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kliq

2017 Opening Day Roster

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30 minutes ago, Andy Pred 48 said:

With 7 potential C on the roster can we, A,use Z less and try to match him against other teams lesser players on the second or even third line. B, keep Larkin on the wing for another year where he has been more prolific on the scoreboard. 

In this case is Nielsen up for first line duty, he is experienced to play against pipelines and his skating would allow him too. Then we have the problem of 2C , in all likelihood it'll be down to Z to take on that duty. Which would probably suit him better and even more productive than last year. Sheahan gets the nod on the third line C , I fully expect him to have a bounce back year with the right line mates. The fourth line is down to how Blashill wants it to be, grinding shut down then Glendening gets the nod, scoring line the you drop Helm from top 9 wing to center the 4th. On the D , well that is going to be a last week decision as we don't really know who is going to be on LTIR, so that could be one of 4 different combos. So my roster would be, 

Tatar Nielsen Abdelkader

Larkin Zetterberg Mantha 

Nyquist Sheahan Athanasiou

Glendening Helm Bertuzzi 

Witkowski.

 

D if everyone is fit to go.

DeKeyser Jensen 

Green Daley

Kronwall Ericsson

Ouellet Sproul.

A year ago I would have agreed with you on getting Zetterberg's minutes down, but he proved last season that he can handle those big minutes, and he should continue to get them until he shows he can't handle it anymore. Nielsen isn't capable of handling top line minutes and would get eaten alive as our number one center. I also disagree with Larkin playing on the wing. We need him to develop his game as a center, so that's where he should be going forward. I'd try him as the 2nd line center, and if he can't handle it, drop him back to the 3rd line. Just keep him in the middle.

I agree with your top 4 defense, although I'd switch the two pairings around. DeKeyser proved that he can't handle the top pair matchups, and is better suited on the 2nd pair. I'd also have Ouellet and Sproul as our 3rd pairing over Kronwall and Ericsson, but that simply won't happen if they're both healthy. Just another reason we need to make a trade or two. One that would see Ericsson moved to make room for one of the younger guys.

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Assuming opening night roster for the defense is:

Kronwall
Green
Dekeyser
Daley
Ericsson
Ouellet
Sproul
Jensen
Witowski (might play forward for the Wings or get sent down)

GR is left with:

Cholowski (going pro, may get sent to WHL)
Sulak (probably going back to Europe)
Renouf
Hronek
Saarijarvi
Mcilrath
Lashoff
Hicketts
Russo

Assuming Witowski plays F, Cholo goes to juniors, and Sulak to Europe, that's still 8 D-men on the wings, and 7 D-men in GR. Defense looks pretty stacked with young talent for this season.


 

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6 minutes ago, krsmith17 said:

What makes you think Sulak is going back to Europe? I think Cholowski will definitely be Prince George this season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Saarijarvi start the season in Toledo.

He has a contract in Finland, if he doesn't make the Wings roster he plays there

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9 minutes ago, krsmith17 said:

What makes you think Sulak is going back to Europe? I think Cholowski will definitely be Prince George this season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Saarijarvi start the season in Toledo.

See below

2 minutes ago, DickieDunn said:

He has a contract in Finland, if he doesn't make the Wings roster he plays there

 

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6 minutes ago, DickieDunn said:

He has a contract in Finland, if he doesn't make the Wings roster he plays there

Thanks. I wasn't aware of that. That's a good thing though in my opinion. As I said, I can see Saarijarvi starting in Toledo, so that's one less body he would have to jump on the depth chart.

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The best I can realistically hope for:

Tatar  Zetterberg  Mantha
Athanasiou  Nielsen  Nyquist
Abdelkader  Larkin  Svechnikov
Sheahan  Helm  Glendening

Ouellet  Green
DeKeyser  Daley
Ericsson  Jensen

Howard
Mrazek

PIPING HOT TAKE: We need a 1D, a 1W, and a(n additional) 1C. Aside from that, we're in great shape!

#FreeFallin4Dahlin

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11 hours ago, Dabura said:

The best I can realistically hope for:

Tatar  Zetterberg  Mantha
Athanasiou  Nielsen  Nyquist
Abdelkader  Larkin  Svechnikov
Sheahan  Helm  Glendening

Ouellet  Green
DeKeyser  Daley
Ericsson  Jensen

Howard
Mrazek

PIPING HOT TAKE: We need a 1D, a 1W, and a(n additional) 1C. Aside from that, we're in great shape!

#FreeFallin4Dahlin

Where's Witkowski? Blashill is the one that wanted him, I'd expect he'd be on the roster some how.

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The team is pretty strong at wing and the forward group is playoff caliber as is imo (Until Z regresses at least). It's just the coaching, defense and goaltending are all major question marks. When those three factors fall flat on their face you're going to be bottom 5 team

This last season was an outlier and not the norm. I don't think the team is really as bad as they showed last year. They are bad... just not that bad. Realistically I see the defense and goaltending improving a little bit. I mean it couldn't possibly get any worse

I may be remembering wrong but I think Blashill kind of got in a groove after the All Star break. After the playoff hopes were dead. He had the team playing more to their identity

Edited by joesuffP

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16 hours ago, Dabura said:

The best I can realistically hope for:

Tatar  Zetterberg  Mantha
Athanasiou  Nielsen  Nyquist
Abdelkader  Larkin  Svechnikov
Sheahan  Helm  Glendening

Ouellet  Green
DeKeyser  Daley
Ericsson  Jensen

Howard
Mrazek

PIPING HOT TAKE: We need a 1D, a 1W, and a(n additional) 1C. Aside from that, we're in great shape!

#FreeFallin4Dahlin

Could've had him at the draft...

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8 hours ago, kliq said:

We are stacked at Wing, we needed a Center. Sure I would have taken Vilardi, but I wouldnt have chosen Tippet and I dont think many else other then you would have either.

I still wish we had taken Vilardi... I really think he will end up being the steal of this draft. If we traded back a couple spots, and taken Rasmussen AND a player like Conor Timmins, I'd be okay with it, but to just take Rasmussen over Vilardi was a huge mistake in my opinion...

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4 hours ago, brett said:

so were going to have the same team same blashill same holland as last year only difference is we have daley now. CUP IS OURS

WITKOWSKI. NEW ARENA. HEALTHY HELM, ERICSSON, ABDELKADER. WITKOWSKI. WITKOWSKI. WITKOWSKI. NEW ARENA.

GET REKT, NEGATIVE NANCY.

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On 8/6/2017 at 7:23 PM, DickieDunn said:

Blash thinks da process will be better this year with his boy Witkowski on the team.  Process=Cup, no need for talent or scoring.

I know you just like to mock him so maybe I should look to much into it, but all his talk about process does make sense. With our young players, they do have learn how to train right, eat right, practice right etc. Not sure why you mock this notion everywhere. Pretty much every coach I've come across says a version of this. And results do come from that process, of course. It's also how players refine and develop these talent and scoring things you speak of.

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6 hours ago, PavelValerievichDatsyuk said:

I know you just like to mock him so maybe I should look to much into it, but all his talk about process does make sense. With our young players, they do have learn how to train right, eat right, practice right etc. Not sure why you mock this notion everywhere. Pretty much every coach I've come across says a version of this. And results do come from that process, of course. It's also how players refine and develop these talent and scoring things you speak of.

There's a difference between having expectations that young players behave in a professional manner and elevating grinders to some high status that they don't deserve.  Bowman expected players to work at both ends of the ice, but he still allowed his skilled players to be creative and wanted to keep the puck as much as possible.  Blashill seems to be content to try to win games 2-1 and get out shot by a wide margin most games, as long as they don't get blown out and look competitive.  Hard work is great, but when a player doesn't have the talent to go with it, he shouldn't be looked at like he's some key contributor.    

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