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Considering this is what the area looks like... I would say there's a very good chance the arena will help revitalize this part of town. M-1 Rail helps get Woodward developments rolling As you can see this is a much bigger project than just a sports arena. I'm very hopeful that the city is finally moving in the right direction.

There's absolutely no rush to get Jurco or Pulkkinen signed so don't speculate that there's trouble getting them signed... both have stated that they expect deals to get done soon ...and there's more than "tablescraps" left for them, but that isn't the issue either. Both Jurco and Pulkkinen know they aren't due hefty raises and don't expect them because they know how this team works.

Due to the bump, I read some of the earlier comments in this thread, specifically with the issues around Pronger being eligible for the HHOF even though he isn't "technically" retired. To be clear, retirement is not part of the eligibility criteria. The actual requirement is as follows: "Must not have played a game in a professional or international hockey game during any of the three (3) playing seasons prior to his or her election."

Pasha, take all the time you need. We'll be fine until you return.

Franzen, Helm, Ericsson and Howard. Duh. (_not my opinion_)

Pretty much. Just have a percentage of home grown talents contracts not count VS the cap. It would reward teams that build through the draft, instead of having them get blown up like the Blackhawks have had to do twice now.

The Detroit arena issue is far more complex than most including Oliver and deadspin care to examine. Ilitch bought up ridiculous amounts of land in what investors called lottery tickets. What wasn't historically available was bought up a decade ago and they asked for sometime 5 times as much as the estimate, so no he didn't get the arena land for $1 like some would like to claim. The DDA state money which is collected annually can be applied to large developmental projects like this one. So no to the education, police and fire crowd, it isn't accessible for those so that angle is really irrelevant. The Cass Corridor is a wasteland. This project connects Woodward from the river to the entertainment district on to Wayne State. It makes the M-1 light rail project, that much more important in my opinion because this will truly connect Midtown with Downtown. Detroit desperately needs this type of investment, Ilitch is going to wind up spending north of 500 million in personal wealth. Will he make a profit? Sure he will. But the Cass Corridor is a ghost town, it is everything people like to point out is wrong with Detroit. The Wings also leave behind waterfront property for redevelopment (the Joe is already scheduled to be demolished for a hotel/residential project). Olympia will also bring the biggest concert venue in from the suburbs where the Palace will now surely lose dates. Plus the Pistons will eventually move to the new arena giving the city 40 extra dates to collect income taxes on (Gores has pretty much stated it's his dream for the team to play in Detroit). There are a lot of net gains here, but people will see what they want to see, and parrot the stuff John Oliver said with no regard for the differences in situations.

My sister passed away about 3 weeks ago from cancer. A couple of seasons ago she had a chance to go to a Wings game. My dad had been in contact with the Wings people and they were trying to work out who she might want to meet if she got the chance. It was up to me to ask her who she wanted to meet. Of course, we were trying to surprise her so I didn't want to just come out and say "Hey you're probably going to get to meet one of the players, who do you want to meet?" So i would ask, "Hey Care, if you got to meet anybody on the wings who would you want to meet?" "DAN CLEARY!" she'd exclaim. So a couple of days later I would ask again. "DAN CLEARY!!" was the answer I got again. She knew they were going to be going to the game when she went down to Ann Arbor, so I tried again, "No..Seriously....If you really got to meet one of the current Wings players when you go to the game, who would it be?" I could not have given her a bigger hint without flat out just telling her! "DAN CLEARY!" So she and my dad and uncle went to the game and had a good time. Then the game was over. As they are trying to 'leave' the building, my uncle is leading the way with directions on where to go with my dad and sister following him. She still has no idea. They end up in an area where she figures they aren't supposed to be. "Are we allowed down this way?" Finally they end up standing against a wall with a bunch of other people with a Wings/arena employee telling them to just wait where they are. "Are we meeting players?!" She had finally figured it out. While they were waiting she felt she had accidentally bumped into someone behind her. She turned to say she was sorry to them. But nothing came out of her mouth. It was Nicklas Lidstrom that she had bumped into!! (This was during his last season when he wasn't playing due to his ankle) He saw she was trying to apologize and told her it was no big deal. Other players like Pavel and Zetterberg had walked through the hallway where they were waiting. Finally Dan Cleary came out and asked "Are you Carrie?" I don't remember much of what else happened (I wasn't there, just heard the stories afterward), but he was super nice to her, took a couple of pictures, and signed some things. The jersey says "To: Carrie Best Wishes Your friend, Dan Clear 11" He also had a signed bobble head sent to our house a couple of weeks later. I always teased her about wanting to meet Cleary over anybody else, but she really enjoyed the whole experience

Wow aside from the powerplay, the team really does play better without him it looks like. 2.88 goals per game with Franzen. 3.05 without him. 2.45 goals against with him and 2.21 without him. Those aren't very promising stats. But then again. Didn't the team also have better stats WITHOUT Datsyuk in the 2013/2014 season? Atl east I think that was the case for a good period of time when he wasn't playing. So I'm not sure if these stats are truly reflective.

Anyone worrying about losing a guy like Andersson, Ferraro, or Callahan on waivers should find more important things to worry about. They're all dime a dozen players.

Not only that, but $19M isn't an amount to turn your nose up. If he gets seriously injured or otherwise unable to perform in two years, he'll be glad he signed this contract instead of holding out for $6-8M. Think about it... Let's say the alternative was playing under the RFA amount for two years and then signing a big contract: 2015-2016 $3,000,000 Two-year contract at lower rate to get to UFA. 2016-2017 $3,000,000 Two-year contract at lower rate to get to UFA. 2017-2018 $7,750,000 (big contract, presuming #'s keep rising and his performance increases) UFA 2018-2019 $7,750,000 UFA So that's a total of 4-years, $21,500,000. Even if he signed a two-year, $6M contract - giving him the quickest out to UFA status - he's risking about $12M (difference between what he'd have at the end of the 16-17 season and what he's going to have now at the end of the 18-19 season) on the chance that he doesn't have a career-ending injury or otherwise harm his chances at a big contract. So, yes, he maximizes his salary ceiling by signing a two-year deal, but he also maximizes his salary floor by signing a four-year deal. Risk/Reward.