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Guest mindfly

"Detroit the hottest option for Zuccarello Aasen"

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I am split here... he is obviously talented and a magician with the puck, but there are a few things against him:

1) He is 5'7" (I won't say this will preclude him from NHL success, but read the rest)

2) In that video, most of his goals are scored from within 10 feet of the goal. In not one of those videos was a defender actually covering him. In the NHL, he would have been leveled (especially at 5'7") in two thirds of those plays had he been in the NHL.

3) Those videos are from the SEL, notice, not once does a defender skate up on him, he is allowed to skate freely through neutral ice, that won't happen in the NHL.

On the other hand though, the big European ice does make him look awfuly slow, I think he is faster than it looks, and in North America, guys have more energy cause there is less space to cover. So this may not be a big issue.

The big thing is size. Zetterberg has shown that speed doesn't really matter, but at least Hank has four inches (5'11 I believe) on this kid.

I don't think it would be the worst idea to sign this kid, but only for a one year deal at an affordable rate... it is not too often that someone of his stature turns into Martin St. Louis. I don't know if anyone on here has ever heard of Corey Locke, but that kid basically led the OHL in scoring for two years, but has never made it to the NHL because of his size, and inability to adapt his game as he moves up. The smaller a player is the bigger a risk because there is a lot more adaptation involved with each level of play. Size goes with speed and good hands as some of the most important things in hockey that you can't teach, and with only one of the three, he isn't even in the Martin St. Louis category, as he is a bit slow, but he would be more of a Zetterberg, with less size.

While I agree with you on almost all of those points I think you're off about his speed. This kid is not slow. Hell, he isn't even average. At the Olympics he definitely looked like an above average skater.

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Because I enjoyed watching Red Wings hockey in the late 90s? Why does it bother people on this forum so much when anyone suggests that having a skilled team that is still capable of hitting and fighting is enjoyable? I'll be the first to admit that I'd much rather watch the 97-98 roster than the current lineup. It's not necessarily plausible anymore, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to suddenly forget that this team used to be made up of players who stood up for each other and yet were very successful. And, it's not like Hudler and this random guy will be the only softies on the team.

I'm not trying to start another ridiculous "need moar fighters" debate, I'm just saying, I like watching a skilled yet physical team and this guy is even smaller than Hudler.

Man, I loved watching the Wings in the 90's. I'd kill to have those teams again but the game has changed and the emphasis right now is on skill/speed instead of size and strength. Obviously size and strength are very important, but it's not such a crippling disadvantage to be short these days.

Obviously I'd love to have another Shanny-- who wouldn't?!?! But I'm not going to turn down an undrafted FA signing that could make the team better at zero cost in terms of assets just because the kid can only score.

Is that a common first name where he's from?

Sounds like some some evil wizard name out of a fairy tale.

:lol: You weren't supposed to notice that until the 3rd act.

This is true, although hitting statistics are always a little sketchy. Cleary and Eaves are two of the top hitters on the team, but do you think anyone out there on the opposition is worried about the hits they're throwing? I guess what I really mean is that I miss having some assholes on our team who actually force people to keep their heads up. Kronwall is probably the only feared hitter on the squad.

97-98 had some softies, but they also had some guys who would take your head off ;)

Vlady :(

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6 pages of people getting their hopes up. jeez.

Isn't that what this board is for?

How many threads were made this off-season saying "the Wings should sign X player", how is this any different?

This is a player who was obviously under-valued, i.e. undrafted, had himself a great season in Eliteserien and caught the eye of several NHL teams with his impressive Olympic tournament, and from the sound of the report that the OP linked, it has been speculated that his camp is favoring Detroit as the best option should he decide to leave Europe. He is a player of obvious skill and should be relatively cheap to acquire, just because the Leino experiment failed doesn't mean we should never take such a chance again.

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Red Wings have eye on Norwegian prospect Mats Zuccarello-Aasen

March 18, 2010, 10:00PM

KELOWNA, British Columbia -- Mats Zuccarello-Aasen, a 5-foot-7, 154-pound Norwegian forward who led the Swedish Elite League in scoring this season with Modo, could be on the Detroit Red Wings' radar.

The undrafted, 22-year-old is free to sign with any NHL club, and his agent, Erik Ryan, is trying to generate as much interest as he can, telling Sweden's Aftonbladet that Detroit is the "hottest choice" for the skilled forward. He listed Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas as other suitors.

"(Detroit) is a team that plays the type of hockey that suits him best," Ryan told Aftonbladet. "For Mats, (it is) stupid to come to a team that is defensive. He should rather come to a team playing offensive hockey, with more give and go. In addition, they must believe in Mats, his style of play, and I think Detroit does."

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was reluctant to discuss his team's level of interest in Zuccarello-Aasen but acknowledged he was impressive for Norway in the Olympics.

"We haven't really talked to his camp," Holland said.

http://www.mlive.com...n_norwegia.html

Edited by CanadaBoy

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...and who will be the first one to complain that "he's lazy and he zuccs".

...or zuccs aas.

Haha, fantastic. I hope he's signed just for the opportunity to use those.

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Guest DatsyukianDeke13

I really like this guy. Great energy, great skill, isn't afraid to battle. Please sign.

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...and who will be the first one to complain that "he's lazy and he zuccs".

...or zuccs aas.

As hilarious as those are, and s*** they are hilarious, if the Wings sign him I really hope we don't end up hearing lame as posters start recycling yoru jokes. I'm going on record now as saying that I hope we only ever hear those jokes again under two conditions:

1. MZA actually ends up being a bust

2. you're the one making those posts

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As hilarious as those are, and s*** they are hilarious, if the Wings sign him I really hope we don't end up hearing lame as posters start recycling yoru jokes. I'm going on record now as saying that I hope we only ever hear those jokes again under two conditions:

1. MZA actually ends up being a bust

2. you're the one making those posts

I'm only the first. I'm sure others would/will come up with them and others like them.

But since I was first...

Royalties, babe. They use; I charge. Anyone who uses them has to bump up my rep by 5 points. That ought to make people think twice. They don't pay- I'll sneak up behind them and zuccar-punch them.

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I'm only the first. I'm sure others would/will come up with them and others like them.

But since I was first...

Royalties, babe. They use; I charge. Anyone who uses them has to bump up my rep by 5 points. That ought to make people think twice. They don't pay- I'll sneak up behind them and zuccar-punch them.

Ahhh royalties....well, I'd like to point out that with any type of royalty deal you'll need someone to look out for your best interests. A manager if you will. That's where I come in. For a small fee of ten percent of all rep points you acquire I will gladly negotiate all deals on your behalf. All MZA jokes, references, puns, and intellectual property owned by you will be looked after and protected by me and my conglomorate of associates who specialize in copyright laws in the fields of entertainment and intellectual property.

Signed,

mmamolo of

mmamolo entertainment law and associates

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Ahhh royalties....well, I'd like to point out that with any type of royalty deal you'll need someone to look out for your best interests. A manager if you will. That's where I come in. For a small fee of ten percent of all rep points you acquire I will gladly negotiate all deals on your behalf. All MZA jokes, references, puns, and intellectual property owned by you will be looked after and protected by me and my conglomorate of associates who specialize in copyright laws in the fields of entertainment and intellectual property.

Signed,

mmamolo of

mmamolo entertainment law and associates

Made my first downpayment. +1 credited to your account.

Get'r done, Kenny!

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According to an MLive link to an ESPN insider report (which I can't read because I refuse to pay ESPN anything) "Wings unlikely to outbid Chicago, Dallas for Olympic star." Bare in mind it is ESPN so take it with a grain of salt. If anyone is an ESPN Insider let us know what the actual article says, Thanks.

Interesting. There's no way Chicago can afford him and he's probably smart enough to know they have so much depth right now that it'd be very difficult to crack the line-up. Dallas is very budget conscious and doesn't play the Wings style, so I have a hard time imagining that those two teams are more attractive options for this kid...

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Made my first downpayment. +1 credited to your account.

Get'r done, Kenny!

I'll get to work then.

My first order of business is to contact Ken Holland for possible merchandise options with your intellectual property on it. Cha-Ching!

Interesting. There's no way Chicago can afford him and he's probably smart enough to know they have so much depth right now that it'd be very difficult to crack the line-up. Dallas is very budget conscious and doesn't play the Wings style, so I have a hard time imagining that those two teams are more attractive options for this kid...

Now those are some good points. And to think ESPN considers themselves a reputable and credible source for NHL news and information. You'd think they'd at least provide logical information. The fact ESPN thinks Detroit wouldnt outbid Chicago is ridiculous with the amount of salary Chicago has shed this summer. Now, that doesnt mean MZA won't end up with Chicago or Dallas but based on what's been said those don't sound like the logical choices. Hell, Atlanta makes more sense then Chicago and Dallas.

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Flavor of the Month. What happened w/ the last few guys that got this much hype??

I could care less. He probably would be playing in the AHL anyways.

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Guest mindfly

Yeah let's not get carried away... I didn't think this would be a 8-page thread where everyone would be like OMG GET ER DONE KENNY

Read this, quick takes on Hudler, Zuccarello etc from mlive.com:

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/03/quick_takes_on_hudler_and_zucc.html

"If Zuccarello Aasen wants to join a great team that grooms undersized 22-year-olds into NHL players, I'm sure the Wings would welcome him, but if his agent expects Detroit to pony up a promised roster spot (never mind the top-six forward's spot Brunnstrom demanded) or an entry-level salary north of $600,000 or so, especially if Jiri Hudler comes back and complicates the Wings' depth chart. This season's performances by Tomas Tatar, the aforementioned Ritola, Jan Mursak, Abdelkader, as well as the promise players like Willee Coetzee, Landon Ferraro, Cory Emmerton, Francis Pare, Gustav Nyquist, and the wild card that is "Hat Trick and 10 points in 15 games back at home with Farjestad" Dick Axelsson possess equal one thing--the Wings don't have to bend over backwards, never mind attempt a Brunnstrom-signing pretzel, to add more talent to an organization whose forward corps is deep and very strong at the developmental level."

Edited by mindfly

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Problem is, I don't think we can sign him. As of right now, according to NHL rules, we cannot sign players to next year contracts exceeding a set amount of our possible Salary cap. Remember when we could only sign Franzen or Hossa before the next season, or the issue with signing Zetter and then having no potential cap left.

Not that we would go over the cap, but the league has some rule in place to prevent teams from going over the cap in the future so they cannot sign people like this, unattached AHLers, or former retiries to future contracts before the offseason offically starts. Basically they don't want teams to broker undrafted prospects beyond their cap capablities.

We are going to be right up against the cap again, and with Homer being up much could depend on him. Also Jiri Hudler is still our problem. Though he doesn't count against the cap, his arbitrated contract is still on our books potentially. If he were to change his mind next year, we would be require to play him the 2+ million that the arbitor gave him. I believe that makes a signing like this unlikely.

Long story short, if we choose to sign him, we have to be below some percentage of the cap with all the players on our books for next year. Whatever that number is though it most likely is lower then our preexisting cap. That is if I understand the NHL rules correctly, and I have been wrong before with these overly complicated rules.

As for the player, why wouldn't you want a player added to the system for no cost or risk beyond the salary?!?!? Lenio proved one thing, if you sign someone who is young enough you can always trade their ovreated selves away.

Why are people saying hes slow i found this scouting report on him

his scouting report:

•High-end skills, including incredible passing ability

•Hard, accurate shot, though not top-level

•Able to play the point on the power play

•Outstanding playmaker

World-class speed

He is likened to Steve Sullivan. I would be down with that, he can be a point a game guy when he is on.

Why not sign a 5'7 guy named Zuccarello that most of us have never heard of?

If you were watching the Olympics closely you heard of him. He really was their best player, and if they were able to actually beat some people and be in a medal game, he would have gotten all the credit.

There were three players in that tourney that I said would be most likely playing North American hockey very soon on the way to the NHL. Zuccarello is one of them. The Swiss forward, whose name escapes me is one, and the former NHLer from sweden is the other. (No, not forsberg :P)

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Yeah let's not get carried away... I didn't think this would be a 8-page thread where everyone would be like OMG GET ER DONE KENNY

Read this, quick takes on Hudler, Zuccarello etc from mlive.com:

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/03/quick_takes_on_hudler_and_zucc.html

"If Zuccarello Aasen wants to join a great team that grooms undersized 22-year-olds into NHL players, I'm sure the Wings would welcome him, but if his agent expects Detroit to pony up a promised roster spot (never mind the top-six forward's spot Brunnstrom demanded) or an entry-level salary north of $600,000 or so, especially if Jiri Hudler comes back and complicates the Wings' depth chart. This season's performances by Tomas Tatar, the aforementioned Ritola, Jan Mursak, Abdelkader, as well as the promise players like Willee Coetzee, Landon Ferraro, Cory Emmerton, Francis Pare, Gustav Nyquist, and the wild card that is "Hat Trick and 10 points in 15 games back at home with Farjestad" Dick Axelsson possess equal one thing--the Wings don't have to bend over backwards, never mind attempt a Brunnstrom-signing pretzel, to add more talent to an organization whose forward corps is deep and very strong at the developmental level."

Thing is, if he's not willing to take some time to develop his game down in the minors (which at his size I would think would be needed irregardless of potential) he probably wouldn't be worth pulling the trigger on in the first place - see the aforementioned Brunnstrom.

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If the guy is so arrogant as to demand a roster spot without even playing a North American game then I don't want him.

We already lost Leino because he would not go back down to GR and work on his game. Why bother wasting effort on a guy who would at the most play in GR for one year and possibly not be ready for the NHL yet? The guy knows how small he is, yet he expects to be a consistent starting player? Come on, guy.

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Guest mindfly

Who was the latest guy to step right into the roster?.. Zetterberg? back in 02-03?

Edited by mindfly

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