The Official Red Wings Offseason Thread

[Fraserburn]

Feel free to post any suggestions or opinions on what the team should be doing during the offseason

any rumours you may have heard

or any transactions that occur

[H1Man]

Williams to join Team Canada

Detroit's Jason Williams joins Team Canada

Detroit Red Wings forward Jason Williams has been added to Team Canada's roster for this year's world hockey championship in Latvia.

"Jason is leaving [Thursday] and should be in the lineup Friday," Canadian general manager Ken Holland told the Canadian Press on Wednesday.

Canada plays its first game of the tournament Friday against Denmark.

"Jason had a breakthrough year in his career, getting 21 goals and over 50 points," said Holland, who is also Detroit's GM. "He'll be a good addition to Canada because he's a good skater and he played in Finland during the lockout and has experience on the big ice."

The 25-year-old Williams, a native of London, Ont., had one goal and one assist in the playoffs.

More from http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/natio...ams060503.html

[b-diddy]

i predict the wings will make one more go at it with this group, perhaps bring in a new goalie comprable to legace.

however, i think this is a bad idea. most people thought the wings would suck this year (including me). them winning the presidents trophy made us (me) look dumb, but in the end, they were a mediocre team (imo). the oilers looked like the better team. it wasnt just goaltending (it wasnt even goaltending).

my offseason plan would be complete overhaul. vets would be welcome back, but can no longer pay guys out of loyalty or for what they have already done.

obviously im directing that towards yzerman, shanahan, chelios. but im especially directing that at lidstrom. lots of reports saying the wings need to do whatever they can to keep him. of the few games i saw him play, he's no longer the game changing, all world defensemen he once was. i'd keep him, but not at 5 million a year. he's going to try to use going back to sweden as a way to cash in. with a hard salary cap at 39 million, you have to be very careful who you break the bank for. lidstrom isnt 1/5, or even 1/8 of roster. got to keep his salary down.

i wont pretend to say i know who they should get. i like the idea of a premiere goalie, like luongo, but thats just personal preference.

[H1Man]

Yzerman Almost Retired Mid-Season

Steve Yzerman says he knows what he'll do. And for once, the mysterious legend is easy to figure out:

The Captain plans to retire.

Yzerman has always been undecided about his future in recent years. But after the Red Wings were eliminated Monday night at Edmonton, Yzerman said he knows what he will do and will make an announcement within a week.

There are two reasons for the delay. Even in defeat, Yzerman doesn't want to overshadow his team. And he is wisely taking a few days to confirm his plans. But at this point, Yzerman's return is only slightly more likely than Ted Lindsay's.

If you think Yzerman is coming back for a 23rd season, understand this: He almost didn't finish his 22nd.

Yzerman came close to retiring in the middle of this season. A lot closer than most people realize.

How close?

One game away.

According to two people familiar with his thinking, Yzerman had serious discussions with the Red Wings about retiring in late November. He even had a final game in mind: Dec. 1 at home against Calgary.

When the Wings played Nov. 26 at San Jose, Yzerman took the highly unusual step of asking out of the lineup.

"My knee was sore," Yzerman said then. "I just wanted to take a day off, just to rest."

That was only part of the story. Though nobody knew it, Yzerman had been hit in the head against Anaheim the night before. The combination of the head injury and his knee troubles were too much to overcome. And though most of his teammates didn't realize it, the end of Yzerman's career appeared near.

Yzerman was frustrated by his inability to make plays he made just two or three years ago. And to Yzerman's disappointment, the Wings' new coach, Mike Babcock, did not seem to have much faith in his star. While predecessors Scotty Bowman and Dave Lewis were deferential to Yzerman, Babcock was not.

Babcock had given Yzerman only 6 minutes, 37 seconds of ice time against Anaheim. The game before that, his ice time was 6:17.

Yzerman understandably did not want to be a six-minute-per-night player. But he seemed stuck in that role. Two other Wings centers were thriving: Pavel Datsyuk's playmaking style seemed perfect for the new NHL, and Robert Lang had five assists in the San Jose game alone.

Then came an ironic twist: Instead of retiring because of injury, Yzerman avoided retirement because of an injury.

It was the night of Nov. 28, two days after Yzerman asked out of the lineup. The Wings were playing at Los Angeles. This was supposed to be Yzerman's final road game. It changed his season instead.

More @ http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/14484075.htm

[H1Man]

Yzerman Update

Yzerman said he wants to make a decision relatively quickly — maybe as early as next week — on whether to retire.

"I'm going to do the best thing for me and the best thing for the team," the 40-year-old Detroit hockey legend said after posing for the annual team picture at Joe Louis Arena, three days after the Wings were eliminated with a Game 6 loss against the Oilers.

Yzerman, who managed 14 goals in 61 games this season, said he plans to meet with the team's management within a few days and will make up his mind shortly after that.

"I don't want this to turn into a soap opera or an ordeal," he said.

The future Hall of Famer said he and his wife have been discussing the issue and have been going back and forth on whether he should come back to Hockeytown for one more shot at a fourth Stanley Cup.

Yzerman said he would be physically able to play, and coach Mike Babcock and general manager Ken Holland say they would welcome Yzerman back for another season.

Also mentioned that Datysuk had blood drained from his charleyhorse and would not have played if it was the regular season.

[H1Man]

Also, two Red Wings have been nominated for the annual NHL awards. The winners will be announced Thursday, June 22 during the 2006 NHL Awards Television Special in Vancouver (CBC, 8 p.m., ET).

NICKLAS LIDSTROM - Detroit Red Wings
- Earned his seventh nomination as Norris finalist in the past eight seasons; has won the award three times, from 2001 through 2003.
- Led all defensemen in scoring with a career-high 80 points (16 goals, 64 assists) in 80 games.
- Ranked third in the NHL in ice time per game (28:06), posted a +21 rating.

PAVEL DATSYUK - Center, Detroit Red Wings
- Named a Lady Byng Trophy finalist for the first time.
- Led the Red Wings in scoring with a career-high 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists).
- Appeared in 75 games, assessed 22 minutes in penalties.

http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/05/271296.html

[Shugadaddi]

I wonder if people get teased for winning the Lady Byng award. Doesn't that just seem like something that the others might dog you for?

[Fraserburn]

I believe Doug Gilmour has won that award

i dont think anybody is going to dog him

getting the lady byng doesnt mean you're a pansy

players earn that all on their own
crosby for example is a pansy
he wont win the lady byng though due to all his whining and slashing penalties

[Shugadaddi]

i predict the wings will make one more go at it with this group, perhaps bring in a new goalie comprable to legace.

however, i think this is a bad idea. most people thought the wings would suck this year (including me). them winning the presidents trophy made us (me) look dumb, but in the end, they were a mediocre team (imo). the oilers looked like the better team. it wasnt just goaltending (it wasnt even goaltending).

my offseason plan would be complete overhaul. vets would be welcome back, but can no longer pay guys out of loyalty or for what they have already done.

obviously im directing that towards yzerman, shanahan, chelios. but im especially directing that at lidstrom. lots of reports saying the wings need to do whatever they can to keep him. of the few games i saw him play, he's no longer the game changing, all world defensemen he once was. i'd keep him, but not at 5 million a year. he's going to try to use going back to sweden as a way to cash in. with a hard salary cap at 39 million, you have to be very careful who you break the bank for. lidstrom isnt 1/5, or even 1/8 of roster. got to keep his salary down.

i wont pretend to say i know who they should get. i like the idea of a premiere goalie, like luongo, but thats just personal preference.

Listen, no one is more dissapointed than me that The Wings didn't win The Cup this year, but the changes need to be minimal. Veteran leadership is not an easy thing to come by, and we seem to at least have that in spades. Even if it isn't leadership, it still boils down to getting rid of our top goal scorer during the regular season, arguably one of the best defencemen of all time (still), our best penalty killer....even if he's 44, and our leader who just so happened to have the longest point streak of anyone on our team at 11 games.

It would be worthy of concern if we didn't have great young players in the system, but we do. It would be even more of a concern if we lost while having Jiri Fischer in the lineup as well as a healthy Datsyuk and Yzerman.....but we didn't. This series was a few bounces and hit goalposts of going the other way.....but what do we do? We jump off the bandwagon like the mother fucker is on fire. It sucks to be eliminated in the first round, and it's certainly getting old...but hockey is a different beast. Seriously...what would happen if the first 4 seeds in the NBA were eliminated in the first round? Has it even ever happend?

Oh, and I'm tired as all hell of hearing how playing in an easy division made us look better than we are. Don't believe this for a second. If anyone has a second, just look at their schedule. We beat the good teams all year. We beat Dallas and Philly and we blanked Colorado 4 games to none. We beat the Rangers when they were hot and we also beat New Jersey. Hell, half of the games we lost this season were against divisional opponents...and not just Nashville. So all of the Detroit writers that are coming out of the woodwork to bash The Wings for an easy schedule can go fuck themselves. If any of them actually watched the games then maybe they would have something viable to write about. All I see is a bunch of hacks and bandwagon jumpers.

Hey, Mitch Albom....just because you can't see me giving you the finger...that doesn't mean that it's not happeneing.

Cheers.

[Shugadaddi]

I believe Doug Gilmour has won that award

i dont think anybody is going to dog him

getting the lady byng doesnt mean you're a pansy

players earn that all on their own
crosby for example is a pansy
he wont win the lady byng though due to all his whining and slashing penalties

I know....I just think it's a funny name for an award. Especially for a sport where people get subjected to bone-crushing checks.