I still like Wilde for his upside. A lot of these guys are Ouellete or Sproul types. We keep taking playmakers which we need desperately.
What's with some of these highlight packages? "oh this guy is a great skater and his hands are fantastic. Here you see some highlights of him stretching and warming up doing nothing."
With 4 of top 36 picks we should have had a good draft, but even that aside I'm pleased with what we have done so far
Last year we took too many character guys. We have taken a ton of skill so far. Skill that was sorely needed.
I wouldn't say a few but I could see them especially given our history of picks having him down another year
If he doesn’t make the roster he has to go back to Juniors. I don’t think there is much upside for him to head back to the Q. The likely scenario is that he makes the roster and gets 9 games to audition. After 9 games we have the choice to send him back to Juniors.
Regula is a big kid but he’s an offensive minded D. Plus he’s not 18 until August. He should log a ton of minutes for London next year, and London knows how to develop NHL players. Nice high upside pick.
Took another D in Barton. He was undrafted last year but he was one of the youngest draft eligible players. He is headed to college next year so we get four years to see how he develops.
Tavares is going to meet with 5 teams leading up to July 1. He has no reason to meet with us but Ken will do his damndest to get us in the room, you can be assured of that. I mean you do have to try but it’s a waste.
So under contract for next year are: Z Nielsen Gus Abby Helm Glendening Witowski Larkin Mantha AA Bertuzzi DeKeyser Kronwall Daley Ericsson Ouellete Jensen Howard We need to add 1 G, 1 D and 3 F. Guys I fully expect on the opening night roster Rasmussen Zadina Hicketts Now you’re looking at adding a G and another F in FA. Of course, we have to look at potential moves from the current roster. I don’t expect a ton, but what I do expect is: AA is dealt, probably to land a roster D. If we don’t add a roster D through trade, we will sign one. I don’t see is going into the year with Hronek and Hicketts on the opening night roster, as dumb as that may be. I expect that Ouellete is bought out. With AA gone, you now need add some forwards. I tend to think Turgeron will make the team out of camp since he is a fourth line guy. I don’t expect Svech to make the club though because unless he is top 9, it doesn’t make sense. I still sense a world where Svech and AA go to CAR for Faulk, so I’ll presume that is what happens. The team still needs some depth bodies, so I will assume we land those guys in FA. This leads me to what I presume our opening night roster looks like: Gus - Z - Bert Mantha - Larkin - Zadina Ras - Nielsen - Abby Helm - Glendening - Turgeron/Witowski/UFA Faulk - Daley Kronwall - DDK Ericsson - Hicketts/Jensen Howard UFA Team still isn’t any good but it’ll be fun to watch. In a perfect world, Ras develops quickly and ends up on Z’s wing once Gus is traded. We need to clean up that bottom six though. Nielsen has some offensive upside but beyond him there is just nothing there.
Sounds like Dougie Hamilton is headed to CAR which likely means Faulk is even more expendable, unless he is in the deal.
I know we won't keep them all, but seems we're going to have trouble finding spots for all these goalies to develop in a few years.
Most will never sign pro contracts. The nice thing is that most of these guys are European so we get some extra time with their rights to see what happens. I think Larsson and Petruzelli are our best hopes at a bonafide starter.
Here is my personal prospect rankings post draft. For the top 10 I added my current guess for their high end potential 1. Zadina: 1RW 2. Rasmussen: 2C 3. Hronek: 2D/PP Specialist 4. Cholowski: 3D 5. Veleno: 2C 6. Svechnikov: 2LW 7. Larsson: 1G 8. Berrgren: 2RW 9. McIssac: 4D 10. Hicketts: 5D 11. Saarijarvi 12. Smith 13. Pope 14. Regula 15. Turgeron 16. Petruzzelli 17. Lindstrom 18. Sulak 19. Kotkansalo 20. Ehn
Hronek will be called up at some point next year. Doubt he makes it out of Camp but he will be on the team for good by 2019. Cholo by 2020 full time.
NHL and MLB are so weird where most guys drafted aren't competing in pros the next year (unless they're really good). Probably a reason why those college sports aren't very popular. College football and basketball are like the minor leagues for those sports, and probably a big reason why they garner the attention that they do. Why is this? More young guys competing to get to the professional level in hockey and baseball? So then they have to add additional levels for guys to get through?
By some minor miracle Kronwall played 79 games last year. That ain’t happening again so Hronek should get some looks
There’s only one league for football before the pros. If every hockey prospect was playing college hockey instead of Canadian juniors, Europe, college hockey, etc it would have a much bigger following
The Canucks have cap space for a trade, your 2 2019 2nd rounders will suffice. In all seriousness the Wings are going to have a hard time clearing cap space when a lot of their big contracts have NTCs and M-NTCs. That reminds me of the Canucks a few years ago when they were trying to overhaul their roster. If GMKH found a way to sign Jack Johnson, he better not give him a NTC or M-NTC.
Rebouf was not qualified an offer, making him a UFA. With Russo gone, that should finalize GR’s D: Cholowski - Hronek Sulak - McIllrath Lashoff - Saarijarvi That’s a good mix. It’s nice to have McIllrath down there as protection for the kids. Nastasuiak was also not qualified. Curious to see where we go with the forward lines, as one would expect Smith, Ehn and Holmstrom to play bigger roles next season.
Convinced my wife to buy half season tickets if lower price range. Debating if I would rather do quarter season with better seats
I would do the quarter if you can avoid the upper deck by doing so. I think the upper deck at pizza pizza is absolutely terrible.
Pavel Gogolev is on developmental roster. He was as high as 74th on some prospect lists. He scored 30 goals in OHL last year. Seems to be the best of the non roster invitees this year. Also Taro Hirose is on the roster for you Spartan fans and Luke Morgan for Michigan fans.
Custance says Robin Lehner is visiting Detroit today. That would be quite a signing because he’s still young for an NHL goalie and could develop further. The shit news is that we have reached to Filppula because the team thinks Z may not be back. I would love one more year of Z just to help the kids out.
In his story today he mentioned that the team has some worries about how his training is going. He said he was back if he could train like he has the last few years.