game. His defense did him no favours that game though either. It's been bad all season, but lately it's hit a level of suck not seen in decades. And by decades I mean back to the '80's. And the Wings love to give away free breakaways. Was at least two tonight that should never be allowed by any NHL team. Horrid.

Exactly what I thought when I saw an article about his passing. Mere months from seeing it finished. Damn. He will miss the franchise rebuild though. Something i'm sure he never wanted to see. RIP Mr. I. Thanks for making the Wings respectable again, eventually breaking the 40-plus year Cup drought, and making sure the team remained contenders and champions for many seasons after. And thank you for the countless amazing moments we all witnessed and will remember forever.

I dunno if Fleury is any better than Lehtonen (the goalie expected to be protected) at this point honestly. I know the Pens are desperate to move him so they don't lose him to Vegas though. If he comes cheap he may be a solid veteran two time cup winning option. But then what about the expansion draft? If they still intend on protecting Lehtonen, they could lose Fleury for nothing and he just becomes a rental.

Sproul in huh? Interesting. Good to see Mrazek get a fourth straight start. He's been playing really well. I like seeing the team get points, but the downfall of it is the closer we get to sniffing playoffs, the more Kenny pulls back from selling assets, starting the rebuild properly, and a chance at a top 5 pick. It's a weird situation.

$25-$30 to park? That's insane! If I went down there with the rate of exchange how it is right now it would end up costing me $40 CDN. At least game tickets aren't crazy expensive though. I went to the ACC to see the Wings play the Leafs, and our four tickets cost $800 total. For nosebleeds!! That arena is sold out years in advance though, so people can pretty well name their price. Never again. Next time i'll go to Ottawa. Or Detroit to see the new arena someday if the ROE ever evens out.

Haha both of you guys love jumping on 95 percent of my comments around here, but that's cool. I'm not overrating Chychrun. He was easily one of the best defensemen in the draft. He has a very high ceiling. Just because he hasn't made a huge impact on his team yet means nothing. He will get better quicker than Cholowski will. By the time he finds his way to Detroit, Chych will already have a few seasons under his belt. As for his size, he's not huge, but he's big enough and is known for massive hits. Pretty sure he was compared to Scott Stevens at one point. His hit total isn't high this season, but it's also a learning season for him. You can't compare him to Kronwall, Errorsson, and Smith because they're all NHL veterans, two of them with over a decade of experience. Smith can throw some big hits if he's in the mood. Kronwall used to. I'm sure once Chych gets more games in and his confidence grows, he'll become one of the most feared hitters in the league. I didn't "cook up" anything in regards to the deal. Holland tried for a week before the draft to move Dats ghost cap hit, but couldn't get a trade done. At the draft, Arizona noticed the guy they wanted (Chychrun) was dropping and wanted to move up a few spots to snag him, so they called Holland (apparantly they were one of the teams he talked to earlier in the week, but couldn' make a trade happen) and offered to take the empty salary if they could exchange draft spots and some other throw ins. Holland took it. At first it looked like he made a good deal, even if he lost out on Chych, because he opened up lots of cap. But what did he do with it? Resigned Helm for too much money and term, and when Stamkos wouldn't give him the time of day, he signed Nielson (who was probably the only sorta big name UFA interested in Detroit) for too much money and term. He did get Vanek for 2.6 million though, and it turned out to be a steal, but he could have found a way to sign him without moving Dats contract. So trade draft spots, lose out on the best Dman left and draft a Dman who should have gone in the second round at most. Then take your new windfall and end up spending to the cap with dumb long term contracts for vets, when you should be moving towards more youth on the team and a rebuild. There was already enough overpaid 30-plus year old vets to help the kids out.

Screw Datsyuk. He jumped ship while Z soldiers on as dark days get darker. Datsyuk couldn't even tell the honest reason he jumped. Too bad, because he was a great player.

Wow man. Jimmy "Monster" Howard. If Vegas had even the slightest thought of picking him, they just folded their cards.

Vegas does have an "early window" to negotiate with UFAs, but I doubt many will sign with them instead of waiting until July 1 when they can receive offers from all other teams in the league and maximize the amount of money and term they'll get. If he gets traded but intends to come back to Detroit, cool. He wouldn't be the first player traded at the deadline to resign with his old team come July 1. Too early to tell if he sucks or not. And he does play in Arizona. Hope Cholowski ducks when he sees him coming. If he makes the NHL that is.

I always thought the Datsyuk contract dump in exchange for moving down in the draft was a bad move. Holland was trying to dump it to anyone he could before the draft, but there were no takers. Arizona knew Holland was looking to draft a defenceman with his first pick, saw Chychrun (who they were gunning for)was still on the board, so they went to Holland, who of course jumped at the deal because he was so determined to clear dead cap to sign a vet to help continue The Streak instead of just eating the cap and starting the overdue rebuild, and they got their man. A 6'2 210lb hard hitting physical two way dman who was more or less NHL ready and ranked top 5 for part of the year. Guess Kenny figured that kind of player couldn't help the Wings impending rebuild though. Nah, overpay to sign a 32 year old 2nd line center and draft some skinny baby faced offensive minded dman they could have taken in the 2nd round that's just starting college and won't be of any use for years, if at all. What a joke.

Such a great move taking Cholowski instead of Chychrun just to dump salary for one season. We're lucky if Cholowski shows up in five years. What a waste of a first.