Checking in on.... The Ex-Wing Report

[DelHowLich]

Wings left side seems to have a lot of offensive minded defensemen with Walman, Edvinsson, Chiarot (even though he doesn't produce much offense) and even prospects like Johansson and Wallinder. Wings might want more defensive types on the right side or at least 2 way guys. Usually those guys are cheaper to trade for or sign as UFAs. Personally i would let Haag and Oesterle walk, trade Lindstrom or waive him at the start of the season unless he prove he belongs in camp and pre-season next year. I would sign both Luke Schenn and Gudas short term for the right side and both would add some nastiness to the defense along with a more defensive style to pair with the more offensive minded left side.

Or trade for Zadorov for that nastiness. There is also Provorov in the rumor mill, I would trade Chiarot and a second for Provorov, Philly might do it for the cap savings and the fact that Philly does not have a 2nd round pick this year.

Both are lefties though. I don't think Chiarot is easy to move at all given his contract and how bad defensively he's been with the Wings. Flyers changed their GM and the new one might not want to trade Provorov at all and i doubt he want Chiarot at all. Plus Chiarot has a 10 team no trade list so who knows which teams are on his list.

I think the only way to get rid of Chiarot at this point is for a bad cap dump. Maybe they could swindle Vancouver to take him for Myers before they have to pay the bonus but after they pay it no way they make that deal. Unless the Wings want to pay to dump him on someone else, they might be stuck with him for a while. Maybe Yzerman can get Verbeek to take him for cheap given how bad their defense is and the fact they aren't looking to compete anytime soon but again the 10 team no trade list could block that move.

Zadorov is a lefty that can play both sides.
Funny you mentioned Verbeek and Anaheim. I wonder if we could relieve them of Fowler? Chiarot + Zadina + a 2nd for Fowler? Fowler is from Windsor; do you think he had Red Wing PJ's as a boy?

[dcz28]

Or trade for Zadorov for that nastiness. There is also Provorov in the rumor mill, I would trade Chiarot and a second for Provorov, Philly might do it for the cap savings and the fact that Philly does not have a 2nd round pick this year.

Both are lefties though. I don't think Chiarot is easy to move at all given his contract and how bad defensively he's been with the Wings. Flyers changed their GM and the new one might not want to trade Provorov at all and i doubt he want Chiarot at all. Plus Chiarot has a 10 team no trade list so who knows which teams are on his list.

I think the only way to get rid of Chiarot at this point is for a bad cap dump. Maybe they could swindle Vancouver to take him for Myers before they have to pay the bonus but after they pay it no way they make that deal. Unless the Wings want to pay to dump him on someone else, they might be stuck with him for a while. Maybe Yzerman can get Verbeek to take him for cheap given how bad their defense is and the fact they aren't looking to compete anytime soon but again the 10 team no trade list could block that move.

Wings only have 2 retained salary deals they can make after the Vrana deal. I wouldn’t want to use either of them before the deadline. Gotta assume with what the UFA market looks and what this roster looks like, we’re tanking again.

I’d hope to move Perron, Kubalik & a couple of guys we bring in at the next deadline.

Ras - Larkin - Raymond
Berggren - Copp - Kubalik
Fabbri - Kasper - Soderblom
Zadina - Veleno - Cap dump

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - UFA/Cap dump/trade
Maata - Chiarot

looks like a lottery team to me.

Wings didn't tank this season and won't tank next season either. I don't think Yzerman is going to leave open spots just handing Edvinsson, Kasper and Soderblom spots. He's going to sign some NHL players or make trades and those young guys will have to earn their spots. He's going to try and make the Wings competitive again to battle for a playoff spot just like he did this season.

[dcz28]

Or trade for Zadorov for that nastiness. There is also Provorov in the rumor mill, I would trade Chiarot and a second for Provorov, Philly might do it for the cap savings and the fact that Philly does not have a 2nd round pick this year.

Both are lefties though. I don't think Chiarot is easy to move at all given his contract and how bad defensively he's been with the Wings. Flyers changed their GM and the new one might not want to trade Provorov at all and i doubt he want Chiarot at all. Plus Chiarot has a 10 team no trade list so who knows which teams are on his list.

I think the only way to get rid of Chiarot at this point is for a bad cap dump. Maybe they could swindle Vancouver to take him for Myers before they have to pay the bonus but after they pay it no way they make that deal. Unless the Wings want to pay to dump him on someone else, they might be stuck with him for a while. Maybe Yzerman can get Verbeek to take him for cheap given how bad their defense is and the fact they aren't looking to compete anytime soon but again the 10 team no trade list could block that move.

Zadorov is a lefty that can play both sides.
Funny you mentioned Verbeek and Anaheim. I wonder if we could relieve them of Fowler? Chiarot + Zadina + a 2nd for Fowler? Fowler is from Windsor; do you think he had Red Wing PJ's as a boy?

Would take more than that to get Fowler and dump Chiarot on them. I doubt Zadina has much value at all now. Wings would at least have to give a 1st round pick or very good prospect (maybe both) to dump Chiarot and get Fowler back...Zadina would just be a throw in for any deal.

[holytoledo]

Both are lefties though. I don't think Chiarot is easy to move at all given his contract and how bad defensively he's been with the Wings. Flyers changed their GM and the new one might not want to trade Provorov at all and i doubt he want Chiarot at all. Plus Chiarot has a 10 team no trade list so who knows which teams are on his list.

I think the only way to get rid of Chiarot at this point is for a bad cap dump. Maybe they could swindle Vancouver to take him for Myers before they have to pay the bonus but after they pay it no way they make that deal. Unless the Wings want to pay to dump him on someone else, they might be stuck with him for a while. Maybe Yzerman can get Verbeek to take him for cheap given how bad their defense is and the fact they aren't looking to compete anytime soon but again the 10 team no trade list could block that move.

Wings only have 2 retained salary deals they can make after the Vrana deal. I wouldn’t want to use either of them before the deadline. Gotta assume with what the UFA market looks and what this roster looks like, we’re tanking again.

I’d hope to move Perron, Kubalik & a couple of guys we bring in at the next deadline.

Ras - Larkin - Raymond
Berggren - Copp - Kubalik
Fabbri - Kasper - Soderblom
Zadina - Veleno - Cap dump

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - UFA/Cap dump/trade
Maata - Chiarot

looks like a lottery team to me.

Wings didn't tank this season and won't tank next season either. I don't think Yzerman is going to leave open spots just handing Edvinsson, Kasper and Soderblom spots. He's going to sign some NHL players or make trades and those young guys will have to earn their spots. He's going to try and make the Wings competitive again to battle for a playoff spot just like he did this season.

Yzerman tried not to tank this season, but results wise, he did. Odds of getting replacement players better than Bert & Hronek are low. It’ll take a lot for this team to be better next year.

[dcz28]

Wings only have 2 retained salary deals they can make after the Vrana deal. I wouldn’t want to use either of them before the deadline. Gotta assume with what the UFA market looks and what this roster looks like, we’re tanking again.

I’d hope to move Perron, Kubalik & a couple of guys we bring in at the next deadline.

Ras - Larkin - Raymond
Berggren - Copp - Kubalik
Fabbri - Kasper - Soderblom
Zadina - Veleno - Cap dump

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - UFA/Cap dump/trade
Maata - Chiarot

looks like a lottery team to me.

Wings didn't tank this season and won't tank next season either. I don't think Yzerman is going to leave open spots just handing Edvinsson, Kasper and Soderblom spots. He's going to sign some NHL players or make trades and those young guys will have to earn their spots. He's going to try and make the Wings competitive again to battle for a playoff spot just like he did this season.

Yzerman tried not to tank this season, but results wise, he did. Odds of getting replacement players better than Bert & Hronek are low. It’ll take a lot for this team to be better next year.

Not sure what you mean by result wise he did tank. Wings were still in it at the deadline and still aren't officially eliminated as of right now. Bert was a good player when healthy but he wasn't healthy pretty much all season and only had 14 points for the Wings. They won't be able to replace the offense from Hronek but could lessen the impact by bringing in someone with better defense or two way play. I still think the Wings are going to battling for a playoff spot late into the season next year unless Yzerman chooses to do nothing in the off-season and none of the prospects come in and nail down roster spots. I can't see Yzerman doing nothing to improve this team in the off-season though.

[holytoledo]

For sure Yzerman will make moves. They aren’t likely to have a major impact. Jake Wallman is probably the most impactful player Yzerman has brought in so far. On a team that sorely lacks elite talent players like Fabbri, Suter, Kubalik, Sundqvist, Chiarot, Maata, Hagg or even Perron aren’t going to move the needle. It’s not exactly tanking, but a hope to be mediocre at best, which is actually worse than tanking.

[DelHowLich]

Oh Yeah, there will be a lot of talent available this summer! 14 teams are over the cap right now and won't be able to re-sign many of their UFA's and some won't be able to sign some of their RFA's as well. Then their are 10 other teams that are within $1M of the cap that will be stressed as well. Sure there are a plethora of bottom tier players that will hit FA, but the smattering of top tier players will make the difference for a savvy GM to pick up and place on their rosters. Stevie will have over $30M to sign 8 players to bring it up to the 23 man limit. $30M!!!!!!!! There will be teams like Toronto, Fla, Tampa, Dallas, Vegas, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Philly that will jettison good players to get cap compliant. I am sure Yzerman will pick up a top 4 D-man and a couple top 6 forwards and BU goalie out of the frenzy!

[holytoledo]

Oh Yeah, there will be a lot of talent available this summer! 14 teams are over the cap right now and won't be able to re-sign many of their UFA's and some won't be able to sign some of their RFA's as well. Then their are 10 other teams that are within $1M of the cap that will be stressed as well. Sure there are a plethora of bottom tier players that will hit FA, but the smattering of top tier players will make the difference for a savvy GM to pick up and place on their rosters. Stevie will have over $30M to sign 8 players to bring it up to the 23 man limit. $30M!!!!!!!! There will be teams like Toronto, Fla, Tampa, Dallas, Vegas, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Philly that will jettison good players to get cap compliant. I am sure Yzerman will pick up a top 4 D-man and a couple top 6 forwards and BU goalie out of the frenzy!

Odds of getting an RD better than Hronek are super low.

Hopefully we don’t sign some 30+ year old like Tarasenko or Kane to a long term deal for big $. Meier would be a nice fit here, but probably stays in NJ.

There’s definitely room to upgrade Bert. There’s cap space to replace Hronek. But even if we go out and land 2 equivalent players and one major upgrade, it’s really just a one player upgrade. As a rookie Edvinsson is not likely to be a huge upgrade at LD, but I think he will be somewhat of an upgrade. I’m not convinced that Kasper makes the team and if he does, I’d think 30 points would be a great first year for him.

We went backwards at the deadline to get picks. That doesn’t look like a team making a plan to load up in free agency. It looks like a team preaching patience and a draft and develop rebuild.

We could be very aggressive in free agency and trades and even use those picks to get players. I’d love to see that. I think we have the assets to become a top 8 team if we got really aggressive, but we need an elite forward, an elite C or at least an upgrade at 2C, a strong RD that can play with a rookie LD - like a #2 caliber RD and probably another top 6 forward.

Here’s where I’d see our existing players fitting on a contender.

—— ——- ——-
Raymond - Larkin - Copp
Berggren - Veleno - Rasmussen
Kubalik ——- Kasper

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - ———
Maata - Chiarot (that’s generous)

Husso
———

That’s 5 players - 3 of them first line. You could move Ras to 4C and put Perron in that middle 6 mix. but Ras is better on the wing and Perron isn’t a long term piece. Kasper is probably better served playing the whole year in GR vs. a bottom 6 role.

We could get a guy with our first that makes the lineup. Raymond could take strides to be a true first line forward. I don’t see anyone coming in to bump Larkin down.

We are probably looking at something more like:

Raymond - Larkin - Perron
Rasmussen - Copp - Berggren
Kubalik - Veleno - Fabbri
——— ——— ———

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - ——-
Maatta - Chiarot

Maybe some of those forward blanks end up getting filled with some guys that bump some guys down, but I think it’s more important to keep our young guys in top 6 roles for their development and to give Perron a chance to establish as much value as possible for the deadline.

I’m interested to see what Tuomisto does in GR. Maybe a year from now he’s looking like the #4 as Edvinsson’s partner.

[dcz28]

Oh Yeah, there will be a lot of talent available this summer! 14 teams are over the cap right now and won't be able to re-sign many of their UFA's and some won't be able to sign some of their RFA's as well. Then their are 10 other teams that are within $1M of the cap that will be stressed as well. Sure there are a plethora of bottom tier players that will hit FA, but the smattering of top tier players will make the difference for a savvy GM to pick up and place on their rosters. Stevie will have over $30M to sign 8 players to bring it up to the 23 man limit. $30M!!!!!!!! There will be teams like Toronto, Fla, Tampa, Dallas, Vegas, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Philly that will jettison good players to get cap compliant. I am sure Yzerman will pick up a top 4 D-man and a couple top 6 forwards and BU goalie out of the frenzy!

Odds of getting an RD better than Hronek are super low.

Hopefully we don’t sign some 30+ year old like Tarasenko or Kane to a long term deal for big $. Meier would be a nice fit here, but probably stays in NJ.

There’s definitely room to upgrade Bert. There’s cap space to replace Hronek. But even if we go out and land 2 equivalent players and one major upgrade, it’s really just a one player upgrade. As a rookie Edvinsson is not likely to be a huge upgrade at LD, but I think he will be somewhat of an upgrade. I’m not convinced that Kasper makes the team and if he does, I’d think 30 points would be a great first year for him.

We went backwards at the deadline to get picks. That doesn’t look like a team making a plan to load up in free agency. It looks like a team preaching patience and a draft and develop rebuild.

We could be very aggressive in free agency and trades and even use those picks to get players. I’d love to see that. I think we have the assets to become a top 8 team if we got really aggressive, but we need an elite forward, an elite C or at least an upgrade at 2C, a strong RD that can play with a rookie LD - like a #2 caliber RD and probably another top 6 forward.

Here’s where I’d see our existing players fitting on a contender.

—— ——- ——-
Raymond - Larkin - Copp
Berggren - Veleno - Rasmussen
Kubalik ——- Kasper

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - ———
Maata - Chiarot (that’s generous)

Husso
———

That’s 5 players - 3 of them first line. You could move Ras to 4C and put Perron in that middle 6 mix. but Ras is better on the wing and Perron isn’t a long term piece. Kasper is probably better served playing the whole year in GR vs. a bottom 6 role.

We could get a guy with our first that makes the lineup. Raymond could take strides to be a true first line forward. I don’t see anyone coming in to bump Larkin down.

We are probably looking at something more like:

Raymond - Larkin - Perron
Rasmussen - Copp - Berggren
Kubalik - Veleno - Fabbri
——— ——— ———

Wallman - Seider
Edvinsson - ——-
Maatta - Chiarot

Maybe some of those forward blanks end up getting filled with some guys that bump some guys down, but I think it’s more important to keep our young guys in top 6 roles for their development and to give Perron a chance to establish as much value as possible for the deadline.

I’m interested to see what Tuomisto does in GR. Maybe a year from now he’s looking like the #4 as Edvinsson’s partner.

Any minutes Edvinsson can take away from Chiarot is an upgrade. Unless Chiarot has a turn around season next year like Hronek had this season, it is looking like a horrible signing by Yzerman. He just doesn't seem to fit with anyone on this defense. Maybe if he played with a stay at home RD like a Schenn or Gudas, they could cover enough for him not to be horrible. He could probably be a good partner if he stopped trying to be an offensive defenseman and be a stay at home type but he doesn't seem to want to do that at all. Having to play him with a stay at home RD seems like a complete waste of time given how little offense he produces.

[Pop Zeus]

Mantha!