LeftWinger

I mean if Pope were to make the team, sending Ras back to Jrs would stunt his growth, so someone has got to go. Do they waive Witko? Do they trade someone? Is disney.com to Toronto still an option? Maybe AA gets dealt for a young D-man? Funny thing, as much as I talked about Hague last season, I was asking myself the other day, would I deal AA to Vegas for him? Sheesh! I couldn't answer it! Would any of you do so?

I forgot all about David Pope. It seems he has had a nice little college career, good on him for wanting to finish his college off and "walk" in graduation with his friends. That is something that can never be replaced. I hope he signs a contract, but would he really have a legit shot at making the club? Or would he just turn into another 20-something career AHL'r with a few call ups here and there? I hope he doesn't become a UFA and sign with another team and then becomes good. Let's at least give him a contract and see if he can be good for us first.

Someone HAS got to take out the Penguins. On a plus side, Avs out, ANA out and the Olsen Twins are out again! Tee Hee! Imagine if Suter would've used his better judgement instead of listening to his wife? Where would our D be with him leading it all these years? I sure wish I could find that daggone McKenzie interview where he said Suter was coming to Detroit, but his wife didn't want to live in the area. I swear on my pathetic life that is a true statement, I just wish I could find it again!!! I found this though, I guess not everything Bob says isn't gospel! http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2015/05/report_maple_leafs_out_of_runn.html

...and that is why Franzen had only 1 goal against Fluery. My point was he padded his goal totals against a hack of a goalie. But yes, for as much as I dislike him, he shined when he got an opportunity. I cheered with all the other fans.

listen, we all know my hate for Franzen, you are right, but when a sentence starts with Franzen and ends with "better than Fedorov or Shanahan" then there is not enough absurdness in the world to compare to it. In no year, decade or century is Franzen anywhere near the talent of either of them. I am not talking just because of the big names either. Franzen scored 13 goals, yes, but 9 of them were against a sieve named Jose Theodore. That is like scoring 9 against Howard or Mrazek and calling someone a star... My point, though blindly exaggerated I admit, was that if you put Hull or Shanny or Fedorov in the same era (no clutch and grab) and same hack goalie, they'd also rack up their goal totals. I do appreciate everything he did to help us win the Cup that season though. You guys know me by now, sometimes my mouth (or in this case fingers) talk (type) before my brain thinks and I fly off the handle. Its wrong to do most times, But hey, at least it's entertainment value for you guys! And I haven't been very entertaining to people too much recently in my life, so I am glad I can at least shed some laughs here! But you're right, my lack of affection for him fueled most of that post!

You had me until Howard was green. He should be Red/Gray combo. Seriously.

Franzen has always padded his stats by scoring 5 goals in 2 games the disappearing for 20. Most overrated player ever. Fedorov at 32 would skate circles around "Playoff Franzen."

Robitaills and Hull could stand still and score 23 goals on Theodore. Turco, Ellis and Fluery. LOL! Looking at the box scores Franzen had 9 goals against Hack Theodore in 4 games, only 4 goals in the other 12...ya, great playoff scorer!

Lol! Franzen scored 2 hattricks against a garbage Avs team and a hack goalie....Again, Franzen does not score 6 goals against Patrick Roy in 4 games. I would've loved to see him playing in 02 or earlier style of play. In a series, you just cannot compare

******* Flyers.....

....ouch. There is no limit to how much you have "gotten" me. Although its not quite as many as the amount of usernames you've had. Literally.

I can't tell you how wrong this is on multiple levels. That thinking (keeping kids in minors for "more ice time") is what has turned this franchise into what it is, broken down garbage. Kids can learn by practicing with NHLr's and watching and observing from the press box. More than they can learn dominating career AHL players once again in the minors. There comes a time when philosophy has to change, and since our is the only one in the NHL that hasn't, nearly every franchise has passed us up.

Fun Fact: With all the hooking and subtle interference clutch and grabbing allowed in 02, NO WAY the 08 team gets as much room as they did. Fun Fact: Avs Series Franzen does not, ever, NEVER score two hattricks on 02 Patrick Roy. Reason why he got two in 08? Theodore...Oh and again, taking rule changes in to consideration, NO WAY 08 Datyuk and Z outplay or are better than 02 Fedorov and Shanahan. Fun Fact: If rules never changed between 1997 and 2017, the 1997 Red Wings beat the 2008 Red Wings. Again, if 08 team had to deal with all the clutching and grabbing they aren't as dominate and if 97 Wings had so much free ice without the clutching and grabbing and hooking, OMG! Bottom line is you really cannot compare 08 to any of the other 3 because of the rule changes. FWIW, I take all four of our Cup teams over any of the other Cup winners in that 20 years!

after tossing it around a bit, I change my opinion to No. depending on who we draft, I'd like to see XO dealt as well and have 2-3 KIDS make the roster come October. Hoping of course one of those is Dahlin. Kronwall - Daley Ericsson - DD KID - Jensen Kid - Kid ...depending on your FWD/D combo.

That is why I said, the likes of Daley, E, Kronwall, DD and if Green is signed, aren't going to lose their jobs, I'd even go as far as saying Jensen is pretty safe, let them sit 99% of the pre-season games let 4-6ish D-kids compete for one or two spots against XO, if any one or two of them out play XO, keep the kid and drop XO in some form. Pre-Season D XO - Draft Pick Cholowski - Hronek Hicketts - Sarijaarvi/other draft pick

Roster 13/8 WITH Green and XO Bertuzzi - Z - Nyquist AA - Larkin - Mantha OPEN - Nielsen - FRK Abby - Glenny - Helm Witko Kronwall - Daley DD - Green Ericsson - Jensen XO - OPEN ...any combo of taking away XO or Green makes TWO open D spots. Roster 14/7 WITH Green XO Bertuzzi - Z - Nyquist AA - Larkin - Mantha OPEN - Nielsen - FRK Abby - Glenny - Helm Witko - OPEN Kronwall - Daley DD - Green Ericsson - Jensen XO ...again, any combo of taking away Green or XO would leave a spot to compete for even with only having 7 D.

I feel I shouldn't even get into a debate with the 4lifer, but when was the last time Witko played D, he was more used as a forward in the latter stages of the season. You don't HAVE to have him on D. As a matter of fact on CapFriendly he is listed with the FWDS. IF you kept him as a FWD that would make 12 spots up front (without Booth) and 6 spots on D, 5 if you trade XO. Most teams carry either 13/14 forwards or 7/8 D. If you trade XO and sign Green there is 6 D, TWO spots open. Still TWO spots open up front if you go 14/7. ONE AND TWO if you go 13/8. Hicketts and Hronek are not guaranteed a spot but they are included when I say have the kids compete for a spot or spots. If we sign ALL our RFA's here are the guaranteed players: Zetterberg, Abby, Helm, Glenny, Nyquist, Witko, Larkin, Mantha, Frk, AA, Nielsen, Bertuzzi. That is TWELVE (12) Forwards WITH Witko. Leaving 1 or 2 spots depending on 13/8 or 14/7. Kronwall, Ericsson, Daley, DD, Jensen, XO. That is SIX (6) D. Opening up TWO spots if you go with the 13/8 combo. Re-sign Green, it is still ONE spot open if you go 13/8 combo. If XO gets traded or waived we're back to TWO spots 13/8. So if we don't get Dahlin, and we DO re-sign Green and DON'T trade XO, if Holland goes with 8 D, that is still ONE open spot for our draft pick (if its a D) and our younger players to compete for. If Holland goes 14/7, then the D is full (with Green and XO staying) but then there are 2 spots still open up front. I do like the forwards you suggest to fill up the lines. and BTW, the only echo in here is your IP Address...

So, if Green is coming back, that'll leave ONE spot unless XO is dealt/waived. Still TWO up front. What players do you guys think are going to make the jump. I know the Ras situation, I figure he will get a spot up front, sending him back to Jrs. will just hold him back from further development. If Holland is true to his word about the kids coming in, then Ras should be on the opening night roster. Hopefully proving me wrong with his play! Any goalies out there intrigue you guys? I'd like to see us sign one that will at least push Jimmy either to step it up (ya right) or push him right back to the bench.

I believe that Jensen will stay around because he is a good (nicely paid) 6/7 D-man as our D gets better. I am not saying Hicketts is above him ATM on the scale, but until we see what shakes out this draft and training camp, he would make a solid bottom pairing with Jensen. I liked Green, I guess it would not be the worst thing if he re-signed, but I am not in favor of it because we have Daley, Ericsson and Kronwall as the "Vet presence" and God I hope DD re-finds the reason(s) that 30 teams wanted to sign him a few season's ago. Back to our draft position, I really believe that any D we draft NOT named Dahlin with out 1st has a damn good chance of making the team out of this year's Camp. Obviously Dahlin would be nearly a shoe in to make the team, but think about the quality of D in the top 10, we haven't drafted any one D-man of their caliber in a very, VERY long time! IMO, Hughes, Bouchard, Boqvist and Dobson already have skills that are better than most of our D in our system, and some on our NHL club. Like i mentioned in a different thread, the top four "vets" on our team aren't going anywhere, they have a spot come October. They should sit most/all pre-season games and let our D kids compete for those two spots. ESPECIALLY our 1st pick this draft and Cholowski.

IMO, if you're the owner of this team and you want Yzerman as the GM, you don't "ask" Holland anything, you tell him that he's being promoted.

Oops, Must have gotten buried... Nevermind, I guess there is a thread already about it....great vid none-the-less.

Potentially the greatest video ever made! And no, it's not me!

I noticed on the list (and the whole one at eliteprospects.com) that there is another Foote, Suzuki and Bertuzzi gonna be drafted in 2019. Cal's brother, Nick's brother and Todd's son.

...and no, don't even mention Franzen as a joke.

The more influx of high end draft picks, the more we can and will attract that 27 year old UFA in his prime down the road. Mantha, Larkin, this years high end pick, (plus the 3 late 1sts) and next years high end pick, will no doubt help this team with the high end "home grown" talent, but then we can go back to adding a 27-30 year old UFA or two here and there to make us that much better. Here are some of the top prospects for the 2019 draft: - Alex Newhook (F) Victoria Grizzlies BCHL 45 22 44 66 10 - Kaapo Kakko (RW) TPS U20 Jr. A SM-liiga 38 25 30 55 16 - Peyton Krebs (LW) Kootenay Ice WHL 67 17 37 54 40 - Dylan Cozens (C) Lethbridge Hurricanes WHL 57 22 31 53 20 - Arthur Kaliyev (LW) Hamilton Bulldogs OHL 68 31 17 48 20 - Jack Hughes (C) U.S. National U17 Team USDP 24 13 35 48 10 - Alex Turcotte (C) U.S. National U17 Team USDP 39 15 32 47 14 - Kirby Dach (C) Saskatoon Blades WHL 52 7 39 46 12 - Samuel Poulin (LW) Sherbrooke Phoenix QMJHL 55 16 29 45 42 - Ryan Suzuki (C) Barrie Colts OHL 64 14 30 44 10 - Nolan Foote (LW) Kelowna Rockets WHL 50 13 27 40 31 - Henri Nikkanen (F) JYP U20 Jr. A SM-liiga 50 20 18 38 10 - Dmitri Sheshin (F) Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk MHL 51 12 26 38 12 - Xavier Parent (F) Halifax Mooseheads QMJHL 63 13 16 29 30 - Albin Grewe (C/RW) Djurgårdens IF J20 SuperElit 36 10 17 27 54 - Bowen Byram (D) Vancouver Giants WHL 60 6 21 27 52 - Sasha Mutala (RW) Tri-City Americans WHL 68 11 15 26 28 - Alex Vlasic (D) U.S. National U17 Team USDP 52 8 18 26 18 - Marshall Warren (D) U.S. National U17 Team USDP 52 6 19 25 26 - Matthew Robertson (D) Edmonton Oil Kings WHL 67 7 17 24 44 ...and here is just an example of some of the UFA available come 2020, when hopefully we'll be on an upswing and attractive to some players. (of course having JT and or Karlsson on our team beforehand would help too.) 1. Nicklas Bäckström UFA 30 C Left $8,000,000 $6,700,000 2. Alex Pietrangelo UFA 28 D Right $7,500,000 $6,500,000 3. Patrick Marleau UFA 38 LW, C Left $4,250,000 $6,250,000 4. Braden Holtby UFA 28 G Left $5,000,000 $6,100,000 5. Taylor Hall UFA 26 LW, C Left $6,000,000 $6,000,000 6. Corey Crawford UFA 33 G Left $5,000,000 $6,000,000 7. Ryan Callahan UFA 33 RW Right $4,700,000 $5,800,000 8. Mikael Granlund UFA 26 C, LW, RW Left $6,500,000 $5,750,000 9. Tyson Barrie UFA 26 D Right $6,000,000 $5,500,000 10. Mikko Koivu UFA 35 C Left $5,000,000 $5,500,000 11. Justin Schultz UFA 27 D Right $6,000,000 $5,500,000 12. Nathan Horton UFA 32 RW Right $3,600,000 $5,300,000 13. David Clarkson UFA 34 RW Right $3,250,000 $5,250,000 14. Torey Krug UFA 27 D Left $5,000,000 $5,250,000 15. Jared Spurgeon UFA 28 D Right $5,500,000 $5,187,500 16. Mike Hoffman UFA 28 LW, C Left $5,650,000 $5,187,500 17. Zach Bogosian UFA 27 D Right $6,000,000 $5,142,857 18. Brayden Schenn UFA 26 C, LW Left $4,500,000 $5,125,000 19. Andrew MacDonald UFA 31 D Left $5,750,000 $5,000,000 20. Andy Greene UFA 35 D Left $5,000,000 $5,000,000 21. Alex Galchenyuk UFA 24 C, LW, RW Left $4,900,000 $4,900,000 22. Sami Vatanen UFA 26 D Right $4,500,000 $4,875,000 23. Justin Faulk UFA 26 D Right $6,000,000 $4,833,333 24. Craig Anderson UFA 36 G Left $4,000,000 $4,750,000 25. Carl Söderberg UFA 32 C, LW Left $4,000,000 $4,750,000 26. Martin Hanzal UFA 31 C Left $4,000,000 $4,750,000 27. TJ Brodie UFA 27 D Left $4,838,000 $4,650,400 28. Clarke MacArthur UFA 33 LW Left $4,750,000 $4,650,000 29. Chris Kreider UFA 26 LW Left $4,000,000 $4,625,000 30. Tyler Toffoli UFA 25 RW, LW Right $4,800,000 $4,600,000 31. Troy Brouwer UFA 32 RW Right $4,500,000 $4,500,000 32. Christopher Tanev UFA 28 D Right $5,250,000 $4,450,000 33. Dmitry Kulikov UFA 27 D Left $4,333,333 $4,333,333 34. Michael Frolík UFA 30 RW, C Left $3,000,000 $4,300,000 35. Craig Smith UFA 28 C, RW Right $4,750,000 $4,250,000 36. Jonathan Ericsson UFA 34 D Left $4,250,000 $4,250,000 37. Evgeni Dadonov UFA 29 LW, RW Left $3,600,000 $4,000,000 38. Jake Muzzin UFA 29 D Left $4,450,000 $4,000,000 39. Marco Scandella UFA 28 D Left $4,750,000 $4,000,000 40. Mikkel Boedker UFA 28 LW, RW Left $3,000,000 $4,000,000 41. Roman Josi UFA 27 D Left $4,000,000 $4,000,000 42. Johan Franzen UFA 38 RW, LW Left $1,000,000 $3,954,545 43. Travis Hamonic UFA 27 D Right $4,875,000 $3,857,143 44. Cody Eakin UFA 26 C Left $3,850,000 $3,850,000 45. Matt Beleskey UFA 29 LW Left $3,000,000 $3,800,000 46. Justin Braun UFA 31 D Right $3,800,000 $3,800,000 47. Jacob Markström UFA 28 G Left $4,000,000 $3,666,667 48. Michael Stone UFA 27 D Right $3,500,000 $3,500,000 49. Vladimír Sobotka UFA 30 LW Left $3,000,000 $3,500,000 50. Radko Gudas UFA 27 D Right $2,500,000 $3,350,000 51. Thomas Greiss UFA 32 G Left $3,750,000 $3,333,333 52. Brenden Dillon UFA 27 D Left $3,900,000 $3,270,000 53. Charlie Coyle UFA 26 C, RW Right $4,250,000 $3,200,000 54. Trevor Daley UFA 34 D Left $2,200,000 $3,166,667 55. Patrick Eaves UFA 33 RW, LW Right $3,000,000 $3,150,000 56. Sam Gagner UFA 28 C, RW Right $3,200,000 $3,150,000 57. Jean-Gabriel Pageau UFA 25 C Right $3,400,000 $3,100,000 58. Conor Sheary UFA 25 LW, RW Left $3,000,000 $3,000,000