Pre-Game Talk: Joining the Bandwagon
- Thread starter AintLifeGrand
- Start date
Shultzyfeelinirie25
Registered User
- Jun 29, 2018
- 370
- 250
Lets update that avatar for starters
and glad to have you here with us and we have another year or two of some struggles but hoping with some new faces coming in theyll be fun to watch at least. stick with us!!
HisNoodliness
The Karate Kid and ASP Kai
For next season: not a ton, but there are some things. Larkin, Mantha and Bertuzzi make up a legitimate first line. Larkin is fast, determined and skilled enough to put the puck in the net. Mantha has tons of skill and a wicked shot to accompany his size that makes him very hard to knock off the puck. Bertuzzi is very smart for someone that plays his feisty, grinder game. They compliment each other very well and as a line are greater than the sum of their parts.
Hronek is a fringe top pairing defenseman with excellent power play and offensive abilities and a lot of fire. Watching him and his potential development into a true #1 will be a big part of the season.
We have lots of new faces. Fabbri joined the team last year and looks like a top 6 F. We just added Bobby Ryan, Stetcher, Merrill, Staal and Greiss. Each should play this year on a good contract (except cap dump staal) but are more here to stabilize what was a really bad team.
From the old guard Dekeyser is a solid second pairing D that's generally playing above his pay-grade. Nemeth is solid. Glendening and Helm are good bottom 6ers. I like Erne. No one too exciting but they fill out the team.
Because of the situation in Europe it's unclear which of prospects will play this year. Zadina established himself as an NHLer last year and looks poised to become a 30 goal, 60 point top 6 W. We're hoping he develops into a star so watching him will hopefully be a bright spot this year whether it be in Europe or here. Similarly, Seider seemed poised to make the team but is likely going to spend the year in Sweden due to Covid. Once he comes back, I expect him on the Wings. We're all pretty confident he'll be a second pairing defensive stalwart. If he can develop the offense and puck skills to play on the first pairing, that would be huge.
Rasmussen and Veleno are solid center prospects getting ready to make the NHL. Both are playing in Europe right now. I'd expect Moose this year and Veleno next. Rasmussen is huge and will likely play the net front on the PP but I project him in the bottom 6 at ES. Veleno skates and passes very well but it's hard to say if he has top 6C upside.
Raymond won't be with the Wings this year, but is the most exciting prospect in the system IMO. I'm very excited to watch his development in Sweden and I'm hoping he can be a star winger for us someday. Head on over to the various prospect discussions to read about some more of our players like Tuomisto, Wallinder, Johansson and Berggren. That's where a lot of the excitement about this team is.
Welcome to the board.
BinCookin
Registered User
Welcome Grand.
You are doing the opposite to joining the band wagon
Now is the time only the true fans are around.
But we will be good again. We are rebuilding properly, going for young players or tradable short contracts.
We debate all the time around here as armchair GMs what the right signing is or who should be traded etc etc.
We definitely are going to have a team near the bottom of the standings for a few years.
But we are collecting a lot of young talent.
Larkin is very fun to watch play with his blazing speed.
Mantha looks like he may be a possible 1st line player.
Bertuzzi has complemented them nicely.
Are these guys really 1st line players? Who knows. But the more good players we draft, and if we sign them to good contracts (Yzerman famous for this in TB)... Well If you stick around, we are going to have a really good team one day. Its always sweet to see it built from the ground up!
You are doing the opposite to joining the band wagon
Now is the time only the true fans are around.
But we will be good again. We are rebuilding properly, going for young players or tradable short contracts.
We debate all the time around here as armchair GMs what the right signing is or who should be traded etc etc.
We definitely are going to have a team near the bottom of the standings for a few years.
But we are collecting a lot of young talent.
Larkin is very fun to watch play with his blazing speed.
Mantha looks like he may be a possible 1st line player.
Bertuzzi has complemented them nicely.
Are these guys really 1st line players? Who knows. But the more good players we draft, and if we sign them to good contracts (Yzerman famous for this in TB)... Well If you stick around, we are going to have a really good team one day. Its always sweet to see it built from the ground up!
Shaman464
No u
Way too optimistic, you're going to give him too high of expectations.
Mantha/Larkin/Bert are a second line on a contender
Hronek is a #3/First pp guy.
Ras still projects as a middle 6 wing.
Veleno is a bottom 6 guy more likely than not.
The rest of the team is cast offs, but the Wings need guys to get mileage out of.
The good things:
Zadina and Raymond make two out of three parts of a killer top line. They just need a center.
Seider looks like the first top pairing guy the Wings have drafted in many on here's lifetimes. He could be a #2 defensive stalwart that pairs well with a more offensive oriented #1.
Yzerman. He has a plan, he has a staff, and I expect amazing things once his system is built.
FabricDetails
HF still in need of automated text analytics
- Mar 30, 2009
- 8,140
- 3,904
You ever walk into a Sears hoping the good toys are on clearance?
Ghost of Ethan Hunt
The Official Ghost of Space Ghosts Monkey
Welcome @AintLifeGrand , I assume you've submitted the prerequisite pics to the admin & peddled the current quota of Amway products to family/friends/colleagues? (cost of joining a rival teams board).
All joking aside, now is a good time to come aboard as our competitive window (playoffs & eventually SC contender) should be open in ~2-3 yrs+. Conversely, NSH's window is narrowing, so it'll be a nice supplement until then.
All joking aside, now is a good time to come aboard as our competitive window (playoffs & eventually SC contender) should be open in ~2-3 yrs+. Conversely, NSH's window is narrowing, so it'll be a nice supplement until then.
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Holden Caufield
Registered User
Steve Yzerlland
Registered User
- Jul 18, 2018
- 8,199
- 4,040
HisNoodliness
The Karate Kid and ASP Kai
I really don't think what I said is too optimistic. I mean if you compare how you described each player to how I did... They're really similar
Avery Rule
Registered User
- Jun 1, 2010
- 1,046
- 194
Having the best odds at the 1st overall pick in the 2021 draft.
Nut Upstrom
You dirty dog!
Welcome.
You may not enjoy following the hockey team for a few years, but at least your fiance is a real keeper. Wings coming off a historically bad season and still she makes you jump ship rather than run screaming to jump on the Pred's bandwagon.
Welcome aboard and congrats on wooing a Michigan gal.
You may not enjoy following the hockey team for a few years, but at least your fiance is a real keeper. Wings coming off a historically bad season and still she makes you jump ship rather than run screaming to jump on the Pred's bandwagon.
Welcome aboard and congrats on wooing a Michigan gal.
FabricDetails
HF still in need of automated text analytics
- Mar 30, 2009
- 8,140
- 3,904
Also, wait, Preds fan and partner from Grosse Pointe... Not unlike Roman Josi.
Oddbob
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2016
- 15,905
- 10,451
20-21 is going to be rough, just hopefully not as rough as this season was. All our new young prospects minus maybe Zadina will play most if not all of this year overseas. On this team though, you will really like Dylan Larkin as his motor is always going even when we are getting embarrassed and is certainly a good future captain (should be already). Bertuzzi is fun to watch when he is on, but doesn't always bring it the way you would hope. Mantha is similar with effort to Bertuzzi, but *IF* he can stay healthy we hope for 30+ goals in an 82 game schedule (this year will be less imo) which we have been waiting for a few seasons now. Hronek is the only D of note to currently be excited about, but right not he has to play about 5 minutes a night too much and too high a role for his current ability. The first half of last season before he got tired he was awesome for our crappy team, but being overwhelmed he played as bad as anyone else on our blueline the last 25 or so games, as he was -23 in those games at the end and was looking more like a rookie. Hopefully he can be played more to his role next season though. I still hold hope that we can get Cholowski a proper defensive partner to let him play his offensive game. He hasn't been great, but he as a rookie is playing with truly terrible partners at a time when he needs someone stable to let him ease in.
Not to bring you down, but I would expect at best a bottom 2 finish (I think we cruise to dead last even with high effort as we are truly worse than everyone else), with lots of annoying 3-1, 4-1, 5-1 losses, although with Greiss replacing Howard I think we will be a lot better in net. The real excitement comes from hoping Zadina steps in and makes a name for himself, and then hoping in the second half that maybe we get to see Seider (normal year he would be up with us), maybe Raymond, Veleno and Rasmussen.
On the plus side, you don't have to watch any games with Justin Abdelkader in our lineup, because if you had been here last year, you would probably have forgone rooting for us ever again!
Also, only 1 more left of Frans Nielsen and most of our vet D that were bad have now moved on, minus newcomer Staal.
Ulysses31
Registered User
Preds & Wings are a good mix. The Preds got good as the Wings declined, and the current projection suggests the Wings will start to be a contender as the Preds key pieces start to drop off. Also, a lack of historical beef helps, despite the odd dirty Shea Weber hit in his younger days.
Re the Wings, its a good time to get involved. Its very likely that although probably a slight improvement on last year, this year will pretty much be at the bottom of the parabola going forward. While its not league leading, we've got the best prospect pool we've had in a LONG time, and with probably another couple of top 5/top 10 picks coming up over the next two years at least. If those two drafts yield a projected top line C and projected top line LD, we could have a whole new 1st line worth of talent within 4 years of each other in age, on top of a number of middle 6 guys of around the same age.
Also being new to the party, it should be easier to appreciate the players for who they are, without the shadows of Yzerman, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Konstntinov, Shanahan, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and other aging HOF short term guys clouding the judgement. Most on here lived through 97-2009, and so have seared in memories of watching elite players on elite teams every game, so it can be harder to not view current rosters through that prism.
As others have said, our current first line is in reality a sort of 1.5 line, but they have great chemistry and sometimes completely take over games. Larkin's the motor, Bert is the smarts and Mantha is the guy who if he can just avoid freak injuries has real top tier potential - its not impossible to imagine him getting 30-40 goals if he stays fit, even if the team struggle badly.
Elsewhere, almost everyone else is playing a line too high, but this also provides opportunities for those guys.
Lastly, the draft will be worth a watch in 2021, because in addition to picking early, the wings already have 3 second round picks and 2 third round picks, even without any cap dump trades between now and then, and with 10 upcoming UFAs (none of who are core pieces now or in the future), there will be rental sales for more picks come the deadline, if not before. The wings could easily have 15 picks next year, with an absolute minimum of 6 in the first 3 rounds.
Related to that Yzerman is a GM who likes to be active, so there will be trades if they are on offer, and come next summer the wings could have up to $35m in cap space, making free agency interesting.
So you will see lots of turnover, change, and potential excitement
Re the Wings, its a good time to get involved. Its very likely that although probably a slight improvement on last year, this year will pretty much be at the bottom of the parabola going forward. While its not league leading, we've got the best prospect pool we've had in a LONG time, and with probably another couple of top 5/top 10 picks coming up over the next two years at least. If those two drafts yield a projected top line C and projected top line LD, we could have a whole new 1st line worth of talent within 4 years of each other in age, on top of a number of middle 6 guys of around the same age.
Also being new to the party, it should be easier to appreciate the players for who they are, without the shadows of Yzerman, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Konstntinov, Shanahan, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and other aging HOF short term guys clouding the judgement. Most on here lived through 97-2009, and so have seared in memories of watching elite players on elite teams every game, so it can be harder to not view current rosters through that prism.
As others have said, our current first line is in reality a sort of 1.5 line, but they have great chemistry and sometimes completely take over games. Larkin's the motor, Bert is the smarts and Mantha is the guy who if he can just avoid freak injuries has real top tier potential - its not impossible to imagine him getting 30-40 goals if he stays fit, even if the team struggle badly.
Elsewhere, almost everyone else is playing a line too high, but this also provides opportunities for those guys.
Lastly, the draft will be worth a watch in 2021, because in addition to picking early, the wings already have 3 second round picks and 2 third round picks, even without any cap dump trades between now and then, and with 10 upcoming UFAs (none of who are core pieces now or in the future), there will be rental sales for more picks come the deadline, if not before. The wings could easily have 15 picks next year, with an absolute minimum of 6 in the first 3 rounds.
Related to that Yzerman is a GM who likes to be active, so there will be trades if they are on offer, and come next summer the wings could have up to $35m in cap space, making free agency interesting.
So you will see lots of turnover, change, and potential excitement
Lampedampe
Registered User
- Feb 26, 2015
- 2,144
- 765
Welcome!
Had to double check to make sure I was on the wings forum when I read the title
There's alot to be excited about, the last 3 drafts we have seen a massive influx of great prospects to the pipeline. The only thing that's really missing is that elusive blue chip center prospect. But the road ahead is long though, but that's only to our benefit, and in the coming 3 drafts we should be able to look forward to more high picks.
It sucks rebuilding but things are being done properly, and things are starting to look up!
Had to double check to make sure I was on the wings forum when I read the title
There's alot to be excited about, the last 3 drafts we have seen a massive influx of great prospects to the pipeline. The only thing that's really missing is that elusive blue chip center prospect. But the road ahead is long though, but that's only to our benefit, and in the coming 3 drafts we should be able to look forward to more high picks.
It sucks rebuilding but things are being done properly, and things are starting to look up!
WingedWheel1987
Registered User
Yzerman used this off season to give the team some training wheels by giving the younger players competent veteran teammates. Zadina and Hronek have to show a lot of improvement and Larkin needs to have a huge bounce back season.
Larkin2AA
Registered User
If Mantha/Larkin/Bert are a second line on a contender, then they would probably be one of the best second lines in the league. I think they could be a 1st line and still have success on a contending team. Am I mistaken in saying they have had success against some of the top lines in the league? Boston? Toronto? Buffalo? Pittsburgh? Tampa? I think the separation between them and other teams top lines is the defensive pairing they work with.
TheOtherOne
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2010
- 8,274
- 5,270
We're all cautiously optimistic looking to see how our legend Stevie Y builds a team, and it's only barely started. Hoping his GM legacy is a fraction as good as his player legacy.
Shaman464
No u
You're badly mistaken if you think they've had success against Point, Crosby, Eichel, Tavares, etc. Just looking at Point, Larkin has 4 more points than Point.... in nearly 100 more games. Eichel has 74 more points than Larkin in almost 50 less games. Looking at the contenders this year only Vegas is comparable and they didn't get to the finals because of their offensive prowess, they got there because Lehner had a sub 2gaa and pitched shutouts in a quarter of the games he played. Hell even going back to the 2nd round Detroit would still have the worst first line of the bunch. Mantha is the only piece on Detroit's top line that has actual top line potential, Bert is fine, but better suited to a middle 6 position and Larkin since 2017 is 29th among centers for points, with many contender's second line centers being in the same ballpark or better. It gets worse, obviously, if you look since he entered the league where he is in the mid 40s of centers with at least 120 games played (with Zetterberg playing with his bad back and past his prime being ahead of him in ppg)
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Number1RedWingsFan52
Registered User
Welcome aboard, Hopefully the Wings will be looking really really good in the next 3-4 years.
ManwithNoIdentity
Registered User
Gniwder
Registered User
LOL, that's how I wound up with a chainsaw. 60% off, couldn't help it. Still have it.
My ski condo is in an area where having a chainsaw in your truck is almost a requirement, down trees every season. Had to chop up a tree that fell on the road to the ski resort, which made me look like a hero. Best purchase ever.
How big of a gap in PPG is significant enough to matter? I'm looking at PPG since 17/18 and Barzal has been pretty solid producing at a .89 clip. Toews at .85, Seguin at .89, Backstrom at .90, ROR at .85, William Karlsson at .79. Larkin has put up .83 ppg. The difference between Larkin and Backstrom is about 20 points. Over 3 seasons. With Larkin being on significantly worse teams with less help. If Toews, Seguin, Backstrom, ROR, and Karlsson can be guys who lead their teams at center to the Cup finals and multiple playoffs, I'm not sure why Larkin couldn't. If he elite? No, he's not McDavid, Crosby, etc. But neither are Seguin. Or Backstrom. Or ROR. Or Karlsson.
We don't necessarily need a guy who produces better than Larkin at center. We need someone to slot in behind him that is pretty close. Or a wing who can slot in on that second line who can work as the center (even if I don't like that set up).
