Vlasic is a long-term part of the next core, he could fill the Seabrook-type of role. I expect Vlasic will wear a letter in the near future.

KK is also part of the future, best case he’s a true #1, worse case is top 4 PP specialist.

The rest have potential, but are far from locks. Phillips has the edge right now, but Del Mastro and Allan could pass him (or not). I think KD should draft another defenseman in the first round. If they draft 3rd or 4th then go for Levshunov, D!ckinson or Silayev. With Tampa’s pick - Parekh, Yakemchuck or Jiricek (depending on who’s available).
- DarthKane

Considering the somewhat unexpected picks that KD has made, I’m sure he’ll draft whoever is highest on their board when picking.

To quote Paul, take the best available… always.

While they are only 3 points out of a playoff spot, some models right now are giving the Wings only a 12% chance to make the playoffs. Will be interesting to see how that plays out and if maybe Kane picked the wrong horse to make a run with.
- breadbag

Watch them blame Kane if they don't make playoffs.

Watch them blame Kane if they don't make playoffs.
- 6628

I know I will. Have you seen him back check? Makes Panarin look like Hossa.

I know I will. Have you seen him back check? Makes Panarin look like Hossa.
- Dieselhead

Kane him
Blame him
Who would be an ideal center for the two ex Blackhawks. Wait. They have Larkin
Red Wings not quite on par with some other Eastern conference teams but they are close. The defensemen collectively fall short and the goaltending .., eh Husso better than their old Osgood model

Yzerman has a top prospect on defense prepping in the AHL but should work to keep improving forward and defense ranks. Maybe Husso with lower contract amount will mean more money goes to someone else.

I know I will. Have you seen him back check? Makes Panarin look like Hossa.
- Dieselhead

To be fair, he's probably even worse now, because his mobility/age is really showing - to his credit, offensively he's still producing.

Panarin's backchecking (compared to Kane) always looked like Hossa when he was on the team. Actually to be fair, the Hossa analogy probably applied to pretty much everyone on those teams (including the goalies) ... 0-:]

Merry Christmas you filthy animals! Thanks for all the entertainment.

Merry Christmas you filthy animals! Thanks for all the entertainment.
- mohel

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is safe and happy. Cheers!

D!ckinson - Trade or Re-sign?
Considering the return the Hawks got for Hagel (who was younger and had more years of team control than D!ckinson) what would the return for D!ckinson be? I think it starts with a 2nd round pick and a prospect that has a legitimate chance of developing into a middle 6 player. 
If you signed him what would be the cap hit and for how many years would you sign him. 3 or 4 years at $4 mil? He can be a stabilizing force and a key player in helping this team transition into a contender. At some point too much player turnover is not good. 

Foligno is in the same boat. He is 8 years older than D!ckinson. But brings with him more playoff experience and locker room presence. It looks like he still has something left in the tank. You could eat 1/2 his salary. The return in a trade would be a little less because of his age and cap hit, but we could be surprised. 
I would probably give Foligno two more years at $4 mil. 

The team needs veteran forwards  to make the transition smoother. Next year you could have Hall, D!ckinson, Foligno, AA, Donato, Bedard, Kurashev, Anderson, Raddysh, an early 1st round 2024 pick, 3 more forward spots up for grabs, and a ton of cap room. Not great, but consistent with the long term goal of returning to legitimacy. 

A lot of cap room, a good locker room, a boatload of prospects, and draft capital is ok with me.

Merry Christmas Theo. I miss your posts.

The IT quality of this website is awful.

Merry Christmas all, or whatever you may celebrate. Thanks for each and everyone's own view point of this wonderful sport I may not always agree with them but I try to always be open to them.

D!ckinson - Trade or Re-sign?
Considering the return the Hawks got for Hagel (who was younger and had more years of team control than D!ckinson) what would the return for D!ckinson be? I think it starts with a 2nd round pick and a prospect that has a legitimate chance of developing into a middle 6 player. 
If you signed him what would be the cap hit and for how many years would you sign him. 3 or 4 years at $4 mil? He can be a stabilizing force and a key player in helping this team transition into a contender. At some point too much player turnover is not good. 

Foligno is in the same boat. He is 8 years older than D!ckinson. But brings with him more playoff experience and locker room presence. It looks like he still has something left in the tank. You could eat 1/2 his salary. The return in a trade would be a little less because of his age and cap hit, but we could be surprised. 
I would probably give Foligno two more years at $4 mil. 

The team needs veteran forwards  to make the transition smoother. Next year you could have Hall, D!ckinson, Foligno, AA, Donato, Bedard, Kurashev, Anderson, Raddysh, an early 1st round 2024 pick, 3 more forward spots up for grabs, and a ton of cap room. Not great, but consistent with the long term goal of returning to legitimacy. 

A lot of cap room, a good locker room, a boatload of prospects, and draft capital is ok with me.


Merry Christmas Theo. I miss your posts.
- -Doh-

Next season may be too soon for Greene but maybe not Nazar. Could Hayes be on the fast track. See what you think about Hayes after watching him in this WJC. Savoie will need at least half of a season to return to form and gain pro experience in the AGL. That Dach and or Rolston might emerge is nice but both should get a second AHL campaign . Neither projects as a top line scorer. right

There is no way to get excited about our early ‘24 first round choice. Simply wait until the ping pong balls are drawn and we learn our slot.

All I can keep hoping is how badly we need a top two pick then will KD take a forward.

D!ckinson - Trade or Re-sign?
Considering the return the Hawks got for Hagel (who was younger and had more years of team control than D!ckinson) what would the return for D!ckinson be? I think it starts with a 2nd round pick and a prospect that has a legitimate chance of developing into a middle 6 player. 
If you signed him what would be the cap hit and for how many years would you sign him. 3 or 4 years at $4 mil? He can be a stabilizing force and a key player in helping this team transition into a contender. At some point too much player turnover is not good. 

Foligno is in the same boat. He is 8 years older than D!ckinson. But brings with him more playoff experience and locker room presence. It looks like he still has something left in the tank. You could eat 1/2 his salary. The return in a trade would be a little less because of his age and cap hit, but we could be surprised. 
I would probably give Foligno two more years at $4 mil. 

The team needs veteran forwards  to make the transition smoother. Next year you could have Hall, D!ckinson, Foligno, AA, Donato, Bedard, Kurashev, Anderson, Raddysh, an early 1st round 2024 pick, 3 more forward spots up for grabs, and a ton of cap room. Not great, but consistent with the long term goal of returning to legitimacy. 

A lot of cap room, a good locker room, a boatload of prospects, and draft capital is ok with me.

Merry Christmas Theo. I miss your posts.
- -Doh-

Unless they show marked improvement through the rest of the year, I wouldn’t expect Anderson or Raddysh back. Considering how much rope they’ve given Kurashev, I’d expect they give Reichel another shot (he’ll be cheap). I’m still hoping KD adds some legit forward talent this offseason.

Well, this Grinch has arrived.

Merry Christmas

A review of 2023 (draft) has me still not understanding why Kyle from Chicago traded Philly the 51st overall pick (Carson Bjarnason) for the 167th pk Milton Oscarson and the Los Angeles 2024 second rounder.

Unless the entire organization thought the 2023 sixth rounder was harvesting a special unknown at #167, why take two picks back when neither is going to be the lower of the three?

Did they not think the Kings were gonna be any good and draft 19th overall?
Because right now that pick is going to be at the bottom third of the second round (as that 2024 second rounder is sitting right now at about 60th over all)

Did they think having ANY extra second rounder in 2024 was the goal?

I realized that KD is trying to build relationships with the other GMs, but this one still has me scratching my head.
Was it because the current top scorer in the Dub (Carson Rehkopf) had just been taken off the board?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Unless they show marked improvement through the rest of the year, I wouldn’t expect Anderson or Raddysh back. Considering how much rope they’ve given Kurashev, I’d expect they give Reichel another shot (he’ll be cheap). I’m still hoping KD adds some legit forward talent this offseason.
- Chunk

I'm curious to see how this plays out.

I think they offer D!ckinson an extension and hope to sign him before the trade deadline otherwise they may trade him.

I think Raddysh has to play himself into a 3rd line role and i think he's doing that but needs to work on being more physical.

I also believe the plan is to develop their young dline right now.

One of the hardest parts of the plan drafting top 6 forwards. Other than Bedard there is so many question marks, Reichel, Nazar, Moore, maybe a surprise or 2 in the system, but we will be bad until this part of the hockey club gets NHL better hopefully we end up with the top pick 2 years in a row.

Another wrinkle and this is really where we will see if KD is the real deal or pretender, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks, if he is the real deal we will see at least a third of those 2nd round picks be effective hockey players and a quarter of those 3rd rounders. This will give us a huge advantage in regards to future cap flexibility and moving on from players on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th lines, and 3rd pairing dmen. Wouldn't it be great if he was better than the league average in drafting hockey players? Well that's my hope.

Merry Christmas to one and all

Well, this Grinch has arrived.

Merry Christmas

A review of 2023 (draft) has me still not understanding why Kyle from Chicago traded Philly the 51st overall pick (Carson Bjarnason) for the 167th pk Milton Oscarson and the Los Angeles 2024 second rounder.

Unless the entire organization thought the 2023 sixth rounder was harvesting a special unknown at #167, why take two picks back when neither is going to be the lower of the three?

Did they not think the Kings were gonna be any good and draft 19th overall?
Because right now that pick is going to be at the bottom third of the second round (as that 2024 second rounder is sitting right now at about 60th over all)

Did they think having ANY extra second rounder in 2024 was the goal?

I realized that KD is trying to build relationships with the other GMs, but this one still has me scratching my head.
Was it because the current top scorer in the Dub (Carson Rehkopf) had just been taken off the board?
- wiz1901

Merry Christmas Wiz!

Merry Christmas to one and all
- Tatoo

I'm curious to see how this plays out.

I think they offer D!ckinson an extension and hope to sign him before the trade deadline otherwise they may trade him.

I think Raddysh has to play himself into a 3rd line role and i think he's doing that but needs to work on being more physical.

I also believe the plan is to develop their young dline right now.

One of the hardest parts of the plan drafting top 6 forwards. Other than Bedard there is so many question marks, Reichel, Nazar, Moore, maybe a surprise or 2 in the system, but we will be bad until this part of the hockey club gets NHL better hopefully we end up with the top pick 2 years in a row.

Another wrinkle and this is really where we will see if KD is the real deal or pretender, 2nd and 3rd round draft picks, if he is the real deal we will see at least a third of those 2nd round picks be effective hockey players and a quarter of those 3rd rounders. This will give us a huge advantage in regards to future cap flexibility and moving on from players on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th lines, and 3rd pairing dmen. Wouldn't it be great if he was better than the league average in drafting hockey players? Well that's my hope.
- BetweenTheDots

I’ll go out on a limb and say only one of Katchouk, Raddysh, Entwistle, Johnson and Guttman will be back next year. I don’t think most of these guys are part of the plan.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is safe and happy. Cheers!
- Chunk

Merry Christmas All! Happy seems like a big ask for this group though Chunk.

Merry Christmas All! Happy seems like a big ask for this group though Chunk.
- HawkintheD

I’m an optimist D. 😁

I’ll go out on a limb and say only one of Katchouk, Raddysh, Entwistle, Johnson and Guttman will be back next year. I don’t think most of these guys are part of the plan.
- Chunk

They are all either 24 or 25 years old. I’d like to keep the two Tampa guys, but Katchouk is in the dog house and Raddysh needs to start digging in the corners more consistently.

And Merry Christmas to all! Hope you all had an opportunity to spend time with family.

Unless they show marked improvement through the rest of the year, I wouldn’t expect Anderson or Raddysh back. Considering how much rope they’ve given Kurashev, I’d expect they give Reichel another shot (he’ll be cheap). I’m still hoping KD adds some legit forward talent this offseason.
- Chunk

It took TT a lot longer than we've given Reichel.

Considering the somewhat unexpected picks that KD has made, I’m sure he’ll draft whoever is highest on their board when picking.

To quote Paul, take the best available… always.
- Chunk

McCartney?

I’ll go out on a limb and say only one of Katchouk, Raddysh, Entwistle, Johnson and Guttman will be back next year. I don’t think most of these guys are part of the plan.
- Chunk

.

I don’t think any are part of the plan. The curiosity I have is currently under contract at forward next season is Hall, AA, Kurashev, Donato, and Bedard. If they sign Reichel ($2 mil.)give Foligno his $4 mil. And let’s say Richardinson $4 mil. That is 8 slots for approx $26 mil.. of course this is assuming Richardinson and Foligno want to resign.

On defense, Vlasic is due for a raise let’s say he swaps with Zaitsev’s $4 mil. Plus Jones, Murphy and the rest the rookies at the ELC’s that is about $21 mil. Plus one slot for a veteran D maybe.

Figure Mrazek or a like replacement (use Campbell’s$5 mil. Plus Soderblom is $6 mil. Allocated to goaltendin

You have right now $5 mil. In dead cap space.

In total that is $58 for 19 spots, basically 4 forward spots open.

KFC would then has approx. $10 mil to $30 mil. To spend on those 4 spaces. Does he continue to strive for top 5 draft choices, or does he try and get some forwards to try and give an appearance that he cares about the quality of the current roster, or continue to gaslight the fans about how he is building the next Roman Empire,