Official 15-16 NHL Off-Season Thread

[philou21]

Yeah I was very surprised to see Pulkkinen on waivers just like that. He didn't seem to develop has expected so far but I would've never put him on waivers to lose him for nothing.

[Peter_Doherty]

Yeah I was very surprised to see Pulkkinen on waivers just like that. He didn't seem to develop has expected so far but I would've never put him on waivers to lose him for nothing.

It's just awful asset management, atleast give him a full season to really test him out. Sadly it looks like my Rangers might be doing the same thing with Dylan McIlrath.

[philou21]

Parenteau heads to NJ and the Pens took Condon from MTL.

[ppaalloo]

Pullkinen was claimed by Wild Granlund - Haula - Pulkkinen new Finnish formation heh

[Primis]

Also Red Wings keep sending talented depth players on waivers to keep aging overrated veterans on their team, their asset management is by far the worst in the entire league, has Holland completely lost it? Losing players like Nestrasil, Frk, Järnkrok (traded as a throw in for an aging overrated veteran), Janmark (traded as a throw in for an aging overrated veteran) and now Pulkkinen for nothing is insanely bad asset management, these are all (well, jury still out on Frk) very good depth players on the cheap.

First of all, yes and no. What you're seeing here is that Holland was never the architect people thought. Devellano built the team Holland inherited (with Fedorov, Yzerman, Lidstorm, etc). With guys like Jim Nill leaving the org braintrust, Holland has pretty much been exposed as being far more reliant on others all this time. They apparently drove things.

Now... my understanding is Jarnkrok wanted to play in DET (Grand Rapids was no longer acceptable) and there wasn't room in DET for him (and he hadn't proven anything yet). Janmark also I heard had some issues while still playing overseas that cooled DET on him. That's why both went away in trades. DET didn't feel too bad about losing either of them in the end.

Now, the rest.... whole different story.

Frk and Pulkkinen are not Nestrasil and Ferraro (two other waiver losses that are 4th line grinders probably). Pulkkinen in particular has proven he can score at the NHL level, and was doing so early last season before getting hurt, missing significant time, and then he never came back the same. I really, really hated DET waiving him, because I still think he's going to be a scorer with that cannon of a shot he has. DET doesn't have real shooters, they just don't draft those guys, so it's an asset they probably should have made room for. You have ot have actual scorers, even if they're one-dimensional.

Frk has always been said to have been a product of MacKinnon and Drouin in junior, but fact is Frk has talent and has just had to take a longer road (first ECHL, then AHL). I don't know that he has true Top 6 ability in him though, and that will make a place for him tough to come by unless he gets better defensively.

What I *can* tell you is this: DET fans are besides themselves now and the vocal anti-Holland brigade has grown exponentially in the last week. A lot of fans have already written the season off in fact, something that very few fans have done even as recently as last season. It's really, really tough to give away guys on waivers, guys you developed without then really giving them much of a look or opportunity at the NHL level. It's also really tough to be paying Darren Helm and Steve Ott for results that cheaper, younger guys could undoubtedly give. Some people are saying DET fans are overvaluing their prospects but.... to me that's more true if nobody was claiming them off waivers and they weren't playing NHL shifts elsewhere.

If I had my druthers, Glendening, Ott, and Helm would all be gone very quickly and you give Pulkkinen, Athanasiou, and Jurco their ice time (and if you tire of Jurco or pulkkinen, Mantha is there waiting). Just frustrating that a guy like Glendening gets to make the team a couple of years ago and then gets tons of ice time for absolutely no reason (and he still hasn't shown he deserves it), yet the actual talents are told they need to "earn" their spots as vets continue to be signed that they have to fight their way through.

It's tough though, because Pulkkinen on waivers now means one of Athanasiou or Mantha made the team out of camp, and both of those guys deserve shots and icetime too.


EDIT: Mantha has been sent down, sounds like Athanasiou is staying, which is good. Just not sure why DET should have to choose between kids when they have more than enough vets they could jettison and not miss. Waive Glendening, don't even sign Helm or Ott. Holland believes in hoarding players and it makes no sense.

[m0fownz0r]

I. as a DTW fan, will be hardly following them this season. Especially, now, with Datsyuk gone - the one thing that made DRW games entertaining...

My attention now turns teams like the Penguins, Caps, Sharks, etc..

[m0fownz0r]

Yeah I was very surprised to see Pulkkinen on waivers just like that. He didn't seem to develop has expected so far but I would've never put him on waivers to lose him for nothing.

Especially when you sign washed up vets to polute the lineup.

I was hoping it all ended with Cleary - clearly, I was wrong..

[Peter_Doherty]

Think ur underestimating Nestrasil quite a bit there, the rest i more or less agree with. Nestrasil is a fantastic 'possession' player and i think he has some offensive upside aswell, i think he's the biggest loss of the waivers guys.

[Aladyyn]

Ristolainen signs a deal identical to Seth Jones. Glad the whole thing's over, now hockey can finally come!

[Peter_Doherty]

Ristolainen overpaid but he might be able to grow into it with time, he's still young.

[Aladyyn]

Subban with Gorges the last season they were both in Montreal (this is post-Norris btw)
CF60 53.41
CA60 58.90
CF% 47.6

Ristolainen with Gorges this past season
CF60 49.40
CA60 59.34
CF% 45.4

The 3.6 million difference

[Peter_Doherty]

Yeah, Gorges is bad, doesn't mean Ristolainen is a #1 D-man, he's not. Can't blame it all on Gorges, Ristolainen just ain't that good yet and 5.4m makes him overpaid for what he is right now. Can he improve so that contract is fair? Absolutely, maybe he can even become underpaid, but right now he's overpaid.

Edit: He's not playing with Gorges this season, right? Will be interesting to follow for sure.

[Aladyyn]

Yes, he's not a #1 yet, we can definitely agree on that.

He's probably playing with Kulikov to start the season, maybe he'll end up with Jake McCabe

And I think I can blame a lot on Gorges, just look what kind of impact he had on Subban in his last 2 seasons in MTL

2012-13
-5.32 CF60
+3.99 CA60

2013-14
-5.18 CF60
+2.25 CA60

Take into account that Ristolainen is obviously nowhere close to Subban's level and that's what you get. Hard to blame Risto when a top 5 defenseman has trouble in a similar role.

[Peter_Doherty]

We'll see this season, i stand by my opinion on him that he's 'just' a 2nd pairing guy for now, good on the PP though i'll give him that.

[CJ]

Anyone heard anything about Patrik Eliáš? Retire or continue?