yave1964

At the deadline steve Yzerman traded Hronek to the Islanders and Bertuzzi to the Bruins, removing two of the few remaining pieces from before he took over the God awful shell of a club that was left when he took over before the 2019-20 season. It means that in four seasons the entire roster has been turned over, in some cases and positions more than once save for Bottom six former first rounder Michael Rasmussen' Captain of the club Dylan Larkin. Thats it. In four years, everyone has been replaced. Yzerman took over a team that was awful, dreadful approaching biblically bad with a stench coming from the farm system as well. Ken Holland, may he forever remain in Edmonton proved that Jim Nill was indeed the brains behind so many great Wings drafts by blundering time after time Svechnikov. Givani smith two picks ahead of Carter Hart. Zadina over Hughes.Cholowsi. Martin Frk. Jurco. Ugh. some of the absolute worst drafting by any team ever, Lou Lamoriello aside (most overrated GM in history. Just look at his last ten drafts in Jersey). So no talent on the roster, long term deals for guys like Ericsson, Abdelkader, Helm, Nielsen, Dekeyser and Howard. Overpaid underperforming veterans, kids who were dreadful, Yzerman left the penthouse that he had built in tampa to come home to Detroit on a white horse to save the day. He said it was not going to be easy. He said it was not going to be quick. He said it was going to get worse before it got better. He hid none of that- and he was right. some smart trades. a few dumb ones. intelligent signings with a plan. Drafting with a game plan. His first pick was off the board Moritz Seider who has been fantastic. Second draft he led off with Lucas Raymond who has top six, probably top line for a decade written all over him. Simon Edvinsson will be another massive tp pair defender with offensive skill ala Seider, possibly as soon as this year. The following year he drafted Marco Kasper who has Ryan Kesler skill written all over him. This year he went off the board chosing Danielson early, first pick Connor Bedard says Danielson is the only forward who kept him up worrying about playing against in Junior, his two way skill is fantastic.. Later in the first he took offensive gem Axel Sandin Peliikka who many say may/will be the best offensive defenseman in this years draft including anyone. On top of that Wallinder, Dylan James, Carter Mazur, Soderblom, Cross hanas and goalie Sebastian Cossa help round out a farm system that has moved from ranking 32nd (dead last) to third in the Hockey news most recent rankings according to GMs and scouts from around the league. So the Wings fans suffered, a new arena that i have visited three times (the wings lost all three times by a combined 12-2 scores) that is meh, it seems better suited for concerts than for Hockey but thats alright. Get the game worth watching that will change. Rather than short term attenpts to make the team more interesting, we took our lumps until the last of those contracts was finally gone and off the books. No longer paying for the Stephen Weiss debacle. Two years of hell, two years of baby steps and this year with 30 million in cap spacethe Wings did this Reimer for Nedjelcovic Big Ned crapped the bed badly last year and ran himself out of town. Reimer a steady solid backup- improvement Holl for Oesterle Say what you want about Holl's three year deal, he is miles and miles better than Oesterle or Pysyk. Big improvement Compher came aboard as the much needed 3C. Five year deal, home town boy comes home. Simply tons better than Pius Suter who still cannot find a contract a month into free agency Massive upgrade Ghostisbehere to replace the since traded Hronek. At worst a push, probably slight upgrade Debrincat, another local boy wanting to play in Detroit came on a short 4 year deal for 70 cents on the dollar. Enormous upgrade over Kubalik Gritty hard to play against Christian Fischer who is a sneaky god scorer replaces hopelessly lost Zadina. Upgrade Klim Kostin brings his hard nasty game and potential 12-15 goals in to replace Adam Erne. Big upgrade Daniel Sprong a hard working net presence brought his 20 gritty goals aboard. Big upgrade Lots of folks say the Wings didnt do enough this offseason, but it is part of his plan, dont overpay for one player, tinker, improve the team with every signing, draft extremely well and restock the once empty farm system and build, build, build. Are they a playoff team? Man it is hard to say, Boston will certainly slip some, if Krejci and Bergeron both retire possibly a lot. Tampa showed signs last year of being tired. Florida may come back to earth after a magical playoff run. But Ottawa and Buffalo both have their sights on knocking off a big boy as well and both are well tooled to do that as well. This is as deep and talented division in the game top to bottom. Even Montreal has a pulse. So playoffs are possible, at the least they will be fun to watch and interesting most nights and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Plus as of right now the Wings have a bit over 31 million in cap space for next year so the rebuild will be complete by next season. Future very bright. If not right now, certainly in the very immediate future.

Perron, Sprong, Fischer, ghost all free agents after the season. All are talented placeholders for the kids who will burst onto the team in 24-25. With injuries we will see edvisson, mazur and Kasper get their feet wet in a low pressure spot and ready to rock next year. I hope

The wings made a huge trade for Debrincat the other day, following a flurry of signings during the frenzy. Still, with nearly eight million in cap space the Wings May still look to add one more forward. The name that makes sense to me is Tomas Tatar. He is a solid middle six winger, plays both ends of the ice well and had 21 goals and 48 points last season. He has not gotten the offers he has hoped for, would be a great get on a two year deal. Taresenko has been linked everywhere but only two or three teams can afford him. He fired his agents after only getting a 4x5 offer from Carolina as his best deal. He sounds more or less resigned to betting on himself with a one or two year deal. Ottawa wants him but by taking kubalik back in the Cat deal has less than five million in cap space and would have to move someone out. Would be a great fit. My dark horse is Patrick Kane. Coming off his surgery he goes to be ready by the opener, he and the Cat were magic on a line in Chicago. They would be fun together with Larkin centering them. Anyway you look at it, the Wings can financially afford one more big move, the back end is set, the net is three deep, another scoring winger would be ideal. Yzerman in his presser said he was going on vacation but he was not against spending to the cap if the deal made sense. I think any of these three would look great in the winged wheel on a two year deal.

I posted it two weeks ago lol. I literally know one guy in hockey and he is right about 75 pct of the time he told me this two weeks ago and while some pieces were different I am glad it finally happened so I don't have too much egg on face lol.

Veteran forward Josiah Slavin has left the Ducks and signed with the Marlies where he will spend most of the year as a fill in for the big club for occasional injuries. Why does this merit a mention let alone its own thread? Because the hot rumor now the Debrincat domino has fallen is that Taresenko will choose Ottawa over Carolina. Carolina desperately needs to add a top tier goal scorer and is crazy strong on defense. There is a very real chance they make a move from that depth and the white hot rumor involved little Willie Nylander to Carolina for incredibly talented younger brother, blueliner Jaccob Slavin. Ryan O'Reilly signed with Nashville and they brought older brother Cal along on a two way deal on a very expensive Ahl contract. A couple of Staal boys played in Florida last year. It's kind of a thing right now. Rumor makes sense for both. Nylander will not budge on giving leafs a discount, Carolina can afford him, Slavin balances roster and has two years left on his deal. I saw the elder Slavin signing today and thought, yup, this is happening.

Love the trade Kubalik a decent middle six winger, solid player but no upside. Debrango does not crack the wings top ten prospects, and the pick is the worst of Detroits two that we have. Oh and the Cat wanted Timo Meier money/term (8x9) and came in at five years at 7.8 million. Simply overwhelmingly a great deal for the Wings. Did not mortgage our future giving up top prospects, did not risk an eight year deal. Just a great deal. As far as Dorion and Ottawa they did the best that they could but they had no cards. Debrincat made it clear he was leaving after the year, and Detroit was the only team he wanted to go to. A late first, a Cplus prospect and a 20 goals scoring winger was the best they could do.

It has to be mutual between player and team which this was. It relieves Detroit of any monies owed, saving a smidge less than 2 million per. It allows zadina a fresh start and the ability to negotiate with the teams of his choice. IMHO the wings come out great, zero cap retention, and zadina gambles on his abilities.

Blashill when he left Detroit made a comment about 'uncoachable' players which many, if not most took to refer to Mantha, as the two of them had a hate/hate relationship, but as Mantha was gone for a year before the axe finally swung on Blashill, it likely was code for a roster player currently on the roster when Blashill was whacked, I have seen several people think it was Rasmussen but imho it has to be zadina. In juniors he loved to use a burst of speed down the right side and fire it through the goalie from just inside the right faceoff circle high and glove side, if you watch his predator video it is his major move, challenging goalies from there one on one NHL goalies are too good to allow anyone to beat them regularly with that shot. After four years it's still his go to, he has made no adjustments to the NHL game, he still thinks he is in juniors. He has no idea how to set a screen, how to look for the trailer, he still thinks his junior game will eventually start working in the NHL.

I genuinely was a bit surprised he was not claimed by a team fighting to get to the cap floor such as Arizona or Philly or San Jose, a shade under two million a year for two years, honestly he might have been worth taking a shot. Man the wings in Holland's later years were dreadful with first and second rounders, mantha is meh and is probably the best of a bad lot. Cholowski, Frk, Rasmussen, jurco, Oullet, Givani Smith, Zadina and Svechnikov were some of his glaring swings and misses. Yeah I know, Larkin but every now and then a blind squirrel finds an acorn. He left a scorched Earth and the pipeline is finally becoming restocked.

cleared. Nobody claimed him. Says it all.

Played for Torts for Torts entire run in New York. Signed to be a drinking buddy on the road lol. Seriously tho, never a fan, always thought he got by on his family name until he was traded to Detroit then I watched him. A bit washed up but technically sound he was an excellent mentor for the young defense.

in a game that has gotten softer as the years have went by, he is taking it to extreme. Honestly, i think covid screwed his development up for a year or two, he never got traction, injuries have hit at the wrong time, essentially snakebit. That said, the Wings have given him every opportunity in the world, he has never grabbed it.

Glad to see him finish his career where he started. Woulda been nice to see them sign Wheeler and Kessel as well.

Versatile super pest Ross Colton was dealt by Tampa to Colorado for a second rounder, pick number 37 which sakic and the Avs received the day before for partial payment of Alex newhook. Colton can play any forward position, scores 20 goals on average per year and lives to hit. At this point and time he is newhook who loves to hit although Colton has likely peaked and newhook has more upside. Essentially they replaced newhook with a similar player and came out with a late first for free.

Blake wheeler is being bought out today, the last original Jet unceremoniously dropped. Teams best player Scheifele likely traded today to either Boston or Detroit. All star goalie Hellboy wants out as well. All that said, and that is a lot, the Jets did very well in the deal. As the Hockey Guy said in his YouTube video, for Dubois they added an entire line. About as well as could be expected all things considered. I am not as high on kupari as some but his name only came into the deal late, you kind of felt like after Montreal dropped out that the Jets had the kings bidding against themselves. Oh, and they managed a second rounder as well. Very nice.

Hey you beat me to one lol. Love it for the Devils, toffoli exactly the type of experienced playoffs performer you need to come out of the East. Sharangovich is ok but a third liners is his suited role while toffoli can play any of the top three lines as needed gives the devils nice versatility. Flame fans will love sharangovich for something like a timely goal or a wicked hit that he does every couple of weeks but toffoli is steady and boring and proven and like punching a clock, you know he is gonna score 25 goals and provide leadership and stability. Nobody loves a toffoli except his coach and GM and teammates.

Pld is a king, 8.5 for eight years. Harkins along for the ride, a solid ahl scorer who has not taken advantage of chances with the jets. Kings now have the deepest most talented centers in the west and possibly in the game The jets added solid wingers is tell and vilardi and former first round center kupari who has done very little when given a chance. Love the deal for both, jets get rid of headache in Dubois, add two solid wingers I am weary of who their centers will be especially if they trade scheifele to Boston or Detroit. The kings are incredibly deep at center and still strong on the wing.

Blackwood lost the net in Jersey last year, was just dealt to the sharks for a sixth round pick. Sharks get a talented goalie in need of a change for not a lot. He replaced reimer and will split the net with kahkonen. He lost his game to injuries and confidence issues over the last two years, little risk for the sharks smart pickup by GM Grier.

Newhook has been given a shot at the 2c spot after kadri left. His faceoff pct was 5th from the bottom of anyone who took at least 500 draws. Compher passed him and stole his role. With Compher likely unaffordable as a free agent, instead of circling back to newhook they traded for retread Johanson coming off his worst year ever and dealt newhook. I trust sakic who is one of the sharpest minds in the game. If he says Johanson is better, I believe him. That said, I truly don't think newhook has a future at center but I think he could have a good career as a winger. He is smallish but responsible defensively, he has a solid shooting pct. And can play up and down the lines. I think a first and second was too much but it seems to be the going rate for third liners who are versatile and can score a bit, look at jeannot in Tampa last year. Third liners with some, not a lot but some upside. I wouldn't have done it and I think he is joining a really crowded group of forwards in Montreal but I can see the case. Still think that sakic wins this one but newhook is not a bad player.

Look, I like Alex newhook, nice player but a first and second and a middling prospect seems excessive. His career high is 33 points, 14 goals. The 31st and 37th pick? Colorado made a great deal

A handshake deal between yzerman and Dorion has been reached with a few wrinkles to iron out. Debrincat will be coming to Detroit as long as a contract is worked out which seems certain as he is a Farmington hills boy. Ottawa gets the 17th pick in the draft, Filip zadina and either the 44th pick in this year's draft or Boston's first in next year's draft. It will not become official until the draft tomorrow night but it is over as long as debrincat signs. Good deal for both, wings need offense, Ottawa gets nice futures for a player who was not going to resign.

Hayes to blues for a sixth, fifty percent retained.

Well deserved. I think this was a foregone conclusion by New years day.

Bruins added three B minus or C plus defensive prospects yesterday.... tells me that at least one of the top four defenders is a goner in they add Schefiele. I am betting Carlo would have to be one of the pieces going the other way. Originally I thought Lindholm but his contract is too big and he has a no move. I could see Debrusk/Carlo. Other teams are in on Schefiele, he has term left on a very reasonable contract and will command a hefty price....

Agreed. Not the most talented player but can play any forward position, never takes a shift off, not the player he once was but agreed, he leads by example, kind of like Staal in Carolina.