Mighty Wings

I'd like to incorporate another rating for eklund, (e0.5)-This rumor came from trusted sources in the message boards. Has been reliable at some point once.

Top 75 Prospects for 2006 http://www.forecaster.ca/demos/hockey/extr...hl-draft-center If it says demo notice, hit the reload button.

Patrick Berglund is the guy I think they should get. C 6'4 190, this is what the ISS had to say about him:

Red Wings are now #14 in the rankings. I was surprised to see them move up that far in the list. Although, I disagree with what they said below. I mean hello, how can u guys forget kyle quincey??

http://hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=8563 Its under archives also (this month's)

Joe Sakic has his signature wrist shot which he often scores on, or Brett hull with the big slapper. Judging from your vantage point, is he able to score kinda like those guys, or is he the type where he stays near the crease and gets goals through hard work and being relentless?

IMO this is how I'd rank the top 20. 1. Nick Kronvall 2. Igor Grigorenko 3. Jimmy Howard 4. Valtteri Filppula 5. Jiri Hudler 6. (tie) Jakub Kindl and Kyle Quincey 8. Tomas Kopecky 9. Evan Mcgrath 10. Johan Ryno 11. Brett Lebda 12. Miroslav Blatak 13. Justin Abdelkader 14. Darren Helm 15. Mattias Ritola 16. Andreas Jamtin 17. Anton Axelsson 18. Matt Ellis 19. Sergei Kolosov 20. Jonathan Ericsson

Are being shopped by the blues, What do u guys think? Should the red wings get involved?

I doubt he makes it here too -- lost his extra gear -- I doubt hudler too, he is a three speed in a ten speed world. Although that may be the case from a visual standpoint, it doesn't seem as bad. I looked at the stats of the team grigorenko plays on and its downright atrocious. The team only averages to score just 2 goals a game, one of the worst teams offensively as well as overall in the Russian Superleague. Grigorenko is invloved in roughly 1/3 of the team's offense and no one else on his team is close to grigorenko in terms of points. If he was on a more competitive team his stats would be way better.

I don't see how bootland will crack the everyday lineup, if someone like kopecky, filppula or hudler won't likely make it. Yzerman will retire. There will be just 1 open spot next year, Samuelsson's havin a terrific year, I don't see how kenny doesn't re-sign him, williams has also played fairly well probably will be back, shanahan will also be back. Cleary has also played well in his role. With that said, grigs will take the only spot, and quincey will prob also make the team as a 5th or 6th def.

Witt makes $1.7-$1.8 mil. We do need a physical, intimidating D-man on the back end. Nobody right now is intimidating, kronwall is willing to punish but he doesn't scare anyone. In the playoffs, teams like Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Nashville will be able to go into high traffic areas and we don't really have anyone who can make them think twice about doin that. If Fischer was back and well, maybe we didn't need one, but you gotta have that void filled if winning the cup is your goal.

i'd love to have drake as well. I believe we have enough wiggle room to add him. Any idea on the asking price?

We trade Mowers and Franzen (their salaries total roughly $1.1 mil) and a 1st rd pick to Washington for Witt and Pettinger.

"Will make his presence felt on every shift. Loves to take the body and isn't afraid of dropping the gloves. Is a strong defender while his team is short-handed and an excellent team leader." -TSN

The only reason I added mowers and franzen is because if you don't and just try to get witt with draft picks, you can't fit him under the cap. Even Mowers and a draft pick isn't enough. Franzen + mowers provides just enough cap space to fit witt. I know many of you don't wanna see franzen go, but you are getting back pettinger who is a grinder and loves to play a smash mouth style of hockey. Yet, somehow has scored 9 goals by playing on the worst team in the NHL. I'm just being creative to how we can shore up weaknesses without hurting our strengths. If not franzen then who would you dangle from the wings roster? Jason Williams? Someone also made a comment before about how witt will be available cheap and its a sellers market. I totally disagree. There will be like half a dozen teams trying to get him and that will drive up his price. If washington wanted to they could've traded him over a couple of months ago, but they are being wise and trying to get the most value for him which is at the deadline. There aren't too many veteran, stay-at-home, physical defensmen that are reliable and cost only $1.8 mil.

Alright, first of all the last thing you wanna do is go out and spend money like crazy. You have to bring players who wanna come here, not because we offered the most money. Some examples are pudge signing with the tigers because no one was willing to give him what he wanted and Damien Woody who publicly said that he wouldnt have signed here if the lions were gonna be this bad couple years later. If holland really wants luongo, and some other team at the same time is offering more money but isn't as good as us, we'll find out whether he really holds true to his word.

I think grigorenko for sure will make it, I'd like to see kopecky make it as well. With the addition of these guys we'll be bigger/more physical and faster. Quincey also should make it depending on how well he plays in GR. If he is a candidate for the best def. award, he should be here, he deserves it. He has done nothing but impress everyone since being drafted.

Potential FA Ds (partial list): brian leetch, jay mckee, kim jonsson, pavel kubina, brendan witt, keith carney, karlis skrastins, philippe boucher, mattias norstrom, willie mitchell, danny markov, derek morris, ed jovanovski When I look at the list I like carney, mckee, witt and norstrom. Not sure if we will pursue the upper echelon defensemen like jovo, redden or chara tho.

This doesn't make too much sense. He's a top 6 forward on the team right now. Who replaces him stevie Y? Not that he can't handle it, but he's no longer that good anymore. Another possibility is that they may be in the owen nolan sweepstakes.

Last Check, he has 8-10 in 20 GP. If he does play well enough this year, does he deserve to be on the Big league roster next season?

As of now we have datsyuk, lang, draper, franzen & yzerman as our centers. Once Yzerman retires we need one person to replace him, and I think it should be filppula. Filppula is better player as well as a center compared to hudler. Not to mention mcgrath who has been on fire so far and projects as someone similar to zetterberg/filppula, and I see him being here in a few yrs. With that said I think we should trade hudler for depth elsewhere pref. in LW/RW in the prospect pipeline.

How come he doesn't have a rating in hockeysfuture.com? same thing with Johan Ryno.

That description also fits another player in the NHL. Jarome Iginla? Both have similar weight, although iginla is a couple of inches taller. Both can use finesse and have incredible strength.

I agree with all of the positive stuff that has been said. As a matter of fact i think we should dump hudler and promote him next year. He is a much better all-around player than hudler. Flippula doesn't have a real good scoring touch, but its ok. But like dats and zets, he posesses excellent playmaking skills and on-ice vision.