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The cap sucks anyways. Teams like ours that do their jobs to rake in the money get punished just for being a well-run organization.

...well, then you'll pardon us for laughing our asses off as we watch your championship team get dismantled... because it's just harmless fun, right?

What harold meant was "Zetterberg not having two or three Selke wins is pretty ridiculous given the fact that his primary use is as a shutdown center against the opposing team's top line, and he executes that role better than any other player in the league"

They can get a 6th dman, sign abdelkader, helm, AND modano for 1.25, make a few trades and be under the cap and have 500k over for injuries.

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/07/mitchell_callahan_the_red_wing.html "Red Wings prospect Mitchell Callahan has already earned an entry-level contract with the Wings because the Kelowna Rockets forward possesses a spit-and-vinegar quality to his play that the Wings really lack otherwise in their developmental system, with the surprisingly strong and smart 5'10" waterbug embracing and thoroughly enjoying the fact that the Wings want him to crash, bang, grind, bang bodies and/or generate offense on the forecheck, and occasionally fight. DetroitRedWings.com's Michelle Crechiolo spoke to an enthusiastic Callahan--who both scored 20 goals in the WHL last year and ended up with a bloody nose on the last day of the Wings' summer prospect camp by scoring a goal off his scnozz--about his role, and got Wings assistant GM Jim Nill's take on Callahan's progress as well: Just crashing the net hard, playing physical, and you know, stick-up for teammates in the odd fight,” Callahan said when describing his style of play. “I like to do that, that’s what I want to do. I’m not the guy that’s known to score the goals, I want to be the guy that’s known to be the hardest worker on the ice, and that’s what I take pride after ... it’s great to help the team out in any way you can.” Callahan’s plan is to return to Kelowna for the upcoming season, but Nill sees him eventually bringing his grittiness to Detroit to balance out the Wings, who have built their squad around players like four-time Lady Byng winner Pavel Datsyuk. “Every team has a weakness in the NHL,” Nill said. “You’re either really skilled, but you’re not too tough, or you’ve got a great defense, but your goaltender is so-so. So every team has a weakness under this cap system, and Mitch Callahan kind of addresses one of those weaknesses.” Nill duly noted that Callahan spent the Wings' intra-squad scrimmages playing as Landon Ferraro's winger, helping the Wings' most offensively-talented forward in Ferraro generate offense on the cycle: “He’s got good enough skill that he can play anywhere,” Nill said. “But if something happens, you know they’re there to back you up and they’re going to be in the other team’s face all the time.” Again, to me, Callahan plays like a young Dallas Drake, a forechecking forward with superb speed who crashes and bangs on the rush, and just so happens to possess pretty decent hands and an ability to generate offense on the cycle, so...I must admit that I'm giddy that he's so very enthusiastic about doing his job. He's just a great young man as well--he loves working hard, knows that he needs to work harder in the gym than his fellows to overcome his size, and he very actively talks to the coaching staff whenever he needs clarification on exactly where he should be and what he should be doing to play as aggressively as humanly possible during drills." I am pumped for this kid and it seems like he is really flying under the radar. He seems to have chemistry with ferraro too. Maybe future line-mates. Obviously cally is not ready yet and needs at least a year in the AHL to see how his style of play holds up against bigger stronger players. Now to the bolded part My question is why is holland not exploring trades with the likes of miller/rittola/meech to bring in more sand paper? Who knows, maybe he is, but im glad they are trying to address this. Maybe FA isn't the way to go and we will see some trades between now and the end of camp to fill a need. This is not a enforcer thread. Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas. .

I know what you're saying; a player reaching 44 years old is much less likely than a player reaching 40 years old. I'm not saying that's not true; I'm simply saying that, either way, both scenarios are unlikely and probably involve these silent agreements - cheating. It's happening all over the league now, including (and partially pioneered by) our own team. The Red Wings are taking advantage of the same loophole that everybody on this forum seems so outraged about. Also, I would argue that Kovalchuk is almost certainly going to be considered for the HOF. He just turned 27 years old and has already accumulated 642 points (338 being goals) in 621 games. He's top-15 in goals per game in the history of the league, and hasn't had a sub-40 goal season since 2002-2003. He definitely has a chance of reaching the 600-goal and 1,000-point milestones by the end of his career. EDIT: BTW, in case anybody wanted to know, 47 players have ever reached 40 years of age, and 6 players have reached 44 years of age.

I have typically been clumsy in the past, but I haven't tripped lately The person below me started a new job today

Or is the reason why you don't watch football because of the lack of passion? They could, so I will take the rather out... But I still don't see Modano winding up here. I think he will either retire or go to Minnesota and try to get a cup for the city he started with...

Damn, we should has signed him to a 30 year deal!!

Ya think Zetterberg is gonna play til he is 41 or Hossa til he is 43? f*** NO.

If the league doesn't contest it, all bets are off for every NHL GM going forward. The flood-gates will officially be open to contracts like this.

I went to a bar here in Detroit to watch Philly-Chicago, Chicago ended up winning that game and there was a table full of Blackhawks fans, in sweaters with no name on them. They cheered and I booed them and the Hawks. When the game was over one of them came over and asked us if we were from Philly. We said no, Detroit. He asked why are you rooting for Philly then? I said why would I root for a team that chants Detroit sucks when we play them? He said, well Detroit does suck. I am not one for a bar fight, but if I were ever to get into one it would have been over that. I left immediately, as I would get fired from my job for one punch to that guys face. I say let their reign be the shortest ever. Let their misery last twice as long next time. To hell with Chicago, and to hell with their team.

I must say that's a nice little feather in Stevie's cap. But considering the tutors that he had to learn from, I'd say he did alright.

And to this day Steve Yzerman finds a way to f*** the Flyers over. First in 1997, now this.

They should make it so if you sign a player past age 40, his cap hit stays on salary until the deal is over.

Get Modano, helm, abby a 6th defenseman, trade ritola/miller/meech (or all 3 if they have to)

He was 34 when he left Detroit so he was heading for a decline no matter what, but I think he would've had a much more productive end to his career if he had stayed. Mike Babcock said it pretty well, being Fedorov's coach in Anaheim in 2004: "I remember Sergei always saying to me, 'I never have the puck, Mike, I never have the puck. The D never pass me the puck.' So I went back and I looked at our D. I compared to it Detroit's D. I knew why he never had the puck. He couldn't understand why we wanted to chip it ahead and race onto it all the time. Well, part of that is because if you don't have these people, what are you going to do?" A situation that was undoubtedly no different in Columbus. By the time he returned to a good team in Washington he was 40.

That was my point, he wasn't given a chance to prove himself when he did not get consecutive starts. I understand they wanted to go with the hot goalie because of the position we were in, but Babcock is very lucky that Howard didn't have an injury late in the season because we didn't have a reliable back up goalie to go to and that was not Osgood's fault. He could only do what he could at practice, it's not the same as playing in games.

I guess I would pick the latter of the two. Even though, there has been kids, I wouldn't mind slapping the s*** out of. Spam or Vienna Sausages

Shortly after Osgood got sick, he started in a game against Nashville, and won 3-2. Who was in net THE NEXT THREE GAMES after that win? Do you honestly think Osgood was given much of a chance at that point?

Marc Andre Fleury is so overrated it hurts. For starters a 2.65 GAA is hardly something to brag about, especially when you play on a great team. Lets forget GAA for a second though because I know people like to bring up SV%. MARC ANDRE FLEURY 2005/2006 .898 2006/2007 .906 2007/2008 .921 2008/2009 .912 2009/2010 .905 JEAN SEBASTIEN GIGUERE 2005/2006 .911 2006/2007 .918 2007/2008 .922 2008/2009 .900 2009/2010 .916 (With Toronto) Does anyone see the irony here? JS Giguere is a past his prime pile of puke according to many people and yet Fleury makes the Top 10 in some cases? Give me a break!!! Put Marc-Andre on the Leafs and see if he can pull off a GAA lower than 3.20 and a save % higher than .900. I highly doubt he can.

Well duh. They are our rivals, they won a Cup, sure we're upset… especially when their fanbase grasp a name eerily similar to ours. And put it on their championship video. Sorry that bothers you. Stop chanting "Detroit sucks" when we aren't in town, and we'll look into getting over this.

CapnSmitty is right. The Griffins are independently owned (by a group headed by Dan DeVos). They have had a Primary Affiliation with the Detroit Red Wings since 2002. Prior to that, it was with the Ottawa Senators. The newest agreement was signed in the Spring of 2007 and extends for a 5 year period - if I remember correctly. As part of the 2007 agreement, the Wings acquired responsibility for the GR coaches, and immediately fired Head Coach Greg Ireland who was the winningest coach ever for GR. I think this responsibility was negotiated back the following year after a horrible season with the new coach that Detroit picked. He was released too. Also based on the agreement, Detroit must provide a minimum number of players to GR - I want to say its like 16 or 18. The rest are GR's responsibility. They sometimes sign a secondary affiliation with another NHL team - like with Dallas when the Stars were without their own primary AHL affiliate. As part of the affiliation agreement, GR works with the NHL club to determine how much playing time a player gets and on any individual development issues. It is not common for employees of the AHL affiliate to graduate up to the NHL affiliate since they are usually independently owned. However, often the AHL coaches and equipment managers become like Black Aces similar to the players when the AHL season is done if the NHL team is still in the playoffs.

I know for a fact that Illitch Holdings does not have any part of ownership of the Griffins, I am also mostly sure that the players signed by the Wings (as in have a wings 2 way/1 way contract) are on the Wings payroll, anyone who is on an ATO or Griffins contract are on the Griffins Payroll.