Bob Duff: Nosek hardly a devastating loss Tomas Nosek could prove to be a serviceable NHL player but it will be a surprise if he turns out to be more than that.

Perfect. Happy for you guys. Would've been terrible if Mrazek was gone. I mean, you need him after Holland is fired.

Perfect. Happy for you guys. Would've been terrible if Mrazek was gone. I mean, you need him after Holland is fired.
- DutchSenators

HE SHOULD BE FIRED ANYWAY!

I didn't see that coming, though Nosek could definitely end up being good. I think he is a bit overaged as well for a prospect? Now we can return our successful core that all have good value contracts

I didn't see that coming, though Nosek could definitely end up being good. I think he is a bit overaged as well for a prospect? Now we can return our successful core that all have good value contracts
- datswho

Yes... for a "prospect" he is somewhat older. After seeing him play in GR however, he definitely has earned a chance to play in the NHL to see what he can do. He's responsible in his own end and his offense just keeps getting better. Good size and good penalty killer too. He was the one prospect in GR I wanted to keep the most. Not sure what will happen to Frk... but he's also earned a shot in Detroit. I'd like to see him on Detroit's 4th line with Bertuzzi... Was hoping Nosek would fill the center spot, but that won't happen because Holland is too stupid to sit Glendening (who provides zero offense).

The typical problem with Holland and his stupid process is that a prospect has to be out of waiver options and at least 25 before they get a chance to even play in Detroit since he only plays useless overpriced veterans (i.e. Glendening, Miller, Ericsson, Sheahan etc... I do hope Sheahan can turn things around and last year was just a fluke. I'm trying to be optimistic.

Interesing to note that Chicago protected Jurco in the expansion draft. So they must see something there. Babcock and Blashill totally mismanaged him and screwed up his career with Detroit.

In the grand scheme of things, sure, losing Nosek is just blip on a radar screen filled with problems the Wings need to fix. As a Grand Rapids resident and Griffins fan I love Nosek to pieces, and I'm confident he's NHL-ready. But he will be 25 by the time the puck drops this fall and probably will top out no higher than a great 4C or serviceable 3C at the NHL level. Considering who we might have lost it's certainly not the worst possible outcome.

On the other hand ...

Losing a cheap, youngish NHL-ready bottom sixer is really not a great outcome for an expensive, aging team in rebuild mode, particularly considering it was unnecessary. If the Red Wings had protected Nosek, Ouellet, and Mrazek at the expense of Abdelkader, DeKeyser, and Howard it would have FORCED Vegas to take either a riskier prospect (Frk, Sproul) who might not be NHL-ready and could be lost on waivers, a pure minor leaguer with no real potential (e.g. Street, Lashoff, etc.), or a veteran on a bad contract.

Speculation here, but it seems to me like they might have even been able to swing a deal in that scenario to shed some salary -- like, say, trade Helm (with, say, $850k in retained salary) and a pick in return for Vegas selecting some irrelevant minor league depth like Street or Tangradi. (Not trying to pick on Helm, just spitballing here.)

Other GMs were able to get Vegas to take their garbage out for them -- for example, Yzerman unloading Garrison. He paid a fortune for it, but he also had good, young, unprotected players he needed to convince Vegas to lay off. Detroit would not have had that problem, especially if they had made their protection list correctly.

Here are Detroit's three biggest organizational needs right now:

1) Shed bad contracts
2) Get younger
3) Improve the defense

If they had been willing to get creative or sacrifice a pick or two, Detroit probably could have exploited the expansion draft to make some progress on points 1 and 2, and possibly all three. Instead, they did nothing and Vegas took a young and serviceable bottom sixer on a cheap deal -- they may not be hard to find, but everyone needs them, especially bad teams struggling to stay cap-compliant.

In the grand scheme of things, sure, losing Nosek is just blip on a radar screen filled with problems the Wings need to fix. As a Grand Rapids resident and Griffins fan I love Nosek to pieces, and I'm confident he's NHL-ready. But he will be 25 by the time the puck drops this fall and probably will top out no higher than a great 4C or serviceable 3C at the NHL level. Considering who we might have lost it's certainly not the worst possible outcome.

On the other hand ...

Losing a cheap, youngish NHL-ready bottom sixer is really not a great outcome for an expensive, aging team in rebuild mode, particularly considering it was unnecessary. If the Red Wings had protected Nosek, Ouellet, and Mrazek at the expense of Abdelkader, DeKeyser, and Howard it would have FORCED Vegas to take either a riskier prospect (Frk, Sproul) who might not be NHL-ready and could be lost on waivers, a pure minor leaguer with no real potential (e.g. Street, Lashoff, etc.), or a veteran on a bad contract.

Speculation here, but it seems to me like they might have even been able to swing a deal in that scenario to shed some salary -- like, say, trade Helm (with, say, $850k in retained salary) and a pick in return for Vegas selecting some irrelevant minor league depth like Street or Tangradi. (Not trying to pick on Helm, just spitballing here.)

Other GMs were able to get Vegas to take their garbage out for them -- for example, Yzerman unloading Garrison. He paid a fortune for it, but he also had good, young, unprotected players he needed to convince Vegas to lay off. Detroit would not have had that problem, especially if they had made their protection list correctly.

Here are Detroit's three biggest organizational needs right now:

1) Shed bad contracts
2) Get younger
3) Improve the defense

If they had been willing to get creative or sacrifice a pick or two, Detroit probably could have exploited the expansion draft to make some progress on points 1 and 2, and possibly all three. Instead, they did nothing and Vegas took a young and serviceable bottom sixer on a cheap deal -- they may not be hard to find, but everyone needs them, especially bad teams struggling to stay cap-compliant.
- Sven22

The end result is: Red Wings suck.

The end result is: Red Wings suck.
- RafiDRW

It's worse than that. Not only do they suck, but they have no actual plan or desire to get better aside from "do nothing except hoard draft picks and hope we get lucky on a couple of them again."

If they had been willing to get creative or sacrifice a pick or two, Detroit probably could have exploited the expansion draft to make some progress on points 1 and 2, and possibly all three. Instead, they did nothing and Vegas took a young and serviceable bottom sixer on a cheap deal -- they may not be hard to find, but everyone needs them, especially bad teams struggling to stay cap-compliant.
- Sven22

Once again you nailed it. It wasn't a terrible outcome but how many times can you afford to miss out on opportunities to improve by being passive/negligent. The answer, apparently, is however many times the wings have done this as they are on a long, hard, slow road out of hell. It is terribly frustrating. Now is the time to be bold..

Pros-
1) elite goalie tandem is still in tact
2) premium talent on one of the leagues most expensive rosters is still intact
3) cap went up a bit so we can sign our rfa (Tatar?) to long term high dollar contracts
4) possibly sign a couple of aging vets so we don't have to play those pesky kids making noise in Grand Rapids. Can't win in this league with kids
5) kind of a copy on #2 but that defense! One of the leagues most expensive led by DDk and his approximately 50th (?) highest paid defense contract in the league and he's young and just coming into his own. If he isn't already playing like or a top pair dman he will be soon and this will be a steal.
6) still have Nielsen (and won't get rid of him...ever) instead of chychrun!
7) a personal fav of mine: I was able to witness legwand spear malkin in the balls. All for the low price of eaves, jarnkrok, and a 2nd round pick

Cons-
1) lose a b prospect. Though he was just going to take minutes from glendenning or another valuable vet that has earned it



See you in the playoffs female doges!

Pros-
1) elite goalie tandem is still in tact
2) premium talent on one of the leagues most expensive rosters is still intact
3) cap went up a bit so we can sign our rfa (Tatar?) to long term high dollar contracts
4) possibly sign a couple of aging vets so we don't have to play those pesky kids making noise in Grand Rapids. Can't win in this league with kids
5) kind of a copy on #2 but that defense! One of the leagues most expensive led by DDk and his approximately 50th (?) highest paid defense contract in the league and he's young and just coming into his own. If he isn't already playing like or a top pair dman he will be soon and this will be a steal.
6) still have Nielsen (and won't get rid of him...ever) instead of chychrun!
7) a personal fav of mine: I was able to witness legwand spear malkin in the balls. All for the low price of eaves, jarnkrok, and a 2nd round pick

Cons-
1) lose a b prospect. Though he was just going to take minutes from glendenning or another valuable vet that has earned it



See you in the playoffs female doges!
- datswho

You're so edgy, intelligent, and unique. What a hot take.