Andy Pred 48

Have we got ourself a future stud on the back end? Needs to put some weight onto his slender frame but the kid is a point a game in his rookie season in the O , with Saarijarvi going at just under a point per game and Sambrook also keeping the scorer busy things looking good down the line. Hopefully Cholowski also lives up to to his billing and we have some good D in the pipeline.

So Kenny isn't blowing it up but has indicated the need to bring in 3/4 new faces. Now we all know the major needs are a #1 C and a #1 D but that is only coming via trade or could there be a player out there in other top leagues ? A player I've said we should take a run at is the Czech C Jan Kovar, 5'11" 216lb and a R/H shot. Average over a point a game in the KHL the past 4 years and at only 27 has his best years ahead of him. The downside is that he has a year left on his contract with his KHL side. Free agents available in the NHL at that #1C aren't that great. Wennberg , Teravainen, Johansen and Kuznetsov are young #1/2 C but I'd say they'll all be resigned by their clubs. So maybe a creative Holland could pull something off. I'd be on the phone to Columbus and ask what they'd want for Abramov and Aliu in a package deal. Abramov is going to be a star and I'd have Aliu as this year's reclamation project as my 4th line wing agitator . On D well there's the million dollar puzzle. Is Shattenkirk the target? Not for me, Trouba as maybe my new #2 but the top guy is neither of these. So what can we do , we have Green for one more year and maybe trade in Trouba as his partner. Will Kronner be up to a full season? Not so sure but he's not going anywhere so he's our 2nd pairing with DeKeyser. On the 3rd I'd be trying to sign either Tryamkin from Vancouver or Sustr from Tampa to play with Ericsson. 7th D would be Sproul. But looking at our prospects maybe we have a diamond in the rough fingers crossed, in the meantime Kenny should be talking to the Yotes about getting OEL into Detroit. Still I'm sure there's going to be some changes just how is Kenny going to shockers all ?

I'm not sure if any of you watched many games or if you only watched the USA or Canada games. But as i am off work at present with the same injury as Z, i got to watch almost every game. What I did see was every nation play at least twice and I got a good look at some players that we wouldn't see normally. A few players did make an impression on me. Although there were some highly skilled players many of them would be considered to be undersize to stake a claim for an NHL roster spot. To see if any of our opinions on these olympic players match or differ drastically i'd like to enter the scenario that a new NHL franchise has been given the go ahead and the new team can pick 2 players from each of the 12 olympic roster's that took part in Sochi. The roster will consist of 3 NM, 8 D and 13 FWD's of which 4 must be center's. So here go's The 2014 Seattle Olympians. NM Reto Berra Switzerland NM Edgars Masalskis Latvia NM Carey Price Canada D John Carlson USA D Zdeno Chára Slovakia D Erik Karlsson Sweden D Sabahudin Kovacevic Slovenia D Olli Määttä Finland D Drew Doughty Canada. D Matthias Trattnig Austria D Marek Zidlicky Czech F Phil Kessel USA C Anze Kopitar Slovenia F Lauris Darzins Latvia F Alexander Radulov Russia C Tomas Plekanec Czech F Michael Grabner Austria F Jussi Jokinen Finland C Patrick Thoresen Norway F Daniel Sedin Sweden F Marián Hossa Slovakia C Pavel Datsyuk Russia F Per-Åge Skrøder Norway F Simon Moser Switzerland. Some big name's missing, but these are players that impressed me during the games and would hold their own in the NHL.

Stevie Y is gunna play mind games with Ottawa At the draft and force them to take Drysdale with their 3rd.

Chicago just signed the Swiss kid.

Well 2 seasons into his NHL career and he’s going at almost a point per 2 games on a poor offensive side. Hmm, not too shabby so far. Hopefully this is a start to a bright future.

well it looks like double G is going after his own Russian 5 to start off the new franchise. after signing Shipachyov the next likely player is Dadonov and who's to say that they aren't after the marquee signing and getting Kovalchuk in as well, all UFAs from Pasha's SKA. Vegas could be a surprise package after all this coming season.

with the Wings almost signing Phaneuf, what is the likelihood that we re-visit the conversation 's in the off season?

Sulak in for Jensen.

Bergevin was the same height and weight in his year with the Wings As Patches is listed now. Hitting the gym big style after hanging them up

Yeah , we need to save some space for that D coming in ?!

Well he's the most ready and has played 200 + games in various senior leagues and played big minutes for Czech national side so I'd put him at the front of the queue.

Sulak is the dark horse here folks, he is coming in under the radar.

Looks like Faulk is surplus in Carolina with them signing DeHaan. Could Kenny be in a trade mode ?

Veleno is in the top 10 as being most NHL ready. Next year's 3 rd line centre? Why not , anyway did anyone else notice Quinn Hughes's face when Kenny took Zadina at 6 he was just behind Filip it was a look of disbelief.

Holland will sign 2-3 ufa vets you can count on it, need a calming influence on what will be a very young roster next year (hoping) !!

LA took my boy at 82 a pick after ours!! You’ll hear a lot about this miss in the future

More likely Green out and Faulk in on cheaper contract. Not sure what the Hanifin deal was, maybe our Svechnikov plus AA and our #30 pick , I guess that’s dead in the water now.

I think today is going to be even better for the Wings, just hope we snag the Russian sleepers in , Babinstev D and Shafigulin F . If somehow Kenny can get 2 of 3 in Wilde Samuelsson or Serron in the second I’ll be ecstatic!

We address our D needs tomorrow guys

Wilde Alexeyev and Serron to add some size not out the question

Have we got #32 and #36?

Try get one of those Isle picks Kenny