Waived: Expect Ouellet to be bought out

[lilidk]

Yeah, I remember when he was considered a really good prospect. 2nd rounder. Drafted with Jurco and Sproul who are also both gone. Could never make up for his poor skating. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

to bad I had so much expectation about them

 

[Syckle78]

Such a bummer how all those young defenseman turned out. Especially xo for me though. Was a fan since the pick and really rooted for him. Hope he can catch on somewhere.

 

[zecke26]

Truly amazing, people talked about Sproul, Ouellet and Jensen (to an extent) just as highly as some are talking about Hronek and Cholowski right now. I remember being so excited about Sproul, and how can we forget about Brendan Smith. Before he made the jump many were convinced he'd be elite. Defensemen are so tough to predict.

Or tough to develop? I sometimes really wonder if the group of players was simply not good or just developed the wrong way. I can't I trust the wings to turn young prospect Ds into NHLers. So much disappointment over years. Could also be wrong scouting of course. We'll never know for sure.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Or tough to develop? I sometimes really wonder if the group of players was simply not good or just developed the wrong way. I can't I trust the wings to turn young prospect Ds into NHLers. So much disappointment over years. Could also be wrong scouting of course. We'll never know for sure.

Sproul and Ouellet had problems in their game that you hoped could somewhat be addressed. XO never got better at skating, he needed to. Sproul never figured out at all what to do in the defensive zone or how to use his skill set at the pro level.

The one that I have always felt was mismanaged was Smith. I really think he could have been something but for the way we developed him. XO and Sproul had a ton of qualities they still do, but their areas of concern were never addressed and they never flashed big improvements in them. Smith constantly flashed more and was perplexingly developed by the Wings and Babcock. Smith though is a wildly inconsistent player so he was a tough guy to get your teeth into from a coaching perspective same problem we have with AA.

I wish XO luck, smart tough player. He just never made the skating gains to be what we hoped ultimately. Ericsson blocked him here as the slower pk guy, maybe he can latch on somewhere else as a bottom pairing pk guy.

 

[Syckle78]

Or tough to develop? I sometimes really wonder if the group of players was simply not good or just developed the wrong way. I can't I trust the wings to turn young prospect Ds into NHLers. So much disappointment over years. Could also be wrong scouting of course. We'll never know for sure.

I don't blame them for Sproul and xo and kindl. You can't teach intelligence,so Sproul wasn't going to learn to play defense. You can only improve skating so much, xo couldn't get past that. You can't make a guy not flinch every time someone comes near him. Kindl was the cowardly lion of defenseman.

 

[Henkka]

Truly amazing, people talked about Sproul, Ouellet and Jensen (to an extent) just as highly as some are talking about Hronek and Cholowski right now. I remember being so excited about Sproul, and how can we forget about Brendan Smith. Before he made the jump many were convinced he'd be elite. Defensemen are so tough to predict.

Afterwards it's pretty easy to check, that 2011 DRAFT CLASS was VERY WEAK for defencemen. In general, the Wings picks were good as draft picks, those guys kind of overachieved the expectations vs, draft positions compared the other 2011 draftees. But because the class was so weak, nobody was enough to beat regulars from stronger draft classes out from NHL jobs.

Cholowski and Hronek are drafted from better draft classes, and their stories can be totally different. These things won't go hand in hand.

I was also hyping that 2011 class +5 years ago, but since then, because everything kind of failed, I started to learn these things (study the history, understand the weight of class) and now I understand the big picture a lot better.

 

[SoupNazi]

Amazing how that group of young guys busted so badly.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Why buy him out and not just waive him? He would cost like 200k in cap space this year in the minors.

Because they want to give him a chance to go somewhere else to have a shot as he will never get one in Detroit.

 

[PullHard]

Also I think they want to completely open up a space for a D. Like across NHL and AHL they want that spot open probably for Cholowski, Hronek, Hicketts to be the guy to push upwards onto the big team.

 

[Henkka]

Amazing how that group of young guys busted so badly.

Versus the draft class they didn't really bust. They became average, like for players from weak classes will happen. Expecting something better would have been huge overachievement.

I know our expectations on draft time and after that were high. But talking about busts 7 years after is stupidity, when we know the real reasons. Those players never were that good, even though they were praised on their junior leagues. They won best defenceman trophies etc. But they were only best from weak classes, and couldn't beat the competition against others from stronger draft classes.

Whole 2011 class has produced only 4 NHL defenceman who have played +20 minutes on average on their careers. Those are Jonas Brodin, Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Dougie Hamilton. Josh Manson is borderline TOP4 and rest are 3rd pairing guys.

Our biggest mistake was to go heavily after defencemen in a weak class. They should have known the classes better, and Jim Nill should carry the responsibility for this mistake. That was a good forward draft, and guys were after crap defencemen.

 

[joe89]

I never saw any amazing upside from Ouellet but I thought for sure he was gonna carve out a decent #4 career.

Ultimately though none of these guys were really high draft picks. There's just no guarantee for success in that late 1st round to second round range. We can only hope the likes of Cholowski, Hronek, Lindström and McIsaac fare better. You need to pick a D around were we picked Zadina to feel kinda certain, basically any of the two-three best in the class. McIsaac was the 17th D to get picked in this draft for example, no matter how much you like his chances the odds are going against him being a high end NHLer from that draft spot.

 

[Henkka]

Ultimately though none of these guys were really high draft picks. There's just no guarantee for success in that late 1st round to second round range. We can only hope the likes of Cholowski, Hronek, Lindström and McIsaac fare better.

Last 2 drafts:
#20 Cholowski
#36 McIsaac
#38 Lindström
#53 Hronek

2011 draft:
#48 Ouellet
#55 Sproul
#146 Bäckman
#175 Nedomlel
#205 Marchenko

The average starting point already as pick height is better with those current guys. And draft class weakness pushes those 2011 far down.

 

[Run the Jewels]

to bad I had so much expectation about them

Yep.

Kindl #19 OA
Smith #27 OA
Ouellet #48 OA
Sproul #55 OA

You'd think at least one of those guys would have turned into a quality NHL'er. Fanned on all of them.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I don't know, talk about XO never came without the disclaimer "if he can improve his skating" and with Sproul it was always "if he can figure out how to play defense". In comparison both Cholo and Hronek have less glaring flaws. Doesn't mean they'll succeed but as raw material they are more promising.

Afterwards it's pretty easy to check, that 2011 DRAFT CLASS was VERY WEAK for defencemen. In general, the Wings picks were good as draft picks, those guys kind of overachieved the expectations vs, draft positions compared the other 2011 draftees. But because the class was so weak, nobody was enough to beat regulars from stronger draft classes out from NHL jobs.

Cholowski and Hronek are drafted from better draft classes, and their stories can be totally different. These things won't go hand in hand.

I was also hyping that 2011 class +5 years ago, but since then, because everything kind of failed, I started to learn these things (study the history, understand the weight of class) and now I understand the big picture a lot better.

Yes, of course.

 

[Oddbob]

These kind of buyouts are weird to me, there wasn't any teams that would take him for a 7th?

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

I can't see this organization giving a full time spot to a rookie on defense. With Kronwall's issues, I'm anticipating a veteran being signed.

Agreed heard Holland loves Calvin De Haan maybe he goes after him with hopefully a reasonable offer.

 

[PelagicJoe]

These kind of buyouts are weird to me, there wasn't any teams that would take him for a 7th?

Since no one is playing right now, there aren't any injury riddled teams to dump him on to.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Yep.

Kindl #19 OA
Smith #27 OA
Ouellet #48 OA
Sproul #55 OA

You'd think at least one of those guys would have turned into a quality NHL'er. Fanned on all of them.

That stings. I think it's even more damning that almost every one of those players was looking quite good until Detroit got their hands on them. They had just had monster junior/college seasons where they looked like they could be stars. It really does seem like there's a developmental problem going on. They get into the system and it's like they hit the wall.

That said, supposedly Horcoff (director of development) is very new-school and about trying different things. It could make a difference. But the executives need to stop burying their guys, too.

 

[Spitfire11]

These kind of buyouts are weird to me, there wasn't any teams that would take him for a 7th?

I mean....would you give up a 7th for him?

There have been rumours of Holland trying to trade him for a while, he probably just has zero value.

 

[Oddbob]

I mean....would you give up a 7th for him?

There have been rumours of Holland trying to trade him for a while, he probably just has zero value.

No I wouldn't, but there are worse players that get traded.

 

[ricky0034]

Since no one is playing right now, there aren't any injury riddled teams to dump him on to.

this plus free agency is coming up very soon even if someone does really need a body

why give up any sort of asset to take on a guy like Ouellet's contract when you can probably use that $1.25m in a week on a better player? you'd have to believe he can still become something in the future that he isn't now I guess,but he's turning 25 in a month and has 140+ NHL games under his belt at this point

 

[Henkka]

Officially completed today.

Buyout caphits:

1st year - 167k
2nd year - 217k

 

[PelagicJoe]

Smith, Kindl, Sproul, XO, Marchenko, Russo. Jeez, we suck at drafting defensemen, or at least we did from 2008-2016 or so.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Smith, Kindl, Sproul, XO, Marchenko, Russo. Jeez, we suck at drafting defensemen, or at least we did from 2008-2016 or so.

Wings didn't draft Russo and I'd argue that Marchenko was a success since he was a 7th rounder and played 169 games in the NHL.

 

[odin1981]

Sproul and Ouellet had problems in their game that you hoped could somewhat be addressed. XO never got better at skating, he needed to. Sproul never figured out at all what to do in the defensive zone or how to use his skill set at the pro level.

The one that I have always felt was mismanaged was Smith. I really think he could have been something but for the way we developed him. XO and Sproul had a ton of qualities they still do, but their areas of concern were never addressed and they never flashed big improvements in them. Smith constantly flashed more and was perplexingly developed by the Wings and Babcock. Smith though is a wildly inconsistent player so he was a tough guy to get your teeth into from a coaching perspective same problem we have with AA.

I wish XO luck, smart tough player. He just never made the skating gains to be what we hoped ultimately. Ericsson blocked him here as the slower pk guy, maybe he can latch on somewhere else as a bottom pairing pk guy.

Smith and Sproul should have been seriously considered into turning into wingers. They could probably still be in the NHL still if they were.