Helene St. James Alfredsson looking to come back

[KJoe88]

Mantha-Pav-Alfie
Mule-Z-Nyquist
Jurco-Riley-Tats
Gator-Helm-Weiss

This is how I see it, I hope anyways. I like the Euro Twins split up, always have. I believe the team is better off that way.

Plus I'm optimistic about Mantha.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I honestly think the Quincey trade was a recipe for disaster from the start. I think his familiarity with the system is why Holland went so hard after him. Luckily there are no young retreads to go after anymore. I mean Holland isn't stupid enough to give up a first for Derek Meech, right? Right?

Tomas Fleischmann has one more year left on his deal with Florida. Agree on the Quincey trade, that was the beginning of the end for me as far as Holland being a good GM. I've been less than impressed ever since that move.

 

[Run the Jewels]

This is how I see it, I hope anyways. I like the Euro Twins split up, always have. I believe the team is better off that way.

Plus I'm optimistic about Mantha.

Holland is not going to let Mantha and Jurco play in Detroit. There are going to have to be a lot of injuries for them to get any shot.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I find it hilarious that we keep signing vets when it's clear that we were at our best when half these vets were injured.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I find it hilarious that we keep signing vets when it's clear that we were at our best when half these vets were injured.

Lol. Yeah, totally. Had nothing to do with players like Cleary, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson. Alfie belongs in that class.

 

[KJoe88]

I find it hilarious that we keep signing vets when it's clear that we were at our best when half these vets were injured.

Hmm...

Because Alfie wasn't one of the top leaders in points or anything...

 

[Flowah]

Mantha-Pav-Alfie
Mule-Z-Nyquist
Jurco-Riley-Tats
Gator-Helm-Weiss

Z-Pav-Alfie
Mule-Weiss-Nyquist
Jurco-Sheahan-Tats
Gator-Helm-Miller/Glendening

I think that's the most likely outcome. I don't think they're sticking a 5M dollar guy on the 4th line. They're gonna give him another chance at the start after what we learned about the extent of his injury woes. And no way Mantha makes it out of camp.

And really, I'd be pleased as peach with that lineup. No Abby in top6. No Cleary/Bert/Sammy. Lots of fast, skilled, speedy youth. Strong top9. Pesty 4th line.

 

[RedHawkDown]

No I get that Alfie did well, but he wasn't doing much near the end of the season and frankly I'd rather look forward and let the kids play.

 

[Kyleftlx]

I don't care about what the salary is to retain Alfie. I think he's a solid contributor for Detroit, and odds are Detroit isn't going to be a cap team regardless of how much they pay for his services. Alfredsson makes Detroit a better team, and he is a veteran leader that wants to win a Stanley Cup. If his skills were clearly deteriorating and he came back under similar terms to last year, it wouldn't be fantastic, but if he comes back wanting to win and putting his all into it, I'm completely fine with him coming back.

 

[Claypool]

Right-handed shot. Rather have him in the top six than Abdelkader.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Hmm...

Because Alfie wasn't one of the top leaders in points or anything...

players are ONLY good when they're in the lineup

thats why teams whos stars miss alot of games arent as good

i could care less if alffie gets 45pts in 45 games because its the lack of production he provides in the 37 games he misses that leads us to lose games

 

[Kyleftlx]

players are ONLY good when they're in the lineup

thats why teams whos stars miss alot of games arent as good

i could care less if alffie gets 45pts in 45 games because its the lack of production he provides in the 37 games he misses that leads us to lose games

Alfie definitely does have some injury issues, it seems like no matter what he misses games each year, with his rookie year being the only one where he played in 82 games. I don't think there's a huge problem with it as long as he can play ~70 games, and then be healthy and ready come playoff time. In Detroit's case over recent years, it has been much more than just a veteran problem with injuries. Young guys and old guys alike were dealing with injuries all of 2014, it was a mess. If Alfie can continue being productive and you get 70 games out of him plus a playoff run, I think it's completely worth it.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Alfie definitely does have some injury issues, it seems like no matter what he misses games each year, with his rookie year being the only one where he played in 82 games. I don't think there's a huge problem with it as long as he can play ~70 games, and then be healthy and ready come playoff time. In Detroit's case over recent years, it has been much more than just a veteran problem with injuries. Young guys and old guys alike were dealing with injuries all of 2014, it was a mess. If Alfie can continue being productive and you get 70 games out of him plus a playoff run, I think it's completely worth it.

70 healthy games sign me up

anything less then 60 though is a wasted roster spot

 

[silkyjohnson50]

He's only played less than 60 once since 2000. Yeah, he's obviously getting older but I'll take my chances.

 

[DanZ]

70 healthy games sign me up

anything less then 60 though is a wasted roster spot

Why? We don't have cap issues and he was our leading scorer last year in the regular season. He missed a lot of games, but we don't make the playoffs without him. If he plays 55 games but scores 20 goals, he adds value. 20 goals is 20 goals, no matter how many games you play.

 

[The Zermanator]

70 healthy games sign me up

anything less then 60 though is a wasted roster spot

The games Alfie misses are a perfect opportunity to give Pulkkinen and Mantha some NHL time.

 

[Mijatovic]

i could care less if alffie gets 45pts in 45 games because its the lack of production he provides in the 37 games he misses that leads us to lose games

So we should probably trade away Datsyuk and Zetterburg given they missed 23 more games than Alfie. What do you think we could get in return?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

It is very likely one of the kids struggles in his second season. Nyquist is the least likely though other teams will key on him, he is a chalk talk player no matter what line he is on.

But it is doubtful that all of Tatar, Jurco and Sheahan hit the ground running next season. Now it certainly helps if they get better matchups, but the thought process that they will all just continue to build isn't really backed up with the reality of how NHL players develop. The only real big hope is the fact we over develop guys and that should help in terms of how this hits some of them. I also like that they are all pretty high energy big workout guys from reports around the team so it isn't like they should have spent all summer taking it easy.

While I think he will still play exceptional D, if I had to guess Sheahan's offense probably goes down a little, I hope not but I could see that happening.

Alfie was very good last year and really played up and down the lineup while providing leadership. He is a good signing, you have to worry that the wheels might completely fall off like they do with some older players, but it is a good bet he provides what we are looking for on the PP and 5 on 5. This helps our depth and secondary scoring and who knows it could give up the superstar vet line if the scoring comes and Weiss bounces back. As mentioned should we go the Selanne rest route occasionally those are perfect callup trials and there will be injuries there always are for those that have to see a couple of the kids we have in GR.

 

[SantosHalper]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Alfredsson
Nyquist-Weiss-Franzen
Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco
Miller-Helm-Abdelkader
Andersson-Glendening-Ferraro

(Mantha-Nosek-Pulkkinen, Callahan)

we like our team.

 

[Kronwalled55]

No I get that Alfie did well, but he wasn't doing much near the end of the season and frankly I'd rather look forward and let the kids play.

There isn't a prospect that we have that can come close to putting up 50 points like Alfredsson can. I'm not even sure Nyquist will next hit that mark next season.

Some veterans are easily expendable and take up roster spots, but Alfredsson is not one of those guys. He's still a great contributor.

 

[Frk It]

If you don't look at Alfredsson's season last year, and talk about how there were two very different stories, than I don't think you were paying attention.

Very good and productive over the first half, really helped spark the power play.

Slowed down and showed his age a ton over the second half. When he wasn't getting on the score sheet, he had no impact on the game whatsoever.

So you can just look at the stat sheet and say "yeah 50 points", but there is more going on with this than just that. That's an oversimplification.

I'm OK with this signing, because I like Alfie as a player, and he is a right hander. But I absolutely have my concerns about Alfie's game dropping off a cliff. Not in October or November, but in March and April.

 

[Kronwalled55]

If you don't look at Alfredsson's season last year, and talk about how there were two very different stories, than I don't think you were paying attention.

Very good and productive over the first half, really helped spark the power play.

Slowed down and showed his age a ton over the second half. When he wasn't getting on the score sheet, he had no impact on the game whatsoever.

So you can just look at the stat sheet and say "yeah 50 points", but there is more going on with this than just that. That's an oversimplification.

I'm OK with this signing, because I like Alfie as a player, and he is a right hander. But I absolutely have my concerns about Alfie's game dropping off a cliff. Not in October or November, but in March and April.

He was playing on Babcock hat-drawn lines down the stretch. He looked good playing with Datsyuk when both of them were healthy.

It was tough to expect much when he was playing with guys like Helm, Abdelkader, etc. It's not a good fit for Alfredsson.

 

[The Zermanator]

If you don't look at Alfredsson's season last year, and talk about how there were two very different stories, than I don't think you were paying attention.

Very good and productive over the first half, really helped spark the power play.

Slowed down and showed his age a ton over the second half. When he wasn't getting on the score sheet, he had no impact on the game whatsoever.

So you can just look at the stat sheet and say "yeah 50 points", but there is more going on with this than just that. That's an oversimplification.

I'm OK with this signing, because I like Alfie as a player, and he is a right hander. But I absolutely have my concerns about Alfie's game dropping off a cliff. Not in October or November, but in March and April.

But if you look at the season in 2 parts you're still not even close to a full picture. Sure Alfie slowed down in the final 1/3 of the season, but look at who he was playing with. No one is going to be putting up as many points as they could be if they're playing with Glendening. Datsyuk and Zetterberg can still put up points playing with plugs but Alfie is not at that point in his career anymore. He's not a go-to guy anymore, but he's still fantastic in a supporting role.

Bottom line, if you don't count on him to carry a line he's still a valuable player and an even more valuable presence on the team. I'd be fine with him coming back even at his current 5.5M. He's still worth it and we've got the cap space.

 

[Frk It]

He was playing on Babcock hat-drawn lines down the stretch. He looked good playing with Datsyuk when both of them were healthy.

It was tough to expect much when he was playing with guys like Helm, Abdelkader, etc. It's not a good fit for Alfredsson.

Maybe he wasn't playing higher on the depth chart, because he was visibly wearing down?

 

[silkyjohnson50]

It is very likely one of the kids struggles in his second season. Nyquist is the least likely though other teams will key on him, he is a chalk talk player no matter what line he is on.

But it is doubtful that all of Tatar, Jurco and Sheahan hit the ground running next season. Now it certainly helps if they get better matchups, but the thought process that they will all just continue to build isn't really backed up with the reality of how NHL players develop. The only real big hope is the fact we over develop guys and that should help in terms of how this hits some of them. I also like that they are all pretty high energy big workout guys from reports around the team so it isn't like they should have spent all summer taking it easy.

While I think he will still play exceptional D, if I had to guess Sheahan's offense probably goes down a little, I hope not but I could see that happening.

I don't see a big let down. I actually think Nyquist could regress the most in terms of pure production, as he played at a 70pt pace last season. I could easily see him having a 50-60 pt season, which would by no means really be a problem for me.

I don't see Tatar having a regression. He creates too many chances and will continue to be a high Corsi player to have a big dip.

Sheahan could likely have a bit of a dip, but even then, I don't see him going under a 40 pt pace considering he'll likely be playing with Tatar and Jurco or Nyquist.

And Jurco I expect to have better pure production numbers if he's with the big club.

Part of it is definitely because they're an older "young" group, but I can't see them disappointing. They're likely going to continue to get 2nd PP minutes as well. They'll be fine.