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Dallas Drake A Wing
by Paul on 07/09/07 at 10:01 AM ET
Comments (27)
Kevin Allen reported earlier this morning on WDFN in Detroit that the Wings have signed Dallas Drake.
added 11:28am, from Ansar Khan at Mlive,
We’re very pleased to have Dallas join the Red Wings,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said in a release. “He’s a very physical player who will add grit to our lineup and make our team even more difficult to play against. He’s a veteran player and you can never have enough experience and leadership on a team.”
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Comments
Thats interesting. Available forwards were mighty slim. This is as good an option as any other I suppose (Yashin, Lindros, etc). Drake is, apparently, coming back to Detroit. Wonder what the terms of the contract are—could not have been too much (last year $1.2 mil). Still leaves the Wings with, I think, around $4 mil of cap room.
Wonder what the Wings hope to get out of the 38 y/o???
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 07/09/07 at 10:22 AM ET
Dallas Drake as good as Lindros or Yashin???
Dallas Drake is a good character guy. There is absolutely ZERO offense to his game, and he’s declining.
He’ll fit right in in Detroit, but this is not a good signing. He’s just going to take away minutes from one of the Wings’ crappy young players. I guess Holland would rather have a crappy older player with character than a crappy young player who may or may not have character.
Man, I am glad that Ken Holland is not running my team (into the ground).
Posted by Thomas on 07/09/07 at 10:25 AM ET
Err who is Drake going to take minutes from? Matt Ellis? Tomas Kopecky? Who cares? This is a non-factor signing, how is that running the Wings into the ground?
Posted by Heaton on 07/09/07 at 10:37 AM ET
two sides to this coin;
1. He brings to the Wings much needed ATTITUDE.
2. RedWings will not have to play against him for a year.
Posted by Gramps (HockeyTownTodd) from Hockeytown on 07/09/07 at 10:42 AM ET
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
DALLAS DRAKE!!! Seriously, I thought Holland was smarter than this..
I’m really at a loss for this absurdity..
Posted by Roberto daCosta from Here, there, everywhere on 07/09/07 at 10:48 AM ET
I feel this is a decent signing. The Wings needed some grit, and now they have a player who provides it in barrels. If the Wings can’t get a player who can play top 6, all that means is most likely the youngsters will get an increased role on the team. I’m feeling better about next season’s roster than I did about last season.
Posted by David on 07/09/07 at 11:09 AM ET
I like this move, only because I think Dallas will help the 4th line’s presence and be the kind of in-your-face this team lacked last year. He’ll definitely play on the 4th line, and will bring some good grit and he still has some talent, he’s pretty close to 500 points in his career.
Posted by Jeremy from Bowling Green/Oregon, OH on 07/09/07 at 11:27 AM ET
I don’t know how Holland is running the team into the ground. I’m sure you would rather him sign someone like Lindros, who is very risky, for 10 mill a season. Holland isn’t stupid and he isn’t going to sign players who aren’t that good for waaaay too much money. Drake adds a little more grit to our team and may force players to play their best to battle for spots on the roster. I.E. the crappy young players.
Posted by Josh from Mich on 07/09/07 at 11:32 AM ET
anytime you have a former captian. its a good deal. What he will provide through leadership to some of our grinders like Franzen and Kopecky is priceless. He plays with a chip on his shoulder, and thats the way some of our younger guys need to play. I like this signing, but I wonder who gets benched (if not Drake himself). I’m looking in Maltby’s direction.
Posted by Jdunc from Flint, MI on 07/09/07 at 11:38 AM ET
Note, he says, “I glad he’s not running my team into the ground.” This is clearly not a Wings fan but a bitter rival we probably smoked in the playoffs last year. Perhaps a Calgary fan looking to stir the pot?
Posted by DetGiggy from Shelby Twp., Michigan on 07/09/07 at 11:38 AM ET
Ken Holland’s To-Do List
1. Make the defense smaller. Check!
2. Make the checking line older. Check!
Even if this signing has little impact on the team, it still seems like a step in the wrong direction.
Posted by Djoos on 07/09/07 at 11:38 AM ET
Thomas is a Avs fan.
And yes this bad signing. Drake was done three years ago.
Posted by Django on 07/09/07 at 11:43 AM ET
*Ahem*
this is a bad signing.
Posted by Django on 07/09/07 at 11:44 AM ET
why?
Maybe replace Markov’s grit?
Makes sense.
It can’t be too bad of a signing when the Avs fans are crying about it.
Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 07/09/07 at 11:54 AM ET
At least he’s cheap.
Even if it is a mistake, it’s only a one-year, $550,000 one.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/09/07 at 12:12 PM ET
Um, maybe check your facts before you say that Holland is ruining the franchise…
Posted by Nathan on 07/09/07 at 12:59 PM ET
Holland isn’t stupid and he isn’t going to sign players who aren’t that good for waaaay too much money.
Ahem…
Uwe Krupp
Robert Lang
Derian Hatcher
Pavel Datsyuk
$16m worth of goalies in 03-04
Yes, he’s stupid enough to sign someone who isn’t that good for waaaay too much money.
Um, maybe check your facts before you say that Holland is ruining the franchise…
Heh, well, if you’re happy with losing an entire second line and losing a key defenseman like Markov without replacing them with ANYTHING AT ALL, that’s cool with me.
Holland can’t draft to save his life (three legitimate NHLers in the last decade…four if you count Fischer). He is just awful at identifying what his team needs (goes after a defenseman instead of replacing the second line that left). He signs crappy players for WAAAAY too much money.
You play in an awful division and you lived off the talent that Bowman acquired and the system that he built. Look at your team now. You’re going to be counting on production from losers like Hudler and Grigorenko. You’re going to be asking Tomas Holmstrom (who can neither skate nor play defense) to play a first line role, and hope that Dan Cleary (who is nothing more than Boyd Devereaux pt. 2) has another career year.
I mean, it’s not as if you are going with a youth movement and entrusting the team to blue chip prospects or anything. You’re talking about guys who, if they max out their potential, will be one-dimensional 2nd-line scoring forwards. You’re putting them in that role right now, and betting your entire existence on their ability to achieve their entire potential this year.
If you don’t see what Holland has done to your team, I pity you. If you’re drinking this Kool-Aid, if you really think that Grigorenko and Hudler are your saviours…well, have fun with that.
You play in a crappy division, so you should contend with St Louis for the division crown. You’ll rack up a ton of points by beating on losers like Columbus, Nashville and Chicago. Then you’ll get bounced in the first round again.
And I bet you will be optimistic next year when Holland brings back Hasek AGAIN and gives Zetterberg $10m (thereby ensuring that the team never has any sort of cap money with which to acquire depth).
Posted by Thomas on 07/09/07 at 02:43 PM ET
It can’t be too bad of a signing when the Avs fans are crying about it.
Crying about it? I am LAUGHING about it.
ST. FRICKING LOUIS told Drake to get lost. You’re going after the re-treads of the dregs of the league. The guy couldn’t win a roster spot on a lottery team.
I am laughing at the Wings for being dumb enough to make this move. I am laughing at you for thinking it was a good move.
How’s that Kool-Aid taste?
Posted by Thomas on 07/09/07 at 02:46 PM ET
Well bookmark this page. Everyone said the same thing about the Hasek signing last year and dang, everyone has to eat crow. It seems a lot of people have found their way back into hockey playing for a year in and year out playoff team. Winning is a great motivator and will bring out the best in players, even old ones. The end of the year will be the telling factor. Holland has pulled many an ace out of his sleeve and was dogged by everyone and usually leading to that big “MAN HOLLAND IS A GENIUS”
Posted by Tony from Mid-Michigan on 07/09/07 at 05:43 PM ET
Tony, a Dives fan is a Dives fan is a Dives fan, Ryan Smyth and all.
Dallas Drake is cheap depth, and motivated depth at tha, given that he was a) bought out despite being the Blues’ captain and b) has more Michigan connections than some Michiganders in that he went to NMU, lived in Marquette in the offseason for a while as an NHL’er, and then moved to Traverse City.
I’m no more worried about Drake’s odometer now than I was when we wanted him at 33—he was supposedly washed-up then, and he’s supposedly washed-up now, going to the Belle Tire of hockey, where we get all sorts of miles off older guys who’re supposed to be done.
If he bombs, we send him down to Grand Rapids and he mentors some toughness into guys like Helm, McGrath, Ryno, Ritola, and Ellis. If Grigs gets cold feet—and you’d better believe that this signing has something to do with Ken Holland’s worry that Grigorenko’s skipping of rookie camp means that he’s gonna show up out of shape, in need of some sort of corrective foot surgery, and wanting to go back to Russia if he gets stuck on the 4th line—Drake’s good insurance.
He could look very good on the Grind Line, he could work on a line with any of Kopecky, Hudler, Franzen (giving Franzen a little Dallas Drake snarl by osmosis wouldn’t be a bad thing, now would it?), Samuelsson, Cleary, Filppula, or the aforementioned Grigs while he gets his NHL legs, and he keeps the opposition’s head on the swivel.
Is he Anson Carter, Jason Allison, or Alexei Yashin? No, but Holland stated when he’d re-signed Dom that he wasn’t planning on nailing down a top-six guy until late July or early August, when he won’t have to pay residual-first-week-of-July market prices for guys who simply aren’t worth $4 million for 50-60 points while riding shotgun with Valterri Filppula.
I like that Khan went with the obvious take in his blog entry:
Just a hunch, but they might be keeping some money free to sign Peter Forsberg midway through the season, if he wants to continue playing and they’re convinced his foot is OK. Or maybe they’re keeping their eye on Sergei Fedorov, who’s likely to be dealt midway through the season or at the trade deadline once Columbus falls out of playoff contention.
I’d give Sergei coming back to Detroit to bolster the lineup late in the season a 2 coin flips out of 3 chance right now. It just makes sense. Is he a little older, a little slower, and a little less potent? Yup, but he’s also obviously not going to be a Blue Jacket when the 07-08 season’s over, and if the Wings were to toss a mid-round pick the Jax way, at worst, he’d be a Todd Bertuzzi—little impact, bye bye at the end of the season.
The Hockey Gods don’t award Cups in July. It’s far too early to suggest what Bill Clement did—that, somehow, magically, Kimmo Timonen, Martin Biron, Scott Hartnell, Jason Smith, Daniel Briere, and Joffrey Lupul = Instant Cup for the Flyers, just as signing Drury and Gomez doesn’t mean that the Rags will win, nor is there any guarantee that Bertuzzi and Schneid will help the Ducks repeat, etc. etc.
If Kenny finds anybody who’s willing to take a little less to be a Red Wing with top six impact this summer, great. If not, Hank and Pavel are a decent 1-2 punch at centre.
We’ll see how they do in October.
Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/09/07 at 08:22 PM ET
How’s the Kool-Aid taste? It tastes pretty damn good, I was drinking it right through 3 rounds of the playoffs. How was what you were having? Pretty bitter tasting whatever it was I’m sure.
So, hows that goaltending situation coming along out there in Colorado?
Posted by Jeff on 07/10/07 at 12:42 AM ET
Hey now, let’s cut Thomas some slack…I’m sure that Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan need tips about maintaining a shiny, full-bodied mullet at high altitudes…
Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/10/07 at 12:51 AM ET
C’mon now, Thomas is a classy, unbiased GENIUS!
Newsgroups: alt.sports.hockey.nhl.det-redwings
From: Thomas <wha…@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:20:47 -0400
Local: Mon, Jul 3 2006 5:20 pm
Subject: Seeya Steve!Thomas
Seeya Steve. I don’t like you, never did, even in my early years as a Wings fan. You are possibly the most unjustifiedly fellated *#$%@& in the NHL. You hung on a couple years past usefulness, but thankfully for your legacy you read the writing on the wall when Babcock told anyone who would listen that you need to get lost. So, seeya Steve. And after this season, do us Avs fans a favor and take Sakic with you. -Thomas
Posted by TeamDub from The Fifedom of Finkbeiner on 07/10/07 at 09:22 AM ET
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hmmmmmm…... very interesting
Posted by kadoz from Ada on 07/09/07 at 10:16 AM ET