yave1964 Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Some tough decisions will have to be made by Ken Holland and company with some long time members of the Wings as they hit the market as unrestricted free agents. Here is a list of the players the Wings are looking at potentially losing: JOAKIM ANDERSSON: Squeezed out of the rotation by the depth among the forward lines, andersson was waived and after going unclaimed is toiling at Grand Rapids. My prediction is he is gone, probably back to Sweden, his NHL career done. He was not bad he just had no real strengths. DAN CLEARY: His two year contract making up to him by reneging on signing with the Flyers has run its course. Expect him to retire after a year in Grand Rapids and wind up in the front office. DREWmILLER His knee is worse than originally thought and he had ACL surgery, usual recovery time is six months or so, I believe the Wings will invite him back and see if he is able to recover, there wont be a big market for a guy in his thirties coming off knee surgery and Holland is always loyal to this type of player. If he makes it back he helps the P/K. DARREN HELM: Toughest call of them all. With young skilled forwards everywhere and more on the way, Helm may be gracefully shown the door if for no other reason than the fact that there is no room for him anymore. He has played middle six minutes most of the year and his numbers in the role are plain awful. He is really at this point an energy line, fourth liner who kills penalties but he is being used in much too large of a role for various reasons and has not justified the role. I will hate to see him go, but my money is on him being one of the first free agents off the board on July first, signing with the Dallas Stars. KYLE QUINCEY: Defense is a weak area for UFA's this year, forwards abound but defense is a weak class. Quincey has actually done okay for the Wings, not great but okay in this his second tour of duty with the club. Our defense prospects are a mixed bag, nothing special, Quincey is a nice safety valve in case guys like Oullet or Russo do not pan out, but he will command 4 million a year or more in this weak free agent class and I do not see the Wings getting in a bidding war. BRAD RICHARDS: Has actually been okay, but I doubt at anywhere near 4 million a year that he returns so unless he is willing to play for half of his current deal, look for him to move on. So that is Helm, Quincey, Richards all gone and Miller if he comes back having to sign for a small discount, all together saving nearly 11 million a year against the cap. That allows the Wings to add a nice piece (Yandle?) and work on 2017 free agents such as Datsyuk and Tatar. Lots of money freed up with kids waiting in the wings to step in. The Wings could be serious players in free agency this offseason, and it is a very deep class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingNut722 Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 I totally forgot about Dan Cleary....... Shows you how much of an impact player he was. Personally, I think Quincey and Helm should be allowed to walk away. Keep Miller, as you say, Holland shows his loyalty to these guys, and I have always loved the way he grinds out the P/K. Andersson's gone, but I think Brad Richards will likely stay. As expensive as he is, he's actually had a decent impact. As we discussed in another thread, Nyquist is the one who should be moved (too late now), but the Wings still have a large crop of restricted free agents that they will need to pay to keep, lest they go to arbitration - Dekeyser and Mrazek being the top 2. These guys need to be kept, but will command a big raise. I fear Datsyuk may be out after this contract. He may take a few one-year deals the way Lidstrom did....maybe even just to play for a while in the new arena, but he has always been keen on returning to Russia, particularly while he still has some gas in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 @yave1964 @WingNut722 My opinion is that Helm is gone. Signing Abdelkader like they did has the Fat Lady warming up on that one. Only way they keep him is by dumping someone else relatively more important than Helm. His importance has been reduced by the speed that both Larkin and AA have. Speed was and is his number one asset. It might be different if he had another skill, such as face-off success, or something like that which could justify keeping him around like they did Kris Draper back in the day. But he really doesn't. He doesn't finish well regularly. Only in bits and spurts. So all that speed usually doesn't amount to much offensively. I'd rather keep Larkin and AA and let Helm walk. I have said this before, and I'll say it again: I like Darren Helm. A lot. But he's not gonna be worth what we will have to pay to keep him unless he lowballs a salary request in order to stay, and I don't see that happening. Quincey IS a tougher call. Which Quincey will you get? And for how long will you get him? On the other hand, who ya gonna replace him with? Do you think we can get a guy like Yandle for the same amount? I dunno. When you factor in what we will have to pay to buy another guy his equal, he might be worth hanging onto. Miller will give you good value for low cost. I say keep him if we can do it reasonably, and I think we should be able to do that. Sayonara Dan Cleary. Thanks for your years of service. I'm sure they can find SOME front office position for you to fill. I have no problem with him helping grow the young kids in GR if he wants to do that. Richards, I say he's gone too. I'm not saying he doesn't do anything, but I'm saying I'm underwhelmed with what he's given us for what we've paid him. He's been MEH! My $.02. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingNut722 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 @SpikeDDS Regarding Richards, I agree he has not lived up to what we might have expected of him. But he HAS integrated well with his linemates and he HAS produced, albeit to a lower degree. Better the devil you know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 27 minutes ago, WingNut722 said: @SpikeDDS Regarding Richards, I agree he has not lived up to what we might have expected of him. But he HAS integrated well with his linemates and he HAS produced, albeit to a lower degree. Better the devil you know... Yeah just like taking Franzen over Hossa. :-O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingNut722 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 41 minutes ago, SpikeDDS said: Yeah just like taking Franzen over Hossa. :-O It's an idiom, it's not a rule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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