LeftWinger

someone said it earlier, with our amount of "maturing" kids about ready to make a move to the NHL, it may be fine to start dealing a couple of picks. I would trade our 1st for sure this season, unless somehow it's a lottery pick... I think someone said trade out 1st this year for a first next year and then we'd have two 1st rounders in 2015. Sounds good to me... Hey Rich, earlier you posted a lines thread to look for in 5 years... Z and Franzen still have 7 and 6 years remaining on their contracts respectively...I think Z plays out his contract for sure. Unless Franzen's head gets worse, I think he does too..

The Oilers are the Detroit Lions of the NHL....so much mis-used raw young great talent...trade us Yakupov and Smyth. Datsyuk will straighten up Nail and Smyth can make our PP good again...

Thing is Iggy, even though they will have around $16M give or take that they could use to acquire a UFA, there are roster limits to deal with. Right now you sit at 23, I am not sure if the limit is 23 or 24... the thing is also, I really don't see Tootoo being on this roster next season either (unfortunately.) They have already shown they will waive him with no worry if they lose him, so they will probably do that again to make sure they have room for a UFA or even if Glendening or Jurco are to be on the opening roster. Those two have exemptions, so going with Holland's history, they will start the year in GR just because they can...

I am just going by the scouting reports. He currently sits at spot 11 in their top 25, which isn't bad at all, but he is on the way down the list, and he needs to step it up a bit to start crawling back up it. I don't think he is a bust, but he IS out of exemptions next off season along with Jurco and Jarnkrok, who both right now occupy two of their top 4 on the prospects list. Mrazek and Matha are the other two with Ouellet rounding out the top 5. My point was, next off season all of Jarnkrok, Jurco and Pullkinen are out of exemtions, couple that with the 4 top prospects that are out of exemption this off season, the #11 spot and not moving up is not a good place to be when it comes to choosing one or two of those three guys in 2015. Right now, if you had to choose two of the three, it would be Jurco and Jarnkrok. This season you have to make decisions on Sheahan, Ferraro, Callahan and Nyqvist. (Parkes, Emmerton, Aubry, Nestrasil, Coetzee and Fournier are also out of exemptions this summer.) Next season, like I mentioned above, Jurco, Pullkinen and Jarnkrok are out of exemptions. Not to mention Nicastro also... Its easy math, too many prospects without exemptions and nowhere near enough roster spots in Detroit...

again, all this UFA signing talk is fun, but what do you do with the kids that are out of waiver exemptions? Jurco and Glendening will NOT be on the roster opening day because they have exemptions left and will certainly start the season in GR because they can. Sheahan, Ferraro, Callahan and Almqvist all need to pass through waivers to be sent to GR to start the season. Unless there is a trade made moving some of these guys out of town, they will be on the roster come October or you will most certainly lose one if not all of them for nothing...Sheahan is a no brainer since he has been the one seeing all the NHL duty, Ferraro, for all intents and purposes, was a 1st round draft pick, Almqvist shows potential and Callahan is still in their top 25 prospects list. You don't want to waste draft talent like that, especially since you have been developing them since day 1. I say outside of a trade for a scorer and a top 2 defender, Holland goes all in house next season. You just cannot afford to lose these guys you have invested so much time in. It's not like any of them fell of the radar either. I could see if they were draft busts and just fell of the list of potential NHL players, but these four are all right there in their top pool. There are others out of exemptions but I am not sure how they factor into the Wings plans, since none of them are in the top 25 prospect pool; Coetzee, Aubry, Nestrasil, Parkes, Fournier and Emmerton... You cannot just replace Sammy, Bertuzzi, Eaves and Cleary with UFA signings, you have 4 kids that are in your top prospect pool that need to be decided on. Be on the Wings, get traded or lose for nothing to waivers...

I agree Shaman, especially if he doesn't seem to be getting better health-wise. He could take the lump sum buyout, live like a king and keep a straight head on his shoulders. He can enjoy his wife and kid(s) and not have severe head problems for life.

The concussion late 2013 was a love tap. The problem is, he has been and still suffers from his massive injury in 2008, then if you remember correctly, after he returned from that injury, Gary Roberts gave him an elbow shiver to the head in the finals that season further compounding his injury. I too wish they had chosen Hossa over Franzen, but back then none of us knew that his head problem was going to linger this long. I am guilty of just thinking he sucked from 2009 on and didn't even once give it a thought that it was his 2008 concussion causing all these problems and turning into the player he is today. A lot has been explained now when I think back to him saying things like he can't focus while on the ice most nights, has trouble getting into the game on most nights and his streakiness just proves now that his problem hasn't gone away. He will turn into 2008 Franzen for 5 games, then disappear for 20. I am not sorry I wished all these years that Holland chose Hossa over Franzen, but looking back, if I knew he was suffering this long, I sure would have thought differently of him. Now we just need to see if he can come back healthy AND productive this season, or wait until next season and see if the extended time off cures him. If it doesn't, then he needs to hang up the skates...

Lion's once again forced to make the wrong hire....Jim Campbell. Get ready for another coaching change in 5 years, this guy is barely over .500 as a head coach, took Super Bowl team in the Ravens as a OC and they missed the playoffs...this guy cannot coach his way out of a wet paper bag. But with the two guys the Lions wanted flipping them the proverbial bird, they had no choice but to hire the guy that John Wooten chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation told them would be the best choice...in other words, when Lovey Smith went elsewhere, the next African American should be the Lions coach. He even said there needs to be more minority coaches in the NFL. So, they don't get their man in Whisenhunt, they succumb to the pressure's of racial organizations and hire the totally wrong guy...but then again, who else wants the Detroit job? This guy inherits all his accolades (which aren't that good anyhow.) He is said to help lead Peyton Manning to the Super Bowl, yet Peyton was already a superstar QB, Caldwell stumbled onto a Super Bowl team. He took the Ravens (Super Bowl Champs) and led them to miss the playoffs and have a 29 out of 30 ranked offense...Super move Mayhew, keep hiring people due to outside pressures, what's next hire a son-in-law for an OC or DC? Oh wait....

...again, would love Ladd and or Wheeler on the Wings. If they are looking for NHL experience in return, we are more than likely not in the hunt for either of them. I can still see Holland going after Bogo though. He has always come up in talks of people Holland is interested in, Holland usually doesn't give up until he gets him or they player just refuses to come here. He got Weiss after a couple of deadlines of Holland showing interest in him, he got Bertuzzi too. I wouldn't doubt if Bogo winds up here. I still wonder if the Columbus would part with Wisniewski...although he is leading their defense in scoring...they would probably trade JJ before Wiz... ...speaking of Columbus, WTF happened to Horton? I see he only played 6 games, but he doesn't show on the IR list...

I think the future looks very bright, but are these guys Yzerman's, Fedorov's, Lidstrom's and Shanahan's? Nope... although Lidstrom was a 3rd round pick and I am sure NOBODY envisioned what he turned in to or he would have been a 1st overall. I am optimistic about the guys the OP listed, outside of Pulkkinen, who seems to be dropping down the chart. At 23 years old, he needs to make that jump to NHL worthy soon. He has one more season of waiver exemption, but I honestly see him being one of the guys packaged in a trade along with Almqvist...there are just too many guys at their age and waiver exemption level that seem to be in a better position to be in the NHL. For example, off season 2015 BOTH Pulkkinen and Jarnkrok are out of waiver exemptions, Jarnkrok still tops you prospects list and Pulkkinen still rides in the bottom 10...who do you keep? Jarnkrok, obvious choice. So trading Pulkkinen before that decision has to be made makes most sense. Same with Almqvist. He is out of options this off season, but do you shy away from a trade if someone wants him, knowing he is falling down the chart a bit PLUS you have Backman, Ouellet and Sproul all better than him coming up and seemingly more ready for spot play in the NHL than Almqvist... Callahan, Ferraro, Sheahan, Almqvist (among a few others) are all out of waiver exemptions this off season. Jarnkrok, Jurco and Pulkkinen are out of options NEXT off season, decision will need to be made since the likes of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Weiss, Helm, Dekeyser, Kronwall, Ericsson, Smith, etc...are not going anywhere withint two years or more. There just isn't much room on this roster and trades will need to be made in order to get some value for these guys... Heck, and I didn't even mention Tatar and Nyqiust! Andersson is still here, but is a very tradable asset, although Babcock seems to be in love with him and we all know how that works out if Babcock loves you...ahem, Cleary, cough, cough, ahem...

Ya, Weiss does deserve a chance to show what he can do healthy. Maybe the hernia issue has been with him all season and that is why he seemed so....uh, crappy out there. Let's see if he can come back healthy next season and give him a legit shot at the #2 spot. Especially if the buyout would cost us so much... Talking buyout, I really don't think they waste it on Tootoo. They have already shown that they are prepared to lose him for nothing by waiving him, so why waste the buyout on someone that you can waive anyhow? I think Holland will wait until the last possible minute to use the buyout to see if everyone is going to be healthy and who is just not making the grade. Also a question about the buyout, I thought the TWO compliance buyouts teams were given allows them to buy out the player with no return hit on the cap? I thought there are two types of buyouts, Compliance and ordinary. When I select compliance buyout for Franzen, the cap hit is $0. When I select ordinary, the cap hit is $-73,000 (which is what it shows when you compute his buyout the way you did for Weiss.) I think, if necessary the compliance buyout allows for $0 against the cap...

to answer the OP question, yes if Weber, Suter, et al were available, I would trade Howard for one of those guys. I think though, if there is going to be a deal, it will be for someone like Yandle or Erhoff or Edler et al. Like someone said earlier, a #2-#4 defenseman seems more likely of a deal since after Deke, Kronner and to an extent Big E, the talent level drops dramatically on our roster. Q and K are hot garbage and Lashoff is a serviceable bottom pairing guy. If not a Suter or Weber to take over the #1 spot, then we need that solid top 4 guy to make our D formidable. Preferably a Right Handed shot to man the point on the powerplay as well. I think the Wings should go out of their way to stock up on right handed shots on D the next few years to alleviate this problem...now that I look, they do have Sproul, Marchenko and Jensen in their top 25 prospects that shoot right handed...Nicastro is also, but at 23 he still cannot crack the GR lineup, I think unless he pulls out a surprise, he may slide even further down the charts, he is an RFA this July with 1 more year of waiver exemptions...Mitchell Wheaton is an interesting one though, at 18 years old he is 6'4" 230lb. Right Handed shot that is still in the WHL and hasn't signed a pro contract yet. He is a monster, but according to scouts needs to learn to use his frame accordingly. Ryan Sproul Alexey Marchenko Nick Jensen Mitchell Wheaton Max Nicastro ...all right handed D men. Looks a little better than I thought to begin with for the future. I would LOVE to tear Steve Santini away from New Jersey somehow...

It would be nice to have Stastny. But like you said, all depends on what happens to Weiss or who ever else they use the buyout on... Could Stasny be turned into a right wing? It is going to be an interesting summer, especially if they miss the playoffs. With all the guys out of waiver options, it will be interesting to see if there are any trades at the draft or the deadline for that matter...

you left out lose M. Callahan and Ferraro to waivers...

Oops, my bad on Weiss....so basically just as Kip referred to above, it would be next to impossible to get all three, you'd have to select one of the forwards and Kulikov..if Wheeler is that good, then take Wheeler and Kulikov and look ahead to Weiss and Franzen becoming healthy this season and being able to contribute... ...although I have a strange feeling Weiss may be out longer than we expect... speaking of Weiss...what is it with the #90? Sheesh! I remember when he signed and said he would wear #90, someone on here said, "Oh no, not 90!" and there you have it, the voodoo of #90 struck again...

Kip, I understand that, and if he is healthy then by all means, let him play. I don't want to see him injure himself beyond having a normal life, so if he is having trouble staying healthy from an injury 5 years ago, maybe he should remain LTIR to see if he can recover and come back next season either with a clean bill of health or retire. I am going under the presumption that Holland is looking to replace Franzen's potential offense if he decided to go after Wheeler, so I was just using him on LTIR in order make the room needed. Now if Franzen becomes healthy 100% again this season, then the monkey wrench gets harder to turn if you want to acquire Wheeler, Ladd and Kulikov... ...if Franzen were to be healthy, then after sending Sheahan and Eaves back down and trading Q and K in package or salary dump deals, you'd have to shave roughly $3M more off the cap just to break even if you acquired all three...

Zombo, I just think you could acquire Ladd, Wheeler or Bogo for other prospects than Nyquist and Patterson. I think Patterson is going to be GR goalie for a few years then when the Wings are done with Howard, he will be up to back up Mrazek. But, that is just my opinion...there are a few other prospects down there that can get us what we need and I'd rather part with those than Nyquist and sure fire goaltender...but Holland is not beyond mistakes, and sometimes he makes good deals as well. Kip was referring to people not wanting to give up anything to get something, I am the contrary to that. I would gladly trade Franzen, Howard, Quincey, Kindl or Ericsson from our roster, along with prospects, picks if it meant upgrading our team...I just think it wouldn't take as high a prospect as Nyquist to do so, especially if you involve established NHL players...

The only two dumps you'd have to do in order to have all three Wheeler, Ladd and Kulikov is Kindl and Quincey. Franzen is best to stay on LTIR for the rest of the season so that opens up about $10M+ then sending Sheahan down along with waiving Eaves opens up another $2M. That is $12 open to have all three of the guys you want, it's just coming up with a package to acquire them is the hard part...

You would keep Franzen on LTIR for the rest of the season and send Quincey packing. That should help out. If you trade prospects and Quincey away in order to acquire Ladd and Wheeler, you would also have to send Sheahan back down and Eaves on waivers. That gives you a smidge over $1m in cap space with Ladd and Wheeler on the books...If you traded away Kindl in order to acquire Kulikov, you would be left with $927K in cap space... So, demote both Eaves and Sheahan....trade away Quincey and Kindl and then acquire Ladd, Wheeler and Kulikov somehow and your current roster would look like this: (including the current injured players) Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Tatar Wheeler - Ladd - Alfredsson Nyquist - Andersson - Cleary Miller - Glendening - Abdelkader Kronwall - Dekeyser Kulikov - Smith Marchenko - Lashoff

Whats that Kip? The WPG fans don't want to give anything of value up?

...sidenote, IF Buffalo is going to get rid of Miller, you have to take a shot at getting him. Although the price would be steeper to us, being in the same division... I'd also inquire in New York to Rick Nash's availability...

No to Nyquist and Patterson... Marchenko, ALmqvist and Pulkkinen I am neither here nor there on...but if you are giving up two D prospects, better have at least one D man coming back...IMO. I think a trade involving Kindl and Quincey is likely, but they won't return us Ladd and Wheeler or Bogo...unless they are padding to a package deal...

If I am trading Jimmy, it is definitely a package deal... to WPG: Jimmy Howard, Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey to DET: Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian I know, I know...but one can dream! I would like to squeeze Andrew Ladd out of them somehow as well! Maybe throw in Andersson, Ferraro and a pick and they can add Setoguchi and Ladd...

Make the deal for Ladd AND Bfuglien today! Get it done Kenny! Hell, throw Bogosian in as well!

he better develop some skills, because as long as Babcock is our coach, this type of player will never be on our team...unfortunately...I for one am rooting for Big Mike to make it to GR after college, then be up within 3 years of that in Detroit...