Do you understand how UFA works?
Do you have any inside information?
This idea of “free agents - he shall be ours to sign” doesn’t always work that way - look no further than Luongo turning down an offer sheet from Detroit back in 2006.
If you want to believe that Yzerman is infallible and it is purely outside forces colluding to force him to sign some of the worst FA contracts of the past 5 years, that's your prerogative. Every other team at the bottom has figured out how to add better talent than Yzerman. Montreal added Laine, taking a chance on him. CBJ signed Monahan. The Hawks signed Bertuzzi and Teravainen, and to lesser extent Brodie. The Sharks signed Toffoli. We are the only bottom feeder that fills the roster with players that are 3rd liners or 3rd pairing dmen at their
absolute best.
Either sign guys worth a shit, or if none of those guys want to play here, then sign 1-2 fillers (not 5-6 fillers) and promote the kids to fill the rest of the roster.
The front office fanfare will come in and say "oh so you want them to let the kids flounder and end up like Buffalo?" No, I don't want that. But right now we are bottom 4 in the entire league. Can you explain to me how our approach is in any way better than letting the kids flounder? We're still floundering, except this group of players has 0 ability to get better, because they are all washed-up has-beens.
Danielson should be up within 2-3 weeks (but he won't). Wallinder should have gotten a shot last year. Mazur should be up. Cossa should get some games. MBN should have made the team. ASP after this year absolutely needs to be on the team in a top 4 role.
I'm tired of watching other team's trash stink up the ice in Detroit, and anyone who dislikes it being told "there was no other choice!!"
Maybe Yzerman should've kept Hronek then! You're just completely missing the point of my post though. It's not that Yzemran has drafted particularly poorly or NJ has drafted particularly well (of which I think both are debatable). It's that in addition to getting lucky in the lottery (which GMs can't control) NJ has been able to supplement the core of the roster with players who have to varying degrees outperformed expectations and acquisition cost (which GMs can).
Is there a single guy in any role on the roster that you can point to and say "that was a great pickup"? There's no late round pick that has blossomed into a solid bottom pair guy. There's no vet UFA that outperformed expectations and was able to be sold at the deadline. No buy-low young reclamation project that maybe lost their way with another team but was put in the right environment to flourish. No late-blooming AHLer that managed to carve out a solid 4w slot later in their career.
Yes, these types of players aren't as important to driving team success as the MacKinnons and McDavids of the world. They certainly add up however, and are much more a direct reflection of a GMs ability.
I agree with you. There are definitely Detroit posters who believe everything Yzeramn does is infallible and there is no better way forward.
However, that seems to be well-balanced by completely clueless fans from other teams yapping about issues with the team that aren't actually issues at all (like the 1st round drafting).
In what world Hronek is more valuable than Bratt?
Bratt would be instantly the best forward in Detroit. Tell me you don't watch a single game of NJ without telling me you don't watch....
See, this is what I mean. If Lucas Raymond was playing beside Jack Hughes he'd have 100 points last year. Larkin is also a significantly better player than Bratt.
So much of this discourse is just completely disconnected from reality, and intended just to shit on Detroit without any care for actual useful discussion.
