newfy

The wings defensive prospect pool is really exciting to me for the first time in a few years. Smith is a stud but the other guys are pretty good as well

Jensen comes out of nowhere as a late round pick and is doing very solid in college. Hes big, fast, can hit and is a very offensive type of guy. Hes come a long way for such alate pick

Sproul is also big, fast, can hit and is very good offensively. He has sky high potential but is still somewhat raw. If he keeps developing the way he is, he could be a stud on the PP in the future

Ouellet is much more polished then Sproul but doesnt have as high of potential I wuoldnt say. Looks like a pretty sure bet to be an NHLer because he does a bit of everything. Plays well defensively, puts up some points, can play very good positionally, occasionally fights and throws a big hit. Hes a swiss army knife type

On top of all that, the wings finally have the nastiness on the blue line coming up that theyve lacked a bit. All these top guys have a bit of a mean streak but guys like Nicastro, Nedomlel, and Mckee all bring a legit mean streak to the game. If one or 2 of these guys work out, no one will be coming near Howard in the future

I would like him a lot more at 1.3.
What do you think of him at 1.9? Coz that's what he got and the title of this thread

Youre that hung up on 600,000 when the wings still need to take on a bunch of salary to even make the cap floor?

http://sportsillustr...489/1/index.htm

An older but neat article about Tootoo.  Might as well get to know him.  EMBRACE IT.

http://sportsillustr...489/1/index.htm

An older but neat article about Tootoo.  Might as well get to know him.  EMBRACE IT.

get to know him on the ice. people complaining about this signing, who else could have any videos made like this whose played for the wings recently. Drake is the only one thats a maybe

Hmm might be time to see what kind of stones Holland has. He didnt overpay the free agents (cant necessarily blame him, he tried), time to overpay for some decently young talent through trades. The prospect pool is rich, and there is a lot of forwards so a couple roster guys can be moved.

I would sign Semin if hes being reasonable price wise, and try to sign a top 4 D (Carle). This gives the flexibility to move someone like Flip or Franzen for and have their scoring replaced by Semin, same with adding Doan.

Theres definitely a trade on the horizon that could see some young talent coming in. There just has to be

And for the people who say that I only hate him because he's an agitator, and I'll love him on our team: wrong.  An "agitator" is one thing - Tootoo is much more akin to a Matt Cooke or Sean Avery type player who plays selfishly and will take dumb penalties.  Nashville had even seemed to figure that out and rolled back his playing time significantly.

I feel like everything I always brag about the Red Wings in terms of playing smart finesse hockey, and winning a Cup with only 11 fighting majors goes out the window when we employ crap like this.

He is more like a Steve Ott than he is a Matt Cooke that is for sure, and as has been shown already with more fighting majors he takes closer PIMs to Bertuzzi than other agitator types lately. Personally, I hope the wings turn him loose and let him go bat s*** crazy howver. Hes also uses big hits and physical play to agitate other teams, not chirping like a little *****. Hes the toughest fighting agitator, and definitely in an argument for hardest hitting forward in the league.

And its funny because the wings have NEVER won the cup with 11 fighting majors. 2008 they did have 21 and also employed a guy with a reputation just as bad as Tootoo's, Dallas Drake. He was a complete beast and spark for the wings in that playoff as well.

When are wings fans going to realize that A: the bottom 6 has done jack s*** for the wings the last couple years and it needs an overhaul

and B: the wings have never won with a team full of *******, and Tootoo helps prevent this from happening

Tootoo sucks ass and half the people in here aref****** morons who know nothing about hockey.  He isn't good by any measurement and he is the type of player I NEVER want on my team.  Then they gave him a contract that is too big in term and money.  He was a healthy scratch for Nashville and worse than everyone on our team and many players of ours in the system. He isn't good defensively, not good offensively, doesn't fight for pucks, doesn't hit well, doesn't pass well, doesn't score, he doesn't play gritty, he is only dirty.

That doesn't win you games, check Avery who is the same type of player, except he had some skill.  It is far more likely he does something stupid and someone retaliates on Pavel or someone. The guy was so worthless he never helped the Preds beat us... Last year he was a healthy scratch for them half the games. I look it at this way...

You could have tried for Doan with the money spent on Sam and Tootoo... you could have signed an enforcer for less... or you could have just let the youngsters play with contracts that are half as much as him.  Miller, Emmerton, Mursak, Eaves, and Jokaim are all better than Tootoo.  

I know half of the people around think this is some sort of grand signing that indicates that we will be a tougher team.

Toughness isn't something measured in hits or fights.  It is winning battles for the puck and taking hits and crosschecks going to the tough parts of the ice for loose pucks and goals.  The Wings were lacking in this, and still are after wasting 4.9 million yesterday.  If these were one year contracts I would ***** about them but I would live with them.  These might screw us over in the long term as well.

Just hypothetically, if Weber was available next year and Suter signs here... do you think they could get Weber with 7 million wrapped up in Bertuzzi, Sammy, and Tootoo?!?!? No way in hell.  Yet if they didn't sign them to awful contracts prematurely, there would be a chance to bring in Weber and have guys like Tatar, Jurco, and Jarnkrok play for 900k a piece instead.  

The time is here for youth, yet three guys are signed that block the way.  I never liked any of these guys, and certainly don't at this price.

Haha classic, need a kleenex?

Tootoo is one of the toughest pound for pound fughters in the game too. Once people see him clean some 6'3 players clock after laying out one of their scorers I think most of you will change your tune

I really think he could bring out the best of ABdelkader as well. Having a guy with him who runs around nailing guys and isnt afraid to fight will get Abby more involved and increase team toughness more

I STILL HATE BERTUZZI!!!

Everyone in here is a moron.  The only reason people hated to play him is he is dirty and plays dirty.  He doesn't make the team better, he won't win us any games.  He doesn't even deserve a third of the salary they just paid him, and there was a chance he wouldn't have signed ANYWHERE!  He was a a healthy scratch in Nashville where they have no forwards to speak of and paid Gaustad 3.5 to fill Tootoo's roster spot.  HORRIBLE# MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Youre the moron. He outscored everyone of our bottom 6 players last year and hes tougher than all of them too. He was scratched against Detroit because Detroit was a team soft as baby s*** and didnt need any tuoghness in the lineup

People need to relax. Tootoo put up 30 points this past season which is more than anyone in our bottom 6 and hes also a legit tough player that the wings needed. I would have rathered Prust but for the price and role Tootoo is fine. Now that hes sober he isnt that bad.

You all chirp him but wait til he runs over a few guys and youll all love him. Solid signing. Tootoo - Helm - Abdelkader is going to be a nasty line

i didn't really care about the Drake signing.  i was more or less indifferent on that.  Shane Doan is a huge ******.  and you want to talk about babies, look at the Coyotes exit from the playoffs and the example Doan set.  

Point being, i do not like him whatsoever and i do not want him to be a Wing.  Never liked him even his first year as a Winnipeg Jet watching him here and i never will like him, even if for some reason Kenny signs him.  He's more a Penguin than a Red Wing.

Youre right hes not a wing of the last 3 years or so, basically post lockout except 2008. Hes a wing from times before that however when the wings didnt get pushed around in the playoffs and could find other ways to score goals besides working the perimeter. Hes a wing from back when the wings had forwards that could change the game with a big hit as much as a goal. Hes got a no quit attitude and clearly wants to win. When his team isnt scoring he'll look to change the momentum in different ways instead of going through the motions like this current wings roster that hasnt made noise in the playoffs for 4 years now.

Hes what the wings used to be, he can score, set up plays, hits like a tank and you dont like him because he hit some guys hard in the playoffs when the wings played them. And then he actually gave a s*** when his team got beat out.

Like I said, wings fans have become babies and used to an "we need to outclass the other team, even when they outwork and beat us" attitude

And that's why i don't want that piece of garbage here.

Youre kidding right?

Wings fans are such babies anymore. Did you complain when Drake signed with the wings? Because he is just as dirty and as much of a head hunter type as Doan was.

I would love to have Doan on this team.

Agreed. I think in the wings top 6 he coudl still put up about 60 points and 25 goals. Hes a righty so he would see PP time no doubt. He also provides that awesome physical presence the wings top 6 has lacked since Shanny. A little of a Dallas Drake feel to him come playoff time cause you know he would be going balls out all the time and can be a game changer in a variety of ways.

I really hope the wings can land him

Why are some people acting like its a choice between Prust or Abdelkader? The fourth line would look awesome with both, contrary to red wing belief you can actually have more than one physical forward on the fourth line. With toughness and grit such a weakness in the bottom 6, why on earth would people say get rid of the only guy on the team who brings physicality?

On wing, hes a great forechecker and big hitter. He will fight and he can chip some points (especially on wing). Put Abby and Prust on either side of Helm and watch the other teams D have fits is what I say

Obviously a pick that I love but even better is that I just read hes only played 1 year of defense, so he is very raw in that reguard. He could become like an Ericcson situation where his D gets quite a bit better because he was very raw at one point. The other AMAZING part of this pick is he isnt a big, slow goon. His skating is apparently very good and he moves aronud fast out there. Down the line he could even be switched to forward again if D just isnt working out for him, unleash him from the fourth line and let him run around at anything that moves because hes fast.

Great pick! and by going to WMU, we all know he can fight, he had 12 last season which is A LOT in the USHL and he led the league but at WMU he can learn to play defense without worrying about fighting as much. In that fight video above where he works that Ferguson, that guy is a fighter and 2 years older than him and Mckee just tuned him. I can't believe the wings drafted a 6'5, 232 lb 17 year old. Hes going to be a monster and at the very least an enforcer somewhere in the NHL I would guess because he can skate