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I wish him nothing but the best. Guy lost his mother then came to Toronto in a trainwreck situation and thanks to Toskala got called up way too early (he never played on smaller ice before). I think he has shown what he can do when he is healthy so I hope it works out for him, guy deserves all the good faith in the world. Hopefully he can stay healthy still sad to see him go

Abby will definitely re-sign with the wings. No chance he doesn't

I'd say it's a 95+ percent chance that Abby resigns next season. I would be absolutely shocked if he signs elsewhere. Not gonna happen.

Cleary clearly hacked Ashley Madison and saw Ken Holland's account on there. His username was KickinTires

In no way does he sound the least bit sour or "salty" in that quote... People can hate on Cleary all they want but this signing does not affect the Detroit Red Wings in any way, neither short term, not long term. I don't even believe that the argument of him taking a spot from a young prospect, such as Nastasiuk holds true. If Zach can't beat out Dan in a battle for a spot in the lineup, he doesn't deserve the spot, plain and simple. I'd be shocked if Cleary plays any more than 20-30 games with Grand Rapids this season, and he surely won't play any more than 5-10 in Detroit... Typical LGW, looking for something, anything to complain about. But, hey it's been a long offseason. Bring on development camp / training camp / pre-season... and of course regular season!

If he wasn't so injury prone he couldve been an amazing goalie.

I can't believe I am agreeing with frankgrimes, but I am. I think this is the 4th time in LGW forum history for this, so it isn't the first time. The organization has shown loyalty to Cleary. The cap hit isn't going to hurt the team. They are in essence paying him out of their own pockets to be an emergency call up. Who cares if they let him into training camp and give him preseason minutes. Who cares if he ends up in the AHL. In fact, no one should care that they signed him to this deal. If anything, other players will see this as loyalty that is being rewarded after all these years and want to come play here. Hell, if I am at the end of my career, and my workplace decides to keep me around out of loyalty even when my most productive years are behind me, I would be very grateful.

Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson will attend training camp with the Boston Bruins on a tryout, Sportsnet reported Friday. Gustavsson, who turns 31 on Oct. 24, was limited to seven games with the Detroit Red Wings last season because of a separated shoulder and concussion symptoms. He was 3-3-1 with a 2.56 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Gustavsson became an unrestricted free agent July 1. He is 60-55-21 in 148 games with the Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Goalies Malcolm Subban, Zane McIntyre and Jeremy Smith also will be in Bruins camp competing for the backup job behind Tuukka Rask. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=778256&navid=nhl:topheads Good for him. Hopefully he plays well, gets a contact, and has better luck with his injury woes this season.

Honestly, I think that between the raises the RFA's receive, plus the cap hit for the returning UFA's, there won't be much room. Of course, that depends on how much of a raise you think certain guys will gets, but even at some conservative estimates, I doubt Detroit has the cap space. Dropping Howard's 5.2M would help, for sure, but I think the number Kopitar would be looking for would be too much.

One of my favorite non-Wings in the league. I'd absolutely love to have him here, but considering how much he'll command... Los Angeles absolutely has to get this done. With all of the off-ice issues recently, they need a positive. Little to no depth down the middle for the Kings, either.

It is definitely not a perfect system, but what's the alternative use one "nuetral" arbitrators/judge? I can promise you that nuetral is a very loose term with outside arbitration. The problem doesn't lie within the system alone, but within human nature.

Frank, you always suggest that these franchise players are worth any amount of money, and they should be given a blank check, never taking any sort of hometown discount. I disagree. I believe they should take somewhat of a moderate discount to help out the team that has already given them so much. You believe Kopitar can make $10-10.5M on the open market? So do I. But why not take a slight discount (something around $7.5-8.5M X 8 years) with a team that will continue to be a competitor for years to come, increasing your chance at another Cup or two? After all, that is every players ultimate goal, is it not? Hockey is a team game and players that put themselves above the team, are usually the players that lose out in the end (on Championships). Both Toews and Kane already have 3 Stanley Cups each, so they're probably not too worried about when they'll win their next one. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawks don't win another Cup now that those two ginormous contracts kick in this season. $21M is a ridiculous amount of money being paid to only two players, taking up 30% of the teams salary cap. I believe the Red Wings do it right. They take care of their players and treat ever single one of them with respect. The players know this, and are willing to take discounts to increase the chances of bringing home a Stanley Cup. Many players have done it in the past, and I believe many more will continue to do it in the future. People are worried that Abdelkader will bolt after this season over a couple million dollars that he will inevitably leave on the table this summer? Won't happen. He will take a discount to stay in the best run organization in all of hockey (sports). Of course it doesn't hurt that he is a Michigan native and spent his entire career there, but I believe the same would hold true if he were a Minnesoda native as well. Players that play in Detroit, for the most part want to stay in Detroit. Anyway, that was slightly off topic... Regardless, I believe the Kings and Kopitar will come to an agreement before next summer and he will remain in Los Angeles for years to come. Same goes for Stamkos in Tampa. Even if one or both did happen to become available, there is no way Holland would be will to pay either of them what they will likely get on the open market. And I'm quite okay with that. As much as I would love to have either of these guys in red and white, I would hate to lose a handful of guys for one. I know many will disagree, but that's my take on it...

Not "WeLykRTM?"

Not wanting to watch games does not equal being salty about it. He is a competitor, of course he'd rather play than sit. But he not once whined about. ever. What was he supposed to do, talk about how much he loves getting paid to be in the press box? The quote you posted was absolutely professional on his part. Reasons like that very quote are one of a few why management keeps him around.

Yeah, Subban is in line for sure. He might be ready to make the jump now, who knows. Might just be their fans hoping he's brought along more slowly and gets consistent playing time in Providence instead of riding the bench in Boston behind Rask, who has shown he can play a ton of games. I think they'll take Gus too. They can sign him for cheap i'm sure, and if he stays healthy he'll be a solid option in goal while Subban develops his game more.

Well said. NJ knew when to let Brodeur go, Dallas knew when to let Modano go, and Detroit keeps hanging on to Dan Cleary. It really makes no sense.

Perhaps we're not on the same page with the Dan Cleary salty-sour spectrum. I'm not saying he's being a whiny little s*** about it, but he clearly doesn't wanna sit on the bench. If he didn't want to play, he'd take an advisor or consultant role with the team. I think you're mixing up hatred with exasperation. I don't hate Dan Cleary, I'm just tired of him hanging around as an ineffective player. Neither of us can say what kind of impact he truly has/had on this team. Maybe he's helped a young player out and improved his work ethic, making that player better for it down the road. Maybe some of his work ethic rubs off on the guys down in GR this season. Maybe he's made a young player vying for a roster spot (Tatar and Nyquist two years ago) gunning for a roster spot feel like the Red Wings are too loyal to their established players. What we can say for sure is that some of his bonus money from last season is biting Detroit in the hind end this year (740K) and the team is at 49 contracts with his signing. Is it the end of the world? No, but it's not necessary, either. What's the benefit of having Dan Cleary on this team as a player instead of a coach? Again, if Cleary is going to be limited to 20-30 games with GR or 5-10 with DET, then what's the point of returning as a player? Hang 'em up and take a role similar to the one Chelios has now. And for the record, I'm not looking for anything to complain about. I didn't want him signed two years ago, I still don't want him signed. The bottom line for me is that Dan Cleary can do every thing he will with DET/GR as a consultant instead of a player. He just doesn't seem to want to let go.

Blashill has a clear mind coming into camp and throughout the season. He'll probably play the guys who most deserve it. He doesn't have certain opinions of players the way Mike may have had (So players like Smith, Jurco, Kindl, should look at this as more of a fresh start). I wouldn't dwell on the thought of Cleary taking someones role who deserves it more over him. Like its been said many times before, this is more of a morale move. Players of Detroit like Dan, he is respected throughout the locker room and is a voice for the young guys. This isn't so much of a on ice move, but rather an off ice.

His style was super unorthodox. But unorthodox goalies tend to be really good. Just wish he could have hit his true potential were it not for all those injuries. Good guy, hope he makes it, he deserves it.

100% this. Sure GR already has great leadership, but Cleary is a guy who has been through it all, and knows what it takes to play in the NHL and stay there (until his body started to fall apart). The current leadership group in GR is fine, but they are also career AHLers. Not to mention he can fill in if the Wings get hit with the injury plague. The players and coaching staff has always liked having him around. No harm done. Even during all his time as a healthy scratch, he never got sour about it.

I don't really like the air brush design style that most helmets utilize, it looks too state fair tshirt boothy.

As expected and really I don't see a problem with this. At best he will be an emergency call up from the Grand Rapids and while being there he can show some younger guys (Mantha, Larkin) the way and since the 950k aren't counting against the cap it doesn't really matter. Personally I'm in favor of everything that helps prepare Larkin, Mantha better for the big club in a few years if that includes signing a veteran with a great work ethic so be it.

and only .905% of them were saved

Shots fired!