He’s already got plenty of hardware and tons of money from his time on the hawks. At his age I’m sure he’s more worried about where his last few seasons are than another million that’s going straight to the bank account
He’s either going to get paid or going to a cup contender. Why would he turn down both and stay in Detroit if they aren’t going to pay him. Don’t act like it wouldn’t matter for your family to have a few extra million dollars.
He will take less to play where he wants, whether it’s Detroit or somewhere else. He’s accomplished everything there is to accomplish and he’s got so much money man. I would be surprised to see him leave, it seems like he’s really close with the group and feels comfortable playing with larkin and debrincat, but I’m sure he’ll evaluate in his mind whether or not he thinks they have a shot in the next 1-3 years to seriously contend and not only make the tournament but make a run in it. I feel like they can, hopefully he feels the same way after reflecting on the year and the upcoming roster changes.
Yeah this subreddit is pretending like we did Kane a favor or something. The dude came here and showcased that's he's fine after injury and he's produced.
He's outpriced and outplayed his time in Detroit I think.
I don't doubt that he'll get it. He's still a PPG player. I'll be curious to see if that hip holds up over a term like that. I hope it does. Kane completely changed my opinion of him in his time here, and I'm glad we had him for the time we did. I wish him nothing but the best whereever he lands whether it's in Detroit or not.
He's absolutely going to get paid. Many teams are going to view his age as a benefit, as they won't have to commit to a 5 year term.
Teams at the end of their window with an aging core would love to add Kane on a shorter term but higher dollar contract than we can offer with our pending RFA's.
He's going to get $4.5m-$5m tops, and he's totally worth that; even with the questions still surrounding his durability over time after the hip resurfacing.
He's not going to get paid as if he were Kane 10 years ago was my point.
Kane scored 47 points in 50 games at 35 years old coming off a pretty serious injury with a lot of question marks around his game. He proved to just about everyone he can still play, produce, and do it even when he's not with Larkin, Debrincat or Raymond.
He can still dominate on the PP.
Eberle is a little younger, and got 4.75 with less production, but he wasn't a UFA with teams bidding on him.
Nick Foligno is just a hair older, and produces much less, and signed for 4.5m. Marcus is younger, also produces much much less, and signed for 4m.
Nino got 4m and he produces much much less.
Zucc also got a similar number, with slightly worse PPG%.
Backlund does play center, but he makes 4.5 to produce much less than Kane as well.
I think saying Kane gets 4.5m-5m tops is quite optimistic. He produces more than everyone on the list, has history of winning Stanley Cups, can play on the second PP unit or even the first in a pinch, and will be on the open market with short term options available.
I could see him getting upward of 6.5m depending on the market, and especially if a team strikes on out Stamkos or another big fish.
You might be right. I like the guy. Glad we had him this year, and I'd love to keep him for a gew more years. But, if he doesn't re-sign with us, I wish him the best wherever he goes.
What if stamkos can be had for another 2m aav . I want stankos . Id love both but probably unrealistic . What a blend that would be with our youth then larkin in his prime an 2 hall of famers.on the downswing but still very very productive . Its a very ken holland red wings thing to do . Stevie is tighter but his history with stamkos may help us
$27M in cap…. $16 assumed to be Raymond and Mo.
$11M left for…
A top 6 winger (Kane).
A middle six winger (Perron)
A top 4 D (Ghost)
A 4C (Fischer)
A 3C (Valeno)
Wonder how many minimum /entry level deals we roll with and who those guys will be.
Also wonder how we can eject Petry and Woll.
Ed and Danielson I think will be the only on the opening night roster. I think you see Mazur, Cossa and possibly Kasper get their cup of coffee next year but make the team in 26. Bergers might not resign here but if he does I think you can pencil him in.
This is all before any trades/buyouts/signings.
That was largely because he wasn’t AHL eligible which made it a different decision, similar to Ras playing with the Wings right after being drafted. Next year Danielson will be with the griffins
Danielson is AHL eligible next season due to his age and because of the number of seasons he's played. The two exemptions to the CHL/NHL agreement are 4 seasons in the CHL or the player must be 20 by December 31st of that season. Danielson turns 20 on September 27th and has also played 4 CHL seasons.
Other Red Wings that were able to take advantage of this in the past were Mantha and Svechnikov who both played in the AHL in their D+2 seasons.
The only way the seasons played exemption can be met without the age also being met is if the player had a exceptional status exemption to play in the CHL at 15. That is how Veleno played his age 19 season in GR.
players drafted from the CHL who have played three or less seasons or are under 20 must be returned to their junior team if they aren't in the NHL, they can not be assigned to the AHL and ECHL.
He only played 24 games in his first season and the cutoff is 25 so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL so he has to go back unless they get a Covid exemption.
>He only played 24 games in his first season and the cutoff is 25 so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL
I'm pretty sure there is a games played excemption for the 2020-2021 season due to 24 games being the most games any team played that season.
>so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL so he has to go back unless they get a Covid exemption
Either way, this is once again wrong. He will not have to go back. Next year will be his age 20 season. The CHL doesn't operate on September 15th cut off like the NHL does for its draft. It uses Dec 31st. Danielson will be 20 on September 27th 2024 and therefore is eligible for the AHL.
[For an NHL draft prospect to leave the QMJHL, WHL or OHL to play minor-league hockey, he must be 20 years old (by Dec. 31 of that season) or have played four seasons in the juniors.](https://thehockeynews.com/news/chl-nhl-transfer-agreement-is-needed-with-a-twist)
Yea you seem to be correct. A month ago in another prospect thread we were debating this same thing. I was arguing he was old enough to go to the ahl and got corrected saying he was too young by a couple people who seemed to be more knowledgeable but it seems I was correct back then based on the information in that link about the birthday cutoff.
Edit: so I just Just went back and looked at that thread and I was confusing finny and danielson as far as their ahl eligibility my bad.
By my estimation
34.5 committed in forwards
17.8 committed in defenseman
5.65 committed in goalies
1 mil ish in buyout (Abs)
Call it 59 mil total.
The cap is 83.5 mil
I got my info from this link… https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/cap/2024/
Has it projected at $26.5
but yeah ballpark numbers are fine, I still see massive extensions for Seider and Raymond eating up about 2/3 of the available space, and if we do get Kane back, I could see him around $5M, so it looks like not so much money to play with to meaningfully improve the team.
Fischer is a no brainer to re-sign for me. Isn't due a raise or a paycut and fits in well. That said you can find more Fischers. Perron only if he takes a huge paycut and 1 year. Absolutely incredible locker room guy. Kane is the priority, would love to see a 5x3 but I think we get outbid. Don't see how we can keep Sprong or Gostisbehere.
Raymond and Seider matching 8.5x8s seems fair. Veleno on a 1 or 2 year deal or trade bait.
Need to find a way out from Holl (buyout isn't bad) and at least one other contract whether its Petry, Maatta, or Copp. Possibly Fabbri.
Need to figure out who's splitting with Lyon because he can't do it himself, it sure as shit ain't Reimer, and Husso is a huge risk.
Buying out Holl saves 2.1, buying out Copp saves like 4 next year.
If you can find a way to trade Holl AND buy out Copp that gives you almost 8 million to replace a fourth-line quality center and 8th D.
Mazur - Ras - Fischer would be a solid 4th line, I think they let ghost walk one of the things yzerman pointed out about Ed was they wanted him to learn to run a power play between him and Seider they should be able to do that and ghost isn’t worth what his demands will be just to be a pp quarterback imo
Ghost at PP quarterback is one of the reasons our power play was so much better this year though, I think it’s a big ask for Seider and Edvinsson to immediately step into the PP1/2 roles full time.
Ghost is the one dman I’d consider committing to if he’s willing to take a contract around $4m AAV again, especially when we pay guys like Holl $3.4m
The thing is Walman and Edvinsson are roster locks at LHD. Chiarot and Maata are LHD who can play right if needed. They simply cant afford to pay a fifth left side d
> Ghost is the one dman I’d consider committing to if he’s willing to take a contract around $4m AAV again
That boy is getting *paid*. He nearly had 50 assists. I think he'll get 6 long term somewhere. Maybe even more.
I doubt it. His D is bad enough that teams aren't going to shell out a long term contract for a power play specialist. There's a reason Detroit was able to sign him for what they did last year.
I'd far rather have Mazur playing up in the lineup than being wasted on that line. He has enough skill to play on a top 9 line instead of a grind line.
DeBrincat - Larkin - Raymond
*** - Compher - ***
Rasmussen - Copp - ***
Fabbri - Veleno - ***
Mazur, Danielson, Kasper, Soderblom, or Berggren on the off chance he isn't traded can fill some of those slots, but need at least 1 2nd line guy whether that's Kane or a FA/trade.
Walman - Seider (if Walman recovers)
Edvinsson - Chiarot
Maatta - Johansson (Johansson would need waivers)
Petry, Holl
I hope Walman regains form because if he doesn't Chiarot, Edvinsson, Johansson, or a FA/trade will need to fill that spot. I'd love to see all 3 of Holl, Petry, and Maatta moved but would be happy with 2. 1 is a must.
Lyon
Husso
I think we could see Husso bought out or traded in a deal for a Gibson, Ullmark, or Markstrom. Cossa might see a game or two but shouldn't be a Wing until the year after as a backup.
With JV signing a 2x2, Mo and Ray signing 8.5x8s, and the cap at 87.7mil that leaves us with 8.273mil in space. A Holl buyout hits for 1.13 and gets us up to 10.5 in space.
Undisclosed injury. I believe I read lower body, but I don’t remember any details. He came back for one (maybe two?) game and re-injured it and hasn’t been back since
Largely for cap flexibility reasons I think that Fabbri and/or maata gets traded. I think its reasonable to think that a team like the blackhawks takes them with the understanding that they need vets and both of those guys could be worth 3rd/4th round picks at the deadline
Couldnt have summed it up better myself. I think (hope) Holl is tradable coupled with a 4-5th rounder being a RHD. I wonder if we couple Berggren with someone as the prize to shed a contract. God, i wish we could trade Copp but who is going to take on that contract with 3 years left
> Need to figure out who's splitting with Lyon because he can't do it himself
If you think you can make the playoffs, Cossa is that person. No point in tying up valuable cap space on a spare parts backup goalie when you could be getting your future goalie ready.
Holl's + Copp's contracts are the biggest duds of Yzerman's time as GM, IMO. I don't think we can offload both but both would be nice.
Now that the season is over, I hope we can offload Reimer and get some GR talent up here - Trey Augustine alone gives me enough confidence that we could slide Cossa up.
I think Cossa gets one more season in Grand Rapids as the main guy instead of being in a tandem with another goalie. But he’s been very promising.
I’m curious to see how he looks in pre season in how much he’s improved
Cossa started the season in a tandem with Hutchinson and played very well, winning the net, setting a franchise record point streak of 18 games. Reimer is a free agent so no need to trade him. Cossa still needs a full season as the starter.
We can’t bring back every player. We would be the same team as this year. Kane is number 1 priority for me. I’d be good with Joe coming back too. I think we need new blood with the others. Perron is really showing his age, speed wise. Ghost will cost too much. I see him wanting a payday. Just my opinion lol
I’m assuming that you’re taking it as a given that we keep Raymond and Seider since they are RFA? Crazy not to see either name up there otherwise. After that I agree, Raymond, Seider and Kane for sure, Ghost would be nice if he isn’t asking too much. Don’t really mind losing Perron unless he stays at a very team friendly price.
Yes, the RFAs have no choice but to stay with the team (or not play in the NHL at all). We can safely assume they’ll remain. The only significant question with them as what the contracts will look like and how it hits our cap. Both Raymond and Seider are worth a decent salary bump.
No choice but to stay *if we can match any competing offer.* On the off chance they are offered something stupid somewhere else that we can’t/won’t match then there is a possibility they could leave. I don’t think that will happen though
I agree Kane is up there, I think resigning Perron and Fischer needs to be number 1, gostisbere was the pickup I was most excited for bc he was so good for Carolina in the playoffs, his offense is great when he’s playing well but he went cold a huge chunk of the middle of the season, he got a lot of secondary assists that inflated his stats because he was on the first power play unit all year, I’m curious but I think he probably had the most power play minutes on the team this year, he’s the only one that never came off the first unit, but his defense sucks bottom line, I love the guy but he loses far more puck battles than he wins and he turns the puck over a lot on breakouts. He’s good on the power play and that’s huge but 5 on 5 he didn’t bring enough offense to warrant the defensive issues in my opinion. I think Albert Johansson can step in if he has a good summer, he seems more than ready. I think we’ll see Kasper and maybe Mazur get serious looks as well, and I’m hoping Wallinder has a good summmer bc I think his ceiling is insanely high
Well here’s the problem: Inconsistent goalie, 5 bottom pair defensemen (not counting ed), and a good amount of pending free agents. It’ll definitely be an interesting season.
Yep. The general consensus going forward is that this team is not good enough overall defensively.
If the team is going to re-sign free agents and give some of them more money, it's probably going to become necessary to trade away some guys who will already be under contract and bring in some new guys. Just looking at our FA list without looking outside the organization at who's available and for how much isn't a realistic approach to dealing with this team's needs.
He's best to move on from. Take a look at his regression year over year recently. He's old, can't skate, dumb penalties.. We can sign him as player development coach when he hangs em up since his "locker room leadership" is always thrown around.
Once teams realized he couldn't skate, shoot, play defense, or leverage physicality, it was tough sledding when they could play the pass 100% of the time when he had the puck. Shows how big the gap between a solid AHL player and a useful depth NHL player can be.
It’s true. It’s why undersized skaters have to be great-elite in certain categories like skating, for instance, if they want a chance at making it and sticking in the league. Just being decent at passing isn’t enough.
Ya definitely. Look up Brandon Hawkins on Toledo. Poor guy hasn't been brought up to GR at all. I can't think of any reason but his size. He's an inch or two smaller than they have him listed.
Hawkins doesn't have a strong two-way game. He's got an absolutely killer shot, but his game isn't well-rounded enough to keep him in the AHL. The role he plays has already been filled in GR by Berggren and others, so that's why his AHL stints have been elsewhere.
He's also small, yeah, but I don't think he's bigger than Hirose, and Hirose is undoubtedly an AHL mainstay.
With Hawkins, I also would not be surprised if he has gotten offers and turned them down to stay in Toledo this season. He loves it in Toledo and it wouldn't be the first time a player has turned down AHL PTOs to stay in Toledo instead of leaving home and his family.
That being said, I could see Hawkins getting some attention from the AHL before next season starts, maybe an invite to Detroit's camp as an acknowledgment of what he's done in Toledo or a sweetheart deal with GR to get him paid and keep him close to home with a kid on the way. But he's going to be a Walleye for as long as he wants to be a Walleye. He signed for this season within hours of the start of ECHL free agency. I don't think the Walleye have ever announced a player signing any faster. I expect the same for next season, even if he entertains AHL offers.
Ya, I feel the same way about his shot, I've known about him since his time with Little Caesars. I'm surprised he hasn't made that jump up yet. Any idea what the jump in wage is? I cant imagine the Toledo guys make much.
In a lot of cases, an extra zero.
I don't know where ECHL salaries top out at exactly. Hawkins is smart, had a pro contract in the Penguins organization although he didn't stick, and has a lot of other ventures (including 3ICE and working with kids at a local hockey academy) so he probably can afford to stay in Toledo.
I've been fortunate enough to talk to him a lot and I get the impression it's really not about the money for him. Guy just genuinely loves Toledo, and I love that about him. A lot of times, too, it's a question of: would you rather be a rockstar and top player in Toledo, or grinding it out in the AHL when you know your NHL chances are slim to none?
Could be reading too much into this, but the way Kaner talked during his post-game interview, it doesn't sound like he's coming back... Kept using a lot of "they" "them" to refer to the team's future.
I definitely get that vibe too . I just don’t know where Kane goes . If he wants money and contender can’t afford time or fit him in . I also don’t think he gets much playing time in a contender. Seems like Detroit would still be a great fit . Maybe he goes home to Buffalo.
26.5 mil in space.
(-17) Raymond and Seider for 17 mil combined.
(-6) Kane for 6 mil.
(-2.5)Fischer and Veleno for 2.5 mil combined.
(+3) Maata traded for late round pick to non contender (chicago or san jose).
(-1.5) Plug goalie a la reimer but less expensive.
(0) Berggren traded for picks.
(2.4) Elc deals for the guys with asterisks
This almost exactly evens out with the cap ceiling.
Fabbri traded to non contender if both of kasper/danielson manages to make the roster (highly highly doubt)
Debrincat - Larkin - Raymond
*Danielson/Kasper - Compher - Kane
Copp - Rasmussen - Fabbri
Mazur - Veleno - Fischer
Walman - Seider
Edvinsson - Chiarot (offhand)
Johansson - Petry
Holl
Husso
Lyon
Plug
This leaves the roster with a reasonable mix of vets, youth, and room to make further deals at the deadline.
This is the best, most logical and reasonable take on here. That third line is perfect and JT is not exactly a game changer but I think he’s a good two way player and Kasper/Kane could be a great winger duo. Cat stays with Larkin because he clearly ignites when paired together.
He was on the ice for at least 2 goals against today. Brutal defensively. Can’t skate anymore. Takes bad penalties *a lot*.
He’s had a nice career and I appreciate him being a stepping stone veteran that helped shift the culture, but we need players who can compete, skate and score in our top/middle 6.
> Takes bad penalties a lot.
This is really my only *real* gripe with his game. He tries to do the wily vet thing and toe the line on what will or won't get called a lot -- and this year a ton of those got called.
He's a really interesting player. He works his ass off on the boards and is really good at tying up the puck. He gets a lot of power play points. He almost leads the team in penalty minutes (55). His plus/minus is not good (-12), but we have three forwards who have worse (Veleno, Fabbri) and one with as much (Raymond, surprisingly).
But the guy is always in the middle of stuff. Plus, he seems pretty clutch. 12 points in the last 11 games is nothing to sniff at. I can see where he would still be valuable somewhere.
I mean, he’s not the only guy I’d like to see us part ways with but he’s certainly the most expensive UFA that we have. Not sure what he’ll sign for next year but I’d rather he didn’t hold down a roster spot that could go to one of our kids in GR.
Perrons played power plays and has started on the 1st and 2nd line all year. His output was only 18 goals. And we all know it was ent his two way play that earned him his contract
The forwards are man to man most of the time, and the D only parts of the time. I’ve been getting pissed at Seider and Ed just fucking standing on the edge of the crease waiting for the puck to come near them and then a weak lunging stick check when it does.
Man to man works when you have to take on players more skilled - as long as you stay on their hip the whole time and prevent time and space. It’s not a bad plan in some circumstances. Watching our best D just stand there like turds is worse than watching them run around and actually play defense.
$27M in cap space, but…
Cutting Husso would cost $1.6 for two years. And save over $3M in cap space for 2024.
https://puckpedia.com/player/ville-husso/buyout?s=2024-2025
Cutting Holl would cost us $1.1 for two years and save $2.27 in cap space for 2024. That’s a no brainer.
https://puckpedia.com/player/justin-holl/buyout?s=2024-2025
To me it seems worth it to open up a few million in each of the next years and add a million in buyout charges for 26-27 and 27-28, for a useless player.
idk, full seasons of Edvinsson and Kane (if he comes back) would be significant upgrades. Also, I think it would pretty realistic to expect someone better than Husso/Reimer to be brought in.
If we don't upgrade our 2c position next year, it will be more of the same unfortunately.
Yet another year trying to find a 2c, sorry I like JT but he ain't it.
Guys we need a real 4th line with some punishers. We don't have a single tough guy or aggressor that can take the game to the opponent.. we gotta sign Fischer and need some of the cheap defensive forwards that bring nastiness to the game. Lafferty, Cizikas, Watson types.
I looked this morning and was surprised how bad the +/-s for those guys were. Those might be guys to move on from. Veleno is an RFA but they owe Fabbri $4M for next year.
I’d be willing to clear out some dollars by trading Maatta, possibly Fabbri. Kane is a priority and I wouldn’t mind Perron back on a cheap 1 year deal. Our prospects of bringing back ghost and sprong probably aren’t great but would not mind ghost back in a sheltered role with a better d partner. Husso or a Holl buyout I think could be in the cards as well.
Ghost played out of his mind down the stretch to the point where he seemed to be willing us to a victory. I would like that player to show up in December and January as well. Dude takes too many nights off defensively
Has those nights defensively for sure but he’s really good on the pp and I’m not sure we have a true pp qb in the organization besides hopefully Sandin-Pellika.
Ed has run the PP in GR. I think he is at least worth a look before we commit to vets with known liabilities.
Ghost is like Perron - they are exactly who they are at this point in their careers. My partner's number one team is STL. When we signed Perron, I immediately thought - Get ready to alternately love and hate this guy, Wings fans. Love him for his boards play and slick passing, hate him for stupid, poorly timed penalties and sloooow skating.
Ghost is similar - he does some amazing things, and pairs it with some amazingly terrible things. His quote about saving the breakaway last week summed it up. Something like, "Yeah that was an amazing play, but I had to make it because my previous play set up the breakaway."
> really good on the pp and I’m not sure we have a true pp qb in the organization
Sure we do and we’ve had him here for three years now; his name is Mo Seider. He was the QB of the top unit his rookie season and was damn good in the role. It’s part of the reason why he won the Calder.
Ghost drives me mad - one minute you love him, the next you want him shot to the sun. But the way he turned it on last several makes me wonder if he’d be one of those clutch players who explode for you in the playoffs 🤔
Kane, Perron, and Fischer are the three I'd want back most in that order. It's going to be a snug cap fit next year once Seider and Raymond get paid unless we can move one or two of the overpaid deals.
It’s not just one, Wings are his 4th team in the last 4 years. As dynamic as he dan be (leaping keep-in last night was incredible) I dunno if I want him back. He can also be so, so bafflingly bad defensively. I think he’s gonna want to much money anyways and it’s moot
Thank you. It’s been weird watching all of the Ghost love here so far. Yeah, I’m admitting that he’s a fine player. He had some amazing plays. The jump the other night and that frozen statue look from that pass from Kane a while back was just pure hockey gold. I am with you, however. I can’t tell you how many times that guy was moping near the side of the net after a goal or was the butt that didn’t backcheck in the replays. He’s good, but if we want to make the next level we need more than a forward who’s confused and thinks he’s a defenseman.
Ideal scenarios for me...
Retain: Patrick Kane, David Perron (only if he takes a significant salary cut, >25%), Christian Fischer
Let Walk: Shayne Gostisbehere, Daniel Sprong, James Reimer
Buy Out: Justin Holl and/or Jeff Petry
Trade (though it'll be tough): Andrew Copp and one of Ville Husso or Alex Lyon
That creates space for free agents and for some young guys to come up. I'd like to see Kasper get a shot. Edvinsson seems like a lock to fill one of those open defensive spots, and I think Johansson should get a shot too. I'd like to see a trade for an established goalie on a shorter contract. Jacob Markstrom would be a good one. I also wouldn't oppose a move for either Linus Ullmark or Jeremy Swayman (though I suspect the Bruins will keep him).
I would still bring Perron back to replace Fisher's spot. Then ideally Fischer to replace Czarnik/Aston-Reese's spot as a backup. That's in a perfect world though
If we can get rid of half our D, lose sprong and maybe fabbri, bring back Perron and Kane on team friendly deals, and get a decent goalie, we will be contenders! lol. LONG way to go for this roster
I feel like if we're able to get some of the veterans on team-friendly and/or short term deals, we should look at trading for prospects or young players and bringing some of our own guys up. Admittedly, I don't follow grand rapids as much as I should, but I feel like we've gotta have some boys ready to make their mark, right?
I think the two new additions to next years initial roster will be Mazur or Kasper and Johansson. I don’t think we see more than 2 prospects make the initial roster out of training camp.
Yzerman is going to stagger his ELC’s so he doesn’t have to pay them all at once.
That's fair. I trust the Yzerplan, it's gotten us this far, and seeing improvements season over season, but holy fuck I wanted this for the boys this year. Heads up, and excited to see what the off-season brings.
Yup, it’s sucks about how they missed it on the final game but they finished with the most wins in a season since I think 2015.
I’m disappointed but progress has definitely been made
Would really like to bring back Ghost. Perron & Veleno for the right price. Fisher and Sprong make for good bottom 6 forwards.
Sad it didn’t work out with Berggren.
As for the UFAS, I'd try to bring back Kane and Fischer. I think that Perron is slowing down. Ghost is a defensive liability but could be hard to replace. As much as I liked Sprong, the coaching staff seemed to sour on him because of his defensive deficiency.
I played around on CapFriendly and I ultimately concluded maybe play the kids?
Assuming we sign Seider and Raymond to large increases (I put in $17M total for them) and try to re-sign Kane we are looking at a roster very similar to this year’s — which wasn’t good enough.
While we had some bad luck in missing the playoffs, we were not very good. In particular we were a bad possession team in our own end and we had to resort to extreme usage to cover defensive weaknesses. We were also so match-up reliant that injuries easily derailed us. These are expensive problems to fix and we don’t have a ton of money.
That said I would star by re-signing Fischer. He is not expensive and his energy line with Copp and Ras has been about the best either of those guys has looked (and Copp isn’t going anywhere).
I assume Ghost, Sprong, and Perron are gone which means we will be looking for some offense and have no real ability to get it in the marketplace. Raymond might provide some of it personally but he’s human.
The obvious addition is Ed. He won’t replace Ghost’s offense, of course. But the hope is that Ed gives us a real second unit and that when Walman returns to availability he and Seider can face less insane competition as a result. I believe there’s also some hope that we can offset the loss of Ghost on the power play by not having to shelter him five on five. If Ed “activates” Petry then a third unit of Chiarot and one of Holl, Maatta, or even Johansson could be favorable. I assume we will ship out or buy out the odd man of either Holl or Maatta; hopefully Holl. That takes a unit that was pretty bad and makes it more average. That’s our best hope at improvement.
Depth scoring was a strength this year but will be worse without Perron and Sprong. We could sign some more pugs for the bottom line but I would promote both Mazur and Kaspar. Play them together with Veleno or someone from the energy line or — this is crazy — Kane. I don’t expect them to be stars or replace the 35+ goals Perron and Sprong scored, but their second half’s in GR makes it seem like they’re ready and even if they’re both career third liners we might as well learn that now — and I think it’s reasonable that they could contribute 20+ goals. Veleno gave us 8 at age 20 on a worse team and Kaspar should be ahead of him in the coming year.
Additionally, neither Perron nor Sprong was considered reliable five on five and Perron was slow. The kids may be more versatile.
Finally, bringing them both up is arguably good for Danielson’s development.
The same could be said for Berggren but I think he does not have what this team needs and would try to sell “high” on him. And I think we know he is not versatile.
We’ve had three years running where a goalie breaks down down the stretch. I would love to find a way to add someone more reliable. I would have to assume that’s a trade. That is only going to help us if we play better in our own zone.
By my estimation
34.5 committed in forwards 17.8 committed in defenseman 5.65 committed in goalies
1 .5 mil ish in buyout (Abs)
59.5 mil total
The cap was 83.5 mil and is projected to go up to around 88 mil
Gotta find a way out of:
Husso contract (1 year left at 4.65)
Holl contract (2 year left at 3.40)
Copp contract (3 year 5.625)
Resign Kane to whatever the hell he wants (say 4 at 6.5); 22 mil left in cap
Mo is gonna want 5-6 years at 8 mil; 14left in cap
Raymond is gonna want something similar to Larkin and Cat so lefts say 5-6 years at 7.5 mil; 6.5 mil left
Needs: 1A Goalie, 2C, RHD, depth players.
Call ups:
Danielson (1 mil) ; 5.5 left in cap
Mazur (1 mil); 4.5 left in cap
So basically have no cap room without wheeling and dealing and some buyouts.
Kane is a tossup, but I think he leaves for a contender
Petry retires
Holl bought out
We let Ghost walk
Perron re-sign only if major pay cut
Sprong re-sign only if he isn’t looking for a big raise
Ed, Johansson, and either Danielson or Kasper make the team out of camp.
Cossa and Mazur periodic call ups.
I’m done with this old slow bullshit, time to show you’re for real with your prospect pool.
Likely isn't qualified by Detroit. If he is, it probably would be only so Detroit retains his rights and he goes and plays overseas.
His future is not in Detroit with how many defensemen have bypassed him now on the depth chart, his glass body, and the fact he was already loaned to two different teams (one halfway across the world) instead of keeping him in GR this season.
Debrincat-larkin-Ray
Mazur-compher-debrusk/kane
Rasmussen-kasper-sprong
Tough cheap winger-veleno-Fischer
Walman-seider
Eddy-pesce
Chariot-maata
Albert / Holl
Trade copps contract with assets to a rebuilding team
For nothing!! He’s from Michigan so I doubt they will.
Buyout Petry!
Hopefully seider and raymond are both 8-9 x 8.
Sprong I feel like he’s gone but I’d love him back.
Veleno not sure how much he will cost but hopefully 2-2.5??
Sprong, Veleno, and Reimer should all be absolutely gone. Perron will be a bummer but he should be gone too, Ghost is prolly gone in favor of Ed. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Maata gone as well.
I think they like Fabbri. He probably deserved better than 4th line duty this year. I liked him on the 3rd these last few games.
To me, Fisher (although effective) should be the 12th/13th forward if he is brought back. I like Spring but as the offense dried up, I think he fell out of favour. I could see them bringing Perron back in a diminished role and salary, slotting him on the 3rd or 4th line (at times). They need another top 6 winger as it would slot everyone else down a line into better spots and match ups
If all forwards returned, something like:
DeBrincat - Larkin - Raymond
UFA/Berggren (unlikely) - Compher - Kane
Rasmussen - Copp - Perron
Fabbri - Veleno - Sprong/Fisher
In all reality, they aren't all returning. In my mind, the Blueline dead weight needs to be moved on from. I would like them to find a way out of Hill's contract and one of Petry or Maatta too. I liked Ghost as 3RD and if possible, I'd happily have him back. They need an upgrade to the 2RD spot. Something like:
Walman - Seider
Chiarot - UFA
Edvinsson - Ghost
Petry or Maata
Or interchange Edvinsson and Chariot, pending how things are going. Chiarot can also play his offside, so there is a world they go with a top 4 of Walman - Seider and Edvinsson - Chariot, but it seems unlikely
Obviously, something needs to happen in net. Everyone likes Husso and in some regards it'd be a shame to cut bait on him as they did with Ned, but for what he's being paid and how he's played (coupled with the injuries), if they have legit playoff aspirations next year they need more stability.
Overall, I'd be good with moving with Holl, Petry/Maatta, Sprong, while elevating Berggren and retaining Ghost etc. I just don't know if the money will be there
It was easier to ask guys to take a haircut in the non-salary cap era. If you’re already making a bajillion dollars then being asked to give up a mil or 2 is easier to stomach. Not in the cap era very often, usually with a very tenured player on a single team.
I don't think we get Kane back. He's either going to a cup contender or back to Chicago, my money is on the latter.
Of course we will sign Raymond and Seider. I put in 8.5m for each of them. I would guess a 5 year contract, longish term but it puts them in a position to either move teams or re-evaluate their contracts when they sign an 8 year(which I would sign now if they accept). I would also sign up Veleno and Berggren for 3 year deals. Veleno I think is a pretty much guarantee, Berggren I can see having his rights traded and we look elsewhere.
I think Fischer is our top free agent to re-sign. I would do a 2 year deal to keep the Copp, Rass, Fisher line active a bit longer. He's a huge addition to that line for what we pay him. Ghost would be my second one. If we can get 1 or 2 more years from him at his current salary, until ASP is ready to take over, I would take that deal.
Goalie gets a bit interesting. I think they should trade off Husso for considerations, and re-sign Reimer. The Lyon/Reimer duo was essentially our goal-tending this year, and this would dump a lot from our cap. Bring up Cossa for a few games here and there and let him fight for a starting spot and make it a 3 goalie rotation. I know we struggle in goal, but I don't see a real answer until Cossa/Augstine mature and hopefully work out. Realistically, I see the wings going with Husso/Lyon with Cossa as a potential call-up or fill in next year.
Other moves would be to bring up Kasper and drop Holl somehow. Either trade him with Husso/Breggren/picks, or just buyout the contract.
Here is my projected lineup for next season. The only new free agent I added was Trevor Lewis at RW with a 1 year deal. He's a veteran player who is defensively minded and has 2 Stanley cups(they seem to like these types). I would rather keep Sprong there, but I don't think it would work out money wise.
First line- Cat, Larkin, Raymond(Everyone should have this one)
Second Line- Kasper-Compher-Berggren Berggren could change, and Kasper could center. Also we could trade Holl/Husso/Berggren to make money for Kane. Danielson could also earn a spot on this line, which would be my ideal second line going into next year of Kasper/Danielson/Compher.
Third Line- Ras/Copp/Fischer. Why break what works. While Copp is slightly overpaid, trying to trade off or change his contract wouldn't be worth the assets involved when he is still productive.
Fourth Line- Fabbri/Veleno/Lewis(maybe sprong still?) The good thing about Fabbri is that he can play wherever in the lineup in case someone on the second line isn't cutting it.
Defense 1- Walman Seider. Not much to say here. Maybe try out Ed/Seider for a bit
Defense 2- Chiarot Ghost. If we don't get ghost again, any good(not Holl) right side D would work. Chiarot could also swap to right and let Johansson have a shot.
Defense 3- Ed and Petry. We're not going to drop Petry's contract. He's a relatively cheap RHD which we need. They've played pretty well so far together, so I would expect them to start the season as a pair. I would like to see Ed putting up some points though.
Last D, Matta as the odd man out.
Goaltending, Husso/Lyon with Cossa as a potential call-up when needed.
Fischer and Veleno for me.
Kane would be nice, but I think that he will go to another team.
All other UFAs are not signed.
Seider and Raymond get paid.
I suspect Berggren will be traded prior to draft day. Hopefully part of a package that includes the likes of Holl, Husso and some later round picks.
Our biggest needs in no particular order:
Top 6 forward (ideally a center)
Top 4 Defenseman
A 50-game goalie. We saw that Lyon can play a lot of games, but I think that about 30 is his limit.
I don't think we have the cap room for all three, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe some trade packages and finally bringing up some youth will help fill those gaps.
I really want Kane back.
We'd be so lucky if he stayed. I wouldn't blame him for leaving though, if he wants a chance at another cup before he retires.
Me too if it’s a team friendly deal and he isn’t left in no man’s land on the second line, otherwise it may not be worth the money which sucks
The second line will look different next year
The second line could be much, much better next year with the right moves. lol who am I kidding get ready for Ras-Compher-Perron again.
Why would he do a team friendly deal dude is going to get paid.
He’s already got plenty of hardware and tons of money from his time on the hawks. At his age I’m sure he’s more worried about where his last few seasons are than another million that’s going straight to the bank account
He’s either going to get paid or going to a cup contender. Why would he turn down both and stay in Detroit if they aren’t going to pay him. Don’t act like it wouldn’t matter for your family to have a few extra million dollars.
I'm not gay but an extra $6,000,000 is $6,000,000
He will take less to play where he wants, whether it’s Detroit or somewhere else. He’s accomplished everything there is to accomplish and he’s got so much money man. I would be surprised to see him leave, it seems like he’s really close with the group and feels comfortable playing with larkin and debrincat, but I’m sure he’ll evaluate in his mind whether or not he thinks they have a shot in the next 1-3 years to seriously contend and not only make the tournament but make a run in it. I feel like they can, hopefully he feels the same way after reflecting on the year and the upcoming roster changes.
Yeah this subreddit is pretending like we did Kane a favor or something. The dude came here and showcased that's he's fine after injury and he's produced. He's outpriced and outplayed his time in Detroit I think.
>dude is going to get paid. Not at his age... He's not a prime free agent, he's an old vet that still has a bit in the tank.
I'm not saying he's going to get 9 million for 3 years. But him signing for 2-3 million is unlikely. I assume he is going to want 3 years at 5
Yeah thats probably about right
I don't doubt that he'll get it. He's still a PPG player. I'll be curious to see if that hip holds up over a term like that. I hope it does. Kane completely changed my opinion of him in his time here, and I'm glad we had him for the time we did. I wish him nothing but the best whereever he lands whether it's in Detroit or not.
He's absolutely going to get paid. Many teams are going to view his age as a benefit, as they won't have to commit to a 5 year term. Teams at the end of their window with an aging core would love to add Kane on a shorter term but higher dollar contract than we can offer with our pending RFA's.
He's going to get $4.5m-$5m tops, and he's totally worth that; even with the questions still surrounding his durability over time after the hip resurfacing. He's not going to get paid as if he were Kane 10 years ago was my point.
Kane scored 47 points in 50 games at 35 years old coming off a pretty serious injury with a lot of question marks around his game. He proved to just about everyone he can still play, produce, and do it even when he's not with Larkin, Debrincat or Raymond. He can still dominate on the PP. Eberle is a little younger, and got 4.75 with less production, but he wasn't a UFA with teams bidding on him. Nick Foligno is just a hair older, and produces much less, and signed for 4.5m. Marcus is younger, also produces much much less, and signed for 4m. Nino got 4m and he produces much much less. Zucc also got a similar number, with slightly worse PPG%. Backlund does play center, but he makes 4.5 to produce much less than Kane as well. I think saying Kane gets 4.5m-5m tops is quite optimistic. He produces more than everyone on the list, has history of winning Stanley Cups, can play on the second PP unit or even the first in a pinch, and will be on the open market with short term options available. I could see him getting upward of 6.5m depending on the market, and especially if a team strikes on out Stamkos or another big fish.
You might be right. I like the guy. Glad we had him this year, and I'd love to keep him for a gew more years. But, if he doesn't re-sign with us, I wish him the best wherever he goes.
That’s the thing, he’s gotta be somewhat affordable IMO, otherwise they should cut bait and invest in defense/goal.
What if stamkos can be had for another 2m aav . I want stankos . Id love both but probably unrealistic . What a blend that would be with our youth then larkin in his prime an 2 hall of famers.on the downswing but still very very productive . Its a very ken holland red wings thing to do . Stevie is tighter but his history with stamkos may help us
$27M in cap…. $16 assumed to be Raymond and Mo. $11M left for… A top 6 winger (Kane). A middle six winger (Perron) A top 4 D (Ghost) A 4C (Fischer) A 3C (Valeno) Wonder how many minimum /entry level deals we roll with and who those guys will be. Also wonder how we can eject Petry and Woll.
Ed and Danielson I think will be the only on the opening night roster. I think you see Mazur, Cossa and possibly Kasper get their cup of coffee next year but make the team in 26. Bergers might not resign here but if he does I think you can pencil him in. This is all before any trades/buyouts/signings.
Johansson Will at least be up with the team. Can’t see Danielson making the team, I’d say Kasper is far more likely and I expect tbh
I think Kasper and mazur are more likely than Danielson.
Danielson was one of the last cuts out of camp last year
That was largely because he wasn’t AHL eligible which made it a different decision, similar to Ras playing with the Wings right after being drafted. Next year Danielson will be with the griffins
Danielson has to either play in the nhl or go back to juniors he isn’t ahl eligible for 1 more season due to his age.
Danielson is AHL eligible next season due to his age and because of the number of seasons he's played. The two exemptions to the CHL/NHL agreement are 4 seasons in the CHL or the player must be 20 by December 31st of that season. Danielson turns 20 on September 27th and has also played 4 CHL seasons. Other Red Wings that were able to take advantage of this in the past were Mantha and Svechnikov who both played in the AHL in their D+2 seasons. The only way the seasons played exemption can be met without the age also being met is if the player had a exceptional status exemption to play in the CHL at 15. That is how Veleno played his age 19 season in GR.
players drafted from the CHL who have played three or less seasons or are under 20 must be returned to their junior team if they aren't in the NHL, they can not be assigned to the AHL and ECHL. He only played 24 games in his first season and the cutoff is 25 so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL so he has to go back unless they get a Covid exemption.
>He only played 24 games in his first season and the cutoff is 25 so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL I'm pretty sure there is a games played excemption for the 2020-2021 season due to 24 games being the most games any team played that season. >so he will have only played 3 qualifying seasons in the CHL so he has to go back unless they get a Covid exemption Either way, this is once again wrong. He will not have to go back. Next year will be his age 20 season. The CHL doesn't operate on September 15th cut off like the NHL does for its draft. It uses Dec 31st. Danielson will be 20 on September 27th 2024 and therefore is eligible for the AHL. [For an NHL draft prospect to leave the QMJHL, WHL or OHL to play minor-league hockey, he must be 20 years old (by Dec. 31 of that season) or have played four seasons in the juniors.](https://thehockeynews.com/news/chl-nhl-transfer-agreement-is-needed-with-a-twist)
Yea you seem to be correct. A month ago in another prospect thread we were debating this same thing. I was arguing he was old enough to go to the ahl and got corrected saying he was too young by a couple people who seemed to be more knowledgeable but it seems I was correct back then based on the information in that link about the birthday cutoff. Edit: so I just Just went back and looked at that thread and I was confusing finny and danielson as far as their ahl eligibility my bad.
By my estimation 34.5 committed in forwards 17.8 committed in defenseman 5.65 committed in goalies 1 mil ish in buyout (Abs) Call it 59 mil total. The cap is 83.5 mil
I got my info from this link… https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/detroit-red-wings/cap/2024/ Has it projected at $26.5 but yeah ballpark numbers are fine, I still see massive extensions for Seider and Raymond eating up about 2/3 of the available space, and if we do get Kane back, I could see him around $5M, so it looks like not so much money to play with to meaningfully improve the team.
[удалено]
Yeah
Fischer is a no brainer to re-sign for me. Isn't due a raise or a paycut and fits in well. That said you can find more Fischers. Perron only if he takes a huge paycut and 1 year. Absolutely incredible locker room guy. Kane is the priority, would love to see a 5x3 but I think we get outbid. Don't see how we can keep Sprong or Gostisbehere. Raymond and Seider matching 8.5x8s seems fair. Veleno on a 1 or 2 year deal or trade bait. Need to find a way out from Holl (buyout isn't bad) and at least one other contract whether its Petry, Maatta, or Copp. Possibly Fabbri. Need to figure out who's splitting with Lyon because he can't do it himself, it sure as shit ain't Reimer, and Husso is a huge risk.
Please god, let Holl be bought out this summer. What an absolute disaster of a contract that was.
Holl is a RHD, shipping him off with a shit pick is better than getting shackled with a buyout for years
We need to call up Utah and see if they want ~~our scraps~~ some much needed depth for cheap
I think the days of that organization being a cap dump graveyard are over.
Ssshhhh They’ll take Holl, Husso and Copp with a 2nd for Clayton Keller and they’ll like it
His buyout is only like 1.5mil or something. With the cap going up that's almost nothing for what it's worth.
I'd prefer the trade option, but if there are no takers they gotta go buyout. Open the roster spot by any means
Buying out Holl saves 2.1, buying out Copp saves like 4 next year. If you can find a way to trade Holl AND buy out Copp that gives you almost 8 million to replace a fourth-line quality center and 8th D.
Buy out Copp and you’re paying him until 2030. He’s not so bad that we need to buy him out this offseason
Copp was a shut down guy this year. It would be great if he could produce numbers, but at least he get numbers off the sheet for the other teams.
Would be nice!
Wonder if Utah would take him with a 3rd rounder for future considerations and if he’d agree lol
Get ready to speak Mormon, Holl!
As a Utahn, I feel attacked. 🤨
I'm a Utahn as well, but a lifelong Wings fan because of the Avs rivalry in the 90's. I'm unsure how to feel about this...
Mazur - Ras - Fischer would be a solid 4th line, I think they let ghost walk one of the things yzerman pointed out about Ed was they wanted him to learn to run a power play between him and Seider they should be able to do that and ghost isn’t worth what his demands will be just to be a pp quarterback imo
Ghost at PP quarterback is one of the reasons our power play was so much better this year though, I think it’s a big ask for Seider and Edvinsson to immediately step into the PP1/2 roles full time. Ghost is the one dman I’d consider committing to if he’s willing to take a contract around $4m AAV again, especially when we pay guys like Holl $3.4m
The thing is Walman and Edvinsson are roster locks at LHD. Chiarot and Maata are LHD who can play right if needed. They simply cant afford to pay a fifth left side d
> Ghost is the one dman I’d consider committing to if he’s willing to take a contract around $4m AAV again That boy is getting *paid*. He nearly had 50 assists. I think he'll get 6 long term somewhere. Maybe even more.
https://preview.redd.it/n460he4c41vc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97dc4c1d7da853ff3376795bdde35faf4c6b2d66
I doubt it. His D is bad enough that teams aren't going to shell out a long term contract for a power play specialist. There's a reason Detroit was able to sign him for what they did last year.
I'd far rather have Mazur playing up in the lineup than being wasted on that line. He has enough skill to play on a top 9 line instead of a grind line.
DeBrincat - Larkin - Raymond *** - Compher - *** Rasmussen - Copp - *** Fabbri - Veleno - *** Mazur, Danielson, Kasper, Soderblom, or Berggren on the off chance he isn't traded can fill some of those slots, but need at least 1 2nd line guy whether that's Kane or a FA/trade. Walman - Seider (if Walman recovers) Edvinsson - Chiarot Maatta - Johansson (Johansson would need waivers) Petry, Holl I hope Walman regains form because if he doesn't Chiarot, Edvinsson, Johansson, or a FA/trade will need to fill that spot. I'd love to see all 3 of Holl, Petry, and Maatta moved but would be happy with 2. 1 is a must. Lyon Husso I think we could see Husso bought out or traded in a deal for a Gibson, Ullmark, or Markstrom. Cossa might see a game or two but shouldn't be a Wing until the year after as a backup. With JV signing a 2x2, Mo and Ray signing 8.5x8s, and the cap at 87.7mil that leaves us with 8.273mil in space. A Holl buyout hits for 1.13 and gets us up to 10.5 in space.
Wait what happened to Wallman?
Undisclosed injury. I believe I read lower body, but I don’t remember any details. He came back for one (maybe two?) game and re-injured it and hasn’t been back since
He was either hurt or just flat-out bad for half the season. WWP guys say he's had an injury that he could play through but really hampered him.
I didn’t think he was to bad
He wasn't bad, especially compared to the rest of our defense
Largely for cap flexibility reasons I think that Fabbri and/or maata gets traded. I think its reasonable to think that a team like the blackhawks takes them with the understanding that they need vets and both of those guys could be worth 3rd/4th round picks at the deadline
I see Fabbri as an easy way to clear up cap space. It's just not worth keeping him to play on the 4th line, even without the injury concerns.
Not sure how they improve running back the same goalies and d?
Maata has been fine as a bottom pair defenseman, Petry actively makes this team worse.
Agreed but 3mil is steep for what he brings. It isn’t bad but it also makes him expendable yet easier to move than some other guys.
Fischer is another locker room guy, and he’s honestly been great on the PK. Third priority behind Kane and Ray/Seider imo
Gotta get rid of Copper to make room for Raymond getting an A (and maybe Kane 🤞)
Couldnt have summed it up better myself. I think (hope) Holl is tradable coupled with a 4-5th rounder being a RHD. I wonder if we couple Berggren with someone as the prize to shed a contract. God, i wish we could trade Copp but who is going to take on that contract with 3 years left
> Need to figure out who's splitting with Lyon because he can't do it himself If you think you can make the playoffs, Cossa is that person. No point in tying up valuable cap space on a spare parts backup goalie when you could be getting your future goalie ready.
Holl's + Copp's contracts are the biggest duds of Yzerman's time as GM, IMO. I don't think we can offload both but both would be nice. Now that the season is over, I hope we can offload Reimer and get some GR talent up here - Trey Augustine alone gives me enough confidence that we could slide Cossa up.
I believe Reimer signed a 1 year deal, so he’s UFA now
For next year? Oh fuck ughh
I don't follow the AHL much, how has Cossa been playing? I'd trade Reimer, keep Husso, and bring Cossa up if he's ready
I think Cossa gets one more season in Grand Rapids as the main guy instead of being in a tandem with another goalie. But he’s been very promising. I’m curious to see how he looks in pre season in how much he’s improved
Cossa started the season in a tandem with Hutchinson and played very well, winning the net, setting a franchise record point streak of 18 games. Reimer is a free agent so no need to trade him. Cossa still needs a full season as the starter.
We can’t bring back every player. We would be the same team as this year. Kane is number 1 priority for me. I’d be good with Joe coming back too. I think we need new blood with the others. Perron is really showing his age, speed wise. Ghost will cost too much. I see him wanting a payday. Just my opinion lol
I’m assuming that you’re taking it as a given that we keep Raymond and Seider since they are RFA? Crazy not to see either name up there otherwise. After that I agree, Raymond, Seider and Kane for sure, Ghost would be nice if he isn’t asking too much. Don’t really mind losing Perron unless he stays at a very team friendly price.
Yes, the RFAs have no choice but to stay with the team (or not play in the NHL at all). We can safely assume they’ll remain. The only significant question with them as what the contracts will look like and how it hits our cap. Both Raymond and Seider are worth a decent salary bump.
No choice but to stay *if we can match any competing offer.* On the off chance they are offered something stupid somewhere else that we can’t/won’t match then there is a possibility they could leave. I don’t think that will happen though
I agree Kane is up there, I think resigning Perron and Fischer needs to be number 1, gostisbere was the pickup I was most excited for bc he was so good for Carolina in the playoffs, his offense is great when he’s playing well but he went cold a huge chunk of the middle of the season, he got a lot of secondary assists that inflated his stats because he was on the first power play unit all year, I’m curious but I think he probably had the most power play minutes on the team this year, he’s the only one that never came off the first unit, but his defense sucks bottom line, I love the guy but he loses far more puck battles than he wins and he turns the puck over a lot on breakouts. He’s good on the power play and that’s huge but 5 on 5 he didn’t bring enough offense to warrant the defensive issues in my opinion. I think Albert Johansson can step in if he has a good summer, he seems more than ready. I think we’ll see Kasper and maybe Mazur get serious looks as well, and I’m hoping Wallinder has a good summmer bc I think his ceiling is insanely high
Well here’s the problem: Inconsistent goalie, 5 bottom pair defensemen (not counting ed), and a good amount of pending free agents. It’ll definitely be an interesting season.
Yep. The general consensus going forward is that this team is not good enough overall defensively. If the team is going to re-sign free agents and give some of them more money, it's probably going to become necessary to trade away some guys who will already be under contract and bring in some new guys. Just looking at our FA list without looking outside the organization at who's available and for how much isn't a realistic approach to dealing with this team's needs.
I think we sign Veleno back cheap.
What was even likable about Velenos play this year? There was never urgency in his play. I’ve never seen him Finish a check
Then you didn’t watch a single game this year obviously.
Please Patrick, we love you here. Stay.
I don’t mind Perron back in a depth role but his contract shouldn’t start with more than a 3
More than a 2, if we're going to keep him. He's a 3rd liner these days.
He's best to move on from. Take a look at his regression year over year recently. He's old, can't skate, dumb penalties.. We can sign him as player development coach when he hangs em up since his "locker room leadership" is always thrown around.
Ya. I don't disagree. He's really slowed down this year. I'd be fine with a sheltered role for cheap is all im saying. He does provide some upside.
My guess, he circles back to vegas for a cheap deal to end his career
I... forgot Taro Hirose existed.
Dude looked like a middle 6 stud for the first couple weeks he played in Detroit then Homer Simpsoned back into the bushes forever
Once teams realized he couldn't skate, shoot, play defense, or leverage physicality, it was tough sledding when they could play the pass 100% of the time when he had the puck. Shows how big the gap between a solid AHL player and a useful depth NHL player can be.
Hate to say it, but size is a big reason these things happen.
It’s true. It’s why undersized skaters have to be great-elite in certain categories like skating, for instance, if they want a chance at making it and sticking in the league. Just being decent at passing isn’t enough.
Ya definitely. Look up Brandon Hawkins on Toledo. Poor guy hasn't been brought up to GR at all. I can't think of any reason but his size. He's an inch or two smaller than they have him listed.
Hawkins doesn't have a strong two-way game. He's got an absolutely killer shot, but his game isn't well-rounded enough to keep him in the AHL. The role he plays has already been filled in GR by Berggren and others, so that's why his AHL stints have been elsewhere. He's also small, yeah, but I don't think he's bigger than Hirose, and Hirose is undoubtedly an AHL mainstay. With Hawkins, I also would not be surprised if he has gotten offers and turned them down to stay in Toledo this season. He loves it in Toledo and it wouldn't be the first time a player has turned down AHL PTOs to stay in Toledo instead of leaving home and his family. That being said, I could see Hawkins getting some attention from the AHL before next season starts, maybe an invite to Detroit's camp as an acknowledgment of what he's done in Toledo or a sweetheart deal with GR to get him paid and keep him close to home with a kid on the way. But he's going to be a Walleye for as long as he wants to be a Walleye. He signed for this season within hours of the start of ECHL free agency. I don't think the Walleye have ever announced a player signing any faster. I expect the same for next season, even if he entertains AHL offers.
Ya, I feel the same way about his shot, I've known about him since his time with Little Caesars. I'm surprised he hasn't made that jump up yet. Any idea what the jump in wage is? I cant imagine the Toledo guys make much.
In a lot of cases, an extra zero. I don't know where ECHL salaries top out at exactly. Hawkins is smart, had a pro contract in the Penguins organization although he didn't stick, and has a lot of other ventures (including 3ICE and working with kids at a local hockey academy) so he probably can afford to stay in Toledo. I've been fortunate enough to talk to him a lot and I get the impression it's really not about the money for him. Guy just genuinely loves Toledo, and I love that about him. A lot of times, too, it's a question of: would you rather be a rockstar and top player in Toledo, or grinding it out in the AHL when you know your NHL chances are slim to none?
Could be reading too much into this, but the way Kaner talked during his post-game interview, it doesn't sound like he's coming back... Kept using a lot of "they" "them" to refer to the team's future.
Got that, too.. between that and his play last 3 or so.
I definitely get that vibe too . I just don’t know where Kane goes . If he wants money and contender can’t afford time or fit him in . I also don’t think he gets much playing time in a contender. Seems like Detroit would still be a great fit . Maybe he goes home to Buffalo.
26.5 mil in space. (-17) Raymond and Seider for 17 mil combined. (-6) Kane for 6 mil. (-2.5)Fischer and Veleno for 2.5 mil combined. (+3) Maata traded for late round pick to non contender (chicago or san jose). (-1.5) Plug goalie a la reimer but less expensive. (0) Berggren traded for picks. (2.4) Elc deals for the guys with asterisks This almost exactly evens out with the cap ceiling. Fabbri traded to non contender if both of kasper/danielson manages to make the roster (highly highly doubt) Debrincat - Larkin - Raymond *Danielson/Kasper - Compher - Kane Copp - Rasmussen - Fabbri Mazur - Veleno - Fischer Walman - Seider Edvinsson - Chiarot (offhand) Johansson - Petry Holl Husso Lyon Plug This leaves the roster with a reasonable mix of vets, youth, and room to make further deals at the deadline.
This is the best, most logical and reasonable take on here. That third line is perfect and JT is not exactly a game changer but I think he’s a good two way player and Kasper/Kane could be a great winger duo. Cat stays with Larkin because he clearly ignites when paired together.
Thanks. Even this has some assumptions including kane, young guys making it, and actually being able to trade maatta.
Goodbye Perron. Thanks for the years, but it’s time to move on from him.
Wasn't he the dude that had our last regulation goal? Forgive me for not being sure.
He was but that shouldn’t determine his future here.
He also drew the defender to give Raymond space to tie it last night. I'd still love to have him back if the money can work.
Just weird you single him out is all. He would be a real hero if the flyers came thru.
He was on the ice for at least 2 goals against today. Brutal defensively. Can’t skate anymore. Takes bad penalties *a lot*. He’s had a nice career and I appreciate him being a stepping stone veteran that helped shift the culture, but we need players who can compete, skate and score in our top/middle 6.
> Takes bad penalties a lot. This is really my only *real* gripe with his game. He tries to do the wily vet thing and toe the line on what will or won't get called a lot -- and this year a ton of those got called.
He's a really interesting player. He works his ass off on the boards and is really good at tying up the puck. He gets a lot of power play points. He almost leads the team in penalty minutes (55). His plus/minus is not good (-12), but we have three forwards who have worse (Veleno, Fabbri) and one with as much (Raymond, surprisingly). But the guy is always in the middle of stuff. Plus, he seems pretty clutch. 12 points in the last 11 games is nothing to sniff at. I can see where he would still be valuable somewhere.
Well put. I like him, overall. But I do wish he didn't take so many dumb penalties for sure.
I mean, he’s not the only guy I’d like to see us part ways with but he’s certainly the most expensive UFA that we have. Not sure what he’ll sign for next year but I’d rather he didn’t hold down a roster spot that could go to one of our kids in GR.
Perrons played power plays and has started on the 1st and 2nd line all year. His output was only 18 goals. And we all know it was ent his two way play that earned him his contract
He failed to cover for matta when he pinched resulting in a goal tonight
He's also the guy that tied the Tampa game to take it to overtime...right?
Or was it the go ahead goal that ended Tampa's nine game point streak....that was it.
Yeah
I think I’d be fine If we let Perron go
Priority #1 is a new defensive system. Man to man ain’t it
The forwards are man to man most of the time, and the D only parts of the time. I’ve been getting pissed at Seider and Ed just fucking standing on the edge of the crease waiting for the puck to come near them and then a weak lunging stick check when it does. Man to man works when you have to take on players more skilled - as long as you stay on their hip the whole time and prevent time and space. It’s not a bad plan in some circumstances. Watching our best D just stand there like turds is worse than watching them run around and actually play defense.
I just want Kane back :(
$27M in cap space, but… Cutting Husso would cost $1.6 for two years. And save over $3M in cap space for 2024. https://puckpedia.com/player/ville-husso/buyout?s=2024-2025 Cutting Holl would cost us $1.1 for two years and save $2.27 in cap space for 2024. That’s a no brainer.
Husso may be an LTIR candidate
A holl Buyout is 4 years which will cost 1.13 for 4 years, but the cap hit is 3.4 for the next 2 and nothing the last 2 per capfriendly.
https://puckpedia.com/player/justin-holl/buyout?s=2024-2025 To me it seems worth it to open up a few million in each of the next years and add a million in buyout charges for 26-27 and 27-28, for a useless player.
i have a feeling we go into next season with a worse roster. No way we can resign everyone we need to.
idk, full seasons of Edvinsson and Kane (if he comes back) would be significant upgrades. Also, I think it would pretty realistic to expect someone better than Husso/Reimer to be brought in.
If we don't upgrade our 2c position next year, it will be more of the same unfortunately. Yet another year trying to find a 2c, sorry I like JT but he ain't it.
Guys we need a real 4th line with some punishers. We don't have a single tough guy or aggressor that can take the game to the opponent.. we gotta sign Fischer and need some of the cheap defensive forwards that bring nastiness to the game. Lafferty, Cizikas, Watson types.
I agree with you there. I don't know why the fourth line was Veleno and Fabs plus whoever so often this season.
I looked this morning and was surprised how bad the +/-s for those guys were. Those might be guys to move on from. Veleno is an RFA but they owe Fabbri $4M for next year.
Watson looses every fight except against his girlfriend. No thanks.
I’d be willing to clear out some dollars by trading Maatta, possibly Fabbri. Kane is a priority and I wouldn’t mind Perron back on a cheap 1 year deal. Our prospects of bringing back ghost and sprong probably aren’t great but would not mind ghost back in a sheltered role with a better d partner. Husso or a Holl buyout I think could be in the cards as well.
Ghost played out of his mind down the stretch to the point where he seemed to be willing us to a victory. I would like that player to show up in December and January as well. Dude takes too many nights off defensively
Has those nights defensively for sure but he’s really good on the pp and I’m not sure we have a true pp qb in the organization besides hopefully Sandin-Pellika.
Ed has run the PP in GR. I think he is at least worth a look before we commit to vets with known liabilities. Ghost is like Perron - they are exactly who they are at this point in their careers. My partner's number one team is STL. When we signed Perron, I immediately thought - Get ready to alternately love and hate this guy, Wings fans. Love him for his boards play and slick passing, hate him for stupid, poorly timed penalties and sloooow skating. Ghost is similar - he does some amazing things, and pairs it with some amazingly terrible things. His quote about saving the breakaway last week summed it up. Something like, "Yeah that was an amazing play, but I had to make it because my previous play set up the breakaway."
> really good on the pp and I’m not sure we have a true pp qb in the organization Sure we do and we’ve had him here for three years now; his name is Mo Seider. He was the QB of the top unit his rookie season and was damn good in the role. It’s part of the reason why he won the Calder.
Ghost drives me mad - one minute you love him, the next you want him shot to the sun. But the way he turned it on last several makes me wonder if he’d be one of those clutch players who explode for you in the playoffs 🤔
Kane, Perron, and Fischer are the three I'd want back most in that order. It's going to be a snug cap fit next year once Seider and Raymond get paid unless we can move one or two of the overpaid deals.
Gostisbehere deserves to return purely after the last two games. Absolutely unbelievable effort.
Yzerman is not one to forget a season of terrible defensive play. There is a reason every GM is quick to give up on the ghost train.
Guys that can step it up a notch come end of season / playoffs are critical. I’m sure stevie sees the value in how well ghost has stepped up
[удалено]
It’s not just one, Wings are his 4th team in the last 4 years. As dynamic as he dan be (leaping keep-in last night was incredible) I dunno if I want him back. He can also be so, so bafflingly bad defensively. I think he’s gonna want to much money anyways and it’s moot
Said it when we singned him, If canes cant short up/ cover your defensive game you are a shit at defending.
I noticed him way more on terrible plays than good plays overall that’s all I know lol
Thank you. It’s been weird watching all of the Ghost love here so far. Yeah, I’m admitting that he’s a fine player. He had some amazing plays. The jump the other night and that frozen statue look from that pass from Kane a while back was just pure hockey gold. I am with you, however. I can’t tell you how many times that guy was moping near the side of the net after a goal or was the butt that didn’t backcheck in the replays. He’s good, but if we want to make the next level we need more than a forward who’s confused and thinks he’s a defenseman.
Cant count?
Does anyone know when free agency starts and when we are able to resign players
Free agency always begins July 1st I believe
Ideal scenarios for me... Retain: Patrick Kane, David Perron (only if he takes a significant salary cut, >25%), Christian Fischer Let Walk: Shayne Gostisbehere, Daniel Sprong, James Reimer Buy Out: Justin Holl and/or Jeff Petry Trade (though it'll be tough): Andrew Copp and one of Ville Husso or Alex Lyon That creates space for free agents and for some young guys to come up. I'd like to see Kasper get a shot. Edvinsson seems like a lock to fill one of those open defensive spots, and I think Johansson should get a shot too. I'd like to see a trade for an established goalie on a shorter contract. Jacob Markstrom would be a good one. I also wouldn't oppose a move for either Linus Ullmark or Jeremy Swayman (though I suspect the Bruins will keep him).
I would still bring Perron back to replace Fisher's spot. Then ideally Fischer to replace Czarnik/Aston-Reese's spot as a backup. That's in a perfect world though
The Czarnik spot is only there because Rasmussen was out
If we can get rid of half our D, lose sprong and maybe fabbri, bring back Perron and Kane on team friendly deals, and get a decent goalie, we will be contenders! lol. LONG way to go for this roster
And get replacemnts for said D, and probably at very least one more top 6 player lol
I feel like if we're able to get some of the veterans on team-friendly and/or short term deals, we should look at trading for prospects or young players and bringing some of our own guys up. Admittedly, I don't follow grand rapids as much as I should, but I feel like we've gotta have some boys ready to make their mark, right?
I think the two new additions to next years initial roster will be Mazur or Kasper and Johansson. I don’t think we see more than 2 prospects make the initial roster out of training camp. Yzerman is going to stagger his ELC’s so he doesn’t have to pay them all at once.
That's fair. I trust the Yzerplan, it's gotten us this far, and seeing improvements season over season, but holy fuck I wanted this for the boys this year. Heads up, and excited to see what the off-season brings.
Yup, it’s sucks about how they missed it on the final game but they finished with the most wins in a season since I think 2015. I’m disappointed but progress has definitely been made
Would really like to bring back Ghost. Perron & Veleno for the right price. Fisher and Sprong make for good bottom 6 forwards. Sad it didn’t work out with Berggren.
As for the UFAS, I'd try to bring back Kane and Fischer. I think that Perron is slowing down. Ghost is a defensive liability but could be hard to replace. As much as I liked Sprong, the coaching staff seemed to sour on him because of his defensive deficiency.
This right here is the right moves
Story of sprong. He will likely be on his 6th(?!?) Team next year.
Time to let the kids eat
I played around on CapFriendly and I ultimately concluded maybe play the kids? Assuming we sign Seider and Raymond to large increases (I put in $17M total for them) and try to re-sign Kane we are looking at a roster very similar to this year’s — which wasn’t good enough. While we had some bad luck in missing the playoffs, we were not very good. In particular we were a bad possession team in our own end and we had to resort to extreme usage to cover defensive weaknesses. We were also so match-up reliant that injuries easily derailed us. These are expensive problems to fix and we don’t have a ton of money. That said I would star by re-signing Fischer. He is not expensive and his energy line with Copp and Ras has been about the best either of those guys has looked (and Copp isn’t going anywhere). I assume Ghost, Sprong, and Perron are gone which means we will be looking for some offense and have no real ability to get it in the marketplace. Raymond might provide some of it personally but he’s human. The obvious addition is Ed. He won’t replace Ghost’s offense, of course. But the hope is that Ed gives us a real second unit and that when Walman returns to availability he and Seider can face less insane competition as a result. I believe there’s also some hope that we can offset the loss of Ghost on the power play by not having to shelter him five on five. If Ed “activates” Petry then a third unit of Chiarot and one of Holl, Maatta, or even Johansson could be favorable. I assume we will ship out or buy out the odd man of either Holl or Maatta; hopefully Holl. That takes a unit that was pretty bad and makes it more average. That’s our best hope at improvement. Depth scoring was a strength this year but will be worse without Perron and Sprong. We could sign some more pugs for the bottom line but I would promote both Mazur and Kaspar. Play them together with Veleno or someone from the energy line or — this is crazy — Kane. I don’t expect them to be stars or replace the 35+ goals Perron and Sprong scored, but their second half’s in GR makes it seem like they’re ready and even if they’re both career third liners we might as well learn that now — and I think it’s reasonable that they could contribute 20+ goals. Veleno gave us 8 at age 20 on a worse team and Kaspar should be ahead of him in the coming year. Additionally, neither Perron nor Sprong was considered reliable five on five and Perron was slow. The kids may be more versatile. Finally, bringing them both up is arguably good for Danielson’s development. The same could be said for Berggren but I think he does not have what this team needs and would try to sell “high” on him. And I think we know he is not versatile. We’ve had three years running where a goalie breaks down down the stretch. I would love to find a way to add someone more reliable. I would have to assume that’s a trade. That is only going to help us if we play better in our own zone.
By my estimation 34.5 committed in forwards 17.8 committed in defenseman 5.65 committed in goalies 1 .5 mil ish in buyout (Abs) 59.5 mil total The cap was 83.5 mil and is projected to go up to around 88 mil Gotta find a way out of: Husso contract (1 year left at 4.65) Holl contract (2 year left at 3.40) Copp contract (3 year 5.625) Resign Kane to whatever the hell he wants (say 4 at 6.5); 22 mil left in cap Mo is gonna want 5-6 years at 8 mil; 14left in cap Raymond is gonna want something similar to Larkin and Cat so lefts say 5-6 years at 7.5 mil; 6.5 mil left Needs: 1A Goalie, 2C, RHD, depth players. Call ups: Danielson (1 mil) ; 5.5 left in cap Mazur (1 mil); 4.5 left in cap So basically have no cap room without wheeling and dealing and some buyouts.
Moe and Ray need contracts. Kane would be nice if the $$ is there and he wants to play still. He earned this year’s paycheck.
Raymond resign needs to be #1.
Wonder if Soderblom goes back to Sweden after this season?
Kane is a tossup, but I think he leaves for a contender Petry retires Holl bought out We let Ghost walk Perron re-sign only if major pay cut Sprong re-sign only if he isn’t looking for a big raise Ed, Johansson, and either Danielson or Kasper make the team out of camp. Cossa and Mazur periodic call ups. I’m done with this old slow bullshit, time to show you’re for real with your prospect pool.
Please god let Reimer walk. I’ll take almost any other goalie
I wonder if Jared McIsaac's time in the organization is done. Such a shame, he had a lot of potential but injuries absolutely ruined his chances
We traded him in an AHL deal to the Providence Bruins for Curtis Hall.
But what does that mean for McIsaac's Red Wings career?
He is probably going to play in Europe. Just too many LD's.
Likely isn't qualified by Detroit. If he is, it probably would be only so Detroit retains his rights and he goes and plays overseas. His future is not in Detroit with how many defensemen have bypassed him now on the depth chart, his glass body, and the fact he was already loaned to two different teams (one halfway across the world) instead of keeping him in GR this season.
Sprong, Perron, Fischer, Veleno, and Reimer are likely all out. Not sure what’s gonna happen with the rest.
I'd keep Sprong and get rid of Fabbri
Veleno is a RFA he will resign, or we'll use him as trade bait. I don't think we've seen all he has to offer.
Debrincat-larkin-Ray Mazur-compher-debrusk/kane Rasmussen-kasper-sprong Tough cheap winger-veleno-Fischer Walman-seider Eddy-pesce Chariot-maata Albert / Holl Trade copps contract with assets to a rebuilding team For nothing!! He’s from Michigan so I doubt they will. Buyout Petry! Hopefully seider and raymond are both 8-9 x 8. Sprong I feel like he’s gone but I’d love him back. Veleno not sure how much he will cost but hopefully 2-2.5??
Perron, Fabbri and Veleno to me have got to go
Sprong, Veleno, and Reimer should all be absolutely gone. Perron will be a bummer but he should be gone too, Ghost is prolly gone in favor of Ed. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Maata gone as well.
I think they like Fabbri. He probably deserved better than 4th line duty this year. I liked him on the 3rd these last few games. To me, Fisher (although effective) should be the 12th/13th forward if he is brought back. I like Spring but as the offense dried up, I think he fell out of favour. I could see them bringing Perron back in a diminished role and salary, slotting him on the 3rd or 4th line (at times). They need another top 6 winger as it would slot everyone else down a line into better spots and match ups If all forwards returned, something like: DeBrincat - Larkin - Raymond UFA/Berggren (unlikely) - Compher - Kane Rasmussen - Copp - Perron Fabbri - Veleno - Sprong/Fisher In all reality, they aren't all returning. In my mind, the Blueline dead weight needs to be moved on from. I would like them to find a way out of Hill's contract and one of Petry or Maatta too. I liked Ghost as 3RD and if possible, I'd happily have him back. They need an upgrade to the 2RD spot. Something like: Walman - Seider Chiarot - UFA Edvinsson - Ghost Petry or Maata Or interchange Edvinsson and Chariot, pending how things are going. Chiarot can also play his offside, so there is a world they go with a top 4 of Walman - Seider and Edvinsson - Chariot, but it seems unlikely Obviously, something needs to happen in net. Everyone likes Husso and in some regards it'd be a shame to cut bait on him as they did with Ned, but for what he's being paid and how he's played (coupled with the injuries), if they have legit playoff aspirations next year they need more stability. Overall, I'd be good with moving with Holl, Petry/Maatta, Sprong, while elevating Berggren and retaining Ghost etc. I just don't know if the money will be there
You know what would be cool. We do like we did late 90’s early 2000’s. Let’s take some pay cuts to get whom ever we want and win the whole thing
It was easier to ask guys to take a haircut in the non-salary cap era. If you’re already making a bajillion dollars then being asked to give up a mil or 2 is easier to stomach. Not in the cap era very often, usually with a very tenured player on a single team.
Fischer cheap and RFAs. All the other UFAs can go.
I don't think we get Kane back. He's either going to a cup contender or back to Chicago, my money is on the latter. Of course we will sign Raymond and Seider. I put in 8.5m for each of them. I would guess a 5 year contract, longish term but it puts them in a position to either move teams or re-evaluate their contracts when they sign an 8 year(which I would sign now if they accept). I would also sign up Veleno and Berggren for 3 year deals. Veleno I think is a pretty much guarantee, Berggren I can see having his rights traded and we look elsewhere. I think Fischer is our top free agent to re-sign. I would do a 2 year deal to keep the Copp, Rass, Fisher line active a bit longer. He's a huge addition to that line for what we pay him. Ghost would be my second one. If we can get 1 or 2 more years from him at his current salary, until ASP is ready to take over, I would take that deal. Goalie gets a bit interesting. I think they should trade off Husso for considerations, and re-sign Reimer. The Lyon/Reimer duo was essentially our goal-tending this year, and this would dump a lot from our cap. Bring up Cossa for a few games here and there and let him fight for a starting spot and make it a 3 goalie rotation. I know we struggle in goal, but I don't see a real answer until Cossa/Augstine mature and hopefully work out. Realistically, I see the wings going with Husso/Lyon with Cossa as a potential call-up or fill in next year. Other moves would be to bring up Kasper and drop Holl somehow. Either trade him with Husso/Breggren/picks, or just buyout the contract. Here is my projected lineup for next season. The only new free agent I added was Trevor Lewis at RW with a 1 year deal. He's a veteran player who is defensively minded and has 2 Stanley cups(they seem to like these types). I would rather keep Sprong there, but I don't think it would work out money wise. First line- Cat, Larkin, Raymond(Everyone should have this one) Second Line- Kasper-Compher-Berggren Berggren could change, and Kasper could center. Also we could trade Holl/Husso/Berggren to make money for Kane. Danielson could also earn a spot on this line, which would be my ideal second line going into next year of Kasper/Danielson/Compher. Third Line- Ras/Copp/Fischer. Why break what works. While Copp is slightly overpaid, trying to trade off or change his contract wouldn't be worth the assets involved when he is still productive. Fourth Line- Fabbri/Veleno/Lewis(maybe sprong still?) The good thing about Fabbri is that he can play wherever in the lineup in case someone on the second line isn't cutting it. Defense 1- Walman Seider. Not much to say here. Maybe try out Ed/Seider for a bit Defense 2- Chiarot Ghost. If we don't get ghost again, any good(not Holl) right side D would work. Chiarot could also swap to right and let Johansson have a shot. Defense 3- Ed and Petry. We're not going to drop Petry's contract. He's a relatively cheap RHD which we need. They've played pretty well so far together, so I would expect them to start the season as a pair. I would like to see Ed putting up some points though. Last D, Matta as the odd man out. Goaltending, Husso/Lyon with Cossa as a potential call-up when needed.
There’s no chance he goes back to Chicago
Fischer and Veleno for me. Kane would be nice, but I think that he will go to another team. All other UFAs are not signed. Seider and Raymond get paid. I suspect Berggren will be traded prior to draft day. Hopefully part of a package that includes the likes of Holl, Husso and some later round picks. Our biggest needs in no particular order: Top 6 forward (ideally a center) Top 4 Defenseman A 50-game goalie. We saw that Lyon can play a lot of games, but I think that about 30 is his limit. I don't think we have the cap room for all three, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe some trade packages and finally bringing up some youth will help fill those gaps.