The Big Story

Four underrated forwards set to break out in 2016-17 – By Dimitri Filipovic: Sportsnet

I’m cheating here again because this is another list of guys where the Red Wings player caught my eye. Sue me. I won’t spoil it for you, but his name might right with “Bath-panda-see-you.”

In Red Wings Land

Holland breaks down Wings roster after multiple moves – By Gregg Krupa: The Detroit News

Ken Holland talks about all the guys sent down/waived yesterday, with a bit of focus on Frk, Bertuzzi, and Svechnikov. He also specifically said

“It’s not always just the 12 best players. You need different people to do different things.”

You should read everything to make sure I’m not just dragging this out of context to fool you, but yeah it absolutely does look like Holland is buying into the same roster construction idea that led Team USA to an 0-3 record at the World Cup rather than the roster construction that didn’t lose a damn game.

Obviously, the Wings aren’t as talented as Team Canada, but not shooting yourself in the foot by intentionally leaving good players off your roster because of “role player” stuff would be a good step. You’d be amazed at all the things good players can do.

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Go ahead and congregate here/discuss among yourselves while we wait to see if the five guys put on waivers yesterday will clear. Feel free to share any interesting stories you’ve come across.