Mac Miller - Missed Calls

Mac's newest video.

Missed Calls from Blue Slide Park finally has its own video, and it is awesome.

Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comment section.

Mac n Devin Go To High School

end of round 1

Pit (from Car)8- Derrick Pouliot
Wpg9- Jacob Trouba
Tbl10- Slater Koekkoek


Wsh (from Col)11- Filip Forsberg
Buf12- Mikhail Grigorenko
Dal13- Radek Faksa
Buf (from Cgy)14- Zemgus Girgensons 
Ott15- Cody Ceci
Wsh16- Tom Wilson
SJ17- Thomas Hertl
Chi18- Teuvo Teravainen
Tbl (from Det)19- Andrei Vasilevski
Phi20- Scott Laughton


Cgy [From Buf (From Nas)]21- Mark Jankowski
Pit22- Olli Maatta
Fla23- Mike Matheson
Bos24- Malcolm Subban
Stl25- Jordan Schmaltz
Van26- Brendan Gaunce
Phx27- Henrik Samuelsson
Nyr28- Brady Skjei
Njd29- Stefan Matteau
Lak30- Tanner Pearson


final trade of the night:


PIT receives:
H. Ruopp, M. Cheverle, #81 overall in tomorrows draft


PHX receives:
Z. Michalek


also,


LA re-signed Stoll and Fraser today ($3.25M x 3, $0.825k x 2 , respectively)


stay tuned for more tomorrow!

more draft

Ana6- Hampus Lindholm
Min7- Matt Dumba

trade:

PIT receives:
8th overall pick today
Brandon Sutter
Brian Dumoulin

CAR receives:
Jordan Staal

stay tuned for more

draft cont'd

Nyi4- Griffin Reinhart
Tml5- Morgan Rielly


Anaheim is on deck for the 6th overall pick.  Still lots of trade rumors swirling.

stay tuned.

DRAFT - so far

Edm1 - Nail Yakupov
Cbj2- Ryan Murray
Mtl3 - Alex Galchenyuk

trades:

NYI receives: Lubomir Visnovsky
ANA receives: 2013 2nd round pick

WSH receives: Mike Ribeiro
DAL receives: Cody Eakins and the 54th pick in today's draft

stay tuned for more news

Draft about to get underway

Draft starts NOW.

Trade to report today:
Columbus acquires G Sergei Bobrovsky from the Flyers in exchange for draft picks #45 and #117 today, as well as a 4th rounder in the 2013 draft.

LOTS of rumors swirling right now.

SJ and VAN have apparently made a trade already, just waiting on the details.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Jagr, Staal, Ryan

Jaromir Jagr has said that he will test free agency before deciding where to sign.

After a fairly productive season, most thought Jagr would re-sign with the Flyers well before July 1st.  Jagr may be going til July to maximize his price through a bidding war.

Jordan Staal has been the talk of a lot of rumors for the last few weeks.  The Penguins center has been buried behind Malkin and Crosby his whole career, so it may be time for him to move on and have more impact elsewhere.

Bobby Ryan is reportedly back on the trading block.  Bob McKenzie revealed on his twitter account yesterday that the Ducks winger is available at the right price.  The Ducks are looking for young roster players (2nd line C, 2nd/3rd line Winger(s), shutdown Dmen) who can contribute right away.

Check back to the blog for more NHL offseason updates.

NHL transactions

There were a lot of signings in the NHL yesterday.

First and foremost, the Red Wings signed centre Darren Helm to a 4 year, $8.5 million dollar contract, working out to $2.125 million dollars per season.

Detroit now has their youthful 3rd line centre locked up ages 25-29.

Elsewhere, Minnesota Wild locked up goalie Josh Harding to a 3 year deal evening out to $1.9 million per year.  Minnesota has a log jam in net, with veteran Nicklas Backstrom still being the leader, but prospect Matt Hackett pushing for at least a back up role, if not part time starter.  Hackett showed last year that he has the ability to play and succeed in the NHL.  One of 3 will likely by moved at some point.

Is this the year Harding finally gets moved?

Nashville Predators re-upped forward Brandon Yip to a 1 year, 1-way deal worth 750k.  Nice depth signing for the Preds to solidify their gritty and tenacious team.

Yip's earned everything he's got in the NHL, he will do anything to succeed.

The big one today was for Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson who cashed in big time.  After finishing tied for 10th in league-wide scoring this year with 78 points (19G,59A) and being a +16, all while logging nearly 25 and a half minutes per game, Karlsson was due for this. 7 years, $45.5 million dollars.  $6.5 annual average salary.  Brian Murray was making it rain today, and well deserved.  Karlsson is bound to have a memorable career, and the next 7 years will be spent in Canada's capital city.

Erik Karl$$on doing what he does best.

Stay tuned for more updates, lots to come in the following days and weeks.

Leave a comment stating your thoughts on todays signings.  Good prices? Too much? Any steals? You decide.

Stuart Extends

Brad Stuart has agreed to a 3 year extension with the San Jose Sharks since being traded there from Detroit.

The contract will have an annual average salary of $3.6 million dollars.

The extension secures Detroit's rights of the Sharks 7th round draft pick in the coming draft.



Stay tuned for more Wings updates.

Two Weeks Later: Speculation Continued

The Red Wings have made a trade with the Anaheim Ducks.

The Wings sent Brad Stuart's rights to Anaheim in exchange for Andrew Murray's rights and a conditional 7th round pick, depending on if Stuart signs with Anaheim or not.

Its been a slice, Brad.  Good luck out West.

Stuart heading out West was known by all Wings fans, due to his marriage and family situation.  It is good that Kenny at least potentially got something, rather than nothing.

There have been many other rumors and lots of speculation flying around about the Wings, so to summarize:

Helene St. James reported that the Wings and Holmstrom will decide his fate in July, after most of the dust settles post-July 1.  Holmer, albeit slow, has shown that he can still chip in some goals and has that net-front-presence that is still one of the best in the league.  Could be a good 4th liner/Power play guy for us still.

Holmstrom parked in front.

There was also a report that Suter said he wants to play in the Western Conference.  One good omen that leans towards Detroit, and eliminates 15 other teams from the discussion.

Ryan Suter goes West.

Minnesota spoke out publicly, stating that all other teams better just pack it in regarding Parise, as they are willing to outbid anyone.  Parise stated this year that his goal is to win, so it will be interesting to see if he stays true to his word or if his eyes light up at the sight of all the dough that Minny will be throwing his way.  If he truly wants to win, it seems likely that he will stay with New Jersey as they were only 2 wins shy of a Cup this year.  Detroit is also much more solidified and closer to a cup than Minnesota is currently.  Minnesota also wants Suter, so if there was a way to convince both of them to come for lots of $$$ and try to win a cup, they could possibly sway both of the Americans to sign there.

Parise stated earlier this week that he would definitely not be signing with the Rangers.

There has also been loads of speculation about UFA to be Alex Semin signing in Motown.  The thought of Semin and Datsyuk on a line together is very appealing, but only if Semin can bring it like he was at the end of this past season.  Semin was playing like a man possessed for the Caps and brought a true 200 foot game to the ice.  If his work ethic remains, the two could be trouble for opposition.

Semin could be a nice addition for Detroit, but only at the right price.

Still another week until the Entry Draft in Pittsburgh, where a lot of transactions are certain to take place.

Note: Two noteworthy reports about the draft; Edmonton has stated they will hang onto the 1st overall pick after plenty of speculation that they would trade down/ the pick away for other commodities.  The other that Columbus@#2 overall is willing to trade down at the right price.  Columbus is looking to start winning this season, and think the #2 pick can help them acquire players to accomplish that.

Stay tuned for more Red Wings/ NHL banter.

Leave your thoughts on what will shake down in the coming weeks in the comment section, thanks, love ya.

Nick Lidstrom and the Fate of the Red Wings

One of the greatest defensemen to ever play professional hockey is now gone.

Nick Lidstrom, my lord and saviour.

The captain of my favourite team, the leader since Yzerman left us, is now done.

Lidstrom and Detroit management held a press conference this past Thursday announcing that his career is now over, he is hanging up the skates for good.

The 42 year old has won basically everything there is to win, and is arguably the 2nd best defenseman of all time, behind Bobby Orr.

His career, in terms of success, might be the most successful of any single player in the history of the NHL.

So after 20 years played, he has never missed the playoffs.  4 Stanley Cups, 1 Conn Smythe trophy, 7 Norris trophies, Olympic Gold, World Championship Gold, and countless All-Star Team appearances. (both in the NHL and internationally)  He was also the first ever European player to captain a team to a Stanley Cup.

Lidstrom has more hardware than your local Rona.

He will be sorely missed from the Wings blue line this coming season, as his calming presence and leadership are irreplaceable.

I just want to say Thank you to Nick, on what has been a tremendously successful career.  Enjoy your time off.  You've earned it.


You can watch the presser in its entirety here:

This retirement is leading to lots of questions as to what the Wings will do this coming Summer.  There are many holes that this team has to fill in order to be successful and compete for the Stanley Cup in the coming years.

With the departure of Lidstrom, and probable departure of Stuart, the Wings D looks like this:

Kronwall - White
Ericsson - Quincey
Kindl - Smith

That is very raw and has no real backbone or steadiness in my eyes.  Too many smallish puck-moving types, and not enough calm decision makers, or big bodied defenders who will lay their body on the line every game.

In a perfect world, Detroit will sign Ryan Suter on July 1st to a longterm contract, securing his rights for the foreseeable future.  Suter could be the new #1 for this team, bringing his steady play over from Nashville.  The fact that he plays for Nashville is cause for concern, however, as they are inner-division rivals.  Its not so common to see a guy jump to a team within the same division, let alone conference.  It has happened before, though.  So the Wings will have to wait and see on him.

Suter could fill the #1 spot on Detroit's blueline for years to come.

Another alternative is signing Bryan Allen, a big crease clearing Dman, who can provide an intimidating presence for opponents and help correct our mediocre penalty kill.

Allen showing he can be both rough and tumble.

Trading could be another route Ken Holland chooses to take this Summer.  Kindl is a guy who could have some success, but likely won't see it in Detroit, as he is always getting scratched in favour of other players.  His talents are not being fully recognized here, and I think his ceiling could be a solid #4/good #5 d-man.  He is a pretty smooth skater, with good offensive instincts.  His defensive awareness could use some tweaking and polishing, but he has the tools to become a good 2nd pair guy, if he had a responsible partner to play with.  I feel he would be a solid piece of trade bait for Holland to dangle to acquire an upgrade.

Kindl; is Hockeytown going to continue to be Hometown?

By packaging Kindl, a draft pick, and one of our depth forwards, maybe Kenny could find a nice 2nd pairing defenseman to replace Stuart.  Say Kindl, Drew Miller, and a 2nd/3rd round pick in the 2013 draft.  Although it is not an awesome package, the Wings have a lot of cap space and could maybe acquire a defenseman who is under performing in terms of production vs. contract.  One example would be Keith Ballard of the Canucks.  I think that they like him, though, so it might take more to pry him outta there.

The forwards are also kind of in flux on this team, as we have a lot of guys already under contract, but clearly are in need of some upgrades.

Zach Parise is a big WANT for the Red Wings.  They need a player with his drive and determination to help spark their offense.  There are too many forwards who play non-chalant all the time, who are content to meander throughout the duration of their shift (I'm looking at you, Franzen).

Would Parise leave Jersey & finals trip for a spot on the Wings' roster?

But with the Devils currently in the Stanley Cup finals, would Parise leave?  It doesn't seem overly likely, to me.  He is the captain and one of their main players.  The Devils will do everything in their power to retain him this summer, making it harder on Detroit to acquire him.

At the end of the season, the Wings forwards looked like this:

Franzen - Datsyuk - Bertuzzi

Filppula - Zetterberg - Hudler(UFA)

Miller - Helm(RFA) - Cleary

Abdelkader(RFA) - Emmerton - Holmstrom(UFA)

The depth clearly isn't there, and it showed in the playoffs.  For me, the best case "realistic" scenario would be:

Parise/acquisition - Datsyuk - Bertuzzi

Reason: Dats and new player carry Bertuzzi's weight and maximize his offensive abilities.

Filppula - Zetterberg - Franzen

Reason: Solid 2nd line in terms of offense and defense.  All players are fairly reliable all over the ice.

Nyquist - Helm - Eaves

Reason: Pretty fast line.  Can be relied on to bring a bit of jam and offense, as well as being defensively responsible.

Abdelkader - Emmerton/new faceoff specialist - Cleary

Reason: The leftovers/ grind line.  Basically just some penalty killers and guys who would do anything to help the team win games.

I've left out Miller, Mursak, Hudler and Holmstrom, as well as potentially Emmerton.  Holmstrom is rumored to be returning, but I think it best if Kenny gives him the Maltby treatment and basically forces him out, if he doesn't retire outright this summer.  Hudler can move on to another team.  I think he will price himself out of Kenny's range this offseason.  Mursak and Emmerton will compete for spots, but are ultimately replaceable.  I really like Mursak, but he needs to prove himself in training camp, because he hasn't been deserving of a spot yet.  Miller I think can be used as trade bait after having a pretty successful season this past year.

In a dream world, Wings would stack up a bit more via trades/free agency, but I don't think Holland & Co. would want to strap themselves down too much financially if they were already acquiring Parise and Suter.  Even either of them + upgraded depth could be costly.  It might be best to wait and see what options are available throughout the season via trade than tie yourself down in July on some undeserving free agents.  Names that pop out are Semin and Boyes as potentially irresponsible and knee-jerk type signings.

The goaltending should be fine with Howard and MacDonald holding down the pipes.

Lots to come in the next month or two for Detroit.  Stay tuned to my blog to see what will come to be.

If you have any thoughts/comments/criticism/insight/troll material/hateful drivel/bedtime stories/etc. Please feel free to share in the comments section, thanks!