38 replies to this topic

[WingsFan19]

Hello,

Below is a link to my second article at the Hockey Writers. This one focuses on the Wings off season moves.

http://thehockeywrit...give-them-an-a/

[esteef]

Well, right now they are tied for first in the league.

esteef

[sleepwalker]

Well, right now they are tied for first in the league.

esteef

Lol, I was going to post the same thing.

[rrasco]

They're also tied for last.

[RedWingsDad]

Good article. I agree with all of your points.

[WingsFan19]

Thanks Red Wings Dad

I also love the post that they are tied for both first and last.

[LeftWinger]

Alot of us agree that they did very well this offseason despite missing out on the TOP free agents...

I really wanted Suter and was neither here nor there with Parise....but oh well...

Holland tired and made it pubically known that he tried for all the "top" targeted guys...Suter, Parise, Shultz...which in years past he either didn't try or didn't make it known that he tried...he would just say "we kicked the tires and liked what we had..." Well I said it before and I will say it again, he kicked the s*** out of those tires this year, I give him an A for trying... The guys he did get address thier needs, the guys they already had will play a huge role this season and for pete's sake we finally have no Hudler on this team!!!!

Besides there is always the post lockout fire sale that may go on too...you never know who Franzen is gonna get us when that starts!

[Shaman464]

Lost too much depth to be an A off season, its a D+/C- off season.

[LeftWinger]

Lost too much depth to be an A off season, its a D+/C- off season.

Lost too much depth? We lost Lidstrom (who is unreplacable) and Stuart... Replaced with Quincey, Smith and Colaiacovo... those three more than replace Staurt...again, you cannot replace Lidstrom, nort even with Suter...

up front we lost Hudler, Holmstrom and will probably lose two of Miller/Eaves/Mursak/Emmerton...replaced with Tootoo, Sammy, Brunner a full time Nyquist and long term Helm and Abby...GRR has nice depth to fill injuries...

We lost the revolving door of a back up to Howard and gained a legit #2 in the Monster.

I give Holland an A for trying to land all the top talent in the UFA market, all in all, I give the off season a B+ considering that with the exception of Lidstrom, everyone that was signed was an upgrade to the folks we lost....

The only thing I would change is I would have shopped around Franzine, but who knows, maybe he did that too!

Lidstrom = Unreplacable

Quincey/Smith better than Stuart

Colaiacovo better than Commie and Kindl still #7

Sammy better than Hudler

Nyquist better than Holmstrom

Tootoo better than any "tough" guy since Downey

Helm and Abby here long term....and happy to be!

Gustavsson better than Conklin/MacDonald combined.


not to even mention the awesome draft Holland had! He went big and skilled and tough, everything we have been bitching at him to do for years!

Get this CBA taken care of, sign Dekeyser after his senior year is up, trade Emmy/Mursak/Kindl for some picks and lets get this thing rolling! If the season goes kaput, then so be it, but this team is still deeper than it was last season...and better with the exception of Lids...

[GMRwings1983]

No reason to think this team comes out of the first round, if there's a season.

They've regressed the last several years and the offseason hardly improved the roster, to warrant giving them an A.

[Z and D for the C]

Holland did the best he could, he couldn't have brainwashed Suter and Parise into signing. That doesn't make a good off season though.

[GMRwings1983]

Holland did the best he could, he couldn't have brainwashed Suter and Parise into signing. That doesn't make a good off season though.

Not saying Holland didn't try better. Just saying at the end of the day, he failed at improving this team in any significant way as to challenge for the Conference.

But hey, it's all make-believe anyway, since there won't be a season. Who knows which players won't return for the future. We already have an old team.

It's just been a s***ty year for hockey, especially here on LGW. Short playoff, disappointing offseason and now an empty year with no hockey ahead.

[The Axe]

I give them an F. Starting with Bertuzzi, The Wings have WASTED money on all of their signings since (minus Brunner). I would much rather have Parise and Suter at 10 mil per season for 10 years and 3 other prospects than Samuelsson, Gustavson, Bertuzzi, Quincey, and Colo at 12 mil per season for 3 years. The Wings should have outbid the Wild and they didnt. Fail.

[Seraph]

I think you are being optimistic and there is nothing wrong with that. The fact is that our defense is unproven and it's the first time in a long time that we're going into a season feeling shaky on the back end. You can play various tricks with numbers and stats to convince yourself it's going to be okay, but that's just a more calculated form of optimism. Our off-season acquisitions were not significant enough to make the entire fan base feel equally optimistic, but half the fun is seeing what happens and how we adapt. Though I will say whatever perks you want to cite about signing Samuelsson, Tootoo, and Brunner (bang for buck, etc.) won't mean much if we end up dropping games from our shaky defense. Filling that gap was our top priority that's where I would most heavily weigh the grade. I wouldn't necessarily give us an A, but here's to being proven wrong.

[number9]

I give them an F. Starting with Bertuzzi, The Wings have WASTED money on all of their signings since (minus Brunner). I would much rather have Parise and Suter at 10 mil per season for 10 years and 3 other prospects than Samuelsson, Gustavson, Bertuzzi, Quincey, and Colo at 12 mil per season for 3 years. The Wings should have outbid the Wild and they didnt. Fail.

The Wild have 21% of their cap space tied up with Parise and Suter for a very long time.

The Wings have 16% of their cap space tied up with their top forward and top D-man (Datysuk and Kronwall)

The Wings have 18% of their cap space tied up with their top 2 overall players (Datsyuk and Zetterberg)

I'd also refer to the OP's points per dollar section of his article.

If the only goal of the off-season was to sign Suter and Parise, then yes we failed on both accounts. However, if one of our goals was also to "spend our money wisely" then we succeeded where the Wild failed.

Datsyuk at 6.7 > Parise at 7.5
Zetterberg at 6 > Parise at 7.5
Kronwall at 4.75 > Suter at 7.5

We don't overpay for FA's when we can wait and develop our home grown talent and put them on reasonable contracts. Build through the draft.

[The Axe]

The Wild have 21% of their cap space tied up with Parise and Suter for a very long time.

The Wings have 16% of their cap space tied up with their top forward and top D-man (Datysuk and Kronwall)

The Wings have 18% of their cap space tied up with their top 2 overall players (Datsyuk and Zetterberg)

I'd also refer to the OP's points per dollar section of his article.

If the only goal of the off-season was to sign Suter and Parise, then yes we failed on both accounts. However, if one of our goals was also to "spend our money wisely" then we succeeded where the Wild failed.

Datsyuk at 6.7 > Parise at 7.5
Zetterberg at 6 > Parise at 7.5
Kronwall at 4.75 > Suter at 7.5

We don't overpay for FA's when we can wait and develop our home grown talent and put them on reasonable contracts. Build through the draft.

Im not saying Parise and Suter are better than Zetterberger and Dats. Im saying the Wings, and Z+D, are better with Suter and Parise. Datsyuk and Zetterbrrg are a hundred years old. With Parise and Suter, the Wings would have vaulted back into cup contention. Now they are barely a playoff team.

Brunner-Zetterberg-Franzen
Parise-Datsyuk-Nyquist
Helm-Filppula-Cleary
Miller-Abdelkader-Eaves

Suter-Smith
Kronwall-Ericsson
Kindl-Quincey

Howard

Thats a solid team.

Right now, we're mush.

[number9]

Im not saying Parise and Suter are better than Zetterberger and Dats. Im saying the Wings, and Z+D, are better with Suter and Parise. Datsyuk and Zetterbrrg are a hundred years old. With Parise and Suter, the Wings would have vaulted back into cup contention. Now they are barely a playoff team.

Brunner-Zetterberg-Franzen
Parise-Datsyuk-Nyquist
Helm-Filppula-Cleary
Miller-Abdelkader-Eaves

Suter-Smith
Kronwall-Ericsson
Kindl-Quincey

Howard

Thats a solid team.

Right now, we're mush.

Of course Datsyuk and Zetterberg would play better with Parise on their line(s) and Suter on the back end. I'm not arguing that.

Obtaining Parise and Suter at that price would cripple the team financially. I'd rather give our home grown talent time to get better and then sign them to reasonable contracts when they earn their spot on the Pro Team....instead of paying mary kate and ashley way more than they're worth for the next 10 years

That roster (including Bertuzzi and White) (and assuming you have monster as Howies back up) would leave the team about 2,600,000 in cap space.... What do you do when this season ends and Filppula, Howard, Brunner, Nyquist, Smith, Kindl and White all need new contracts/raises? And all you have is 2.6 mil more?

[The Axe]

Of course Datsyuk and Zetterberg would play better with Parise on their line(s) and Suter on the back end. I'm not arguing that.

Obtaining Parise and Suter at that price would cripple the team financially. I'd rather give our home grown talent time to get better and then sign them to reasonable contracts when they earn their spot on the Pro Team....instead of paying mary kate and ashley way more than they're worth for the next 10 years

That roster (including Bertuzzi and White) (and assuming you have monster as Howies back up) would leave the team about 2,600,000 in cap space.... What do you do when this season ends and Filppula, Howard, Brunner, Nyquist, Smith, Kindl and White all need new contracts/raises? And all you have is 2.6 mil more?

Forgot White. Oops.

Filppula is the only guy out of any of those who will deserve anything.

[VM1138]

I think time has clouded people's memories. They did all right, doing nothing more than standing pat. The main question mark is Brunner. If he tears it up it's an improvement, if he's average we're the same offensively as last year, and worse defensively.

However, a shortened season really helps us because in a short time span it's anyone's game. Motivation and heart can carry a team farther over half a season than over a full 82 game stretch. And the chance for Franzen and other players to get healthy and Zetterberg and Brunner to get warmed up overseas bodes well for the Wings.

Plus, we'll still have cap space, won't we? Which means desperate teams might be more willing to trade in a shorter season.

EDIT: And as for Suter and Parise, they are non-factors now that they are on Minnesota. They might benefit from a shorter season, too, but long term they will continue to be a middling team that will miss the playoffs more often than not. Those two have taken themselves out of relevancy in the league.

[Shaman464]

Lost too much depth? We lost Lidstrom (who is unreplacable) and Stuart... Replaced with Quincey, Smith and Colaiacovo... those three more than replace Staurt...again, you cannot replace Lidstrom, nort even with Suter...

up front we lost Hudler, Holmstrom and will probably lose two of Miller/Eaves/Mursak/Emmerton...replaced with Tootoo, Sammy, Brunner a full time Nyquist and long term Helm and Abby...GRR has nice depth to fill injuries...

We lost the revolving door of a back up to Howard and gained a legit #2 in the Monster.

I give Holland an A for trying to land all the top talent in the UFA market, all in all, I give the off season a B+ considering that with the exception of Lidstrom, everyone that was signed was an upgrade to the folks we lost....

The only thing I would change is I would have shopped around Franzine, but who knows, maybe he did that too!

Lidstrom = Unreplacable

Quincey/Smith better than Stuart

Colaiacovo better than Commie and Kindl still #7

Sammy better than Hudler

Nyquist better than Holmstrom

Tootoo better than any "tough" guy since Downey

Helm and Abby here long term....and happy to be!

Gustavsson better than Conklin/MacDonald combined.


not to even mention the awesome draft Holland had! He went big and skilled and tough, everything we have been bitching at him to do for years!

Get this CBA taken care of, sign Dekeyser after his senior year is up, trade Emmy/Mursak/Kindl for some picks and lets get this thing rolling! If the season goes kaput, then so be it, but this team is still deeper than it was last season...and better with the exception of Lids...

Disagree with this, the only time Sammy has had a season as good as Hudler is when he was playing with the Sedins. Sammy is a downgrade, hes older, slower, and has less talent around him compared to the past.

So, they lost depth at top-6 forward (in my mind), and lost depth in top-4 d-men. As for Quincey being better than Stuart, offensively yes, defensively, I would give the edge to Stuart.

Edited by Shaman464, 30 October 2012 - 01:28 PM.