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and how many of these over the hill players did we sign since the lock out... 2?? Modano and Drake, Modano suffered what was basically a season ending injury. He came back with no confidence and a bum wrist and your going to bunch together every future over 35 signing with that now? Im sorry but all these young players with skill and upside and that can put up 50+ points a season come with A LOT bigger price tag and are usually part of the long term picture. The problem being is we can only have so many long term picture players. Datsyuk, Franzen, Zetterberg, and probably a guy like Filppula will be out long term guys. Guys like Jarnkrok, Tatar, Pulkkinen, Shehan, Nyquist, and who ever else will slowly start to infiltrate our line up, but instead you guys want to start locking up these players that are going to be over paid in Free Agency when they are going to be asking for 3-4 year deals. No thank you. Ill take the guy that is 39, signing a one year deal for 2 million. THAT IS LESS THEN ERICCSON AND HUDLER! I dont care if the guy only puts up 30 points thats still better then what the other two are going to get paid and bring to the team. As for Jagr and his 2 million dollars or whatever he does with it, I could careless. Babcock and Holladn would not be pursuing a guy if he thought he was going to be too much of a Cancer to deal with. Simple as that. I think a guy like Babcock and Holland who have coached against him, scouted him and talked to him over the phone and spoken to his previous coaches know a hell of a lot more then a lot of people on Letsgowings.com? Im getting tired of the Over the Hill stuff, because its the guys that are over the hill that round out our roster, give us the experience we need in the playoffs and contribute in our cup runs, On and off the ice. Sorry last time I checked we won the cup 3 years ago, with a lot of over 35 year olds on the team, and last time i checked all those YOUNG teams that weren't a creation of the draft and sucked for years prior(Pittsburgh, Chicago) havn't been winning the cups lately. Yes Boston one, but I believe there was a certain Key "over the hill guy" that was a big influence to their roster. As did some others Conn Smythe winner Thomas (37) and Captain and Number 1 defenseman (34). Yes, we would all love the Marchands and Seguins but they come with a very Hefty price tag.

Why take Selanne but not Jagr ? If Selanne could put up over 80 points, im pretty sure Jagr could do close to the same with Pavs feeding him. No one knows what hes capable of doing, but there is no reason to doubt he can still play the game. Clearly your smoking has long term effects on your brain. You sound like your going to slit your wrists with every post about Jagr.

I like both guys but obvious this is the right choice/decision. I mean I guess there is a long shot chance we re-sign Salei but I doubt it. As for MacDonald, I like him but he's a third string goalie at best if he gets with a NHL team...

Sad to see him go, I would've been comfortable with him being back-up full time. I think Osgood not sure if he will retire just yet probably played into this, though I don't blame Osgood for wanting to keep going as long as he can, and if he thinks he can go and docs or whomever think he can go, by all means do it. I'd be comfortable with him as back up if he can prove he's healthy again. Comfortable with getting a guy like Conklin back if that's the route they go, even though he struggled last year by the looks of numbers (only recalled maybe 1 or 2 games he played against the Wings this season, barely saw him at all this year).

Not before Tay Zonday Goalscorer.

Brooks Laich and James Wisniewski. Just love their games. Not much else to add really but there we are.

Because Osgood will return and be awesome! DUH!!!

Any chance we can bring back Lang as well, and form the laziest line in hockey history? Hudler/Lang/Jagr

GO ON THEN! GIT!

I'd wager we don't have a Hudler or Modano situation on our hands with this one -- Jagr can still play ball. But he is old and not much for defense. Typical low-risk high-reward signing by Kenny if he does pull the trigger, in the Bert or Cleary vein, but this is better since Jagr is way more skilled than they'll ever be. If he ends up being useless it's no great loss. Unless the money they would potentially put towards Jagr could instead be leveled at another scoring forward, but I'm not sure how likely that is since they're probably going to use up a lot of cap space filling Rafalski's spot. And while there's some sentiment that the Wings aren't particularly starved for goals (I agree), there is something to be said for the lack of secondary scoring from the Dano/Bert/Flip/Hudler sector in the last couple playoffs (where applicable), specifically against the Sharks. If they can get a guy that might help that problem, and it's not money that was going to be used anywhere else anyways, then may as well give it a shot.

Looks like Markov is off the table: Andrei Markov will resign with the HABS. 100%. Hearing will be a 2 year deal worth $11.5M. https://twitter.com/#!/TonyMarinaro/status/83320009631338496

I blame Downey.

His last season in the NHL he played every game, lead the team in points and was tied for 2nd in +/-. The Rangers that year told him to play defense and he did, albeit average defense, he still did. Not to mention, he and Gomez were basically the only guys to show any heart that season.Hell, he dominated in the playoffs posting 15 points in 10 games. If Lundy didn't choke it up in the playoffs, they had a great shot at meeting us in the Finals.

happens to the best of us! I'm with you on that, the Jagr thing really came out of left field to me and I'm really surprised in the steam it's picked up...

Thank ya, I just woke up and I'm not quite in English major mode yet I wouldn't hate it either, just never imagined we'd be interested in Jagr of all people this offseason. Guess we'll see whats going to happen.

agreed. no, but that could be said about almost any player in or out of the league. the important thing, i think, is that there isn't an article stating that we ARE fans of Pitkanen. 1) I don't think it's misleading. 2) If Smith is going to be on the team - and all indications are that we hope he will be - it will be as a consistent member of our lineup. I think he's well above Kindl on the totem poll, in terms of us caring about their development/playing time. 3) Agreed on Bert and Homer. 1) thanks. 2) you could obviously spread out the talent on the d pairings a little bit to make it a feasible unit. i just didn't really want to get into that, so i posted them from top to bottom. 3) like the speculation, but we've heard nothing of any merit involving burns or zherdev...at least to my knowledge.

I'd take Hamrlik over Markov. You know Hamrlik will be healthy and stay healthy and he would put up around the same amount of points.

Truly pathetic. And people talk about what a crap town Detroit is? At least we don't burn what's left of the place down when our sports teams win, or lose... I remember on game 7 in 2009, after the Wings lost everyone just finished up their drinks, paid their bills, and walked home. None of this burning car crap. I hope Vancouver never touches the cup.

I'm sure the Oilers will be all over adding a 6.25 million dollar cap hit for a 35 year old forward who produced 41pts(?) last season. I wouldn't take Smyth from LA even if it was only for future considerations. On top of that LA is trying to compete for a Cup so they'll want to keep a top 6 forward who can produce 41pts around next season. This deal doesn't make a lick of sense.

Boo hoo. This spoiled little punk isn't sorry at all. You always get these fake "oh I'm sorry" when they get caught. He is not sorry at all. He is sorry he got caught, and is sorry he is suspended form his polo team. Thats all. Now he wants sympathy...******* pathetic. What a little puck *****. I hope someone kicks his ass into next week.

Freak accidents happen?

Osgood was far more consistent than Howard last season. Had he not gotten injured, he may well have challenged for the playoff start. Hell, had he not come back early, he would have been ready a few weeks before the playoffs. And as I said; if Osgood is still being bothered by his injury, he'll retire. All reports say he isn't. My guess is that either Osgood gets the job, or Holland brings in another goalie to challenge Osgood for the position. I don't see Holland simply handing it over to one of the prospects, given that none are out of options and none have shown that they are really NHL-ready. I also don't see Holland going out and simply grabbing a name out of a hat and signing a guy, as there are no UFAs available for a backup who are better than Osgood of any significant margin, and those who would cost the same are typically much worse. Finally, I don't see Holland giving up assets to get a mid-level veteran goaltender. If Holland trades for a goalie, it's going to be a big deal for a starter and Howard is likely going to be part of the deal, which doesn't solve the Osgood issue.

I +1'd you because of the work you put into it, but it's better to look at percentage of tickets sold than actual attendance. You could have an area with 1 million people and an arena that only fits 15,000 or an area with 10mil with an arena that seats 18000, but the 18000 seater only has 16000 average attendance while the 15,000 is sold out every night.

I'll side step the fact that you've approached this with the grace and tact of a 15 year old with Asperger Syndrome. (And we can ignore the fact that "knowledge" isn't the same thing as the ability to type a word into google and hit enter) And what about on-ice success and management? Tampa Bay lags behind Anaheim there. Does everyone forget the ownership BS that's gone on in TB over the last decade?