LeftWinger

Ya, but which "prospect" are you willing to give up (for free) for Cleary to have that #14 spot? Jurco? Pulkkinen? Ferraro? Callahan? Who else? Point isn't we'd rather worry about upgrading the D rather than being upset if Cleary comes back, point is, if Holland cannot make a deal and Franzen makes a comeback to play, you are waiver 2 players to keep Cleary in that #14 spot. Ferraro will not clear waivers again...Jurco, Pulkkinen will never clear waivers, even once. Callahan is a favorite of Blashill's, so he will fight to keep him off waivers... siging Cleary will destroy some of the future of this team...lose Ferraro and Callahan, but hey, Cleary is only the #14 guy, so no biggie...

wonder what happened to Mantha to make him "touchable" now...last two trade deadlines he was "untouchable." If Holland is trading Mantha our 1st, Smith and Weiss, it damn well better be for a Ryan Suter type defenseman, NOT a Phanuef-type defenseman. I am assuming that Mantha is not horrible, but of all our top end prospects, someone has to go to get what we need, and he is the one? Maybe? I mean with AA, Bertuzzi, Larkin and the chance of us landing Hyman, someone has to be the odd man out, but damn, I sure was looking forward to Larkin and Mantha being the next dynamic duo... Again, like I said, if he's dealing Mantha and our 1st along with Smith and Weiss, it better be a blockbuster coming back....if it's only Phanuef (or similar) and tie that in with the possible re-signing of you know who, I would say our off season would be taking a bad turn...

A buddy told me today that he read that if Holland offers him a contract, he will have to earn a spot in training camp or get waived. Holland said that he will not lose another young talent again this year like he lost Nestrasil last year. He went on to say that the report said we didn't even have to lose him to waivers because of Cleary, but because our former coach was dead set against sending Jurco down to GR, making room for Nestrasil and for Cleary to ride the press box. I didn't know that Jurco had exemptions last season. Not that I would have been in favor of sending him down in order to have Cleary and Nestrasil, but from a business aspect, if we had to have Cleary (like it seems this year as well) you had to send Jurco instead of Nestrasil in order to protect Nesty. I wonder if that was something that Holland and Babs butted heads on and something that maybe soured their relationship... Problem with this is, IF Cleary were to play well enough to get a 14th spot, then they will have to waive a player or two. Maybe Holland is hedging on trading Weiss, losing Franzen to LTIR or maybe trading a kid anyhow, but just like before I would HATE to again lose a young un-tapped talent in order to keep a useless geriatric on the team.

Our last coach LOVES Andersson... Pulk, Jurco and Nyquist (along with Ferraro and Jensen) are all RFA's right now. Nyquist will get the largest raise, but the others will come pretty cheap, get then all signed for 3 years. DD , Sheahan and Mrazek are RFA's in 2016. DD should get Quincey money at most, Sheahan will be modest. Mrazek will get at least $3M. He will cost us the most, but if he pans out to be our legit #1, Jimmy will eventually be traded, so that would open up $5M more. I know my wish list is a dream and I will most likely be disappointed, but I'd also be fine with one of Green or Franson and just keep Kindl or promote Marchenko. What if we land this Reilly kid? He won't go to GR, so I know that is even more Cap space gone. Heck, we may even land Hyman as an FA, he might spend some time in GR with Larkin. Abby and Helm will get raises for sure, but how much? I think they are forever $3M or less players...just my opinion. I will still probably be disappointed... Jackman is interesting, but he is lefthanded and I think if Kenny is going to spend big cash, it'll be for what he needs...but then again, he did want Phanuef...

My Perfect off season.....Blashill (check!) Trade Weiss, Smith and Kindl, rights to Andersson all for more draft picks. Sign Mike Green, Cody Franson and Carl Soderberg. Re-Sign ALL our other RFA's. Keep Marchenko, Sproul and Ouellet in GR for HUGE minutes. Promote permanently Jensen, Ferraro, Callahan. Franzen to LTIR "retirement." AND DO NOT RE-SIGN YOU KNOW WHO!!!

Move to Vegas, keep Coyote name. Put expansion team in Phoenix, name them Scorpions. Move new Phoenix Scorpions team to Quebec, rename to Nordiques...sound familiar?

Love to! But unfortunately, if Cleary is re-signed, it'll monkey wrench every line combo that we'd want to see!

No, I'M the psychic! Detroit will trade Weiss, Smith and Kindl all for more draft picks. Then they will trade their #1 for a legit D man. They won't have a #1, but will instead have multiple 2-7 round picks to choose our next wave of future players. Or was it that they were going to sign Hamilton and give up 3 picks? Damn, I cannot keep these psychic visions from appearing!!!! It's confusing me!!! Seriously, I would entertain trading the #1 I it brought us that defenseman we need right now...

Ya, if we get Reilly and we already scored Dekeyser, I guess that really makes up for it.

People will go apes*** when he signs...but what will be even more funny is all the folks here that will try to convince the rest that it was a good signing in some way or fashion... In NO WAY will re-signing Cleary to play be good for anyone EXCEPT Dan Cleary. You want to talk about rookie coaches and asst. coaches, but having Cleary take a roster spot away from someone is horrible. Where is he going to fit? Especially if Franzen is able to play and Weiss is not traded? You know Jurco and Andersson will most likely be re-signed. Ferraro for sure, Nyquist and Pulk are given's. Where is this guy going to fit? If all that happens, the forwards actually get worse. No room to sign a MUCH needed UFA to make the team better and then we will have to put Ferraro and Callahan through waivers again...if Franzen is healthy, do we waive Pulk next? If Cleary signs and Franzen is healthy, that is 16 forwards, without getting better via UFA. Guess we say goodbye to Ferraro, Callahan and Pulkkinen. As you can guess, I am highly upset at this news. Signing Cleary in any on ice capacity would seriously hinder this team moving forward and unfortunately, the blame will get directed at the rookie coaching staff instead of Holland stunting the growth of his team. I am all for trading a couple of forwards to improve this team, but not just to make room for Cleary.

How does this happen? They were only drafted 2 years ago. I am not up on the rules, but it seems a lot of players spend more than 2 years in the juniors and or college before they sign and they don't go back to the draft...Mike McKee was drafted the year prior, he never signed, did he go back to the draft? I know he is at Western, but I just don't get how this works.

Chelly coached and lead while playing on the ice and in the locker room. There is no reason to believe that he cannot have the same effect coaching from behind the bench. There is a risk, sure, but in terms of leadership, I think that Chelios has Gretzky beat. On the Oiler teams, Messier was more of a leader, Gretzky was just pure offense. Same way I believe Malkin is a better leader than he who shall not be named. If Granato re-signs, this coaching staff will be one to reckon with. Hey now, everyone here knows that I am the Psychic One! With all my predictions coming true! (Yes, I can make fun of myself!) But once again, look a few posts up above the first Chelios to be Asst. post and you will see me saying make him an asst. What can I say, this stuff just happens! What can I say?

Blash from Detroit, Chelly and Granato from Chicago Area, we'd have an all Original Six coaching staff!

Now, tweets are flying that Chelios will indeed, join the coaching staff. Wow! I wish I could ask for the lottery numbers and get an answer that quickly! With Chelly and Granato (possibly re-signing) could this be the 1st All-American born coaching staff in NHL history?

1st American Born...nice! Michigan Man..even nicer! re-hire Granato and then move Chelios to Asst. We may not have instant success, but I feel great today! Just super excited.

its also going to be streaming on freep.com

I expect Blash to be forced to play Dan Cleary in the top 6.

got to get it trending on Twitter.... #BANcleary seriously, enough is enough. Who has to clear waivers this year for him? Pulkkinen, Ferraro again? No way, #BANcleary....

...and Q is NOT good. He was not worth a 1st round pick, and he is not worth the $4.25M. I take that back, in this market, he is, but not in the real world of non-inflated salaries. But whatever, he did get better as the season went on, but with the way our D played in the 2nd half, did he actually get better or did the others play down to him? We wouldn't miss him, and K is more offensive minded. IMO, having Franson, Green and Kindl in the starting 6 is better than having Q in there. That would also give you 3 pairs of dual role players, Kronner, Green and Kindl would be your O minded guys and Franson, Ericsson and Dekeyser would the D minded guys...perfect setup.

Helm and Abby are good, but they are not top 6 guys. If you aren't going to put offensive minded guys in the top 6, then trade them, because Jurco and Pulkkinen are NOT bottom 6 guys. Keep Abby and Helm in the top 6 and trade Pulk and Jurco then. People seem to forget ALL the games where we couldn't score goals or even get shots on the net, you will never realize the potential of Jurco and Pulk while playing with Glenny and Andersson as their centers. Abby and Helm have great chemistry with all the guys in the bottom 6 and most likely would make those lines better. Continue to use Helm on top PK lines and Abby on top PP lines, that is fine, but we are wasting the talent of Pulk and Jurco if they are out there playing 5 minutes a game and in a checking role. No offense to Abby, I like the guy, I live 30 miles north of Muskegon, he is an icon over here. I know Jurco and Pulk haven't proven anything yet, but that is because they were stuck in the bottom 6 with our last coach. BOTH players were drafted because of their offensive capabilities. Sure they need to play both sides of the puck, but they are more O than D. I give Abby all the credit in the world for scoring 23 goals amongst 44 points, but both Pulk and Jurco have the potential, with the skills they have, to get near 30. Sure, AHL doesn't always convert to NHL, but the one thing I hated about out last coach was the way he utilized certain players. If Blash is anything like him, then we all know line combos will change a million times over the season. I just would like to see both Pulk and Jurco put in positions to take advantage of their particular skill set. Demoting Abby is in no way knocking him, it's almost a compliment because his skill set allows him to be that versatile. He would make the bottom 6 better, besides, if Jurco is on the 3rd line with Sheahan and Helm, is that truly a bottom 6 line? I understand I actually have Jurco on the 3rd line, so technically, he is in the bottom 6, but by numbers only. That line could be a great two-way line, with Helm 's D and Sheahan's two-way along with Jurco's offense potential.

Wait, what? Sergei Fedorov was a "good" player? How jaded are these fans...without that "good" player, Detroit is still in a Stanley Cup drought...I believe that whole-heartedly...

I, for one, would like to see a little gamble like that. As long as a few things happen along the way. Let's say we signed him for the $7.3M, according to what is written above, we'd lose a 1st, 2nd, 3rd? Ok, the WIngs already have Tatar, Nyquist and Sheahan here for a long time to come (assuming they play their careers here) and they have higher end prospects like Larkin, Mantha, AA, Turgeon, Bertuzzi. They scored a big goal (pun intended) with landing Dekeyser, he would have been at least a 2nd round pick in the draft. What if the Wings were able to land this Reilly kid AND land Hyman when he becomes a FA. Even though Danny D was a few years ago, he still has a bright long future with us. So, IF they landed Reilly and Hyman, then also signed RFA Hamilton, I think we would not miss those 3 picks. But like Kip said up there, I'd hate for someone to offer sheet our RFA's, so we'd have to get our guys signed, land the two FA's and THEN offer a huge contract to Hamilton...a lot of perfect scenarios would have to happen, but like I said, we'd lose the 3 picks, but gain(ed) Dekeyser, Reilly, Hyman AND Hamilton... ...trade one of our extra guys for our 3rd rounder back....we have a lot of players worth a 3rd rounder...

reports have the Wings meeting with NCAA FA Mike Reilly....he is 6'1" 183 lb. left handed defenseman....does make sense or help us out any way? He is from Chicago and was drafted in '11 by Columbus. He is a FA this month. He is also meeting with Chicago so maybe they would have the hometown track on him.... Speaking of, any more word about Zach Hyman? It says on his wiki page that he told Florida he will opt to become a FA instead of signing there. Detroit is also listed as one of the interested teams...Florida owns his rights until August 15th, 2015....

hmmmm, good way to rid themselves of phanuef or kessel...or both!

Weiss will not spend another year in the press box. He will either play or be traded. What I hope to see all depends on what Holland can accomplish between the draft and training camp. I hope to see Weiss, Smith & Kindl (I'd prefer Q gone over K) traded, Andersson unsigned (Babs loves him, so maybe trade his rights to Toronto) and would love to see TWO new defensemen here, if not then give Kindl the shot and just add one. I need Abby and Helm back in the bottom 6 and a #2 center signed. Soderberg would be nice in between Nyquist and Z. I think if Blash had a llneup like this given to him, he would get serious consideration for the Jack Adams: Tatar - Dats - Pulk Nyquist - Soderberg - Z Jurco - Sheahan - Helm Miller - Glenny - Abby Ferraro/Callahan Kronwall - Franson Ericsson - Green Dekeyser - Kindl Jensen Mrazek Howard Now that is what I'd LOVE to see! Trade Weiss/Smith/Q/Andy all for draft picks!