Too early? I want to move on from this season.

Our defense let us down IMO. To many give aways that lead to scoring chances. We were also crap on penalty killing. Plus, Nick could retire after next year. I think it's time to add a top defenseman...

(9.5 mil in space)

Cuts: Maltby (unless he can be optioned to GR), Lilja, Lebda (3 mil in savings)

FA signings:
Marian Hossa (6.5 mil a year, but with cap magic make it count 5.5 mil a year)
Jay Bouwmeester (6 mil a year, again count about 5 mil a year)
Conklin (insurance in case no Griffins player steps up)

Lines:
Franzen/Hank/Cleary
Holmstrom/Pavel/Hossa
Helm/Fillpula/Lieno
Draper/Abdelkader/Downey

D-pairings:
Lidstrom/Bouwmeester
Rafalski/Stuart
Kronwell/Ericsson

Fill ins:
Meech
Kindl
Howard/Larsson
Maltby?
Ritola
Grigorenko?

If we cut someone, don't we still have partial salary on the books or something? We don't just cut them and have them fully removed.

Isn't Kronwall beyond a 3rd line D at this point? I understand that our D wasn't up to snuff, but I don't know how well he's going to take that demotion.
Plus, that's a lot of money tied up in D. Ericssonn would be our only cheap defenseman. We have Kronwall for 3yrs-10.5mil, Lidstrom for as long as he wants to play at a minimum of 7.45million per, Rafalski for 3yrs-18mil, Stuart for 3yrs-11.25mil, and we're going to sign another defenseman for 5yrs-30mil? Bouwmeister is worth it, but I don't think its happening.

I do agree with getting rid of Lilja, and I hate to get rid of Maltby after all these years but its got to happen. I'd keep Lebda around, he's only making 850k and its the last year of his deal. See if he can prove himself, he's a solid 3rd line defenseman. Plus it gives Meech and some of our guys in the minors a chance to battle for that last spot.

I also give Howard the chance to earn that backup spot. It's almost 'now or never' time for him. Let's see what he's got. If he's not showing it in training camp and preseason, then we can look for a backup via free agency or a trade.

Howard has no options. He's either the #2 guy or gone.

I actually think we'll be much more conservative than my plan. We'll keep Hossa, Lieno and Conklin. Trade Howard. Let Sammy, Cheli and Hudler walk. That's about it.

I say dump Stuart, Rafalski, Maltby, Draper, Hudler, Cheli and Conklin.

Stuart - was absolutely the worst Redwing in the playoffs. He coughed up the puck so many times including giving the Pens goal #1 in game 7. He looked nervous and I think he's not worth 4 mil anymore.

Rafalski - He's pretty soft and made some bad decisions. He's not a bad player but he's not worth 6 mil a year, he's old, and he's gotten shakey on defense.

Maltby - He's just past his prime with too many similar youngsters to bring up.

Draper - See Matlby

Hudler - He's a nice player but I think that he'll get good money and he's too soft to keep for 3-4 mil.

Chelios - Too damn old and slow

Conklin - We need a #1 goalie as who knows what Osgood will be like next season.

As for Sammy, only if he's relatively cheap. If Rafalski goes I'd rather keep Sammy then to help QB the powerplay (which he sometimes does now).

What is the cap hit for cutting a guy in the NHL? I would dump Stuart or Rafalski and replace him with Bouwmeester in a heartbeat (if there wasn't a big penalty).

I read the following from the most recent CBA:

"Clubs will have a one-time opportunity, during a six-day period, to exercise buy-outs of existing player contracts. Amounts paid to players pursuant to these compliance buy-outs will not be counted against a club's upper limit or the League-wide players' share. Clubs that choose to exercise compliance buy-outs must pay the buy-out amount over the remaining term of the contract"

I think that it would also be possible (although maybe difficult) to trade a Rafalski or Stewart.

I read the following from the most recent CBA:

"Clubs will have a one-time opportunity, during a six-day period, to exercise buy-outs of existing player contracts. Amounts paid to players pursuant to these compliance buy-outs will not be counted against a club's upper limit or the League-wide players' share. Clubs that choose to exercise compliance buy-outs must pay the buy-out amount over the remaining term of the contract"

I think that it would also be possible (although maybe difficult) to trade a Rafalski or Stewart.

That 6 day window was in like 2005 though I think, not every year.

And I don't think those guys have buyout options anyway. They are considered under contract.

It's not going to get us much space doing buyouts:


Contracts can be bought out for two-thirds of the remaining value for players over the age of 26, and one-third of the remaining value for players under 26. Players who are bought out cannot return to the old team for at least one year.

From July 23-29, 2005, a contract buyout did not count against next season's salary cap. All buyouts in future years count against the cap.

We'd only save 1/3 of their salary on those vets anyway.

I believe that was a one time buyout thingy...

Right after they put the cap in place, to help teams get under it that were over.

Stuart didn't have the terrible playoffs that people think. He was actually relatively solid until he made a few terrible mistakes in that Pens series. Everyone thinks of his extremely poor game 7 and forgets how well he played on the other rounds/games. We're not getting rid of him or Raffy.

Maltby should go if moving him is possible, but he'll probably stay as a 4th liner in and out of the lineup. He can be easily replaced by a young guy. He only has the one year left on his contract, so we likely keep him an extra year and let a guy like Abdelkader who still has options stay in the minors for one more season and call him up when we have injuries. Abdelkader will be a top-line guy getting a ton of minutes in the minors and he'd be a 4th line guy playing sparingly in Detroit. Get him the experience and development.

Chelios is gone. He wants to be somewhere that he can play, even as a 3rd line guy. He made that clear without making any issues for the team. He's a very classy guy and I'm glad we had him for these last few seasons mentoring the young guys. There should be more guys with his level of character.

Conklin is most likely gone, maybe he earns himself a competition for a starting spot somewhere with goalie issues, but it seems like its now or never for Howard. Last chance, got to see if our investment in him pays off.

Hudler is likely gone. Someone is going to pony up for a guy with his skills, potential, and playoff experience. He's gone for sure if we sign Hossa.

Sammy is most likely gone as well. Free agent, solid manning the point on the power play, could be a 2nd line guy for a lot of teams and spent some time there for us as well. We just can't pay these two what the open market will give them. Again, definitely gone of Hossa is resigned.

I'd like to bring Kopecky back. We'll see how he rebounds from the injury and if he's willing to resign for cheap. He's literally a younger version of Maltby. He does all the same things but he's got a bit more youth (and speed IIRC).

Leino should resign with a solid chance to make the everyday 3rd line.

Hossa sounded like he'd get resigned but he may be looking elsewhere after we lost in the finals. I still think we resign him to a long-term deal much like Pavel, Hank, and Franzen. That gives us a solid top 2 lines for years, with 2 legitimate stars on each (even if the league doesn't really treat them that way).

Next season (I think I've posted something similar before):

Sammy, Hudler, Conklin, Chelios gone. Everyone else returns. We replace from within.

Hossa-Datsyuk-Holmstrom (could move to line 3 and have Filpulla here)
Cleary-Zetterbeg-Franzen
Helm-Filpulla-Leino (If Filp and Holmer switch, Helm moves to C)
Maltby-Draper-Kopecky
Extra: Abdelkader

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Stuart-Kronwall
Ericssonn-Lebda
Extra:Meech

Osgood-Howard


One great thing we have going for us, a lot of our guys were Cs in the minors and have moved to the wing, or have the ability to move there if needed. Guys like Filpulla, Helm, Leino, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kopecky, Draper, etc give us a ton of flexibility with our lines.

It's my guess that Maltby is gone as well. So Abdelkader will probably be up full time next year.

Do we cut him or send him to a team that needs a vet presence? I wouldn't want him to go to Chicago, but that's a team that comes to mind. A lot of young talent needs to have a vet that's been there and done that. Maltby has been in the playoffs over a dozen times and he has 3 rings. That would be a nice addition to their 4th line.

Again, I don't want him in Chicago. I want him somewhere that I never have to see him. I don't want to root against him.

Anybody see the article in the Freep today about the Wings FA's?

It basically gives a percentage on the likelyhood each FA returns to the Wings...

Hossa- 50%

Samuelsson- 15%

Hudler- 30%

Conklin- 40%

I agree with all except Hudler--if Hossa eventually does walk, they will match any offer Hudler receives, IMO (unless it's outrageous)

Well, if Hossa is 50-50, then Hudler couldn't be anything more than 50%.

Are teams allowed to exceed the salary cap in the NHL? I suppoe it wouldn't make much sense to do so, but I'm sure the Wings don't want to lose Hudler for nothing.

Can they S&T?

no, the NHL is not a soft cap. You can't exceed it to sign your guys or we would simply resign them all and say screw it. The wings were spending 80 mil before the cap, no way they'd keep salary in the 40's if they didn't have to.

No sir. I wouldn't mind if the NHL had gone to the NBA style cap instead of the NFL style when they made the switch. That would have kept teams from having to cut a bunch of guys in that first season, as well as letting teams hold onto their career-types, like Draper and Maltby (and McCarty when we first had to cut him) without as much of an affect. A guy like Maltby is going to make a lot more than a guy like Kopecky, but he is a Red Wing and should retire as such, but he'll be gone next offseason at the very latest. Seems like a tweaked version of an NBA-style cap could work around that a little bit.

A soft cap wouldn't allow us to sign a guy like Hossa and go over the cap for it, since he was only with us for 1 season. It would, however, allow us to go over the cap for a guy like Hudler who's always been in our system.

The way I would like to see it is that if a guy has been with the same team for a certain number of years and he makes under a certain salary, his salary may only count as a certain amount against the cap which would make it easier to keep him. Something like having a guy that's been with the team as long as Maltby and he's making as little as Maltby may only count as the vet minimum toward the cap so that you can let him retire a Wing.


I suppose that's probably a topic for another thread that I dont have time to fully get into, though. I have a lot of ideas for the NHL salary system.

But you couldn't be more right. There was no way they should have gone for the hard cap. But Bettman and the owners thought only about the money (well the players did as well then too). No one thought about having a flexible cap to preserve cores, something just as vital in hockey as any other sport (if not more so).

The flex cap would have helped teams who are struggling like Phoenix. Teams like the Knicks and Mavs pay those taxes and the taxes go back to the other teams.

The Wings opting to keep some of their core players and go over the soft cap would have been a good thing for the league. That's actually kind of funny.

Hossa a Blackhawk for the next 12 years.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283428

What a bitch. 5.2 mil a year? I think Holland would have kept him for that. I guess he likes to stab teams in the back huh?

They signed Kopecky too it says.

EDIT - I guess not:


The club made Hossa a non-negotiable offer of a long-term deal worth $4 million a season. General manager Ken Holland said Tuesday evening that he hadn't spoken to Hossa's agent Ritch Winter.

Looks like Hudler and Lieno and that's about it.

Good for Hossa. I wish him the best. We'll have to face him 8 times a year for the next 12 years, though.

Oh well. We've got some cap space. We don't have to settle for keeping who we have. We can go out and see what FAs are available. I was hoping to keep Kopecky for that 4th line, though. Give him a fair shot a the 3rd.

Filpulla steps into Hossa's spot?

Cleary-Z-Franzen
Holmstrom-Pavs-Filpulla
Leino-Helm-FA/Hudler
Maltby-Draper-Abdelkader

Not terrible. What FAs are out there that are worth signing?

Good for Hossa. I wish him the best. We'll have to face him 8 times a year for the next 12 years, though.
Any chance we can play those games in Pittsburg?

I'm hoping the Wings can go after Bergeron (D from Minnesota) and maybe even throw out a little cash for Gaborik. It's worth a shot, and they both might be cheap.

ENOUGH WITH MINNESOTA!


DAMN!

:(

It still hurts.

At least I'm trying to bring pieces of Minnesota here instead of vice versa. If there's one thing us Minnesotans do well, it's hockey. And ice fish.

ENOUGH WITH MINNESOTA!


DAMN!

LOL.

I like the idea of that D man. Nick may only play another year, so we need another top D man soon.

Could we afford him and Hudler (even if we had to cut Lilja or someone)?

Yes he would be a second or third line D man. So he wouldn't be all that expensive. Solid but not a top tier free agent.

I'm hoping we cut or trade Lilja anyway. He doesn't fit in anywhere. He's not one of the top 6 defensemen on our team, and we can keep a young guy like Meech for cheap as our 7th.

I'd have no problems getting Gaborik. I've always been a fan.

I thought Lilja was a UFA, but I guess not.

I wonder if the Wings would be able to acquire a 1 yr deal veteran kind of like Hossa last year (but not as top-caliber)...

Somebody like Mike Comrie, Brian Gionta or Alex Kovalev, all of whom are on the downsides of their career but are useful players...

I hope the Wings go after a top defenseman like the guy from the Panthers. The Captain looked veteran for the first time ever that Pittsburgh series and their D played better than ours. I would let Hudler leave in a heartbeat for a top D guy.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/allan_muir/07/01/hossa.blackhawks/index.html

This guy thinks the Hawk made a mistake signing Hossa.

I hope the Wings go after a top defenseman like the guy from the Panthers. The Captain looked veteran for the first time ever that Pittsburgh series and their D played better than ours. I would let Hudler leave in a heartbeat for a top D guy.

Bouwmeester already signed a 5 year deal with the Flames.

Defense is actually our strongest asset, really. Especially with the emergence of Ericsson.

If we could re-sign Hudler and sign one other forward (like a Comrie or Havelid) then I think we'll be fine.

Plus, Ville Leino as a full timer won't be a slouch. In 13 regular season games last year, he had 9 pts (5 goals, 4 assists) and was a +5. Measure that out over a full season, and it's possible he could end up being a top 5 scorer on the team.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/allan_muir/07/01/hossa.blackhawks/index.html

This guy thinks the Hawk made a mistake signing Hossa.


Makes sense, after they gave Campbell & Huet mega deals last offseason, and now Hossa this season, they're going to have a difficult time being able to lock up Toews, Kane, and Versteeg when those guys all hit free agency at the same time.

Defense is actually our strongest asset, really. Especially with the emergence of Ericsson.


We gave up the puck hundreds of times in our own end the whole damn year and got outplayed by the Penguins D. Ericsson is a beast. We need one more big time defensman.

We gave up the puck hundreds of times in our own end the whole damn year and got outplayed by the Penguins D. Ericsson is a beast. We need one more big time defensman.

Yeah, but we can't afford one of those...

Is Brendan Smith ready in the minors?

^^^Agree! Detroit's defensive strength comes from having its offensive players committed to more of a defensive style. Red Wing blue liners suck, actually.

Havlat to Minnesota, Gaborik to the Rangers...

^^^Agree! Detroit's defensive strength comes from having its offensive players committed to more of a defensive style. Red Wing blue liners suck, actually.
I wouldn't say they suck, but they aren't our stength by any means. Zip is dead on that our defensive strength comes from our backchecking forwards. Having someone like Dastyuk that can take the puck right off of someone's stick at will, or someone like Zetterberg that can practically shut down one of the "best" players in the league for a series is a phenomenal asset. Then we've got guys like Draper on our lower lines that are defensively focused forwards, guys like Helm that are all over the place on the forecheck. I'd say our forwards are what makes our defense tick.

Having said that, our D-men aren't scrubs:
Pairing #1
We have one of the top defensemen ever to play the game. Rafalksi didn't play up to the level he did last year, that's for sure. His injuries may have played into that a little more than people think, but he still didn't play as well as we expected.

Pairing #2
Stuart and Kronwall had a rough start to the season, and Stuart had a terrible finish in the playoffs. People forget that he was solid in the first two rounds and in the latter part of the season, though. He's a very solid 2nd line D, as is Kronwall. If they're your top pairing, you're not going very far, but as a #2, that's not bad at all. Plus Kronwall is still improving.

Pairing #3
Lebda is at best going to develop into a 2nd line defenseman, but he's pretty good for where we have him. He doens't make a ton of mistakes, he's got a little bit of speed, and he's shown a nack for jumping up into the play on the rush. Ericssonn is going to be a stud in time, he showed flashes of it in the playoffs with a few rookie mistakes. Once he gets some seasoning, he may have a shot at bumping someone on the top 2 lines.

Terrible? No. Best in the league? No sir. But I'd put our D in the top 10.

Without injuries and with an aging Lidstrom, the Wings defense is still top 2 or 3 in the league.

I was judging them on overall last year, with the injuries. Without injuries, I'd have them top 5.


Conklin signes a 2 year/$2.6mil deal with St. Louis. Do they love ex-Wing goalies or what?

Without injuries and with an aging Lidstrom, the Wings defense is still top 2 or 3 in the league.

It's not that I disagree at all, but there were so many times last year, both in the regular season and in the playoffs that they didn't look that way. Mistakes in our own zone, trouble handling pressure, difficulties breaking the puck out of our own end...True as a defensive team the Wings were also less than the year before (which will probably be the best defensive Wings team I have ever seen), and we were affected a lot by injuries, but I still wouldn't mind shoring up our D with whatever money we can (if quality is there) and give those young forwards who showed a lot last year a shot.

Samuelsson signed with Vancouver...

So given that, I'd be surprised if Hudler isn't re-signed. If we were offering 4 mill to Hossa, and he declined, that would mean we have at least that much avaiable to spend this offseason, right?

We haven't even been rumored to make a signing.

I don't understand why I'm annoyed Samuelsson signed somewhere else. He was the lone Red Wing that I just didn't like.

Just because we have cap space doesn't necessarily mean we're going to spend it. If we can bring guys up from the minors to fill in those spots, I'm more than happy to keep that extra space and future flexibility. If we need something, we can make a deadline deal with our cap space.

The Detroit Red Wings (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/clubhouse?team=det) have re-signed forward Ville Leino (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/profile?playerId=3945) to a two-year contract, a source said on Monday.
The deal is worth $1.6 million, the source said.
Leino, a 25-year-old Finnish product, was a restricted free agent.

So 800k per year? I'm happy with that.

It wouldn't shock me if Leino is one of our top 5 scorers this season as i mentioned earlier in this thread...

20g/20a is realistic from him

It wouldn't shock me if Leino is one of our top 5 scorers this season as i mentioned earlier in this thread...

20g/20a is realistic from him

It would shock me.

Hank, Pavel, Franzen, Holmstrom, Fillpula should be the top 5 with Hudler close behind. Those 6 will get the majority of the power play time too.

I think he'll be good, but I'm not expecting a ton next year (especially if he gets paired with Maltby and Draper).

True, I forgot Cleary too.

But when you measure out what he did in just 13 games this past year, (5 goals, 4 asst, +5), it projects to approx 56 pts (give or take 2 or 3) which was more than Samuelsson, Cleary, Holmstrom and Filppula each got this year.

But youre' right--I don't remember who he was paired with though this past year when he played and if he's placed on the 4th line with Malts & Draper then scoring chances will be at a premium, so that will have alot to do with it, but the potential is there.

At the very least, he should fill the void left by Sammy--production wise.

It will fully depend on lines, I believe. You never know who he's going to be paired with. With Hossa gone, you never know what lineups Babcock may go with. Does he keep Zetterberg, Franzen, and Cleary together or go back to Holmstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk? Does Holmstrom stay on a top-2 line? He got bumped down to the 3rd line in the playoffs, but I think its unlikely that happens in the regular season. Does Filpulla stay centering the 3rd line (which would open a spot up on the top 2)? I doubt Leino is on the 4th line with Draper and Maltby with 2 likely spots opening up on the 3rd (Filp moving up, Sammy gone). Plus, we haven't actually resigned Hudler yet, so it's not a given that he'll be back. As of right now, assuming we get Hudler back, I'd assume these are the lines:

Cleary - Zetterberg - Franzen
Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Filpulla
Hudler - Helm - Leino
Maltby - Draper - Abdelkader

Lidstrom - Rafalski
Stuart - Kronwall
Lebda - Ericssonn

Osgood
Howard

A lot can change in the next few months, though.

That's a pretty darn good lineup with no new signings after losing a guy like Hossa. Just shows how much depth we have. Does that lineup get us back to the finals?

With good goaltending, yes I think it gets us to the finals.

Will we get regular season Osgood or playoff Osgood? Will Howard step up and prove he deserves to be in the NHL? Two of the biggest questions going into next year.

Free Press:

The Red Wings weren't sure if Jimmy Howard was ready to play 25 regular season games in the NHL last season. They hope he's ready now.

The Wings have decided not to offer a contract to Ty Conklin, who ended up playing 40 games last season and winning 25.

The Wings are out of options with Howard, who has played four seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the American Hockey League. Howard, signed through 2010-11, is due to make $717,700 this season.

Coming off a Stanley Cup title in 2008 and being the favorite to win again after signing Marian Hossa, the Wings played it safe by keeping Howard in the minors for another season.

Howard is 1-5-0 in nine career games for the Wings spread out of over three seasons. His only game with the Wings last season came at Minnesota during a 10-day span where Osgood was shut down to get refocused.

Howard gave up a goal two minutes into the game, but didn't get much help from teammates after settling down. The Wings surrendered three power play goals and went on to loss 5-2 to the Wild.

Howard plans to begin off-season training at the University of Maine this week and is otherwise preparing for his August wedding.

It will be now-or-never time for Howard with the Wings next season. The Wings are also high on two other prospects, Daniel Larsson and Thomas McCollum. Larsson, a third-round pick in 2006 out of Sweden, had a 2.76 goals-against average, splitting time with Howard last season in Grand Rapids. McCollum, the Wings' first-round pick in 2008, will turn pro this season and push Larrson for playing time.


Doesn't sound great for Howard. It seems as thought it could be now or never for him. Larsson will be ready fairly soon and McCollum is already creeping in. If even one of these 3 can turn into a stud for us, we'll be set for quite a while.

Apparently Ericsson topped 100mph in the AHL skills competition. I didn't realize he was the last pick of the draft when we got him, and he was a forward before his draft year. He's just going to keep getting better.

If Ericsson steps up and overtakes someone to move himself onto the 2nd line, who drops to the 3rd? Do we move one of our top-4 and let Meech/Lilja/Lebda battle for the 3rd line? I wouldn't be disappointed if we moved Rafalksi or Stuart, Ericsson took a top-4 spot, and Lebda and Meech got the 3rd line pairing.

Will we get regular season Osgood or playoff Osgood? Will Howard step up and prove he deserves to be in the NHL? Two of the biggest questions going into next year.

Doesn't sound great for Howard. It seems as thought it could be now or never for him. Larsson will be ready fairly soon and McCollum is already creeping in. If even one of these 3 can turn into a stud for us, we'll be set for quite a while.

If he fails they cut him and sign a vet backup (to buy time until next year when Larsson might be ready). They have to get a larger sample size with Howard though to finally know what they have.

He gave up 4 goals in his 1 game last year (3 were power play goals, the other was a couple minutes into the game), but the year before, he played 7 games and had a 2.13 gaa, if I remember correctly. He was dominant in the preseason last year before he injured his hand. You can't really judge him on his previous NHL experience, we'll just have to wait and see.

So it appears Jiri Hudler has signed with a team in Russia (per TSN).

Interesting, I thought that with Sammy & Hossa out of the picture, Hudler was a mortal lock to return next year.

I can't really bring myself to question Ken Holland's decision making too much because his reputation and track record suggest he knows what he's doing, but on it's surface, this has been an abysmal offseason thus far...

Hudler is just playing all his cards so he can drive up his price. Not sure what the exact amount he wants is, but I doubt Holland pays him more than 3 mil.

You can't really judge Holland on this until you hear what he makes in Russia. If they offer him $4 million to play in Russia versus $2 million here, it's not really Holland's fault. If he's going to play in Russia for $2.5 million then we have issues.

What 2nd/3rd line FAs are available for what we'd have paid Hudler?

I thought I heard John Madden (ex U of M player) was available.

Nope, he just signed with the Hawks a few days ago.

The top 25 UFA's who have no signed still:

Rank, Name, Age, Previous Team, previous salary, position
9 Alex Tanguay 29 MON $5,375,000 LW
16 Saku Koivu 34 MON $4,750,000 C
21 Kurtis Foster 27 MIN $1,025,000 D
22 Derek Morris 30 NYR $3,950,000 D
24 Martin Biron 31 PHI $3,500,000 G
25 Paul Mara 29 NYR $1,950,000 D

^That doesn't help really. Our biggest need is right wingers.

Not much for UFA RW's:

Ales Kotalik 30 EDM $2,500,000
Petr Sykora 32 PIT $2,500,000
Todd Bertuzzi 34 CGY $1,950,000
Mike Grier 34 SJ $1,775,000
Richard Zednik 33 FLA $1,750,000
Dan Hinote 32 STL $1,000,000
Tom Kostopoulos 30 MON $900,000
Jed Ortmeyer 30 NAS $750,000
Jason Ward 30 TB $700,000
Brian McGrattan 27 PHX $605,000

None of them look inviting. What about Cs that can also play wing? We already have a few of those on our roster.

Also, I thought I read Koivu signed with someone other than Montreal earlier today.

Koivu signed with the Ducks today, cross him off the list

I'm not looking for a big-time signing, just a solid depth player like Sykora or Tanguay...

Mike Comrie would be solid.

We may or may not roll four lines after this summer but we're looking to get younger really fast it seems. Can you see the Wings grabbing an OK older wing with limited cap space and after this year? I honestly don't know.

If we had any NHL-ready forwards in the minors, I'd definitely see them getting a shot next year, but I don't know if we have anyone that's ready for the jump beyond the guys we had in the playoffs last year. That still leaves us a man short.
Homer, Dats, Z, Filp, Mule, Cleary, Maltby and Draper are the vets. 3 young guys in Helm, Leino, and Abdelkader. Who's that 12th forward, plus they need to have a guy that can step in when there's an injury. We're 8 deep on D, does one of them get traded for a forward, or maybe just use Meech as our 7th D and 13th forward? We played him on the 4th line a bit last year. Not the best solution by any means, but its an option. I remember when we had Dandenault bumping between forward and D when he was a young guy with us.

Former Wings On The FA Market- just for shiggles

* Mathieu Schneider
* Todd Bertuzzi
* Manny Legace
* Curtis Joseph
* Mathieu Dandenault
* Boyd Devereaux
* Jason Williams
* Kyle Calder
* Mike Sillinger (I can't believe he's still in the league)
* Brendan Shanahan
* Darren McCarty
* Aaron Downey
* Mark Hartigan

Whoa, Sillinger?

How did Jason Williams do after he was traded? I know he always seemed to have our number for Chicago, but I don't know how he did against any other teams.

I always liked Dandenault. He's got to be getting up there in years a bit, doesn't he?

I think here's where were at...

Line 1: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Leino

Line 2: Homer, Franzen, Cleary

Line 3: Helm, Filppula, Abdelkader

Line 4: Draper, Maltby, Meech


Defense

Lidstrom/Rafalski
Kronwall/Stuart
Ericsson/Lebda

Ozzy/Howard

Scratch: Lilja

You think Leino is bumping all the way up to the first line?

You think Leino is bumping all the way up to the first line?

St. James or whatever her name is on the Freep thinks that's whats gonna happen. It makes sense if you ask me.

He would do well with those two. I just don't see Homer and Franzen on the same line. Those two need to be split. Homer's entire game is clogging the front of the net, and that's a skill Franzen has been displaying as well. I'd want one of them on the 1st line and the other on the 2nd.

"Marian Hossa on Chicago: 'It's great to be in a hockey town'"

Wow, that's a slap to the face. Hockey is bigger in Detroit than Chicago.

Cubs, Bears and Bulls are all bigger than the Hawks there.