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Andy Pred 48

Next Seasons Needs/Team Future

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If Smith was playing on the PP regularly everyone would be high on this kid. He is restricted from doing what he does best.

I still think he could be pretty good, but in all honesty don't think he has the composure to thrive on the pp either. I'm not saying he's worse than our current choices, I just don't think people would be "high" on him if he was on the pp. He just looks rattled all the time .

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If Smith was playing on the PP regularly everyone would be high on this kid. He is restricted from doing what he does best.

Not to mention he's 2nd on our team in points for Dmen and that's with squat all, if any PP time this year. I don't smell what the Babcock is cookin'.

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If Smith was playing on the PP regularly everyone would be high on this kid. He is restricted from doing what he does best.

With the exception of me, everyone one this thread unanimously thinks that Mike Babcock is the best coach in the NHL. If the best coach in the league (pains me to say this) won't even give Smith a sniff on the PP, and would rather use Kindl, Sammy, Dekeyser, Eaves, on the PP point, then maybe...just maybe...there's a reason for that. And if I had to guess, I'd wage the reason why he isn't used is because he's pretty bad on the PP. Which is not hard to believe considering you need to make really good passes and have good decision making to be effective on the PP, and throughout his tenure as a Red Wing Brendan Smith seems utterly incapable of doing either of those things at anything above a Special Olympic level.

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He's second...with only a handful of points.

13 points in 47 games. Not bad when you consider he gets stuck with Q more than half the time and he's only a -4 on the year. Look how DeKeyser's been of late with Q on his pairing. Not so good. I stand with what I posted last season, Smith and DeKeyser should be a pairing. They would thrive together. Just like how I believe Ouellet and Sproul will be a perfect match in a year or 2 on the Wings.

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With the exception of me, everyone one this thread unanimously thinks that Mike Babcock is the best coach in the NHL. If the best coach in the league (pains me to say this) won't even give Smith a sniff on the PP, and would rather use Kindl, Sammy, Dekeyser, Eaves, on the PP point, then maybe...just maybe...there's a reason for that. And if I had to guess, I'd wage the reason why he isn't used is because he's pretty bad on the PP. Which is not hard to believe considering you need to make really good passes and have good decision making to be effective on the PP, and throughout his tenure as a Red Wing Brendan Smith seems utterly incapable of doing either of those things at anything above a Special Olympic level.

I can't see how Smith doesn't make better decisions than Kindl regularly (Kindl has been scratched often). Also he would be safer defensively than say Eaves. I honestly think its Babs way of ensuring Smith doesn't become one dimensional early in his career. Its not like Smith was terrible on the PP in GR and making bad decisions all over the place either. I understand that IF Smith was given the chance and failed he could be held out - but I haven't seen him get a legit chance yet at the NHL level.

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I can't see how Smith doesn't make better decisions than Kindl regularly (Kindl has been scratched often). Also he would be safer defensively than say Eaves. I honestly think its Babs way of ensuring Smith doesn't become one dimensional early in his career. Its not like Smith was terrible on the PP in GR and making bad decisions all over the place either. I understand that IF Smith was given the chance and failed he could be held out - but I haven't seen him get a legit chance yet at the NHL level.

Look, I'm not here to be Mike Babcock's mouthpiece on the issue of Smith. But my guess, and it's only a guess, is that he hasn't shown out well on the PP in practice, and therefore doesn't get a shot in games. Again, I don't know. But one thing's for sure, both "Babcock is the best" and "Smith's not being given PP time that he deserves" can't both be true at the same time. Either Babs knows what he's doing and Smith isn't playing there because he's not good on the PP, OR Smith has earned a shot and Babs isn't giving it to him to the detriment of the team.

While I don't think Babs is the best coach, I don't think he'd keep Smith off the second PP unit if it hurt the team. He's probably seen enough of Smith in practice to know that he doesn't want him there. That's my guess, and guess it is.

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I wonder if the Flames would do a multi-player swap and send Giordano or Wideman plus Smid for a nice package including Smith and Kindl. Smid would be a fantastic PK shot blocker for the 3rd pair.

Smid is on Edmonton and is essentially Kindl. Giordano would be good for sure. Wideman is a wild card cause he hasn't been that great the past couple seasons.

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I wonder if the Flames would do a multi-player swap and send Giordano or Wideman plus Smid for a nice package including Smith and Kindl. Smid would be a fantastic PK shot blocker for the 3rd pair.

Smid is on Edmonton and is essentially Kindl. Giordano would be good for sure. Wideman is a wild card cause he hasn't been that great the past couple seasons.

He was traded to the Flames and he's an almost polar opposite of Kindl. He hits, plays good defense, and blocks a ton of shots.

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He was traded to the Flames and he's an almost polar opposite of Kindl. He hits, plays good defense, and blocks a ton of shots.

When the hell did Smid get traded to the Flames? I must have missed that. :lol: My bad. I still think he's not that great though. He had 1 good year in Edmonton, but he blows D zone coverage a lot, so by that account, he'd fit on the Wings current blueline seamlessly.

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I'm excited to see what this Athanasiou kid can do in the future at the pro level. Fun comparison:

Mantha - GP-44 G-47 A-50 P-97

Athanasiou - GP-49 G-35 A-37 P-72

Key Points:

1. Athanasiou plays in a lower scoring league (OHL vs QMJHL)

2. Only 1 month difference in age between them.

3. Athanasiou has Helm-like speed.

I am not saying these prospects are on the same level. They're not. More so just trying to bring to light the accomplishments of Athanasiou. Having a huge breakout season.

Thought I'd bring this up again as Athanasiou was just named the OHL's player of the week for the second time.

He's now at GP-53 G-41 A-39 P-80. 4th in league scoring.

MALIK: Red Wings prospect Andreas Athanasiou's not quite tearing things up at Anthony Mantha's 100-point level, but he sure is close, and the Ontario Hockey League took notice by naming the Barrie Colts forward their player of the week:

LINK

Edited by Son of a Wing

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I'm just looking at the RFA page on cap geek for Dmen. I was thinking we may be able to target a young RH dman via trade that a team may have difficulty re-signing due to cap reasons or due to under performing. We wouldn't be giving up as many assets as a signed youngster would require and getting a solid piece to add for the future. Are there any names that pop out for you guys?

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Thought I'd bring this up again as Athanasiou was just named the OHL's player of the week for the second time.

He's now at GP-53 G-41 A-39 P-80. 4th in league scoring.

LINK

Which is awesome because Mantha stats are: 49 goals & 100 pts in 46 games.

Hopefully they both turn into great players for us, but even if one was to turn out great or even elite for us that would be huge.

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I'm just looking at the RFA page on cap geek for Dmen. I was thinking we may be able to target a young RH dman via trade that a team may have difficulty re-signing due to cap reasons or due to under performing. We wouldn't be giving up as many assets as a signed youngster would require and getting a solid piece to add for the future. Are there any names that pop out for you guys?

P.K. Subban.

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I'm just looking at the RFA page on cap geek for Dmen. I was thinking we may be able to target a young RH dman via trade that a team may have difficulty re-signing due to cap reasons or due to under performing. We wouldn't be giving up as many assets as a signed youngster would require and getting a solid piece to add for the future. Are there any names that pop out for you guys?

No one really has cap issues. Probably the closest is Boston with Hamilton and Krug coming up, but they should be able to handle that. Plus being in our division... Under-performing, or even just "not developing super-fast", when talking about a young defenseman, is pretty hard to tell from just plain "not that good". Adam Larsson maybe. Gudbranson. While not RFAs, Schenn or Myers might make a good target.

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