1984Echoes

Hanifan and Lindholm are leaps and bounds better.

I'm hoping so... It takes two to Tango.

If you trade a D'man for a D'man (Ghost for Hanifan, just as an example); how has a hole been created? Promoting Edvinsson is a separate issue, IMO. Although that makes 1 of Chiarot or Matta expendable (Hanifan becomes #1 with Seider, plus Edvinsson as a #3 with Walman #2, or the other way around? Plus Ghost, plus... so how many LH'ed defenseman do we need on the Wings BTW...?).

I'm on board. I think we could throw Chiarot in there too, and maybe even Kane. I think I mentioned earlier I'd like Yzerman to be both a seller AND a buyer this deadline... I'd like him to buy a couple higher end players... if that's possible.

PS: The flipside is that: If you let too many young guys fester in the minors because of an unwillingness to make trades... their value deteriorates. You can lose organizational value by just... sitting on prospects. IMO.

Two highly regarded goalie prospects: Augustine and Cossa. And we have two current NHL goalies at different levels of reliability... Lots of LH'ed defenseman both NHL'ers and highly regarded prospects: Chiarot Gostisbehere Maatta Walman Edvinsson Albert Johansson William Wallinder Maybe even Shai Buium or Larry Keenan if another team were interested (highly debatable, but still...) If we were to trade for a #2 Center (Lindholm, just as an example): How many #2 Centers do we have, aside from the traded for guy (and Larkin at #1) Compher? Copp? Kasper? Danielson? That would make (5) #2 Centers now, or shortly in the future... Seriously? Yzerman has NOTHING that he can trade with? (And sometimes a vet is needed to be included to match up salaries... etc..). I'm sorry, but I disagree. Yzerman is in a position NOW... IMO... to start making team building moves that put this team at a much higher level. I DO think he would have to be careful, because to your point, an overpay in prospects/ picks could be as much of a setback as a step forward, organizationally... But I believe Yzerman has the ammunition to consider strong team-building moves... if he so chooses. One guy coming in and a couple going out are fine by me... And I think Yzerman has enough to work with... Just my 2 cents.

PS: If Yzerman could hold onto Edvinsson and get a Hanifan... We have a crapload of LH'ed defenseman to trade (both NHL'ers and prospects): Maatta, Gostisbehere, Chiarot, Albert Johansson, Wallinder, etc... PLEASE someone have an interest in a couple of these guys as part of a package...

The only thing that would hold me back on Cossa is we still need a #1 goalie. Is that Cossa? Maybe/ maybe not. I have no clue. And I don't know what the Org "really" thinks about him. Maybe they're ready to trade off Husso (probably zero interest in him though with performance & contract...) Or... maybe Yzerman is perfectly fine with trading Cossa for one of these guys and signing Augustine and throwing him to Grand Rapids for a short while before bringing him up to the Wings... I don't know the answers to any of that. But... if Yzerman trades Cossa... I guess I just "Trust in the Yzerplan". If it happens... it happens. But we need a #1 goalie. And we need a couple bigger, tougher, two-way players (1 each for offense & defense, at least, IMO. Maybe 1 offense and TWO defenseman the way our defense currently looks...)

I have a few thoughts... 1) Just in general: I think Yzerman is trying to figure out how to get this team into the playoffs, and he wants to get them in now. That's why he signed/ traded for a boatload of players in both 2022 and 2023. 2) But we're still a fringe playoff team, at best. And maybe not even that. 3) At the top level (organizational), I think Yzerman wants not just to get this team into the playoffs, but to create a sustainable, year-after-year, high-level playoff team (with chances to get into the Stanley Cup). I mean... obviously. 4) So #3 is the one I am really keying on... not just the sustainability, but at the highest level. The Wings will have to - MUST - rely on Yzerman and their scouts to continuously unearth drafted gems in order to keep a pipeline full, to sustain any kind of competitive team. I think that's a minimum. One of the keys, that Yzerman himself pointed out, was that the Wings cannot just rely on 1st or 2nd rounders drafted, but that they have to have the ability to find "gems" later in the draft. I don't see that, yet. Soderblom? Big and slow, but also agile in short spaces and top-notch stick-handling/ puck-control/ scoring ability... but still very iffy as an NHL'er. A liability on defense. Carter Mazur? A scrappy guy... not in the NHL yet and I don't know what we get with him. A scorer? Middle 6? Bottom 6? Nothing but a depth guy? Or more than that? Lombardi? Fast, but small. Better than Berggren? Or, not really? So... we have a lot of 1st or 2nd rounders on their way up... Not all of them will make it. We have excess in an area or two, but nothing concrete yet. Some guys are further away, and might make an impact (Pellikka, Danielson, Augustine), but noone is on the doorstep showing they'll make a huge impact, except maybe Edvinsson. 5) So I'm thinking... how is Yzerman going to create a high level playoff type team? He's not going to rest until he accomplishes that... right? And... I think he's going to want a mix of high-end vets to both get us there, AND to show the new rookies added to the team each year how to get it done right. I'm just guessing here... 6) So... on Kane: I mean, I love that he dominates the puck, and is showing that to the current team. A vet leader for this Wings team. I agree with buddha that I sign him for 2 more years at around $5mill total ($2.5mill AAV) and be done with it. The only thing that throws me off (not the only thing... he's 35 and had his hip resurfaced... I don't see longevity here...), is Vegas with "intense" interest, per the rumor mill. What does "intense" mean? A 1st rounder? That's way too much for Kane, and it would be at the end of the 1st in the late 20's, at best... But should Yzerman say no to a "king's ransom" or huge overpay if offered by Vegas (or anyone else)? 7) I actually want a different type player than Kane. Not the excellent puck control... we SORELY need that. But I'm looking for the big, tough, high-end two-way players that are ferocious on defense AND offer significant offense. It's why I have an interest in high end players like Hanifan and Lindholm. I would pay the trade cost to get them, AND pay them a going-rate contract. I think they add more to this team, and get us not only into the playoffs but at a higher level, than the Patrick Kane's of the world. And if Yzerman can somehow talk a team into more players and less high draft picks, if that's even possible... I am all for that.

Wild guess is an impacted wisdom tooth...

This. (Quite a change from our last conversation on Hooker...)

The critical issue is that Holmes is effective at drafting. Other guys (vets at other positions) can be let go and "next man up" is a rookie or 3rd year guy that Holmes drafted and Dan Campbell and his coaching team have coached up. It's OK to let go of an expensive player and go to the next guy. But I don't do that at QB. Unless Hooker is the "next coming of..." and is clearly better than Goff; which we won't know for a at least a couple years or so... or Goff has become ineffective/ undependable due to age/ injury, neither of which is true. So find other positions to get saving$ from and rely on Holmes to fill the pipeline. And so... pay the man. There's no other reasonable/ better/ smarter choice. He's our QB. So... pay the man.

Real quickly before I get back to work: How does Timo Meier compare to Lindholm? I looked at that trade and: 1st, conditional 2nd, NHL'er Fabian Zetterland (who do we have that compares? Better than Veleno, not as good as Raymond...) and defensive prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin... so maybe that is Kasper. Not certain of a Mukha comp we have... maybe Wallinder or Johansson? Mukha is the Sharks 5th rated prospect and Wallinder is ours... just for example. So I might be correct that we don't need to offer a top 4 prospect (Danielson, Edvinsson, Kasper, Pellikka), but I didn't look at overall rankings. And if someone beats us (I don't mind offering anyone outside of the top 4) than no dice, I think. But then again, maybe I top someone's offer with Kasper if that's what it takes. Would you rather have Kasper as #2 Center or Elias Lindholm? I'm thinking Lindholm so maybe I say yes...

Get back to you after I resolve a 10K problem I need to fix...

Well... Since I'm NOT a GM... I WILL let Yzerman decide...

It's not going to cost Kasper or Edvinsson to get Lindholm. But nice try...

I was talking O, not D. As for D, I'd rather have under-30 Hanifin or Andersson than 34 yo Tanev.

Prospects and picks (I'll let Stevie work out those details) and... Yes.

Vegas has been showing intense interest in trading for Kane... I think Stevie should both buy AND sell this deadline. Kane is nice and all... but he's 35 and has limitations... And not a long-term future for our next playoff team. Trade him, IMO, and instead go after a bigger, tougher, two way forward. I still want Lindholm from Calgary... Just my 2 cents.

That would work.

This is why I though AG might need 1 more year of "prove it"... But if teams are looking at AG in exactly the same way as this... And he gets a head coach opportunity THIS year, then... Good for him.

Ahh, OK... One each of the next two years AFTER this offseason...? OK... still would like to have them.

I would be hugely in favor of that. Which is not a slam on AG as a coordinator. I felt earlier that maybe teams would want to see a little more out of the Lions defense before putting him ahead of Johnson. But if teams' priority is to find a "leader of men" first and X's & O's second and AG is the perfect candidate for that... good by me for a lot of reasons. 1) Campbell could make Ben Johnson the OC AND assistant head coach... giving him a training course for next year's round of head coach openings. I think that would be a plus for Ben. 2) I love Ben Johnson as OC so... I'm most reluctant to lose him. Glenn? I might be very reluctant to lose him too... but there are other circumstances involved with him as well... such as: 3) We would get two 3rd round picks for losing Glenn to the Commanders? I think that would be huge this year. We'd have (4) picks in the 3rd to maneuver around and get players that Holmes & Campbell love. I think that would bode huge for the team's long term future. 4) The team and Campbell in particular are extremely high on Kelvin Sheppard as a future coordinator. I feel like we wouldn't lose much, if anything, in this coaching switch... just a WAG. But that means I want those two 3rd rounders and Sheppard to get his shot more than I want AG. No disrespect to him.

Better than that: Their weakness is run defense, and we have a good running game (and O-Line). Our strength is run defense. We have a chance at shutting down CMC, as dangerous as he is. Forcing the game onto Purdy's shoulders and unleashing our blitz and win-turnovers game. Our dissimilarities give us a chance. IMO.

Ditto. Big time. I argued this exactly. They came out at -7. What are they looking at? IMO... they're not looking... So... if I were a betting man (I'm not)...