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Meech will likely go to Europe. He's passed through waivers multiple times with no interest. Holland even told him he'd try to find him an NHL home at the start of last season and... well we know what happened there. My best guess is that he'll try and get as much as he can in Europe now while he can still play. That being said-- I hope he finds an NHL home or at the very least he finds a good pay cheque so he can provide for his family doing what he loves for as long as possible.

Must have practiced his Russian with Datsyuk. Not much, just a few important words like "skate" "puck" "goal" "stick" "f***" "s***" "dammit".

Why not, they don't play defense in the KHL anyway

In Russia, the team coaches YOU.

Either way the Cup is coming to Michigan!!!

Overpaid Over the hill Over my dead body

You make it sound like we're watching San Jose Vs. Pittsburgh or something Come on, its not that bad!!!

I'm with you. But at least we don't have to hear about Crosby or Ovechkin.

Hudler and Filppula for Clowe?

Screw trading Franzen for Clowe, get Clowe to play with Franzen. Clowe-Zetterberg-Franzen

Well Franzen is never healthy anymore, is 3 years older than Clowe, on a bad contract that if he stays hurt all the time we will be screwed with. Clowe has been able to stay healthy, he is also a playoff player, more physical and tough than Franzen. CLowe didnt have a break out in the playoffs, he put up 62 points this year, 57 the year before and 52 before that. Hes steadily improving. Sure Kindl might be a top 4 dman, but he hasnt shown anything to say he actually will do so and with Smith providing everything he does and more he isnt really needed. Trading for Clowe would be like trading for Shanny back in the day. Getting tougher upfront with someone who can play the game.

Sorry, Mr. Yzerman, but I just couldn't take Stanley getting another tan. Besides, if you win a Cup in your first season, there's nowhere to go but down after that. This could be a very interesting series or one of the most boring SCF in history. I'm hoping for the former, and that the B's pull it off. Original Six and they have the best commercials. History tells us the refs will pretty much swallow their whistles in this series; I'm hoping the Nucks respect the Finals and don't feel the need to continue with their previous antics. And if they do, I hope Chara Kronwalls them.

I really don't mind Vancouver's team, but I sure want their fans to lose. And I've thought Boston could've made it to the finals the last 3 years, so I'm kind of glad they made it. Even if it did come from beating Stevie's team. I think they have the defense to make the Sedin's invisible like they were in the first 2 rounds. That may be what brings The Cup to Beantown. I'm saying Bruins in 6.

An article on RWC about Gustav Nyquist where Jimmy Nill said, “Statistically, any player below the third round is not supposed to make the NHL" sparked my curiosity about forwards selected after the 3rd round who scored 40 points or more, which to me says they at least spent time in a top-six role.

That is fine because I would be perfectly happy with him re-signing Eaves/Miller/Lidstrom and then signing Wisniewski, Pitkanen and a reliable back up goalie. Do NOT re-sign Draper/Ericsson/Salei, trade Hudler for whatever he can bring... To me that would be a super off season... We all know any of the RFA's mentioned are pipe dreams because Holland loves to keep his draft picks now-a-days. I wouldn't be surprised though if he traded Hudler and our #1 to move up a bit if the player he wanted wasn't gonna make it to us...

The semi-pro league jerseys shouldn't count. They're often designed to be obnoxious and attention grabbing simply for the headlines and interest generated. The real train wrecks are the NHL jerseys that someone actually green lit (I'm looking at you every-jersey-Anaheim's-ever-worn).

Meh, how much has leaving these defenseman in GR really helped them in the NHL? Ericcson sucked, Kindl sucked.. Why not bring up Smith and instead of him adjusting his play based on AHL players, let him go against some real players. He might look bad for a year but than he is still adjusting to the NHL game at least. He is a very high end prospect, he could get some big PP time while learning the game defensively. There isnt a good track record for the wings developing defenseman in GR. Kronwall was hardly there, Ficsher wasnt there. Kindl and Ericcson both did not seem prepared at all for the NHL game when they got here. Smith should get time to play with a top 3 defenseman all time and learn his game

I will say this much-- Ericsson was very good defensively in the AHL and he caused people to weep tears of blood on these forums over the last two seasons. The transition from AHL to NHL is very, very difficult for defensemen (less so from an offensive standpoint than from a purely defensive standpoint). For Ericsson the biggest challenge was confidence-- he was strong defensively when he didn't think too much and just made that first pass but once doubt crept into his mind (in his rookie season) it all went to hell quickly. Much like Ericsson in his 08 call-up and during the 09 playoffs, people were very happy with Kindl's defensive play in his limited minutes this season. While Kindl played much more limited minutes than Ericsson did in those cases that's primarily because of the injury situations in those respective cases. The biggest difference in those cases was how much Ericsson's offensive skills were shown off that season (prior to his rookie season). Kindl's rookie season this year was very, very quiet from an offensive perspective despite the fact that he's very offensively skilled. Part of that's probably playing time but it's hard to explain given that he got some decent PP time in. My point is that people seem to be very happy with Kindl's play this past season but we should remember that he was playing in a limited role and was trying to earn a roster spot. If he enters this season with a guaranteed top 6 spot I expect the road to be rougher for him (in the short term at least). Kindl's still pretty raw but his toolbox is excellent (size, skill, skating). So let's look at the defense right now assuming Lidstrom re-signs. Lidstrom Kronwall Stuart Kindl As far as continuity is concerned you can't really count Kindl as a 'known' because of his limited experience. So we're looking at a massive transition for the Wings' defense-- only 50% of the core defense would remain. Once Lidstrom retires you'd be looking at only 2 of the 6 players who were with the team in the back to back finals years. That's a huge change in personnel which is uncharacteristic for a Ken Holland team. Based on that fact I think the Wings will retain Ericsson as long as he doesn't expect 3mil+ (which he won't get from Holland). Once Rafalski retired the odds of retaining Ericsson jumped based on Holland's desire to maintain a level of continuity. Babcock is also a big fan of Ericsson's size and strength (a rare commodity in the Wings' system). So what could the D look like going into free agency? Lidstrom-? Kronwall-Stuart Ericsson-? Kindl The Wings will want to keep Kindl with a veteran and also give him access to Lidstrom while he's still around. If Smith makes the team, and Holland doesn't bring an external top 4 defenseman into the mix, I wouldn't be shocked to see the pairings broken up like this: Lidstrom-Kindl/Smith Kronwall-Smith/Kindl Ericsson-Stuart *Noting that the mins would be broken up very evenly between the pairings (just like they were this season) Ericsson needs a guy like Stuart to be the responsible, reliable guy. I see that as a protecting the asset sort of thing. Putting Kronwall with Smith/Kindl is risky because the Wings will want to let Kronwall continue to be an aggressive roamer (it works damn well). Can Kindl or Smith be the responsible guy who hangs back in those situations? I don't really feel comfortable with that to be honest. This arrangement is almost solely devised to give Kindl and Smith as much time with Lidstrom as possible. That doesn't seem like a bright way to run a winning hockey team but it's a smart long term investment if the Wings believe it will be Lidstrom's last season. A more conservative arrangement would be: Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-(outside veteran with high-end offensive potential and decent youth, for example-- Pitkanen) Ericsson-Kindl/Smith The last pairing is taking a big leap for the sake of keeping the top 4 as solid as possible. The problem there is that it would represent a top heavy split of playing time. More balance means less even strength ice time for Lidstrom and less regular season wear on him. Man this is a really long speculative post. I wonder if anyone read the whole thing...

I'd trade Hudler and a 2 cases of Vernors to the Atlanta Predators just for the rights to Weber (does it work that way?). Remember, Weber was Lidstroms first overall pick in the All Star Game. Weren't they like a plus 25 or something combined?!! After himself, HE STARTED HIS FRIKIN TEAM WITH SHEA WEBER!

Yeah, just make sure they send Hudler back to ******* Russia.

this jersey is freakin' awesome. i don't care what anyone says.

Ok, let's look this over. 1. If a player is really good at one thing, does that make him a superstar? No. 2. There are only a handful of players who are as good or better playmakers than Hudler. Perhaps Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Crosby, Thornton, D.Sedin, H.Sedin, Savard, Getzlaf, Toews, Kopitar, Koivu, Gomez, Spezza, Malkin, St.Louis, Backstrom. There might be one or two more I can't think of offhand, but that list should be pretty close. That's among forwards. In other words; Hudler is not a superstar, he's just a very good playmaker. Just as Franzen is not a superstar, he is just a very good sniper.

If he was a free agent, maybe, but he wouldn't relinquish any assets for him, especially the assets it'd require for a player of his calibre. They'd at least ask for an NHL ready prospect (Tatar/Smith) plus a player just hitting their prime (Filppula/Hudler) and probably an unsigned prospect (Marshall/Aubry) and a couple picks (2nd/3rd) just to land him. That wouldn't be worth it, but a team like Edmonton or St. Louis who have a plethora of picks and prospects would be able to do it.

Maybe a trade and sign would work better? I know it's a massive gamble to trade for a pending UFA, but give us the rights to sign them for the three weeks prior to the start of free agency. That way the team gets something back for their player and we have to only give up minimal assets. It's probably not realistic at all, but it's a way to try.