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What are you talking about? Mrazek is a potential starting goalie, not a backup. He needs another year in GRs playing 60 games way more than he needs to play 25-30 games in the NHL. And wtf with the Liv comparisions? That's like comparing Mantha to Dick Axelsson. The Wings and budding PGA hopeful, Ken Holland, made the right move. Cut and dried. It's only debateable here on LGWs forums because people are clearly either crazy or so spoiled they can't see straight.

So $5.8 per for 6 years for a second line winger who plays a style that will lead his body to break down well before the contract is up is market value maybe below?

He gave him a little extra but kept the term to one year. Holland did well. Good, respectable, REAL WORLD, signing. If you can’t see this, then I don’t know what to say to you.

Thankfully we have a whole thread devoted to this breaking news...

He already has an absolute bomb. I’d play him now just for that. Detroit hasn’t had a shot like that from the blue line since Bowman had Sergei playing defence. Same as Pulkinen. I almost don’t care that either prospect can't play a complete 200 ft game yet. Put ‘em in the line-up and let them fire bullets on the PP. God that would be awesome. Sorry, got carried away.

Sproul’s will be better

I'd like them both. Wiz's shot on the other side of our PP would be lethal.

He can't go on ltir because he's injury prone. He has to have a real documented injury. I can't see him retiring at 32 or 33 with that much money on the table either.

Well how is he supposed to do it at the highest level if he doesn't get his shot? To be fair, he looked great in his first and only NHL game against the Blues in a 3-0 win on the road. He played over 18 minutes, had 3 shots on goal, 2 hits and 2 blocked shots. He looked very poised and was able to rush the puck extremely well. He made one bad decision on a pinch, but overall didn't look out of place at all. He also, made a great play defending a 3 on 1 to keep the Blues off the board.

As KH is going to qualify him, I really think this is the best outcome for the wings. If we had signed him, he would have got picked up off waivers for some bottom feeder with an imbalanced roster, while earning league minimum, and bouncing between the NHL and AHL while learning the ropes. This way he gets to earn good money and be guaranteed high level games, and we get to keep his rights rather than losing him for nothing. The staff all seem to agree that he was ready skill-wise and smarts-wise, but not physically. So this way they get to keep an eye on him while he develops, and if he ever manages to put on the extra 20-25 lbs that would make him big enough to play in the NHL for one not so tall or quick, we get first dobs. Indeed that way things were spoken of by AA and the wings brass suggests that this is an outcome that suits both parties and that both aniticipated and to a degree planned for. He really is an incredibly smart player, but was so small when he started that he is still too small with his limited size increase..this was shown in the AHL playoffs where 2 years in a row he got injured (although both hits were very late and dirty as hell and should have led to suspensions). If you are a go to puck mover you have to be able to take the inevitable punishment aimed at you better than he currently can. If he gets to 26 and weighs 195, it would be great to bring him back, as a PP QB he is undoubtedly better than anyone on the big club not called Kronwall and any of the prospects bar Sproul. He didn't look out of place at NHL level, but his small frame meant they had to keep him sheltered, and more so than was reasonable long term. I, like many others, feel that if you are going to shelter Kindl's lack of intensity and Lashoff's lack of ability, then perhaps it was worth giving AA more games to see how he would cope, but then this is expecting too much from a coach that won't play Smith on the powerplay, thinks that Abledakder is a viable top line option rather than an effective occasional plug in, and seems determined to not keep or re-unite effective lines. (I still can't get over putting legwand on the 4th line when the two players he had chemistry with, Nyquist and Franzen, were struggling). Worked out ok for Hudler!

I agree about the lockouts. But do you think that its a problem that salaries are constantly escalating? I mean, obviously its good that good, hard working players get rewarded, but isn't it getting a bit ridiculous?

No if his body breaks down they'll be paying $5.8 mil for 30 points and 60 games.

Gus had a relatively good season, inspite of his injuries. You don't think it's better to bring back a known commodity who actually helped us get to the playoffs last year than go with something completely different who may just have looked good under someone else's defensive system? I mean, I'm all for trying something new, but if the guy had a good season, why not keep him? Yea Gus isn't the greatest goalie, but he's a backup, and backups don't have to be great goalies. They've just got to give you a chance to win 20 games of the year, which Gus more than did last season.

Its not about the length for me, it's the $$$. We had one lockout where salaries were rolled back and a hard cap of $39 million introduced because they were deemed to be getting out of hand. In the time since we've got a cap that's nearly doubled, and mid level players salaries are rising again. Which means that the top players want to earn even more, to separate their egos above those of the middle level, further driving salaries higher. Look at the highest salaries from 03-04: Forsberg = $11m Jagr = $11m Fedorov = $10m Here's after the first lockout - 05-06: Jagr = $8.36m Lidstrom = $7.6m Now look at today - 13-14: Weber $14m Crosby = $12m Parise = $11m So what was the point of both of these lockouts, if the primary aim was to reduce salaries? They've now caught and surpasses pre 2003 levels. That's why for me, its tough to sit here watch a mid level 2nd line role player like Callahan get a mega contract when if not for greed and stupidity we could have avoided 3 lockouts.

That's not actually what would happen if his body wears down - that's if he has one really serious injury. Injuries could just lower his ability to be effective and then they're stuck with a player who plays like last year's Cleary on their roster for the rest of his large contract. Not really the best deal and it does have some risk, but Tampa pretty much were forced to resign him after St. Louis left. No other UFA would fill that hole. Good for them that they were able to talk him down at least a little from the demands that he made with NY.

So you want to trade one problem for another. I'd rather fix the issue.

Wiz also stated the Wings don't pay free agents market value, so there was likely very little chance of him signing in Detroit. Comparing Wiz and E isn't fair either, as they are two completely different players. E is the Wings best defensive d-man on a team that is a wreck in their own zone. That's quite valuable in itself.

You can have Wiz. I’ll take Kronwall 10 out of 10 times.

McQuaid for me please.

I'll take one Deryk Engelland, please.

Let's see what happens when/if they can no longer compete. It's easy to like a winning team.

Lol. You're changing your tune. Previously you said we'd be worse off with Kesler and Niskanen than Smith and Helm. I'm not going to argue about Smith's potential, everybody knows how I feel about that. But at the very least it's clear that right now, at their respective levels of development, Smith is not better than Niskanen. At all. Likewise, I wouldn't argue that it would always be better to have BOTH Kesler and Helm. But that's not what you said. You insinuated that we'd be worse because Helm is one of our best defensive forwards. But we'd be replacing him with one of the best defensive forwards in the league. You're entitled to your opinion. Obviously. But if we swapped Smith and Helm for Niskanen and Kesler we'd be a better team overnight. And we'd stay a better team for the forseeable future barring some freakish developmental jumps from Smith and Helm that (so far in their careers) they've not shown they were capable of. For instance, let Smith score 20 NHL points in one season before we anoint him the next big puck mover. Niskanen did that and more as a 20 year old rookie.

His points per game are nearly identical to Dustin Brown's, and he brings all the same intangibles, for the same contract. I don't think this is a bad deal at all. It's not a steal for sure, but I think only the Red Wings and Red Wings fans believe each and every contract negotiation should end in the teams' favor.

Ken Holland: Hello Daniel, I am calling to personally thank you for your many years of great service. You have been an integral part of the Detroit Red Wings since you signed on with us. However, despite earlier promises, I must regretfully inform you that we will not be offering you a contract for the upcoming season. Daniel Cleary: Wow, Kenny… I mean… where did this come from?!? I've devoted the last ten years of my life to the Detroit Red Wings. I left money and term on the table last year in Philly so I could play here with the promise of another contract to come... KH: I know Daniel, and we thank you for that, but based on you performance last year, and how well our prospects played filling in for you and other while the injury bug hit, we feel this is the direction we need to take as a franchise. DC: C’mon man, you know I only played poorly last year because I was injured. There’s still plenty left in the ol’ gas tank. I know I can get back to my old form, and deep down inside, you know it too Kenny! KH: That may be the case, Daniel. However we are simply not in a position where we can afford to bring you back on. I’m sorry. DC: Wow!, what happened to you, man? You use to be cool. KH: What?!? I’m still cool, Daniel. DC: No, you’re not. You've changed man, and not for the better. Loyalty use to mean something to you. I guess it doesn't anymore. KH: Loyalty is very important to me. DC: Whatever, man. You’re all talk. Take your lies and broken promises elsewhere. Talk to you later… KH: Wait! Don’t hang up! Let me see what I can do, Daniel. I’ll prove to you that I’m still cool. I’ll call your agent and see if we can’t work something out right away; perhaps a two-way contract? DC: Two-way contracts aren't cool, man. KH: You’re right, you’re right… I knew that. Definitely not cool. I can do better... just let me talk to your agent, ok? We’ll work something out, don’t worry Daniel. DC: Cool, man. I’ll see you when camp opens. Ciao. KH: Yeah, yeah… Ciao!

Kind of silly to be upset over this. It's a backup role. So what if there were a small handful of slightly better goalies? They aren't THAT much better, and Gus is a known quantity with an establishes relationship with the team. It's really a non-issue. I would've liked to have had Mrazek as the backup but its pretty hard to get upset over Gus coming back.