Andy Pred 48

I really thought that Ilari was going to take a couple of months to get into any kind of groove at GR's.His transition has been smooth and further more his point production has been a rather pleasant surprise. If we compare him to Leino,as they both came out of the SM Liga, then he is the same height but is 5lb heavier. At present he is more than a point a game player and although we are only 11 games into the season all looks good (fingers crossed). Ville played a total of 57 league games with the Griffins where he had 15+31 and a +2 rating. So far Ilari leads the Griffs with 6+9 and is +3. One wonders whether his younger bro gave him much needed inside info on how to prepare for life in the A. Val spent just the one season in GR's as a 21yr old scoring 20+50 in 74 league games,Ilari is already 29 and this may have helped him to adjust as well, I hope he carries on the good form and hopefully we'll see him get a call and play alongside his lil bro.

cant wait for this kid to be wearing the winged wheel.

great vid thanks for sharing

the Wings re-tool they don't re-build.

has he got another year at Jokerit or will he be over in the A next year? could he be another fast tracked rookie like tatar?

Mitch gets a Gordie, the Rockets blanked Tri-city 3- zip last night with Mitch getting 1+1 and a 5min major for fighting.

out of the playoffs. do NHL teams start to play bad to get a higher draft pick? it surely goes on doesnt it?

Gary Unger played his last ever game for my local side here in the UK. He scored the last goal of that season which kept the team in the top flight of hockey in the UK. A really nice bloke and great player.

Looking at the roster's for the pre season camp, I really do like the look of this kid. Been the Petes captain and is a goalscoring centre. Now I know we are stacked at centre, but here is a guy who has been hitting the net on a regular basis, if he could move out to the wing with no problem I think the coaching staff may have a player who'll not only do a job but save them alot of cap space. ie no need to sign some leftover ufa/fa that hasn't got a club yet. He's played 324 games for the Petes and has 155+136=291pts and 310pims.

looking good v LA might have something to do with him being paired with Lids for some shifts. I think he'll only get better and thats all well and goood for the Wings. We need our 1st round picks to pan out espically on the D.

Ok, so the likelihood of the Wings adding to the current roster before mondays deadline are about as remote as Zenon Konopka winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy this year. So we have all our roster guys fit and healthy, and we add 9 Black aces for the playoff run. G MacDonald, D Smith, Meech, Janik and Fwds Mursak, Tatar, Emmerton, Tardif & I Filppula. So with that, what you gunna do and what are your lines. Will be very interesting to see who gets left in the stands, my guess is probably some of our so called vets get to warm the stands seats abit more than they thought. Ill start the ball rolling. 1st Line Zetterberg Datsyuk Hudler 2nd Line Franzen Modano Bertuzzi 3rd Line Eaves Filpulla V Cleary 4th Line Helm Abdelkader Draper res Miller Holmstrom 1D Lidstrom Kronwall 2D Stuart Rafalski 3D Salei Ericsson res Kindl/Smith G Howard G Osgood.

is he signed for Jokerit next season or do the Wings have the option to call him over to GR?

The main reason for this topic ending up a lets get Bogo thread, is that we are all worried that Lids could( and i think will) retire at the end of this season. We dont seem to have anyone lined up to step into the fold and that is a big void to fill. The names floating about are all hearsay at the moment and I dont think Kenny will pull the trigger on any deal before the deadline. people are quotting figures and stats ref Bogo over E but Kindl's name is being mooted in the deal. Well stats prove that Kindl was more productive during the minors than Bogo was and Kindls role at present within the Wings system has been limited. Given a bigger role im sure Kindl will put numbers up, maybe not Lids type, but i would hasard a guess and say just as good as Bogo has at present. The key issue is, if Bogo was on the Wings D how much would his prodution go up? I agree we need to get someone in before Lids goes, Smith is going to be good for the Wings but we cant look at him taking on the role that will be vacant, not for a few years anyway. So who's it gunna be?

the Wings have a good guy watching AA play as Fredrik Olausson is one of the assistant coaches. Adam now has a +20 rating so it looks like his defensive play could be improving.

I dont know if the young prospect Pulkkinen is coming over to GR next year, but if he is maybe the Wings could sign his partner in crime from Jokerit as well,Janne Lahti is having a great year.

i see my boy Tatar got another goal. people keep saying that Mursak and maybe Emmerton could be up with big club next year but something tells me that Babcock is really high on the young Slovak and we may see him fast tracked to the Joe. Id say Jan has the edge on Tomas at the moment and i see Mursak as a great guy on the chk line with his speed, but Tatar could be the scorer we are looking for (until the Finnish kid Pulkkenen arrives here). Im really pumped about some of the guys we have as prospects now. We just need another top D to come thru the ranks, Smith is gunna be a stud for the Wings if he has his head on right which he seems to have done whilst with the Griffs.

Zherdev = Detroits 2011-12 reclaim project......................you never know.

how about converting him back to a forward? that'll free up room for Smith, who is the most talented D we have had in the minors for years. E then learns off Hommer to become the new net front pest when hommer hangs em up. His big frame will at least be used in a constructive manner instead of not using it to its full capacity on the D.

Ok, with the deadline approaching are we likely to see any roster changes not within the camp? With Stuy looking likely in the line up Thursday and Mike maybe 2 weeks away, will these be the only additions to the playing roster. With everyone fit I think Kenny feels we have enough to go deep into the playoffs as it is. I can't see us brining anyone in, what do you guys think? I wouldn't mind us getting in Voracek from the BlueJax as he is out of contract(10/11) and I hear that Columbus are looking to change things up and he could be moved.

I was thinking that we could do a deal with NYI, Milan Jurcina is a big guy who clears the net and has a cap hit of $1m. he's out of contract in 11/12. Kenny rings Nabby, tells him to report to NYI and he'll have a contract with the Wings for next season waiting for him. Ken then tells that dork in New York he'll get Nabs to report if they can do a deal involving Jurcina for Meech,and 3rd & 7th round pick. ?

yep, every year so far Lids has been a + player. 93-94 was his best season ending with a +43. his lowest for the reg season so far is the year before that when he was a +7 for the season. Vladdy in the season 95-96 was a massive +60!!

time to get the roster a little younger, not sure who'll they release to make it happen thou. gotta do it soon thou as the core is growing older and slower together and its gunna bit us on the arse sooner rather than later. you need exp on the roster, just not sure as to how many we seem to carry. Get some young blood in and give them some games under their belt.

well, here we go again. looks like he is willing to waive his ntc, now if we could get him here for the post season, would he help tighten up our D or do we go gun-ho and try to win every game in high scoring shoot out!!

i think Kenny should really think about this one, picking him up for next years roster would be a good move.

could be this years Drake, he would give the Wings the one element they are missing thou. a cheap shot artist that keeps the oposition looking over there shoulders!! not sure where they got the Steve Staios rumour from thou? Id take AK but his price tag is to high unless we off load and i dont see us doing that for a player who could go elsewhere at the end of the year.