Dabura

I was just providing the counterargument. "Vanek is better than Frk, and if the power play sucked with Vanek, expecting Frk to make a big difference is probably misplaced optimism. At the end of the day, the problem with the power play isn't the left half-wall. It's x, y, and z." I think there are lots of things wrong with our power play, but I don't think it's wrong to feel Frk could, in theory, provide a spark and help move the needle in the right direction.

Missed the game. Just watched the highlights. Power moves from Mantha and Rasmussen. I like. We had the better lineup, same as the previous game against Boston. Still, it's nice to see us doing good things and handily winning the games we should be handily winning. How did Cholowski and Hicketts look?

I want to see a 1-3-1 with Frk on the left half-wall. I think Frk can help our power play, in theory. "But Vanek and Pulkkinen didn't help our power play." OK. So we try Frk now. And hopefully we make some adjustments to certain aspects of the PP and hopefully those adjustments pay off, regardless of whether Frk's on the team or not. Take Kronwall off the power play entirely and replace him with Daley. Put Nyquist back in the slot and keep him there. Etc.

It's weird. He definitely looked half a step too slow last season, and it doesn't look like he got any quicker over the summer. I don't remember this being a thing with him before last season.

Tonight's lineup: Tatar Rasmussen Nyquist Mantha Larkin Frk Street Glendening Witkowski Lorito Holmstrom Sadowy Ouellet Sproul Cholowski McIlrath Hicketts Russo Howard McCollum

Red Wings fans' 2017-18 theme song: Quit Playing Games with My Heart.

oops

Historically, I'm not a Frk booster. I've said before that he's probably a career AHLer, and my opinion on that hasn't really changed. I do think he'd make the season more enjoyable for me as a fan, and at this point that's all I really care about. Entertainment, some youthful energy, some new looks. I'd like lots and lots of wins, but that's probably not happening, regardless of what happens with Frk. As for the power play and its struggles over the past couple of seasons...it's a lot of things. It's struggling to consistently gain the zone with possession and set up. It's struggling to execute a clean, crisp, purposeful cycle. It's players with good shots being trigger-shy. It's the point men struggling to hold the blue line. It's being too predictable. It's not winning enough battles. It's taking Nyquist out of a role in which he scored 14 power play goals in 2014-15. It's leaning too much on Kronwall and, arguably, leaning too much on Zetterberg. I'm not saying Frk would hugely improve the power play. It's possible he wouldn't improve it in any significant way. And he'd probably be a liability at even strength. But a lack of right-shooting snipers has definitely been a thing in recent years and it continues to be a thing. Callahan was a grinder who never offered anything that we didn't already have in the lineup. Frk would, at least, fill Vanek's role (right-shooting specialist who needs to be sheltered at even strength).

That shot tho. The thing I like about having Frk on the power play is that he's a serious "shot threat." PKers would, in theory, have to respect that option, which would, in theory, allow us to more effectively push-and-pull the PK box and wrench it out of shape. It would give us a strategic anchoring point for our cycle. We've lacked an honest-to-goodness weapon on the half-wall who can blast the puck and can also really skate and is also more than willing to bump and grind and scratch and claw and battle it out along the wall and in the corners. If you put him and Nyquist on the same unit and have Nyquist play the high slot role, great things might happen.

I'm thinking the season's gonna be a win-win for me as a fan. I'll be happy when we win games and I'll be "happy" when we lose games. Just as long as we don't finish in No Man's Land. (We're gonna finish in No Man's Land. Book it.)

Final score is 5-1. Solid win. Encouraging.

Frk! 5-on-3 PP goal. Says "the hell with this" and just rips it.

Looks very poised, patient, confident. Seems he's found a way to "slow the game down," as they say. The whole Mantha-Larkin-Frk line has been great tonight. Reminds me a bit of the Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco line of a few years ago. I think Larkin has looked really good in the preseason thus far. It's only the preseason, but he does have the look of a legit 2C.

Helm snipe. WHAT IS THIS SORCERY???

Nielsen! Again! Frk was on the ice for the goal. #Frkwatch

Nielsen! PP goal. Rebound off a Frk one-timer. Green set up the Frk one-timer. Worth remembering that Green was Ovie's set-up man for so many years.

You have brought shame upon this forum.

Frk scores! From Mantha and Larkin.

I wouldn't hate him in a fourth-line role.

12 of our first 17 games will be on the road. #Dahlin

I really like Frk.

Notes: Injuries offer Parenteau and Frk a chance to impress the Wings (DetroitRedWings.com)

Just to be clear: I'd be ok with shipping Sheahan out. I just have a hard time seeing Holland doing it in September<-->December, unless he truly has no other choice. I can see Holland moving Sheahan at the trade deadline, assuming we suck this season and Sheahan doesn't have an especially good season.

Then your problem isn't with Holland, it's with the NHL/the owners. The deck is stacked against RFAs and that's by design. Owners and GMs want as much cost-control power over their players as they can possibly get. I'd argue, though, that players generally do get "paid on their performance." It's just that a player's experience (or lack thereof) is inextricably part of the assessment of the player's performance to date. You can't cleanly separate the two. AA is 23. He only has 100 games of NHL experience. His performance last season had some positives, but it also raised some red flags: He's an unknown at this time, a question mark. We don't yet know what we have in him. If anything, people should be praising Holland for not throwing money at an unproven player. What if Holland writes AA a blank check and then AA proceeds to disappoint? People would then be bashing Holland for overpaying yet another player. AA is not going to Russia. It's an empty threat, a negotiating tactic. Offering $2M x 2 (market value!) and sticking to that offer is not a risky gamble. It's not dangerous. There's no real downside here. Maybe AA sits out part of the season. If he does, well, that's on him. He'd be selfishly putting himself above the team, all over $600K. That would not be a good look for him. I'm with Buppy -- I think it's going to be $2-2.3 x 2. And I think it's going to be done soon.

I sometimes wonder if this isn't part of the reason why the Wings are so big on over-ripening and willing to let even our best prospects spend most of their ELC years in the AHL. In theory, it could add an extra layer of cost control, such that someone like Mantha will go into negotiations for his second contract with only two seasons of NHL experience as opposed to three or four seasons. Or consider Nyquist and Tatar. Had they become NHL regulars a year or two before each of them did, they might've had a bit more leverage in their post-ELC contract negotiations. It's probably not a thing. And even if it is a thing, the Wings appear to be moving away from the over-ripening philosophy anyway (albeit out of necessity).