Drake_Marcus

Meh. He played, what, like 10 games? Daniel Cleary is the least of our concerns. It's comical to even get worked up about what amounts to a manager living up to a promise he made because ethically he feels compelled to if the result is so miniscule.

If anyone knows the limits of Helm's body it's Helm. And she doesn't exactly look like much of a load for someone who lifts as much as a hockey player

“Like Chicago, the Red Wings have done a good job drafting without the benefit of lottery picks" *lol* Because the Blackhawks didn't benefit from lottery pick charity... Let's pretend their last two Cups weren't won on the backs of their back-to-back 3rd overall and 1st overall draft picks (Toews/Kane).

lol Do you really think Holland plans on burying Nyquist in the minors for very long? He's just making room so he can get a trade done for one of the veterans. This is 100% about asset management. Holland of all people wants Nyquist to play as much time in Detroit as possible. Think of it this way-- it'll be easier to find a trade partner once Bert and Sammy have a chance to show that they can still play and other teams find the need to add a veteran due to injuries. At this point in the season every organization is busy evaluating their young talent going into the pre-season. It's in Holland's best interests to make sure the Wings' young talent has the optimal environment to thrive.

I think he's got the right idea. He's just taking the pictures out of the dressing room... if he feels that he needs to make a statement to his young players about looking forward instead of backward this is a pretty simple way to do it. It's not like the Oilers are taking banners down or changing anything other than the home dressing room.

It's worth noting that the act of changing goalie gear isn't as simple as it sounds. To do it right you can't reduce the protection offered by current gear. Composite sticks and elite athletic training aren't going anywhere so goalie gear can't become less protective. I've ranted about this on LGW before but it's worth saying again: Next time someone mentions Kevlar vests stopping bullets in a goalie gear discussion be sure to tell them to ask a police officer just what happens when a Kevlar vest stops a bullet. Broken ribs, extreme pain and deep bruising is infinitely better than being shot unprotected but it's hardly a worthwhile trade-off for a goalie looking to reduce gear size.

I think it'd be interesting to have a private panel consisting of the following: --Current NHL goaltenders (a mix of stars and back-ups/young guys) --Former NHL goaltenders (who played in the last 10 years) --Engineers --Persons who previously worked on product development/strategy for big hockey gear manufacturers --Persons who previously or currently work on product development/strategy for big manufacturers of protective gear for other sports (American football in particular, don't take companies with a hockey division) Have the final recommendations made available to the public *but* all names of contributing members are kept secret from the NHL, NHLPA and everyone else. As an engineer I'd be really interested to read what a group like that came up with in terms of recommendations for rules/gear changes and even ideas for new gear innovations.

Holland's said a few times that Nyquist *will* be re-signed. Don't worry about that. I'd rather not take Cleary again because there's no roster space and it'd negatively impact the development of Tatar/Nyquist by pushing them back in the depth chart. Unload Eaves (bummer but there's no room) and Tootoo right off the bat. Emmerton will have to stick around until they know for sure that Helm's back is fine. For the record-- I think it sucks that they'd have to say goodbye to Eaves because Sammy can't be unloaded. I'd rather have Eaves for his versatility, aptitude at playing on the checking line and comparatively young age. Bert is worth keeping around for another year because the Wings need the size and he's helpful in the shoot-out if nothing else

Wow... that Bogosian contract is absurd. He's done *nothing* to earn that cap hit or term. Honestly, Bogosian didn't deserve more than a 4mil cap hit over 5 years. If he wanted 7 years he shouldn't have gotten much more than 3.5mil per. These last two contracts by Winnipeg could imbalance the market for RFAs the way the Drury/Briere NY/Philly contracts did for UFAs way back.

Old meme is old. Weiss and Alfredsson both signed for market price. 9 of TSN's top 30 UFAs are yet to be signed: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=95306

Rookie Smith reminds me of rookie Kronwall. Don't forget how many moronic defensive plays and ill-advised pinches Kroner made as a young d-man.

Wow... players used to have to accept smaller cap hit numbers to get massive deals. 8 years at 7 mil per for a goalie is a HUGE deal. I understand why they'd be willing to take a risk on Rask but this shouldn't be thought of as anything other than a calculated risk. 7 mil for a goalie in today's NHL is a real risk.

Vancouver is so dumb... so very dumb. *lol*

Well the Avalanche rejected Calgary's offer of their 6th, 22nd and 28th overall picks for the 1st overall and the top 3 players are all pretty damn close to each other in terms of potential so I'd say that's the kind of deal you'd have to offer as a starting point for one of those 3 picks. I do think the 4th overall pick could be a home-run too... Bob McKenzie said Aleksander Barkov (the consensus #4) was rated by some NHL teams as being no lower than 2nd overall. While I don't doubt that MacKinnon and Drouin are incredible players I have a hard time decoupling them their personal performance from each other (and their line-mate Frk) on an absolutely stacked Mooseheads team. There's no doubt that those three performed incredibly on a line together but the big question is-- what would their individual numbers look like with crappier line mates? Drouin has a sample of play without MacKinnon due to the latter's injury at the start of the QMJHL season, but it's still hard to gauge just how much the three players impacted each other statistically, and that's really what makes me uncomfortable (and I'm sure it's factored into some scouts' minds as well). One thing I'm not entirely sold on is the offensive potential of some of the big d-men available in the late lottery (Ristolainen and Nurse). How much of their ranking is owed to their size and strength vs pure hockey IQ/talent? Big and strong is great, but it's also something that can happen post-draft as a player physically matures. This is something teams are pretty good at estimated based on examination at the combine but I think it's worth mentioning. Oh for sure. The biggest issue in my mind right now is the quantity of players the Wings have in their system who are AHL ready. There will be guys who don't make the Griffins in October who really should get a shot to play AHL hockey. It'd be nice if the Wings could loan some players to other AHL teams rather than have them relegated to the ECHL but it doesn't seem like that type of thing happens much anymore (at one point AHL teams were mixed groups from different NHL franchise prospect pools).