TNBT

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Obviously you have to be able to skate to a certain degree, like if you fall over every time you step on the ice you wont be useful to your team, but as long as you can skate OK, you can be an effective player. You don't have to be Tonya Harding to play in the NHL.

I'd be willing to bring this guy over now and let him play this season in Grand Rapids if it isn't too late to sign him. Seriously, he may not be the next Kovalchuk, but he's a biggish guy who will let you run over him with a bus if that's what it takes. It doesn't really matter if he isn't a great offensive talent, as we have all the scoring we need. What we don't have is size, grit and toughness, three things which Valtonen provides. I wouldn't recommend playing him on the first line or anything, but he would be great to have on the 4th line. He's 25 years old too, so it's not like he isn't physically ready to play the North American style of hockey. Look at how well Samuelsson and Holmstrom have performed this year because they are pretty much the only two guys we have who are willing to go to the net. Holmstrom has been a handy player for us for years now, and he can't skate or play defense to save his life. So even if Valtonen is a little slow, at least he can play defense as well.

Zetterberg - With the maturity he showed in handling his negotiations recently, he has further cemented his position as the future leader of this team, and as such his team-mates will look for him more often and show more faith and confidence in him. Also, he is set for a big year anyway as far as his game is concerned, as long as he doesn't get injured again. Williams - As mango said, a "slam dunk answer" as he will see like twice as much ice time as he ever has. Babcock loves him and he has shown that he has game during training camp and exhibition games. With his defensive energy and shooting ability, he will be a nice little surprise packet for the rest of the NHL this year. Filppula - It may be in the AHL, but I think he will have a great year and prove he is ready for the NHL next year. Hudler - Like Filppula, his year will likely be in Grand Rapids. He is getting close to make or break time in his career, and Babcock has shown that he is a fan of the kid but he has to work harder. With Babcock watching him and pushing him to work harder, Hudler should take some big steps forward this year.

Thanks for the info guys. I noticed that some of the tryouts were wearing numbers in the 70's and stuff like that, but I thought that seeing as how Filppula was Wings property (unlike the other tryouts who were free agents), then he may have been given a permenant number when he came over to America. I will have to wait until next season when he breaks into the team on a full-time basis.

So, no one has any idea what number he wears? There was a picture of him on the Wings site, but you could only see a little bit of his arm. I need to know so I can get my Wings jersey personalized...

Bump.

I would like to see Filppula play maybe 10-20 games with the big club as a form of motivation, but yeah your arguments are pretty solid. Also this has nothing to do with your post but.... Filppula > Hudler.... something I've long suspected from watching the World Juniors back in the day. Hudler was always more talented, but it was Filppula who steped up in the big games. I'm a huge fan of Filppula. I like Hudler as well, but I just can't see him becoming more important to the Wings than Filppula. Hudler has all the skill in the world, but he is just so small. If he was really quick, similar to Martin St. Louis, then he would probably be OK, but Hudler's other problem is that he isn't really that quick. He's that small that he will cop a heap of physical punishment, and he's not fast enough to get away from it. Filppula is a bit bigger, and he has a lot more speed. He also is a solid two-way player, whereas Hudler is almost a purely offense-only guy. In a couple of years, Filppula is going to be a key part of our nucleus for the future. I was just curious if anyone knows what number Filppula will be wearing with the Griffins/Wings this season?

I'm thinking more of the Euro-Triplets. Filppula, Zetterberg and Grigorenko should make a great scoring line for the Wings in a couple of years. Both Filppula and Zetterberg can play C and LW, so we can alternate those two guys between each position, and Grigorenko should solve our RW problem. Lots of speed, vision, stickhandling skills, shooting and playmaking. If we provide them with some big, physical forwards behind them on the other lines, then they could really take off.

I was just wondering how much longer it will be until we see this kid in the NHL? To me he looks like he could make it reasonably well with the Wings. He's a hard worker and he plays a smart game. While I would rather he be a bit bigger and more physical, I still think that he will be a productive player. So I was wondering how long it will be until we see him get a shot at the NHL?

I agree. Everyone is talking about how we have to add youth and everything now, but the reality of the situation is that we have a veteran team at the moment and it wont be until next season or the one after that we really get into full re-build mode. At that point, we will have Kronwall and Fischer still on the books, with the possibility of Lilja and/or Delmore still being around. That's not too bad of a defensive core, especially if Kronwall and Fischer develop as expected. On top of that, we have Derek Meech, Kyle Quincey, Miroslav Blatak, Jakub Kindl, Siarhei Kolasau, Juho Mielonen, Jeff May, Bretton Stamler and a bunch of other blue-line prospects who we can be sure that at least some of them will work out and become contributors. From what I have been able to find out, it looks like Meech, Quincey, Kindl and Blatak appear to be the most likely to come emerge from that pack of prospects, so my question to you guys is in what order would you rank them in terms of how good you think they will become in the future?

I was surprised to see that he got cut from camp, but I guess it makes sense in a way. No one really thought he was ready to play with the Wings just yet, so it would make more sense for him to sign with the Griffins than to sign with the Wings and end up in Grand Rapids anyway.

Agreed, The thing is aswell though that he is only 21 so if the Wings do sign him and let him develop in Grand Rapids then he could end up weighing in at around 225 to 230 pounds and that extra weight could really help him out. Yeah, I have no doubt that he will continue to develop and get bigger. I'm only 21 as well, and I'm nowhere near at my maximum possible size. I'm 6'5" and about 195lbs. but I think I still have plenty of room to add muscle, which is why I'm still working out and lifting weights. So even though Big Snake is a bit shorter than me, at 220lbs. he still has some more filling out to do, but probably not as much as someone who is 5 inches taller and 25lbs. lighter (like me). I'm thinking that he will probably end up at about 230lbs. or maybe 240lbs. at the most. Wow you are 6'5 do you you fancy lacing them up for the Wings, can you drop the gloves haha . All kidding aside i find it alot harder to knock a guy off the puck who is 6'0 230 than a guy who is 6'5 230 just for the fact that a smaller guy has a lower centre of gravity and is more solid and stocky than the biggar guy. lol Man, if Holland called me up I'd be on my way to the airport before I even got off the phone. As for the other part of your post, I agree that it is harder to knock a short and heavy guy off the puck than a taller guy of the same weight. I've just started my ice hockey career by training with the senior team and a bunch of other young guys at the local rink, and I have found that even though I am a bit heavier than some of the shorter guys, I seem to get knock off balance more than they do. That is why I'm working really hard on my legs, to try and bulk them up so that I can stay on my skates more and spend less time on my ass.

Thanks for the info. I saw that he was still pretty young and wasn't drafted that long ago, but I was hoping that we may see him sooner rather than later. So if he has 2 pretty solid seasons in Grand Rapids, you think he will be here?

Agreed, The thing is aswell though that he is only 21 so if the Wings do sign him and let him develop in Grand Rapids then he could end up weighing in at around 225 to 230 pounds and that extra weight could really help him out. Yeah, I have no doubt that he will continue to develop and get bigger. I'm only 21 as well, and I'm nowhere near at my maximum possible size. I'm 6'5" and about 195lbs. but I think I still have plenty of room to add muscle, which is why I'm still working out and lifting weights. So even though Big Snake is a bit shorter than me, at 220lbs. he still has some more filling out to do, but probably not as much as someone who is 5 inches taller and 25lbs. lighter (like me). I'm thinking that he will probably end up at about 230lbs. or maybe 240lbs. at the most.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm really hoping that we get Big Snake signed. It would be nice if he was 6'5" and 240lbs. but he isn't, so we will have to take what we can get. He may be undersized, but he's willing to take on anyone who is asking for it, and he has shown that he can fight well above his weight. I think we will get him signed up, and hopefully we can sign up a few of these other guys who are showing something in camp. Also, it's good to see that he put "Robin" into the name of his web site. If he called his site www.bigsnake.com it could have sounded like a completely different sort of site.

lol Yes, we all know what you think Aussie_Wing. We know that you would be all for signing a fetus as long as it would accept a two-way contract. As for Filppula, it's best to let him get some ice time in Grand Rapids this year, at least at the start of the season. You have your exceptions (guys like Kovalchuk) who can come straight into the NHL from Europe and play well, but for most guys, they need a bit of time to adjust to the North American game. Filppula is no exception. Lets at least let him start the season with Grand Rapids and get a bit of a feel for the North American game before we go rushing him straight into the NHL team. Maybe by the end of the season we canbring him up if we need to (to cover for injuries, form slumps, etc).

I'll definatley be supporting the Rangers this year. I'm one of Kindl's biggest supporters around here. He's copped a lot of crap from people for playing poorly last year, but he's very skilled and last season was his first year of North American hockey. With a years experience under his belt, I think he will be much better set to make an impact this season, and we should see his numbers go up and a little more physicality come into his game. As for McGrath, I agree that he is very talented and is a kid to look out for in the future. He has all the skills to be an impact player at the NHL level and just has to make sure that he keeps working hard.

I have nothing against Thomas, but I would rather see someone from Grand Rapids get a chance. If this was 10 years ago then yeah, lets get Thomas signed up. However, this will probably be the last or second last season where we have this veteran team of Yzerman, Shanahan, Chelios, etc. so I would rather see us bring in some of our young guys now and let them get as much experience as possible before we have to throw them in full-time in another year or two. Also, I doubt that Thomas would have signed yet. If Holland does plan on signing him, then it would be AFTER we find out what happens with Datsyuk, as that will determine how much cap space we have to work with.

This just keeps getting better and better. Not only is he a fighter, but he's taking down guys who have 8 inches and over 10 pounds on him? Let's get his ass into a Wings jersey as soon as possible.

I'm loving this guy already! I just read this report of the Wings first game of the prospect camp: "The Red Wings won their first game of prospect camp against the Minnesota Wild with an exciting 4-1 victory. It was a hard-hitting game with one fight in the third period between Detroit’s tryout, Robin Big Snake, and Minnesota’s 2005 draft pick, Riley Emmerson." He can't even play ONE game without getting into a fight! Holland, get this kid signed up N-O-W!!!

I agree with this 100%. Hudler has a huge amount of talent and is a great playmaker, but he is small and he isn't as quick as you would like to see in someone that little. Hopefully these new rules will help to open up the ice for him and will mean that he wont cop as much physical punishment, which will make him more effective. However, unless the NHL takes physical contact out of the game entirely (obviously not going to happen), then he will need someone with some decent size out there with him to back him up and make opponents think twice about taking a shot at him. If we send Hudler out there with Datsyuk and Zetterberg (as an example; wouldn't happen in real life), then Hudler would get the crap beaten out of him. If we sent him out with a McCarty and a Bertuzzi (once again, example only), then Hudler would still get hit a bit, but nowhere near as much, and he would be a pretty effective player.

up the number by ten and those jerseys would sell faster than they could be made That is so unbelievably fitting. Right up there with Tootoo wearing #22 (if it ever happens) and Satan suiting up with Jersey. peace I don't know if it's able to be done under NHL rules, but I would love to see Satan play for New Jersey wearing the number 666. I had never thought about Tootoo wearing #22 though. That's a good one.

I would think (hope) that his disciplinary problems would work themselves out as he gets older and as he goes from the juniors into the AHL and possibly in the future, the NHL. As he gets into the bigger leagues, I think that the coaches and the organisation will be a lot stricter with him, and wont let him get away with too much sh*t.

Big Snake certainly is an intriguing prospect. We need grit, toughness and guys who will drop the gloves more than Paris Hilton needs acting lessons, but we will have to wait and see if Big Snake will be the guy who will fill that role for us. He's only 6 foot tall, and 219 lbs. so he isn't the biggest guy in the world. He has had success in the juniors, but I would think that a big part of that would have to do with his massive size advantage. I doubt that he will have the same effectivness against full-grown men. Hopefully he is still growing a bit, and will continue to get tougher. Apart from his toughness and willingness to fight, do we even know anything about his actual ability to play hockey? Can he skate? Can he score?

We have guys who can be called up for $450,000 (such as Rivers, Delmore, etc.), but I think that the effect this will have on Hudler will be minimal. It may effect his chances of being called up this season, but over the next season or two we will be seeing a bunch of our current core guys retire or come close to it, and this will create opportunities for our young guys. Hudler is still only very young, and I believe that in the long run he will get his chance to play at the NHL level, even if it doesn't come this season. With retirements will come some room to move under the salary cap, and it is then that we will be looking to re-build the team and Hudler should be a big part of that re-building process.