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I think it will be quite the opposite...I remember Adam Oates early returns to Detroit, he got cheered when he scored a goal or even got an assist. Brad had said his first choice is to stay in Detroit, but it is because of the family issues (Wife not able to move here) that he must return to California. Fans will cheer him, trust me... EDIT: Lest us forget that he was one of those guys who signed a contract for LESS money to stay in Detroit for three more years...he could have left in 08', but knows which is the best organization to play for. Even when he said he had to go, they asked him which team and made a trade to allow San Jose to open up a roster spot instead of just letting July 1st come and having him deal with it on his own...Red Wings class act, from top to bottom...Take note Parise/Suter....Take note Schultz/Dekeyser/Welsh....Take note...you will not be sorry...just look at Wisniewski, he is sorry now...

First thing that came to my mind reading topic title..

Vanek is paid over $7m. This makes him perhaps the most overpaid 30-goal scorer in the league, given that he has no substantial defensive game and is only an average passer. His contract is up in two seasons; how much do you think he will be asking after having been paid so well since 2007? Drew Stafford has had one good season. He reverted back to his usual numbers last season: he's a 20-goal scorer. Those are nice to have, but Filppula just had a breakout season and is better than Stafford at passing and at playing defense. No thanks. So no, they don't have what we need.

Enjoy, I rarely read a whole lot of articles about anything in-depth these days but this is one is worth taking 10 minutes to look at. http://www.freep.com/article/20120617/COL01/206170619/Nicklas-Lidstrom-unplugged-Mitch-Albom-s-exit-interview-with-the-legendary-Red-Wing

Nyquist is 2 years older, and Kane already has a 30 goal NHL season and nearly 60 points under his belt while being fast and a tough player. If that trade is offered straight up I take Kane every single time.

A couple thoughts: - It's been known for a while that Stu wanted to go back to California, he also played quite a few years with the Sharks. - Lids' retiring was the perfect opportunity for him to jump ship.. not sure the direction KH is taking the team. - I still believe him when he says it's for family related reasons, why wouldn't it be? - .. and lastly he's not leaving on bad terms whatsoever. He had a great tenure with the Wings, was a class act, and I wish him well. Don't see why a few posters here have such an ex-girlfriend attitude about him leaving, but whatever. The Wings sure have one hell of a gaping defence though. This summer is going to be very interesting as to what Kenny does.

I really like Brad Stuart, on and off the ice. He's a quality player, and he will definitely be missed. We knew he was going, but it's still sad. I think he enjoyed being a Wing, although I am pretty sure he never, ever wanted to leave SJ in the first place. He was forced to, by the trade for Thornton, to Boston. So, he's back home with his family. We are poorer for the loss of him on our blue line - like we need to lose anyone else? - but I wish him all the luck in the world unless he's playing against us. Thanks for your services, Brad.

I'm happy everything worked out well for Stuart. It sucks to see him with a team like the Sharks, but I will never fault Stuart for doing what is best for his family. All of the negative comments being thrown at Stuart are unfair. I remember after the Red Wings won the cup in 2008, it was widely speculated that Stuart would end up going back out west then. He sacrificed and gave the Red Wings four more years of service and steady play on defense. I do feel Stuart is on the decline, but the timing of him leaving is really unfortunate for the Red Wings. Lidstrom, Rafalski and Stuart all gone within a year -- overhauling 3/4 of a top four on defense that quickly is quite the challenge. There was nothing flashy about Stuart, however he was extremely reliable and consistent. He could eat up minutes and was the best penalty killer/shot blocker on the team. Ericsson looked capable of sliding into that role and now we have to hope Quincey steps up and improves his play as well to help fill the void. As for the above claiming Stuart "quit", that's why I never read the comments on any MLive article. I swear the most obnoxious, fickle and ignorant fans all flock there. It is the same thing with the Tigers too. Ansar Khan is really good in his coverage of the Red Wings, so the articles themselves are worthwhile, but you end up hating humanity reading the comments.

I don't think that this stats sells Hudler short. It actually elevates him and Franzen to the level of Zach Parise, which they clearly aren't. I'd say it actually gives them more credit than they deserve. And this is coming from a guy who has repeatedly defended Hudler and Franzen on this forum.

Agreed! With the inevitable retirement of Holmstrom, I think the Wings need to establish more 2 on 1's in front of the net instead of the one guy standing there. Seems most folks have figure that out, especially last season...get it down low, cycle, get that 2 on 1 in front of the net...

I like this guy: Hey schwartzme, The Red Wings are a class act and in this act of valor toward Brad it proves to the rest of the players in the NHL that if you become a Red Wing, you are family and Devil Anse Holland takes care of his family! Shipping Brad off to a crap team at the deadline would only show other potential UFA's around the league that if for some reason you need a special favor, Holland just screws you over! But doing what Holland did in accommodating Stuart, he just proved to the NHL players, if a special circumstance arises, whatever you need I will make it happen! Work hard for me and I will work hard for you! That move is one rarely seen by any other team in the league. Brad gave Holland 3 yrs and a couple of months, including a Stanley Cup...Brad will always be a Red Wing and Holland will always be this classy! I expect nothing less from the Detroit Red Wings... Players just don't come here to play, the come here to join a family and more times than not, end their careers. Why do you think Chelios never left? He tried to have one more go at it in Atlanta, but only played 7 games and hung them up...he quickly returned "home" to the Red Wings... Holland did two things for Brad, he offered him a contract letting him know that if he wanted to stay, the Wings wanted him, then he traded him back home so he could be with his family...Brad will always be welcomed back if he so chose to, that is a guarantee! Brad has earned his Red Wings and will always be a part of this great Dynasty we have been so privileged to watch for the last 20 years!

Definitely Slash. Guitar players are way cooler than drummers. Next step above a "diamond" credit card should be: Plutonium or Uranium?

With Stewie making his way back to San Jose, how ******* bad does the Thornton trade look now? Jumbo for Sturm and Primeau, yikes. And yet, Boston won the cup before San Jose did Weird thing this hockey, you just never know.

Best of luck to Brad....except when he's playing Detroit.

Can someone please explain to me how the league taking over ownership of bankrupt teams is good for anyone other than the fans of those teams? All the other owners are losing money twice - once through revenue sharing and once through absorbing the day-to-day losses of those teams. If I were an NHL owner, I'd block the league taking over any more teams. Hockey is a business, right? So if I own Best Buy and ABC Warehouse is going bankrupt, why in the world would I agree to pump money into their store and not change the products at all? I can see maybe agreeing to a short-term loan to get them over the hump, but we've owned the Yotes for 3 years, and now there's talk about funding the Devils as well? Whatever happened to capitalism? This is the very definition of socialism, which people apparently don't mind in athletics, but abhor the idea when it comes to human beings.

I'm going to miss Lids so much. So many players (and people in general) could learn a thing or two from the way he speaks. When you're being interviewed about how great you are and you can acknowledge your talent without sounding arrogant, that's pretty great.

Not every player is Parise, and you can't have different rules for different players. If Parise, or anyone else, wants to know what other teams are willing to offer, then all he has to do is wait until the 1st and find out. While Parise specifically may know he'll have no shortage of offers, there are a lot of players who don't have that security. They have to choose between the security of getting a contract before there's extra competition from UFAs and possibly getting more money or a better opportunity on the open market. In my opinion, "we will not be outbid" is basically the same as throwing out a specific number. Worse even, since a specific number could be lower than what someone else offers. Now Parise knows he should talk to Minnesota after any offer, and he can use those comments to push for a higher salary from anyone who makes an offer. Things can move fast on UFA day. If the Wings want to be aggressive, they won't necessarily want to wait around while Parise gets a counter-offer from the Wild. Doing so could mean they miss out on other players. Would it have made any difference had the story not been released? Likely no one will ever know. But it's pretty simple rule: Don't talk about players under contract to other teams. It's not hard. And there's no reason for it other than to give yourself an advantage over all the teams who follow the rules. I agree with you in principle, but comparing this to rape makes you sound a little hysterical. I don't give a s*** if someone jaywalks. Doesn't mean I'm indifferent to every crime. Some things just aren't worth getting worked up over. This specific case, where the potential damage caused is likely somewhere between none and very little, and the potential for actually proving any wrongdoing is virtually nil, is I think one of those things. Certainly not worth the time and expense of a court proceeding. I don't think it would warrant anything more than a fine anyway, even if it was proven (as much as I would like to see Minnesota prohibited from signing Parise, I don't feel that would be justified).

No, no it doesn't. Simply put, there was no public comment made by any member, past or present, of the Minnesota Wild organization in regards to going after Parise in free agency. That really is the only way that the league will automatically go after the team for tampering. Sure, the Devils could file tampering charges & try to convince the Commissioners office to investigate. Realistically, the only way that happens is that Parise ends up signing with the Wild straight out of the gate on July 1st. And if all the league can find is that a 72 year old former GM of a completely different club, popped off at the mouth during a radio interview, nothing will come of it. Unless they can find hard evidence that there was a distinct plan to leak info out to the public (say like in an internal email chain) through Nanne or, like in the case of the Blues tampering w/ Scott Stevens when he was an RFA years ago, the actual existence of a contract that was drawn up & discussed with Parise's agent prior to July 1st, the whole thing will go nowhere.

I think the idea of Wild offering Parise a blank check proves how careless they are over cap management, and teams that are poor at cap management never amount to anything. Parise wants to be on a competitive team and that starts at the top with management making smart (and swift) decisions for not only today, but for the future. Wild will be a sinking ship if they offer blank checks to every good UFA available in July.

We may as well have traded for Bob Murray. I will miss Stuart. Good solid reliable dman. Signing Suter will ease the pain though.

I hate this. Stuart has been so valuable to our D. This sucks.

Stuart leaving is a bigger loss than most realize. He takes a lot of crap around here from some who fail to see just how good he was overall for four years here. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but there aren't many who come even close to great, let alone very good, and Stuart was without a doubt very, very, very good and a very important part of the Wings defensive puzzle over the last four years. Losing him and Nick in one fell swoop is rough. If Holland can't make some big things happen, we're likely to have a rough season ahead of us. Thankfully, for once, I think Holland knows he has to be more pro-active and aggressive than he's had to be at any point in his career. If ever there was a sink or swim time for the Wings management, it's now. Also, not expecting this pick to hang around for long. Whenever Holland trades for the rights of one of his big targets, this will be in the package no doubt.

Ugh, I knew it was coming but I really liked Stuart. He was a solid defender. Good luck in the shark tank buddy.

I never said not to try and land the kid. I just said that's it's stupid to guarantee him anything before you've seen him play against professional hockey players. Read through all my posts and you'll see over and over, "sign him and give him a shot to make the team in camp". Seriously, I double dare you to quote one single time I said, "don't sign Schultz". Additionally, I'd submit that one of the reasons that the Wings have been so good for so many years is precisely because they don't "take chances" and promote unproven NCAA players over NHL ready players. Not really sure why any of you think that it's a good time to start doing that.

Agreed. These premadonnas are a diamond dozen. It's a doggy dog world out there so these kids shouldn't be taking stuff like this for granite.