Probie

I see other teams trying to improve all the time.   There are trades that could be made to improve the team.  Hossa sought detroit out, holland didnt go looking.   Too much inaction.  he doesnt have to trade the team away or all the prospects, but if he doesnt do anything in the next few months I will not be impressed to say the least.  He inherited a great team, and a great nucleus of people in the organization.  

We have too many forward prospects maturing soon, and not nearly enough spots when they are ready, plus on average they are a bit too small.   I would be incuding some of those into trades to help the team now.  Even if he didnt hands down win a trade, or even slightly lost one, it wouldnt destroy our future at all, and would help fill one or two holes that need to be filled now.

He needs to grow up, but hes young, fast, physical, and good offenively.

I don't want homer back.  We need to get bigger faster and younger.

s*** it's him!!!

He knows they are a bunch of underachieving chokers and is frustrated with their seasons performance.   He was overstressed and fainted.  It had nothing to do with any sticks or anything, trust me.

A name flying under the radar...Robyn Regehr.  Buffalo will be sellers, and they have a bunch of big contracts that are IMO a little too big considering the players abilities.  I have heard Regehr has lost a step( I havent watched him for a bit), but even if he has, he still has to be a very good shutdown Dman, and he is quite physical.  He would solidify our defense IMO.  Hes at 4mil and under contract for next season only.  Its a thought many haven't looked at.

If anyone is wondering why hes lasted so long and still plays at such a high level....its called being in great shape and taking care of your body.

Big E isn't even a righty who can come even remotely close to filling Raffys spot.  I can justify Holland overpaying to fill this void but this is retarded.  I would pay Erhoff .75 million more and he is quit a bit better, thats a no brained move.  BS signing.  Do you guys remember how many picks over the last decade we have traded away, weve traded first, ad seconds, and we cant even cough up a 7th rounder for Wis's rights or a 4th for Erhoff?  Do you guys know the odds of drafting a guy in the 7th round that would be as good a player as Wiz or a forth as good as Erhoff?  The chances are way slimmer then the odds of that player signing after trading for the rights.  Rediculous.  I bet Holland took a gamble thinking nobody would be dealt for rights, and they would be available July 1st and he could have his pickings, well he f***ed up.  He obviously dropped the ball on not being in on Erhoff rights as well from NY.  In a panic he signs Erricson to this stupid contract.

I don't care what people have said about Holland for his past work, if this is true he should be fired, I don't care who flames me. Whats right is right and whats wrong is wrong.  That better be the wrong numbers folks.

Best player is Rocco though...

Leaf take Rocco perhaps?

I think its Biggs.

yeah rocco is too small, we are already tiny as a team, so hes off the radar...

Taken From: sportsnationnetwork




I’ll be looking at some teams whose salary cap situations, place in the standings, or any other variety of reasons will cause them to part with some pieces over the summer, and how the Red Wings may benefit from their misfortunes. Click here  for my look at the Philadelphia Flyers. Up next are the Minnesota Wild!

The Wild are in a really, really crappy spot for two simple reasons:

1. Their team isn’t any good.

2. They have a payroll that says they should be really good.

They finished in 12th place in the Western Conference, and only the pathetically bad Edmonton Oilers finished with fewer goals scored in the West.

Minnesota somehow managed to be tight to the salary cap all year long, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Aside from the high-spending New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs, who were directly below them in the NHL standings, every team with a worse record than the Wild’s was near the salary cap floor. There is simply no excuse for paying that much money out for that little results.

They have also missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons, after flaming out in Round 1 for the first two post-lockout seasons.

Normally, the GM would have already been sent packing in a case like this, but Chuck Fletcher only just completed his second year on the job, and is still trying to clean up the mess Doug Risebrough left him with.

Fletcher has made his intentions known to the rest of the league. He is having a sale, and everyone is invited.

If you’re Minnesota Wild property, and your name doesn’t start with “Mikko” and end with “Koivu”, don’t extend the lease on your apartment just yet.

Detroit’s needs are for a top 6 forward and at least one top 4 defenseman. Minnesota has exactly zero forwards whose play or contracts excite me, so we’ll skip to the D.

The Wild already have some good, young pieces on the blue line like Marco Scandella, Tyler Cuma, Chay Genoway, Clayton Stoner and Jared Spurgeon.

They are probably looking to add draft picks and prospects, because they have very little hope of competing in their division for a while. Vancouver is the reigning President’s Trophy winners, and went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Calgary isn’t the elite team they used to be but is always competitive. Edmonton is a team on the rise, and could be one of the heavy hitters really soon. Colorado has a good young core to build around. That leaves Minnesota way behind in just their division, let alone the conference or the league.

They won’t be looking to add veteran pieces to build for a championship run. They are starting from scratch. This makes just about all of their NHL blue liners available.

Nick Schultz is a rock on the blue line for them, a real shut-down type of defenseman. Think of Brad Stuart. They have virtually the same cap hit, although Wild fans seem to think Schultz is a bit over-paid, probably because he contributes little offensively.

Cam Barker is a guy I’ve always liked, even though he’s played most of his career so far for Chicago. The Blackhawks dumped him at the deadline a year ago in a salary cap move, but it also landed them stud defensive prospect Nick Leddy. Minnesota would probably take a redo on that one if given the option. Even still, Barker is a solid player who put up 40 points just two seasons ago, but seems out of place in Minnesota. He could be moved.

Marek Zidlicky has been a very solid offensive defenseman for a long time in the NHL, and in Europe prior to that. He has loads of experience, including representing the Czech Republic numerous times at the international level. He helped lead the team to a bronze medal at the 2006 Turin Olympic games. He’s slown down a bit recently, but he can still generate points.

Brent Burns is the stud of this group of defenseman, and the one I really hope the Wings take a run at. For those not familiar with Burns, I’ll give you the quick hits:

26 years old.

6’5″, 220 pounds.

Right handed shot.

Check that, right handed cannon, at nearly 100 mph.

2008 IIHF World Championship’s Best Defenseman

2011 NHL All-Star.

Excited yet? Thought so.

He played forward throughout his minor and junior hockey career, until joining the Minnesota Wild in 2003 where he was converted to defense by then head coach Jacques Lemaire.

The move has paid off in spades for the Wild, as the offensively-gifted Burns has put up basically a point every other game on a team that starves for offense. I can only begin to imagine what he’d do when he had guys like Nick Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg feeding him the puck, instead of Zidlicky, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, or Martin Havlat.

The Wild will probably want a lot for him, and he is a free agent following this season. Would the Wings wait until next year to take a run at him, or do they see him as too valuable to let him get to unrestricted free agency? With a cap hit of only $3.55 this season, they could have him at a great value for a season before he ultimately commands a big raise next year.

Burns is a guy that, if acquired, could form the beginnings of an elite top four for the future with Kronwall and Brendan Smith.



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Well I would like him better then some of the ufas this year, it could be worth a trade if you thought he would stay and not bolt at the end of the year...we would have the cap room next year I would think.

Ok folks, I'm not one to panic and say the sky is falling, nor am I one to be negative when things get bumpy.  So don't flame me.  I have some honest suggestions on ways to improve the team after watching them win 3 years ago and see what they need three years later.   I have been watching them for about 21 years.  

-The team that won the cup in 2008, worked harder then the one today, had more passion and was willing to sacrifice more to get to the next level.  FACT.

-The team that won the cup in 2008 has the same main core today, however that core collectively is 3 years OLDER.  FACT.  Lidstrom, Rafalski, Holmstrom, the elder statesmen of that core have declined in terms of speed and overall ability, while other core players have gotten older but have not only not improved or improved enough to pick up the slack caused by the older core players sliding.

-Management has the idea that they can entice players to sign better deal like contracts if they offer the players the ability to stay longer, offer ntcs etc etc. That reduces the competitiveness of the players as they are not motivated by fear of losing their jobs or getting traded.  This weakens the team. FACT.   If you look at the benefits of using this approach vs the negatives (better contracts=deeper team vs less motivated  and competiveness), I don't think this strategy has really helped them as a team at all.  Watching this team last year and especially this year, they are seriously unmotivated.  This lack of motivation has to/had to change, but has not.   Blame management for not fixing this problem.  As well, I feel the team lacks the rah rah, take charge motivating  vocal leader needed to whip the players into the right playing form.  

-This team is one of the smallest teams in the nhl.  FACT.  We lose too many battles for the puck.  This is the one thing we are hurting for in the SJ series right now.

-3 of 4 of our top prospects that are in line to make the team in the next 2 years are all quite small.  We are already too small now, if we inject these players into our lineup in the next 2 years we are going to be even smaller and will be basically manhandled by most teams.  FACT.  We need an influx of size if these players are to come into the lineup.  

-Our team the last few years has been injury prone, and I think of all the liberties taken by other teams because we have no enforcer or even formidable fighter, is mostly or fairly, directly related to this.  FACT.  A guy like Shawn Thornton or Matt Carkner that could play 40-60 games in a limited fashion would not hurt the team much on the ice in terms of performance but would limit injuries and make our team play more physical much like downey did due to the fact the players feel braver.   Less injuries would occur due to proper protection of players.

-Even the rest of our (outside of Lids, Rafs, Homer) core is getting older, and soon will be on the downside with no players close enough in skill to fill those gaps.  Lidstrom and rafs are near the end, although they can play quite well still.  But they will be gone soon.  All of our other good players belonging to that core, Dats, Z, Mule, Cleary, Kronwall, Stuart are all 30 or older.  None of these players will improve and in all likelihood have already reached their peak.  You need young players coming up to fill these holes, and they don't have anyone good enough skill wise to do so, except Tatar and Smith, and they may not have the potential to match those leaving in skill.  You also need a mix of skilled vets and youngsters as the youngsters produce at lesser contracts, enabling more depth.  We have all our older top guys locked in at higher contracts, we have no serious deals.  Remember having Z at less then 3 mill, mule, hudler etc at bargain basement contracts yet still produced large?!  For those reasons, they need to trade an older vet or two for some skilled youth so you have a balance.  

-Stop signing older players on the decline to multi year contracts with ntc’s.  Limit the 35yr+ signings as well.  Holland is suppose to be a genius.  Act like one.  

-After watching our teams play the sharks the last two years(and a few other teams), its apparent that Detroit lacks proper size, and a bit of speed to deal with SJ in particular.  They lose too many puck battles and races to the puck.  If you could subtract a few slow guys, and inject a few bigger faster guys, it could make all the difference in the world.   Our back end could use some more size and nastiness as well.   Lets look at some potential moves.  Please don't flame its hard to get trades and values to satisfy everyone's opinions of worth, but I will try.

Adding SOME players I like on Forward(not all): Chris stewart(trade), Jason Chimera(trade), laich(UFA),  Erik Cole(UFA), Simon Gagne(UFA), Upshall(UFA),  Defensemen like Pitkanin(UFA), Bieksa(UFA), L.Smid(trade), Bogosian(trade), Matt Carkner(trade). These are just some potential moves off the top of my head. I'm not saying we get all of these guys, or these are the only guys we should go for.    Guys we should lose, trade or not resign to make spots for players we need to fill certain roles are: Flip, Hudler, Homer(wont happen thought NTC), you could move Bert (but has partial ntc and is still a decent player), miller, ABS.  Not sign Erricson, eaves, Draper. Yes i like eaves a bit too(We need to fill needs though).   Of course a prospect or two and a few picks could be included in these trades mentioned below to make their values accurate, as its hard for me to judge accurate trade value, people are always ready to pounce and start flaming so hold off.  Everyone sees player values differently.  Also we might want to move one of our core players that are a little older.  Our prospect pool is deep enough to warrant the loss of a prospect and the odd pick to make some of the trades work and would be replenished somewhat if we did move one of the older players.

Player movement during offseason:

*Hudler + Kindl + ~2nd(2011)=Bogosian (might have to add a pick or prospect to make it work)
*Nyquist + flip + pick(if needed)=Chris Stewart (perhaps minor tweaking to make the trade work).  yes i like Nyquist too but you have to give to get.  
*prospect + ~2nd(2012)=L. Smid (guessing it gets done with minor tweaking)
*Prospect or pick= Chimera(or a Chimera like player, fast and strong, good in the corners, doesn't have to score lots, good on the pk)
*Bertuzzi = prospect or pick.  Sorry bert, I would rather move Homer, but he has a ntc, you only have a partial.  Probably wont happen, nmc could make this difficult.
*Kronwall=prospects and or picks.  I love kronwall, hes a deal at 3mill, and is skilled.  It harder to trade the other core players that have ntc or are too old to trade.  Pitkanen would be a good replacement or close to.  
-> Sign Pitkanin, Laich, Cole, Upshall as UFA's.  For a decent back up Josh Harding would be nice as a ufa as well.  lets focus on D and forward first though.  This is probably a stretch, but all forwards and d mentioned have size, and Cole has speed and size and is physical and capable of winning puck battles.  Laich is a big body who can score and win battles.  Upshall is also a battler, and great along the boards and can skate decently too and can put some points on the board.  



You could have lines like (not set, they can move around):

Cole - Z - Cleary  
Mule - Dats  - C. Stewart
Upshall - Helm - laich
Chimera - Homer - Mursac
-Role Player and/or Partial Enforcer and/or tough Physical forward.

1st Line is: Cole is 6'2 205 skates well, and can score, Z is Z, Cleary is 6,0 205 and can skate and score.  The line can win puck battles and score.  Has grit too.
2nd line: Mule is 6'3 220, can skate and score, Dats is Dats, Stewart is 6'2 225 and can score, win battles for the puck.  The line has good size, bit of grit, very good skill and overall above average speed.
3rd Line: Upshall is 6' 197 and is fierce in the corners, skates well and can score a bit.  Helm is Helm.  laich is 6'2 200 and can score a bit and win battles for the puck.  The line has two good players with speed with a big body that is not slow and can score. Laich is a UFA.
4th Line: Chimera 6'2 220 is real fast, a physical puck battler, who can pk well.  6' 200 homer is homer who doesn't fit on any line anymore almost, Mursac has blinding speed and some scoring upside, and wont be only a perimeter player but is kinda small.  This line has great speed minus homer, and has SOME physicality.  A solid fourth line.
13th forward: Somebody that has some decent size and or can fight.  Konopka anyone?  If we opt to not go for this type of player, perhaps a guy like HTD could make the team and see somewhat limited action, and he at least would bring size to the table (and of course some skill).

Defense:
Lids-Stuart.
rafs-Pitkanen
Bogosian-Smid
Matt Carkner



1st pairing stays the same, Lids and Stuart.   No kronwall on the second paring.  I mentioned above, that someone from the core gets traded for youth, and or picks, its him, although he isn't perhaps the best one to be moved, but someone from that core while they have decent trade value needs to be moved, I picked him. I like him, but someone has to go, and he has no ntc.  Flip has to go, he lacks too much offense we need a better scoring 2nd line center plus he has return value.  Pitkanen is a possible free agent pick up.  I might be unrealistically getting too many UFA's, but it's possible to get him. Pits is a good defensemen and is 6'3 210 and can help clear the crease, play good d, and generate some offense as well. Bogosian is young and has good potential but is still a little raw, is 6'3 205 and will fill out to 215 or so as he gets older, and has good mobility and ability.  It was rumoured during this season he might go to detroit, and the rumoured players were kindl and hudler and a pick.  Hes big and strong and loves to hit.  Hes not asked to have a top 4 role yet, hes on the bottom pairing for a year till rafs and lids retire.   We need bigger players on D to handle bigger forwards that play on teams like the sharks for instance.  Smid is 6'3 225 pounds and can hit and shut guys down as well as clear the crease.  I don't think he would cost an arm and a leg.  Carkner is the physical enforcer/depth Defensemen that can play 30 games a year or something like that. He is the 7th D man.  He will help to keep our guys not injured and help clear the crease and handle bigger forwards when he does play without being a total liability on the ice.  Our 3rd defensive pairing looks quite good.

Josh Harding might be a decent backup for Howard next year and hes a UFA as well.


Again, we have increased team size(more then any other category), speed, ability to win puck battles, and toughness.  I don't think we have hurt our ability to score either.  We are still a team of skill. I think we would match up much better with the Sharks if we play them again next year.  Bigger forwards would be handled better by our bigger d.  Our D might not generate as much offense as this years, but it would still be good, but it would be better suited to handle bigger forwards.  Our team would of course be better suited to wear teams down in the playoffs.  Also the fresh faces and movement of players would end the comfort zone that has been brought on by prior Redwings management decisions, and would act as a wake up call to all on the team and would certainly help motivate the players to compete better which obviously helps the team.  The new players would be motivated to win the cup and this would help rub off on the others.


Again, i don't want to get flamed for trying to be unrealistic in possible trades, I mentioned those trades would most likely need tweaking for them to work.  These are not the only players that would help our club in the areas I mentioned we needed help in.  There are lots of other options.   I don't want to get flamed either for unrealistically picking up too many free agents although I may have, to an extent, listed one too many UFAs for us to realistically pickup.  I didn't pick all the premier UFAS, nor all the Mid Tier UFAS, but I picked ones that are possible and fill our certain needs.  Roster moves and approx salaries of those picked up require a slight decrease in pay for lidstrom of about 1 mill(might not be possible) and the cap moving up about three mill like has been rumored.  Bogosian's salary although not understood by many is not close to three mill like many people think unless he reaches the lofty performance incentives that he wont... his salary would be a nice chunk less.  

Anyways I thought I would throw some ideas and observations out, and of course you all are welcome to discuss...