juice71285

I would like to see Detroit sign Brunnstrom. From the look of it, he would seem to fit quite well into our system. Also I thought I saw where many scouts felt that he wouldn't be quite ready to play in the NHL next year anyway, at least not top line minutes that is, but rather the year after. I know Hakan felt that it would be better that he stay in Sweden another year, which would be the only option that Brunnstrom would take anyway, if he didn't make the NHL squad. Vancouver and Toronto might be rare exceptions to the let him develop, since we all know that those lack on the offensive side. If he does go to one of those teams and plays right away, I fear that the pressure may be to great on him and that he won't truly reach his potential. If this happens it mostly likely will cause him to go back to Sweden, even though he will make less, and probably never return across the pond. On a side note: I wonder if Detroit would be willing to sign his linemate, and former Red Wings draft pick, Mikael Johansson. From what I have seen of him, he looks pretty good. He still is probably a couple years away. I also think that Johansson might be more like Ritola and Ericsson, where he might be more willing to play in Grand Rapids a year or two before playing in the NHL. It seems that Johansson and Brunnstrom have a fairly good chemistry between them also. So that might also mean leaving Johansson in Sweden with Brunnstrom for the sake that they might develop better together, I don't know. On a second side note: Their line mate Aslund seems to be another interesting player. I am not sure if he still young to draft, but if Detroit was willing to use their 6th or 7th round pick on him, I wouldn't mind. He's 6'2" 194, which is of moderate size. While he doesn't have the points like the other two, some of the video that I have seen shows that he does have some offensive upside to him. Also according to eliteprospects.com he seems to have a rather good defensive game as well. My guess is that if develops to be of NHL caliber, he would be a rather solid 4th line player, a good 3rd line player, or possibly even a 2nd line player (if he puts on a little more weight and is willing to fight in the corners, or possibly take on a Holmstrom like role).

I like the current format, that the game doesn't mean anything and the players show it. This is because the season is already long enough with 82 games, and from the sounds of it might be bumped up to 84 games in the near future. If the game became more competitive, then there will be a higher risk of someone getting hurt. And to this point, your not talking about depth players getting hurt, your talking about essentially the cream of the crop players being injured. How would like to see Lidstrom or Datsyuk go down with a long-term or even worse season-ending injury in an All-Star game. To the point of players showing that it doesn't mean anything. The players you can tell are genuinely having fun out there. They look like the kids you see at the local rink playing recreationly, or the old men's league. They're out there playing the game like the way most of us played it when we were younger, for the fun of it. This game is not a job to them like the other 82+ games they play. This is just one game they can take it easy and relax and enjoy it like they did when they first started playing it. They are also able to do things they usually wouldn't dare attempt in a normal game, such as someone pointed out Nolan's famous point to the net, which makes for some entertaining fun. To take that away you might as well say that after juniors/college its just business and nothing else. To comment on the MLB All-Star way: I've never really liked that format for the simple fact that if your the best team in the regular season, you should be rewarded for it. Teams might start to play differently knowing that only their conference games matter and therefore will not play the other conference as tough or their best players during those games.

I am first off sorry if this isn't the correct place to post this, but as you can tell I rarely post at all. First off is Kinley a Griffin signing only or did Detroit sign him. Since the Griffins say he was an amateur tryout. Now to the real question: Should Detroit sign the Donati twins once their seasons end? To me these two could be moderate risk for possibly high reward. They both are near the top in the OHL stats and it sounded like they did well in the recent tryouts with the Wings in training camp. I remember we did this a couple of seasons ago with Lebda, though he came out of college and not the juniors. That same year we signed Himelfarb, too, not sure where he came out of, and he has done alright, but not as well as expected. I think that Detroit should gamble and pick them up now, instead of wait till next year's training camp. Its possible that some other teams may try to pick them up before then , or the Donatis may decide to go to another team's tryout. They both look like they have good offensive upside. I am not sure about how they are on the defensive side since I have never seen them actually play. Signing both of them could be good for the two of them in playing for the Wings organization, since they know each other very well and know what the other one is going to do. When I play, I always find playing with a relative to be the best for me, since I know and they know what we are going to do each time were on the ice, and where to find them. I would also like to see Detroit invite reid Jorgensen back another year to the tryouts, since I know two years ago he did pretty well in it. I'm not sure how he did this last time, but I noticed he was near the top in scoring in the WHL again.

I know that Cleveland is getting a new ECHL team called the Lake Erie Monsters. Actually the Lake Erie Monsters are going to be a new AHL team, sad but not surprising given the long history of Cleveland trying to support a team in the AHL/IHL/NHL. They are going to become Colorado's primary affiliate. As for the Toledo situation, I don't know much about it. I live in Illinois, but I have heard on numerous occasions over the last few years that the Storm may fold because they haven't been able to get a new arena. I know the rink is old when my dad tried out for a Toledo back in his 20's, now he is over 50, at the Toledo Sports Arena. I know that Toledo needs a new arena. It will help Toledo's local economy, not to mention it will probably bring more people to the home games. Toledo is currently ranked 14th in the ECHL for attendance, which is about 4000 per game. This is about 100 less then the league average. So they aren't doing too bad but with a new arena and possibly having better publicity, via radio, tv, internet, etc., this could very easily go above the average and more than likely be in the top five or ten. I don't think the team should fold for one or more seasons waiting for a new arena to be built. Reason being delays could happen and become overwhelming to the point that the ECHL may drop them. While these teams never actually folded to build a new arena, but rather never played because of arena issues (Gulf Coast Swords and Ontario, California [no nickname]). I am worried such a thing could happen in Toledo, and I know Toledo has a long standing and a pretty good reputation for hockey. I think instead while building a new arena, unless their going to build the arena in the same place as where the one is now (highly unlikely given the fact that I have seen numerous times where they wanted to build a rink in another part of town), they should continue to play in the Sports Arena. Have a year or mopre off could abandon some of the fan base you already have and we know the fans are going to have to help pay for the new arena and maintenance on it. As for the team name i think it should stay the Storm if Detroit continues to have them as their affiliate. Ever since Detroit has had an affiliation with a team in Toledo its always been the Storm, so why change it.

There is no doubt in my mind that IF Pittsburgh moves its going to be in Kansas City. Kansas City is a very good pick to in my mind. The reason being is that in the last thirty years the Midwest and Plains states have become a hot spot for hockey. Look at all the recent editions to the AHL Omaha, Iowa, Peoria, possibly Rockford, IL. If they would have tried this even fifteen years ago it wouldn't have happened. Also the UHL is almost enitrely based in the Midwest, while the CHL is mostly Texas and surrounding states. You take a look at the top two junior A programs and one of the top junior B programs (USHL, NAHL-A and CSHL-B) have their entire leagues in the Midwest and Plains. Kansas City may not be a very big city but it does have some close proximity to other somewhat smaller cities such as Independence and others. Also Topeka is about an hour to hour and a half drive from there. You know people will be willing to drive that if they get the likes of Crosby and Malkin. As for what happens with Detroit whether or not they move East, I could care less. All I care is about them playing and rooting them on. I don't want to see what happened a couple seasons ago happen again. On a personal note, I wish I had the money and resources to start up my own little semi-pro league here in the Midwest. Being in Illinois near Peoria, which has had some form of semi-pro to pro hockey for quite some time now. I would like to recreate the old Continental Hockey League, or All-American League. A lot of these cities that held these teams have grown, and some now do support some semi-pro to pro league teams. These teams would mostly be made of local guys who have some junior or college level experience. Since these guys are local to their areas I think it would draw some good crowds not to mention a lot of these teams would have at least 1 or 2 other teams in close proximity so you would have some good rivalries started up. I know you guys probably didn't care about that last paragraph but oh well its there.

I just noticed that he was not on the Griffins roster anymore. I noticed on eurohockey.net that he was getting a tryout for a Berlin team in the German league. It said he was coming from Owen Sound of the OHL. Can anybody elaborate as to what happened to him from the beginning of the season, because I remembered he had signed with the Griffins to an amateur tryout.

Hudler may get his chance soon if Lang is out for any period of time. As you said Quincey played so there is room for Hudler in Detroit. This would suck for me however if he is in Detroit since Friday there is a very good chance now that I will be at the Peoria game.

I might be going to the game Friday, when their in Peoria. I really hope I can find a way to make it to this game. I'm really interested in seeing Filppula, Hudler, Kopecky, and some of the others play.

I figured that much out. I was just wondering why they released him.

Hey eva whats with making Cleary looking like he is a bad defensive mistakes. As far as I can recall he has only made one. While it did prove costly its not like he is doing it all the time. For the most part, when Mowers is out on the ice I see him cough up the puck more then Cleary, its just that we haven't seen it put in our net. As for Mowers getting his chances, for the most part it seemed Cleary and Samuelsson were doing more of the work and Mowers was the benefactor of that work. Cleary has shown he deserves the PK more than Mowers because he is a quicker skater and is willing to dig for the puck. He has played a very sound game for the most part and is great on the PK with Franzen. As for Grigorenko, I believe we can sign and not have to compensate Ceverstal since Russia did not sign the IIHF agreement. However, I do believe Grigorenko may benefit more by staying in Russia. He would regain his confidence much quicker then he would over here, plus we want to make sure he can keep this pace up all year. I say wait and sign him next year, and put him on the Wings, as long as he isn't shown up by many other players.

Thanks for the info on Seluyanov. He was one of them that I was really hoping that could make an impact in the NHL. It seemed like from what I have read that he has had a ton of potential just never really wanted to utilize it. I would really like to Blatak get signed by the Wings after this year. I agree that Ericsson could become a future Wing. I think he still adjusting though from being a center to a defenseman. What about Petrasek. I know he is 29 now and it seems that RWC doesn't think to highly of him, but I notice he puts up good numbers each year. In 7 games he has 4 pts., 6 PIM, and is +2, the pts. are tied for seventh in the league. He might not be a great player, but could possibly be used as a 6th or 7th d-man that could occasionally chip in a point here or there. I know Blom has little chance to make it. Backstrom and Berggren both seem to be interesting prospects though. Maybe not top four players, but possibilities at getting a contract. Berggren would more likely get a contract in my opinion.

I was wondering if any of you guys think there is a chance that Detroit might sign Alexander Seluyanov next year. He is the same as Grigorenko where his rights are up, but it seems like he is borderlined of possibly being signed.

I really hope Hackert has a great year. It would be nice to see him play with the Wings next year. I wish we could have signed Ledin too. He seemed to have done very well in the SEL. He did better then Samuelsson did, while Samuelsson did play in the NHL before, I think he could have been another steal for the Wings. Right now Ledin has 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 games, which is tied for 21st and is 5 points back of first. He also has registered 10 PIM. Again I would really like to see Hackert have a great year and hopefully play with the year.

I believe you will see Valtonen come over next season as the Wings lose his rights next year. You might see a fair share of prospects get signed next year as many of them have their rights be lost in June. Valtonen is from Poland.

Sundin is playing for Nybro in Sweden's second tier league. However, I think he is on loan from one of the SEL teams, possibly Leksands.

Does anybody know where Kolasau plans on playing this year? I know he was drafted by Prince George of the WHL last year, but was later dropped as a player since he played in Belarus. Anybody know if he is going to play in the major juniors, Belarus, somewhere else, or does Detroit plan on signing him and sending him to Toledo.

I noticed Keller had another goal today for Team C, 2 goals and an assist in the only two games that Team C is going to play is pretty good for a prospect tryout in the maining training camp. I am wondering if guys like Big Snake, Jorgensen, and the Jarretts might already be getting contracts since they were on the fourth lines of their respective teams, with either each other or other Detroit prospects. Keller was the only tryout that was in the prospect camp to play on the 3rd line.

Big Snake played his first intrazquad game with the Wings. He played with Oulahen and Herring, and it doesn't look like he did much in penalties or on the scoresheet. He was on the fourth line for Team B. Jorgensen and Blair Jarrett were also relatively quiet for Team C. Keller was really impressive though. He had a goal and an assist for the two goals Team C scored. I know Barnsey will also appreciate the fact that LaCouture did the same as Keller for Team C. Cleary and Sloan were the only other two tryouts to put anything on the scoresheet, Cleary a goal and Sloan an assist for Team B.

According to hockeyligan.se, Jari Tolsa was injured in a game against Rogle while playing for Frolunda. The translation wasn't great, but it sounds like a cracked rib, and not a total break.

I think if a couple went to Toledo, that it won't hurt their development. It would get them used to the pros also. Besides, more than likely, it would only be for this year anyway. Next year a good chunk of the Wings and the Griffins will be UFA or will retire. I think they need to sign both Jarretts, Big Snake, and Jorgensen. Jorgensen did really well with Filppula, and the Jarretts and Big Snake were a great line together in the Columbus game. All four of these guys seem to have really good potential to make the NHL.

With Big Snake's performance today, I think he deserves a shot at a contract. I also think Jorgensen deserve one. I wouldn't be surprised if Detroit signs the Jarrett cousins. Both were the top two in pts for the entire team, ahead of Filppula and the other prospects and tryouts. The only other tryout that I would even consider is maybe Herring. Ullrich did have a goal this last game and was pretty even overall in comparison to Herring though so I don't know about him. Keller I don't believe has a shot at a contract. Here is how the tryouts did compared to top the top three Red Wings prospects, stats according to RWC. PLAYER NAME GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG Jarrett, Patrick 4 1 5 6 +6 4 11 Jarrett, Blair 3 2 3 5 +5 9 10 Jorgensen, Reid 4 3 0 3 +1 15 13 Big Snake, Robin 4 2 1 3 +5 19 7 Herring, David 3 1 0 1 +1 8 5 Ullrich, Mike 3 1 0 1 +1 6 2 Keller, Ryan 3 0 1 1 even 4 5 Filppula, Valtteri 4 2 2 4 +2 0 10 McGrath, Evan 4 2 1 3 +4 4 3 Himelfarb, Eric 4 1 2 3 +4 2 9

Big Snake scored his first goal of the tournament against Tampa Bay. Both Jarrett cousins assisted on the play. Jorgensen had the other goal for Detroit in a 3-2 loss to TB. This definitely will help Big Snake get some consideration since has now shown he can put numbers on the scoresheet. I still think Jorgensen needs to be signed, especially now, a goal in all three games. Patrick Jarrett has 3 assists so far, which would make me consider signing him, along with his cousin Blair ( 1G, 1A in 2 games). The only other player may be Herring to consider. These five guys I think deserve at a shot in the main training camp. Ullrich and Keller, unless they have a great game against Columbus, should be dropped prior to the main training camp.

I haven't been really impressed with Big Snake so far. The one fight against Emmerson was interesting, but I would like to see him on the scoresheet for something other then penalties. Jorgensen has really impressed with a pair of goals in the first two games and a fight. Anybody ever see him play or know much about him. I think Detroit should also take a good look at Patrick Jarrett. It seems he has done alright so far also. His cousin Blair might not be to bad either, 6'3", he has a goal in the goal in his only game so far. Herring has contributed with a goal as well. Keller assisted in the second game. So far Big Snake and Ullrich, oly played one game, are the only ones of the tryouts who haven't seen a point so far. It really seems that Detroit has brought in some good prospect tryouts this year. We might see more then one or two get signed this season.

I see Kolasau played in the game. I think this is great, but I am wondering, does anybody know where he is playing this year? Prince George of the WHL dropped him from their available European players last year, which means more or less that he is currently not with a team in North America.

I think this kid might become one of Detroit's better late round picks. I truly think he was sleeper pick by many and Detroit definitely had a good pick here. Hopefully, he proves me right and becomes a solid defenceman in the NHL in the future.