LeftWinger

Honestly ALL four of the discussed D fit our team and would help it in many ways. Bouchard - I think is the player that fills most if not all of what we need in a #1/#2 D. Dobson - Also fills our need for a #1/#2 D, but being in the Q tends to exaggerate your stats a bit, but could still be the one we need! Hughes - Fills the need for a speedy O-minded D-man, could be the pick because of Michigan Ties and great "audition" for Blashill at Worlds. Boqvist - Another speedy O-minded D-man, would also fill our need for that. TSN says he is not at the same level as the 3 mentioned above, and does he really have concussion issues? Still likely to be gone before #6 despite TSN and possible concussions, but if there, will Holland try to find another "Lidstrom?" If we could snag Bokk at 30 or 31, that could very well be our perennial 30 goal scorer. Would be AWESOME! Are there any sleepers in the 2nd you guys like? I still like M. Samuelsson and C. Addison, but what about O-guys? With pretty much the prospect rankings set for the draft, who would you guys love to see at 33 and 36? Would love for our two 1st round picks to make the team this fall. Maybe Holland still packages Big Svech and AA to Carolina for a D-man. Excitement is about to really pick up!

remember when Holland drafted Kindl in the 1st round? This is what I'm afraid of. Him bypassing the better player again. But, if he and his scouts feel Hughes is the way to go, ok. Please just don't draft a player with injury issues...

Ya, and then I couldn't root for him because I said "same old kenny..."

We did get Rybar. Maybe he'll take the #1 job. He is probably already better than Jimmy.

They overpaid us for Sheahan, maybe they'd make a mistake again?

Ya, the new @Bannedforlifewould not accept that as PC.

And I said "person."

How many times do you have to read that it's not about the person or position signed.

I'd prefer the #6 not to be the small D-man. But honestly, if I were "in the know" I wouldn't be working where I currently work, I'd have a job in the NHL. I don't know crap, but I do have favorites I'd like to see become Red Wings...BTW go all the way back to the first post of the thread, the first few names I mentioned to keep an eye on were Hughes and Wilde, someone even came in here and mocked it as this years Tippett and Hague...I've never been anti-Hughes, right now, I am just more pro-Bouchard. A smaller O-minded D in the 2nd round is not a big deal, but like I said, we are in dire need of both a small fast O-minded D and also a larger D who can also move the puck, we would win with ANY of the 4,I just have my order of preference.

You could not be more wrong. I do not hate Holland. But I love this franchise so much I am afraid of what Holland may NOT do in order to make this team great again. He has done stuff, and yes there are things that you do as a GM that is SOP, but I am just tired of the junk this team has turned into because of some of the things Holland did or did not do. Just don't want to become a franchise like Chicago or Pittsburgh where I have to endure a decade of junk....I ain't getting any younger! There is no narrative, I do appreciate when things go well, I do not think he is braindead. Just want this team to do well ALL the time. If don't feel the same way, then something is wrong. Guess I just want to see progress instead of regress. All of my youth, even when they were getting eliminated in the first round all the time, you still saw something growing, I just want to see more of that. He's done great in drafts, trades and trying to acquire UFA's, I guess I am just impatient, like I said, I don't want to go through a decade or more of being bottom feeders.

Nah, not booing Holland at all. @Buppy you got it all wrong. But I appreciate your post. I'd take any one of Hughes and or Boqvist if my 1st 2 choices were already. I never said we'd be a loser if we took any of the four, but I, like everyone, have my pecking order.

arena of the year? A few things we can expect in the coming couple of years because of this: 1. All Star Game 2. Amateur Draft 3. U18/U20 WC's 4. Prices to Rise!

So with Vegas getting no lower than 30, do you think Bokk will still be there? I think it was a stretch at 28, he will probably be gone but until its over... I am still going with: Bouchard Bokk Samuelsson Addison ...with our first 4 picks.

Honestly, if you ask me, all the UFA's in GR that are over 25, you let go and sign your own draft picks (like Sambrook) and give them the shot at developing their game at a higher level. Tangradi, Street, McCollum, Lorito and even Coreau are all replaceable with our draft picks. I'd even let Turner go if it meant getting one of our drafted kids in there to develop more. Which brings me to a question. Looking over the Griffins roster, there are players there that aren't on the Wings depth list. Obviously signed by GR and that is all. Is there any way to call up one of those or would they have to sign a contract with Wings first? Probably dumb question, but I have 900,000,000 things going through my head right now...

I didn't sat it was bad. I am totally good with it! Hopefully he is better than any of our current goalies, Howard included and ends up being a diamond find! Making the D better would also go a long way towards making our G's better. This is not the draft thread, so I will only mention drafting one once, Bouchard/Dobson/Hughes would make our D better. How do we make our D better outside of the draft? We don't have a ton of worthy assets to get one via trade, but realistically, how could our D get better with the young players we do have to offer? Let's say Svech, AA and maybe a D prospect. A better D means better goaltending, maybe Rybar comes in wins the backup spot and ends up outplaying Howard, plus being younger, more agile, quicker, maybe with a better D, he actually becomes a nice NHL goaler and sticks around for a while. No, I don't think they should re-sign McCollum, but signing Coreau to stay in GR is not a bad idea or just go with all the kids, because, yes, even thought he AHL has its own Cup to win, and you want to ice the best you can, it is also the main developmental league for future NHL players. Maybe we just play two kids there and have a 3rd string in the box all the time. Actually hanging on to McCullum and not letting kids develop at that position would be another example of "business as usual."

Rumor has it Pittsburgh is going to try and trade Kessell…

Nothing embarrasses me. I'll explain it one more time... pretend there is a Ken Holland Manual on how to conduct off season business. He has been using it (doing much of the same thing every off season for how long now?) to conduct his approach to the off season every season. Page 1 of the manual usually starts off by ( I left this out) being in the running for and then losing out on a highly touted NCAA player and then it's usually followed by signing a virtually unknown player from wherever, doesn't matter the position, he usually does this. You can look over the last 5+ years and see this to be true. Usually that player is touted as to having a chance to be in Detroit and is said that he'll make it so there is more competition to make the 1 or 2 spots available, but never usually makes it and splits after the contract is up. Also, I left out the introduction where Holland ALWAYS says we need to change the makeup of the team, get bigger, get more sandpaper and get harder to play against. This is where we are at now, reading the same introduction and the same page 1. I had said, if after hearing what Holland had to say AGAIN about changes, then he goes and does the same stuff as the previous years, we'll be on the same page 2, because instead of doing what he says and taking risks, making bold moves, he would've just reverted back to his manual and played it the same way he always has. I expect big things from him starting now, especially since he was given (another) two years and wants to rebuild this team towards its former glory. Going by the same book, status quo, is not rebuilding, so far (even though it is good to sign depth players, I get it) he has done the same thing he does each year. Now maybe the new Holland Manual has the same couple of few pages and then he'll make the bold changes needed, that is fine, but when I said it may be scary, I meant if we all get excited about new changes, new types of players, more kids on the big club, but then he just defaults back to the same old Holland, like he is re-reading the same old book or manual, it will suck and we'll all be pissed off and lose even more interest in this team. Look, signing UFA players is good, to fill your 50 man roster, I didn't bash the Rybar signing whatsoever, I just simply said, so far, he has followed the same order of his business as usual manual, and hoped he started writing new pages to it soon or it could get scary and we would all be angry again. Now, lets get this draft here and see which direction he will go! I prefer the Bouchard/Dobson type, but if Hughes is drafted, it would not be a bad thing, we are in dire need of BOTH types of d-men. I just think we need a Bouchard type more desperately than the Hughes type first. Besides: met·a·phor ˈmedəˌfôr,ˈmedəˌfər/ noun A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn't literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. They sure do spell things oddly where you come from...

I feel I explained it enough. You obviously didn't read where I said it had nothing to do with position or nationality. But ya, since you apparently don't get it, we'll drop it. Besides you guys brought it back up after the Lindstrom signing. Not me... We'll address it again mid summer.

Your joke has run stale. I know you understand what I mean. We'll see where he goes from here if he sticks to his word on a rebuild or just does the same ol' stuff. Nuff said. We'll see what happens next.

You're taking things way out of context. Page 2 has nothing to do with signing our draft picks. As smart as you seem to be, I still cannot believe you don't understand the metaphor....oh well.

Didn't say he wasn't worthy. Look over the life of this thread, you won't find anything of the sort.

Maybe he feels that Bouchard will be gone. Maybe we are leaning more towards Dobson, who knows! No doubt he made sure to mention Hughes, Caputo is a HUGE Michigan slappie...to the point that it makes me vomit.

We'll just see if he re-writes the book and makes (or attempts to make) all the changes he says he wants to make, or if he just turns the page on the same book he's been following.

actually from the definitions, it is not a demographic thing, the two spelling mean two different things. You wouldn't say "write a sentence and make sure you use Capitol letters." Here this describes it perfectly: The Washington Capitals play in the Capital of the USA where there is a huge Capitol Building. There is a Capitol Building in the Michigan Capital of lansing, oops, I forgot to use a Capital L in Lansing...

it has nothing to do with position or getting screwed. It's just the same thing he does every year, (no it doesn't matter nationality or position) hopefully he doesn't continue the "same thing"