Leaderboard

Anybody that would prefer Yzerman over Holland as a GM at this point is truly on crack. That includes Ilitch.

Why does Lebda have to wait for this Lidstrom joker to make a decision? Hurry up already with the decision so that we can know whether Lebda will be back or not next year.

So I was listening to NHL radio a few weeks back on a slow day at work when Gary Bettman's live show was starting. For those unfamiliar, he takes callers questions and does lame interviews. So I decided to call in. I got through right away and I told his call screener I wanted to know if, like last year, would the first 2 games of the Cup finals be played on back to back nights. And I was told to hold. And I did for almost the entire hour. While Gary took one call after another. Toward the end he started taking some really weak calls and I was convinced he didn't want to answer my question on the air. Even though the Wings won both those first 2 games, I am convinced they were scheduled like that to favor that team from pennsylvania (seeing as Lidstrom was nursing an injury and yes, Detroit was the older team). Anyhow, finally he takes my call, the last call of the show. The show was on a 2 minute delay so I knew I had to watch what I said or they would just dump me. (And believe me, there was a lot I wanted to say) After he apologized for the long hold I said, "I think like a lot of hockey fans I felt playing the first two games of the Cup finals on back to back nights last year was an irreverent publicity stunt. Teams work so hard all year to get there and they deserved not to be rushed. And I want to know if we are going to see that again when scheduling this seasons Cup finals?" (I wanted to throw in "or was that just to try and screw the Wings last year?" But I didn't want to sound whiney or have my call dropped.) Once I had asked my question I was disconnected at once. I put on my head phones and a minute or so later, sure enough, my question was aired. And Gary's answer was absolutely YES. He started to spin saying that he felt it got things off to a good start and helped bring in some of the leagues best ratings in years...blah blah spin blah" (We all know it was the teams playing that brought in the ratings.) Cut to today and I look that the schedule for the Cup final and I see that, surprise surprise, Gary lied. All the games are at least a day apart (as they should be). So not only did that weasel spin a bunch of B.S. he straight up lied to me on NHL radio. Unreal. Sorry for the long post and to bring up that weasel and bad memories. But I had to rant.

Franzen-Zetterberg-Alfredsson Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Radulov J. Ruutu-Filppula-T. Ruutu (The Vantaa line) Michalek-Krejci-Hudler Lidstrom-Kronwall Keith-Stuart Suter-Rafalski Miller Howard

If we keep the same roster as this season, then we'll have the same result that we had this season. Some changes need to be made. Can't just bring back the same team unless you win the Cup. Even then, you usually see teams make changes of some kind.

Abdelkader, Helm, Miller, Meech, and Eaves will all be tendered offers based on what Holland has said. Already signed players who will be on the roster: F: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Hudler, Filppula, Cleary, Draper D: Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericsson, Kindl G: Howard, Osgood Remaining cap space: $14,037,121 This means at least five forwards and one defenseman MUST be signed, plus there is space for up to three additional players. Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, Maltby are UFAs up front and Lidstrom, Lilja and Lebda are UFAs on defense. Maltby is expected to retire. Lebda is not expected to be re-signed. This leaves Homer and Bert up front, with Lidstrom and Lilja on D. Furthermore, forward prospect Mattias Ritola is out of AHL options, so he must be considered as well. He is currently signed to a contract with a cap hit of $516,667. Top priority is Lidstrom, of course. His status determines the entire course of the summer. Lidstrom will probably get a deal in the range of $5.5m or so. As far as Holmstrom and Bertuzzi, one, both, or neither may return. Bertuzzi made $3m this past season due to his buyout, so he will likely be looking for a raise to around $2.25-$2.5m, especially having had a solid season. He wants to stay in Detroit, but Holland is more likely to bring back Holmstrom than Bertuzzi for the same money if he has to decide, and Homer seems to be looking for the same kind of cash. With probably about $3.75 combined between the RFAs, and $5.5 to Lidstrom, that takes up $9.25m of the $14m cap space, cutting it down to $4.75m. It also means 11 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies signed. Add Holmstrom or Bertuzzi for about $2.5, and that leaves $2.25 with 12 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies. Add in Ritola and you have $1.75m left with 13-7-2. Now we get to Andreas Lilja, who the Wings also want back. He'd likely take a pay cut, down to around $1m, if he doesn't retire or go elsewhere to a team offering him around $2m-$2.5m. So the Wings go up to 13-8-2 with $.75 left in cap space. If Lilja retires, that's 13-7-2 with $1.75m left in cap space. F: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Hudler, Filppula, Cleary, Draper, Holmstrom, Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Eaves, Ritola D: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericsson, Kindl, Lilja (?), Meech G: Howard, Osgood

"What if Leino didn't have drive?" Lol... that's an easy one to answer. He'll get sent out of town on a rail. We know... we saw it. Lmao! *Queue the Finnish turds and the neg button*

Well add this to the list as my crappy day has gotten crappier.

Why? Primarily because you are acting like a tough guy telling people it is not okay or it is stupid to do stuff when it is perfectly okay to. If you would've restated the above earlier instead of making Holland out to be this bad terrible person, you'd probably be a bit less nuts. If you did this and I failed to see it, I apologize. Still, Holland isn't doing anything out of the ordinary in terms of greed or selfishness here.

You're out of your damned mind you know that?

Those are all traits that apply to Hudler yet people have been pretty high on him around here since word of his return.

He was a part of this organization for 20+ years and was one of the best athletes/people employed ever by this organization. People like this come few and far between so people get attached to them a little bit. If somebody like this left your company after 20+ years, there will probably be sadness and a few tears as well. Don't tell people how and how not to act or that it's a bit too much. I nearly shed some tears, does that make me less of a man or person or whatever? So Holland is supposed to step aside for the better of Yzerman's career and improvement when Holland has given zero indication he is going to retire or move onto another position anytime soon? Give me a break.

Holland had every right to keep that job. Yzerman had every right to take the job in Tampa. You would do the same thing if you preferred the lower job over the other. The only reason you say its selfish is because of the sentiment towards Yzerman.

People he's playing good for what 12 games? Yeah he got hot when he got put on a line with hartnell and Briere but he's not even noticeable out there. He had like 7 points in 42 games, is soft as butter and has absolutely no heart. Don't judge him til he actually does something in the league because right now 7 points in 42 games looks pretty s***ty to me. and Finnish Wing, you obviously didn't watch Leino with Detroit, he sucks and yu've got that finnish hard on going that we see on here so often. The guy has no heart at all.

Yeah I retract my statement about an Yzerman Bolts jersey. That was dumb. Thanks for calling me out everyone. I'm going with Stamkos.

Stevie Y will forever be a Red Wing. I am happy for him and wish him the best of luck with his new GM position as much as I wish he waited out Holland. He is ready to be a GM so i understand why he took the job.

Yeah, Erat really screwed that one up. I was pretty angry. Anyhow---Hossa has 11 points and is tied for first on his team in +/-. He's not doing too badly.

wait to go completely ignoring the context of the thread... http://detnews.com/article/20100522/OPINION03/5220399/Re-signing-Tomas-Holmstrom-likely--but-no-slam-dunk-for-Red-Wings this makes me think he wants a raise, not a huge one, but a slight one... he could very well stay at 2.25 as well, I just don't see him taking a paycut as so many have suggested

Draper is already signed for that amount, so there's nothing we can do about it... Miller will be re-signed, Holland has already said he will tender offers to all of his RFA's and with the way he played this past year, unless someone actually signs him to an offer sheet(not likely) and we get draft picks as compensation, I don't see why we wouldn't keep him as a bottom line guy, he's great as an energy guy/PK guy... I don't see Bert taking a pay cut, so I priced him in at the same price he was already at... as for Holmstrom, his agent said he will not take a home-town discount and wants a raise, so that's the only reason I notched that number in there - when you average it out for a 20-30 goal and 50+ pt guy (not to mention how many more goals are DIRECTLY related to his work in front of the net, 2.5 is not an overpayment...

whats the chances of marleau coming to detroit?

Off topic: Draper getting paid $1.583 is ridiculous. On topic: I would not be surprised if Miller did NOT get resigned...he is rather redundant IMO. Also, I doubt that Bertuzzi will be paid $1.5 mil and Holmstrom $2.5.

I wish they could move up 9 spots to grab Niederreiter. Tyler Pitlick has a pretty hilarious name, why not take him? edit: spelling

Are you implying that Leino chose to leave? I think he just wanted to play on a line with skill players, and Babcock wouldnt let him do it without first serving time on the forth line with scrubs. Ville will be a 30 goal scorer in this league, and we gave him away. I'm getting sick of Keeny giving away good talent for nothing. Or maybe its Babcock's coaching. How could we keep Meech in favor of Quincy, or Williams instead of Leino? How can the Red Wings as an organization so blatently miss talent like that?!

Right... And the Sharks were weaker than the Wings... and Montreal had no chance against the high powered Capitals in a 7 game series... and Pittsburgh was gonna ballerina dance into the SCF's... and Vancouver was the 'Team to Beat' for a while... and Chicago can't get deep with Huet/Neimi/Cambell... oh yea, 'The Hossa Curse'... and Leino sucks... I like the Flyers' chances. A lot.

I was at the Joe for the Pens vs Wings game first time back after winning the Cup there, Wings fans were loud and crazy all game long, giving it to Crosby every time he was on the ice. Got to here the crowd sing Dont stop believing,Jimmy smacked crosby around then the crowd boo'd/chanted crosby sucks until he left the ice. Awsome game