Son of a Wing

...among defencemen.  Not overall. Not to mention he's played half the games as most.
Small sample size, but nonetheless encouraging. 
Also have to remember he turns 24 in a couple months.  Guys like Hieskanen and Juolevi are 18 and 19.

Well he promised the Ilitches he would move them back to the East. I can't imagine he would disrespect that agreement just a few years later and flip them back.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Detroit-owner-Ilitch-Bettman-promised-move-to-E?urn=nhl-wp13732

Well he promised the Ilitches he would move them back to the East. I can't imagine he would disrespect that agreement just a few years later and flip them back.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Detroit-owner-Ilitch-Bettman-promised-move-to-E?urn=nhl-wp13732

GOLD CANADA GOLD!

Who?

Nope but keep making crap up like you're known for. 
I'm curious if you even believe your own lies or if you'll just say anything to try and make a point. 

Nope but keep making crap up like you're known for. 
I'm curious if you even believe your own lies or if you'll just say anything to try and make a point. 

He asked for a source. Not more fake news.

What are you talking about? There are only 20 forwards in the entire league that average 20min/night. Mostly superstars. 
Once again, an issue you're so passionate about yet know nothing about. Maybe do some research first before you act like you know better.
 

He's 14 on this list http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/sportsnets-2018-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-december/
I told you, he just makes stuff up.

Show me one semi-respected source with Evan Bouchard in the top 5. Hell I'll even settle for top 10.

Puhleeze.... THE ALMIGHTY CANUCK WILL PROSPER

 

Puhleeze.... THE ALMIGHTY CANUCK WILL PROSPER

 

What are you talking about? There are only 20 forwards in the entire league that average 20min/night. Mostly superstars. 
Once again, an issue you're so passionate about yet know nothing about. Maybe do some research first before you act like you know better.
 

Who?

I wasn't a huge fan of the Daley signing, I wanted some of the kids to get a look before we signed a player outside the organization. That and the Athanasiou situation. I knew Daley would be a solid addition, just didn't think it was the right move at the time. I do think most other options could have done as well as his 5 points in 32 games, and -13, but I don't think anyone would have been given his tough assignments. Not only is he out there against the leagues best every night, but I believe he's the main reason for Ericsson's resurgence this season. Ericsson has been great thus far, arguably our most steady defender. It's odd though that Ericsson and Daley have been a staple for most of this season and Ericsson is a team best +3 and Daley is a team worst -13...

Green, Booth, Jensen, Nyquist, Ouellet, Mrazek, Witkowski. I think that's the realistic list of trade bait candidates. And I'm ok with that.
I don't think blowing it up is feasible, because I don't think any one of our bigger contracts can be moved without us retaining salary or throwing in a sweetener or taking back someone else's problematic contract. Might as well just keep those players and let them guide us to a couple more seasons like the one we're currently having. It'd be one thing if we had a number of stud prospects knocking on the door and we had to make room for them on the roster, but that isn't the case.
As for the draft...we do need to get lucky, yes. We do need to hit a home run or two or three over the next few drafts, yes. But I feel like a lot of Wings fans are a little too hung up on picking 1st/2nd/3rd overall. Getting lucky in the draft doesn't only mean picking in the top three.
Consider:
Erik Karlsson was drafted 15th overall Mark Stone -- 178th Mike Hoffman -- 130th Nikita Kucherov -- 58th Brayden Point -- 19th Mikhail Sergachev -- 9th P.K. Subban -- 43rd Roman Josi -- 38th Filip Forsberg -- 11th Vladimir Tarasenko -- 16th Colton Parayko -- 86th Mark Scheifele -- 7th Nikolaj Ehlers -- 9th Jacob Trouba -- 9th Zach Werenski -- 8th Alex DeBrincat -- 39th Duncan Keith -- 54th Mathew Barzal -- 16th David Pastrnak -- 25th Brad Marchand -- 71st Patrice Bergeron -- 45th David Krejci -- 63rd Sean Monahan -- 6th Johnny Gaudreau -- 104th Dougie Hamilton -- 9th T.J. Brodie -- 114th Ivan Provorov -- 7th Shayne Gostisbehere -- 78th Sean Couturier -- 8th Claude Giroux -- 22nd Rasmus Ristolainen -- 8th Anze Kopitar -- 11th Vincent Trocheck -- 64th James Neal -- 33rd Shea Theodore -- 26th Evgeny Kuznetsov -- 26th John Carlson -- 27th Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- 6th Clayton Keller -- 7th Derek Stepan -- 51st Brock Boeser -- 23rd Hampus Lindholm -- 6th Rickard Rakell -- 30th Brent Burns -- 20th Logan Couture -- 9th Joe Pavelski -- 205th Kris Letang -- 62nd Jamie Benn -- 129th John Klingberg -- 111th Justin Faulk -- 37th Max Pacioretty -- 22nd Brendan Gallagher -- 147th Shea Weber -- 49th Ryan McDonagh -- 12th Dylan Larkin -- 15th Anthony Mantha -- 20th Andreas Athanasiou -- 110th Not a single one of those players was a top-five selection.
Food for thought.

We might not even have to sell hard to finish in the bottom three. I'm just saying that if we continue to get the results we've been getting (or the lack thereof), we should be in a pretty good spot in terms of lottery placement -- and if we sell a significant piece or two, that could seal it. There are really only two teams in the league that are unequivocally worse than us this season (Arizona and Buffalo).

No matter how much I disagree with someone, I at least respect people enough to give value to what they say. (Even if I think it's absurd) I am sorry that you can't give me the same courtesy. No more point in continuing a discussion. You can't reason with someone who thinks your entire ideology or belief system isn't just flawed, but irrelevant or without merit because they can't accept other viewpoints besides their own. It's not enough to disagree, its like that person isn't even worthy enough to have an opinion. I am sorry. I will make sure that I confer with you next time before I have an opinion so that I know its ok to have one.

They have to be. No one will stay in Buffalo if they're sober. 

So you say comrade...

Mrazek has been treated like s***, honestly. Guy signs a contract to be the team’s starter after Holland decided Howard was the past in Detroit, and expendable. OK, done deal.  Only Howard was never moved. Seemed like Holland didn’t even actively shop him much. Definitely was not retaining salary! So Mrazek has a bad season overall while Howard plays well overall in the games he gets in. OK, it happens. Not a huge deal in the goalie world.
But after that one bad season, he's not able to resume his  starting role given to him the previous season when signing his deal. Instead, he’s relegated to backup duty behind Howard, and now he’s expendable? In a contract year when he’s got a $4.1 million qualifying offer coming if he earns it? Yet he’s barely played and Holland WILL retain salary to trade him? Only vets get the preferred treatment package I guess. 
Damn, after writing that, can’t see how anyone could blame him if he doesn’t care and wants the hell out of Detroit! And hopes the rumours are true. Sounds like real quality treatment of a player. First class.

They have to be. No one will stay in Buffalo if they're sober. 

So what exactly do people expect Blashill to say? He's put it on himself. He's put it on the players. The teams not competitive and there's no magic wand.
What would you do if you got asked the same questions every day? 
Call out the vets? Guys like Helm, Nielsen, Ericsson? Where's that going to get us? Those guys aren't capable of turning the team around even if it did light a fire. It's just going to piss them off AND decrease their trade value and we'd still be stuck with them.
Ride it out. Go through "the process" and try your best to maintain a positive competitive culture where young players can still develop. That's all he can do.

So what exactly do people expect Blashill to say? He's put it on himself. He's put it on the players. The teams not competitive and there's no magic wand.
What would you do if you got asked the same questions every day? 
Call out the vets? Guys like Helm, Nielsen, Ericsson? Where's that going to get us? Those guys aren't capable of turning the team around even if it did light a fire. It's just going to piss them off AND decrease their trade value and we'd still be stuck with them.
Ride it out. Go through "the process" and try your best to maintain a positive competitive culture where young players can still develop. That's all he can do.