LeftWinger

I feel very contrary to this. This is not Yzerman's first ever draft, he does not need his hand held. Will he take in to consideration opinions from all? Sure, but ultimately, this is not Holland place anymore. Yzerman will meet mostly with scouts and make his own decision on the players he selects. He is the GM, this is his team to build. He is not Co-GM with Holland, this is not some sort of Marvel Team-Up where they choose together. This is Steve's team now, again, advice and opinions aside, Steve makes the decision's, none of it has to do with Holland anymore. I fully expect the type of player(s) selected will reflect on Steve's vision for the future of the makeup of this team, which could be polar opposite of Holland's. Which I welcome with open arms. If we wanted more Holland, we would've kept Holland, or promoted from within. I am SO glad that we more than likely won't see anymore 2nd round experimental picks! (ie. Berggren, when Holland should've drafted another D, like Woo or Wilde with that extra 2nd round pick. This is Yzerman's team and this will be Yzerman's draft. Holland can just stay home.

#6? I'm thinking that's a bit high for him.

At one point in the presser Steve answered a question saying "we'll see in 5 years" or "I'll let you know in 5 year's." Something to that effect. I'm not sure if he was letting leak out his personal goal for having success or if he was referring to that because his contract is for 5 years. But that's the only time I heard anything about years.

Top 5 trending on Twitter in USA Steve Yzerman RedWings LGRW Stevie Y Ken Holland

With the Wings loyalty, this may be the last GM the Wings have in my lifetime. I'm smiling from ear to ear. I just can't stop. I hope NHL Network shows this today.

Now we just need to get Nick and Igor involved somehow! Ok, ok, asking too much!

Ultimately I'm sure it is, but if Yzerman highly recommends it, I'm sure his opinion would hold a ton of water! I hope it happens, it needs to.

So, what is his first move? Just like a few have us have mentioned, he's probably been evaluating the team throughout the season, so he may have some ideas already. Also, he must be a fan of Blashill or I'm sure he would've not have been extended. Stevie probably was involved in that decision.

They'll compensate Tampa with a 3rd round pick. I am so excited about this. We all have been expecting this, but it doesn't make it less exciting. The prodigal son has returned! My excitement for this team has just multiplied by 10000%, litterally, my hands are shaking. I haven't had much to be excited about, especially with the 1 year coming up, but this makes me happy. ...on a side note, how long until he puts #91 in the rafters? Also, the season ticket phone lines have crashed by now I expect!

As much as I am for wheelin and dealin, I can agree with these as well. Although I'd give Kronner a 1 yr and buyout Ericsson and Daley, but that's neither here nor there because more than likely either of them will be rotating in and out of the 6th spot. I think Cholowski and Rasmussen both need a full year in GR, but if they have "grown" more by next season, lets give them spots. I'm all for kids playing. With the recent success of The Isles, I'd entertain the idea of asking Nielsen if he'd waive to try and win a Cup next season with them. Valuable spot. But his contract just may keep him here for the life of it. Trouba is an RFA this summer and a UFA after the length of his next contract is over. Seeing his history with The Peg, it'll probably be just 1 year, because I highly doubt they'll give him anything north of $8M, which is probably the range he will be looking for. I say no to offer sheets, they will probably match anything under $6M and I'd hate to give up the compensation for anything above it.

I kind of like the 1 year huge salary idea, BUT I'd rather throw the $14M at Matt Duchene than Eberle or maybe Panarin.

then we'll trade them E.

Be careful guys...

Here we go! First of all, you never trade AA. Period. Cap rises to $83M (shy of $85M rumor) Isles lose in 7 games to Nashville in SCF, they call Detroit at the draft asking them the price of acquiring Nielsen for veteran leadership. Nielsen waives his NTC and Isles send 2019 1st (#30) to Detroit in exchange for Nielsen, 2019 2nd (#35.) Detroit trades E. Svechnikov, Givani Smith, 2019 2nd round (Isles #60) to Carolina for Justin Faulk. Detroit drafts Bowen Byram at #6, Cole Caufield (fingers crossed) at #30. See below for my entire draft! Detroit uses ZERO buyouts Detroit signs Erik Karlsson (5 yrs $12M) and Gus Nyquist (5 yrs $5.5M) on July 1. Re-Signs Kronwall (1yr 4$M) Witkowski (2yrs $750K) Mike Green start season on LTIR along with Z and Fanzen. Cholowski, Rasmussen, Kuffner, Frk (re-signed) start in GR. Sign Veleno, Byram and Caufield to ELC's. Re-sign McIlrath, Chelios, Rybar, Sulak, Hicketts, Wade (all GR.) Vanek, Sateri are both allowed to pursue other opportunities. Rybar and Larsson are your GR goalies. Believe it or not, still have $5.5M in cap space. Opening Day Looks like: Bertuzzi - Larkin - Mantha Hirose - AA - Zadina Helm - DLR - Nyquist Abby - Ehn - Glenny (Witko) DD - Karlsson Daley - Faulk Kronwall - Hronek (Ericsson - Bowey) Howard Bernier ....Do I think Holland will be this bold? No. But this would be nice! Yep, I'm crazy, but as long as we are poking and hoping. (yes, I dropped the idea of Skinner in exchange for a cheaper Nyquist, who will no doubt bring Karlsson with him! ) 2019 Draft: (after my deals above) 1st round: B. Byram, C. Caufield (if not there then Nolan Foote) 2nd round: (with SJS pick that remains after trades) Ethan Keppen 3rd round: Ryan Johnson 4th round: Nando Eggenberger 5th round: Michal Mrazik, Mason Primeau 6th round: Juuso Parsinen 7th round: Adam Edstrom

I'm still baffled on how Knights were able to fleece Anaheim into trading them Theodore in the expansion draft. Welcome to Detroit Karlsson.

3-0! Good for Columbus, they were buyers at the deadline and need this. Tampa learning 62 wins (asterisk) mean nothing.

Good for the isles, I picked them as my eastern conference team. Plus, f*** the pens.

So, no Hughes or Kakko, lets say Cozens and Byram are also gone, do you draft a D man that high that "might" be a top 4 guy, do you draft another C that won't be here for awhile (especially since you already have Veleno coming soon) or do you deal the #6 pick away? Would you trade the #6 pick and a player/prospect (Helm & Svech maybe) to WPG for Trouba and their 1st? I guess for WPG to want to make that deal they'd have to fail miserably in the playoffs. But honestly they are probably going to have hard time with Trouba again, so maybe they'd welcome the #6 pick for him. It's just valuing their 1st that depends on what to add to the package. Helms NTC is void until the start of the season due to the clause that the Wings failed to make the playoffs, I happened to think Helm and Svech would be worth a late round 1st, but I really don't know for sure. Anyhow, for me, if Byram or Cozens are both gone, that's what I would do. to WPG: #6 Pick, NHL Player, Prospect to DET: Jacob Trouba, 2019 1st round pick (TBD) Not enough to WPG? What do you think?

I think the top 3 picks will be: Hughes, Kakko, Podkolzin, so that leaves both Cozens and Byram, but lets hope 4 and 5 don't take them. I don't know too much about Turcotte. I actually don't know too much about the rest either. Haven't kept up like I use to do. But I trust TSN and their top 10, they say, all are NHL players, so I guess we'll see who we get. Here is Craig Button's post-lottery picks up to us. He and I agree on the top 3, honest I didn't look at it before I typed above! Considering the 2 extra 2nd rounds picks are way back there (pending eliminations) I am hoping we can snag a diamond with our 2nd. I usually don't prefer the shorter forwards, but if Cole Caufield fell to us in the 2nd, that would be a nice pick! Right now he is ranked #16. I hear a ton a nice things about him!

With losing the lottery, this is the 1st year in a long time that I really don't care who they take, I;m sure anyone we take will be at least 2 years away anyhow. But if I had to choose: D - Byram F - Cozens I know, bold picks! So, that being said now, it's guaranteed Holland won't take either.

Can't say it much better than this. There is NO reason why a team that just missed the playoffs should be drafting ahead of teams that have struggled and lost all year and were out of the playoffs since before the TDL. Not unless they've traded for that pick of course. In the same breath, you can't keep rewarding the same teams over and over.

Until they killed Kurt Cobain. WHAT!?!?!

Great post, thanks for sharing!

Exactly. 3 out of 6 Cups less than 10 years ago disqualifies any sense of having a top 3 pick in the draft. Same with picking 1st already within 5 years.

The NHL provides the franchise player, that player plays like a franchise player, he can't help the team build around him, can't sign UFA'S or hire coaches. Said player sells tickets and merch. Uncle Gary does not care about if the team wins, he cares about having reasons for fans to spend money. Detroit has one of the largest fan bases in the NHL, he feels they don't need a #1 pick to make money. It's all about money and that's why the lottery is rigged. I'm not so mad that we dropped as I am of 2 of the 3 teams that won.