Next Seasons Needs/Team Future

[Andy Pred 48 337]

looking at our roster and the prospects coming up for next year the only requirements I feel we need are a genuine top 2 defenceman and a scoring/powerforward. Many of us on here will agree, but can we aquire these through FA come the summer? I can't see the type of player we need on D in the coming FA season. There are some solid 3/4 type players available but that isn't what we need, the RFA pool has some interesting candidates but I doubt their clubs will let them leave their organisation. Justin Schultz, Erik Gudbranson, PK Subban, Dimity Kulikov and Cody Franson head the list.

Are any of these top 2 players that would help our team? The only player I see being on the market is Kulikov as all the rest will be re-signed by their clubs. Although a great skater, he lacks size and has been a - rating every year in the NHL. Maybe that is a harsh judgement as he has played on the Panthers team that has struggled (except v us!) since he has iced for them. He ices 20+ mins a game for the Panthers and usually against the other side first line. Would be an upgrade on Kindl,Quincey but that isn't our priority need.

The only way we get that 1/2 guy for next season is to trade for him. What can we offer thou, a roster player is a given and maybe one we don't want to loose but you have to give to get and that is the problem.

My 3 choices would be S Weber, V Hedman and B Seabrook but we know none of them are going to happen.

More of a choice in the forward UFA list. One player who I always thought would do well for us is Milan Michalek, he

is a big body but not very physical and not as defensive responsible that is a must for Babcock. He seems to be struggling for the Sens this year, maybe a change of scenery is what is needed?

Thomas Vanek, now he is the right handed scorer we need but I feel he'll price himself out of Kennys range, and I doubt that Ken will want to pay anyone more the Z and Pav. Possible but unlikely.

So plenty of options out there but which way Kenny and the top brass go is anyones guess, I just hope he doesn't overpay for some over the hill player as he seems to do just lately!

[kipwinger 8,732]

Same as we need this year. Big forward that can score and a second pairing puck mover who's better than Smith. That's it.

[amato 3,210]

Same as we need this year. Big forward that can score and a second pairing puck mover who's better than Smith. That's it.

Wonder if gaborik makes it to free agency.. Although I don't know if we'd want to pay him as much as he'll demand elsewhere anyway

[kipwinger 8,732]

Wonder if gaborik makes it to free agency.. Although I don't know if we'd want to pay him as much as he'll demand elsewhere anyway

I've always loved Gaborik, and for the right price (significantly less than he makes now) I'd still take him. But honestly, I'd like to see a Jeff Carter/James Van Riemsdyk type of guy. Those two aren't going anywhere, but you get the idea.

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Free agency is going to be weak, but I'm ok with letting the younger guys develop on D. Kindl probably isn't going to get a lot better, but there's still a chance and even if he doesn't he's pretty damn good for a 3rd pairing guy. Smith still has some upside and can easily still end up as a 2nd pairing guy. If he can cut down on the derp plays, Kronwall-Dekeyser, Smith-Ericsson can be a pretty good top 4. Lashoff is a pretty solid #7. The 6 spot is the one up for grabs. Do they let a kid come in? I think Marchenko can handle that next year. If they don't agree, they should sign a vet stay home guy to a one year deal, no more. The other option would be to trade Kindl or Smith as part of a package to bring someone in. I'm not sure who is going to be available, but if they can move Kindl and a D prospect to get someone like Edler or another good d-man it's a good deal. They don't have room for all the kids anyway, so they might as well use them to fill needs now.

Up front they need size in the top 6. I don't think Jurco will be up full time, so he's not the answer. I think the best solution is to move Nyquist or Tatar and get a guy, either give up a little extra to get him, or make a move with a team looking to cut some salary. I like them both, but the Wings are loaded with skilled forwards 6'0" and under, and the one scoring player who's bigger doesn't really play a real physical game. I think they're going to sign at least one, probably two, free agent forwards to play on the top 3 lines. Whether that's re-signing guys (please nobody but Alfredsson) or bringing guys in. If they only sign one, I think you're going to see Jurco up.

Edited January 28, 2014 by DickieDunn

[RyanBarnes! 293]

We need a legitimate enforcer and a scoring powerforward imo. A powerforward is virtually impossible but I would settle for a skilled hard working guy like Callahan, Dubinsky or Matthias. The latter is perhaps a possibility as he seems to struggle a bit lately.

[dirtydangles 1,328]

Wings needs: addition by subtraction - for the love of god don't re-sign Cleary, Bert, Sammy, Quincey

Anything else is gravy to me.

[kipwinger 8,732]

Free agency is going to be weak, but I'm ok with letting the younger guys develop on D. Kindl probably isn't going to get a lot better, but there's still a chance and even if he doesn't he's pretty damn good for a 3rd pairing guy. Smith still has some upside and can easily still end up as a 2nd pairing guy. If he can cut down on the derp plays, Kronwall-Dekeyser, Smith-Ericsson can be a pretty good top 4. Lashoff is a pretty solid #7. The 6 spot is the one up for grabs. Do they let a kid come in? I think Marchenko can handle that next year. If they don't agree, they should sign a vet stay home guy to a one year deal, no more. The other option would be to trade Kindl or Smith as part of a package to bring someone in. I'm not sure who is going to be available, but if they can move Kindl and a D prospect to get someone like Edler or another good d-man it's a good deal. They don't have room for all the kids anyway, so they might as well use them to fill needs now.

Up front they need size in the top 6. I don't think Jurco will be up full time, so he's not the answer. I think the best solution is to move Nyquist or Tatar and get a guy, either give up a little extra to get him, or make a move with a team looking to cut some salary. I like them both, but the Wings are loaded with skilled forwards 6'0" and under, and the one scoring player who's bigger doesn't really play a real physical game. I think they're going to sign at least one, probably two, free agent forwards to play on the top 3 lines. Whether that's re-signing guys (please nobody but Alfredsson) or bringing guys in. If they only sign one, I think you're going to see Jurco up.

I agree with most of what you're saying, except that I don't like Smith in the top four. Against decent competition he turns the puck over A LOT, rarely creates offense, and frequently blows zone coverage. He'll get better, but until then he'd be my third-pair puck mover until he shows (like Ericsson eventually did) that he can play the game safely. Until then, he's not ready to play defense on the second pair and his offense isn't good enough to make the turnovers and shoddy zone coverage worthwhile.

[BadgerBob 297]

I would hope we get some someone with some size and scoring ability, and a top 4 defenseman. I've always like Callahan, and I think he'd do well here, but I'm not banking on getting him. Like dirtydangles said, just please get rid of the dusty old farts and Quincey, anything after that this off season is a bonus.

[Opie 308]

Here is the problem as I see it, the Wings need a sniper, the problem is very few players can be a true sniper in this system.

Their is a lot of defensive responsibility in this system, think about the stat difference for Sequin going from a d first system in Boston to the Stars were he has free reign to score as much as he wants.

He is 6 goals and 10 assists away from his best season total with the Bruins and still has 30 games to play to match that season's GP.

This team needs scoring badly, but they are not going to get it from one player, the defensive responsibility is too much for one guy to join this team and then put up 70-80 points with 30-40 goals.

The guys who can do that in this league are few and far between and cost a lot of money.

So to answer your question, really the only thing they can do is continue to develop young talent and bring in the occasional UFA to subsidize the scoring.

A guys like Nash/Gaborik/Richards/etc would score with Dats, but would drive Babcock to do heavy drugs!!

[amato 3,210]

We need a legitimate enforcer and a scoring powerforward imo. A powerforward is virtually impossible but I would settle for a skilled hard working guy like Callahan, Dubinsky or Matthias. The latter is perhaps a possibility as he seems to struggle a bit lately.

Matthias has been on my wishlist for a couple seasons now.. He's young, affordable, works hard, and can win faceoffs. I'd love to add him.

[RyanBarnes! 293]

Matthias has been on my wishlist for a couple seasons now.. He's young, affordable, works hard, and can win faceoffs. I'd love to add him.

And as you know, he is a former Red Wings draft choice, so Holland might even consider to pick him up!

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

Dimity Kulikov is listed as 6'1" 205. I wouldn't consider that as lacking size. he's an RFA though so there's very little chance

[rick zombo 3,739]

I've always loved Gaborik, and for the right price (significantly less than he makes now) I'd still take him. But honestly, I'd like to see a Jeff Carter/James Van Riemsdyk type of guy. Those two aren't going anywhere, but you get the idea.

Hopefully that ends up being Mantha.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

There is an existing thread for that http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/75618-id-like-to-talk-about-this-off-seasonnext-season/

From my pov nothing has changed:

biggest needs: top pairing PP QB and top 4 shutdown guy

size, size, size and grit someone like Westgarth, Orr is an absolute must no matter what

no to Gaborik sadly great player but injury prone he doesn't put the Wings over the top.

[wingedominance13 112]

A new training staff and conditioning coach would be most beneficial to this team..

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Matthias is just another 4th liner who isn't as good as he was projected to be. Florida can keep him.

[Dabura 12,228]

Health would be nice.

[barabbas16 499]

Here is the problem as I see it, the Wings need a sniper, the problem is very few players can be a true sniper in this system.

Their is a lot of defensive responsibility in this system, think about the stat difference for Sequin going from a d first system in Boston to the Stars were he has free reign to score as much as he wants.

He is 6 goals and 10 assists away from his best season total with the Bruins and still has 30 games to play to match that season's GP.

I'm not sure whether or not you are suggesting that Dallas' system is better than Boston's, but....

Boston is 2nd in the East, whereas Dallas is not even in playoff position in the West (10th - only ahead of Winnipeg, Nashville, Calgary, and Edmonton).

If I had to choose, I would take the restricted sniper getting fewer points and home ice in the playoffs over awesome sniper point totals and tee times when April rolls around.

[Nev 1,085]

High end talent, nothing more, nothing less.

We don't need depth or role players, we've got plenty of talented kids to give us depth.

We need another high quality top-6 forward and a high quality top-4 dman. Neither is likely to be available in FA, but like last summer there may be someone available via trade. Kenny missed out on Ryan, Seguin, Ericsson and Edler last summer. If anyone of that level of quality is available again he needs to be prepared to let some of our assets go in order to get them.

Edited January 28, 2014 by Nev

[frankgrimes 1,836]

High end talent, nothing more, nothing less.

We don't need depth or role players, we've got plenty of talented kids to give us depth.

We need another high quality top-6 forward and a high quality top-4 dman. Neither is likely to be available in FA, but like last summer there may be someone available via trade. Kenny missed out on Ryan, Seguin, Ericsson and Edler last summer. If anyone of that level of quality is available again he needs to be prepared to let some of our assets go in order to get them.

Nill just robbed Chiarelli plain and simple I doubt the Wings could have offered would Dallas did.

[jimmyemeryhunter 2,747]

High end talent, nothing more, nothing less.

We don't need depth or role players, we've got plenty of talented kids to give us depth.

We need another high quality top-6 forward and a high quality top-4 dman. Neither is likely to be available in FA, but like last summer there may be someone available via trade. Kenny missed out on Ryan, Seguin, Ericsson and Edler last summer. If anyone of that level of quality is available again he needs to be prepared to let some of our assets go in order to get them.

I'm not saying we couldn't have packaged half the farm up to get one of those, but we don't have anyone comparable to Seguin in that age, Ericsson and Franzen are comparable this season in that neither have been healthy, but we couldn't have swapped given Louis age.

Had the kids we have up now been put on display last year, we could've put our hat on the edge of the ring, not entirely in it.

And once again.

Im slightly convinced that teams don't want to trade with us, because they wanna see if well fail.

Call it luck, but the teams we've built, they way we've drafted, and the amount of succes we've sustained over he last 2 decades honestly makes the rest of the league, (for the most part)look like they're amateurs.

[LeftWinger 5,090]

There is NO doubt Holland could have matched what Ottawa gave up for Ryan.

Nyquist is just as good as Silfverberg

Noesen hasn't stepped foot in the NHL for Anaheim thus far and could be compared to Ferraro.

Our 1st round pick will be very similar to Ottawa's in 2014.

Nyquist, Ferraro, 2014 1st for Bobby Ryan...

Holland needs to grow his balls soon or this team in going to be out for a bit...

[kipwinger 8,732]

There is NO doubt Holland could have matched what Ottawa gave up for Ryan.

Nyquist is just as good as Silfverberg

Noesen hasn't stepped foot in the NHL for Anaheim thus far and could be compared to Ferraro.

Our 1st round pick will be very similar to Ottawa's in 2014.

Nyquist, Ferraro, 2014 1st for Bobby Ryan...

Holland needs to grow his balls soon or this team in going to be out for a bit...

Noesen hasn't stepped foot in the AHL as of yet, because of injury. He's a Canadian junior stud who hasn't made waves in the AHL, like Frk in a way.

So yeah, I agree with you. We could have matched that.

Edited January 28, 2014 by kipwinger

[LeftWinger 5,090]

I agree Jimmy, teams (other GM's) are notorious for asking way too much from Holland, then accepting very little in comparison from other GM's...

PERECT example...2008, Columbus wanted Val Filppula for Sergei Fedorov...accepted Theo "Ted" Ruth from Washington...who? has yet to even attempt an appearance in the NHL...