The NHL is coming. I can smell it in the air when I walk outside, and I can see it on T.V. when I see brief highlights of preseason games.
Believe it or not, the Red Wings play their first game 2 weeks from today when they face Buffalo at The Joe at 8 pm EDT on October 2nd. Although that is very close to now, the Red Wings still have some work to do before they are ready for the season as far as roster moves go.
Daniel Cleary is a Red Wing once again. It took all summer, but he was finally signed to a 1 year $1.75 million deal. Not surprisingly after a summer when many thought they had seen the last of Cleary in the winged wheel, this signing was heavily criticized. I take the opposite approach however. Cleary was a leader last year in the playoffs, both emotionally and as far as performance goes. He was 2nd on the team in postseason points behind our captain, and he was tied for 2nd in postseason goals trailing only Damien Brunner (who still remains unsigned). Cleary had one more point and one more goal than Pavel Datsyuk in the playoffs last year. I don't care who you are, that is impressive to me.
Now I'm not going to try and convince anyone that Cleary is as good as Datsyuk. Nor am I going to try and convince anyone that it is even close. What I will say is that Cleary is still a serviceable player and I think his leadership and work ethic will help this team. It is a very low risk signing with a low salary (he is between Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader on the payscale), and with it only being one year.
There is a catch though, because the signing of Cleary creates a logjam at forward that is even more severe than before. If Helm starts the season on the injured reserve list (it's starting to look like that will be the case), there will be a battle between 10 players for 6 regular playing spots. These players are Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, Jordin Tootoo, Patrick Eaves, Drew Miller, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson, Cory Emmerton, Joakim Andersson, and Danny Cleary.
I'm going to do some assuming now. First, I already assumed that Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Daniel Alfredsson, Stephen Weiss, and Justin Abdelkader are on the team. Secondly, I do not think Cleary would have been resigned if he was not going to play, so I would think he gets one of those 6 remaining spots. 5 left.
Tomas Tatar is no longer waiver exempt. He either needs to play in the NHL for the Red Wings, be placed on waivers where another team will assuredly pick him up, or go play somewhere like Russia. After being the MVP of the Calder Cup playoffs last year, and getting a goal and an assist in the first Red Wings preseason game this year, I think he has proven that he belongs on the Red Wings. I believe he will be getting a spot. 4 left.
Drew Miller was signed to a new contract this summer. I find it hard to believe that he will find himself not in the organization's plans. He will have a spot. 3 left.
Joakim Andersson emerged as a dependable, hard-working two way center last year. With Helm who is a center still injured, a center with the size that Andersson brings is too valuable a commodity to lose. He should be safe. 2 left.
This is where things get interesting. Gustav Nyquist, Jordin Tootoo, Patrick Eaves, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson, and Cory Emmerton remain with only 2 spots left. My initial reaction is that Gustav Nyquist has obviously proven that he can play in the NHL, so he should have a roster spot. However, he is the only player on this list that is still waiver exempt. It is not out of the question that he could find himself in Grand Rapids to start the year. That does not mean he will not be brought up, but we might not see Nyquist right away. If I were running the team, I would want Nyquist on the Red Wings. I think the more he plays in the NHL, the more he grows into a very good player. He needs NHL ice time, and he could be a big contributor to this team.
So what is the answer? What will happen next? There is honestly no telling. Bertuzzi could still have lingering injuries that keep him out, and the same goes for Samuelsson. Tootoo is a gritty player, and the Red Wings are lacking someone like him. However, he was a healthy scratch in the playoffs last year. This is not a good sign for things to come for Tootoo in Detroit.
Emmerton and Eaves are both solid all around players, but they are nothing more than that. They are known commodities which might be both a good and bad thing for them this offseason. I understand that Emmerton is still young and might have untapped potential, but he has not shown it in during his first 2 years with the Red Wings.
If it were up to me assuming the players all stay healthy, I would fill the last two spots with Nyquist and Samuelsson. I would then have Bertuzzi as an extra forward who could rotate in on the 4th line. Samuelsson is a veteran who can shoot and can score. If he is in shape and healthy, he is still a good option for this team. It would pain me to see Eaves go. I really like his competitiveness and his work ethic. That's the problem with depth though, not everyone can stay.
Obviously this assumes everyone is healthy. Things could drastically change based on injuries as far as who I think should be on this team.
Who do you think should fill the bottom six forward roster positions? Do you agree that Cleary can still be an impact player? Are you happy about the Cleary signing?
