Andy Pred 48

with the amount of forwards we have signed (17 with Abby)  and possably 18 if we sign another UFA.

Kenny must be stocking up for a trade, its the only thing that makes sense of having all these fwds.

I think only Andersson & Brunner can be sent down safely. So that leaves us with 15/16, now which

team has a log jam on D and short of forward talent?

Buffalo, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay all have 9 D signed. Just a thought as to which teams may be

looking at trading a D. Not sure who would be in need of help up front of these 3 teams, maybe the

Sabres woukld be the lightest up front.

Is Cam Barker an UFA or RFA? he could be a reclaim project on the D. Former 3rd overall pick who

has struggled since leaving the Blackhawks, Renney's old team as well. While he's there pick up the

lad Alex Plante, huge young D, would complement Smith down the line.

i watched nearly all of the WC this year and my take on it is this;

Tatar was great for the Slovaks on their 3/4 lines. he ave just under 14 mins a game and had 2+3 in 10 games AND a silver medal. deserves a roster spot in my opinion.

Brunner ave just under 19 mins a game for the Swiss and was a point a game guy over the 7 games. Was great against the Canadiens in his countrys 2-3 loss where he was a constant threat and had a 1+1 game. Has already been given the #96 so make what yoou will of that. Great pick up by Wings

Semin was an absolute beast when he got there and played on Pasha's wing. 5 points in the 3 games he played and just over 17mins ice per game. I would love to see him alongside Pav, but i would also like the Wings try and get either Nikulin on D or Popov Fwd from the Russia side.

we missed out on both guys,so life goes on. I really think that Smith can be as good as Suter in a year or two. I just wish we had given him time last year with Nic so he could have learned off the best. I think that we have Weber next year, just got to get thru this year and give the youngsters some ice to benefit us long term. It may be hard going but i think we have enough to make the playoffs if we can get at least another 2 senior players on board then im sure we will.

maybe Pasha gets on the phone and gets some of his countrymen over here who havent played here before, you know so other teams dont know how they play. Ilya Nikulin,Alexander Popov and Alexei Tereshenko would do for me!!

the only way the Wings take MARKOV off then HABS hands is if Alexei Emelin is part of the deal.

A slick offensive forward who can shoot as well as pass the puck. Has great wheels and hands. Plays a gritty game.

that is latest scouting report on Brunner,26yr 5'11" 187lb. Parise is 27yr 5'11" and 194lb so i dont see a big diff in size. It seems its the european aspect that puts some fans off. Parise is proven NHL i grant you but i watched most of the WC games involving the Swiss side and Brunner looked good. He had 1+1 and was a +1 in the 2-3 loss to Canada, where he was up against Phaneuf,Keith,Bouwmeester,Methot,Schenn and Quincey who are all over 6' and 200lb+
and he handled himself well. and if memory serves me well are all physical players.

If kenny can get him on board for the min $ then i dont think he will be a huge risk.

Mr Illitch, please step forward and slap Kenny and tell him to buck up and face realitiy or get a new job.
This loyalty thing is gunna bite us on the arse before long if it hasnt already begun to do so.
hopefully Homer makes sense of it all and saves holland actually making a tough decision that he is incapable
of doing.

throw an offer sheet at the Sens Karlsson?
this kid is the real deal and could be Nic's heir apparent,how many 1st rounders would it cost us?
all this talk of Suter and Parise, Kennys or the Wings policy is not to do this
but we may have to do something like this to get a top D into the org.
Maybe the 2 Minny boys wanna play for there home state now and not entertain the
other offers they'll get. Which will leave us waiting another year and try for Weber or act outta the ball park.

question, would you have Sam Gagner over Hudler?
Gagner is a R/H shot and has posted 40+ pts the past 5 years.
his ppg is higher than Huds and he is 5 years younger. The
current contracts are similar, both may seek a rise?

getting help for Pav if Parise doesn't come. Get him some help from home,Nikolai Kulemin a good 2 way guy with some size and how about a cheeky offer for Alexander Radulov? The guy is a great player, but could he curb his antics off the ice? Maybe Pav could curtail this in him. failing that one of the unhearlded players at the WC is Swiss league top scorer Damien Brunner who is leading the Swiss in scoring at the WC and is also a R/H shot. the sp on him is; A slick offensive forward who can shoot as well as pass the puck. Has great wheels and hands. Plays a gritty game.

anyway Babs is over there watching GROUP HELSINKI so im sure he's scouting as well as watching the canadiens.

Tvrdon is the dark horse here, he has the makings of being a true power forward. 6'2" and 220lb already with him on the LW and Jurco on the RW all they need is a big centre to form a potential 2nd line for the Wings in maybe 2-3 years. Maybe Joakim Andersson with his size would be a fit? Future looks ok to me, the scouts will un earth another diamond in the rough i have no doubt.

3 way trade- Roberto to Bjax for Nash to Wings for Franzen to Nucks!

i got a feeling that Jurco will be making it difficult for the Wings not to have him on the roster next camp.

we need more Russians on the team  

after listening to Babs post game press interview, i do get a feeling that the coach wasnt pleased with his depth at fwd
and stated that the Preds could roll 4 lines (like we use to) and he was frustrated at not having enough to go back at them.
Well i do tend to agree with Babs on this.
For if we look at both sides additions at trade time;
The Preds added Paul Gaustad, Andrei Kostitsyn, Hal Gill and a freebie from the KHL in Alexander Radulov.
This would be a 2nd line on any team and the Russian boys could be top line on most.

Wings added Quincey and ...............and there you have the ball game folks it aint rocket science to the majority of the
fans and maybe this was Kennys last chance saloon for some of the guys to perform and im afraid most failed.

So Ken has a big job on his hands, not only does he have a unhappy fanbase but it seem's a rather miffed coach.
Will it be the old story of we like what we have and just paper over from within or will he make moves.
Options within the org for potential departee's;
Holmstrom-------Brunnstrom/Axelsson
Stuart----------Exelby/Janik
Quincey---------Kindl
Lidstrom--------Smith
Hudler----------Tatar/Nyqvist
Abdelkader------Sheahan/Andersson.

One thing that seem's to never happen is to trade someone from the roster, maybe its time to be un-Redwing like.

we like are team and there is nothing out there that is value for $s we feel would make us any better!

in case anyone is getting carried away by the coming off season additions Kenny is going to make!!

first of all if the Wings lose to the Hawks do we slip to 6th spot?
if so, we could end up playing one of 3 teams in the Kings, Sharks or Yotes.
would these be a better situ than facing the Preds?

as long as we throw an $8m offer sheet at Karlsson and see what the Sens do, I think we are ok with what we have. Smith is going to be on the team next year, Stuy is gone, maybe Kindl will be used in a deal think Lids will stay one more year. Then maybe we go after Weber next off season. Not sure about the Quincey situ thou, he's still only 26 but is on $3.125m so its a tricky one.

My preffered D core when Lids is gone;

Weber Kronwall
Smith Karlsson
Nikitin Emelin