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http://www.mlive.com...itch_for_r.html Can we please put this to bed now? Also, those myopic posts about Holland not doing his job... Yea, you can't dance if you don't have a partner, no matter how much you try...

Both great centers and both play an outstanding two way game. Unless theyre needed to shut down a top line together i think they should be split. Id rather split the shut down abilities of both across the top 6 and have both center 1 and 2 respectively. We just need to give pasha some support inwhich case he's been lacking. I still think pasha and filp are a deadly combo. Bring brunner to second line with hank and push filp to 1st w pasha.

I wouldn't expect him to improve his #'s much at all. If he was a sniper he'd benefit from a set-up guy like Datsyuk but he likes to carry the puck more than shoot it and I don't think he'd have the type of chemistry you'd want with Datsyuk. Nash played with some of the best players in the world during the Olympics and his numbers sucked, I don't buy the excuse that his lack of production is the fault of his linemates. He is what he is...a sub 80 pt player that collects way too big of a paycheck.

...again, I love this signing. Jordin Tootoo is the type of player this team has been missing...and guess what? Unlike the Drake signing where it was a 1 year last hurrah, Jordin is 27, signed for 3 years already PLUS he will probably finish his career here (5 more after this contract maybe?) as most players who come here do. No doubt if Stuart didn't have the family issues, he'd be signed here for a career ending contract. I have a feeling Sammy will end his here as well. It's crazy how all these players can go to teams to "hope" the rebuild takes only a few years...I know Detroit cannot sign ALL the players, but it seems there are two types of players in this league...players that bounce around for the money and players who sign somewhere to win for the rest of their careers...not many teams have the Resume of the Detroit Red Wings when it comes to winning and consistency. There will be certain players who will regret NOT signing in Detroit...but Tootoo will NOT be one of them. He is here til the end of his career, guaranteed. Especially if during his 3 year contract Detroit sniffs a Cup Final or wins a Cup. Again I say welcome to Hockeytown Jordin! What took you so long?

Tootoo really cleaned up his game last year. His past hurts him when it comes to getting the benefit of the doubt with the referees. I'm interested to see if that continues now that he's wearing a different sweater. You'd be hard pressed to find another 4th liner in the league that skates as hard and fast. He won't hesitate to put the puck on net. He won't back down to anyone. His attitude and hard skating is infectious. He a total energy guy that will pick his team up when they need a shot of adrenaline. Not to mention he is just a total pain in the ass to play against. Support this guy and he will thrive.

If you want to have depth in your forward lines, then no. I know that's how we had it in '08, but can Franzen, Cleary and Filppula be a threat on the second line still? I don't know. Flip seems like a completely different person when he plays on Z's line as opposed to not being on it. I wouldn't want to screw that up.

Purely depends on whether we land another big winger. If we get Semin or Doan. Then Pav has a help on his line. If we don't get Semin or Doan then I am all for moving Z back on the wing and bring Flip back to center.

Here's a rumor that the Penguins have offered him a contract: http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/332735-report-penguins-have-made-offer-to-doan?sct=nhl_bf1_a6&eref=fromSI&eref=fromSI I just can't imagine such a gritty hard working guy wanting to play with such a pansie b**ch

I prefer bringing up the kids and signing long term contracts with Justin Abdelkader, Valtteri Filppula, Pavel Datsyuk and Brendan Smith. We can always sign Shea Weber for $8.5 million per year next year. He's one of the few players worth the money.

We need more style of play like Niklas Kronwall. http://youtu.be/fk3qIjz5EDM Pavel Datsyuk http:// youtu.be/fuedKsOGUCw and the work horse Darren Helm...

The one thing we can’t do as a franchise is live in the past saying… “We need to replace Lidstrom.” Our identity needs to adapt to the talent available. I would prefer the Wings focus on defense and becoming tough to play against. I want opponents coming to Detroit saying, “Oh crap… we play Detroit tomorrow.” The least penalized team label has to go. We need some bigger tougher players. I’m not talking about being dirty or fighting. I’m talking about agitators like Niklas Kronwall and Jordin Tootoo. http://youtu.be/G1bXbuRlS2I For those of you who want to remember the past. The best was Vladimir Konstantinov!

Ok....Brunner, better than Hudler....Sammy, better than Hudler...Tootoo, better than Hudler....seriously though if Brunner nets 20-25, Sammy nets 20-25, Tootoo reeks havoc and makes it harder to play against us, we are already better offensively than we were last season... Smith may turn out to be a 40-50 scorer...this is the year Kronner tops 40...Sammy WAY better defensively than Hudler... re-sign Abby and we lose Mursak and Emmerton probably...Nyquist will get 30 points (if not more as long as he stays in the top 6.) I am all for making the deal for Nash or Ryan, but honestly, this team doesn't suck, they have a TON of young heart and enthusiasm...more so that they have had in a LONG LONG time....hey guess what, back up goalie is better than last year too! BTW Howard is healthy, remember last season when he was healthy? He was leading all the talks in the Vezina department... I think Kronner really steps it up this season to become the leader he was touted to be when they drafted him...Smith will get heavy nods for Rookie of the Year (be nice to beat out that guy from Minn. I'd ) and I really think this Brunner kid is gonna surprise a lot of people...we won't know until this is the final roster...would like Doan and Nash/Ryan...but if not, then I think we'll still make the playoffs and along the way make some loud noises! I think if Franzine stays he needs to get 40 goals in order to secure his spot on the top line...this the year for him to prove he is that top line scorer... speaking of "the year," lest we forget Filppula is in a contract year and will be looking to earned $5M+ on his next one, so you never know, he may top 70-80 points...life is good in Hockeytown. Even with losing Lids and Stu....we took more steps forward than we did back... edit: As a matter of fact, the talk is who is gonna replace Datsyuk when he retires, where is he gonna come from...well if he stays, look no further than Val Filppula...I know I talk about trading him, but if he remains a Wing and signs a "career" contract like Kronner, he will be the #1 center in a few years...

I guess we are probably looking at it differently. I don't necessarily see revenue sharing as a "fix" to a temporary issue for which the smaller market team will come out of. I see it more of a permanant thing whereby teams share revenue since overall revenues are driven by the league, not necessarily individual teams. I'm not suggesting you take all the revenues and divide it evenly amongst all the teams in the league (though I'm sure there are people out there that might suggest that), I just think there shoudl be sharing of revenues that are not necessarily team specific. A team can't make money if they aren't playing another team. To use an extreme example, if the league was made up of 2 teams and they just played each other all the time and the only revenues being generated were from the gate, if one team was in a different geographic region, different economic factors, etc., they might be bringing in significantly more revenue than the other team. In that model, it would make sense for one team to be bringing in more money, but it wouldn't make sense if there was an enormous disparity between the two. Look, I think the ultimate solution is to get rid of the teams in struggling markets, but I think we need to forget about that, it is not an available option.

But we can plug necessary holes through free agency. WRITE THE CHECK!!!!!! esteef

Redistribution of wealth (revenue sharing) does not solve the problem of teams in weak markets. It put's a bandade on the problem at the expense of the successful owners. In other words, it punishes success and rewards failure... which never helps matters. The solution is to move teams out of weak markets, period. The NHLPA needs to get behind moving failing teams.

Yeah dude, trade Datsyuk and Kronwall and Zetterberg and Helm and some picks. Your ridiculous defense of Holland no matter the circumstance is getting dumber and dumber. I wish I had a job where I could just throw my hands up and say "I can't do anything" and everyone would praise me. What a f***in' load. esteef

No, wait....Callahan - Abdelkader - Tootoo....Hmmmm.....do you think Holland would allow that line? There has to be a 6'2" 135lb. European somewhere that can take one of those spots...

No, the best move they made was letting Hudler go!

First, no, it's absolutely not true. But a lot of adult hockey fans in the 80's and 90's were bred with that Cold War mentality, and misinterpreted the playing styles of some of the Russians who defected at that time. Any stereotype based on an entire nationality of players is obviously unfair - Konstantinov and Darius Kasparatis were extremely rugged players who just happened to share the same nationality as guys like Alex Kovalev. But if you ever watch European soccer, there are just cultural difference in sport that Americans will not accept. For example, American athletes fully accept doing anything to gain an edge (bending the rules, steroids in baseball, trying to hurt opponents), yet diving or embellishing injury of any kind is a violation of the "man code" and completely dishonorable. In other countries, however, this is seen as a "trying to get an edge", really no different than stepping out of bounds but failing to correct a referee who doesn't make the call. Still, the "soft" or "lazy" accusation gets imputed to the whole when North American fans see something like this: I never though that Fedorov was "soft" or that Kozlov was "lazy", but I heard that all the time. There was a famous Sergei Fedorov quote where he said if his name were "Sam Jones", he would be considered a much bigger star than he was. There's been this tacit requirement that the bar for Russian players is much higher in the NHL (and still is). In other words, if you're Jordin Tootoo or Cal Clutterbuck and spend most of your time scrapping and running people in corners, North American players are romanticized for doing that, while a Russian who did that but couldn't score probably couldn't even stay in the NHL. I think it's getting noticeably worse for Russian players in the NHL, and the KHL is a prime reason for that. Nobody wants to make a long-term commitment to these guys when there's always the threat that they'll pull a Radulov or Hudler and end up back overseas. I think that's a legitimate concern for would-be employers, but we can do with out the Don Cherry-style xenophobia.

Yet you seem to be able to tell the future of hockey....I bet the kate upton thing happens before the Wild win a Cup... I'm sorry? I know Detroit is close to Canada, but it's not IN Canada...didn't see the Wild on the short list either, maybe because they aren't in Canada? $110M offer from teams that had no chance to sign them, but offered them the world to try to sway them...again you seem to be omitting the part about family. Parise "If it weren't for family I'd be back in NJ..." Suter "I was leaning towards Detroit but decided to play where my family is" I hate to break it to you, but Minny ONLY got them because of family, they said themselves. I said it before, if their families lived in Seattle, WA they'd be playing for the Canucks...if they were from Fort Lauderdale, they be Panthers...what part of that do yo not understand? They didn't go to Minny because of their great team or stellar future...THEY WENT FOR FAMILY! And it took MORE money to get them there! Hey, if their families were from Ann Arbor, MI. guess where they'd be playing? Are you 12?

I think leaving Eaves out of the lineup is a mistake.... he was hurt last season so many people seem to forget that we have him. He has a good speed, great defensive abilities, and can also pot us 15-20 goals with relatively low ice time. I strongly believe Eaves is going to get a better look at things this season and be consistently in the lineup.... Oh, and he's a right handed shot.

I love how when you read a topic like this on LGW the first like 20 posts are f*** Q, he sucks anyway, what an *******! Then as you read on and people have had some actual time to think before posting the first thing that popped into their head someones like "wait....maybe this was just a business decision by his agent, nothing personal" and then a little after that "wait...this could be good for us actually" LOL Q is probably going to get awarded something like 3.5 to 4 million (only $250,000 - $750,000 more than he would have got without the arb) and it takes him off the offer sheet market for other teams in a league that is desperate for D-men. THIS IS A WIN WIN. He get a little more dough and it stops a poop team from offering him 5 million in an offer sheet. I would be fine losing him on an offer sheet and taking the picks...but now that we lost Lids and Stuart and didnt land Suter we CANNOT afford to lose another d-man period. Arb was probably agreed to be valuable for both sides Abdelkader is a less desirable commodity and is expendable right now. If he filed for arb Holland could either say to him "f*** you we got tootoo, just go to UFA *****" or "we want you, just give us time to dump some forwards before we solidify a contract"....Abby will get fair money from Holland anyway.

Everyone sees arbitration and labels the player as a villain, but in a lot of cases arbitration is actually a positive. Like others have said, I'm pretty sure it means he's locked into the Wings now. Once arbitration is submitted he is saying he will agree to play with us (or go overseas) for whatever the arbitrator says which could wind up being less than he wants. He just wants to make a case for a higher salary. It's his way of saying he wants to play for us but wants more money. Not quite as douchey as holding up the team in negotiations forever and then bolting for big money elsewhere. And like others have said, Quincey just needs time to adapt. I doubt he'll meet his full potential anytime soon, if ever, but he's still a serviceable #4. And as for Abdelkader not filing, it's probably because he and Holland wrapping up a deal and aren't far apart in what each side is asking for.

It's a business decision, Quincey holds must of the power right now, he knows the Red Wings need defensemen, and he knows they have plenty of money. Not a big deal, just his agent looking out for his player's best interest.

That was a poll done by the CBC with the NHLPA. Bylsma was first with 21%. Babs was 2nd with 18%: http://www.cbc.ca/sp...nt-to-play-for/ From there it drops to Tippet at 9%. Babcock an issue? Highly doubtful.