wings4thecup06

I'm not sure whether that is the case with Mrazek right now. Maybe they really want him to finally play 60+ games for the Griffins, or they think there's a couple of things he has left to work on? I don't know, but I would have thought bringing him up this season would have made more sense too, unless the Wings want more bargaining power when he's an RFA at the end of the year

No he didn't, but not many 1st overall picks do

Hmm, while I think his game on the surface might seem one dimensional (I.e Slaphot) I haven't seen that myself. I mean, at this point I feel Jurco's game is more well rounded (considering how he's adapted to the physical side and shown a willingness to use his body). But I think that Teemu has good speed and he's got a nose for the net and that instinct for goal scoring that you just can't teach. What I guess I'm getting at is, both are different players. Comparing them as the same player is worthless because they are not. Jurco looks like he might become a good two way forward with excellent size and a physical element to his game while Pulkkinen appears (at least right now) to be more offensively minded and a power play specialist who could pot 30 goals.

Great article. Re-affirms my belief that we should give Mantha at least half the year in GR

2 problems with this: 1) You've traded away one of our best young center prospects who has size, skill and a physical element to his game 2) Cammalleri is not what we need. A small, skilled guy, whom we have plenty of. Weiss, Tatar, Nyquist can more than fill that role.

interesting look, and the last 8 games or so don't appear to be (at this stage) too hefty: @ NYI vs OTT vs BOS @ MIN vs WSH vs CAR @ MTL @ CAR Then again, I'm really really hoping that we won't need to be looking at these games that are late in the year hoping we get in!!

I didn't object to trading some guys in GR with potential who aren't throw ins - say Pulkkinen, and we've got tremendous D depth in GR that we could trade also. Obviously you have to give to get, hence why I said if I had to trade one of Nyquist or Tatar, it'd probably be Gus at this point. Talking trade with KH involved just makes me nervous at this point

Even though all this talk of trades is relatively exciting, it also makes me really nervous because I don't know who KH thinks is truly expendable here. If it were me, I think I'd have to say no to Jumbo Joe simply because I don't think at his age it's the right kind of thing we're looking for. Don't get me wrong, he's still a top player, but when we need to score goals surely we should add a big scoring winger instead? My no trade list would definitely include Tatar, Nyquist, Jurco, Sheahan and Mantha, and I definitely wouldn't trade either Helm or Abdelkader. The latter two have speed grit and some size that provide the intangibles that every team needs and we currently don't have enough of. Getting rid of them would decimate us even further. I think I'd be more inclined to part with Nyquist actually than Tatar, as Tats plays with more intensity and jump on the ice and I think that's really a quality you just can't teach. It's a gamble trading Nyquist, but Kip is probably right - he might be at his highest possible value he may ever reach right now.

I think then, the key is really how long and how much Mrazek signs for after this season (as he's an RFA). If he signed say, for 2 or 3 seasons at a cap friendly 1.5-2 million, then we could have quite the goalie battle down the road in a few years time. This is all dependent on how good Mrazek turns out to be, but judging by his performance so far, it should be a dandy to watch this situation play out.

Howie's got 4 years left after this coming season (signed until 18-19), but I don't know. If Mrazek is as good as he could be, do you think that the Wings will be happy to have a $5 million backup goalie?

I will say that while Smith is a tough kid, he'd probably get rag-dolled ala Brian McCabe way back when, as would Chara do to most of the league I think. Good on him for standing up for himself though.

While I am assuming, I just have this gut feeling that Mrazek will be great. Howie is good, don't get me wrong, but it feels like he's just not as self confident as Petr. Didn't know about the NTC until you mentioned it, but apparently it's only a 10 team list. Still moveable, but yes would be difficult. The last thing we want though is to end up with a Luongo/Schneider situation. But if massive contracts that are bigger than Howard's can be moved, it's definitely possible.

Good post, but has the front office realised this too? I would love the Wings to play a more physical style, or at least show that they could stand up for themselves (like Smith has done this year, although he probably should learn not to challenge Chara).

Well, they could have made the Kings home opener against the Hawks, which would have been even more cruel right?

Exactly, and I think it works better this way. It gives Jimmy one more year to prove he's worth the big contract he signed, right before Mrazek gets hot on his tail. And if he falters, then it's game on. Does anyone think that Howie's contract would be moveable if Mrazek proved he was better? Good on Gus for re-signing though, better the devil you know….

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most prevalent reasons for the last couple of lockouts. Idiot GMs competing with each other driving prices up and then some nutjob signs a low level player to a big contract, raising the bar for everyone else.

1) Richards had $2million+ per year extra on his contract than does Franzen. Paying nearly $7 million for a support player is a hell of a lot worse than paying $4 million 2) If we bought out Franzen, who realistically, are we going to get those goals from? 1 individual it definitely will not come from. If you want KH to find someone through free agency or trades, then we're either going to sacrifice a massive amount of cap space (by signing say Vanek for $7million which he isn't worth) or give up a sh** ton of prospects just to acquire someone good enough to score 30 goals. So why would you do that when you have someone, inspire of their flaws, who does those things, yet at a price that allows this team to have cap flexibility?

I have nothing against the guy either, and I do wish we'd had him when he was one of the best players in the league. I thought he played well at times this season, mostly on the PP, but it's clearly time for the Wings to move on. That guy named Cleary though...

That has pretty much epitomised in my head what I think we need this offseason. I couldn't agree more, and it's why when I heard that Kesler was available I thought the Wings should try and get him. If we look back to our cup winners, most of them have been because we blended that great skill with size and grit, along with some terrific puck movers on the backend. If I'm Holland I'm going for a top 6 with size and work ethic who is a b****h to play against and a good puck moving D man. Would a guy like Thornton help? Meh, most certainly, but I don't think he's the key to getting this team back up there with the big boys.

I got that impression too. Like it severely affected him and he just didn't want to play that physical style anymore because it just felt wrong to him? I don't know. But Bert never seemed like the big physical power forward anymore after that.

Matt Cooke should be banned too. I don't want to debate it either but the force of the sucker punch followed by driving Moore's head into the ice practically broke all of his cervical vertebrae by the looks of it. Could easily have severed his spinal cord but he was lucky.

Yup. I know. They do amazing adverts though

Actually, this is a good point. Driving the price down will certainly help with the potential stuff we'll have to give up. Richards could be a good fall back option, although I'd prefer any of the others first. True but no one could have predicted some of these back then.

Tell that to Guinness, who've marketed their beer for years over here with the slogan 'good things come to those who wait'

My thoughts nearly too. It's absolute S*** that they keep recycling the same teams. They could have had the Lightning and marketed it as Stamkos/Ovechkin but no. They've gone with the Hawks who have no rivalry or any intrigue with the Caps. Not even in the same damn conference!