Dabura

HOLLAND: "No. There's no hockey store." "But he's from Michigan." HOLLAND: "Really?" "Yep. And he's a right-handed shot." HOLLAND: "Is his name Luke???" "'Ilya' is Russian for 'Luke.'" HOLLAND: "OMFG! HOLD ME BACK, SALARY CAP BRO! HOLD ME BACK!!!!!!!!"

I'm a straight male, bro. Calm thine cyberboner.

kickazz the kiss-ass.

I mean, I'm not arguing in favor of trading Sproul or keeping him stapled to the bench. I just find the "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!" hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing to be a bit much. Our young roster defensemen are mostly expendable, IMO. I'm glad to have them around, but I won't lose any sleep if they're traded or even claimed on waivers. Honestly, I'd like for the whole logjam to be blown up (figuratively, of course). No more Kronwall, no more Ericsson, no more DeKeyser, no more 500 young defensemen that don't appear to be anything more than unremarkable bottom-four NHL defensemen. I might take an expansion draft group over what we have.

I see a lot of people making this argument. Frankly, I don't think it's much of an argument. Hicketts, 21, could use another year in the AHL. Saarijarvi, 20, is at least two years away. Cholowski, 19, is at least two years away. Hronek, 19, is at least two years away. Sambrook, 19, is at least two years away. Mcllrath, 25, is not a high-end defenseman. Sulak, 23, was a no-risk signing who may or may not have what it takes to play in the NHL. Ouellet and Jensen haven't been hugely impressive; at this point, they're serviceable middle-pairing defensemen, and that's probably all they'll ever be. Russo didn't really impress me in his stint with the Wings; I don't think he fits into our long-term plans. If we're being honest about Sproul, he's not likely to become much more than what he appears to be at this stage, which is a bottom-pairing power play specialist whose natural gifts don't outweigh his shortcomings. At this point, we could lose Sproul and Russo and Ouellet/Jensen for free and replace them with veterans and I honestly wouldn't care all that much. I don't see any of these players as true building blocks. And, to me, that's what this comes down to. Basically, our D group is bad. Daley makes it a little more competent (at least until Green's gone) -- and a slightly deeper, slightly more capable D group is a good thing for everyone. People say we need to develop our youth. Well, the NHL isn't really a development league -- but even if that weren't the case, "development" means more than just having a player on the roster and giving him ice time "because we have no one else to give these minutes to." Daley will be eating some minutes that could otherwise be going to Ouellet or Jensen, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The benefits of Daley's presence will outweigh it. A top three of Green, Daley, DeKeyser is better than a top three of Green, DeKeyser, Ouellet/Jensen/Ericsson. Having Daley run our first/second power play unit is better than having Kronwall run it. Having someone who can move the puck like Daley is a good thing. I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with Daley and are looking at his age and assuming the worst. But he's actually a perfectly competent top-four defenseman who can 1) play big minutes without getting caved-the-f***-in (see: DeKeyser), 2) outskate all of our defensemen not named Jensen (and possibly even Jensen), and 3) manufacture offense more expertly and reliably than all of our defensemen not named Green. He's our second-best defenseman. He's a solid stopgap for a team that otherwise has exactly one proven high-end NHL defenseman on its organizational depth chart (Green) and is years away from being a contender. Personally, I'm happy to have him on board. I don't think adding him hurts our youth. If anything, I think it'll help our youth.

lawl

Great skater as well, even at the age of 33. Could be a good mentor for Jensen, as they're similar players. Could also be a good partner for Ouellet, as Ouellet is...not the greatest skater. I think he could really help our power play. If he takes Kronwall's place there, that alone could be huge. I mean, we're probably not making the playoffs either way, but I think we all want to see this team score more goals.

We knew we'd be hearing them, though. No surprise there.

I'm fine with this. Daley immediately becomes our second-best defenseman, gives us some more scoring punch on the back end, possibly helps our power play quite a bit. And he's won a couple Cups. He's an awful shot suppressor, but the Wings as a team were actually surprisingly good ("good") at suppressing shots this past season, so I'm not too worried about that. Kronwall's just about done. Ericsson's health is a question mark. Green's our best defenseman (and it isn't close) and this is probably his last season as a Wing. Ouellet and Jensen are, at this point, mediocre second-pairing defensemen, and they're probably not going to become much more than that. Sproul and Russo, *shrug*. Hicketts is probably at least another year away from competing for a full-time spot. Saarijarvi and Cholowski and Hronek and Sambrook are all at least a couple years away. Also, there will be injuries.

Jagr or bust.

Exactamundo.

Right, I'm saying there's probably an ego thing there. The 2008 championship was, arguably, built on a foundation that had been set way back in the previous decade (e.g. Lidstrom). If Holland takes this team we have now and guides it to a championship within the next five years or so, that guarantees a golden legacy. I'm kinda hoping Chuck Fletcher becomes available.

I can absolutely see him moving upstairs. But I voted yes. I imagine he wants to prove that he can win a Cup in the cap era with A Team He Built.

Dang, I should've posted that song instead.

FML

NO MULLET, NO DEAL. (So would I.)

No mullet, no deal.

It's almost like teams are allowed to swap roster players. These are strange times we're living in, my friends.

Tomato, tomato...

This is now a Brent Burns thread.

In fairness, Daley would probably be our best defenseman not named Green. Not that that's saying much, but it's something. I guess.

We can sweeten the deal with promises of free pizza.

We could flip Daley at the trade deadline + he could be a safety net in the event that Green is dealt long before the trade deadline + Kronwall's status may be uncertain.