Whats up with AA, is he a keeper or not? He put up good numbers, each year seems to be a little buzz about him and not in a positive way. Other than RNH, what type of players does DRWs need? I know young D was a thing for them, what else?

Why?

I think he is could have easily put up more of a stink last offseason and been traded. But he instead he spent the summer working on his defense came into training camp impressed Blashill who was his biggest critic the season before worked his way to more ice time and into the #2 center spot where he wanted to be. When Larkin was out it was AA who Blashill take over for him and put up good numbers. Blashill has even said AA is his #2 center moving forward. I personally want to see what he does next year getting the minutes he was at the end of the season.

I think that AA for RNH trade is not a good one for Detroit. AA's raise will probably take him to where RNH is now or maybe a bit less whereas RNH might walk from Detroit or if he resigns with the Wings will likely go into the $7+ range, RNH is a better all round player then AA perhaps but you're just basically trading for a more costly player who might not produce much more then AA would, I'd just keep AA but that's just my opinion.

I know many believe Stevie Y is gonna take it slow and are taking his every word he said in his hiring press conference as gospel but GM's say things all the time that are essentially just the "politically correct" things to say with a bunch of microphones in their face so if he does something that goes against what he said he was gonna do you shouldn't be all that surprised by it cause its happened often in the past that GM'S say one thing and then shortly after a trade/transaction occurs that makes them look like a liar.
I mean he may do exactly what he said he was gonna do or he might do the opposite and if he does the latter don't be too surprised by it.

Personally I think he's going to go somewhere in between the two of a slow/let the kids grow/develop
and make a bunch of moves/speed it up' rebuild.
Like I think he won't mortgage the future but I expect to see a move or two to get this team competitive again a little quicker then the pace it was going at and that'll likely require trading some of the young talent/prospects, not all but a piece or two.

Just my $0.02, I wish him well cause hockey's better when the Wings are good.

I can actually agree with that last statement

But don't agree with any of the rest of it?

I understand the value of the trade and maybe like many say, RNH is the better all around player. But as a wings fan I would just hate this trade. AA seems to just have so much potential that can be tapped and he can really be a game changer. He’s younger and more exciting too. I don’t think Stevie needs to play around too much with the forwards if he starts dealing. If he makes moves to the defence though I’m all for it