I think that it is more likely that Tatar and Nyquist are traded then it is that they will ever play a meaningful on the Wings. I hate to say it but that has been the Red Wings standard for the most part, although the Wings did develop Howard, Lidstrom, Homer, Kronwall and ect. Tatar, in my opinion has been over ready for some time and I was surprised that they did not pencil him and Nyquist into the lineup from day one. I thought we would see two or maybe even three of Mursak, Tatar, Nyquist and Emmerton playing solid minutes this year before signing Sammuelson and I still would have prefer to see Tatar, Nyquist, ect. get a chance to show their worth. I just hope we don't trade another first round pick.
I don't know if I see a trade coming up on the horizon. Teams are all still feeling out where they are with their clubs so it could be a spell before we see teams anxious to make deals. I am guessing we will see Lashoff and Kindl fill in for Smith but depth is a serious concern. We are pretty bad on D right now, one more injury and it will be that much worse. We are lucky Huskins was not seriously injured on the Backes hit. Brian Skinner just signed to a try out with Grand Rapids. I wonder if he could be an option as he has some NHL time. (Link-
http://www.griffinshockey.com/news/releases/?article_id=2380) I dont know if there are any other servicable dmen on the free agency market. Dan DeKeyser from WMU would look good in there but by the time Western's season ends and if he signs with us, he likely wont make a difference and hopefully solutions like a healthy Cola (doubtful), White and Smith are in place.
In regards to our goaltending situation and Babcock's comments: I am not surprised that there is so little faith in McCollum. If the team felt he was ready to be servicable then they likely would have just gone with him over Monster. McCollum has not impressed me even in the AHL and he has been passed over by Mrazek. While Mrazek was in the AHL all star game, McCollum was not. Mrazek has started about eight more games then McCollum this year which speaks somewhat to the organizations preference. I trust that if Babcock did not feel comfortable with McCollum that he knows best. His comments, while harsh, are probably not all that shocking to McCollum.
I think Mrazek will start tuesday. I don't see the incentive of him sitting on the bench when he is younger and could use more ice time then McCollum. Maybe Howard is bothered by the hit he took some, or maybe they want to give him an extended rest. If Mrazek starts on Tuesday, Howard will have been off for four days by the time thursday's game comes around. If Howard is not bothered by the injury then leave Howard to start tuesday and start Mrazak on Saturday when the games are much more condensed and leave Howard for the tougher of the back to back. Or maybe Mrazek is up so McCollum can get back in the swing of things and there is no intention of him playing at the NHL level, I don't know. I will be at Tuesday's game and as a big Howard fan, I hope he plays. It would be exciting to see Mrazek but I would prefer Howard, lol.
I don't fault Holland for our goaltending depth. Really entering camp Howard was option A, Monster option B, and Macdonald option C (if he wasn't going to be dealt before his injury). That is one quality starter, and two quality backups plus Mrazek, McCollum, and Pearce as options D, E, and F where they could be servicable on an emergency basis. That is pretty decent depth. I do think that we should have secured some better defensive depth after losing Stuart and St. Nick.
