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No other contract took a player to the age of 44 and no other contract trailed off in later years quite as significantly. Rejecting this deal was an absolute no brainer to me.

Tomorrow at 8pm on TSN. Kovi: The Decision.

Modano is the only player available who can make the third line an efficient scoring threat and can match against any other team's top lines, too.

August 5th, eh? When are they gonna learn this guy ain't worth waiting for??? You have better things to do than kissing Modano's ass.

I once had a stack of hockey cards. I came across a Claude Lemieux Avs card. I tore it the hell up.

I'd say it hardly makes the cap pointless. The cap basically forces great players like Kovalchuk/Hossa/Zetterberg to choose between success or money. Why should great players be forced to go to crappy teams with cap room just to get paid what they deserve? And without the ability to sign players to contracts like this then great franchises like ours that develop young talent into successful NHL stars have to trade them away when they're in their prime because we can't afford them anymore. So bottom feeder teams just benefit from all of the hard work the Wings organization puts forth.

Fair enough, as long as you admit that Lucic is a bad person as well as a hater of small children. BTW, am I being biased here on Lucic?

Ahh I remember tearing up Lemieux and Forsberg cards left and right

What a ridiculous post. It is hardly socialist to expect NJ to comly with the rules that all teams have agreed to operate under. But even further, I question the assertion that the cap itself is socialist. Remember that we are talking about a game here. A sport, nothing more. A competition between teams conducted within a very specific set of standards and regulations. The cap is no more socialist than practice restrictions, PED regulations, roster limits, rink standards, scheduling rules, game length, player aquisition, or any of the myriad rules governing play and operation of the competing teams. It is simply a rule governing the resources that can be spent on players. While an argument could be made that the cap (and moreso, revenue sharing) is socialist in the business aspect of the NHL, it is not a limit on how much money or profit a team can make. Furthermore, an argument could be made that belonging to the league (as opposed to operating independently) provides more benefit to any single team than any single team provides to the league, so operating under league rules is a small price to pay for membership. And also that increased parity in the league, and the associated rise in popularity, allows a well-managed team operating under a cap to do just as well or even better financially than one without a cap. The fact that league revenues are at all-time highs, and that the Wings'revenues have increased by over $30 million from 03-04 to 08-09 (and I think that's even after revenue sharing) makes that a pretty strong argument. I don't like the cap, but I freely admit that it's only because otherwise the Wings would have an advantage over almost all other teams. I would prefer a soft cap with a tax system to replace revenue sharing. But I have to admit that the cap is by all appearances good for the league. Two things here. One, you nor anyone else here knows if he followed the letter of the law or not. If there was an unwritten agreement (probably not) or (more likely) a predetermined plan to somehow dispose of Kovy before the contract is fulfilled in its entirety, then he has in fact broken the letter of the law, which strictly forbids both actions. Also this: 26.3 (a) from the CBA Is a rather neat way of saying that violating the 'spirit of the law' is, in itself, against the rules.

Do you fabricate this hatred just so that you have something to argue about? Because I honestly don't see this hatred that you are always claiming. Is there Brad Stuart Hatred Society posting in some hidden forum somewhere? Seriously. Where is this hatred beyond a few people? Even that is questionable. Sure, he gets dogged when he has a bad game... just like everyone else. Including Lidstrom. Are they the same handful of people that also hate Cleary? (another player that you like to claim board hatred on)

I check here everyday hoping to see something interesting load up rather than 'Red Wings Making Play for Modano.' I wouldn't mind having him, but right now I just really want to know who is playing for team this season and who isn't. Either way our Wings will be a force, but when the only thing to be excited about this off season (besides our epic draft) was Flip's brother, who may never play for us, and the return of Hudler... well what can I say? I understand that Kenny is the whip and he will keep us solid for years to come, and I also understand that an exciting off season is not necessarily a good one, but I must admit that I'm a bit jealous of all the excitement other fans are experiencing around the league. I guess I should be thankful that Stevie is making some waves in Tampa because without that it would be even worse. Ah s***, whatever... the more I think about it the more I like it. Modano needs to sign here for 1 year and give us hockey fans a crazy ride. I've ripped on him a lot recently, but I did see his last game in Dallas and if he can bring it like that for even just half the time he hits the ice we will surely dominate. This might sound really crazy (and please don't let this derail the thread), but I REALLY want to see Bertuzzi lift the cup and we only have two more shots at it. Say what you will about the guy but in my opinion he deserves a cup after all he's done for the sport and all the s*** he went through for the Moore accident. If Modano can help our team and my homie Bertuzzi out, I'm all for it - sign him TODAY. ...or August 5th. Haha these next couple weeks are going to be brutal.

I still think they have no merit to stop this one. They let all those other I'm gonna play till 40+ year old deals be signed then there is nothing they can do. Some had injury history (Franzen) some play a hard game that will take its toll on the players body (Pronger). If they wanted to stop this they should of stepped up when DiPietro's deal was signed. It does not matter what happens to the last years in any of those contracts they are made to take advantage of the loophole in the CBA plain and simple. They failed to act and stop these contracts in the past so they cannot and should not be able to do it now.

I doubt the league does anything. Sure this deal is crazy, but so was the DiPietro deal. Signing an average injury prone goalie for 15 years isn't any better.

As was discussed in the Kovalchuk thread, I think Z and D for the C hit the nail right on the head for the solution... This way, a team can sign ITS players for LONG term (if you want to sign a 20 year old to a 20 year deal, knock yourself out) but generally speaking, free agents will be limited to 13 or so year terms at most...

Lets rephrase this and say it the way it is, the cap is Bettmans way of saying I f'd up and never should have put teams in the desert, Florida, Carolina and that his marketing team sucks!!!

I find it interesting that so many have a problem with this contract but thought it was a wonderful creative way to sign "our" players. "Holland was a genius", and "Hank really gave us a discount with that 6M cap hit" when in fact Hank is making over 7Million per year for 9 years. It was a unique way to manipulate the cap and a smart move on Holland's part but Zetterberg did not, in my opinion give the Wings any discount because he will never fulfill the final 2 yaers and possibly even the 3.5M year.

I'm digitizing some old games and have done Games 2 through 6 of the 1988 Norris Semifinal. Wings beat the Leafs four games to two. So far I have posted edited segments from Game 2. More to come in the days and weeks ahead. Full channel contents: http://www.youtube.com/user/pxw13

LULZ WERE TEH BEST N DETROIT SUCKZ WHAT'S A CELERY CAP HEY WHERE'D EVERYBODY GO Ridiculous like they were a few years ago?

Going from puck possession DET to dump and chase ANA definitely hurt his numbers.

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.

Because Babcock refused to play him which prevented him from getting that playing time to improve his numbers. He didn't have a chance to prove himself because he'd only get a game here or there, even when he got a win, the next game went to Howard.

The line starts behind me, mister.

I really don't want to see Osgood retire... kind of the same feelings as Stevie. But at the same time, seeing #30 get raised and Ozzie get inducted into the HHOF would be pretty sweet. And yes, #30 will be raised. Ozzie was gone for a few seasons and nobody else was allowed to wear it. Larry Aurie's #6 is 'recognized' and so is Vladimir Konstantinov's '16' as far as numbers which cannot be worn. But Osgood played almost his entire career as a Wing, backstopped the team to two Cups and three Finals, owns almost every Wings goaltending record, and when most hockey fans nowadays think of "Detroit goaltending" the first guy to pop up in their heads is Chris Osgood. Kind of like Grant Fuhr (EDM), Dominik Hasek (BUF), Patrick Roy (MTL, COL), Olaf Kolzig (WSH). As far as the HHOF... Few goalies during Osgood's career have matched the kind of success and performance he has had. And I don't think anyone would argue against their induction.

Hamlet made up his mind faster than Modano did. Hey, what happened to that enforcer thread from last night?