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still hate how there is a fight after all the clean hits. Take a hit and move on *******

Not to be "that guy" who nitpicks...but does anyone else appreciate the humor of these two comments?

After the unreal amount of injuries last season I can kind of understand Kenny's thinking. A 4-time Champ who can draw penalties could be seen as a valuable call up especially during the playoffs. I mean, San Jose even signed The Turtle didn't they? If a 2 way can be had on the cheap I'm all for it. Don't know what the die hard Griffin fans think, but I would imagine they would love it.

****? Really? lol

I've admitted on several occasions that Bert was a bargain last season, and that it's not a bad price for someone of his ability. My point is that it doesn't matter. We didn't need a 'bargain' or an eigth potential top 6 forward when we would have been just fine with just a 4th liner grinder and a bunch of extra cap space. But I'll address the bargain aspect anyway. Something you can't ignore is that there's only so much ice time to go around. Only so many spots in the top 6. Pav and Hank can't play with everyone. Everyone can't get 3 minutes of PP time. Hudler could score 70 points, Flip could get 60, Bert, Homer, and Cleary could get 50. But they won't. Not all of them at least. Lack of ice time and opportunity WILL mean that someone doesn't get the numbers they're capable of. How much of a bargain is Bert going to be if he gets stuck on the third line and only puts up 13 goals and 22 points? How about another 40 point season from Flip? Or 15 goals from Cleary? Or Hudler? Whether you want to admit it or not, PP time and the quality of their linemates will play a big role in the production of all those players. What good is getting Bert at a minor discount when it means we're overpaying for Flip's production? All anyone can say in favor of Bert is 'bargain'. But he hasn't scored one point yet, so you have no idea if he will be a bargain or not. You can't just add his full potential without considering the opportunities he'll cost others, nor could you realistically expect him to fulfill his potential from a dimished role. And at this stage, you can't expect improvement either, at least nothing substantial. At best, we could expect similar numbers if he plays another full season on the top lines. Even at that, his presence alone would be costing someone else like Flip or Cleary an opportunity for increased production. And assuming that anyone's production would improve by being moved to the third line is preposterous. Bert, as an individual, may turn out to be 'worth' his contract. But in terms of his impact on the team, I really can't see it improving the team in any meaningful way. Adding Bert gives a little extra depth in case of injuries. But that's about the only positive I see. But I can also see it coming back to hurt us by limiting our other options. He costs us the opportunity for a much bigger improvement later in the season, and possibly costs us a valuable grinder. You say we could still add Nystrom or someone similar, but I don't really see it. We're running out of space very quick, and that's assuming a full $2 million increase in the cap. People are expecting minimal raises for Helm and Abby, which is far from certain. A defenseman of any kind of quality is going to cost a decent chunk. If we want someone like Nystrom it could mean we have to sacrifice someone like Eaves or Ritola. And while getting a top end player at the deadline wouldn't be guaranteed, it wouldn't be impossible either. There's always a good number of players available, many being just salary dumps to be had for bargain prices. Nor would we necessarily have to target the best players. A couple mid-tier players could also help considerably more than Bert likely would, and might not cost much in trade. Furthermore, we might not even need to add anything. Again, I just think Kenny missed the mark on this one. Our top 6 (at least what I expect to be our top 6) lacks speed. We still don't have as many true goal scorers as we should. We lack a tough crease-clearing defenseman. We have a question mark in goal. We're heavily reliant on againg players. And most importantly, our options for addressing any of those are pretty limited for the next two years. Bert doesn't solve any of those problems, and barely even helps the goal scoring. At the very least, we could have had the opportunity to solve a couple of those via trades this year, even if only temporarily. Maybe none of those things will turn out to be real problems. We can hope at least. Unfortunately, that's all we can do.

Does anyone else have the craziest sense of Deja vu? I swear I read this exact thread with the same first 3-4 posts a couple weeks ago. Not a joke....seriously asking?

The good thing about Cleary is he's extremely versatile. He can play on the top line, bottom line, PP, PK, against the opposition's top players, in the last minute of a close game. You mention Plekanec blueadams, but he's one of the top players available (just short of Kovalchuk and Marleau) in a very shallow free agent pool. Some team will overpay for him. And actually I don't know that there are many 70 point guys out there making around $4M after they go through free agency anyways.

...if you like those lines...how about loving these? Plekanec-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi Hudler-Filppula-Abdelkader Miller-Helm-Eaves Draper (Ritola)

I usually agree with you on a lot of your posts, but this is way off... some guys are late bloomers and Datsyuk really didn't reach his full potential until he was 29... plus, since he hasn't been playing in NA, it's hard to quantify what he will be in this style... I doubt he'll make the team out of camp and I'm sure he'll be in GR in a scoring role, whereas, if he impresses, could be used as a call up for a scoring role with the Wings... it's a 1 year deal and he is waiver eligible since this is his first contract, so there's really zero risk and who knows, maybe we catch lightning in a bottle... but to say a guys potential is tapped at 28 is a VERY blanket statement and not true... Agreed... lets just take it for what it is - a cheap, depth signing that improves GR and MAYBE we catch lightning in a bottle... it's a good signing as there is zero risk

I just want to see the wings be the first team to score a goal in pittsburgh's new arena and for somebody to throw an octopus on the ice.

New commissioner, new deputy commissioner in charge of discipline. Problem solved. Until there is ANY consistency in this league, it will continue to be a fringe league at best...

According to the Sun-Sentinel, several teams are interested in Horton, including the Buffalo Sabres. The paper suggests the Sabres could move Derek Roy or Tim Connolly as part of a deal for Horton. thers is another not radio, if you dont want to read it then dont click on it......its that easy

**** = You Do one = f*** off Sorted.

Yes! please yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope Malts will play for us next year! Could be his last year, and i think he gives us the mentality and will to win another cup!

Yes. Really. Now do one.

No! please no!!!!!!!!

even in his good seasons... does cleary really bring something (something worth 2.5 mil extra) to the table that eaves/miller don't?

How much time does it take to issue a memorandum saying hits to the head are banned, and anyone found in violation of that will be suspended without pay for however long the person they hit is out of commission? The person you hit is out for the year? So are you.

I'm not sure the human body is meant to bend and flex the way Hasek played all these years and now it's an old man body doing those same moves... I predict his groin muscles retire on Dom.

Good depth signing.

put eaves or miller on the 1st or 2nd line and they'll score close to as many goals as cleary, and for 500k, imo.

f*** me. You know full well Im talking about cheapshots yet you go ahead and be a complete **** anyway like im going on about normal physical contact? Not sure how much longer I can cope with this site.

this guys an idoit

Someone mentioned this in another thread, and I thought it deserved its own post - aside from the 02 squad of hall-of-famers, even in the pre-salary cap era, most of our stanley cup championship teams have NOT had a scoring third line. all of these teams have had A) two great scoring lines, B) tough and reliable 3rd and 4th lines, C) great defense, and D) great goaltending. A) two great scoring lines: check. Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Hudler-Zetterberg-Franzen B) tough and reliable 3rd and 4th lines: the problem here is that we seem set on resigning bertuzzi. but he is not a 3rd or 4th line player. he is a liability defensively and he doesn't hit anyone. he's essentially a poor-man's holmstrom at this point in his career. i think that we should use the rest of our cap space on acquiring a cleary-like player for this role. any ideas? Cleary-Helm-??? Miller-Abdelkader-Eaves Draper (Ritola) C) great defense: great in skill, but we lack toughness. hopefully the new 6th/7th defenseman brings a little. Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-Rafalski Kindl-Ericsson Lilja/??? (Janik) D) great goaltending: imo, check. Howard Osgood