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Yeah, I'll take the GM that wins cups, not the GM who has never even gotten to the finals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQN74ZA41go&feature=channel_video_title Have fun in Minny you ******* all star!

Well, Minnesota is cold and is not a contender. The Sharks are definitely getting better with the addition of Burns and now with this trade (although Setogucci certainly will be missed). I'd say that this worked out pretty Neatly for Havlat.

Wow seems like a lot of people are really down on Commodore. He had a bad season people where he got waived and now all of a sudden noone thinks he is even capable of staying out of the pressbox? The guy still played almost 20 mins a night the last few years when he was in the lineup, almost 3 minutes a night short handed, and is much better offensively than Salei. Sure Commodore isnt super fast but hes just as good of a skater as Salei, is used to playing 19 minutes a night compared to Saleis 16, plays more pk time and is a big, mean player who can hit hard and will fight light heavyweights. He is basically salei with more offense and a much bigger mean streak. Just bec ause he tried to take a wings player head off and fell into the bench doesnt mean hes a god awful player. At least he has that mean streak to go and try to light a guy up like that. Not to mention prior to going to CBJ, Commodore was one of the better stay at home types in the league playing a big part in 2 cup runs for Carolina and Calgary. If theres a team that can help him find that form again, its Detroit. Look what they did with Lilja who was a similar guy, who was even worse than Commy when he came to Detroit. People need to give him a chance instead of watching him fly into the bench on one youtube video to decide hes a bum. When he does this to tools like avery everyone will sing a different tune.. or stiicks up for the goalie like this Not to mention guys liek Ericcson and abdelkader will play tougher because they know a 6'5 Canadian mean SOB will be backing them up

I dunno...I guess it's good for depth. I don't really care if it's on a one year basis. Here's my complaint though. I love the Wings, but these "filler" players are becoming annoying. At first I understood that it was due to the salary cap, but as time goes on and it seems to be affecting us more and taking up more roster space, I'm a little less convinced. Particularly given the cap space we now have. Players like Bertuzzi, Hudler, Miller (because he's redundant, not because he's useless) and (sadly, as of recently) Holmstrom. These are players that don't necessarily hurt the roster, but they're not actively helping us win. It feels like they're just...there. They adequately fill a roster spot, and as is so important to Holland, we haven't over-paid them. I understand that this won't change this season, so why not add another one in Drury? But after the contracts of Bertuzzi, Holmstrom and Hudler are up, I want them all gone. And if we sign Drury, I want him gone too. (Sorry to Holmstrom, who is one of my favorite Wings of the past decade, but it's time to retire.) Those are my hopes for next off-season. And I will be so pissed if Drury screws that up.

More like, the Wings aren't dumb, the market value is over inflated.

Put him on a line with Helm and Mursak and watch out lol

I saw White a lot with the Leafs and thought he was pretty good on a lousy team. Don't know why Calgary and Carolina gave up on him but he looked good with the Sharks last year. As for his attitude, which some said was lousy as a junior player, a writer for the San Jose Mercury wrote recently that he was the first player he ever recalled who went out of his way at the end of the season to say goodbye to the PR staff and the writers who were around. In any case, the price was right. You don't want a bunch of expensive long-term contracts when the current CBA expires especially if the the NFL and NBA owners hammer out hard caps with their players. That would mean the NHL owners would want similar concessions and a much lower cap. I can believe how much some NHL teams paid long-term for average players. I guess it was because of the law of supply and demand and because the minimum cap is now $48 million forcing poorer teams to spend money.

Yes please! 1 year 1.5 million I could take it. He was injured all of last year basically. Still has it in him.

That is the best response I have seen in sometime!! I use to bartend in Pontiac and we would get women in there like that! Too funny!!

How in the world can TO move Bart Ledba and we are unable to move Hudler?

Well said. I like this and I'm hoping Commy finds his top hockey form!

And to think we could have had Franson if we only kept Lebda. Way to do nothing, Holland.

True, but other than passing the guy's invisible and soft as marshmallow fluff.

I am quite happy with our Free Agent activities so far. Obviously White and Commodore don't replace Rafalski, but both come at a very good price with short term contracts. So not much risk there. The FA Pool didnt really offer much this year, so there is no sense at all in signing a and badly overpaying an average guy to a 6 or 7 year contract and thereby making us unable to act in next years free agency, where we might find someone worth to spend big $ on and who would a much better fit than the top FAs this year.

Good signing at a good price. No complaints here. I can't believe we're giving Ericsson more money than White... lol Ridiculous.

I haven't posted much, I mainly just get on here for updates and to read, but I figured I'd throw my two cents out there. I've been feeling as frustrated as any of you. However, like some have pointed out... it's the second day of UFA, hopefully something will come up that surprises us all. I feel like Ken Holland was put in a position this off season that he hasn't been in throughout his career at GM for the Wings. After the lockout, with the salary cap and such, there hasn't been a time that he has needed to pull a major overhaul in any aspect of the team. Minor changes to 3rd and 4th lines and third pairings on the D (excluding the Stuart trade), but nothing that was close to the Rafalski deal. I, personally, believe that Raffi had become a liability in the late stages of his career. After he came back from injury last season, he continually made bonehead mistakes. Now, he wasn't bad, but his first pass wasn't as crisp and he didn't skate with the same authority (hence the retirement... obviously he felt the same). In replacing him, I strongly believe that Detroit should have made a push for Burns before July 1st, as he, IMHO, was the best defenseman in this free agent class. But that's water under the bridge, as it didn't happen. I strongly feel that we have missed the boat on signing a strong, known defenseman in this offseason. However, I don't think that all is lost. Being a Wings fan my entire life, they have been able to pull a sort of "plug-and-play" when they lose a quality player either to retirement or free agency. Here's to hoping that Kindl, Smith (if he's ready), or even, God forbid, Ericcson or Commodore can step in and fill the role. I think the only way we secure a solid 2nd line scorer is to make a trade... and hopefully that trade involves Mr. Hudler. Thanks for reading, all.

The lack of respect for Miller and Bertuzzi astounds me. These claims that Bert can't handle second-line ice are 100% bulls***. The guy outscored Homer and Flip. He produces about a point every other game on average. That's what you expect from a mid-level second-liner. He was also one of the hardest working defensive forwards we saw, five-on-five, and got props from Babs for it on a few occasions. He's a good player. Same with Miller. He's unspectacular but he's effective at what he does and he works his ass off on the defensive side of the puck. Sometimes a team adds by subtraction. Losing Drapes, Modano, and hopefully Hudler, the forward corps loses a couple of its softest forwards and another whose job was replaced by Helm long ago. Equally true on defense. It cannot be said that Rafalski wasn't a defensive liability at even strength. He was just too easy to muscle off the puck. Period. And the back end still has people that can generate offense, even if a big trade doesn't come down. Lidstrom and Kronwall are elite, offensively. Stuart is capable if he gets back into the swing of acting like the defenseman he was in SJ and Boston. Ericsson and Kindl have considerable untapped offensive ability as well. It's all about improvement from within. This team's got a big pile of guys in their twenties right now. If they get better, the team will do fine. If they regress, the team will suffer. At the very least, subtracting its two softest forwards and its softest defensemen, the team will be tougher to play against, even if it's a bit of a loss with respect to top-end skill. I like the change.

given our unwillingness to pay anyone the going rate today I would agree. (except the Ericsson deal) Am I the only one that thinks we should have signed Ryder to that 2 year $7m deal?!?

Wonder how good they'll be without him. They pretty much got it going instantly when Leino was put on to that line.

Ericsson deal > Leino

I remember my first beer.

Trade Ericsson.

hey guys take it for what its worth and sorry if this has already been posted. but apparently jarmir jagr is down to mtl and pitts. so im guessing Detroit is out of the running! for some of you its good news and for some bad news i suppose.. for me i dont know its meh.. id want him for 1 yr. 1.3 mil max! its eklund heres the link http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Bieksa-Signs-in-Vancouver-e5--Updated-Flyers-trade-Powe-to-Wild/1/36700