Before anyone jumps off a bridge...

[djwilli3]

FWIW, Here's a breakdown of Detroit's roster:

 

How the Red Wings were built:

 

Selected in entry draft (10)

Nicklas Lidstrom (1989, 53rd)

Tomas Holmstrom (1994, 257th)

Pavel Datsyuk (1998, 171st)

Henrik Zetterberg (1999, 210th)

Niklas Kronwall (2000, 29th)

Jiri Hudler (2002, 58th)

Valtteri Filppula (2002, 95th)

Derek Meech (2002, 229th)

Johan Franzen (2004, 97th)

Darren Helm (2005, 132nd)

 

Signed as free agent (11)

 

Brett Lebda (2005)

Andreas Lilja (2005)

x-Chris Osgood (2005)

Mikael Samuelsson (2005)

Dan Cleary (2005)

Dominik Hasek (2006)

Brian Rafalski (2007)

y-Dallas Drake (2007)

Mark Hartigan (2007)

Aaron Downey (2007)

z-Darren McCarty (2008)

 

Acquired by trade (4)

Kris Draper (1993)

Kirk Maltby (1996)

Chris Chelios (1999)

Brad Stuart (2008)

 

x-originally drafted by team in 1991 (54th)

y-originally drafted by team in 1989 (116th)

z-originally drafted by team in 1992 (46th)

 

LINK

 

IMO, the list of guys drafted by Detroit is much more impressive -- Datsyuk, Zetterburg, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Franzen -- that the the ones they brought in through FA. Looking at that list it seems that most of the stars came in via draft and they used FA and trades to fill in the depth around their homegrown stars.

 

Yet, how many of those guys who actually saw minutes were still on their first contract when they won the cup this year? None of them. Detroit PAYS to keep their talented players. And frankly, all of the players who came in FA or by Trade start for that team. ALL of them. About half of the players on that list of persons drafted see serious ice time. Those that you listed, actually. And its hard to count Lidstrom in this. He's been around his 89'. The fact is, Buffalo doesn't have a pension for keeping its young talent. See Bernier trade from today. They only re-signed Vanek to the deal he got because they had to keep someone after Briere and Drury were already gone. They wouldn't have even done that had they not been backed into a corner by Vancouver. People were pissed at the time about it, but we should be thanking them. We have one solid prospect signed long term, which is better than where we would be without them.

[Bmwolf21]

Yet, how many of those guys who actually saw minutes were still on their first contract when they won the cup this year? None of them. Detroit PAYS to keep their talented players. And frankly, all of the players who came in FA or by Trade start for that team. ALL of them. About half of the players on that list of persons drafted see serious ice time. Those that you listed, actually. And its hard to count Lidstrom in this. He's been around his 89'. The fact is, Buffalo doesn't have a pension for keeping its young talent. See Bernier trade from today. They only re-signed Vanek to the deal he got because they had to keep someone after Briere and Drury were already gone. They wouldn't have even done that had they not been backed into a corner by Vancouver. People were pissed at the time about it, but we should be thanking them. We have one solid prospect signed long term, which is better than where we would be without them.

I honestly have no clue what point you are trying to make. How many teams have one or two guys on entry contracts make significant contributions to a Cup championship? Frankly I couldn't care less if the guys listed were on their first, second or last contract - the majority of the stars and significant contributors came from the Wings' system. (FWIW, the players "I listed" is pretty much the whole roster of guys who played this year. You can go ahead click the link and see the source and read the context about how the Wings built their team.)

 

Fact is, inkman's original comments were 100% right. The Wings drafted and developed their core, kept them and filled in the pieces around them through trades and FA. As the list I posted shows, they did NOT bring in their best pieces through FA or trade - their best players (Zetterburg, Satsyuk, Franzen, Lidstrom) are all from the Wings' system and drafts.

 

You want to blast the Sabres for not keeping their team together, that's fine -- and they deserve it, IMO. But your argument is all over the place here. You're blasting the FO for not keeping guys they traded for and then blasting them for not keeping their core together, and adding all sorts of qualifiers and twisting the criteria so no one knows what your point is.

[shrader]

The strange thing with Detroit is that with how well they have drafted over the years, they haven't landed that goalie that they had enough faith to eventually hand over the reigns to in a long time. They've got Howard now, but they obviously don't feel he's ready. When Legace was in their system (but not drafted by them), they never really trusted him enough, at least not for a long time. Before that it was Norm Maracle who looked good while young but eventually went to Atlanta in the expansion draft and never developed. Osgood is their only successful goalie pick (1991) in the last 20+ years.

[Bmwolf21]

The strange thing with Detroit is that with how well they have drafted over the years, they haven't landed that goalie that they had enough faith to eventually hand over the reigns to in a long time. They've got Howard now, but they obviously don't feel he's ready. When Legace was in their system (but not drafted by them), they never really trusted him enough, at least not for a long time. Before that it was Norm Maracle who looked good while young but eventually went to Atlanta in the expansion draft and never developed. Osgood is their only successful goalie pick (1991) in the last 20+ years.

That's true. I don't follow their drafts well enough to comment on who they've taken when or who hasn't panned out, but I'd also like to see if any of their goalie picks have been traded before making it to the NHL.

[shrader]

That's true. I don't follow their drafts well enough to comment on who they've taken when or who hasn't panned out, but I'd also like to see if any of their goalie picks have been traded before making it to the NHL.

 

I looked through their drafts. Howard, Maracle and Osgood are the only ones over those 20+ years I mentioned.

[Bmwolf21]

I looked through their drafts. Howard, Maracle and Osgood are the only ones over those 20+ years I mentioned.

Those are the only ones who went on to do anything in the NHL in 20+ years? Wow. They really need to work on their goalie scouting.

[shrader]

They drafted Tim Chevaldae (no clue if I spelled that right) back in 86. After that, yeah, Osgood, Maracle, and Howard. The jury's still out on Howard though.