Z-Less Line-up 18-19

[SCD]

Mantha - Larkin - Zadina
Rasmussen - Nielsen - Nyquist
AA - Helm - Vanek
Bertuzzi - Glendening - Abdelkader

I believe the front office wants the marketing value of Zadina playing with Larkin this year.
Nyquist still needs to be showcased for trade value.
I don't think they will let AA center a line, but do want him playing with Vanek until he is traded.
Finding the right home for Bertuzzi is the tough one.

Click to read more...

 

[Frk It]

Yo...

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

Bertuzzi - Larkin -Mantha
Rasmussen - Nielsen - Nyquist
AA - Helm - Vanek
Frk- Glendening - Abdelkader
Witkowski

Zadina...gets called up sometime after TDL when Nyquist and/or possibly AA traded. Gives Z him time to adjust to better competition in AHL & potentially SLIDE 1 year of ELC.

If AA could be #3C, then Svechnikov is up at start of season, but I doubt AA can...that 3rd line would be abused in the Dzone. (Svech-AA-Vanek). If he can, Helm replaces Frk on 4th.

Nike & AA--should each fetch: late 1st, but probably 2nd & 3rd or 2nd & b-level Dman prospect.

Svechnikov replaces Nike or AA
Turgeon replaces Glendening by TDL. LG fetches 2nd & 5th (Leafs ?)

Post TDL:

Zadina - L - M
Raz - Nielsen - Bert
Svechnikov- Helm - Vanek
Frk - Turgeon - Abby
Witkowski

*Nike may resign in 2019 offseason to replace Vanek.
_____________________________________________________________________

DDK-Green
E-Daley
Kronner-Hronek
Jensen

Hickets/Sulak -1st callups or when Kronner LTIRs. Jensen is kept 'til Hronek & 1 of Hicketts/Sulak are up permanently, or if they trade Daley? Doubt Big E waives M-NTC, but Daley seems like he would waive his NTC to go to contender.

Post TDL: (Daley traded, Kronner LTIRetired)

DDK-Green
E-Hronek
Sulak-Jensen
Hicketts

 

[Bench]

I don't like this game.

 

[Henkka]

Nyquist doesn't need showcasing. He plays good hockey.

When I looked to his advanced stats, I think we could trade him for assets at the deadline, but re-sign back on the summer.

Crap players should be cut out from the TOP12.

Tatar dropped to bad level at last season, I think Glendening should be next in line. Then Helm, when his NTC clause will open for trades.

Drop the crap players out one per season and bring talented kids in one-by-one.

 

[lilidk]

Rus-Larkin-Mantha
Svechnikov-nielson-Vanek
AA-helm-Bert
Wit-Glany-Aby

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

Nyquist doesn't need showcasing. He plays good hockey.

When I looked to his advanced stats, I think we could trade him for assets at the deadline, but re-sign back on the summer.

Crap players should be cut out from the TOP12.

Tatar dropped to bad level at last season, I think Glendening should be next in line. Then Helm, when his NTC clause will open for trades.

Drop the crap players out one per season and bring talented kids in one-by-one.

Honestly it wouldn't shock me to see Goose traded, And then resigned next summer. After all his Wife is a Teacher there at Cranbrook. So it wouldn't shock me to see him signed once again.

 

[Zetterbeer]

Bertuzzi - Larkin -Mantha
Rasmussen - Nielsen - Nyquist
AA - Helm - Vanek
Frk- Glendening - Abdelkader
Witkowski

Zadina...gets called up sometime after TDL when Nyquist and/or possibly AA traded. Gives Z him time to adjust to better competition in AHL & potentially SLIDE 1 year of ELC.

If AA could be #3C, then Svechnikov is up at start of season, but I doubt AA can...that 3rd line would be abused in the Dzone. (Svech-AA-Vanek). If he can, Helm replaces Frk on 4th.

Nike & AA--should each fetch: late 1st, but probably 2nd & 3rd or 2nd & b-level Dman prospect.

Svechnikov replaces Nike or AA
Turgeon replaces Glendening by TDL. LG fetches 2nd & 5th (Leafs ?)

Post TDL:

Zadina - L - M
Raz - Nielsen - Bert
Svechnikov- Helm - Vanek
Frk - Turgeon - Abby
Witkowski

*Nike may resign in 2019 offseason to replace Vanek.
_____________________________________________________________________

DDK-Green
E-Daley
Kronner-Hronek
Jensen

Hickets/Sulak -1st callups or when Kronner LTIRs. Jensen is kept 'til Hronek & 1 of Hicketts/Sulak are up permanently, or if they trade Daley? Doubt Big E waives M-NTC, but Daley seems like he would waive his NTC to go to contender.

Post TDL: (Daley traded, Kronner LTIRetired)

DDK-Green
E-Hronek
Sulak-Jensen
Hicketts

This is exactly how I see it happening as well, makes the most sense to me.

Nyquist should fetch a late first if he can produce at a respectable rate this season.

Athanasiou should fetch more than Nyquist, but I would only like to see him traded in a package for a young dman.

 

[raymond23]

I sure hope they give Rasmussen an honest shot at center if Z isn't around. Looking like Montreal with that center depth...

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

With no real shutdown line & virtually the same D, we'll be losing a lot of games...bottom 5 finish for sure.

I'd love to package both Nike & AA for an A-level Dman NHL ready prospect or young top 4 Dman. Since Z is most likely done, I see either Nike or Vanek resigned short-term, unless we keep AA. Veleno & Berggren are 2-3 years away.

I'd take a run at Ryan Ellis & either Matt Duchene or Tyler Seguin in '19.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Man this is going to be sad. No Z does make us the worst team in the league in my opinion.

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Slotting a player into a top line position solely for, "Marketing" is a great way to stunt his development.

If Zadina's good enough and ready to play the top line, great. If not, put him where he's suited to play. We're gonna suck this year. No point in screwing up our biggest current asset.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Thinking about the Red Wings without Zetterberg is really depressing. I was prepared for this next year, but this year, I thought he'd have his victory lap to say goodbye. It would be a really rough season without him.

 

[Go Wings]

Man this is going to be sad. No Z does make us the worst team in the league in my opinion.

Worse than Ottawa, after they trade Karlsson and Duchene and maybe even Stone...nah.

Plus what about Shitty Montreal?

 

[ricky0034]

Worse than Ottawa, after they trade Karlsson and Duchene and maybe even Stone...nah.

Plus what about ****ty Montreal?

well who knows when those things actually happen at this point

I could easily see Karlsson not being moved until the deadline now if he isn't moved within the next week or two which would give Ottawa ~75% of the season with him on the roster

Duchene I don't think they move at all unless he outright tells them he isn't coming back with how much they paid to acquire him just last year

and as for Stone wh0 knows

Montreal should be pretty awful yeah especially with Weber injured for a bunch of the season,although Price could always have a really good season and keep them from the very bottom I suppose

i'd add Vancouver to that list as well,they were pretty awful last year and while they have some young players and are bringing in Petersson who should help a bit they also lost 3 of their top 5 scorers

 

[Datsyukian Deke]

Man this is going to be sad. No Z does make us the worst team in the league in my opinion.

Having nothing even remotely resembling a defense since Nick retired already took care of that for us.

 

[Henkka]

Man this is going to be sad. No Z does make us the worst team in the league in my opinion.

Yeah, it really hurts. I have crystal clear plans how to build the lines with Z.

But without him.... just couldn't build them.

 

[marcmadsen]

Don't get me wrong, Zetterberg has long been a favourite of mine. But there is a part of me that wants him to call it quits now. It's a tough call. It'd be great for all the young players to get another year with him around but if he quits now, it kind of reinforces the necessary change that has to happen.

Although Zetterberg had some nice moments last season, I'd be lying if I said there weren't a lot of shifts that were a bit painful to watch. Not because he was so terrible or anything, but he was nowhere near what he once was. I know everyone wants him to get to a 1000 pts, but I'd rather he quit than potentially have his last year really turn into a situation where he has hung on too long. Obviously, we can only speculate whether he'd have a good season or not, only he has a good idea. So we'll see

In terms of lines, I'd guess the following:

(assuming Zadina starts in GR)
Bertuzzi/Abdelkader - Larkin - Mantha
Athanasiou - Nielsen - Vanek
Nyquist - Helm - Rasmussen
Abdelkader/Bertuzzi - Glendening - Frk/Witkoski

*Line 2 and 3 interchangeable

 

[Lovonov]

I hope Zadina doesn't get a contract slide. Get him to his end of ELC asap. We can sign him to an 8 year for cheaper when his last year is a 60 point season instead of a 75 point season.

 

[Frk It]

I hope Zadina doesn't get a contract slide. Get him to his end of ELC asap. We can sign him to an 8 year for cheaper when his last year is a 60 point season instead of a 75 point season.

I believe if he doesn't slide he gets to UFA sooner, so it kind of off-sets.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I have a feeling that if Zetterberg does indeed LTIRetire, Ken Holland will PTO and then sign one of the remaining C's on the UFA market to a one year deal to give them some flexibility at the #3C spot.

Obviously Nielsen slides back up to the #2C spot he was signed for and probably gets PP time closer to what he got in 16-17. That leaves the #3C spot open. Helm didn't play a whole lot of center last season and I'm sure Blashill isn't going to give AA a whole lot of leash at the position.

Given that, I really wouldn't be surprised if last years Parenteau and Booth end up being a couple of unsigned centers at this years camp.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

I hope Zadina doesn't get a contract slide. Get him to his end of ELC asap. We can sign him to an 8 year for cheaper when his last year is a 60 point season instead of a 75 point season.

Silliness.

I hope his contract doesn't slide because it means he was NHL ready and he's filling Ottawa, Montreal, and Carolina's nets with pucks. It has jack crap to do with signing him to an 8 year deal cheaper. Who the hell even knows if 8 years will be something that's even still on the table when he's up for a contract?

 

[ShelbyZ]

Bertuzzi - Larkin -Mantha
Rasmussen - Nielsen - Nyquist
AA - Helm - Vanek
Frk- Glendening - Abdelkader
Witkowski

Zadina...gets called up sometime after TDL when Nyquist and/or possibly AA traded. Gives Z him time to adjust to better competition in AHL & potentially SLIDE 1 year of ELC.

If AA could be #3C, then Svechnikov is up at start of season, but I doubt AA can...that 3rd line would be abused in the Dzone. (Svech-AA-Vanek). If he can, Helm replaces Frk on 4th.

Nike & AA--should each fetch: late 1st, but probably 2nd & 3rd or 2nd & b-level Dman prospect.

Svechnikov replaces Nike or AA
Turgeon replaces Glendening by TDL. LG fetches 2nd & 5th (Leafs ?)

Post TDL:

Zadina - L - M
Raz - Nielsen - Bert
Svechnikov- Helm - Vanek
Frk - Turgeon - Abby
Witkowski

*Nike may resign in 2019 offseason to replace Vanek.
_____________________________________________________________________

DDK-Green
E-Daley
Kronner-Hronek
Jensen

Hickets/Sulak -1st callups or when Kronner LTIRs. Jensen is kept 'til Hronek & 1 of Hicketts/Sulak are up permanently, or if they trade Daley? Doubt Big E waives M-NTC, but Daley seems like he would waive his NTC to go to contender.

Post TDL: (Daley traded, Kronner LTIRetired)

DDK-Green
E-Hronek
Sulak-Jensen
Hicketts

IMO, this seems a bit unrealistic. For a few reasons:

-They're limited to 4 call ups after the deadline, so one of those guys called up after the hypothetical trades happen (Zadina, Svechnikov, Turgeon, Sulak or Hicketts) would technically have to come up prior to the deadline, making that player ineligible for the AHL playoffs. While maybe not important in the grand scheme of things, considering that the Red Wings burned two of their four call ups last season to re-assign and call up Bertuzzi and Coreau and make them AHL playoff eligible, I would imagine they try to keep all of their waiver exempt guys available to GR for the playoffs. That would also include whatever waiver exempt Dman starts with the NHL club (Hronek in your scenario).

-I doubt they would burn a call up on Hicketts so he can be the spare guy at the NHL level. He'd be better suited playing every game in GR, and they can wait to make him the #7 guy the next season when he can't go back to GR without waivers. If they get down to 6 or less dmen after the deadline, they probably call up enough to get to 6 and let Witkowski take up #7 duty and/or use the emergency exemption to call up a spare dman in a pinch.

-Am I the only person that finds "get out of jail free card"-like Kronwall LTIRetiring in roster hypotheticals bizarre? The guy was "healthy" for most of last season and was the Red Wings most sheltered dman. He probably ends up even more sheltered for his last season (sees lots of PP time but least amount of 5v5 time among dmen, very few Dzone draws, zero PK time, and probably gets some nights off). So unless his knees really take a nose-dive overnight, or he gets badly hurt in some freak fashion, he probably finishes the season and gets to have the farewell tour that it seems Zetterberg won't be getting now.

-IMO at least, it would be strange to see them move guys with some term left like Daley, Glendening and AA and not move other impending UFA's like Vanek and Jensen.

 

[SirloinUB]

The crazy thing is that as much as the Nielsen and Helm signings are bemoaned, our Center depth would be non-existent without them.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Slotting a player into a top line position solely for, "Marketing" is a great way to stunt his development.

If Zadina's good enough and ready to play the top line, great. If not, put him where he's suited to play. We're gonna suck this year. No point in screwing up our biggest current asset.

Besides, you don't need to put him on the top line to market him.