Among the questions and answers in the Free Press’s Helene St. James latest’ mailbag feature:
HSJ: Once restricted free agents Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha are re-signed, that will put the Wings at 12 NHL forwards towards next season. From what I hear within the organization, Michael Rasmussen would have to play himself out of a spot in training camp – that’s how high the confidence is the 6-foot-6 forward is ready to grab a spot. Hard to think he wouldn’t be a help on the power play. There’s hope Filip Zadina can, too, but it’s a big advantage for the Wings that the NHL has sided with them and determined Zadina was on loan to Halifax, making him a European-status player and AHL eligible. If Zadina looks like he can make the Wings better out of camp, the onus will be on them to find a spot, but if he doesn’t, it’s easy to start him in Grand Rapids. (Rasmussen, on the other hand, will either play in Detroit, or have to go back to juniors).
St. James continues, addressing Luke Glendening’s future, Filip Hronek and Dennis Cholowski and Henrik Zetterberg’s questionable status…
chl has me infuriated , they dont give a damn about a kids future / development / health its just all about how much money the little rats can make and the nhl lets them get away with it because theyre of the same ilk . if the chl was run by upstanding men the kids would be the priority and they’d say ‘ what evers best for razz / whatever he wants to do he can do ‘ . razz and zadina should be in gr this season developing chemistry while progressing / developing at a comfortable speed . as it stands i let razz play another season in jrs so he can physically mature before the bigs . and i keep zadina in gr so hes not rushed . meanwhile trade nyquist for a blue chip d prospect to play in ahl right away and get this rebuild speeded up . then next season all of rzz – zadina – blue chipper up to the wings and allof a sudden were a young team on the rise
Keep Rass and Zadina, even if they have to play with last years horrible Defence, which is one older. Can they get worse.
I agree with someone like Goose, trading AA is not going to get the Wings a solid top 4 D Man.
JMO, but HSJ seems to know what Ken is going to do??
“JMO, but HSJ seems to know what Ken is going to do??” — WingedRider.
That’s what she’s trying to do, of course. More importantly it’s also what she’s supposed to be doing, “reporting on the DRW(with a heavy focus on individual players amidst other organization-wide reporting).”
That’s what every sports reporter covering a particular team is needed to do, report.
Personally, while I am aware of the hostility directed at St. James, I cannot for the life of me find a rational reason to dislike her work. She reminds me, favorably, of folks who held her position back in the 70s and 80s when reading the newspaper was still part of my routine … nowadays I read things from her profession only during the down times when there isn’t any hockey to watch.
I haven’t read reporters for different NHL teams that I think are better than St. James. I don’t see anything “wrong” with them either to be honest, but I certainly don’t see other teams covered better than the DRW.
By-the-bye, I also think they should keep Zadina and Rasmussen up as well. More importantly, I “hope” they’re both good enough to keep up.