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Noah Hanifin, to me, is the type of player you could acquire and use to move forward. That allows Edvinsson to develop and makes possible the departure of other pieces/players. However, if you want to keep the player you have to negotiate a new deal in a world where I really don’t believe that the salary cap is going to budge much. Yes, we were just told it could (and we were told the same thing last year). In fact, when Matthews and McDavid signed their 2nd deals it was the talking point that the cap % of those signings would be significantly lower when they expired. At least for Matthews, that may not be the case)
I will always love my father in law. He taught me more about life in short weekend sessions about life than I was able to learn from any adult male growing up. Every Saturday, he would go to a “farmer’s auction… in Dundee, MI. More often than not, nothing was purchased. Sometimes, treasures were acquired for pennies on the dollar. A hardware store was closing, and their entire inventory was up for auction. Genuine old school steel tools (manual and electric), incredible furniture (possibly Amish made) etc.
However, it was a trip to the scrap yard that taught me about building. My car (a very “affordable… student type car) had blown its transmission. The same type of car (same year) had shown up totaled, but with a perfect transmission. We got it for 1/4 the price of going to the repair shop and I got more years I desperately needed out of that beater mobile. In hockey terms, sometimes you can get depth pieces out of a career that is in its twilight. The depth player may be that functioning piece of what had once been a solid vehicle on its own.
Building a championship caliber team is something I thought I understood because in the 90s Detroit had done it. In 2002, I realized, “well, I guess you can just buy one…. Post salary cap, it was “you need draft luck… and so on. In this rebuild, Seider is still my favorite add. Once the jerseys switch from Adidas I see a Seider jersey in my future. And yes, I’m still trying to get a bobblehead but the budget isn’t there right now.
Detroit has spent on bringing in Debrincat. Is it time to spend again, or wait and develop? Hanifin intrigues me in his cross path history with a personal favorite in Dougie Hamilton. That’s just one of those defenders I really like. In Hanifin, there is some longevity potential but raises for Seider and Raymond are on the way. I don’t know if this is the time, but a soft market could well open the opportunity. Let me know your thoughts.
In the realm of fun, Detroit announced the promotional giveaways. As soon as I saw Shanny and Holmstrom getting bobble heads I started to number crunch. There are stick boxes (not quite sure what those will look like) based on great rivalries, but those 2 bobble heads are on my wish list. I can’t explain it, but they hit the button.
Are there any times when a promo has gotten you through the gates? They have for me (years ago). A piece that brings back great memories. Todd Bertuzzi adorns a cabinet in my hallway, and different odds and ends bring some life to different rooms in the house. I love some of the giveaways. (I would like an MSU, U of M and even Ferris State themed Wings hat).
Let me know your favorite souvenirs and if it’s time to start investing in more outside players. My hope is that Kubalik becomes available again. I’d love to see him come back along with seeing drafted players start taking jobs from veterans. We’re so close to seeing hockey that my heart rate is going up.