DSM

I dont know for sure, but I dont think you can just freely bury players on LTIR if they arent hurt. My guess is that the league has some sort of way to make sure that teams aren't using LTIR as a way to circumvent the cap. Besides, Bertuzzi is 100% healthy, and Samuelsson is supposed to be ready for camp if he isn't already. I doubt there will really be any way at all for the Red Wings to unload Samuelsson or Bertuzzi. I doubt any team wants to cough up assets for an aging winger that missed significant time last season, without the Red Wings eating up some of their cap hit. I also can't see Holland eating any salary since they are going to be so close to the cap this season... I also can't see either player waiving their NTC's this late in their careers. I think the team would like to unload Tootoo, but only if the deal makes sense. I dont think they want to retain any of his salary, nor do they want to take on any more contracts or players. My guess is that interested teams want one or both of those included in a deal for Tootoo and Holland doesnt want either. If they cant move him sensibly, he'll be on the opening roster. Waiving him won't be benificial because the Red Wings would have to pay $975k against the cap for him to play in GR if he goes unclaimed. I think part of this decision depends on Helm. If Helm isn't ready to go, Emmerton will stay on the team as the #4 center until Helm gets healthy. Then, if they don't have room, they could waive Emmerton. If he goes unclaimed, he can go to GR without anything counting against the Wings cap. With Re-entry waivers gone in the new CBA, they will be able to freely recall him without worrying about him getting claimed and having to pay half his cap hit. As much as I like Emmerton, if he gets claimed I don't think it will really be a big deal. Ferraro will get a look this season, and was probably already on track to get a spot as a #13/14 forward for the 14/15 season. If Emmerton is gone and they need a center to fill in, they have depth in GR. I would say that it would be pretty realistic to expect to Emmerton get traded or waived if Helm is healthy to start the season. I think Eaves would be next in line to go. If he can't be traded, waiving him and sending him to GR will only cost the team $275k against the cap. Not a huge number to pay to get to the 23 man roster limit. Another option they have would be to start Nyquist in GR. Probably won't be the best or most popular choice, but if they wait till about ten games in when teams start facing injuries and/or making decisions on whether to send junior eligible players back to their junior teams, they might be able to find a taker for some like Tootoo, Eaves or Emmerton. Then they can recall Nyquist for the rest of the season when the space opens up. Dekeyser can start in GR, but I can't really see the logic in demoting a d-man, when you have a logjam at forward... Carrying 6 dmen and 15 forwards won't make much sense. If a dman comes down with an illness, a very short term injury or has to leave for personal reasons of some sort, they won't be able to recall another Dman and would have to dress five of them. I think the Red WIngs options to get down to 14 forwards are as followed, in this order: 1. Trade Tootoo 2. Trade/Waive Emmerton 3. Trade/Waive Eaves 4. Start with Nyquist in GR 5. If still injured, start with Helm on IR

Who?

Nestrasil is going to have to pull a Tomas Kopecky next season to get any sort of consideration for a spot on the big club.

Jan Mursak - A+ League must have forgot to send out the memo when he got waived.

I'd like to see what Frk and Nestrasil can do in full AHL seasons before labeling them as future core players. Frk is still a question mark. His production this season is decieving because he played on a good team on Nathan MacKinnon's line. Nestasil can put up points in the ECHL, but hasn't been able to translate it to the AHL. He'll have an even tougher time next season as the Griffins already have a pretty well established bottom 6, and he'll have to compete with Jurco, Sheahan, Ferraro and whatever established veteran AHL guy(s) that Griffins have along with Jarnkrok and Pulkkinen for top 6 minutes. Plus, the clock is ticking. Nestrasil has already burned 2 years of his 3 year entry level deal and hasn't even spent half a season at the AHL level yet. If he doesn't make a drastic turn-around next season, he won't be resigned. At this point, Ferraro, Parkes, Callahan and Aubry should be considered future core material WAY before Nestrasil. As far as Jurco goes, he needs to produce much better at the AHL level before being considered core material. Considering all of the hype around him going into this season, 28pts at the AHL level is a bit of a let down. If you have Emmerton in your core list (which I am most certainly not against), you should probably also include Ferraro. Ferraro already looks like he will end up being a slightly better and more physical version of Emmerton, while having the same versatility. He's also scored one less goal (33) in 128 AHL games, than Emmerton did (34) in 217 AHL games. As far as "players being considered when talking trades" goes, I doubt Holland will be discussing many trades this summer, if any. It now appears that the Wings will most likely be starting next season with 11 players between the ages of 22 and 27 on their 23 man roster: Abdelkader, Andersson, Brunner, DeKeyser, Emmerton, Helm, Kindl, Lashoff, Nyquist, Smith and Tatar. All of these players showed improved play this season (except Helm for reasons out of his control) and still have varying degrees of untapped upside to reach. If three or four of these guys show further improvement next season, it will be a more beneficial and affordable addition than dumping off assets to overpay for a trade. Besides, none of the players that you didn't list will bring Holland any decent return without him including a player (or players) from your list of "core" guys or good draft picks.

I agree. Go post this crap on Bleacher Report, where even the "featured columnists" think they can do Hollands job better and have no idea what they are talking about.

Brunner will probably be wearing a different jersey next season if the team is hoping to get him signed up for $2mil a season. Why do you have Smith making more than Kindl? Your idea for "standard buyouts" for Bertuzzi, Colaiacovo and Gustavsson is borderline retarded. You do know that those $625k, $600k and $500k cap hits will also carry into the next season, right? In fact, Bertuzzi's will go up to $725k and Colaiacovo's will go up to $950k for 14/15. That's a $2.175mil hit against the cap in 14/15. The Wings will be better off riding out those contracts for one year and then having those deals off the books for good when they expire. After last summer, Ken Holland would have to lose 95% of his brain cells to buy out five NHL players all in the hopes of signing a whole bunch of players that 29 other teams will also be trying to add to their team.

I don't think any of those guys will be elite, but I think the Wings nucleus of young talent is much more extensive. The Red Wings will most likely have 11 players between the ages of 22-27 on their 23 man roster when next season starts: Nyquist, Tatar, Helm, Andersson, Emmerton, Abdelkader, Brunner, Kindl, DeKeyser, Lashoff and Smith. All of them have pretty much found a role and this team and some are young enough to still have lots of room to grow, while the ones entering their prime all seem to still be improving.

And in reality, how is Holland going to get a better starting goaltender without taking a huge risk or overpaying with valuable assets to get one in a trade?

God these threads always blow. Makes me miss the dislike button or whatever it was even more... I also like how Schultz, Parise and Suter had to be thrown in there too. Complete waste of this forums bandwith, IMO.

I'm not really understanding what you are saying here... Stay as in them staying in the AHL, or stay as in players on the big club staying on the big club? The team really can't keep young guys at the AHL level for too long because they will eventually run out of waiver exemption and then will eventually become Group 6 UFA's. They also will continually need room to bring in newer prospects to the system. They also can't exactly keep all of their players that are at the NHL level "cheap", because they too will eventually hit UFA status and could get better offers on the open market. They may also require raises as their play improves, or as deals that they had signed when they were still largely unproven expire. Look at the Red Wings transition from 06/07 to 09/10 for evidence on how it is pretty much impossible to have all of your guys "stay" in the "cap era". As far as "cheap" goes, young players are just about the cheapest you can get. If Ferraro is re-signed for a deal similar to Emmertons (where he'd be making close to league minumum, say around $600k/season) and they think he can be a #12/13 forward, it would save them some cap space to give some other players on the team necessary raises or sign some UFA's. If he doesn't pan out no big deal, they can waive him and let him finish out his contract at the AHL level if he goes unclaimed (a la Jan Mursak, Mat Ellis, Joey MacDonald the first time and eventually Meech). If he does pan out and find a role on the team or exceeds expectations and becomes a good regular player (a la Hudler, Kopecky, for a couple of seasons Meech, Kindl, Howard and Emmerton), you have a bargain cap hit for atleast a couple of seasons that will allow you the cap flexibility to bring in players via UFA or the trade deadline.

I just meant at the parts of the game that we don't see on the Griffins stat sheet. I know that neither player has "key player" potential. However, my guess is that in October 2014 atleast Ferraro will board the same train to the big club that Hudler, Meech, Howard, Kindl, Mursak and Emmerton all rode on. Meaning that when his waiver exemption is up, he'll get a spot as a #13/14 forward and will play on the 3rd/4th line. It worked out for Emmerton who scored only 3 more goals in 3 AHL seasons than Ferraro has in 2. I've read that he seems to have a good 2-way game, which would work in his favor as an NHL bottom 6 forward. I just really wanted to know how his play without the puck is. Callahan on the other hand, was pretty much drafted to be a 4th liner at the NHL level. Ideally he'd have a role similar to Tootoo's. A guy that won't play every night but when in the lineup will see 8-10 minutes from the 4th line and will be relied upon to play physical and get under opponents skin. With him, I was just curious as to what kind of game he's been playing at the AHL level. Considering that most of his time this season has been spent of the 3rd/4th line, his production this season seems assuring.

How have Ferraro and Callahan looked out there? They lose their waiver exemption after next season. If the Wings think they can contribute at the NHL level, they will probably get call-ups next season.

I think the Wings just wanted to utilize Tatar's last opportunity to work on his game at the AHL level. Babcock had said that Tatar had a few things to improve upon, so why not let him work on that stuff without the pressure of performing at the highest level? It isn't like he has gone lights out at the AHL level either, his best season was 58 points. He'll be on the club full time next season, so his frustration will be shortlived. I question the validity of this article though. I think some of it might be reworded or taken out of context. The Russian media did that when the Wings didn't just hand Igor Grigorenko a spot next to Datsyuk on the top line... If the team has to rely on Filppula to cushion the loss of Datsyuk, they are DOOMED.

I don't really understand all the fuss from this. Tatar is pretty much calling the sky blue... He's out of minor league options after this season, so he pretty much can already be penciled into the opening 23 man roster for next year. The Wings already know he can contribute at the NHL level. So unless he pulls a Ville Leino next season, he'll be signing a one-way deal sometime between then and October 2014. I fail to see what the big commotion is...

To be fair, last season Bertuzzi and Samuelsson both produced at better than a .5 point per game clip. They would both be playing on the 2nd or 3rd line, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say they would probably be producing at or near the same level. Same thing went for Williams when he was brought back. None of these players were brought in as big time additions to the team. They have or had (in Williams case) affordable cap hits, and give the team some secondary scoring. Besides, who do the Wings fall back on if these young players that are being "developed and evaluated" on the big club don't pan out or aren't ready? Back to the original question. I doubt any of them could contribute any less than Filppula and Brunner are right now, so what would it hurt to put them in the line-up? Helm would make the team harder to play against, and Bertuzzi and Samuelsson would give them a couple of forwards that like to shoot the puck. Samuelsson would probably be a little better as a RH point on the PP than Brunner has been as well.

I think some people here would love to have Glen Sather as GM. The teams mediocrity would be overshadowed by the Christmas morning like nature that trade deadline day and July 1st would hold!

Close. Williams averaged .5875 PPG the season before he came back to the Wings.

Only the first part of my post was directed at you. I almost shed a tear, as I had no idea the adversity that poor Pavel was facing forced to earn his millions of dollars playing with lowly grinding forwards. It actually reminded me of a Russian article that explained Igor Grigorenko's torture in Detroit, and how an evil Mike Babcock wanted him to embarassingly play on the 3rd/4th line, then FORCED him to go be humiliated in a scum bucket called the AHL, and ultimately gave his roster spot to a lowly savage named Aaron Downey. The rest of it was directed at all the people who are trying to speak for Pavel Datsyuk, but have no idea what's really going on like the rest of the population. None of us really know what Pavel is thinking, or what he will ultimately do. It's pointless to even banter over. Maybe Datsyuk enjoys the challenge of trying to get the best out players that aren't exactly elite?

Not always the case. Mats Sundin didn't want to leave Toronto when they were practically begging him to waive his NTC so a team could overpay for him as a rental. Same went for Alfredsson when Ottawa went into rebuild mode a couple years back. It's not like the Red Wings are the Sabres or Flames. They're still a competitive team, just in a bit of a transition. If you are expecting a full scale rebuild, you will be sorely disappointed. What has Holland failed to do in the last four years that he did previously?

Forced huh? Must make it real hard to drive to the bank and cash those checks that add up to $6.7mil a year... I love all of the posters in here that sound like they just got done having breakfast with Pavel. "He won't want to play unless they are a cup contender" or "He doesn't like his line mates" How do we know this? Maybe there are other factors to the contrary? All this is, is speculation. He told the homer media in Russia that it would be nice to retire there, that could mean a few different things. Maybe this is coming from the same people that cried about how awful the Wings treated Igor Grigorenko when he came to North America... Then you've got that stupid article on Kukla's Korner that cites a "source in Detroit". The source is probably some whiner on SB Nation. There's really no conceivable conclusion to be drawn until we hear something substantion from either Datsyuk or Holland. /End.

I was 10 years old in 1997, and had never been into sports. After the rivalry really got hot with the Avs, my Dad starting watching the games and I joined him. I just clung to them for some reason, I had to play hockey, have Red Wings memorabilia and buy NHL video games after that. I remember as a kid those runs to the finals in 97/98 were so exciting. I can't remember which, but one of the years I had a youth soccer tournament the weekend before Game 4, and there were so many minivans in the parking lot with brooms sticking up out of their back windows. I've kind of secretely hoped the Red Wings would hit a (short) low period, to bring back some of that excitement. Seems like all of Detroits sports excitement goes to the Detroit Bandwagon, errr I mean Tigers. I guess that makes me a bandwagon Red Wings fan. However, I've never boarded the wagon for any other sports teams. I find Football, Baseball and especially Basketball extremely boring and unexciting.

Looks like he's having surgery: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=420310 Wild won't be able to use a compliance buyout on him if he's still hurt.

I don't think Conacher getting burnt out is what led to him being dealt, though. He was just the price to get a goalie that a whole bunch of teams wanted.

Brunnstrom's hat trick actually came in his NHL debut. I think Brunner's struggles are linked to the unusual structure of his first season. They always keep pointing out that he's never had to travel this much, or play as much in one year. Combine that with the fact that he didn't get a full training camp or any exhibition games to get used to NHL ice, and I think that's the answer to his recent struggles. I think they should give him an affordable 2 year deal, and see how much better he gets next season.