Latest Red Wings rumors

[yave1964]

  A couple of weeks before the trade deadline, Ken Holland has informed teams that the Wings are 'open for business' when it comes to trades. Here are the latest that I have been reading.

 

  Steve Yzerman has personally scouted the Wings of late, rumor is that he is considering making a move for either Mike Green from the Wings or Ryan McDonough of the Rangers to QB the second power play and make one of the games best offenses even more lethal. 

 

  Elliott Friedman has speculated that Andreas Athanasiou may be hard to resign this next time around for Detroit and with a glut of gifted forwards AA may be on the way out possibly to Carolina for Justin Faulk who would be a great replacement for Green as a minute eating offensive d-man. I love AA but see him as peaking as a top six winger with his best role as a skilled third liner/penalty killer and feel that Faulk would be more than a fair add.

 

  Speaking of Green, Winging it on Motown has speculated on him returning to Washington but I don't see it, they need a lefty shot badly on the back end, not a right, if not Tampa I could see him ending up with the Isles who own two first rounders and may be willing to gamble one for Green or IMHO his most likely destination being Toronto where they have only one real need, a puck mover on the back end. I thought New Jersey until they added Vatanen but they are starting to fade and may want to make another addition on the back end and may pay the price. Toronto is the likely suitor though.

 

  Also,, according to Bob McKenzie the Predators are scouting Tatar and Nyquist and leaning towards Nyquist because he only has one year left on his deal whereas Tats just started his. supposedly Nashville is looking to gear up for another deep playoff run and in addition to the 'unretirement' of Mike Fisher a scoring winger such as Nyke or Vanek from Vancouver is what they are eyeballing.

 

 And lastly, Petr Mrazek getting so many consecutive starts lately was no accident, it was to showcase him for teams in need of goalie help down the stretch. The Islanders are not happy with the arson squad in net of Halak and Greiss to put it mildly and again, they have two first round picks, I doubt Petr fetches a first by himself but either another piece back or eating half of Mrazek's salary may get that done. Arizona is in dead last and Raanta is an UFA at years end and rumors are that they are aggressively looking for a replacement and a straight up Hockey deal player for player may be worked out, Domi is in the dog house there and might be part of a move. A very interesting rumor is the Pens may be interested in a veteran backup goalie for the playoffs and Mrazek/Green may be Pittsburgh bound possibly for Jarry and a pick or prospect with the Wings retaining lots of salary.

 

  Lots of smoke, AA, Tats, Nyke, Mrazek and Green, the odds are three or more will be playing elsewhere March first. One way or the other the roster will definitely look a lot different.

 

 

 

[yave1964]

  A couple of weeks before the trade deadline, Ken Holland has informed teams that the Wings are 'open for business' when it comes to trades. Here are the latest that I have been reading.

 

  Steve Yzerman has personally scouted the Wings of late, rumor is that he is considering making a move for either Mike Green from the Wings or Ryan McDonough of the Rangers to QB the second power play and make one of the games best offenses even more lethal. 

 

  Elliott Friedman has speculated that Andreas Athanasiou may be hard to resign this next time around for Detroit and with a glut of gifted forwards AA may be on the way out possibly to Carolina for Justin Faulk who would be a great replacement for Green as a minute eating offensive d-man. I love AA but see him as peaking as a top six winger with his best role as a skilled third liner/penalty killer and feel that Faulk would be more than a fair add.

 

  Speaking of Green, Winging it on Motown has speculated on him returning to Washington but I don't see it, they need a lefty shot badly on the back end, not a right, if not Tampa I could see him ending up with the Isles who own two first rounders and may be willing to gamble one for Green or IMHO his most likely destination being Toronto where they have only one real need, a puck mover on the back end. I thought New Jersey until they added Vatanen but they are starting to fade and may want to make another addition on the back end and may pay the price. Toronto is the likely suitor though.

 

  Also,, according to Bob McKenzie the Predators are scouting Tatar and Nyquist and leaning towards Nyquist because he only has one year left on his deal whereas Tats just started his. supposedly Nashville is looking to gear up for another deep playoff run and in addition to the 'unretirement' of Mike Fisher a scoring winger such as Nyke or Vanek from Vancouver is what they are eyeballing.

 

 And lastly, Petr Mrazek getting so many consecutive starts lately was no accident, it was to showcase him for teams in need of goalie help down the stretch. The Islanders are not happy with the arson squad in net of Halak and Greiss to put it mildly and again, they have two first round picks, I doubt Petr fetches a first by himself but either another piece back or eating half of Mrazek's salary may get that done. Arizona is in dead last and Raanta is an UFA at years end and rumors are that they are aggressively looking for a replacement and a straight up Hockey deal player for player may be worked out, Domi is in the dog house there and might be part of a move. A very interesting rumor is the Pens may be interested in a veteran backup goalie for the playoffs and Mrazek/Green may be Pittsburgh bound possibly for Jarry and a pick or prospect with the Wings retaining lots of salary.

 

  Lots of smoke, AA, Tats, Nyke, Mrazek and Green, the odds are three or more will be playing elsewhere March first. One way or the other the roster will definitely look a lot different.

 

 

 

[musky]

islanders really need a goalie sorokin is in russia for 2 more years so if they have any chance they need to get a goalie.

[yave1964]

1 minute ago, musky said:

islanders really need a goalie sorokin is in russia for 2 more years so if they have any chance they need to get a goalie.

Mrazek starting against your boys tonight, sure that is not an accident, he is being showcased for a possible move to Brooklyn within the next few weeks.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I could see Steve Yzerman looking long and hard at Mike Green.

He never has been afraid to trade within his Conference or division in the past.... to him, a good hockey trade is a good hockey trade if it improves his team in some way, and he doesn't care where the deal comes from.

 

From a Lightning standpoint, adding a Mike Green would definitely improve the offensive side of things, however, I wonder if Yzerman would remain 'pat' on the defensive side of things.

Not saying Green is a defensive liability, but there are other names floating around that are probably better defensively, though likely not as good offensively.

 

Also, Green would be a rental player at a 6M cap hit.

Guess it will come down to how much value Yzerman places on Green....what he would be wiling to give up for him and possibly not having him past this season, as I doubt the Bolts would want to re-sign him at this current rate or higher rate (not because he may not deserve it, but because the Bolts have a few contracts that will come due within the next couple seasons....cough, Namestnikov, cough, KUCHEROV, COUGH!)...AND there are some younger player contracts who will be RFA's around that same time period that may deserve significant raises.

 

Bolts other rumored defensive help include Ryan McDonagh, Jack Johnson, and Cody Ceci.

Green is better offensively than all three of those (McDonagh is more of a 'do everything' type), but those three guys are much more physical than Green, and that is something I think the Bolts could really use on their blue line.

Particularly the young 24 yr old Ceci.

 

As for other Wings' players possibly up for grabs, I'd LOVE to add that infernal Justin Abdelkader to the Bolts (or even the Wild at this point).

He certainly has been a thorn in the side of TB players over the years, is big, strong, and can chip in with some scoring if he isn't asked to be a top six guy.

His cap hit might be kinda high for a bottom six forward though, and he is signed long term, so if Detroit is interested in dealing him, that has to be kept in consideration.

$4.25M on a bottom six forward? I dunno.... Bolts have worse right now in Ryan Callahan, but to add another big number without some salary alleviation somewhere?

 

Andreas Athanasiou.

Would the Wings really give up on a 23 yr old forward who could honestly hit his stride at any time now?

Perhaps the pressure of performing on a Detroit team that isn't particularly loaded on offense right now is an issue for him.

Maybe on a team like Tampa Bay, where he wouldn't have to be anywhere close to being "the guy" he could do better?

Maybe he could be another Yanni Gourde type player....gritty, does a bit of everything, and benefits greatly from the presence of TB's myriad top six talent?

 

Athanasiou may fit in just as well on any other team who already has a set top six (Dallas, Anaheim, and perhaps even Toronto come to mind)

 

Lastly, Petr Mrazek.

Wow. I thought this guy was a shoe-in to be Detroit's long term goalie.

Not sure where he would fit in best right now, but ANY team (and yes that includes the Islanders) could do worse than give Mrazek a shot.

Big question here would be..... What, exactly is fair value to give up for a goalie that has been given every opportunity to be the number one guy in Detroit...but has yet to actually run with it?

 

In addition to the Islanders, the Canucks, Panthers, and Flyers could be places he may have a shot at winning a starting job.

Flames, Oilers, Avalanche or Devils are teams he might be a quality back up on while still seeing some decent play time.