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While the fan base continues to wait for “the big 2” deals to be done and we’re still likely short of 8 weeks out from the prospect’s tournament I wanted to take a moment to just post what seem to be high consensus thoughts. If I’m off in the assessment, as always please take a moment to share in the comments. Whether we agree or disagree, I appreciate and respect each of you. There are names we haven’t seen for far too long in the comments and each voice has a unique and valuable take. Even in disagreement, it can provoke thought and enrich the fan base as a whole and that’s a net benefit to be sure.

So here they are, a few of the recent events and the response:

Joe Veleno - majority of comments have his new deal of 2 x 2.275 as an overpay. Joe went from being “the steal of the draft” to depth player. He had a massive opportunity last year when Larkin was out to play center on the top line. Joe has good wheels, but just wasn’t up to the task at hand. He now has 2 years to prove people right or prove people wrong.

Daniel Sprong - underused and unappreciated. The 27 year old signed with Detroit for 2m on a 1 year deal after eclipsing 20 goals with Seattle in a career season seeing 66 games and only 11:25 per game. The past year saw 76 games played with a bump in minutes to 12:00 but a decline in scoring. The easy argument is his placement in the bottom 6. There are at least two commenters believing he could have outscored Debrincat had he been given the same position and TOI.

Kane - positive. While there’s no guarantee that the future hall of fame winger can hit near a point per game with a full season, having him choose another year with Detroit was a welcome surprise. Even Detroit had done a “farewell” style tweet and I was under the same impression. With Kane and Tarasenko (see next) we have two left shot players who like to play on the right while Debrincat and Raymond can both play on the left. I personally love the off side look especially on breakaways.

Tarasenko - mixed. Sprong seemed a natural fit to replace Perron should DP choose to move on. Whatever his ask was, it didn’t pan out and he ended up taking a 50% pay cut. Instead, Vladimir Tarasenko was brought in for 4.75m (Perron got 4 in Ottawa) and will be an upgrade in terms of defensive play from a forward. I say mixed because there’s not a lot of excitement one way or the other at this point in the comments.

Erik Gustaffson- is considered a significant step backward from the outgoing Gostisbehere. There is no question that the power play lost an important piece in Ghost, and his contribution will have to be supplemented by committee.

Nygard - the current HB consensus seems to be this was a safe “high floor low ceiling” pick. His first post draft season will garner a good deal of attention. Heading to a team overseas with Sandin-Pellikka that has aspirations of post season success is a good environment. ASP and he seem to have bonded well and the offensive Dman seems to be ready to provide some level of mentorship. Regardless, most of the comments seemed underwhelmed by the pick.

Talbot - mixed sans enthusiasm. Reimer is out, Talbot is in. Some think it is lateral for extra $, some think a potential improvement and some a step backward. It isn’t hotly debated at this point which itself speaks to a general apathy amongst the commenting community.

So, what next?
In short, we’re going to find out if Raymond’s ability to hit 30 goals is a realistic perennial expectation. Larkin has eclipsed 30 for 3 straight seasons and 4 total. Debrincat was 3 off of the mark. Tarasenko had 23 goals between Ottawa (17) and Florida (6). Compher has never hit the 20 goal mark and landed at 19 last season. It’s going to be interesting to see how the top 6 are deployed and how it pans out.

Edvinsson will have a chance to prove whether or not he belongs in the top 4, and Johansson is considered a “waiver risk”. This is a chance by default and hopefully there will be some progress made.

After this season Petry, Maata, Husso and Lyon will all hit UFA status. At this point Lyon seems to be the favored starter and Talbot possibly being the first in line for backup. There still seems to be concern that Husso’s health isn’t going to hold up. Unless something changes drastically, I don’t expect to see him in Detroit beyond this season. Lyon will command a raise if his play is anywhere near what it was in his career high 44 games played.

The summer isn’t over, we know of at least one deal that fell through (Trouba) and still don’t have deals for 3 RFAs. Let me know your thoughts on whether or not I’m “reading the room” on the above observations. Thank you all again for another season of being able to blog about Detroit. It’s an honor and now we’re seeing more fan enthusiasm with the first season ticket sell out since LCA became the team’s new home. The energy and attention being garnered is a welcome sign that the team has begun to excite more fans once again.

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