mackel

That's a legitimate concern, with the way Holland over pays in both dollars and term for infinitely replaceable players. Helm, Glendening, Ericsson, Howard and the like. All decent NHLERS who are over signed, the thought being they would or will turn out to ge bargins a year or two into the deal, hasn't happened yet and likely won't.

As I read this the two names that came to mind were AA and Mantha.

Watching the world cup, man I wish we had a guy like that Tatar..... oh wait... we do he's just misused by our coaching staff.

^^^ THIS

Interesting question isn't it... assuming the Wings were interested in Trouba and had the assets to trade for him, our cap situation makes keeping him or anyone else difficult. With a number of over commitments to replaceable players like Big E, Helm, Howard, etc. Holland's cap and roster management skills are questionable, is Helm really a core player? I ask because we've committed to him as though he is.

He wasn't a top guy, he was our top guy... these are two very different things.

This is where we disagree, I see Larkin as a very good player... maybe OUR best center. BUT not a top center in the league. Much the way Kronwall is our #1D but isn't a true #1D, and as time passes he may not even be a true #2D at this point.

Larkin is a better version of players we already have fast, smallish, skilled. Mantha has a skillset our is lacking... size and natural scoring ability. I would trade Larkin for a clear #1 or soon to be #1 D. But I'd want a sweetener thrown in. I don't hate Americans but if I have two players of more or less equal quality I'll take the Canadian every day of the week.

Manta is exactly the type of player this team needs. A big bodied, canadian power forward. I'd overpay with Larkin and get a pick/prospect to even it out from WPG in a deal for Trouba. That said I'd rather get Tyson Barrie... but that's unlikely.

I understand Windsor is in Canada. Notice how I acknowledged that in my original post... he does however play for the US internationally... likely in part because he couldn't come close to making a Canadian squad and has dual citizenship. And yes Michigan connections, either being from or playing college in Michigan has been a factor for players signing with the wings.

What I think we need and what we can get are two totally different things. As far as Holland is concerned... his love of past their prime longtime/former wings is legendary.

Fowler (born in Windsor, I know) would be a mistake.... the Wings should be targeting a high end Canadian defenceman. This team needs an elite Canadian or two. In recent years their has been far too much focus on Michigan connections when looking at/signing players.

You're assuming.... 1. That the wings would have drafted Mike Green. 2. That he would have developed in the same way in our system, which is unikely since he would likely not have made the NHL as early as he did in Washington.

This Rosie outlook aside he could but Setagouchi, Cheechoo, or Barker good. Which is to say he may be playing in Europe 2-3 years from now.

Some food for thought... this was posted in a slightly different context. Many of us react crazily to the notion of trading AA or Mantha, etc... but we often forget you have to give to get and their is risk in making trades. Below are two links surrounding the trade of Brent Burns, the first article is from 2011 and the second from 2015. The outlook on the trade changed considerably in just 4 years. What looked like a good trade for the wild, turned out to be a major blunder. You never know with prospects and unproven players. http://www2.tsn.ca/tradecentre/story/?id=369904 http://thehockeywriters.com/revisiting-the-brent-burns-trade/ Bottom line for me I'd trade any player on the roster including Larkin in the right deal, even Larkin may flame out in a couple of years.

Am I the only one who sees a pretty graph but has no clue how to read it?

If this happened Holland would be in deep crap with the ASPCA first for bagging all of those pugs and secondly for using them as a weapon.... the poor pugs. For the love of God think of the pugs!!!

Which is exactly the problem I was alluding to.

.The streak is meaningless unless it's accompanied by a legitimate chance at wining the cup.

It feels like groundhog day... here we are with a glut of overpaid/underachieving forwards signed, anyone under 25 not named Dylan Larkin have been "cock-blocked" from seeing any meaningful NHL ice time. And our defence is terrible and another year older. This team needs a new management philosophy ASAP.

With the limited number of defencemen in the UFA market could we maybe find a taker for Big E and/or Kronner, our back end needs a makeover clearing out one or both of those guys would make it possible.

It's absolutely critical that Kenny and the rest of our management team not panic and over pay (IN MONEY OR TERM) for the good but not great players left out there... If good players can't be had for reasonable term and dollars leave the space unspent and see what the kids can do. Spending money for the sake of it would make this an epic fail!

This article is bang on... it should be read aloud at the next Illitch family gathering.

800 posts later, we get it... you think that teams should pay us for the privilege of taking on a cap hit. Annnnnnnd You're still wrong.

Helm is infinitely replaceable with a younger, cheaper player. Paying players like helm 3-5 million chews through your cap... paying a comparable player 750k-2 million even if that player isn't quite as good allows teams to have an elite player or two. I don't much like Chicago but they have this right... lock up high end players for big cash and let them help make cheaper young players better. If my choice is one Stamkos for 10 million or all of Helm, Abdelkater and Richards (TYPE) for 10 million I'll take Stamkos every time!