SpikeDDS Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 Six weeks. That is how long we have for players looking to improve their individual chances at playing meaningful playoff hockey to do try to do that. Gus Nyquist is making the most of that opportunity, and he has become the Wings’ most marketable forward. I am sure that Mike Green will be moved. He is the one player whose track record as an offensively-minded defenseman makes the case for him. Not that he can afford to have his performance plummet, but the reality is that he can probably afford a dip more than anyone else can who realistically will be moved. Tatar probably is the player who has the most to gain or lose here in the next 6 weeks—well, excepting, perhaps, Nyke. It would be to his distinct advantage to get on one of his hot streaks right now. Unfortunately for him, historically those have come when they no longer matter in the playoff standings. BUT, it is noteworthy that prior to a contract negotiation, he upped his game for nearly half a season, resulting in what is likely an overpayment. If he is smart, he will do it again in these next few weeks. Ericsson is another interesting player who may have made himself more marketable with his numbers and I suppose his play this year. I would never believed that he could make himself marketable, but he has. Good for us. That needs to continue. If we can get a middle-round pick for him, that would be great. He must continue to play like he is. Mrazek could do himself a favor by increasing his save percentage. He now has an apparent opportunity, with Howard’s injury—to make a statement about whether his skills might be worth a gamble for a team on the bubble who needs a backup. He’s a streaky goalie. A good streak would be VERY helpful to him now. But THE most important thing is for the Wings front office to remember is that IF these players—and other ones—play better, making the playoffs should NOT be the goal. If they play better, we need to leverage that improvement to be able to market the expendable talent we have to improve our future talent pool. We need D-men. We are NOT going to get the D-man we need directly in a trade for these players. We need draft picks. Lottery draft picks. The glory days of Hakaan Andersson finding some undiscovered European talent and taking them in the 3rd round instead of the 1st are long gone. We are not going to obtain what we need in the 3rd to 7th rounds. Oh, it is possible that some day in the future we may be able to package a bunch of these picks with some better picks to obtain a top-drawer D-man at some deadline, but odds are low, and that day, if even possible, is distant. It’s time for us to take our lumps, completely abandon the idea of reloading on the run, and rebuild around the young core that we have established. The front office needs to look at this LONG-term, not within a 2-3 season window. Resist the temptation of the first-round playoff ticket sales. Even if you get it, that’s ALL you will get, and you are not at all closer to obtaining what you really need to win. What we do not need is a team that makes the playoffs only to exit after the first round and have little-to-no hope of becoming a third round playoff team in 2 more seasons. That just described the last 4 years of The Streak, and where has that gotten us? Here. Worse than we were then. Learn the lesson. Admit the mistakes. Change what we are doing. Forward, not backward. Get cap space to be able to pay AA. Get more young talent that builds a D core and fills in the gaps between Larkin, Mantha, and AA. Then we become a legitimate playoff team again. Keep your eye on the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 9, 2018 Share Posted January 9, 2018 @SpikeDDS Absolutely spot on great write up. I could not agree more with everything you put in here. The problem with guys like Abby, Nyke and Tats is term, it is hard to move a player mid long term contract in todays NHL. Green will be easy, Holland should be working the phones already looking to make a deal for him, getting the market up. He could and should command a pretty return. Mrazek is an interesting case, I could see a team like Chicago who is in need of a goalie, Crawfords time frame is being kept under wraps but the word is that whatever is wrong with him they hope to have him back by seasons end, I could see them coming after Mrazek if they can come up with cap space to do so. The Islanders have an entire solid roster in place, everything but goalie which is a mess they would be a good fit. The return wouldn't be great but at this point....... Basically I doubt we get a huge return for any of Tats, Nyke, Ericsson, Abby, Mrazek or Nielsen because of their contracts but if we can move three or more of them to free cap space to go after what we really need it would be worth it. Next year Rasmussen (who was our best player in the preseason) and blueline puck mover Cholowski will both turn pro and play at GR and will likely be recalled at some point as will Sergechev. We also likely will have a top ten pick, possibly a high one to add to the mix. As you said, lets add to the core of young players and move the average players who are clogging ice time and eating the salary cap if we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 @yave1964 Looking forward to reading your mid-season grades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 10, 2018 Share Posted January 10, 2018 14 hours ago, SpikeDDS said: @yave1964 Looking forward to reading your mid-season grades. Been meaning to get them out, give me a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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