Official 2018 Off Season *Rebuild* Thread

[LeftWinger 4,953]

There will be no trades. There will be no kids up. Frk will be #13, Witkowski will be both #14 and #7 D. We'll be right up against the cap again.  Top paid team and in the lottery. Once again Holland peed down our backs and called it kool-aid. And we all drank it.

There was entirely zero sense in signing Vanek, Green and such an expensive back up G if we were going hope to see 2-5 kids on this team this season, like he promised. There is absolutely no reason, nor rhyme, to have Ras and Zadina go back to Jr's. but they will, and the rest will go the GR.

[Dabura 12,207]

7 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

There will be no trades. There will be no kids up. Frk will be #13, Witkowski will be both #14 and #7 D. We'll be right up against the cap again.  Top paid team and in the lottery. Once again Holland peed down our backs and called it kool-aid. And we all drank it.

There was entirely zero sense in signing Vanek, Green and such an expensive back up G if we were going hope to see 2-5 kids on this team this season, like he promised. There is absolutely no reason, nor rhyme, to have Ras and Zadina go back to Jr's. but they will, and the rest will go the GR.

Rasmussen is making the team. Holland and Blashill have stopped just short of saying he's guaranteed a spot.

I'll be really surprised if Zadina doesn't at least get a nine-game audition. I think he's absolutely NHL-ready. I think he makes the team and sticks. I think he's capable of having a Calder-caliber rookie season right now. He can score goals, sell tickets, put butts in the seats, get people excited about Red Wings hockey.

The Wings want to score more goals. They think they can be a respectable team if they can get the power play working and are able to roll three scoring lines. They've said they have big plans for Rasmussen as a net-front guy on the PP and that Green's ability to feed him pucks in front is one reason why Green was brought back. Zadina would give us that much more scoring depth and could help us that much more on the power play. The Wings love Zadina.

Hicketts will likely make the team as our 7D and push Jensen for the 6D spot. Hronek could get jobbed, but oh well. FWIW, Blashill has compared Hronek to Will Butcher and suggested Hronek could do for our power play what Butcher did for the Devils' power play.

There's also a lot of time between now and opening night. A lot of time to swing a trade or two, which could open up a spot or two.

Usually I'm on the "Wings hate kids" bus, but I'm not really feeling it at the present moment.

Edited July 6, 2018 by Dabura

[The 91 of Ryans 3,014]

3 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

There will be no trades. There will be no kids up. Frk will be #13, Witkowski will be both #14 and #7 D. We'll be right up against the cap again.  Top paid team and in the lottery. Once again Holland peed down our backs and called it kool-aid. And we all drank it.

There was entirely zero sense in signing Vanek, Green and such an expensive back up G if we were going hope to see 2-5 kids on this team this season, like he promised. There is absolutely no reason, nor rhyme, to have Ras and Zadina go back to Jr's. but they will, and the rest will go the GR.

Cause if there's one thing we've learned over the past 2 years is that Holland doesn't make trades. 

And you're right, with guys like Tatar taking up roster spots, no way Rasmussen or Zadina make this team. 

On a serious note: Methinks Nyquist is a goner. 

[LeftWinger 4,953]

Ok, I don't believe Holland will make deals to open up spots for Ras and Zadina. I too see Nyquist being dealt, but not until the TDL. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against signing AA. But honestly even if we waive Frk, where are the two rookies gonna fit. I really don't see Helm, Abby or Glenny being a healthy scratch. I also don't see Holland making a deal to start the season. We'll see.

[Keep Your Stick On the Ice 67]

4 hours ago, Dabura said:

Rasmussen is making the team. Holland and Blashill have stopped just short of saying he's guaranteed a spot.

I'll be really surprised if Zadina doesn't at least get a nine-game audition. I think he's absolutely NHL-ready. I think he makes the team and sticks. I think he's capable of having a Calder-caliber rookie season right now. He can score goals, sell tickets, put butts in the seat, get people excited about Red Wings hockey.

The Wings want to score more goals. They think they can be a respectable team if they can get the power play working and are able to roll three scoring lines. They've said they have big plans for Rasmussen as a net-front guy on the PP and that Green's ability to feed him pucks in front is one reason why Green was brought back. Zadina would give us that much more scoring depth and could help us that much more on the power play. The Wings love Zadina.

Hicketts will likely make the team as our 7D and push Jensen for the 6D spot. Hronek could get jobbed, but oh well. FWIW, Blashill has compared Hronek to Will Butcher and suggested Hronek could do for our power play what Butcher did for the Devils' power play.

There's also a lot of time between now and opening night. A lot of time to swing a trade or two, which could open up a spot or two.

Usually I'm on the "Wings hate kids" bus, but I'm not really feeling it at the present moment.

hope your right.

[LeftWinger 4,953]

Hicketts, nor Hronek probably will not be here, unless Kronwall goes on LTIR. Witkowski will be both the 14th fwd and 7th D. 

Waive Frk, sign Zadina, make one of the 4th liners a healthy scratch. That is the only way we're going to see both Ras and Zadina in the opening day line up. 

Mantha - Larkin - Zadina

AA - Zetterberg  - Ras

Nyquist - Nielsen -Vanek

Abby - Helm - Bertuzzi

Maybe deal Glenny or Helm away.

Edited July 6, 2018 by LeftWinger

[BinMucker94 302]

6 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Hicketts, nor Hronek probably will not be here, unless Kronwall goes on LTIR. Witkowski will be both the 14th fwd and 7th D. 

Waive Frk, sign Zadina, make one of the 4th liners a healthy scratch. That is the only way we're going to see both Ras and Zadina in the opening day line up. 

Mantha - Larkin - Zadina

AA - Zetterberg  - Mantha

Ras - Nielsen -Vanek

Abby - Helm - Bertuzzi

Maybe deal Glenny or Helm away.

I think you forgot Nyquist too. Unless he gets moved as well.

nevermind you just listed mantha twice lol.

Edited July 6, 2018 by BinMucker94

[LeftWinger 4,953]

9 minutes ago, BinMucker94 said:

I think you forgot Nyquist too. Unless he gets moved as well.

nevermind you just listed mantha twice lol.

oops my bad!

ya Nyquist is supposed to be there. 

Fixed it.

[krsmith17 7,191]

16 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Hicketts, nor Hronek probably will not be here, unless Kronwall goes on LTIR. Witkowski will be both the 14th fwd and 7th D. 

Waive Frk, sign Zadina, make one of the 4th liners a healthy scratch. That is the only way we're going to see both Ras and Zadina in the opening day line up. 

Mantha - Larkin - Zadina

AA - Zetterberg  - Mantha

Ras - Nielsen -Vanek

Abby - Helm - Bertuzzi

Maybe deal Glenny or Helm away.

I like that we have two Mantha's now, but Glendening will not be healthy scratched. Not going to happen. A trade needs to happen or Zadina doesn't make the team.

[e_prime 1,936]

7 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

There will be no trades.

 

4 hours ago, The 91 of Ryans said:

Cause if there's one thing we've learned over the past 2 years is that Holland doesn't make trades. 

And you're right, with guys like Tatar taking up roster spots, no way Rasmussen or Zadina make this team. 

On a serious note: Methinks Nyquist is a goner. 

 

19 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

 

Maybe deal Glenny or Helm away.

  TRADE ALERT  

[The 91 of Ryans 3,014]

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

Can't wait for Glendening to be scratched with Rasmussen, Zadina, and Hicketts on the opening night roster lol

[TLGTrico 622]

2 hours ago, krsmith17 said:

I like that we have two Mantha's now, but Glendening will not be healthy scratched. Not going to happen. A trade needs to happen or Zadina doesn't make the team.

A trade needs to happen or at least 1 of Larkin or Mantha won't be on the team.  I find it hard to believe there combined cap hit will come in around 6 million.

[joesuffP 1,746]

Here’s my hot take

Z says he’s not ready to start the season and helps with the roster crunch laying the foundation for his retirement/LTIR next year after he gets his 1,000 points

 

[Buppy 1,720]

2 hours ago, TLGTrico said:

A trade needs to happen or at least 1 of Larkin or Mantha won't be on the team.  I find it hard to believe there combined cap hit will come in around 6 million.

We have $10M in space. Or more like $8.5M after Hicketts and Rasmussen. 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

On 7/5/2018 at 5:04 PM, krsmith17 said:

I don't see how / why Frk would be waived though. Assuming we go with the standard 14/7/2 (23-man) roster, two forwards and one defenseman need to be healthy scratched every night. The most logical choice in my opinion would be Frk, Witkowski and Jensen / Hicketts (Cholowski won't make the team). If you waive Frk, who becomes your regular healthy scratch among forwards with Witkowski? Glendening isn't going to be scratched every night, nor is Helm or Abdelkader. You don't want a young kid up in the press box every night when they can be getting big minutes in Grand Rapids (or junior for that matter). To me, Frk was brought back to be that guy, play a scattered game, and fill in for injuries.

Regarding the cap, like I said, I didn't include Franzen's LTIR in my $4.5M. I included Rasmussen and Hicketts, and I came out with $4,598,790 remaining, plus Franzen's $3,954,545, which is still only $8,553,335... I'm not sure where you're getting over $10M...

 

On 7/5/2018 at 6:20 PM, Neomaxizoomdweebie said:

This was an attempt at being passive aggressive. 

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

OK so I suck at being passive aggressive or even knowing what it means. Stop with the confused face. Its giving me a complex.

Edited July 7, 2018 by Neomaxizoomdweebie

[LeftWinger 4,953]

Had to bump this up due to the re-signing of our RFA's (sans Larkin.)

I think Holland has done a pretty good job at getting Mantha and AA (Bertuzzi and Frk as well) signed to team friendly "bridge" deals, lets hope the comments by Larkin ring true and they can get something done that also allows the team to be very active and flexible come next July (which will lead me to the 2019 rebuild thread...segue)

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

Kruppa: Zetterberg's agent reports Z simply hasn't made any decision yet.

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

6 minutes ago, F.Michael said:

I'm leaning towards the idea that Hank won't be on the roster when the season begins...Maybe he takes a few months off at the start, and makes a return after the 1st of Jan 2019?

The article I posted isn't really news, just more of the same "It's all up in the air"

I won't be surprised either way at this point

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

9 minutes ago, F.Michael said:

If Hank wasn't practicing the last few months of the season, and chances are he's not doing much right now (maybe some light workouts/stretching) - I get the impression he won't be ready for the start of camp, and will miss half, or more of this upcoming season.

I didn't know that he was carried off on a stretcher from the village during the Sochi games.

He's playing golf, which is a good sign. Uses pretty much every back muscle.

I think if he comes back we will for the first time really see his number of games played and ice time reduced. But who knows by how much.

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

2 hours ago, F.Michael said:

 was there to lure 

 

His beard is weak.

[Dabura 12,207]

3 hours ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

He's playing golf, which is a good sign. Uses pretty much every back muscle.

I think if he comes back we will for the first time really see his number of games played and ice time reduced. But who knows by how much.

YUGE difference between a casual round of golf with friends and a full NHL season. But, yeah, I'm expecting him to play this season.

Assuming he does play, I think he should be one of our two middle-six centermen, with Larkin officially taking over the 1C spot.

Mantha  Larkin  Zadina
Rasmussen  Zetterberg  Nyquist
Athanasiou  Nielsen  Vanek

Assuming Zadina and Rasmussen are worthy of scoring-line roles, I think the above is, on paper, pretty much the best top-nine configuration that we can realistically hope for. Second and third lines are roughly interchangeable. No one cares about the fourth line.

[krsmith17 7,191]

3 minutes ago, Dabura said:

YUGE difference between a casual round of golf with friends and a full NHL season. But, yeah, I'm expecting him to play this season.

Assuming he does play, I think he should be one of our two middle-six centermen, with Larkin officially taking over the 1C spot.

Mantha  Larkin  Zadina
Rasmussen  Zetterberg  Nyquist
Athanasiou  Nielsen  Vanek

Assuming Zadina and Rasmussen are worthy of scoring-line roles, I think the above is, on paper, pretty much the best top-nine configuration that we can realistically hope for. Second and third lines are roughly interchangeable. No one cares about the fourth line.

Exactly what I'd like to see if Zadina and Rasmussen make the team. Who's our 4th line then though? Bertuzzi - Helm - Abdelkader, with Glendening and Frk sitting? That would have the potential to actually be a very good forward group, except that A) I don't see Zadina on the top line (if he makes it) and definitely not with two other "kids", and B) I don't see Glendening sitting. A trade must happen... or an injury...

[Dabura 12,207]

3 minutes ago, F.Michael said:

Remember Uwe Krupp, and dogsledding?

Sledgate. #NeverForget