J-Swift

Well, to get this thread back on track, I thought I might mention that Kindl and McGrath had a fairly productive game today. Kindl nabbed two assists, and McGrath got another goal in a 4-2 loss against the Guelph Storm this afternoon.

Lilja's unusually high plus/minus would certainly give him some trade value, but I doubt Kenny wants to mess with a winning lineup right now. It's pretty clear that this team could use another young, physical d-man. In the majority of games this season, the Wings have gotten outhit. It's not a major problem right now at all, but it could be at some point down the road. Even still, I wanted Brendan Witt.

I had really been pushing for Witt when Holland said he wanted to sign a physical defenceman this past summer. But instead, Kenny goes out and signs Lilja and Delmore. I think Brendan Witt's hefty contract (I think it's well over 1 million dollars) will keep him away from Detroit. Personally, I wouldn't mind Mark Bell at all. Chicago has a lot of young power forwards don't they? It'd be nice for Detroit to pick up a young player who is physical with offensive potential, since we seem to be lacking those kind of prospects right now. I would imagine Hudler could serve as trade bait, but I'd absolutely hate sending him to another team within the division, only to see him possibly turning into an offensive star. *Sigh* If only Mowers had trade value.

Not a fan of winning Stanley Cups I see. As for reacquiring Hasek, I think this would be highly unlikely. The Sens have obviously made a commitment to Hasek, and are hoping that he can return to an elite form and guide Ottawa to the Stanley Cup Final. There is basically nothing that Detroit has on its roster that Ottawa doesn't already have, so a trade would be near impossible.

We ARE NOT in the top ten. TOP 20, maybe. We don't have any superstar potential guys like Malkin or Ovechkin. We don't have the second tier stars like Ryan or Jack Johnson. Our best guys (Kronwall and Grigorenko) are getting a bit old to be called prospects anymore. Others like Hudler and McGrath aren't can't miss players, despite some tantalizing potential. After Kronwall, our defensive depth in the system is weak. Quincy and Lebda have their strengths, but they have shortcomings as well. Detroit's prospect system is doing pretty well, considering how many 1st rounders we've traded and how low we usually pick. But calling it a top 10 system is plain inaccurate. What the Wings really need is for some of those "project" picks to pan out. Guys like Jonathon Ericsson, Anton Axelsson, Andreas Jamtin and Christofer Lofberg. We can't wait until these guys are 22 any more. I think it would be absolutely ridiculous to call Detroit's prospect pool among the top ten in the league and, IMO, top twenty is pushing it. But the Wings are certainly one of the best organizations when it comes to supplying the roster with a young player that is eager to contribute to the team and help address a need. Take this year for example; the Wings needed a little bit of size, grit and skating ability, and Franzen comes in and fills this void quite nicely. In years past, guys like Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Fischer have come in to help address a weakness on Detroit's roster, and have not looked out of place. You are, for the most part, correct on your assessment of Detroit's group of prospects. There are very few players within the organization that possess super-star potential, and most of the ones that do (like Hudler and Kronwall) are under-sized. There's no telling whether Grigorenko can come over and become what he was supposed to be. Kindl needs to pan out for us, as defensive depth is indeed a major concern for this team. Guys like Lebda and Quincey are pretty solid prospects, but I don't see them on the top defensive pairing in the future. Jakub certainly has the tools to be an impact player in the NHL, but his adjustment to the North American game has come along awfully slowly.

I was under the impression that Hudler was playing left wing on a line with Manlow and McDonell. Eitherway, I'm awfully sure Jiri is capable of playing the wing, and he'll probably have to if he wants to crack Detroit's lineup this year. I would certainly give a guy like Hudler a chance over Palffy if we really were in desperate need of goals at some point this season.

Palffy's contract is just too big for this team to swallow, unless some room is made to put give us more space under the cap. And personally, if Detroit really needs a somewhat one-dimensional scoring punch from the wing sometime down the road, they can just call up Hudler.

He isn't making these things up, he is merely quoting "Spector's Trade Rumours". I do, however, doubt this particular rumour. Though the Stars do have Hedberg (who once lead the Pens to a Conference Final), I'm pretty sure they would not move the player they've been prepping to be their franchise goalie for quite some time now. Especially not when the team is only 14 games into the season.

I was a little concerned about the Wings taking Jakub with the 19th overall pick last summer, so I'm very glad to see Kindl is adjusting better to the North American game. We certainly could use some more defensive prospects in the system anyways. That -6 stat concerns me just a little. I realize the Rangers are mainly a PP team, so that does throw his plus/minus off a bit. Even still, I hope he can strengthen his defensive game by the time he gets a crack at the Wings' lineup. Kindl has been labelled as a long-term prospect, so I gather he's a few years off.

Just to let you guys know, Jakub Kindl has topped his point total from all of last season in a game against the Erie Otters tonight.

That is possibly the most incoherent post I've ever read. Eva wanted to start a thread to discuss and rate prospects. Never once did he claim to be a pro, and he never once did he say his rankings were any more factual than what they have at HockeysFuture.com. We all know what the Wings' prospects' stats are, they're not hard to find. Personally, I'd love to see a few opinions/observations from those on this site who have actually seen Detroit's draft picks play. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Looks like Hudler grabs three assists tonight, to extend his hot streak. Quincey was the second star of the game with two goals and an assist. Kudos to him for stepping up in Lebda's absence. But the Griffs lose in a shootout.

I think Niklas Kronwall might have even less of a chance of reaching the "9.0" status than your "B" would suggest. These leg injuries are starting to worry me, but they could very easily just be bad luck. And I don't want to forget to mention Jakub Kindl. I gather he's played a good deal better this season in the OHL than he did last year, but Jakub doesn't seem to have a strong grip on the North American game. HF doesn't really like him either, as we can tell by his low rankings. They kinda panned Abdelkader too, but I can't blame them, I really don't think this guy has a whole lot of skills. I don't mean to open up Latendresse debates again, but I'm still baffled by the Wings passing up on him. Honestly, Shanahan is getting older and will be off the team in a couple of years, leaving the Wings without a strong, power-forward; so what do we do?! Take Kindl and Abdelkader over a textbook power-forward like Latendresse. Unbelievable... I think Hudler has the skills to put up points in the NHL, but whether he can find a place on the Wings roster is debatable. It would be a shame to trade a talent like Jiri's, but the role of highly-skilled winger/centre is already filled quite nicely by Hank and Dats. All in all, though, I like your ratings and agree with most of them.

I don't think I'd want to pluck Hudler out of the AHL unless he was guaranteed a spot on the top two lines. It wouldn't be good for Jiri's development to be playing fourth-line minutes in the NHL instead of getting all the ice time he wants in GR. And as of right now, I believe we have enough under-sized, shifty forwards in the lineup.

Yeah, I've wanted Langenbrunner for a little while now; he's got speed and is pretty clutch in the playoffs. But I'm not sure that Mowers has any trade value at all. Hard-working guys with no skill typically come a dime-a-dozen. I'd also love Afinogenov, too, despite the fact that he's a bit of a defensive liability, he is a very skilled winger with a lot of potential. The Sabres might have Maxim in their future plans for the club, however, so it would certainly take more than just Mowers and a pick to get him out of Buffalo.

Evan McGrath had another four point night last night, with two goals and two assists in a loss. That gives him 25 points in 8 games, putting McGrath in second in the league in scoring with two games at hand on the top scorer in the OHL. And on another note, Jakub Kindl had a goal and two assists last night. He was the only defenceman on the team that wasn't a minus. That means Jakub has just under half his point total from last season in only 8 games. Even still, though, if he wants to be an offensive defenceman in the NHL, he's going to have to put up bigger numbers than that.

Technically, he wasn't a finalist, but he did indeed have a very good season. He was, IMO, easily the Wings second best d-man in '03-'04, and I've seen a couple analysts/sports writers even suggest that he was in fact the Wings best defenceman last season. Don't forget about Lang either, he was acquired in a draftpick deal, and managed to lead the Wings in playoff scoring and has certainly looked like Detroit's best centre so far this season. Although, I am on the side of Barnes and Seth when they say we should've waited before signing Woolley. Defence depth was not a problem when Holland inked Jason, and even if it had been, I really don't think this defence corps needs any more d-men capable of puck movement. What we obviously need is a big, bruising defenceman, and Kenny passed up on everyone he could've sunk his claws into since the lockout ended. Instead he decided on taking Andreas Lilja, who although soft, was supposed to be a great defensive defenceman. Yeah, he's looked spectacular.

I don't see Igor coming over unless Detroit really seems to need a winger by mid-season. I realize the Wings are indeed quite weak down the right side, but so far this season, they haven't really showed it.

I'm kinda suprised this debate about Kovalchuk has dragged on like this, and I don't mean to continue it, but, IMO, you could indeed make a very strong case for Ilya being the best pure offensive guy out there. However, the statement he made was that Kovalchuk was the best forward in the world, not the best pure offensive talent. While most people would say the title of best forward would go to Iginla, my vote is for little Martin St. Louis. Anyways, I feel kinda bad for Grigorenko. He should've been in the league by now had it not been for that accident. I totally agree with you there. I am glad, however, that the Wings are allowing him to regain his "pre-accident" form before they stick him into the lineup. Although Igor is indeed a fairly mature prospect (isn't he like 22?), I've never been a fan of rushing players before they're ready. Although, it doesn't appear if Detroit will still be allowed to let their solid European prospects to develop overseas for long periods of time like we have done in the past.

I believe Grigorenko's point totals are also similar to Evgeni Malkin's. That's something to be proud of. Kovalchuk is the best forward in the world...Malkin is a top prospect. I believe referring to Kovalchuk as the best forward in the world would be a little generous, but either way, I'm truly excited to see that Grigorenko is keeping pace with the likes of Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin. It wouldn't suprise me one bit to see Igor step right into the Wings' lineup next season if he keeps this up.

I believe Grigorenko's point totals are also similar to Evgeni Malkin's. That's something to be proud of.

Leads the OHL in goals, assists and points and has 4 more points than the number two scorer in the league. Not to mention the fact that McGrath also has a game at hand on him.

I believe Evan McGrath added another 2 goals and 2 assists tonight in a 5-2 win over the Erie Otters. Looks like he's not slowing down. He was the second star of the game; I gather Kitchener's goalie played awesome and took home first star honours. Meanwhile, Kindl was a -1.

Only recently has Draper looked dangerous offensively. I, for one, would refer to the winner of the Selke Trophy awarded to the NHL's "best defensive forward" to be more defensive than offensive.

I'm glad to see McGrath getting his season off to a fine start. We're a little weak when it comes to North American prospects. As for Kindl, I guess one assist ain't bad. I hope he gets on track this season, and manages to improve on his 14 point total from last year. Call me old fashioned, but I like my offensive defencemen to actually put something up in the way of offence.