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Ekmanc

Adam Almquist signed with KHL club

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This is what happens when you completely ignore your defensive prospects like what Holland did with Adam last year. He essentially realized that if he didn't get a chance last year with all the problems Detroit had on the blue line he's never going to get a chance in Detroit.

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This is what happens when you completely ignore your defensive prospects like what Holland did with Adam last year. He essentially realized that if he didn't get a chance last year with all the problems Detroit had on the blue line he's never going to get a chance in Detroit.

He wasn't ignored, he's not good enough.

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He wasn't ignored, he's not good enough.

The 2 games he played for us he looked like the best PMD on the team. His ability to run a PP is also something we're sorely lacking on our blueline.

Not crazy about losing him to the KHL, I'd love it he returns eventually but with so many young d-men coming up it'll be difficult for him. I thought he would have a good chance to outbattle guys like Kindl, Lashoff, Sproul, Backman and Ouellet this season, it won't be easier in a year or two.

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I think that Almquist may have gotten a slightly better look if he had been a right handed defenseman, but in the end I think he would have ultimately been cut due to lack of size and foot speed. Maybe if he were a little more committed to adding a little bulk to his frame, things would have worked out differently. Almquist was always a long shot to make the NHL and in the end he came just short.

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I think that Almquist may have gotten a slightly better look if he had been a right handed defenseman, but in the end I think he would have ultimately been cut due to lack of size and foot speed. Maybe if he were a little more committed to adding a little bulk to his frame, things would have worked out differently. Almquist was always a long shot to make the NHL and in the end he came just short.

Yeah, my bad. I thought he was a righty for some reason.

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Ditto. Or big enough.

How many times over the years have we heard that so and so is not big enough to play in the NHL? It took Rafalski forever to get to the NHL because teams thought he was too small. I'm not putting Almquist in the same category as Rafalski but using him as an example that the size argument has a tendency to be overrated. Plus he's not that small, he's 5'11, yeah he weighs only 174lbs but we've seen in the past athletes put on muscle in the offseason.

With the amount of problems the Wings had on the blue line last year Almquist should have gotten a look, then we could actually debate whether he's good enough to play in the NHL or not. At the very least it would have shown a young player that he has value to the organization, which could have kept him in Grand Rapids a year longer before he would have decided to jump ship to the KHL.

Honestly, if Almquist had the skill and attitude to make it in the NHL, he would not leave for Russia. I dont think we will see him again.

A lot of players don't go to the KHL because they're not good enough to play in the NHL, they go because they can get an opportunity to play and will make more money.

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I would have rather Kenny traded him to a team where he would get an immediate chance to play instead of letting him walk. He had a great season with the Griffins last year with 31 points and you get nothing out of it.

So he can come back to burn us? At least in the KHL he can't hurt, only get better and we retain his rights. If he shows commitment and lights it up, then maybe things will change and he'll get a shot.

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Everyone keeps bringing up Rafalski, but keeps forgetting that Rafalski could skate. Almquist can't. Remember Rafalski his last 2 years when his back and his knees went and he couldn't keep up? It was painful to watch opponents repeatedly beat him round the outside because he had neither the size nor the speed to stop them.

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I would have rather Kenny traded him to a team where he would get an immediate chance to play instead of letting him walk. He had a great season with the Griffins last year with 31 points and you get nothing out of it.

If he couldn't "immediately" play for our terrible defense, then there aren't many places he would have played around the league.

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It's not just size, you can be small if you're fast. He's not fast enough. It doesn't matter how well he moves the puck if 99% of the league can win most puck battles against you.

Actually it does. You haven't considered that one reason our current defensive squad looks so terrible is because they can't move the puck very well? We get stuck in our own zone because Lashoff, Kindl, Quincey, even Dekeyser, Ericsson and to some extent Kronwall struggle to cleanly start breakouts. It doesn't matter how good you are at winning puck battles if when you win the puck you do nothing constructive with it.

Fingers crossed Holland has some big plans because if we go into next season with Kindl and Lashoff still around I'll be a bit upset that we let our best puck-moving d-man leave for Russia.

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It's not just size, you can be small if you're fast. He's not fast enough. It doesn't matter how well he moves the puck if 99% of the league can win most puck battles against you.

Actually it does. You haven't considered that one reason our current defensive squad looks so terrible is because they can't move the puck very well? We get stuck in our own zone because Lashoff, Kindl, Quincey, even Dekeyser, Ericsson and to some extent Kronwall struggle to cleanly start breakouts. It doesn't matter how good you are at winning puck battles if when you win the puck you do nothing constructive with it.

Fingers crossed Holland has some big plans because if we go into next season with Kindl and Lashoff still around I'll be a bit upset that we let our best puck-moving d-man leave for Russia.

So you want to trade one problem for another. I'd rather fix the issue.

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A lot of players don't go to the KHL because they're not good enough to play in the NHL, they go because they can get an opportunity to play and will make more money.

Isn't "get an opportunity to play" the same thing as not playing in the NHL? And that would indicate they didnt have what it takes to play a more important role in the NHL. I think the salary argument is not valid for regular NHL players -there havent been that many quality players leaving for the KHL besides a couple of Russians deciding to return home. I can also say that most players never dream about the KHL, except maybe Russians, they dream of the NHL.

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Isn't "get an opportunity to play" the same thing as not playing in the NHL? And that would indicate they didnt have what it takes to play a more important role in the NHL. I think the salary argument is not valid for regular NHL players -there havent been that many quality players leaving for the KHL besides a couple of Russians deciding to return home. I can also say that most players never dream about the KHL, except maybe Russians, they dream of the NHL.

It doesn't indicate that, "get an opportunity to play" indicates that some players especially younger guys would prefer to play in the KHL then in the minors. But your right most guys that have tasted the NHL don't leave unless they are forced to ( take the hint: Cleary), but now and again you do see some younger players go play in Russia or threaten to go back to Sweden. Doesn't mean they are not good enough to play in the NHL, players like to use the KHL as leverage, but sometimes I think they're bluff gets called and at that particular moment some of them prefer to go overseas for a couple years. They can make more than in the minors and can come back at any time. Taking out the fact that Radulov is Russian, the guy is getting paid something like 9 mil to play in the KHL, I too doubt that his childhood dream was to play in Russia, but he's not approaching 9 mil at the NHL level, so why not.

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As KH is going to qualify him, I really think this is the best outcome for the wings. If we had signed him, he would have got picked up off waivers for some bottom feeder with an imbalanced roster, while earning league minimum, and bouncing between the NHL and AHL while learning the ropes. This way he gets to earn good money and be guaranteed high level games, and we get to keep his rights rather than losing him for nothing.

The staff all seem to agree that he was ready skill-wise and smarts-wise, but not physically. So this way they get to keep an eye on him while he develops, and if he ever manages to put on the extra 20-25 lbs that would make him big enough to play in the NHL for one not so tall or quick, we get first dobs. Indeed that way things were spoken of by AA and the wings brass suggests that this is an outcome that suits both parties and that both aniticipated and to a degree planned for.

He really is an incredibly smart player, but was so small when he started that he is still too small with his limited size increase..this was shown in the AHL playoffs where 2 years in a row he got injured (although both hits were very late and dirty as hell and should have led to suspensions). If you are a go to puck mover you have to be able to take the inevitable punishment aimed at you better than he currently can. If he gets to 26 and weighs 195, it would be great to bring him back, as a PP QB he is undoubtedly better than anyone on the big club not called Kronwall and any of the prospects bar Sproul. He didn't look out of place at NHL level, but his small frame meant they had to keep him sheltered, and more so than was reasonable long term. I, like many others, feel that if you are going to shelter Kindl's lack of intensity and Lashoff's lack of ability, then perhaps it was worth giving AA more games to see how he would cope, but then this is expecting too much from a coach that won't play Smith on the powerplay, thinks that Abledakder is a viable top line option rather than an effective occasional plug in, and seems determined to not keep or re-unite effective lines. (I still can't get over putting legwand on the 4th line when the two players he had chemistry with, Nyquist and Franzen, were struggling).


It doesn't indicate that, "get an opportunity to play" indicates that some players especially younger guys would prefer to play in the KHL then in the minors. But your right most guys that have tasted the NHL don't leave unless they are forced to ( take the hint: Cleary), but now and again you do see some younger players go play in Russia or threaten to go back to Sweden. Doesn't mean they are not good enough to play in the NHL, players like to use the KHL as leverage, but sometimes I think they're bluff gets called and at that particular moment some of them prefer to go overseas for a couple years. They can make more than in the minors and can come back at any time. Taking out the fact that Radulov is Russian, the guy is getting paid something like 9 mil to play in the KHL, I too doubt that his childhood dream was to play in Russia, but he's not approaching 9 mil at the NHL level, so why not.

Worked out ok for Hudler!

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