Dabura

Obviously he wanted to go to Pittsburgh.

I believe that we will win. Maybe.

He's already their franchise centerpiece, IMHO. Kid is their team, and their future. Losing him, even for a pretty good return, would be horribly, profoundly, impossibly stupid on their part.

Exactly what I expected. Perfect "prove it" bridge contract.

Nill and Yzerman have done wonders for their respective clubs, no question.

The Boyle hate is hilarious. Our blue line generates no offense, can't break out of its zone, can't run an effective power play - but yeah, there's absolutely no reason why we should be interested in Rafalski-esque Dan Boyle. At the very least, he'd give as an actual power play. You know what would've helped our cause against the Bruins? An actual power play. You know what would've helped our cause against the Bruins? Better puck management, a stronger possession game. Boyle would help on those fronts. Niskanen - he's worth overpaying, because the need is that great, because our blue line is that bad. You may overpay by a couple million, but you're getting what you need, which is a right-shooting power play quarterback in his prime who weighs 200 lbs and isn't afraid to throw his weight around. And with the cap going up every year, there's a good chance that it looks like a great deal in a couple years. We can't be too picky here. If we don't add a high-end top-four defenseman, we have absolutely no shot at competing for the Cup. None whatsoever. We have Kronwall, two pretty good defensive defensemen, and Brendan Smith (who's 50/50 in re: whether he's going to put it together before he becomes a reclamation project). That's it. We'll be incredibly fortunate if any one of the kids ever becomes as good as Niskanen is now or even as good as Boyle is now. Talk about risk - going with the kids would be the ultimate risk, if money alone could get us a big name who could really help (and that happens to be the case here). Get Niskanen or Boyle and we'll be a much better team.

My impression is that Kenny understands the situation. We need a big name, and he's willing to go balls out for one, even if that means a trade. Stralman, Gilbert, et al. = Quincey II in his book, and he doesn't really want Quincey II. He wants a real difference-maker. And even if he doesn't, I've gotta think Babcock does.

I know it's been mentioned, but it's worth mentioning again: supposedly we're all in on Niskanen/Boyle, with a big trade being preferable to Stralman, Gilbert, et al. http://msn.foxsports.com/detroit/story/source-wings-will-go-all-in-for-matt-niskanen-070114 http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/06/red_wings_aggressively_pursuin.html I'm really excited cautiously optimistic expecting Sami Salo and Devin Setoguchi.

I think the biggest thing in re: our health is being able to play our possession game. We did a lot of running around this season, having to chase the puck and forecheck a little heavier etc. This is a big reason why we absolutely need to add a reliable puck-mover on our back end. Someone who makes a good first pass and can help clean up our transition game. We need to own the puck, dictate the play.

Any two of Niskanen/Ehrhoff/Boyle/Iginla and I would s*** my pants with joy. I also still love Benoit Pouliot.

Haven't won the Cup since we lost him. Just saying.

Ehrhoff + Boyle seems to be a reasonably legit possibility (Pleiness and others have mentioned it), and we're in on Niskanen and Iginla. I think this could be a very interesting UFA Day. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Axel Holmstrom says: https://twitter.com/axelholma/status/483249847844470785 I like this kid already.

Unfortunately, it's gonna be Sami Salo. I've never been so sure of something. But, yes, we can hope.

Depends. But yeah, Niskanen. Ehrhoff's a great option, and I think we can be pretty sure he's shot to the top of the Wings' list. But his best years are almost surely behind him, and, while I don't mind that he shoots left, I'd rather he didn't. We say this about everyone who isn't a Red Wing, but Niskanen really is "exactly what we need."

Oh, please. The Wings could absolutely use a very good second-pairing defenseman. DeKeyser-Smith is not good enough, especially given the injury woes every year. Ehrhoff can hold his own on a top pairing, log huge minutes, handle the toughest assignments, run an effective power play, and put up points, all on a mercilessly bad Sabres team. He's an established high-end defenseman, and not because of ludicrous scoring prowess or "truculence" or whatever. He's just a solid, experienced, top-four two-way defenseman. We don't need a savior, we just need a legtimate top four. If he'd only cost us money, I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't want him on our thin, offensively-challenged blue line.

We're not getting Ehrhoff and Niskanen. There's absolutely, positively, unequivocally no chance that happens. We'll be lucky to get one of them. I don't mind Ericsson. He's a good top-four shutdown defenseman. He's one of our better PKers and shot-blockers. He's a huge body who's shown he can handle the toughest of assignments. He has good chemistry with Kronwall. I don't really care that he doesn't throw monster hits every shift. Having said all that, I'd be interested to know his trade value. Certainly there's never a shortage of GMs looking to add a veteran top-four shutdown defenseman with Ericsson's frame. Show the Leafs and Oilers the clip of him obliterating Bickell and talk up his GRIT and CHARACTER and INTANGIBLES.

Kronwall Ericsson Ehrhoff DeKeyser Smith Marchenko

We all know it's gonna be Sami Salo.

Just to be clear, we have something like $15M in cap space. That seems like a lot, and it is, but a good portion of it will be going to the RFA fund (Tatar, Sheahan, and DeKeyser, with some set aside for Nyquist, who may need to Get Paid next summer). Also, some will probably be saved for Alfredsson and of course CLEARY. On top of that, Kenny won't want to be right up against the ceiling, so he'll probably set our upper limit below $69M, which means another one or two million we can't use on a UFA. That means we're looking at a defenseman and maybe Alfie.

Why stop there? Kronwall Ehrhoff DeKeyser Niskanen Ericsson Boyle Gilbert We really, really don't have the money.

No, they just don't like Germans. Especially left-handed ones.

Guess they really want McDavid.

Yup. It's one of the reasons why the Wings would, in theory, be a good fit for him.

Sorry, wasn't trying to be a jerk. I was just noting that what had looked like more than just a rumor is, by Dreger's own admission, a rumor.