Meson

March 5th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^

Looks like a good idea if we can sign him to an extension.

I'm of course assuming the player we traded away was *not* one of the top Grand Rapids prospects.

Cromulent

March 5th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^

Legwand becomes the 2nd grad from Grosse Pointe North to play for the Red Wings. Go North!

You don't see those pansies from South producing Red Wings.

Blue Mike

March 5th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^

For those who don't want to click through:

The deal is Legwand for Patrick Eaves, Calle Jarnkrok and a 3rd round pick.  Legwand is a FA at the end of the year.

HipsterCat

March 5th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^

according to the comments in that article the other player is calle jarnkrok http://www.griffinshockey.com/team/roster/index.html?player_id=229

we definetely needed help with zetters, datsyuk, weiss, and helm all injured. IDK if we would keep legwand around next season if everybody gets healthy especially with sheahan, glendening and anderson all able to fill the 3rd/4th center roll. ideally in my opinion with everybody healthy we would have:

zetters   datsyuk       franzen

abby       weiss/helm         nyquist

jurco      sheanhan       tatar

andersson   helm/weiss   miller

 

teldar

March 5th, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^

Jarnkrok should have brought a first line center. Our at least someone more than legwand. I think the Wings way undersold him.

denardogasm

March 5th, 2014 at 4:29 PM ^

Seems like Holland's making moves just to keep the playoff streak alive, which is fine with me.  This team is not winning a cup with all these injuries, but without doing something they probably weren't headed for the playoffs this year.  We'll see if Legwand can affect that at all.  I lean towards no unfortunately.

Dilithium Wings

March 5th, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^

While I like the move to acquire David Legwand he simply isn't the answer. The wings ended a top defender like Alexander Edler and need a pure goal scorer.



The Wings have plenty of guys who can pass the puck to get assists. We don't have many guys who score.



Tommy Want Wingy

March 5th, 2014 at 4:37 PM ^

I'm seriously at a loss for words with this trade. Calle Jarnkrok may have been the Red Wings best all around prospect. He is a 22 year old sweedish playmaker who has been compared to Zetterberg on more than one occation. The fact that we just traded him away for a 32 year old center (that isn't THAT good), who is a free agent at the end of the year is an unbelievable overpayment. Compare this trade to LA trading a 2nd and 3rd round pick along with a 26 year old winger with 6 points this year for Gaborik, and MTL sending a comparable package to NYI for Thomas freakin' Vanek as the Wings did for Legwand. Holland got utterly fleeced in a moment of desperation with the injuries piling up.

Everyone Murders

March 5th, 2014 at 6:08 PM ^

Your view that Ken Holland "is the most overrated GM in sports" is contrary to popular opinion.  I get that not every signing or trade has panned out well (Weiss, for example), but given Detroit's success since 1996, I think he's one of the best GMs in any sport.  Not that Sports Illustrated's opinion is dispositive, but they had him RANKED as the second best GM in all of sports for the 2000s, including NCAA ADs.  He can't just wish for high draft picks every year, especially given their perrenial playoff team status.

Do you have a counterargument?  Or is your post more of an emotional reaction to a trade you don't like?  (One counterargument would be that the same SI article had Joe Dumars ranked as No. 9 overall, which, like ... yeesh.)  By most measures Holland's stewardship of the Wings seems to have been very solid.

93Grad

March 5th, 2014 at 8:29 PM ^

made since Hossa? Holland rode the coatails of Develano and Scotty to all those cups.  Since then cap has been instituted he has been revealed as being a one trick pony and having no balls in the new cap enviroment.

Tommy Want Wingy

March 5th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^

I don't know if I'm ready to call Holland overrated, but his performance over the last couple years has opened him up to criticism. The scouting department of the Wings is still second to none (they sit at the lower end of the top 10 in farm systems), But the FA acquisitions he has made over the last couple years have been terrible. He has struck out on his last few attempts to jump into the trade market.
Also his tendancy of holding on to veterans until the wheels fall off almost cost them a playoff spot last year, and may do it this year. The fact that Tatar wasted away in Grand Rapids last year in favor of Samuelson, and Nyquist was absent the first month of this season because he wanted Cleary back are puzzling at best.

Everyone Murders

March 6th, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^

I agree that Holland's not made the noise the past couple years that he did earlier in his career, but it is a different environment with the new cap structure.  But I don't mind the Mike Modano signing one bit, just as an example.

What you overlook is that Holland has kept the core of a great team together:  Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall and Jimmy Howard come to mind.  Keeping the Eurotwins on the roster in particular is a great bit of management.  And he helped keep Niklas Lidström engaged in the team for many years while Lidström's family wanted to move to Sweden.

I think it's a mistake to focus primarily on trades and free agent signings, when the Wings run one of the top scouting/draft departments in sports, and tend to their own quite well.

 

 

meechiganman14

March 5th, 2014 at 6:27 PM ^

If you think Ken Holland is overrated, you don't pay very close attention to the rest of the league and don't understand how difficult it is to be as consistent as the Wings have been the last 20+ years, especially with the implementation of the salary cap. When the cap was implemented, everyone in hockey expected the Wings to suffer more than anyone else. Instead, they have slowly retooled their roster from stocked with Hall of Famers to a younger, faster lineup while winning a cup, going to another finals, and never missing the playoffs. Only the Sharks and Wings have made the playoffs every year since the lockout. 

Look at the top teams in the league right now. Pitt, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston - all of them sucked at some point in the last 10 years and piled up high draft picks as a result. Toews, Kane, Crosby, Malkin - all top 10 picks. Holland has NEVER had that luxury and has had to use player development and timely acquistions to keep the Wings competitive. And it has worked, if not for injuries, they would once again be right in the mix come playoff time (and they still might).

FatGuyLittleCoat

March 5th, 2014 at 5:38 PM ^

Because we both have Chris Farley avatars-good call and love your name. Regarding hockey, I tend to agree with your points above. Although, Columbus' trade wasn't as beneficial as people think. Gaborik has been hurt most of the year. In addition, he really hasn't played well since being traded-his point totals just aren't that good. I guess there's always that potential that he'll turn into his old form, but, after watching him for a year, I just don't see that happening. Columbus didn't get a great return for Gaborik but they didn't get hosed either.

Sac Fly

March 5th, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^

It's unrealistic to point to the Vanek trade as a knock on Holland and Gaborik is one of the most injury prone players in the NHL.

The only reason Montreal got Vanek was because Garth Snow drove such a high asking price that every team declined. When there was no time left to trade a player that they had to trade, the Islanders took the only deal left.

Who else would they have traded for?

Tommy Want Wingy

March 5th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^

I wouldn't point to Vanek as a knock on Holland, Garth Snow is a boob who is incredibly over his head. That doesn't change the fact that Holland overpaid for a decent player who isn't gonna change a thing come playoff time if people are still hurt.
Personally, I was ok with making a mid level move if the price was a mid round pick along with Callahan or Ferraro as they are out of options in Grand Rapids next year, and probably don't have a spot in Detroit. The wings have a logjam of forward prospects right now, and some of them have to go, but Jarnkrok could have brought a far better return.

Sac Fly

March 5th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^

There was a lot of potential traded this week, but only a handful of proven commodities. I have no problem seeing Holland sit on what they, rather than giving up assets to try and make a playoff push.

As for the the Vanek trade, that may go down as one of the worst trades in NHL history. Not only do they trade Moulson, they end up losing Vanek for nothing and the pick they gave up to Buffalo will probably be used to draft a once in a generation talent in McDavid or Eichel.

WMUgoblue

March 5th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^

Well who is he going to play over at C? Datsyuk, Weiss, Helm, Sheahan/Glendening are your 4 C's and Jarnkrok isn't going to get called up for 4th line minutes. Now obviously you can argue that Helm and Weiss won't be healthy (totally valid) but he still probably wouldn't get top 6 minutes so there really isn't a reason to have him up here.



Kenny certainly has his faults and these last few years have shown that, but the Wings are in transition and are still playing competitive hockey. I mean shit they had the SC champs on the ropes last year and were a goal away from the Conference Finals....so obviously Holland has some idea of what he's doing.

goblueram

March 5th, 2014 at 4:56 PM ^

This is frustrating.  First of all, Jarnkrok's nickname is IronHook, how badass is that?  But really, I'm assuming Ken Holland knows something about his intentions to head back to Sweden if he stayed in the AHL.  

I remember watching Legwand on the Whalers as a kid back in the day.  He's aging, but at 33 still should hopefully have some productivity in him.  Wings need it right away to make this playoff push.  

I think this trade is conditional also, if we do make the playoffs we give up a higher round pick.  Guess this assumes Legwand is the difference-maker.  We'll see... 

WMUgoblue

March 5th, 2014 at 5:01 PM ^

First of all, yes that nickname is indeed amazing but Kukla's Korner keeps tweeting out information that Jarnkrok was really holding the Wings over the coals to get called up or he's leaving. So what do you do in that situation?



It's tough but they got something for him and most likely would attempt to re-sign Legwand for a 2-3 year deal. The pick becomes a 2nd rounder if the Wings make the playoffs to, so like I said it seems like an overpay but if Jarnkrok was indeed leaving then it was probably worth it.

goblueram

March 5th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^

Right right, I agree.  I guess the best news is that it was an opponent in the West.  

If we are stuck with a guy who gives us the ultimatum but we can't make room for him, then we have to try to get any value out of him that we can.  For the Preds, he will probably make the big club much sooner (maybe this year?) than if he stayed.  It's better this way for the player and the Wings than the alternative of just going home to Sweden.  

flashOverride

March 5th, 2014 at 5:07 PM ^

Not a fan of the trade. Jarnkrok could have been big. I know the Wings and affiliates have some depth at center, but even if Jarnkrok hadn't been needed, if he developed more over the next couple seasons they could have gotten a lot more out of him than Legwand. Seems like a move just for the sake of making a move. 

I guess it's cool to have yet another Michigan-born/raised player on the Wings, probably gotta be just about the most local players of any US-based team (Glendening, DeKeyser, Miller, Abdelkader, now Legwand). But, like the playoff streak, that's yet another thing the Wings don't exactly get a plaque for. I don't like this trade.

Doc Brown

March 5th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^

I am sorry but Jarnrock was perhaps the most overrated prospect in the system. He was passes by both Glendenning and Sheahan. He was expendable to the point he wings have more value in their junior draftees than Jarnkrock. I actually value the conditional 3rd more.

BeileinBuddy

March 5th, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^

I now view the preservation of the playoff streak as a hindrance. If there wasn't such a fixation on it, Holland would've either stood pat or made a trade for a top-4 D to help long-term. Instead, a panicked, short-term move was made for C. I don't like it. Holland's been in decline since 2008.