They aren't going to rush Veleno. He needs a very strong preseason to make the lineup and it will likely be as a winger on the 2nd or 3rd line if he does.

In the same spirit of development, playing Abdelkader ahead of Svechnikov should be criminal. Is the expectation that he lives up to his potential by toiling on the 4th line this year? A sheltered minutes 3rd line with Svech/Nielsen/Rasmussen would be lowkey good.

I guess Svechnikov would become the 13th forward in that case?

Fixed that. Forgot to do what you're talking about.

Nah he goes to GR. He is waiver exempt. As is Rasmussen. And DLR can easily be waived. Hirose has a extremely good chance of making the roster as well.

My guess is Abdelkader gets a fair shot of regular playing time and if 10-15 games in he still can't play remotely competent hockey he finds himself health bombed or in GR

Okay, but based on what? The only reasonable explanation I can come up with for Abdelkader to be seeing anything more than regular 4th line minutes is his contract warranting more production and the unrealistic expectation that he can maintain north of 30 points per season.

The majority of Justin's underlying numbers paint him as a forward that gets fed defensive starts and loses more often than he wins. He has penalty kill utility, could maybe step onto a powerplay in an emergency situation and not hurt it, and is maybe a little snakebitten in terms of on-ice save percentage and shooting percentage. Beyond those very specific stats, he's a forward who cannot produce without going on a shooting percentage bender and relative to his teammates is not as strong of a defensive option as he needs to be (given production or lack thereof).

I was shocked that Abdelkader wasn't bought out this offseason. With the expected influx of cheap ELC contracts set to join the Red Wings and the cap (supposedly) rising annually, the buyout penalty is beyond minimal. My only theory is that Abdelkader is here to be a warm body and keep a name like Veleno down for one more year. In which case, that screams dedicated 4th line and leadership role.

I would say switch Svech out for hirose and that's more likely the line up. I would also say by the last 10 games hirose played along side AA and they played very well together, there's a good chance Blash, will switch Taco and Z throughout the year depending on how they play with AA.

Hirose is a great playmaker and would help with Ras' development

I said regular playing time not top 6 minutes...

There is no need to buy him out right now because the team is not in a cap bind and having him on the books for 8 years is not very good either.

I have known that Abdelkader sucks for many years now. I am just saying he is a veteran that likely gets another look before burying him in the minors or scratching him. JFC

The problem is no one wants any thing to do with Abdelkader, Neilson, Ericsson and Daley. Maybe someone will end up taking Helm who is still fast as s@#$! Or maybe Glendening hard working guy plays mostly in the defensive zone and PK and he still has a decent amount of speed. Considering about 95% of his goals come off of breakaways.



Now if you are saying you want to take Abdelkader off our hands so he can't play ahead of Svechnikov you can have him for future considerations.

I mean, all it wold cost you is one Kris Russell and some retained salary, but there could be a conversation there.

Well played sir!

How does this team play with 1 right handed forward