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Wingzman91

Wings sign Brad Richards 1 yr, $3 million

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Might be an unpopular opinion, but I would consider moving Helm. Krsmith, just looking at your proposed lineup, he looks out of place on that fourth line now, but I've got the exact same top-nine in mind. I can't see him getting "fourth-line" money. Who knows what he's going to ask for next offseason. Abdelkader and DeKeyser will be in for bigger raises, Sheahan and Mrazek smaller ones.

I'd like to see what the team has in Jurco and Pulkkinen, and they're in good shape with Larkin/Athanasiou not far behind. I wouldn't go so far as to call Helm expendable, but he had a good season and he's got younger guys right behind him with higher offensive ceilings.

Edit: Just to clarify, I don't think they'll move Helm. I think they'll kind of do a slow build with Pulkkinen, getting him to earn his ice time. If Mule is healthy, probably use Jurco on the 4th line with Miller-Glendening, which I'm not a fan of at all.

I'm a huge Helm fan and I think he adds a lot of energy and speed to the team and wouldn't want to let him go. I don't think he'll get that much in the offseason unless he has a huge season, but you're right that he won't get 4th line money.

We do have too many forwards, though, and we will also have to deal with the cap and new contracts. We'll have Richards' 4 million cap coming off next year (nhlnumbers says there's a 1 mill bonus) Quincey's 4.25 will also be gone. We'll also have some small contracts likely to take these places (Larkin, Marchenko, Ouelette)

If anyone has to feel the pinch, I would let it be Miller over Helm. I like Miller, but Helm adds more and is a better PKer, can play in most situations.

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I was skeptical of this signing at first, but I think it will prove to be quite beneficial. Letting Sheahan play as an uber third line center against weaker match ups may help build his confidence and keeping Helm on the Wings is going to be a plus. I also think keeping Hank out of he pivot position will help his durability.

I have a feeling Sheahan is going to pass up Richards as the 2nd center sooner rather than later.

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I have a feeling Sheahan is going to pass up Richards as the 2nd center sooner rather than later.

I agree. Thinking he might break out to a legit 2nd line center. Maybe unpopular but I'll add Jurco to the list of possible breakouts.

Edited by Jacksoni

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I'm a huge Helm fan and I think he adds a lot of energy and speed to the team and wouldn't want to let him go. I don't think he'll get that much in the offseason unless he has a huge season, but you're right that he won't get 4th line money.

I agree with all that has been said of Helm, and he was one of our top players in stretches last season. My biggest concern is he's prone to injury, and it seems to always happen just as he gets rolling.

Edited by Wing-in-avs-town

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I agree with all that has been said of Helm, and he was one of our top players in stretches last season. My biggest concern is he's prone to injury, and it seems to always happen just as he gets rolling.

This was sort of solved when he moved from Center to Wing. Long as he stays on Wing I think he well be less prone to injury.

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Helm is needed for 3 on 3 this year. His speed should dominate in OT

I can't wait to watch some 3 on 3 OT. :w00t:

I like the Richards signing because it adds a smart guy to the middle of the lineup and he played well for Chicago in the Cup Final. This is a vet signing that actually makes sense by Holland.

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I have a feeling Sheahan is going to pass up Richards as the 2nd center sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't be surprised, and starting him on the third line will give him weaker opposition to build his confidence as well as motivate him to pass Richards. I've been liking what I've seen from Sheahan so far.

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I agree. Thinking he might break out to a legit 2nd line center. Maybe unpopular but I'll add Jurco to the list of possible breakouts.

Jurco better do something this season as Babs isn't here to keep him in the lineup because of his "big body".

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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Word is Sheahan may play Wing or Center.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2015/07/red_wings_coach_jeff_blashill.html

Everything is up in the air till after camp it looks like.

I like that he's not automatically going with Babcock's choices. If Helm goes back to 3rd Center I could see SHeahan on wing. I think it would necessitate Pav being healthy and either him or Z as #1 C.

Ferraro said Dats wants to move to wing. I have read that Richards signing was to keep Z-Pav together. There seems to be a lot of possibilities for what we see at the beginning of the season.

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I get that Blashill wants to have his own approach but I doubt he puts Helm back at center just to put Sheahan on the wing. There's no need to change for the sake of change... I think Helm is a much better winger than he is a center, and I also think Sheahan wouldn't be half as effective on the wing as he is at center.

I also heard Ferraro talking about Datsyuk on the wing, but I'm pretty sure he just meant to say Zetterberg. I highly doubt Pav has any interest in playing the wing after playing down the middle his entire career. He's still one of our best at winning draws and once he gets back and is fully healthy, I fully expect him to go back to our number one center, and Sheahan and Richards battling it out for the number 2 spot...

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I get that Blashill wants to have his own approach but I doubt he puts Helm back at center just to put Sheahan on the wing. There's no need to change for the sake of change... I think Helm is a much better winger than he is a center, and I also think Sheahan wouldn't be half as effective on the wing as he is at center.

I also heard Ferraro talking about Datsyuk on the wing, but I'm pretty sure he just meant to say Zetterberg. I highly doubt Pav has any interest in playing the wing after playing down the middle his entire career. He's still one of our best at winning draws and once he gets back and is fully healthy, I fully expect him to go back to our number one center, and Sheahan and Richards battling it out for the number 2 spot...

Datsyuk has played plenty of wing in his career. Especially when he's with Zetterberg. They kind of switch back and forth and share the responsibility. Which is one of the reasons I think they're deadly together.

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When Datsyuk and Zetterberg play together, sure Hank takes a fair share of faceoffs and I'm completely okay with that, but there is no question in my mind that Pav is the better center and Hank benefits much more from playing on the wing.

If they're playing together I have no problem with them switching duties as they have in the past, I just don't want to see Datsyuk on Richards wing and Zetterberg centering another line. It would make no sense...

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Datsyuk has played plenty of wing in his career. Especially when he's with Zetterberg. They kind of switch back and forth and share the responsibility. Which is one of the reasons I think they're deadly together.

Between 2006 and 2008 I believe, Hank was the primary center while Pav played his Wing, but they switched on and off a lot. I remember this because on HFboards people were surprised Babcock did the change up. I think Hank in his prime was just better at centering duties, in 08 his faceoff percent was super high from what i remember and his shudown ability to play his body was second to none.

But its blatantly obvious now that Pav has maintained his centering skills while Hank has significantly declined.

If the two play on a line together, I expect both to switch taking faceoffs once in a while but Datsyuk should and will take almost all of them.

But yes I def agree that having them together for the season will be quite deadly. And it will help both their longevity. What's the use of making the playoffs when one of your superstars is running on fumes and can barely skate?

This is similar to what Bownman did with Fedorov and Yzerman. Yzerman was slowing down and putting him with Feds really worked out.

Edited by kickazz

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When Datsyuk and Zetterberg play together, sure Hank takes a fair share of faceoffs and I'm completely okay with that, but there is no question in my mind that Pav is the better center and Hank benefits much more from playing on the wing.

If they're playing together I have no problem with them switching duties as they have in the past, I just don't want to see Datsyuk on Richards wing and Zetterberg centering another line. It would make no sense...

100 percent agree with this. Datsyuk is the better center, if anything Z will be a winger for the rest of his career with some smaller center duties here and there.

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100 percent agree with this. Datsyuk is the better center, if anything Z will be a winger for the rest of his career with some smaller center duties here and there.

Many people should also remember that Zetterberg is a natural winger who converted to center. I've been wanting him to play winger for almost 3 years now because I knew his decline was eminent. When Weiss was signed I was hoping it would allow Pav and Z to play together but I guess here we are 2 years later with Richards. Better late than never if Holland wants his captain to play out his contract..

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Many people should also remember that Zetterberg is a natural winger who converted to center. I've been wanting him to play winger for almost 3 years now because I knew his decline was eminent. When Weiss was signed I was hoping it would allow Pav and Z to play together but I guess here we are 2 years later with Richards. Better late than never if Holland wants his captain to play out his contract..

I don't think it will change much for him. Converted or not, I'm fairly sure that he's spent more time at center at this point, and our system is pretty fluid. He'll still be busting his ass every shift.

Playing with Datsyuk, regardless of which is at center, should help. But if he's not with Pav, he'll still be "the man" and still doing most of the work offensively and backchecking hard, even from the wing. Maybe Nyquist could take another step and start taking more of the load off as well. Hopefully someone at least will step up enough that we can keep Pav and Hank together, would be good for both of them I think.

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Abby didnt play

With Richards, I still think the best top 6 would be:

Tatar-Pav-Abby

Nyquist-Richards-Z

Abby doesnt play on a line with pav and tats, thats creating two entirely new lines and youre removing a big body from the second line. The richards, nyquist, Z line would get demolished. The goal is to increase Zetterbergs longevity, not to speed his retirement. Lol. Edited by kickazz

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