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Guest Crymson

Smith/Kindl/Ericsson

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Guest Crymson

Why would the Wings put a solid #5 D man that they just re-signed in the minors? What kind of message would that send to current and future players? That would be an idiotic move by Holland.

Plus I think he'd have to clear waivers.

I said IF it was needed.

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He has a Modified NTC according to gapgeek, no details though.

Stuart is as good as gone next season, and without any other prospects on defence pushing for the big club that leaves us with Ericsson and Kindl as 6 and 7, both easily waivable/buyoutable if we want to go for Suter/Weber.

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I give big E a heck of a lot of credit for agreeing to stop playing Center though. Imagine that, playing as a forward your whole life, a scout sees the one game you play defence and decides to try and convince you to play the rest of your career there. Hats off to him for that. For some reason I feel far better with him in there over Kindl. He's gone off the boil.

Perhaps its simply a case of E thinking too much, almost like because it's not his 'natural' position (which it actually has come to be over the years) that he's scared to make even the slightest wrong move and he gets himself into a muddle. Then again, how do you tell a guy who's that worried to do everything right, just to calm down a little. That's what I think anyway. The head can mess with even the best of us.

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Smith is good and going to be great, but he can't kill penalties yet so IMO there is no way Babcock doesn't put Ericsson back in as soon as he is healthy. Five-on-five he hasn't been good this year, but he is very solid on the PK and having him out there for that reduces Lidstrom's minutes.

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With Big Rig, he would've gotten more on the open market given all the nutty deals to start off free agency in the beginning of July (just look at Ville Leino for example - apples/oranges if you look at it with him being a forward and Ericsson being a defenseman, but money wise he got paid big bucks whether he is worth it or not).

I still think for the long haul he's worth it at present time. If he isn't, there's no reason why he isn't trade material, but I don't want this turning into yet another ripping on Ericsson thread.

Smith is making it harder and harder to take out of the lineup. And honestly when Quincey got traded for, I thought Kindl was playing well.

I'm not looking too far ahead yet but at least when healthy bodies start coming back for the rest of the regular season, I hope they consider keeping Smith in the lineup.

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Not long ago, we were this high on Ericsson, insisting that he be brought up because he played so well.

I agree that we have a gem in Smith, and I hope to see him up with us. I just hope we don't expect too much like we did with E so that even if he's just average at first it seems like a bigger disappointment than it would have been otherwise.

If an unheralded d-man played like E, we'd be ok with it. E's unrealized potential and his contract make him seem worse than he is.

I'm still not sold on Kindl. I don't know why, but he does not inspire my confidence.

That was a few years ago. When in the playoffs while he was playing with Lidstrom he was a force. He shown back then what his peak play would like look but unfortunately he has not even come close to that level ever since.

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And it's only a 3 year deal. Imagine being stuck with the Wisniewski or Ehrhoff deals?

That would suck as well. There may be a “penalty-free” buyout period in the next CBA and teams can get out of these bad contracts.

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I said IF it was needed.

so IF it was needed because somehow Holland has painted himself into a corner financially, the Wings should demote their #5 defenseman to the minors and potentially lose him off waivers for nothing while also tarnishing the organization's reputation on how it treats its players. Got it.

Holland is a guy who let Commie go basically so he could play somewhere and try to get a contract next year, even though it would've been better for the team to have him riding the pine in case there were a bunch of injuries on D, which is the case right now.

You're such a big Holland fan it's odd that you'd think he'd ever make a bad move like that, other than the fact that it's Ericsson.

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so IF it was needed because somehow Holland has painted himself into a corner financially, the Wings should demote their #5 defenseman to the minors and potentially lose him off waivers for nothing while also tarnishing the organization's reputation on how it treats its players. Got it.

Holland is a guy who let Commie go basically so he could play somewhere and try to get a contract next year, even though it would've been better for the team to have him riding the pine in case there were a bunch of injuries on D, which is the case right now.

You're such a big Holland fan it's odd that you'd think he'd ever make a bad move like that, other than the fact that it's Ericsson.

I agree with your sentiments, but Ericsson is not our fifth defenseman, he's our sixth defenseman and should be for the rest of the season.

Edited by kipwinger

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I agree with your sentiments, but Ericsson is not our fifth defenseman.

He pretty much has been up until they signed Quincey. With Q here, everyone healthy, and Smith playing so well, it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

It's a nice problem for Holland to have.

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He pretty much has been up until they signed Quincey. With Q here, everyone healthy, and Smith playing so well, it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

It's a nice problem for Holland to have.

I agree. I love our defense corps moving forward. Obviously I'd prefer to have both Lidstrom and Stuart coming back, but even if we don't, we have the best defense corps under contract in the league.

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One thing that I do know is that I do NOT want Ericsson grooming Smith. Smith is young and does not need to pick up any of Ericssons bad habits. Kindl will be the odd guy out. Smith will be 7. Not saying I like it though.

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Guest Crymson

Well, Ericsson won't be back for awhile. We'll see how things go once Lidstrom and Datsyuk are back. If everything goes well, I doubt Babcock will mess with success.

One thing that I do know is that I do NOT want Ericsson grooming Smith. Smith is young and does not need to pick up any of Ericssons bad habits. Kindl will be the odd guy out. Smith will be 7. Not saying I like it though.

Ericsson won't be "grooming" anyone. He's young, and anyway his playstyle is nothing like Smith's.

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Guest Crymson

Ericsson's playstyle:

I agree. Wings game have been much more relaxing for me since he's been out. He's decent on the PK, but otherwise he seems to make mistakes about 50% of the time, especially when he's under pressure and needs to act quickly.

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I agree. Wings game have been much more relaxing for me since he's been out. He's decent on the PK, but otherwise he seems to make mistakes about 50% of the time, especially when he's under pressure and needs to act quickly.

Do you really think he'd have a regular spot in the lineup if every other play he was making a mistake? He doesn't make mistakes anywhere near that percentage of the time because if he did he'd be out of the NHL.

So the pretty clear answer is it has something to do with your perception of things, not Ericsson's actual play. But then I guess we all baselessly bash players sometimes.

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I agree. Wings game have been much more relaxing for me since he's been out. He's decent on the PK, but otherwise he seems to make mistakes about 50% of the time, especially when he's under pressure and needs to act quickly.

Our defense does look better without him. Now if we could only dump his salary....

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Any chance that the reason you think the defense looks better is not necessarily that Ericsson is out, but rather that Quincey and Smith are in? Quincey and Smith is a better pair than Ericsson and Kindl, or Ericsson and Commodore. Not because there's a problem with Ericsson, Kindl, or Commodore, but that Quincey is just better than all of them?

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Smith has played well enough to be a top 4 defense man and I feel he should be left in the line up now with that said he is the only one that can be sent down I think. I think he is going to be a very good NHL player very soon

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Guest Heaten

Smith will be sent down when the D is healthy.

Edit:

Why am I getting negged? I didn't say he should be sent down, I said he will be sent down because that's how Holland operates.

Edited by Heaten

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Smith will be sent down when the D is healthy.

Edit:

Why am I getting negged? I didn't say he should be sent down, I said he will be sent down because that's how Holland operates.

You get negged because people negg for no reason, then they hide...anyway fortunately there is no roster limit now so Smith can stay even when all are healthy, let's just hope he stays in the lineup. He is better than Ericsson or Kindl (come on E and Kindl slappies, start negging) so he should remain in the lineup throughout the season and playoffs...

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Any chance that the reason you think the defense looks better is not necessarily that Ericsson is out, but rather that Quincey and Smith are in? Quincey and Smith is a better pair than Ericsson and Kindl, or Ericsson and Commodore. Not because there's a problem with Ericsson, Kindl, or Commodore, but that Quincey is just better than all of them?

This is my fear for next season. I fear that re-signing Quincey and adding Smith to the lineup will make Holland not want to persue Suter. Even if Stuart leaves. If Lidstrom retires, maybe he may throw an offer out there, but it will be probably be an offer that is lower than Pav's cap hit. Which means Suter will most likely not come here. I know the D is playing ok, but if they lose both Lids and Stuart and miss out on Suter....yikes. But, hey, maybe it won't be so bad. I hear they are really pursuing Dekeyser from WMU and considering his play in the NCAA tournament so far, he will get some serious offers. Plus looking at the Wings d-men in GRR, Dekeyser isn't that far fetched to possibly earning a 6th spot on this roster. You never know what Holland may do...I would hope he would go hard for someone if Lids and Stuart leave, but you just never know...

Kronwall - White

Quincey - Ericsson

Smith - Dekeyser

Kindl

Don't know how that would work, but I can think of a lot worse defense's in the league....

All that being said, I cannot describe how much I hope Holland goes after Suter...

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This is my fear for next season. I fear that re-signing Quincey and adding Smith to the lineup will make Holland not want to persue Suter. Even if Stuart leaves. If Lidstrom retires, maybe he may throw an offer out there, but it will be probably be an offer that is lower than Pav's cap hit. Which means Suter will most likely not come here. I know the D is playing ok, but if they lose both Lids and Stuart and miss out on Suter....yikes. But, hey, maybe it won't be so bad. I hear they are really pursuing Dekeyser from WMU and considering his play in the NCAA tournament so far, he will get some serious offers. Plus looking at the Wings d-men in GRR, Dekeyser isn't that far fetched to possibly earning a 6th spot on this roster. You never know what Holland may do...I would hope he would go hard for someone if Lids and Stuart leave, but you just never know...

Kronwall - White

Quincey - Ericsson

Smith - Dekeyser

Kindl

Don't know how that would work, but I can think of a lot worse defense's in the league....

All that being said, I cannot describe how much I hope Holland goes after Suter...

Who knows? I don't ever have a clue what's in Holland's head so I'd hate to even speculate on what he's thinking. Suter is a good defenseman, but I don't think he's as good as the money that will get thrown at him, so personally I'd rather not see Holland chase him up in the 7-8 million dollar range. All I know is that I'm happy with the defense we have for the remainder of the season, and that's with any one of Smith, Kindl, and Ericsson as the 6th guy. I also think our powerplay and pk will start shaping up once everybody gets healthy. Finally, I have been more than happy with the way several guys have been stepping up and playing better in the absence of our key guys. If we can keep that up I'm pretty pumped about this team moving forward.

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