GDT: Free Agent Frenzy

[TheRatPoisoner]

Hey I am curious how you guys liked Zidlicky? He seems to have gas still in the tank, but I know in NJ he could be very on and off. Could you just mention some good / poor qualities about him?

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=104726221&postcount=210

 

[Hunting Bow*]

FA's left. Anyone to look at possibly?

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=773566

 

[BinCookin]

Hey I am curious how you guys liked Zidlicky? He seems to have gas still in the tank, but I know in NJ he could be very on and off. Could you just mention some good / poor qualities about him?

My honest opinion:

Zidlicky played very well here. Has lots left in his tank.

Does exactly what he is advertised to be:

Good passer, good offensive instincts, takes risks that lead to offensive opportunities for the team. He produced well here.

Those risks also lead to occasional turnovers. Overall I thought he produced MORE than turnovers cost us against.

But I would expect most fans here will remember the playoffs where he cost us 1-2 goals by himself. He will be villified by those fans for those actions. Mostly because he didnt set up many playoff goals.

Bottom line is he is just OLD. As in 2 year contract probably gets you to retirement, and we needed a longer term solution to that.

We signed Green because he is significantly younger.
If Zidlicky was 29... I would probably have signed Zidlicky over Green.

I think he is totally worth signing on the understanding that in 2 years he will be retired. So you will recreate the hole you are fixing now in 2 years. Assuming he has 2 left.

 

[SimplySolace]

We have what? 16 forwards and 8-9 defensemen pushing for spots? We don't need any more free-agents.

 

[Barry Amsterdam]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=773566

Semin cheap 1 year deal

Z-Datsyuk-Semin
Tatar- Richards-Nyquist
Jurco - Sheahan- Helm
Pulkinen- Glendening- abdelkater

 

[last_sd]

No cap space or roster space.

That list just shows how laughable the idea of trading away Ericsson easily is.
You could sign Ehroff, Franson etc. without giving assets and probably much shorter term than Ericsson.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Shawn Matthias. Kenneh loves to bring back guys he traded - including Mike Green in a round-about way.

Brad Boyes might work as a depth guy but he seems to be fading fairly quickly. I honestly don't see him being a good fit here.

We have some Semin fans here. I wonder if they can explain the total lack of interest across the league right now.

If you can trade some depth and get him on a cheap contract Franson might be a nice replacement for Quincey. There's no way the Wings would trade all that depth on defense, despite the fact all of Smith, Kindl and Quincey have shown little to any real capability as solid NHL rearguards. If you did you could go with:

Kronner-Ericsson
DeKeyser-Green
Ouellet-Franson
Jensen

 

[HockeyinHD]

The thing with all these projected lineups is that they very often just don't account for reality. There's no way Holland is going to cut bait on either Smith or Kindl before exploring literally every nook and cranny of their desiccated potential with the thoroughness of a starving turkey vulture, and until that process is complete there's no way Holland would expose his defense even further by trading Quincey, who in spite of all protestations to the contrary is a competent, functional 4-5 NHL defensive dman.

For at least the lion's share of this year the lineup is going to have Quincey, Kindl and Smith on it with Kronwall on the top pair, Dekeyser and Green on the second, and the 4 of E, Q, Smith and Kindl shaking out over the final 3 spots.

I think we can all pretty much presume Kindl's going to have the short straw there, too.

Kronwall-Ericsson
Dekeyser-Green
Quincey-Smith.

That's a very deep NHL blueline a lot of teams are going to have a very hard time dealing with, as often as so many other teams choose to go top-heavy there. If Detroit can get anything out of Smith he's going to have a chance at 25-30 points down there with a MUCH better linemate situation than what he had last year:

20.61% EV 2 SMITH,BRENDAN - 28 ZIDLICKY,MAREK
15.73% EV 65 DEKEYSER,DANNY - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
14.95% EV 61 OUELLET,XAVIER - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
13.72% EV 4 KINDL,JAKUB - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
10.4% EV 47 MARCHENKO,ALEXEY - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN

That's the pu pu platter there, people. When you're on with a different guy every third shift, that's a tough situation.

 

[loudernow*]

What never seems to be addressed is 35 yo Richards playing the up tempo game that the wings are moving to.
Its going to be demanding on him. I'm not sure this will actually work.
How would've Richards look on Tampa this season?

 

[Pavels Dog]

What never seems to be addressed is 35 yo Richards playing the up tempo game that the wings are moving to.
Its going to be demanding on him. I'm not sure this will actually work.
How would've Richards look on Tampa this season?

The puck is faster than any player, so moving the puck is the key to playing up-tempo. Richards can pass the puck, he has really good vision. So I think he'll help in that regard. He'll certainly be a better fit than Weiss was.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

Weiss was kind of like Ray Whitney...a North-South game in an East-West option. He just didn't work on this team.

Brad Richards is a decent skater...and his passing skills will improve the transition game.

 

[InjuredChoker]

Shawn Matthias. Kenneh loves to bring back guys he traded - including Mike Green in a round-about way.

Brad Boyes might work as a depth guy but he seems to be fading fairly quickly. I honestly don't see him being a good fit here.

We have some Semin fans here. I wonder if they can explain the total lack of interest across the league right now.

If you can trade some depth and get him on a cheap contract Franson might be a nice replacement for Quincey. There's no way the Wings would trade all that depth on defense, despite the fact all of Smith, Kindl and Quincey have shown little to any real capability as solid NHL rearguards. If you did you could go with:

Kronner-Ericsson
DeKeyser-Green
Ouellet-Franson
Jensen

switch ericsson and franson.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Hey I am curious how you guys liked Zidlicky? He seems to have gas still in the tank, but I know in NJ he could be very on and off. Could you just mention some good / poor qualities about him?

He played good. He was on pace for 40 points or around there. If he could actually play Dfence he would be mentioned in Norris voting.


Pretty much, Heres his breakdown

Good at everything Ofence

Bad at everything Dfence

slow

 

[Larkin1578]

I would like the Wings to also sign Santorelli and Oduya....but with the limitation of space for both the roster and cap...I think the Wings are now done after the Green and Richards signings. I'm fine with that.

 

[Bench]

I think Brouwer is underappreciated a bit. Only a year separates them, so age isn't an issue. Brouwer actually has more 20 goal seasons -including the past two, he's a bigger build, he plays a more physical game, can play all special teams, and is decent at faceoffs.

St. Louis did better than they are being made out to.

Brouwer is basically a better Abdelkader. Way more consistent goal scorer. So the idea you get Oshie for scraps like Kindl and Jurco... not really. Abdelkader gets the wheels greased on that deal and you add from there.

St. Louis is trying to balance out their high skill game with some more meat and potatoes players. That's Armstrong/Hitch at work after being ousted by a high skill team over and over. They have guys like Tarasenko that they want to flank with defensively responsible guys with some size that can pot hard goals.

I get what they are aiming for here, but we'll see how that shakes out.

 

[Run the Jewels]

What never seems to be addressed is 35 yo Richards playing the up tempo game that the wings are moving to.
Its going to be demanding on him. I'm not sure this will actually work.
How would've Richards look on Tampa this season?

I think Richards will end up on the 3rd line. He is getting up there in age and was pretty much invisible in New York. The easier matchups will allow him to not look so out of place.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Hey I am curious how you guys liked Zidlicky? He seems to have gas still in the tank, but I know in NJ he could be very on and off. Could you just mention some good / poor qualities about him?

Best quality by far is his shot from the point. He got off to a very strong start in Detroit and it was based almost entirely on his shot from the point on the power play. His biggest shortcoming by far was decision making when pressured. This was most obvious on the power play when he was the last line of defense in the offensive zone. He would almost always make an incredibly bone-headed decision when he felt pressure and it almost always resulted in the opponent getting a very high quality scoring chance if not goal.

He might be passable as a 3rd pairing PP specialist but Detroit brings EVERYONE back for another year so the fact the Wings moved on suggests there probably ain't much tread left on that proverbial pair of tires.

 

[Bench]

I think Richards will end up on the 3rd line. He is getting up there in age and was pretty much invisible in New York. The easier matchups will allow him to not look so out of place.

"Invisible" for a $7 million dollar man on a 9 year deal... he was still always one of their top scorers.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I think Richards will end up on the 3rd line. He is getting up there in age and was pretty much invisible in New York. The easier matchups will allow him to not look so out of place.

Better then Glendenning there. Not sure if Better then Helm. And Andersson probably get kicked out because of it.

Hopefully Sheahan gets #2 and more ICE TIME

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

"Invisible" for a $7 million dollar man on a 9 year deal... he was still always one of their top scorers.

It's okay Bench, this year everything goes perfectly.

40-13-15

That will be the first line in April, because:

14-25-21

Dylan Larkin's going to kill itttt.

26-92-56

And then Jurco's going to push Abdelkader and Helm to the 4th line because they're going to break outttt

8-41-43

And then we're going to have the best 4th line in hockey. The Giant Man told me in a vision last night that this was going to happen. I was staying at the Great Northern Hotel. Best damn coffee in the pacific northwest.

 

[Bench]

And then we're going to have the best 4th line in hockey. The Giant Man told in a vision last night that this was going to happen. I was staying at the Great Northern Hotel. Best damn coffee in the pacific northwest.

Good enough for me!

 

[Yzerman1919*]

It's okay Bench, this year everything goes perfectly.

40-13-15

That will be the first line in April, because:

14-25-21

Dylan Larkin's going to kill itttt.

26-92-56

And then Jurco's going to push Abdelkader and Helm to the 4th line because they're going to break outttt

8-41-43

And then we're going to have the best 4th line in hockey. The Giant Man told me in a vision last night that this was going to happen. I was staying at the Great Northern Hotel. Best damn coffee in the pacific northwest.

I like it.

 

[Actual Thought*]

What never seems to be addressed is 35 yo Richards playing the up tempo game that the wings are moving to.
Its going to be demanding on him. I'm not sure this will actually work.
How would've Richards look on Tampa this season?

Richards has elite hockey sense and great hands. He will be an asset. There is more to speed than just skating. 35 isn't really that old anyway.

 

[8snake]

Richards has elite hockey sense and great hands. He will be an asset. There is more to speed than just skating. 35 isn't really that old anyway.

What do you mean by "more to speed than just skating"? I agree a player can play "fast" in terms of quick decisions, but Richards is pretty slow from a skating standpoint and hasn't been dynamic with regards to playmaking and scoring in years.

 

[Run the Jewels]

The thing with all these projected lineups is that they very often just don't account for reality. There's no way Holland is going to cut bait on either Smith or Kindl before exploring literally every nook and cranny of their desiccated potential with the thoroughness of a starving turkey vulture, and until that process is complete there's no way Holland would expose his defense even further by trading Quincey, who in spite of all protestations to the contrary is a competent, functional 4-5 NHL defensive dman.

For at least the lion's share of this year the lineup is going to have Quincey, Kindl and Smith on it with Kronwall on the top pair, Dekeyser and Green on the second, and the 4 of E, Q, Smith and Kindl shaking out over the final 3 spots.

I think we can all pretty much presume Kindl's going to have the short straw there, too.

Kronwall-Ericsson
Dekeyser-Green
Quincey-Smith.

That's a very deep NHL blueline a lot of teams are going to have a very hard time dealing with, as often as so many other teams choose to go top-heavy there. If Detroit can get anything out of Smith he's going to have a chance at 25-30 points down there with a MUCH better linemate situation than what he had last year:

20.61% EV 2 SMITH,BRENDAN - 28 ZIDLICKY,MAREK
15.73% EV 65 DEKEYSER,DANNY - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
14.95% EV 61 OUELLET,XAVIER - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
13.72% EV 4 KINDL,JAKUB - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN
10.4% EV 47 MARCHENKO,ALEXEY - 2 SMITH,BRENDAN

That's the pu pu platter there, people. When you're on with a different guy every third shift, that's a tough situation.

In 2013-14 Brendan Smith's most common partners on defense were Danny DeKeyser (36%) and Niklas Kronwall (34%). He put up 19 points and was -2. He also faced incredibly soft competition: only Jakub Kindl and Brian Lashoff had easier matchups than Smith.

That season was the year where Smith should have flourished. His Corsi was nice, which was probably due to his linemates, but the offense simply never materialized. Yeah, on our defense which totally sucks at generating offense at EVS he put up 0.96 P/60 mins which was second only to Kronwall.

But when you factor in the great linemates he was given and his tissue soft competition he should have put up more offense. Yes, people have a point when they complain he isn't given power play time, but that doesn't change the fact he has been a huge disappointment as an offensive d-man.

So do people really expect him to perform better on a line with Kyle Quincey? The eye test and the stats tell you that will be a full on disaster. This past season he faced the easiest competition on the entire ****ing team - seriously, he had the easiest matchups possible - and his EVS offense was total ****.

So your ideal, best case scenario is to pair Smith with your two best defenders while still protecting him - as a 26 year old pro with 3 seasons under his belt. He's better than Jakub Kindl but holy **** is that a case of damning with faint praise. Jeff Blashill has his work cut out for him if he thinks he can seriously turn Brendan Smith and Jakub Kindl into capable top 4 d-men, let alone point producers.