Ken Holland on 97.1 this morning.

[kliq 3,763]

18 minutes ago, DickieDunn said:

Ok. Ignore what I was saying. Nielsen shouldn't be a Red Wing if the goal was winning a Cup anytime soon. Period.

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This I agree with.

[krsmith17 7,191]

8 hours ago, DangleDangleBeach said:

But they're a package deal! Lol. 

I personally don't see why Vegas would want Jimmy. I actually for the more part liked what I saw from him this year, but he hasn't been able to stay healthy consistently. Furthermore, there are other solid goalies who will be available who have, so I just don't see it personally. 

Also don't think he will be traded. Too big of a contract and too much uncertainty as to how many games he can play for ya. Jimmy will be back imo, for better or for worse. Like I say, I actually think when he was healthy he gave the team a chance to win this year more often than not. 

Again, there are no "untradeable" contracts. If Holland wanted to get rid of Howard (not saying he does) he would be able to. Same goes for Ericsson, Abdelkader, or whoever else people think are on "bad" contracts.

It has already been reported that Vegas are willing to take on some "bad" contracts, as long as they receive some sort of compensation, in the way of assets (prospects / picks) in return. Vegas is not the only team that would do such a deal either. There are also cap floor teams that would make / have made similar deals. Holland has already dismissed the idea in his end of season presser, but I think you need to take anything Holland (or any GM) says in interviews with a grain of salt. It hasn't really been Holland's style, but you never know what he'll do now that the streak has ended. I'm hoping to see some changes in his approach, I guess we'll see over the next few months...

[DickieDunn 2,571]

The Wings aren't in any kind of position to give up assets to dump a contract, unless it's not much of an asset.  Maybe Vegas decides they need to reach the cap floor and they're willing to take Ericsson and a 3rd in exchange for a 4th or Sproul or something, but I don't think that wold be enough, and I wouldn't want them to give up anything more.  As much as I hate some of these deals, they'd be better off sucking it up and eating them for now.

[LeftWinger 5,153]

Yah, let's trade this guy....

 

[mackel 768]

On 13/04/2017 at 4:05 AM, Buppy said:

Getting high picks is a good way to get good players, but high picks alone will not build a team. Edmonton's failure wasn't wasting their top picks. It was everything else. The biggest problem with their top picks was that they didn't have the top picks in the years the best defensemen were available.

You won't find a successful team that hasn't had a lot of luck in finding players that turn out better than would have been expected. Late draft picks, players producing above their skill level, cast-offs from other teams, etc. Then there is also luck to get the high picks at the time when the right players are available. That is the what makes rebuilds take a long time. Not GM incompetence.

Our problems this year were not the result of a AA getting a few less shifts than he maybe should have. Mantha was near the top of our forwards in ice time, only dropping a bit later in the year. Plus we had a better record without Mantha than with him.

This whole "ice time/misusing players" thing is just as exaggerated as the "everyone is way below their normal production". 

 

Edmonton also plopped each of their top picks directly into the NHL.  I get frustrated with how overly cautious the Wings are with young players but the old Edmonton way setback some of their best assets by years.... in the case of Yakopov it may have ruined the kid entirely.

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

1 hour ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

So untrue.  Yakupov will blossom soon.  He had to learn how to play NHL hockey.  Watch him this playoffs.  He's finding his stride.

You can't cite the future to say something is untrue. Anyway, Mackel only said "may have ruined." I think all signs do point toward that. You say he's hitting his stride, but this was his worst year yet. 9 pts in 40 games and was a scratch for at least one long stretch after having 2 pts. in 26 games! As for watching him in the playoffs, he's injured and has been sitting out so far.  

[chaps80 1,591]

16 hours ago, DickieDunn said:

Ok. Ignore what I was saying. Nielsen shouldn't be a Red Wing if the goal was winning a Cup anytime soon. Period.

Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk
 

But he is a Red Wing. Until he's 38.

A decent chunk of cap space might open up after the expansion draft, but I don't expect Holland to head into next season with anything left. He'll find someone the team doesn't need to waste it on.

[chaps80 1,591]

39 minutes ago, PavelValerievichDatsyuk said:

You can't cite the future to say something is untrue. Anyway, Mackel only said "may have ruined." I think all signs do point toward that. You say he's hitting his stride, but this was his worst year yet. 9 pts in 40 games and was a scratch for at least one long stretch after having 2 pts. in 26 games! As for watching him in the playoffs, he's injured and has been sitting out so far.  

Yeah, Edmonton wanted to keep Hall and tried to offer NJ Yakupov  for Larsson. No way that was happening (pretty sure RNH was offered as well, but that was also turned down). He ended up going to STL as a reclamation project for next to nothing, and has been a bust there too. He has an entitled attitude, poor work ethic, and is one dimensional. He lit up the OHL in juniors, but once he hit the NHL he found it hard to score goals (reminds me of one of the Wings recent prospects). He did do alright playing with McDavid some last season, but most would do well on his line.

Yak should just go home to Russia and the KHL. Might be his only option soon whether he likes it or not.

[krsmith17 7,191]

12 hours ago, DickieDunn said:

The Wings aren't in any kind of position to give up assets to dump a contract, unless it's not much of an asset.  Maybe Vegas decides they need to reach the cap floor and they're willing to take Ericsson and a 3rd in exchange for a 4th or Sproul or something, but I don't think that wold be enough, and I wouldn't want them to give up anything more.  As much as I hate some of these deals, they'd be better off sucking it up and eating them for now.

I disagree. It's not just about freeing up the cap space, it's about freeing up a roster spot. I don't think it wouldn't take much to entice Vegas to take on a player like Ericsson. They will have to take a few big contracts in order to reach the cap floor, so if a team is willing to part with a mid round pick, they would be smart to take it. If we could convince them to take Ericsson for one of our 3rd round picks, it would be worth it just to free up the roster spot. We could even eat some salary, because again, it's not about the cap space. I don't want to see another season of a younger, in my opinion better player like Sproul riding pine again, because Ericsson has experience.

[Krayzie_Bone 58]

When he said Hank played his last game ever CNN would run the story. Zetterberg to retire. 

[DickieDunn 2,571]

I disagree. It's not just about freeing up the cap space, it's about freeing up a roster spot. I don't think it wouldn't take much to entice Vegas to take on a player like Ericsson. They will have to take a few big contracts in order to reach the cap floor, so if a team is willing to part with a mid round pick, they would be smart to take it. If we could convince them to take Ericsson for one of our 3rd round picks, it would be worth it just to free up the roster spot. We could even eat some salary, because again, it's not about the cap space. I don't want to see another season of a younger, in my opinion better player like Sproul riding pine again, because Ericsson has experience.

That's on the coach to play the younger player. Personally, I didn't see a lot of positives from any of the young D that make me think they're ever going to be more than an ok #4 or a decent 3rd pair. Russo has time to develop, Jensen, Sproul, and XO not as much. And that's why I'm ok with trading prospects. When Sproul was tearing up the OHL and Nyquist was in GR I wanted Holland to package them for a high end player and was told I was nuts by people around here for wanting to trade so much potential.

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[Krayzie_Bone 58]

Not going to lie I agree with him on most of what he said. That being said they have to get rid of some contracts so we have money to sign Larkin and Mantha and maybe tatar. Nyquist played great at the end of the year but if someone wants him for a defenseman that can actually play defense that would be nice. Green and Erickson need to be moved some how. Although green is in his last year it wouldent be the end of the world if they had to keep him. Buy out erickson if he is is health enough to buy out try and move green and nyquist. I love how everyone hates Abdelkater now after one bad year. His contact is not that crazy. He is the only one on the team that has had the guts to stand up to people even when he is clearly going to lose the fight beause the guy is 6"7' and he can not even hit him with that reach.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Krayzie_Bone

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Abdelkader was given the contract based on his stats, not his ability.  Any decent NHL forward could have put up the numbers he did his two "big" years playing with his linemates and getting that much TOI.  Most could have done better.  What he did this year is likely a lot closer to what he's going to do for the rest of the contract, including missed games due to injury.  That's not worth close to what he's making.

Green will probably bring more at the deadline.

Waiving Ericsson adds too much dead money to be worthwhile.  Just play him on the 3rd pair, scratch him 20-30 games, and bite the bullet.

Put Tatar and Nyquist on the block.  Whichever one brings a good return first is moved, keep the other.

[Buppy 1,720]

2 hours ago, DickieDunn said:

Abdelkader was given the contract based on his stats, not his ability.  Any decent NHL forward could have put up the numbers he did his two "big" years playing with his linemates and getting that much TOI.  Most could have done better.  What he did this year is likely a lot closer to what he's going to do for the rest of the contract, including missed games due to injury.  That's not worth close to what he's making....

It may be true that most players could put up good numbers in the right situation, but that doesn't mean much. For one, the stats from recent seasons say that fairly few people can do much better, and likely even fewer who can do better without getting big minutes and good linemates (the 2nd part is hard to gauge, since pretty much all the better scorers do get big minutes/linemates). There's only one puck, so even if you somehow put together a team of stars most of them wouldn't do any better. 

Abby, in his two big years, was only our 6th best forward. Very few teams had anyone as good or better. Even if you are lucky enough to have 6 or more better players, you're better off spreading them over 3 lines and using players like Abby to fill in the other spots. 

And finally, $4.25M is not a particularly large cap hit. There are 205 players in the league at that or more. Probably more after this summer. This isn't 2005 anymore, where you should think you're getting a star player for $4M.