I'm not even gonna bother responding to this nonsense anymore.
LOL.
I'm usually a minority voice on issues on this board.
Though, that's gradually changing as some of the flaws I've pointed out are too obvious to ignore.
And on this particular issue, I'd say the majority of Wings fans at HFboards agree with me.
There was no need to sign Sammy and/or Bert this year.
We're playing in the 2012-13 season. You have to go back to the 2005 draft to find an Wings pick who has established himself in the NHL.
2006 -- We traded Mathtias. Mursak still hasn't had a legit opportunity. Emmerton wasn't getting much of a look at 8 minutes a night. Axelsson and Larsson are guys with potential NHL caliber skill and smelled the NHL
2007-- Brendan Smith, widely considered our best prospect and, in some circles, a top prospect in the game, played five full seasons in college and the AHL. From his draft, here are the number of JUST DEFENSEMEN with more NHL experience -- Alzner, Gunnarsson, Subban, Cole, Blum, Kampfer, Falk, Braun, Aulie, Weller, Martinez, Ellerby, McDonagh, Shattenkirk.
Of those guys, Cole, Blum, Ellerby, McDonagh and Shattenkirk and Alzner were drafted higher.
How about Joakim Andersson? He turns 24 in a couple weeks. This guy wasn't ready for a 4th line role? Really, he was only supposed to have 3/4th line upside. So what else does he need to do in Grand Rapids? If I was Andersson I'd get the hell out of this organization anyway I could, because
2008 - Gustav Nyquist... 23 years old and has 18 games to his name. He spent one too many years in college, and I said so at the time. You look a guy like Adam Henrique. He played two years of junior after his draft and then played 73 games in the AHL before he was given a shot on the Devils last year...and played a significant role on the Stanley Cup finalist. A guy like Derek Stepan... Younger than Nyquist and has 164 games to his name and played in 20 playoff games last spring.
By now, everyone with real promise from those drafts should have gotten a legit look in the NHL.
We're still debating on Mursak...and that Smith is just now getting his real look, and the Nyquist is heading down to the AHL unless there are injury problems.
That's poor asset management.
Ideally our lines coming into this year would have been...
Nyquist (year 2) Datsyuk Franzen
Flip Zetterberg Brunner
Cleary Helm Mursak (Year 3)
Tatar (rookie) Andersson (Year 2) Abdelkader
No Bertuzzi. No Sammy.
You've still got Miller/Eaves and even Emmerton on the bench. You've got callups like Sheahan and Ferraro.
If for some reason, one of those prospects like Mursak or Andersson just wasn't working, then you could have addressed that via trade or free agency or waivers.
And then next year... when Clearly leaves. you've got Ferraro and Sheanahn and Janrkrok pushing for a job. Maybe you let Flip go and spend that money on a primetime defenseman.
Ken Holland likes to say, you want 2 NHLers out of a draft. What's the ****ing point if you never put them in the NHL?
If you want 2 NHLers per draft, then you should be introducing 2 rookies every year (on average) if you're drafting well.