Seasons half way, thoughts?

[dropkickshanahans 463]

I didn't expect Howard to start off this rough. He's gotta be better than 8-10-8. He's still a little shaky here and there but he's been better lately. In a surprising twist, Gustavsson has been huge for them.

[VM1138 1,921]

Agreed. Too many let fandom get in the way. Too many think half this team is in their prime years and not well past them.

Who is past their prime besides Bertuzzi, Cleary and Sammy? Datsyuk and Zetterberg are still dominating and were having career years. Just because theyre past a certain age doesn't mean they're past their prime.

The trouble early was our roster not being diverse enough in skill set. Now we have Tatar and Nyquist finally. And they did look good that brief window when Helm was back.

I think they could be good if theyre healthy, but I'm beginning to doubt they ever will be.

[unsaddleddonald 357]

If this team is healthy (wishful thinking), we probably have the 3rd best lineup in the East behind Pittsburgh and Boston.

And that is with all of Kenny's roster mismanagement.

[dat's sick 1,002]

If this team is healthy (wishful thinking), we probably have the 3rd best lineup in the East behind Pittsburgh and Boston.

And that is with all of Kenny's roster mismanagement.

The big question is, how does this team look when it's fully healthy? I don't think we have the 3rd best lineup in the league if we continue to find room for Cleary and Bertuzzi and Quincey and Kindl.

Imagine:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Jurco

Zetterberg-Weiss-Nyquist

Tatar-Helm-Alfredsson

Miller-Sheahan-Abdelkader

[unsaddleddonald 357]

The big question is, how does this team look when it's fully healthy? I don't think we have the 3rd best lineup in the league if we continue to find room for Cleary and Bertuzzi and Quincey and Kindl.

Imagine:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Jurco

Zetterberg-Weiss-Nyquist

Tatar-Helm-Alfredsson

Miller-Sheahan-Abdelkader

That's a good point. And your lineup is NOT what will be on display.

...and that is because two of those guys will be sent back down. When everyone is healthy, Holland's roster mismanagement will rear its ugly head once again.

I think I may have contradicted my original point, but whatever.

[DRW Dominance 255]

my thoughts are this.....this team can obviously be very good....hence our road record.

if we played with any sort of effort at home we would be close to the top of the league.

it's very disturbing.

[Richdg 267]

Right now we are 20-16-10 with 50 points. Under the old scoring are we even a .500 team? We could have as few as 40 points under the old scoring and be 26th in the league. yes I said 26th. if you look at win totals there are only 8 teams with fewer wins. There are 3 others with 20 wins. So just from a win total we are somewhere between 18th and 22nd. Now and this is real scary, where are we as a team without D and Z carrying us? That should run tremors of fear through every RW fan. The fact that they turn 36 and 34 before next season starts should set off red lights flashing everywhere.

We are not a great team right now. In fact we are not really a good team right now. We have to make player changes in a big way. We can't sit back and wait for 1 or 2 prospects to be ready every year and expect to get to the top of the mountain anytime soon.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

Right now we are 20-16-10 with 50 points. Under the old scoring are we even a .500 team? We could have as few as 40 points under the old scoring and be 26th in the league. yes I said 26th. if you look at win totals there are only 8 teams with fewer wins. There are 3 others with 20 wins. So just from a win total we are somewhere between 18th and 22nd. Now and this is real scary, where are we as a team without D and Z carrying us? That should run tremors of fear through every RW fan. The fact that they turn 36 and 34 before next season starts should set off red lights flashing everywhere.

We are not a great team right now. In fact we are not really a good team right now. We have to make player changes in a big way. We can't sit back and wait for 1 or 2 prospects to be ready every year and expect to get to the top of the mountain anytime soon.

This is spot on thinking about this team without Z and Pasha is damn scary. The best hope I'd that some of the promising young guns are going to become regular top 6 contributors, top 4 guys bring no matter the outcome Holland needs to be more aggressive and get creative again, the team needs top eend players enterinentering their prime.

[canadian wings fan 305]

Yeah obviously without Pavel and Henrik our roster looks scary bad...they're our 2 best players and overall a couple of the best players in the league. You take away any of the top teams 2 best players it looks bad.

If you're trying to make a point about their age, then ya I get it. But fact is these 2 still dominate. So that doesn't worry me as much.

[Richdg 267]

Except for the fact that they are now getting hurt more often and this will only get worse as they age.

[Richdg 267]

FG, yes Holland needs to be proactive again. he has been way to passive and reactive the past 4 or 5 years. Just because a guy wants to sign with us-Weiss, should not be the primary reason for bringing him in. You can't pass on young proven stars like Ryan-26 years old with 18 goals, and O'reilly-22 years old and 16 goals. You just can't. Instead we have 40 year old Alfie, 37 year old Cleary and 2 decent young guys Tatar and Nyquist, who combined have 30 goals vs the 34 that the other 2 have. Not to mention the other dead weight on the roster sucking up space and money. Yes everyone makes mistakes. no trade is 100%, no FA signing is 100%. But you play the averages. if we want a better team, it is real simple: we need better players.

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

Going to be tough to make any trades and stay cap compliant. We still have to trade a body or two before Weiss returns. Unless someone else goes on LTIR.

Trade Quincey to Colorado for Sarich + 7th rounder.

- both UFAs but Sarich is 35, makes almost half as much and unlikely to be resigned. Frees up cap space and nets a pick. Colorado needs a defenceman and he's familiar with the players.

Trade Kindl + Ferraro + pick to Florida for Kulikov.

Waive Sammy and Eaves.

FORWARDS
Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Daniel Alfredsson ($3.500m)
Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Stephen Weiss ($4.900m) / Tomas Tatar ($0.630m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.950m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m)
Drew Miller ($1.350m) / Riley Sheahan ($0.785m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m)
Danny Cleary ($1.750m) /
Joakim Andersson ($0.733m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m)
Dmitry Kulikov ($2.500m) / Danny DeKeyser ($0.925m)
Brendan Smith ($1.263m) / Cory Sarich ($2.000m)
Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($5.292m)
Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m)
BUYOUTS
Carlo Colaiacovo ($0.000m)
BURIED
Mikael Samuelsson ($2.900m)
Patrick Eaves ($0.275m)
Jordin Tootoo ($0.975m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2013-14 crunched using simulation date of 2014-01-14)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; BONUSES: $2,750,000
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $629,333

Edited January 15, 2014 by Son of a Wing

[RedWang 422]

Currently sitting in 9th place in the East.

Damnit.

[e_prime 1,936]

Currently sitting in 9th place in the East.

Damnit.

This is absolutely no surprise. Have been watching other games hoping that certain teams will beat other teams... and that we can get our s*** together and control our own destiny. Really hoping that the later comes to fruition real quick-like and I can stop the former.

[cnot19 191]

Half way thought: I'm disappointed in many ways, samuelsson, cleary Quincey eaves miller round that out. I'd much prefer to have tootoos Callahan Matt Martin Steve Ott than these plugs

[Guest mjtm77]

Well this season has been disappointing to say the least. Started with players transitioning into the new system. and it's now mainly because of injuries. The amount of key guys out is ridiculous. And thoes of u who think we should be winning more games are pretty insane. At the start of the season with the roster we have It was said by most that we would compete with Boston for 1st. I do believe that is how good our roster is when heathy. on that topic Datsyuk re activated his groin at practise today. Took the rest of the day off. Franzen is experienceing set backs. And helm is making little progress. What's new?

[frankgrimes 1,836]

FG, yes Holland needs to be proactive again. he has been way to passive and reactive the past 4 or 5 years. Just because a guy wants to sign with us-Weiss, should not be the primary reason for bringing him in. You can't pass on young proven stars like Ryan-26 years old with 18 goals, and O'reilly-22 years old and 16 goals. You just can't. Instead we have 40 year old Alfie, 37 year old Cleary and 2 decent young guys Tatar and Nyquist, who combined have 30 goals vs the 34 that the other 2 have. Not to mention the other dead weight on the roster sucking up space and money. Yes everyone makes mistakes. no trade is 100%, no FA signing is 100%. But you play the averages. if we want a better team, it is real simple: we need better players.

Fully agreed no GM is perfect so mistakes are part of the job. That doesn't mean, you can be passive all the time. I'd rather see him overpaying for top notch players instead of guys like Quinces or some some softish third line players.

The golden era where players took a paycut in order to come to this former powerhouse are gone and for them to come back in the post Z Pasha era, hockeytown needs to be big Ufa player again. Otherwise seasons like this could be looked back as good ones and we'll be competing with teams like Edmonton, Calgary...

Edited January 15, 2014 by frankgrimes

[Spongewingredpants 75]

while there is still time, its obvious that the Wings are sliding more and more every week in the standing. this has to stop pronto but it seems like the injury bug is getting worse and worse

[RedWang 422]

One win and were 5th in the East.

One loss and were 12th in the East.

It could get worse before it gets better, gang.

Batten down the hatches. The night is always darkest before the dawn.

Im channeling my inner batman. Trying to inspire hope to the hopeless.

[toby91_ca 620]

One win and were 5th in the East.

One loss and were 12th in the East.

It could get worse before it gets better, gang.

Batten down the hatches. The night is always darkest before the dawn.

Im channeling my inner batman. Trying to inspire hope to the hopeless.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "one win and one loss" - you'd have to look at them in isolation and if you do that, one win puts them 7th (not 5th) and one loss would not move them at all....they could lose every single game for the rest of year year and stay in 9th if all the teams below them lose the rest of their games as well.

Edited January 15, 2014 by toby91_ca

[wings4thecup06 504]

Half way thought: I'm disappointed in many ways, samuelsson, cleary Quincey eaves miller round that out. I'd much prefer to have tootoos Callahan Matt Martin Steve Ott than these plugs

Miller and Eaves? Seriously? Miller has been arguably our best PK guy this season, blocking shots all over the show, and Eaves has played really solid IMO, shooting from everywhere and throwing his weight around,

Agree about the other though.

[toby91_ca 620]

Side note: when looking at the standings, Washington is 27th overall in wins in regulation, but are sitting in a playoff position (3rd in division) right now because of their 8 shootout wins....they also have 8 shootout / OT losses.

[RedWang 422]

I'm not sure what you mean by the "one win and one loss" - you'd have to look at them in isolation and if you do that, one win puts them 7th (not 5th) and one loss would not move them at all....they could lose every single game for the rest of year year and stay in 9th if all the teams below them lose the rest of their games as well.

Well youre right, what i meant by one loss was more if ottowa/new jersey win tmorrow and we dont win tomorrow, we drop 2 more spots. I was very tired and didnt make much sense, my bad.

Edited January 15, 2014 by RedWang

[unsaddleddonald 357]

Miller and Eaves? Seriously? Miller has been arguably our best PK guy this season, blocking shots all over the show, and Eaves has played really solid IMO, shooting from everywhere and throwing his weight around,

Agree about the other though.

Regardless, the Patrick Eaves and Drew Millers of the world are not going to determine how far this team goes.

This team's success will be determined by how Franzen plays when he comes back. Good Mule or Bad Mule?

If Helm can continue to play the way he had been before he got hurt.

If Weiss can get his head out of his ass and play like he is capable of playing.

If Pav can continue to produce a point per game like he has been.

If Jimmy can continue to steal a game here and there like he did in LA.

Get healthy and produce some consistency fergodsakes....

[matt198913 932]

Steven Weiss will be our trade deadline deal