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...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.

Red Wings Rebuilding and Adapting to Maintain Dominance The Detroit Red Wings have been in a rebuilding phase since Brian Rafalski hurt his knee and retired. But with Brad Stuart and Nick Lidstrom gone, this sends the Red Wing organization into a much deeper rebuilding process. We are the victim of our own success. The Wings were so dominate for so long that fans around the country figured who ever won the Detroit/Colorado series would become the Cup Champion. The Eastern Conference could only hope the two teams would beat each other up to have a chance. But not even the mighty Avalanche could keep up with the Red Wings. As a result the NHL introduced a policy of parity among teams. That’s why I laugh at all the knuckleheads on this forum who attack Kenny Holland and the Red Wing management. These are the same people who forced the NHL to change the rules toward parity. The Wings not only dominated the ice with leadership and skill, but their marketing dominated even the NHL front office through its Hockeytown campaign. They redefined the game with the left wing lock and a specialized system which was unique to the league. The Wings dominated with an active owner willing to commit the resources for developing talent and building morale. The Wings dominated in attendance and fan base around the league. But the biggest domination has been in the draft and evaluating talent. It really would have been scary if 11th round pick Vladimir Konstantinov played a full career alongside Nick Lidstrom. Kris Draper for a dollar from Winnipeg! Kirk Maltby a trade with Edmonton in '95 for defenseman Dan McGillis! WHO IS DAN McGILLIS!!!! Vladimir Konstantinov 1989: 11th round, (221st overall) Sergei Fedorov 1989 - 4th round (74th overall) Keith Primeau to Hartford for Brendan Shanahan! Nick Lidstrom 1989 - 3rd round (53rd overall) Slava Kozlov 1990 - 2nd round (45th overall) Bob Probert 1983 - 3rd (46th overall) Joe Kocur 1983 - 5th Round, (88th overall) Johan Franzen 2004 - 3rd round (97th overall) Darren Helm 2005 - 5th round (132nd overall) Pavel Datsyuk1998 - 6th round (171st overall) Valtteri Filppula 2002 - 3rd round (95th overall) Tomas Holmstrom 1994 - 10th round (257th overall) Henrik Zetterberg 1999 - 7th round (210th overall) Jonathan Ericsson 2002 - 9th Round, (291st overall) Chris Osgood 1991 - 3rd round (54th overall) Jimmy Howard 2003 - 2nd Rnd, (64th overall) This proves the Wings didn’t just throw money at players! They built a dominating franchise in all phases in the sport! THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT As Red Wing fans we need to accept this transition of rebuilding and not demand trades for overpriced forwards like Rick Nash ($7.8 annually). Don’t trade the youth… develop the youth! The NHL has changed the rules, now we need to adapt and dominate like we have in the past. The following list of Red Wing youth all have a tremendous chance to contribute to the organization. Brendan Smith D Damien Brunner LW Riley Sheahan C http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=PET_AGhPCg0 Petr Mrazek G http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TVpMrFNzOYTomas Jurco RW http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPsk6n2q5g Teemu Pulkkinen RW http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzfGZwoiGjU Gustav Nyquist LW http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGuCbnHiy3o Tomas Tartar LW http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=OivN-x05v24 Calle Jarnkrok C http: //youtu.be/pJrqdY4HDDg Ryan Sproul D http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fil5eZGVyb0 Xavier Ouellet D http: //youtu.be/aMgjqcQzbp0 Landon Ferraro C http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=20sz6_Aj4xc Martin Frk http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEQbMQLgZO0

For his style of play and repuation, his PIM numbers are fairly small actually. A good number of those 92 PIMs last year are from fighting and you have to think a lot from roughing as well with another going to the box. Plus when he pisses off the other team he draws a lot of penalties as well. Of course youre going to get some penalties from this type of player, but when youre getting one of the hardest hitting forwards and one of the toughest pound for pound fighters, that small amount of penalties he takes is worth it in my eyes the next game when he has guys looking over their shoulders and hurrying with the puck

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...

Nobody "liked" Scotty either....Not saying that Babcock is as good as Scotty, but if Holland or Ilitch had ANY incling that Mike Babcock was hindering the team from landing quality talent, Mike Babcock would be castrated...

The only place he should go is away. I know the OP didn't mean in Detroit but he shouldn't be playing anywhere, he's 42 and he's got nothing he can offer a team at this point. It's over, great career but c'mon now. Very few players can play in their 40's and he's not one of them.

I'd either sign him for one season at a relatively high cap hit (5-6) or 2+ for a low hit (3-3.5). Not high cap hit and a lot of seasons.

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.

It definitely was an awesome fight. I was nervous in the 1st round after Chael took him down right away. lol

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

Well with Erhoff I doubt very seriously he plays until 40, so basically you've got a guy who will put up 30+ points a year, and runs the hell out of a powerplay, for 4 million dollars until the end of his career. I do understand being wary of that term though, and you're right, it's a gamble, but if Brian Rafalski can put up quality numbers despite having s***ty knees, at 36-37 years old, so can Erhoff...and Erhoff would be cheaper. Wiz is as good defensively as Kronwall, hits, fights, is 20 lbs. heavier, and scores as much or more, and god knows he'd help our powerplay Plus, unlike Erhoff, he won't be all that old when his contract is up...33 I think. In all honesty I don't really understand why people thought this one was so bad. His bad defensive years were with Columbus -13, and the Islanders -18. When he was traded from the Island to Montreal he was a plus four for the remainder of the season. Excluding the two years playing on two of the worst teams imaginable, the Wiz is a career plus defenseman. He does take bad penalties now and again, but usually it's because he's overly aggressive, something I wouldn't really mind on our team. Those are my defenses of those two guys, you're welcome to disagree, as neither of them are elite players and I'm aware of it. Obviously my list included more than just those two as well, but the point I was always trying to make is that there have been plenty of good defensemen available over the last three years. We either didn't want them, or didn't think we needed them. In lieu of our current defensive situation I'd say that those were both poor decisions. Finally, hindsight is 20/20, I get that. But isn't it part of a general manager's job to anticipate the future (as best as possible)? Holland constantly talks about the future. So it's hard for me to say that he shouldn't have been better prepared, preparation falls pretty much exclusively on his shoulders. He's still a great GM, but I agree with Esteef, he could have handled this better.

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.

Not just Russian players....many players don't care about the Cup. Most recently Suter and Parise, who will now never see it again unless they do a Discover commercial with Peggy. A championship used to be the focus of everyone and was cherished, now these guys could care less about winning, as long as they have a bloated contract, are playing with friends and are worshiped by their fans. It's turned into the NFL and NBA.

Ya the league going to a lock out thats great news!

Tootoo won't be on the ice when Zetterberg is. Smith Tootoo won't be on the ice when Zetterberg is but Smith will stand up for his teammates would be nice to get a power forward as well

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.

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.