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The reason the Wings have to pick up Doan is rather simple: We need to replace this face... With this one... Think of the photoshoppers Kenny, those innocent little photoshoppers.

Getting Doan and Tootoo in one off season would be magically delicious! esteef

Doan will most likely sign a 1 year deal with Phoenix and Semin will go to the KHL. Wings will likely sign Kubina as Kenny was rumoured to have interest in him at the trade deadline. Quincey and Abs will be re-signed. That will be it. Kenny will say how much he likes his team and that he will save his cap space for the trade deadline and will explore improving his roster. But really, nothing will be done. Kenny is all about adding and not subtracting. No impact trades will be made. Just depth ones. Realistically I think most Wings fans can agree that this team is good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to go very far. This season and next season are stopgap seasons until our influx of young talent become the next decade's Red Wings. We are basically buying time for Jankrok, Jurco, Pulkkinen, Mrazek, Callahan, Nyquist, Tatar, Smith, etc.

Yes, and his agent has opened up the bidding... He still may stay in Phoenix. Sounds like it may drag out, possibly. Hopefully what Khan says about his agent contacting us several times prior to now means that Doan is seriously considering us as his destination after Phoenix... Makes sense since we beat down on Phx consistently in the playoffs and Doan has lived with that, why not go to that team that you could never beat in the playoffs? I hope he comes here and finishes out his career. He'll look good on Datsyuk's or Zetterberg's wing.

I have lived in Minnesota for the last 9 years and actually have followed the Wild as a "2nd team", so I've seen and followed more of this team than most. This fan base is very knowledgeable about the sport of hockey, but extremely delusional and under-informed about the NHL (in my opinion). Jacque Lemaire and Doug Risebrough (former GM) did this fan base a great disservice by ushering in a boring trap style of hockey for years, which was especially ill-equipped to deal with the post-lockout style of play. If the question is whether this Wild team scares me, the answer is "no", at least not any more than any other playoff contender in the West. After being the hottest team in the NHL through December, this team was TERRIBLE for the rest of the year. And they didn't even have a sufficient excuse. They entered last season with the lowest payroll on defense in the league ($14 million, IIRC) and they are still young, undersized, and lacking depth. They swapped Schultz for Gilbert, but neither of those guys are legitimate Top 2 defensemen. Suter obviously gives them a centerpiece, but keep in mind that virtually everything he did was with the assistance of Shea Weber playing next to him. Defensemen, like goaltenders, are extremely vulnerable to their situation, and while Suter is very good (and I wanted him on the Wings), I don't think he's a Pronger or Chara-like building block that can completely turn around a defense. We'll see. The Wild are now up against the cap and have the most expensive forward corps in the NHL. That's unbelievable to me. The problem is that there are some pretty bad long-term contracts in there (Koivu $6.7 mil, Heatley $7.5 mil, PMB $4 mil). Heck, even $3 or $3.5 mil for Setoguchi and Cullen is a bit much for what you get. They get some more of those deals off the books next offseason, and Mikael Granlund is expected to be star quickly, but we haven't SEEN any of these young guys produce in the NHL yet. I think you could fairly say that the Minnesota Wild are "better positioned for the future" than the Detroit Red Wings right now. But keep in mind that the Minnesota Wild have done nothing BUT position themselves for the future since Fletcher took over as GM, since they have failed to put a winning team on the ice during that time. I think they could potentially be a team with a lot of firepower, but until they've established some kind (any kind) of track record, I wouldn't bet them against Detroit. Their defense is still garbage. Even with Suter, I don't think I would trade their unit for ours, and Detroit has obvious problems in that department.

Bolded: players who are capable of playing in the top-6 Filppula-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi Franzen-Zetterberg-Brunner Cleary-Helm-Samuelsson Miller-Abdelkader-Tootoo Eaves, Emmerton, Mursak, Andersson, Nyquist That's 9 different players who are capable of and could potentially play in the top-6 next year. We won't be trading for another top-6 forward, i.e. Nash and Ryan are not going to be Red Wings. It would be a waste of assets to trade, especially with Semin and Doan still on the market. The next move is obvious: sign Semin or Doan and then trade away 3-4 bottom-6 forwards, or don't sign them and still trade away about 3 bottom-6 forwards. Either or the bottom 6 dump is coming. Hopefully the trade will net another D-man. Edit: Can't understand why everyone is discussing trading for Nash or Ryan while we have more than enough in the forward department and a GAPING hole in our defense still. Bizarre-O world?

I cannot wait until they all become UFAs and they cannot afford to sign them.

Actually, if its around here, it sounds like the opposite of that Mitch Albom story. I guess we have started our decline and lost our luster according to the fans here. Only one fan has posted a positive story, everything else is gloom and doom.

Doan for 3 years please....not just a one year chance at a Cup....he'll want to go where he can win a Cup, but he will need a year just to get into our system 100%. Three years $5.5M please! Still leaves plenty of cap room...we need to get these types of UFA's in here, because they attract others...If Doan comes here, has a great time and gets into playoffs, guarantee he is respected enough among the players that UFA's next July will be calling him asking about his experience and if Detroit is the place to be...I don't think Semin would have the same affect, lets say, on Corey Perry or Ryan Getzlaf or even Shea Weber as Shane Doan would...just my $.02 worth....

I'm sorry, but you'll need to point me to where he said "We're satisfied with our current roster and won't be making any further moves." I haven't seen that.

The correct answer is that any ramifications from the new CBA will be dealt with in the new CBA, so no one really knows at this point. If I were to guess, I'd assume the cap will be unimpacted inititially and the structure will just move from their based on how they structure the new deal. That said, it is entirely possible that they agree to move the 57% down to 54% or 52% or 50% of league revenues for players. They could take that downward movement and lower the cap proportionately and also then lower all existing contracts down proportionately as well. I'm pretty confident in saying that the new CBA should not cause teams to have to get rid of any existing players.

I actually think it might be the opposite of that. I think he's willing to take less like around $5.5 mil, but wants more years. Teams don't want to sign a guy with a reputation of having a bad work ethic to a long term deal. If it was a money thing, I would think one of these teams trying to reach the cap floor or a team with plenty of cap space would just sign him to high salary 1 or 2 year deal.

I wonder how long that ridiculous quote will be misinterpreted before that guy freaking retires... How does signing nobody help that?

I have to believe at this point unless kenny is willing to go out and get his top 2 dman he needs(which will be at a high cost) that our team won't look like a team doan would be willing to gamble on before he makes his decision. Ether way i am looking forward to what the next months bring and i will have to practice patience.

Number 9, spot on. Semin-Datsyuk-Cleary Filppula-Zetterberg-Franzen Good enough.

Fil would bring you Ryan...plain and simple... Filppula, Mursak, Tatar, 2nd rounder gets us Bobby Ryan....MAKE THE FLIPPIN TRADE!

CAN'T WAIT TO GET MY WHISTLE!!! TOOOOOOOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He's 35 almost 36, and if he is given a multi year contract, there is the 35+ rule, so given the good chance that he decides to retire in the next few years the Wings are saddled with his cap hit for the rest of the contract. On top of that if he isn't worth 5-5.5 million this year what about for the rest of the life of the contract? So not only is he overpaid this year, he gets more and more overpaid every subsequent year. No thanks, rather not have a 3rd line winger making 5 million and on the downside of his career.

There are lots of options out there. More than we even know. I am not sure Holland will ever move Franzen. He chose to sign him over Hossa and it just seems that if he got rid of him, it would be like admitting a mistake...I wish he'd move Franzen, but....sigh.... Del Zotto would be good and so would McIlrath...I wanted Holland to draft McIlrath but the Rangers swooped him up before he got to Holland...I don't think Holland would've drafted him, but ya, I would love Dylan in a Wings uniform...definitely a youth movement. Same went for Joe Morrow a few years ago, but Pitt took him a couple of picks ahead of Detroit too...

Nothing against Doan as a hockey player but I've never liked him. His comments after PHO lost this year really cemented, in my mind, my dislike for the guy. That being said, he is definitely the type of player the Wings need. I think he would thrive here so if the Wings sign him I'd actually be pretty happy.

If Bowman's influence were so substantial and so grand, then the Blackhawks would be a much better team right now. Some of you are far too intent on finding someone to blame.

Come back, Nick.

Lidstrom is so awesome.

I must have missed something....what position do you play for the Wild?

I think it's because Flip and Franzen have the most value of the tradeable forwards. Also, Flip only has one year left on his contract, so his value is low in a trade. However, Flip is likely to re-sign at a decent price. Mule's cap hit is low, but he is signed for a long time. Semin would be more expensive, but could replace Mule. However, there is no replacement for Flip if/when Z or Dats are injured. Therefore, Mule can be traded for a decent return without hurting the team when most other forwards cannot.