Jeremy Laura: Free Press pegs 6 non returning Wings

Does the older Svechnikov get a job next season or is he gone this summer?

This is why I said a couple weeks ago that you don't need to panic and sign ALL of Terry, Puempel, Elson, Turgeon for the AHL roster. You can let a couple of these guys walk. Abdelkader is getting waived. Everyone is better than him. So he joins Lashoff, McIlrath, Hicketts, Pickard as leaders in Grand Rapids.

Erne gets qualified for less than $1M. If he wins a job at camp - that's cool. If not, he goes down to Grand Rapids as well. I'm guessing Erne competes with Givanni Smith for a job. Guys like Hirose, Perlini, Rasmussen, Timashov, Svech would also be competing for bottom 6 jobs. I'd also watch for Yzerman to bring over a few 20-somethings from Europe on tryouts.

Bowey is a useful 7th d-man if we're letting Ericsson, Daley, and Goloubef go. Although I wouldn't be shocked to see Goloubef back, again as a guy that bounces between the NHL and AHL.

A birdie whispered in my ear that Ehn is going back to Europe. Will be announced after the pandemic subsides.

Does the older Svechnikov get a job next season or is he gone this summer?
- BINGO!

It all depends on offers really. No reason not to qualify and give him a shot. Svech is incredibly loyal and hard working. If an offer comes that’s too good to turn down though...

This is why I said a couple weeks ago that you don't need to panic and sign ALL of Terry, Puempel, Elson, Turgeon for the AHL roster. You can let a couple of these guys walk. Abdelkader is getting waived. Everyone is better than him. So he joins Lashoff, McIlrath, Hicketts, Pickard as leaders in Grand Rapids.

Erne gets qualified for less than $1M. If he wins a job at camp - that's cool. If not, he goes down to Grand Rapids as well. I'm guessing Erne competes with Givanni Smith for a job. Guys like Hirose, Perlini, Rasmussen, Timashov, Svech would also be competing for bottom 6 jobs. I'd also watch for Yzerman to bring over a few 20-somethings from Europe on tryouts.

Bowey is a useful 7th d-man if we're letting Ericsson, Daley, and Goloubef go. Although I wouldn't be shocked to see Goloubef back, again as a guy that bounces between the NHL and AHL.

A birdie whispered in my ear that Ehn is going back to Europe. Will be announced after the pandemic subsides.
- Kooleus

Interesting on Ehn. Thanks for the heads up

If the cap remains flat I would bet that a compliance buyout will also be awarded to all. Abby or Franz would be the candidates....If Abby is gone, would they send Franz down is the question? Is Veleno ready to come up or does Stevie find another FA center ?
Is Howard truly gone or does Stevie give him a 1 yr contract for $1M to be the back-up? (If he does not sign a FA goalie or trade for one)
I think Stevie will not be as patient this year and try to improve the team to be a little more competitive. Being #31 is not where he is gonna stay!

If the cap remains flat I would bet that a compliance buyout will also be awarded to all. Abby or Franz would be the candidates....If Abby is gone, would they send Franz down is the question? Is Veleno ready to come up or does Stevie find another FA center ?
Is Howard truly gone or does Stevie give him a 1 yr contract for $1M to be the back-up? (If he does not sign a FA goalie or trade for one)
I think Stevie will not be as patient this year and try to improve the team to be a little more competitive. Being #31 is not where he is gonna stay!
- HenryHockey

I think they would buyout Nielsen and waive Abby. That’s just my personal idea. Joe is the master of his own destiny. The team is going to keep his development in mind. He needs to take a spot in the top 6 or do third line plus special teams to stay. Otherwise he would probably go down to get way more minutes. Again, my guessing. As for Howard, man, at one point his record was 2-25-0 with at GAA of over 4. I think that may be it for im

I think they would buyout Nielsen and waive Abby. That’s just my personal idea. Joe is the master of his own destiny. The team is going to keep his development in mind. He needs to take a spot in the top 6 or do third line plus special teams to stay. Otherwise he would probably go down to get way more minutes. Again, my guessing. As for Howard, man, at one point his record was 2-25-0 with at GAA of over 4. I think that may be it for im
- Jeremy Laura

That record and GAA is shocking. I know our team is bad but the difference between he and Bernier is unbelievable. To think, we chose him over Mrazek...

For “fun” I used Hockey-Reference to pull a list of all goalie seasons in the last 30 years where the goalie played at least 27 games (i.e., the number of games Howard played this year), then sorted them by how much worse (percentage-wise) their save percentage was than league average for the given year.

Howard’s 2019-20 was the eighth worst season by a goalie in the last 30 years using this standard. He got beaten out by:

1. Vesa Toskala’s final NHL season (2009-10)
2. Craig Billington from the second year of the Ottawa Senators’ existence (1993-94)
3. Arturs Irbe’s final full season (2002-03)
4. Damien Rhodes from the Thrashers’ inaugural season (1999-00)
5. Craig Billington AGAIN (this time on the 1995-96 Bruins, who had a winning record)
6. Sebastien Caron, in the darkest hour right before the Pens got Crosby (2003-04)
7. Dwayne Roloson’s final season (at age 42, 2011-12)

Observations:

- Howard had a really, really, really bad season. His performance relative to league average was actually worse than Osgood’s was during the the final couple of years of his career, and that was truly painful to watch.

- Holy crap was Craig Billington bad. How on earth did he manage to play 332 NHL games spread across 18 years? I pulled a list of goalies who played at least 300 games in the last 40 years and sorted by career save percentage vs league average. Billington was worst by a mile.

- Also, holy crap that 1995-96 Bruins team. They had the eighth best record in the NHL that season, but if they’d gotten even league average goaltending it would have saved them 41 goals against (!!!). That would have put them right up with Colorado for second in the overall standings.

If Holtby is at the right price maybe a combo of Bernier & Holtby? The Wings will need to be built from the Goalie up.

If Holtby is at the right price maybe a combo of Bernier & Holtby? The Wings will need to be built from the Goalie up.
- Tee56

The right price would have to be pretty low IMO. He turns 31 in the fall and he's four years removed from his last good season.

As usual the UFA goalie crop looks pretty bleak. Lehner is probably the only good one who isn’t elderly, and even then he’s not exactly young either. Otherwise you’re looking at a bunch of stopgaps at best.

I was secretly hoping the Avalanche would let Francouz slip away, but nope, they signed him to a great cheap 2-year deal. Grubauer + Francouz for less than $5.5 million combined just isn’t fair.

It’s really disappointing that Larsson had such a crap year, too.

Maybe there’s an overlooked KHL tender looking to make the jump?

As usual the UFA goalie crop looks pretty bleak. Lehner is probably the only good one who isn’t elderly, and even then he’s not exactly young either. Otherwise you’re looking at a bunch of stopgaps at best.

I was secretly hoping the Avalanche would let Francouz slip away, but nope, they signed him to a great cheap 2-year deal. Grubauer + Francouz for less than $5.5 million combined just isn’t fair.

It’s really disappointing that Larsson had such a crap year, too.

Maybe there’s an overlooked KHL tender looking to make the jump?
- Sven22

Hey Sven. Don't forget the Seattle expansion draft. There will be teams that will be faced with exposing a quality goalie. They can make a side deal with Seattle to select another player. Or teams might just opt to trade a goalie to the Wings rather than pay a ransom to Seattle. Expect plenty of goalie movement leading up to the draft.

As usual the UFA goalie crop looks pretty bleak. Lehner is probably the only good one who isn’t elderly, and even then he’s not exactly young either. Otherwise you’re looking at a bunch of stopgaps at best.

I was secretly hoping the Avalanche would let Francouz slip away, but nope, they signed him to a great cheap 2-year deal. Grubauer + Francouz for less than $5.5 million combined just isn’t fair.

It’s really disappointing that Larsson had such a crap year, too.

Maybe there’s an overlooked KHL tender looking to make the jump?
- Sven22

Holtby? But yeah he will want north of $8M and term. Maybe the team that signs Holtby will wish to trade a tender to make room. I think maybe a trade can be made with the Sens , as they are over run with tenders. Or I am thinking why not a 2 yr deal with Craig Anderson??? Expose him in the draft.
NYI will be bringing their Russian prospect to NA next year, Griess will be available

Hey Sven. Don't forget the Seattle expansion draft. There will be teams that will be faced with exposing a quality goalie. They can make a side deal with Seattle to select another player. Or teams might just opt to trade a goalie to the Wings rather than pay a ransom to Seattle. Expect plenty of goalie movement leading up to the draft.
- Kooleus

That's fair. Doesn't really help us next year (at least the first half anyway), but considering Peak Hasek probably couldn't get this squad into the playoffs we can afford to wait.

Holtby? But yeah he will want north of $8M and term. Maybe the team that signs Holtby will wish to trade a tender to make room. I think maybe a trade can be made with the Sens , as they are over run with tenders. Or I am thinking why not a 2 yr deal with Craig Anderson??? Expose him in the draft.
NYI will be bringing their Russian prospect to NA next year, Griess will be available
- HenryHockey

Holtby I think is overrated at this stage of his career. He was very good / borderline great for several seasons in his mid-20s but I think giving him a bunch of money and/or term now would be a huge mistake. Still, if some other GM makes that mistake and the Wings can benefit, great.

Craig Anderson will be 39 in the fall and hasn't been good since 2017. I don't think a two-year 35+ contract for him is a good idea, and I strongly doubt he'd be claimed.

Greiss I would be cool with on a short-term deal. He's pretty much always been on my radar as a cheap, underrated 1A/1B that I wish the Red Wings would have targeted several times in the past. He's also old now, but considering he'd only be a stopgap until Yzerman can hopefully weasel a better starter out of another team I think he's a fine choice.

I think you bring up a good point about the Grind Line. They were incredibly valuable to basically an all-star team and Detroit hasn't had solid grinders in a while. I thought Abby would be one, along with Glendening and Helm. I don't know what happened to Abby, but he became useless. The great thing about the Grind Line is they had a top faceoff guy, all were hitters and they created enough havoc to get some production. They were a heart & soul line and we don't have that anymore. You don't have to fill a 4th line with top 15 picks, just guys with an extreme compete level. I think Yzerman is big on that and I suspect he'll find a good combo of players to put together a line that the fans love and teams hate to play against.

Holtby I think is overrated at this stage of his career. He was very good / borderline great for several seasons in his mid-20s but I think giving him a bunch of money and/or term now would be a huge mistake. Still, if some other GM makes that mistake and the Wings can benefit, great.

Craig Anderson will be 39 in the fall and hasn't been good since 2017. I don't think a two-year 35+ contract for him is a good idea, and I strongly doubt he'd be claimed.

Greiss I would be cool with on a short-term deal. He's pretty much always been on my radar as a cheap, underrated 1A/1B that I wish the Red Wings would have targeted several times in the past. He's also old now, but considering he'd only be a stopgap until Yzerman can hopefully weasel a better starter out of another team I think he's a fine choice.
- Sven22

What about Quick???? The Wings take On him and his bad contract (3 more years at $5.8M) along with a LA's 2nd and 3rd for Pickard. Expose Quick in the ex-draft.