Echolalia

Right now I think the forwards are in better shape than a year ago. I think at their respective stages in their careers Nielson is likely to outscore Datsyuk (he did last year), and he's an excellent two-way player to boot. Vanek has some baggage but even so, he produced more than Richards last year, on what was considered a poor performance from him. Our team is a year older and most of them (aside from Zetterberg) are still on the right side of 30 and its reasonable to expect them to improve. And at least for the time being having Ott will keep the knuckledraggers from kicking up dirt in the forums about how soft we are. Also as kickazz mentioned we might be able to expect more from the coaching staff this year, too. Blash included. He's had his rookie season to figure things out, I hope he comes into his sophomore year with some answers. Defensively we're down Quincey and replacing him with Marchenko? Am I missing something else? Anyway I'd say that's one solid step backwards. Goalies are the same, at least for now. Maybe Mrazek is past his inconsistencies at this point? That's how I'm reading things thus far.

I dont know. I made the thread because I was mostly interested in seeing how people have viewed the changes thus far compared to what he had last year. Ie Pavel Datsyuk is gone, but he was also injured and not nearly as effective as he typically is last season. Nielson alone scored more points than Datsyuk did, plus we also added the enigmatic Vanek. So should we expect a better product? I'm not sure how the chips will fall come October, depending on potential trades or the likely injuries in training camp. Anyway many people didn't see the offseason activity we were hoping for for a variety of reasons, but I want to see what people think of this season compared to how we looked last year and not compare it to what their ideal dream roster was for this season. Hence the thread.

who invited you here

This reclamation project would have been 7th on the team in scoring last year, with about 10 few games played compared to the guys above him.

The boys back then sure knew how to play real hockey. Not this crap they do today.

Take off the Miller fan boy glasses being the best pker and shot blocker in the history of the NHL only gets you into the top 5.

Helm McCarty Howe Cleary Miller

Don't be mad brah Holland forgives you

You must be a man or postmenopausal because you are... ...missing some periods Yeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! 😎

No one is keeping you on it. I'm sure Toronto fans would love to have your shining personality join their forum.

dats was no longer good at shootouts either.

He played 21 games last season? Was this due to injury or being benched?

Not my top choice but we need to fill out the top 6. Hopefully there's more on the way

I think an AA Larkin Helm line could be a lot of fun to watch and should be pretty balanced as well

I guess I'm the only one who's glad he's staying. Price is a bit too high but realistically he was always going to get paid somewhere in the 3-4M range, so I don't think it's even so much of an overpayment, certainly not enough to get bent out of shape about and think it's the end of the world, especially cuz the Wings have 100 billion dollars to work with atm now that Stamkos isn't in the plans.

Weber is a thug. I'd rather have Subban.

To be fair we don't have a spare Shea Weber lying around as a trade chip.

You really seemed to like most of these signings when they happened. Most of us did. Hindsight makes things much clearer though, especially in the case of freak injuries like in the case of Weiss, Modano, and Cole. Frankly, the Wings have had some awful luck with bringing guys in.

As long as his loved ones are within a 90 minute radius

If you don't find that it is a big deal it doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't find it a big deal. Your view on long distance relationships on opposite ends of the planet vs long distance relationship of a couple hours isn't the absolute correct view and anyone else who feels differently isn't automagically a pansy. I've had to deal with family being 2 hrs away vs 4 hrs away and I found even the extra two hours was so much easier for us. I do agree with Kickazz that he probably has several reasons. But to say that his daughter is not a valid reason is frankly cruel.

Time difference is a huge deal. I don't know how often you've had to sit in a plane for 18 hours and then deal with the subsequent jet lag, but its def not worth it for a few days (and couple thousand bucks on a plane ticket). I would also absolutely hate being limited to speaking with my loved ones to either 11pm or 8am (11pm here likely would be when she's in school, and 8am here he's likely getting ready or already at practice, so who knows if even those are an option). You keep saying that you have nothing against Dats, but you're really coming off as a bitter fan, especially when you say things like "oh just call your daughter at 11pm here/9am there. Its not onerous at all."

How do you know where his daughter lives? Also I think you're underestimating the family thing. At the very least their time zones are closer together so something as simple as calling or facetiming is now possible, whereas when he was in Detroit they were on opposite schedules. Also a two hour flight is no biggie for those periods when they have a couple days off between games/practices, or if Datsyuk is out for a period of time with an injury.

I've never been to Buffalo and I'm super biased but Detroit has to be one of the most underrated cities right now.

I thought Stamkos wanted to be the main guy?Anyway, I can for sure see the appeal of playing in Buffalo or Toronto, but at the same time we are talking about what was the last place and 23rd place teams in the league as of a couple months ago. Up-and-coming is never a guarantee, and there's definitely a level of risk associated with signing the rest of your career away to one of those two teams. The Wings haven't been all that exciting the past few seasons, but at the very least we've been a consistent playoff team. For similar money, it might be more appealing to come to Detroit because we have a better track record of playing games that matter in April.

Jesus Holland next time at least use lube.