Not a bad team but that Defense looks like a trainwreck waiting to happen, looks like Holland is glueing short term fixes all over the place

I think Shattenkirk is a great fix for this D. No question Kronwall isn't what he once was, but Marchenko has come a long way (he was arguably Russia's best Dman in the World Championship) and can start picking up some of Kronwall's minutes. It's not perfect, but it has potential.

Let's just give motor city the cup now and take the year off. No wait, as astutely noted above, aside from Shattenkirk & Kronwall, the D may spring a leak.
Let's see some hockey to find out if BIG RED finishes closer to the CUP or the draft lottery.

I think your on to something good here, but as noted above the D is weak. Figure Kronwall will only play 55-60 games this season (aging knee with recent surgery), that leaves you short in depth. I like the Stamkos signing and it would be really cool, but the money seems like it needs to go elsewhere. Preferably to the D. Ericsson and Smith are shaky. Marchenko is pretty decent, but has a little ways to go and isn't very physical. BTW Ericsson probably isn't going anywhere at this point.. which sucks for the Wings and their fans. Not bad overall though.

Don't disagree that the D isn't perfect as I mentioned above. This was meant to be realistic, which is why they can't solve the D problem in just the one year. Ericsson is awful and no one will take him, which is why he's buried in the minors. Not any big upgrades on D available in FA this year. So this is meant to be a best case "realistic" scenario. Obviously it would be nice to have a true #1 D, but only about 10-15 teams in the league have what everyone refers to as a #1 D (eg. Weber, Doughty, etc). They won't be able to get one through FA or Trades either, so have to make do with what they can get.

I see Shattenkirk as Top Tier #2, Dekeyser is probably a low end #2 (minute muncher w/o big upside), Green and Kronwall are decent #4s, Marchenko is a great 5th and Smith is a pretty good #6 (not the best player but most teams would be happy to have him as their 6th Dman). Ouellet still has some potential as well, we'll have to see what he bring to the table.

Teams need to meet the salary cap floor, giving away pulkinnen and an additional pick is way too much. They are just as desperate as we are. Also Nyquist and sproul and a higher pick for shattenkirk is too much. Think Brian Campbell is a better option for the wings. Lastly Stamkos, weiss, miller and downie = 14.45 mil. You can get erikson, Doan and Backes for about the same price.

I don't think St. Louis would accept the Shattenkirk trade. They don't need a wing like Nyquist, they need a center. Plus asking for the extra seocnd lowers the value of the first. If you could give up a center, Sproul and the first for shattenkirk and a 4th or 3rd that would make sense but you don't have any centers you'd be willing to trade.