Leaderboard

Oh God no.

Yes. If this was 2004 and there was no salary cap.

Love, San Jose Sharks. Ericsson: I loathe you.

I just checked out the may ISS ranking and saw Mark Mcneil at 20! This is my dream guy for the wings to draft, they should trade up for him if they need to but they need to get him. 81 points this year, a big hitter, good size at 6'2 and a good fighter although he doesnt fight a whole lot. A big right handed shooting centerman from western Canada is something I would love on the wings If he is still around at 20 the wings need to get this guy, he is everything they need

By who? Who said that he would be the next Lidstrom who hits like Kronwall? I never heard anyone say anything even close to that about him. Babcock called him a stud in one quote, but that's about it. Even in Grand Rapids they were saying he needed to bulk up and play with a mean streak. Eeven among his supporters I don't remember anyone here ever saying he'd be a Lidstrom with Kronner's hitting. Actually, anyone comparing any d-man on the Wings to Lids AND Kronner would get laughed at, for starters. I couldn't find the Red Wings prospect review, but on hockeys future they said he could develop into a #4-6 D-man, which still sounds about right. http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/jonathan_ericsson Exactly what point of yours does his being drafted last prove? My point was it should give some indication of expectations for him, or how the fact he's in the lineup at all is a win for the Wings. Emotional needs for him to play well? I'm not sure what you're referring to. You seem to be the one who has a lot more emotions involved when it comes to Ericsson. I have talked about Ericsson's upsides in several posts. His biggest asset to the team is probably his puck moving ability. Ericsson has a very good first pass. Better than Stuart and Salei. It leads to some brutal turnovers because he doesn't seem to have it between the ears yet. But it's his second full season. I'm guessing Detroit is hoping his decision making will continue to improve and there will inevitably be growing pains as he tries to stretch his role on the team. His size is also an asset. He's not as physical as he should be, but the Wings blueline is undersized and he provides some. He'd be a greater asset if he played nastier. And to be clear, I'm not saying Ericsson is some awesome defenseman. But he's big, somewhat physical, will drop the gloves on occasion, good passer, cheap, relatively young, and could still improve. Put that all together and he's a decent bottom pairing guy. And now you're saying $2 mill to replace him. If we're talking about re-signing E for that, then that does add to potential other D-men out there. I was saying around 1.25 mill. No short memory here. Again, you seem to be angry because Ericsson didn't turn out to be a savior for the Wings defensive corps. I don't think anyone realistically thought he would be that. Everything I saw he was projected to be a #4-6 d'man. If he turns out to be that, it's a win for the Wings. And either way I don't see why Ericsson should take all the blame for not replacing the Wings aging defensive corps. Isn't that Holland's job?

I don't think he was even overpaid at the time of his signing. Sure the term was a little longer than I'd want, but it's likely what Holland had to do to bring him here. He was not in a strong negotiating position. At the end of the 07 season Schneider jumped ship for $5.6 million with Anaheim, leaving a major hole in the Wings defense. Holland was scrambling for a #2 D-man and found Rafalski who similar to Schneider was a puck-moving defenseman good for 40-50 points (which is what Schneider was until he was paired with Nick and had two career seasons), who fit into the defense puck-moving system in Detroit, was younger than Schneider, a two-time Cup winner, and a local boy to boot. Everyone wants to kill Rafalski when he makes a bad turnover, but for every one of those there's the tremendous outlet passes and quarterbacking the power play. More than even Lidstrom, Rafalski stretches the Wings offense and keeps the other teams defense honest. Because skating in front of his own net he's capable of rocketing a pass to a forward headed towards the offensive blueline. Yes the contract looks less good now that we're in the last two years and his play has tapered a bit. But it's unfair to just look at him now and call him overpaid. At the time it was a good signing, and considering how 2008 worked out (and even 2009), it was worth it.

Sorry eva, but no.. just no. Hudler was by far the slowest Wing that played this year, as the year went on he begin to keep pace with NHLers such as Shawn Thornton, Andreas Lilja, Jason Allison.. oh whoops. But in seriousness here, the guy is too small and too slow to be effective for Detroit. We need speed, we need size. We're not talking about Gionta or St Louis here, we're talking about Hudler. And against San Jose regardless of "he generated chances" or "looked good on the PP", he didn't score goals. He didn't open up the ice, in the 08 and 09 playoffs, I can admit. He was a good complimentary player on the 3rd and 4th lines. But for his money and effectiveness, he just isn't worth it anymore. All the hookers and blow in Russia really took the wind out of his sails.

Biggs is a safe pick much like Sheahan was last year, thats why I could see it happening. If you get a third liner who can put up 30 points, fight and hit like a truck that is worth the 24th overall pick, especially with such a lack of size for Detroit. By that point in the draft there are questions around every single player. And for the record, Namestnikov is a floater, do not want

No he's the last thing the wings need. You also have Lidstrom listed at 5mil and Rafalski listed at 6mil.....Not happening. Ryan

Unless its for under a million (which wont happen) then no thank you.

are team already stays at a retirement home right? They just have one of those old person buses shuttle back and fourth to the joe. Thats why we dont fight or anything, dont wanna break a hip. HE WOULD BE A GREAT ADDITION!!!

SO you can only act tough if you're married to a lesbian bike chick, then?

Your logic is flawed. Detroit relies on their defenseman greatly to move the puck up ice more than most teams. It's why they have guys like Lids, Rafalksi, Kronner, and yes, Ericsson. They may not be holding on to the puck as long, but they're making a lot of passes out of their own end under high pressure situations. Having to make a tough breakout pass that often is going to lead to turnovers. In the regular season, 4 of the 5 players with the most turnovers were Rafalski, Ericsson, Stuart, and Kronwall. The fact that Lids is so far down the list is just another reason why he's so damn good. Ericsson was brought up to be like Pronger? Where did you get that idea? That may have been your expectation of him, but I never heard any coach or scout thinking he could be Pronger. As I said in my other post, a knock against him has always been not using his size well enough and not having mean streak. And did you really just compare Rafalski to Ericsson? If you expect E to come anywhere close to Rafalski in points, it's no wonder you hate him.

For your information, I did know that. I was referring to this season, ya know, the one where Modano played for the WIngs. Since this thread is kinda supposed to be about him.. If you wanna base the argument on career numbers than I would have to say that Modano deserved a spot on the team above quite a few guys.

A lot of people really seem to under-appreciate Homer's contributions. He's still one of our best forwards working the puck in the corners. His vision, passing, and hockey sense are much better than he gets credit for. He's a great compliment to skill players like Pav, Hank, Flip, Hudler, and Mule. With the roster we have, it's tough to find real good combinations, but it's not because of Homer. At least not to any greater extent than it is Hudler, Flip, Cleary, or Bert (and Modano this year). Flip and Cleary will fit in the bottom 6, but at the expense of their offense, and that also leaves a very slow and defensively weak top 6. Homer doesn't really work in the bottom 6 at all. Bert is mostly wasted too, though he could maybe bring some toughness. Hudler doesn't work very well, though he could add some scoring threat like he did with Helm and Maltby in 08. You can replace any one of those guys with someone else and get line combinations that look better. We have 5 guys who need to be in the top 6 (at least for offense, and/or to earn their salary), but only 3 open spots. We can get a 9th (like we tried to do with Modano, and Willy and Leino the year before) and try to build 3 lines. We can suffer some guys being in 'bad' spots, and juggle around depending on injuries and who's hot (like we did this year). We can try to move some guys for someone that 'fits' better, but likely at the cost of depth and flexibility. You can't build a perfect roster that's guaranteed a Cup. Every option has its pros and cons.

This. The homerism and leg humping of him almost literally makes my ears ring now. It is beyond numbing and aggravating.

What we really need are more inane statistical analysis showing that theoretically Hudler would have contributed 187 points this season if the stars had aligned and we had all conducted the proper rites and rituals.

That's a stupid trade. First of all, Leino is less talented than Hudler, but has been given a better opportunity in a weaker conference. Remember how well Leino performed as a Wing? Beyond that, Leino is a UFA this summer. So you're basically willing to give up a talented offensive player for the chance to sign a different one who had better season totals before anyone else gets that same chance? Not a deal I'd make. Especially given that Leino will probably get a deal at or above Hudler's current cap hit.

and not this kind

Here's the link to the extended version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7myAzKehPk

Ericsson gets too much stick for a 6th Dman. Ericsson also is insane thinking he's worth more than $2mil a year. I'd re-sign Ericsson at close to league minimum as a 6th/7th Dman. We lack size on the back end to just readily give him up. Get a decent defensive coach to get him playing properly.

I'm surprised some folks here and saying he was even decent in Game 7. I thought he was far and away the worst forward on the team in that game. He was much, much better in Game 6. But the bottom line is, the team's secondary scoring type players had a very disappointing series, but at least they all chipped in at some point with a big play or two. All of them except Hudler, of course.

Filppula - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Franzen - Zetterberg - Bertuzzi Cleary - Helm - Eaves Abdelkader - Emmerton - Mursak (Axelsson/Miller) Lidstrom - Ericsson Kronwall - Kindl Stuart - Rafalski (Salei, Pyett, I don't care) Howard Osgood/Larsson

A plague on both your houses.

1. Let Ericsson walk 2. Let Ericsson walk 3. Let Ericsson walk 4. Trade Hudler