The Detroit Red Wings continue to look for a defenseman to help fill the holes left by Nicklas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart.

According to Brendan Savage of MLive.com, the Red Wings were in talks with the Calgary Flames earlier in the month regarding the possibility of trading for defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.

While nothing more has come from those discussions, Gregg Krupa of The Detroit News reported that the Red Wings offered Valtteri Filppula, Jonathan Ericsson and a prospect in exchange for Bouwmeester. To many Red Wings fans, that seems like a lot to give up for Bouwmeester. That being said, the asking price for Keith Yandle is likely going to be much higher.

The Detroit News also reported that the Red Wings have inquired about Yandle, but with the lingering ownership problems in Phoenix, GM Don Maloney may not be willing to make any moves at this time.

With that being said, if Yandle is, or were to become available, should Ken Holland go all out in trying to acquire the skilled blueliner or wait and hope the price drops?

Yandle has four years remaining on a five-year $26.25 million contract that has a cap hit of $5.25 million. He is a much better option than Bouwmeester, who has two years remaining on a contract that has a $6.68 million cap hit.

At 25, Yandle hasn’t even entered his prime yet. The 6’1″, 190-pound defenseman would bring superb speed and offensive skill to the Red Wings’ blue line.

Yandle has reached the 40-point mark in each of the last three seasons and has been strong offensively in the postseason, scoring 19 points in 27 total playoff games. He’s also appeared in all 82 games in each of the past three seasons, a testament to his ability to stay healthy.

Yandle has proven he can play big minutes, leading all Coyotes defensemen in ice time the past two seasons. Yandle can also contribute on special teams by quarterbacking the power play. With the departure of Lidstrom, it would certainly benefit the Red Wings to add a player who is sharp on the power play, has great agility and good endurance.

However, Yandle does have a weakness. For whatever reason, he frequently turns the puck over. Last season, he ranked near the top of the league in giveaways by a defenseman, with 75. Considering his age, perhaps this is something he will improve on as he matures as a hockey player.

There is clearly a huge upside to adding a player like Yandle, but the cost will, without a doubt, be significant.

The Red Wings aren’t short on forwards with 15 under contract and Justin Abdelkader still a restricted free agent. Among those under contract are Gustav Nyquist and Dammien Brunner, two players signed to entry-level contracts who the Coyotes may be interested in. Filppula and Ericsson, mentioned earlier in a possible Bouwmeester trade, may also be of interest to Phoenix.

Red Wings fans would likely prefer to see the team act now, but Holland may have no other option but to continue to wait.

In addition to the Coyotes’ ownership situation, the looming lockout could play a role in delaying Holland, or any GM for that matter, from making a trade.

Regardless of whether the Red Wings can move for Yandle, it wouldn’t hurt to sign a veteran free-agent defenseman. These include blueliners such as Michal Rozsival, Pavel Kubina, Jaroslav Spacek, Brett Clark and Carlo Colaiacovo.

Any one of these defenseman could provide insurance and a short-term boost to the blue line. Don’t forget, Detroit still has over $13 million in cap space.

If there is one thing Red Wings fans can agree on, it’s this: It will be tough to watch the team take to the ice at Joe Louis Arena without No. 5 in the lineup. 

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With the Detroit Red Wings seeking to bolster their blue line, reports of conversations between the Red Wings and Calgary Flames regarding defenseman Jay Bouwmeester have begun to surface.

If any Detroit Red Wings fans are starting to believe the Jay Bouwmeester-to-Detroit trade rumors (via MLive.com), I am here to quell any of those thoughts.

Jay Bouwmeester to the Detroit Red Wings is one of the worst trade proposals I’ve heard in quite some time.

Here are four reasons why this trade should not happen.

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According to the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit Red Wings have canceled their annual prospects tournament in Traverse City, Mich.

With the current CBA set to expire on September 15, the NHL and NHLPA continue to negotiate but remain far from a deal. Unfortunately for Red Wings fans, it appears as though the possibility of a lockout left the team little choice but to cancel the tournament.

According to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Ken Holland told the newspaper the following:

We had a conference call with all the teams involved. Due to the uncertainty of CBA negotiations and teams having to make commitments for hotel rooms and travel plans — the biggest thing is the hotel rooms. The people Up North needed to know if the rooms would be used or not. So we made the decision to cancel for 2012. We plan to be back next year.

Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City was set to host the tournament, which would have included prospects from eight NHL teams: the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.

The Red Wings' prospects tournament may be the first of many events to fall victim to the looming NHL lockout.  

The Red Wings training camp is also scheduled to take place in Traverse City, starting September 20. However, it may just be a matter of weeks before it too is postponed or canceled.

According to The Canadian Press (via TSN.ca), Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr won’t meet in person until the middle of next week. The NHLPA presented its first proposal Tuesday, August 14, which Bettman and the NHL quickly dismissed only a day later.

With less than a month until the current CBA expires, the NHL and NHLPA have a lot of work to do to find common ground and very little time to do it. The 2012-13 NHL season is scheduled to begin on October 11.

Don’t be surprised if that day passes by without NHL hockey. 

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Giving up any kind of value to trade for Calgary Flames defenseman Jay Bouwmeester would be a terrible move for the Detroit Red Wings.

Although, Detroit has reportedly already made an offer for the 28-year-old defenseman, per Gregg Krupa of The Detroit News.

A report out of Calgary last week had the Red Wings offering Valtteri Filppula, Jonathan Ericsson and a prospect to the Flames for Jay Bouwmeester. But it seemed like wishful thinking, at best.

Depending on who the prospect is in this offer, this trade package won’t help the Flames become anything more than a team with a chance to secure one of the last playoff spots next season.

If this is the kind of offers that Calgary is receiving for Bouwmeester, then keeping him for now and making him available at the trade deadline is definitely the best plan for the franchise.

The biggest problem for the Red Wings regarding Bouwmeester is his massive salary cap hit of $6.68 million for two more years. It would be a terrible idea for Detroit to cut about half of its $13 million salary cap space by acquiring him.

If any team is going to add a player with a cap hit near $6.68, the player needs to be a star who consistently performs at a high level.

Unfortunately for Bouwmeester, he doesn’t fit this description.

After scoring just 29 points last season, along with his worst plus/minus rating (minus-21) since his rookie season, Bouwmeester can’t be expected to give the Red Wings what they need on the blue line this season or next year.

Adding Bouwmeester would be a step back for the Red Wings, and it would be an expensive one, too. Trading for the Flames’ star makes zero sense for Detroit, which is an organization that rarely makes foolish trades.

Follow @NicholasGoss35

Nicholas Goss is an NHL lead blogger at Bleacher Report. He was also the organization’s on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Boston. Follow him on Twitter.

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With the Detroit Red Wings offseason lacking the punch that many felt Red Wings GM Ken Holland needed to bring this team back into Stanley Cup contention (failing to sign Ryan Suter/Zach Parise among others), the Red Wings don’t appear to be in any better position than last season.

But on second glance, the depth signings that Ken Holland has made have kept the Red Wings in the playoff picture.

While the Red Wings are no longer perennial President’s Trophy candidates (after the retirement of long-time captain Nick Lidstrom, as well as Hudler’s and Stuart’s departures), the Los Angeles Kings are a clear example of the fact that the Red Wings don’t need to win the President’s Trophy to make waves in the playoffs.

While Holland has been put down for failing to acquire a top-tier free agent this offseason, he does deserve credit for procuring players that he has needed to sign to keep this team in the playoff race.

Here are the grades for each move that Holland has made this offseason.

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Jimmy Howard has been nothing but consistent since becoming the starting goalie for the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.

The Maine product has 35 or more wins in each of his first three full seasons and a 0.917 save percentage. Solid numbers, but unremarkable nonetheless.

Does that mean he’s ready to be considered elite now or will 2012-13 be a barometer for his talent level for years to come?

Grab your measuring tape, people. We’re sizing Howard up.

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To a generation of NHL fans, Detroit Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom is the best defenseman of all-time.

For hockey fans who have had the privilege of watching Lidstrom’s entire 20-year career, they will never forget the amazing performances he gave at both ends of the ice. He is the most dominant defenseman since Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr retired in 1979.

Will the NHL ever see another force as dominant as Lidstrom? Let’s look at the evidence and answer the question.

Consistency/Durability

Lidstrom is one of the few NHL players that performed at an elite level for nearly his entire career, and this is what separates him from many of talented players he’s often compared against.

In 20 seasons, Lidstrom played in 75-plus games 19 times, and the only season in which he didn’t reach that mark was his final year, when he played in 70 during the 2011-12 season. Lidstrom is one of the most reliable players of all-time, and not only was he durable throughout his career, he also scored 40-plus points 17 times.

It’s quite remarkable that a player could be so consistent offensively and play nearly every game each season, despite making many deep playoff runs during his career.

We often talk about how some players are a great “asset” to their team. Lidstrom’s ability to play almost every game each season and finish among the leaders in points for defensemen, in addition to his fantastic defensive play, made him the most valuable player to the Red Wings for most of his career. You could also make a case for him as the most valuable player of the 2000s.

When you look at the Red Wings in the decade or so before Lidstrom got there, they were a good team that made a few playoff appearances, but weren’t championship caliber until the Swedish blueliner arrived.

In his 20 seasons with the Red Wings, N Lidstrom never missed the playoffs. In the 20 seasons before he got there, Detroit missed 13 times.

— steve simmons (@simmonssteve) May 31, 2012

Hockey is one of the most physically demanding sports you can play, and being able to just get on the ice consistently for 20 years is an incredibly difficult challenge. With that said, it’s unlikely that we ever see someone be so good for so long like Lidstrom was in Detroit.

Playoff Success

One reason why we will likely never see someone as dominant as Lidstrom again is the fact that it’s so tough for teams in the current state of the NHL to be playoff contenders for 20 years in a row.

Lidstrom and former Montreal Canadiens legend Larry Robinson are the only NHL players to ever compete in 20 straight postseasons. While it certainly helped that the Red Wings had incredible talent everywhere on the ice during Lidstrom’s tenure, they might not have reached the playoffs 20 straight times without No. 5 on the blue line.

Not only did Lidstrom lead his team to the playoffs ever year, he was a key part in the Red Wings’ success once they got there.

Take a look at some notable playoff stats for Lidstrom.

  GP G A PTS

Career Total 263 54 129 183

All-Time NHL Rank*
2nd 3rd 3rd 2nd

*Among Defensemen

Since it’s so hard for teams to be competitive for two decades, it’s very unlikely that we see another player dominate this much for just one team. Even though loyalty isn’t a big part of sports anymore, playing at a high level in the playoffs for 20 years in a row might never be seen again, regardless if a player spends his entire career with one team or not.

Lidstrom’s playoff success is one of the most impressive parts of his Hall of Fame resume. He was a consistently strong performer at both ends of the ice when it mattered most, which is why the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups during his career.

Norris Trophies

Lidstrom won his seventh and final Norris Trophy as the league’s best all-around defenseman after the 2010-11 season. His seven Norris’ are tied for second most all-time with Doug Harvey, while Bobby Orr is the leader with eight.

Lidstrom didn’t have an easy time winning these trophies. He had to compete against elite players such as Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Rob Blake and Scott Niedermayer for the award throughout his career.

What made Lidstrom such an easy choice as a finalist for the Norris Trophy for so many years was his incredible two-way ability. Not many players dominate at both ends of the ice right now in the NHL like Lidstrom did for most of his career.

He was a force in the attacking zone and a shut-down defenseman in front of his own goal. The only defensemen that can compare to Lidstrom’s two-way dominance who are currently playing are Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators and Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. Weber and Chara are great players, but neither has the hockey smarts that Lidstrom displayed on the ice each night.

It’s very unlikely that anyone will ever win seven Norris Trophies again, and it’s also hard to imagine anyone winning five. That makes Lidstrom’s six Norris Trophies in one decade (2000s) look even more impressive.

An All-Time Great

We will never see another defenseman dominate like Nicklas Lidstrom ever again. It’s too hard for players to be the best at their craft for about two decades in the NHL, and that’s what makes the Red Wings legend special and unique.

Lidstrom is one of those players you tell your kids about when teaching them about the greatest to ever play the game.

Lidstrom was a guy every player caught themselves watching in awe mid game. Game’s not supposed to be that easy. Was an honor playing vs him

— Ryan Whitney (@ryanwhitney6) May 31, 2012

I’m sure many players would agree with Whitney. Not many guys are so good that players lose focus and start watching them during play, but Lidstrom was one of those rare talents.

Is he the best defensemen ever? It’s difficult to say because Orr changed the position in such a profound way and put up amazing stats despite having his career ended early because of injuries. 

What cannot be debated, however, is that Lidstrom’s ability to dominate for two decades will never be seen again.

Follow @NicholasGoss35

Nicholas Goss is an NHL lead blogger at Bleacher Report. He was also the organization’s on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Boston. Follow him on Twitter.

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Great organizations get their start by building from within. For the past 20 years, this has been the model that the Detroit Red Wings have used to create a perennial playoff powerhouse. That model has brought the team a bevy of talented prospects who have carried this storied franchise to four Stanley Cups and six Stanley Cup Final appearances since 1995. 

After a dismal offseason, the time for a youth movement is now.

Superstars Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk were eased into the NHL after learning the game from NHL legends like Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille. The Captain hung up his skates in 2006 and players like Pavs and Z, along with Darren Helm, Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula filled the massive workload of Yzerman.

Who will be the next great Red Wings prospect to fill in for Nicklas Lidstrom? Who will make their name as the next legend in red and white?

Read on to find out which 10 prospects were good enough to make the cut.

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According to Brendan Savage of MLive.com, the Detroit Red Wings are talking to the Calgary Flames about the possibility of trading for defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.  

The 28-year-old blueliner has two years remaining on a contract that comes with an annual cap hit of $6.68 million. The Flames signed Dennis Wideman to a five-year deal worth $26.25 million, giving them the opportunity to move Bouwmeester and his hefty salary.

Having missed out on a number of free agents including Ryan Suter, the Red Wings continue to search for a defenseman to help fill the voids left by Nicklas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart.

The 6’4″, 212-pound Edmonton, AB native could be their man.

Bouwmeester was drafted third overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and has played in a remarkable 588 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NHL. However, he has yet to suit up in an Stanley Cup playoff game. 

Bouwmeester has represented Canada at a variety of international tournaments including three World Junior Championships, three World Championships, the World Cup of Hockey and the Olympics.

In 717 career games, Bouwmeester has scored 65 goals and 220 assists for 285 points. His best years were with the Florida Panthers between 2006 and 2009, when he averaged over 40 points per season and was a plus-17. Since joining the Flames, Bouwmeester has failed to reach the 30-point mark and has been a minus player in each of his three seasons with the club.

If the Red Wings were to trade for Bouwmeester he would join Niklas Kronwall, Kyle Quincey, Jonathan Ericsson, Ian White, Jakub Kindl and Brendan Smith on the blue line.

However, there could be a number of other teams interested in acquiring Bouwmeester, including the Philadelphia Flyers, who will be without Chris Pronger and Andrej Meszaros for an indefinite period of time. 

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The rush period of NHL free agency has come and gone. Some teams have improved and some have fared for the worse. Others, on the other hand, have not been able to accomplish much either way.

Teams like the Minnesota Wild (obviously) and the Dallas Stars have improved. Whereas, the Nashville Predators and the New Jersey Devils were not able to restock the huge holes left by the departure of their star players.

For the Detroit Red Wings and a couple other teams, they knew that they needed to add pieces to the puzzle in order for next season to be a success based on their own team goals. However, these certain teams were not able to do so and fell on their faces.

So without any further ado, here are a couple of the teams that were not able to get it done during free agency, and throughout the offseason in general.

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The Detroit Red Wings and their fans have enjoyed 21 consecutive postseason appearances. For the majority of those seasons, falling short was not even a concern. 

But could the streak be coming to an end?

The first blow came in late May when Nicklas Lidstrom announced his retirement. Lidstrom was one of the best defenders in the history of the game and was one of the forces that led the team to the playoffs 20 of those 21 seasons. 

The next hit came in free agency when Jiri Hudler was signed by the Calgary Flames. While Hudler never broke the 60-point barrier in Detroit, there was no denying his skill and potential. 

In their hunt to replace the great Lidstrom and add power up front, the Red Wings were reportedly going hard after Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Alex Semin. Of course as we all know, the Minnesota Wild won the Parise and Suter sweepstakes while Semin took his talents to Carolina. 

And to top it all off, the Wings are still waiting to hear whether or not Tomas Holmstrom will give it another go or call it quits. 

So where does that leave the Red Wings?

Well, it leaves them with major holes to fill and not many options to look at. 

The Wings could continue to look at unrestricted free agency, but once you get past Shane Doan (who reportedly has a list of four teams, and Detroit is not one of them) the herd thins considerably. 

Another route could be acquisitions through trades. Rick Nash, who was the big fish this summer, has already been snagged by the New York Rangers, once again leaving few options. 

One big name rumored to be available is Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan, whom the Red Wings are reportedly in the mix for. The only kicker here is that given his age and skill set, Ryan will undoubtedly come at a high price. 

Other players they could look at acquiring through trade would be Dan Boyle, Lubomir Visnovsky and Keith Yandle. 

Lastly is the option to pursue restricted free agents. There are many top RFAs unsigned such as P.K. Subban and Michael Del Zotto, but as we learned in the Shea Weber offer sheet with Philadelphia, offer sheets rarely work out and can come at a huge cost when they do. 

Whether or not the Red Wings make a splash via restricted free agency or trades remains to be seen. But as it stands right now, Detroit will be entering the 2012/13 season with a significantly weaker team than in years past. 

The question is: Without Lidstrom, Hudler and Holstrom, can the Detroit Red Wings keep the postseason streak alive?

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When Rick Nash was traded to the New York Rangers on July 23, it marked another prominent player that Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland had failed to acquire during this free-agency period.

Although Detroit had already fanned on a couple of high-profile free agents this year (Ryan Suter, Zach Parise and restricted free agent Shea Weber), not acquiring Nash via trade might have been one of the better outcomes for the Detroit Red Wings this offseason due to a few big reasons.

The Price

The price for Nash was exorbitant.

When that price continued to climb this offseason after the Minnesota Wild signed Suter and Parise and Nashville retained the services of Weber by matching the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet, Nash became the top bargaining chip on the table.

In short, Artem Anisimov (former second-round pick), Tim Erixon (former first-round pick), Brandon Dubinsky (former second-round pick) and a first-round pick in 2013 were sent to the Blue Jackets in exchange for Nash, a conditional third-round pick and prospect Steven Delisle.

The Red Wings (via Puck Daddy) reportedly offered an arm and a leg (and the kitchen sink for that matter) for Nash, but were turned down as Columbus seemingly didn’t care.

Detroit could never realistically be a possibility because they are division rivals with Columbus.

The Would-Be Losses

It is important to note that while Detroit has one of the most talented sets of forwards in the NHL (and a seeming surplus of talent in the forward spots), the Wings would be giving up far more talent by paying “the price” (see above) that Columbus GM Scott Howson wanted in return for his star forward.

If Detroit had been successful in procuring Nash from Columbus, the trade would be massively unbalanced in favor of the Blue Jackets.

With Valtteri Filppula or Johan Franzen combined with another roster player and a first-round pick, the trade would have had “unbalanced” written all over it.

While this is not surprising, it would have been interesting to see who Holland would have sent back if Howson would have listening. The offer would have been similar to that of the New York Rangers (two NHL forwards, an NHL defenseman and a first-round pick).

But as Detroit as already short on defensemen, with just six NHL defensemen on the roster, and Holland would surely not have wanted to part with any of them before first signing (or trading for) a defenseman to replace the one he was sending away.

Team Chemistry

The chemistry on any team is important to maintain maximum offensive productivity.

Although Nash seems to be a team player, sticking with the Blue Jackets for so long before finally asking for an out, bringing in Nash and taking away one or two top-six forwards would have created a lot of waves internally in the organization.

Detroit is already going through an overhaul of sorts this offseason, and bringing in Rick Nash and taking out a key piece (or pieces) like Franzen or Filppula would bring about gargantuan changes in the offensive schemes and team chemistry among the remaining players.

These hypothetical ripples would have sent Detroit into a tailspin as they are still trying to re-stock the shelves defensively with only six defensemen signed to NHL contracts.

The Rundown

Detroit does not have a top-line right wing to speak of, so there was hope that Nash could have been that right-handed right wing who would help Detroit’s offense start clicking again.

But Detroit doesn’t need to go taking a massive risk in signing Nash (who per CapGeek.com also has a no-trade clause and becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019) when there are other players like Bobby Ryan available (via CapGeek.com) for less money and less back than what Howson wanted for Nash.

Holland has fanned on some big time moves this offseason, but the Nash trade that didn’t happen is definitely a plus for the Red Wings organization.

For more article updates, Follow @isaacesmith91

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Save for the Swedish heritage, Johan Franzen has almost nothing in common with Nick Lidstrom.

Franzen drives to the net and throws his weight around from time to time, while Lidstrom beat his opponents with his elite mental game along the blue line.

After Lidstrom retired from hockey at the end of May, questions were raised as to who the Red Wings could get that would “replace” the Swede. After the Red Wings fanned on Ryan Suter (and arguably didn’t do enough to pursue Shea Weber), no other defensemen have been seriously sought after by Red Wings GM Ken Holland.

As of right now, make no mistake: the Red Wings are talented enough with their forward depth to keep their playoff streak alive, but they have just six NHL defensemen and really no one after that who could step in and play if a starter goes down with an injury.

The bigger problem arises in that all six of their defenseman are ready to play full-time (some more ready than others), and it would be a slap in the face of someone like Jakub Kindl to sign another defenseman that would compete with the Czech for ice-time similar to the way Mike Commodore did last season.

If Red Wings GM Ken Holland is unable to bolster his blue line before the start of the season, it will be up to his forwards and goaltender(s) to pick up the slack.

Speaking of goaltenders, Jimmy Howard’s regular season play really couldn’t have been any better than it was last year. Sure, Howard had a miserable finish to the season (with a 3-6-3 record after coming back from a broken finger sustained in early February against Vancouver), but his numbers overall were very encouraging (35-17-4, .920 save percentage and a career low GAA of 2.13).

His playoff numbers weren’t as impressive, but then again, he didn’t get much offense from the rest of his team.

This (regular) season won’t be defined by the successes and failures of Jimmy Howard. It will be defined by the play of Detroit’s forward group, and more specifically the play of Johan Franzen, whose play has been spotty at best over the past few years.

When Franzen turns it on, he is a top-five power forward in the NHL, but those nights seem to have become more rare as Franzen’s career has progressed.

At the start of this offseason, Ken Holland was quoted in an MLive.com story as saying that he “believe[s] in stability; you bring in people, you keep them.” Ken Holland has done just that for the better part of a decade now with regulars like Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Kronwall still on the team, but it is time for the rest of the top-six forwards group to pick up their play.

Franzen had 29 goals and 56 points in 77 regular season games, but just one goal in five playoff games.

As a top-line forward, more is expected of Franzen. He is signed through the 2019-20 season and should still be in the prime of his career. With the lack of (or inability to make) signings this offseason, more pressure will be put on Franzen to not disappear for a period or an entire game, but instead make every shift count.

Franzen plays better when he gets his physical game going, but he had just 60 hits last year compared to 143 the year before.

Known as “The Mule,” Franzen must take the Red Wings on his back and carry them at least to get them going this year.

Every year, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg step up, while Valtteri Filppula played well last year with a career-high in points. But ultimately, it wasn’t enough. Johan Franzen can and must play better this coming season to keep Detroit on top (or near the top) of the Western Conference.

The loss of players on the back end like Lidstrom and Brad Stuart, as well as Jiri Hudler from the forward group, could derail the Red Wings efforts to stay at or near the top of the conference. However, if Franzen plays like he is capable of night in and night out, the Red Wings will have no problem contending for a division crown once again.

For more article updates, Follow @isaacesmith91

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There are many players that are expected to succeed in the NHL, but serious injuries very often can ruin a hockey player’s career. Other times, a player will do well pre-signing and then not produce on a professional level.

Here’s a list of some players that can be considered some of the worst fool’s gold NHL signings ever.

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