Drake_Marcus

Great news. I can't wait to see this kid play in Grand Rapids. He's got 1st round offensive talent. According to Andersson his hockey IQ is off the charts. He's managed to raise some eyebrows in the SEL as well. Phil Housley and Brian Rafalski were shorter than Almqvist and hard pretty decent careers. The ship hasn't sailed on Smith in Detroit this season. According to Jiri Fischer the Wings think he's a year away from really succeeding in the NHL but could step in this year. Where Smith plays this coming season depends on two things: A) what Holland does with the roster in the off-season, B) how Smith performs in camp.

You guys are getting trolled so hard.

Oh I'm with you there man. If he was a dick in the locker room I doubt they'd give him a letter. It's not unheard of, though. Didn't Dion's prima-dona behaviour help run him out of Calgary.

U mad Crymson?

Hey now-- my hearsay is perfectly plausible. Lots of athletes are perceived as dickish by common folk. And I'm not making it up! I'm merely repeating something I read without any personal or secondary verification. Do you even post on these boards for any purpose other then to ***** about Hudler?

Oh yeah, but the crazy thing is you ALWAYS see them in the crowds at Nashville games. During the playoffs I counted quite a few in there. Maybe it's just how clearly they stand out or maybe there was a genuine affection for them among some Nashville fans. Kind of like how some dogs are so ugly that women find them cute?

The semi-pro league jerseys shouldn't count. They're often designed to be obnoxious and attention grabbing simply for the headlines and interest generated. The real train wrecks are the NHL jerseys that someone actually green lit (I'm looking at you every-jersey-Anaheim's-ever-worn).

From what I've heard he's an arrogant ass in real life too. Yeah but unlike Yzerman, Kessler's mouth is filled with penises! (OH SNAP)

Meech will likely go to Europe. He's passed through waivers multiple times with no interest. Holland even told him he'd try to find him an NHL home at the start of last season and... well we know what happened there. My best guess is that he'll try and get as much as he can in Europe now while he can still play. That being said-- I hope he finds an NHL home or at the very least he finds a good pay cheque so he can provide for his family doing what he loves for as long as possible.

McKenzie was talking about Ericsson's play in that playoff series when he said that. I doubt he watches a lot of GR games. I don't see how Kronwall's season in the AHL during the lockout doesn't count towards his development. You claimed that the Griffs didn't correctly prepare the Wings' defensemen and my rebuttal was that Kronwall spent a great deal of time in GR. How does the exact years he spent there matter again? He could have easily gone back to Sweden and played with one of his past pro clubs there but he stayed in GR. Why do you think that was? I'd say it's more likely that Holland asked him to stay there than anything else. Or maybe he didn't want to return and play in front of his family in Sweden... We both read the stat lines-- I know Fischer made the Wings out of camp. Hell, everyone knows that because he was the first 19 year old defenseman to do that in quite some time. But how the hell does that negate my point? The AHL has a purpose and Holland uses it more than most GMs. But then again he's also got more post-season victories than most GMs so maybe he's half competent?

The Wings got a 6'5 defenseman who averages 18:50 of ice time a night and ended up with 15pts and a +8... all for the last overall pick of the draft. He needed that time in GR. And guess what? In his first year in the NHL he played on the top pairing with Lidstrom in the Stanley Cup FINALS. Only one person scored in game 7 of the Finals. Guess who it was? Sure seems like Grand Rapids may have helped prepare Ericsson for the NHL. But to you he's a crappy player because he isn't an All Star. By the way-- Kronwall played 102 games with the Griffins. Somehow I doubt that those games didn't contribute to his development. You are right on one point-- Fischer didn't play in Grand Rapids. He played 25 games over two seasons for another AHL team-- the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. The Griffins were still a part of the IHL at that time. There's a reason why Kindl and Smith played in the AHL-- they weren't good enough in camp to force Holland to play them in the NHL. If a Doughty walks into camp and blows the team's socks off Holland isn't going to send him to the AHL. You make it sound like Ken Holland ties a 200lb anchor around the necks of these players. I'll tell you one thing-- playing 21mins a night in Grand Rapids as their #1 defenseman beats the hell out of being Derek Meech in the press box.

And I wouldn't give Ehrhoff a fat contract this offseason. It'd be too inflated by his playoff performance right now. His track record aside from that isn't as glamorous. I'm not a big fan of investing large sums in unproven commodities (at least in a cap world).

If anyone obtains a big RFA player right now it will likely be via trade (see: Kessel, Phil). To paraphrase Holland: the cap world is about getting players to play better than you pay them for, not to overpay players.

More locker room change is the enemy right now. If they don't sign Draper to play they'll definitely sign him as a strength training coach or something similar to keep him with the team.

Based on this season I wouldn't say Rafalski was the #2 defenseman (overall). Kronwall's solidly claimed ownership over that. His offensive AND defensive play has grown considerably and he's the guy after Lidstrom right now. Rafalski was definitely the #2 most important guy when it came to the first pass/breakout. That's where he'll be missed the most (well there and the PP).

I will say this much-- Ericsson was very good defensively in the AHL and he caused people to weep tears of blood on these forums over the last two seasons. The transition from AHL to NHL is very, very difficult for defensemen (less so from an offensive standpoint than from a purely defensive standpoint). For Ericsson the biggest challenge was confidence-- he was strong defensively when he didn't think too much and just made that first pass but once doubt crept into his mind (in his rookie season) it all went to hell quickly. Much like Ericsson in his 08 call-up and during the 09 playoffs, people were very happy with Kindl's defensive play in his limited minutes this season. While Kindl played much more limited minutes than Ericsson did in those cases that's primarily because of the injury situations in those respective cases. The biggest difference in those cases was how much Ericsson's offensive skills were shown off that season (prior to his rookie season). Kindl's rookie season this year was very, very quiet from an offensive perspective despite the fact that he's very offensively skilled. Part of that's probably playing time but it's hard to explain given that he got some decent PP time in. My point is that people seem to be very happy with Kindl's play this past season but we should remember that he was playing in a limited role and was trying to earn a roster spot. If he enters this season with a guaranteed top 6 spot I expect the road to be rougher for him (in the short term at least). Kindl's still pretty raw but his toolbox is excellent (size, skill, skating). So let's look at the defense right now assuming Lidstrom re-signs. Lidstrom Kronwall Stuart Kindl As far as continuity is concerned you can't really count Kindl as a 'known' because of his limited experience. So we're looking at a massive transition for the Wings' defense-- only 50% of the core defense would remain. Once Lidstrom retires you'd be looking at only 2 of the 6 players who were with the team in the back to back finals years. That's a huge change in personnel which is uncharacteristic for a Ken Holland team. Based on that fact I think the Wings will retain Ericsson as long as he doesn't expect 3mil+ (which he won't get from Holland). Once Rafalski retired the odds of retaining Ericsson jumped based on Holland's desire to maintain a level of continuity. Babcock is also a big fan of Ericsson's size and strength (a rare commodity in the Wings' system). So what could the D look like going into free agency? Lidstrom-? Kronwall-Stuart Ericsson-? Kindl The Wings will want to keep Kindl with a veteran and also give him access to Lidstrom while he's still around. If Smith makes the team, and Holland doesn't bring an external top 4 defenseman into the mix, I wouldn't be shocked to see the pairings broken up like this: Lidstrom-Kindl/Smith Kronwall-Smith/Kindl Ericsson-Stuart *Noting that the mins would be broken up very evenly between the pairings (just like they were this season) Ericsson needs a guy like Stuart to be the responsible, reliable guy. I see that as a protecting the asset sort of thing. Putting Kronwall with Smith/Kindl is risky because the Wings will want to let Kronwall continue to be an aggressive roamer (it works damn well). Can Kindl or Smith be the responsible guy who hangs back in those situations? I don't really feel comfortable with that to be honest. This arrangement is almost solely devised to give Kindl and Smith as much time with Lidstrom as possible. That doesn't seem like a bright way to run a winning hockey team but it's a smart long term investment if the Wings believe it will be Lidstrom's last season. A more conservative arrangement would be: Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-(outside veteran with high-end offensive potential and decent youth, for example-- Pitkanen) Ericsson-Kindl/Smith The last pairing is taking a big leap for the sake of keeping the top 4 as solid as possible. The problem there is that it would represent a top heavy split of playing time. More balance means less even strength ice time for Lidstrom and less regular season wear on him. Man this is a really long speculative post. I wonder if anyone read the whole thing...

They WANT him to make the team out of camp. But if he comes to camp and it's apparent he doesn't have the chops to earn minutes I doubt they'll keep him up to sit in the press box. This isn't a Kindl situation where a blue-chip prospect flounders a bit in the AHL, is forced to take a spot on the team due to waiver status and can't manage to crack the top 6. Kindl looked as promising coming out of the OHL as Smith did coming out of College. The problem was that Kindl never significantly progressed each year in the AHL the way the Wings hoped he would. Smith still has 2 years of AHL eligibility left if the Wings need to fall back on that. Smith's going to be a good PP QB and offensive player. All he needs to do is shore up his defensive game (pretty much the most common complaint for any young defenseman). The bigger question right now is Tatar. He had an excellent sophomore season in the AHL. This coming season will be his last in the AHL so the Wings will give him every chance to make the team out of camp or at least will count on him for call-ups. Based on his play during the nine game call-up he had this season it looks like he's close. Hopefully he'll continue to get stronger this summer just like he did last summer.

The Bogosian rumour was near the trade deadline and the Green 'rumour' was speculation on the part of a hockey columnist (he even said it was pure speculation).

"Hello, Steve?" "Hey Kenny." "Sorry to bother you but I need advice on managing a team to a Stanley Cup." "Oh, well I can see why you'd call me then. I learned everything I know from this guy who managed his team to 3 cups in 5 years!" "Thanks Mr. Yzerman, I really appreciate it."

His problem is between his ears.

Fixed it for you. In that case I'd be happy to see him come here. We could use another big body who can punish the opposing d and it really helps that he's strong on face-offs.

Probably. But I'm betting there are 30 teams with fans who'd love to find a way to fit Weber onto their team.

'07-'08: 55pts in 73gms (0.75pts/gm) '08-'09: 59pts in 78gms (0.76pts/gm) '09-'10 42pts in 78gms (0.54pts/gm) '10-'11: 48pts in 63gms (0.76pts/gm) Please do a quick graph of pts/gm vs season. And tell me if the line is trending downwards at the end of 2011. Thanks.

According to recent interviews that's true. He's never expressed a desire to leave and from what I've read he was confident a deal could be worked out to keep him in Nashville. But that doesn't mean he's closed every other door.

Who cares how much skill Torres has if he doesn't use it? He doesn't even care about the puck. Torres will skate right by a puck if he can get a charge in on a vulnerable opponent.