stop spending money on old free agents: sink or swim with what we have

Team: 2016-17 Detroit Red Wings

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 30, 2016

Published: Jun. 30, 2016

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

the WORST thing the wings can do now that they missed on Stamkos is "spend to the cap" anyways. We do not need big, old FAs to take up more cap space than they're worth for the next 4-6 years and take away roster spots from prospects (that we have to figure out if they're worth keeping anyways). Who cares about the streak? Let's bite the bullet and actually rebuild and collect some assets that could in a year or two actually compete in the playoffs instead of just limping to the finish line.

Untouchable core for the future: Larkin, Mrazek

Would like to keep around because of potential: Mantha, AA, Svechnikov, Sadowey, Russo, Hicketts, Saarijarvi.

In all likelyhood "unmovable": Zetterberg, Kronwall, Ericsson.

Why not use the cap space to take on a bad contract or two and start piling up picks and prospects? Personally, I don't think we'll truly be competitive until we're out from under Howard's and Kronwall's contracts in 3 years (barring any trades before that). Then Franzen and Ericsson are gone the next year. If we can make it til then without dishing out anymore stupid big/long/underperforming contracts then we could really be good down the road by just adding slightly to the pieces we have already.