GoWings1905

Ouch. This one hurts a lot and anyone that says otherwise is kidding themselves. The Red Wings had to get Suter.

Just the timing of it more than anything says Minnesota to me. We know Parise and Suter have kept in contact the past couple days. Just reading between the lines, seems like Suter is pulling the strings. Parise was sold on going to the Wild, but only if Suter did too and maybe he finally decided that he would. The fact both will announce today says package deal. That certainly doesn't eliminate Detroit, but it doesn't look too promising either.

If both are deciding today at/near the same time, I don't think that looks too promising. Unfortunately, that screams to me both are going to the Wild like reports suggest. I wasn't going to be too bummed if the Red Wings didn't land Parise, but not getting Suter is going to sting a lot. Suter was an absolute necessity IMO. There were some nice fallback options still available at forward without getting Parise. There is nothing on defense close to Suter. If they do both go together, I will be interested to see the terms of the deal.

Embarrassing. Pretty nice 5-5 road trip against solid competition and the Tigers come home and of course lose two straight to the Minnesota Twins. Two losses, no less, against starting pitchers that had ERA's over 6 and 7 respectively going into each game. This team can't even get back to .500, let alone try and bury the rest of this s***ty division. How do you go 0-4 on your home field so far against one of the worst teams in baseball? Halfway point of the season now and there is absolutely not much reason to believe the Tigers have what it takes to "turn the corner" anymore. The same major flaws keep showing up: pathetic defense, no power, inconsistent starting pitching and a bunch of hitters that haven't come close to matching their efforts a season ago.

Why are they obligated to decide right on July 1st? Because we are anxious as fans? Besides, they had no certainty where the offers would come from until two days ago. Both guys are nothing but professional on and off the ice by all accounts. I think it's absurd how mad people are getting that they haven't made one of the biggest choices in their lives on a whim.

Wow, a lot of anger here. I don't think Suter has done anything remotely wrong. If I had ~20 job offers, maybe five of them being exceptional, I would sure as hell take the time to make a well-rounded decision. These guys are only going to get this chance once and their choice is likely going to be their home for the rest of their playing careers. It has only been a couple days and there are so many factors to consider. If Suter wants to be a Red Wing, it will happen. I'm confident that will ultimately be the case.

Hard to gauge what this means, but the fact no other teams have been reported (yet) of having met with Suter in person seems positive.

I'm not upset Hudler left (it was expected and that's an expensive deal), but I don't really feel the need to celebrate about it either. While he had many faults that have been covered here already, he also had a knack for scoring goals. The Red Wings don't exactly have many players that fit that description on the roster. Obviously the addition of Samuelsson you hope will cover up some of that offensive production, but there's plenty of reason not to believe Sammy will accomplish anything close to 50 points with his recent history. Brunner is an unknown at the NHL level. I don't want Hudler for four million, though for a team that scored nine goals in five playoff games, I'm not exactly thrilled either to see offense departing. Another goal-scoring top-six forward is still a necessity.

Everyone below Fielder in the batting order is killing this team from truly turning the corner. No support at all for the big guys. Gotta make a serious run at someone like Quentin. Young, Boesch, Peralta are not getting the job done. I would move Avila up to 5th since he looks healthier and has been hitting better lately. So frustrating to watch the efforts of Jackson, Berry, Cabrera and Fielder get wasted most games.

I never got the sense in the past couple days the Red Wings had a great shot of landing Parise. I just hope it isn't Pittsburgh at this point. Suter, on the other hand, I still feel relatively confident about.

Nothing could be worse than Hudler on the point. At least Sammy has some speed to get back and negate shorthanded scoring chances. I'm just looking for the positive angle here. It was tough.

After this settled in for a bit, I don't hate the Tootoo signing as much as my initial reaction. There was that element of disliking the guy a lot from playing for Nashville for so long, but ultimately I think this is a pretty decent move for the Red Wings. The Red Wings 4th line was atrocious last season. It had no identity and provided absolutely nothing that you would expect from a typical 4th line. Instead of leftovers and marginal skill players, at least Holland is attempting to build a 4th line that will play hard and ideally bring some energy to the team. Babcock stressed the importance of having a solid bottom-six and now the Red Wings have some players to complement Helm causing damage on the 3rd line. If Tootoo goes out and forechecks hard, hits and chips in offensively too, this can be a positive signing for the Red Wings. The key is just keeping Tootoo under control and not taking stupid penalties instead. I agree with those that have said Tootoo and Abdelkader together would be a nice combination. I think ultimately today felt like a disappointment because it didn't include that big name free agent catch. In reality though, the Red Wings addressed two needs in getting a backup goalie and improving the 4th line. The Samuelsson thing -- well, I can't put a positive spin too much on that move yet. Still time for Holland to make a splash through free agency or swinging a trade.

Those things would ultimately lead to more goals. Franzen isn't going to fight ever, nor should he. There are other ways to be physical, including using your size to forecheck hard and wear on an opponents defense. Franzen doesn't drive the net enough to complement his great shot. The point is if Franzen did more of the things most people here feel he is capable of on a consistent basis, there is potential for him to become a more well-rounded player. He scored 29 goals, but he also plays with Pavel Datsyuk. That helps cover up even more for Franzen's lackadaisical efforts most nights.

This has done nothing to prove Franzen is a power forward. We all know he can score goals -- that isn't the debate here. It's the manner in which Franzen scores those goals and what he isn't willing to do to establish himself as a real power forward. Stats aren't going to prove the argument. All you need to do is watch Franzen's effort on the ice.

Just a few of the more prominent names... Suter - Detroit (otherwise stays in Nashville) Parise - Pittsburgh Carle - Philadelphia Schultz - Edmonton Hudler - Ottawa Semin - San Jose or KHL Garrison - Tampa Bay Doan - Phoenix Jagr - Philadelphia Whitney - Carolina

Agreed. I don't really prefer Abby at center in general, but I would gladly take it if Prust was added to the 4th line. I just want to see a 4th line that is actually molded like one this season -- not a combination of leftovers and marginal skill players.

There's a lot of people that watch games that feel Franzen floats. I bet a large majority of Red Wings fans would classify Franzen as lazy. This isn't some random concept perpetuated by a few fans. As for being a power forward, Franzen isn't really doing that either. Hudler went to the net more in the playoff series than Franzen did. For a dude with as much size as Franzen has, he rarely utilizes it. He isn't physical, nor willing to play in the tough areas of the ice most of the time. I will give him credit that he has a great wrist shot and can score goals effectively in that manner. Though in no way would I call Franzen a true power forward.

The Red Wings definitely need a 4th line center, but Gaustad is going to be an expensive faceoff specialist. Didn't think he was very impressive with the Predators either.

Hmm... sounds a lot like someone else on the team too. As for Hudler, I'm not going to be that upset if he takes a larger offer elsewhere. However, it does concern me that the Red Wings are losing 25 goals and were already in need of adding to the top-six with Hudler around. There's nobody internally on the roster that is going to score 25 next season. As one-dimensional as Hudler is as a player, the Red Wings are lacking that dimension. Holland really has his work cut out for him.

What exactly is the logic to this? Does the date in the season really matter? Besides, Nick absolutely deserves it immediately. Stevie Y is my favorite Red Wing ever, but I will argue any day that Lidstrom was the team's best/most important player during this historic run. Yzerman himself said as much.

Dan Hamhuis is one that pops to mind recently.

Besides being a right-handed shot, I never thought there was much appeal to signing Wideman for the Red Wings. He isn't very good at all in his own zone and that's certainly a glaring deficiency of the Wings defense now with the loss of Nick and Stuart.

Crossing my fingers we get some encouraging news from V-Mart tomorrow. I hope the speculation of him possibly returning in August comes true. I can't even describe my disgust of having to watch Delmon Young hit 5th.

I have always liked Doan. Yeah, he's an idiot sometimes on the ice, but you can't deny he is passionate and hard-working. The Red Wings aren't remotely close to being tough to play against anymore. When you can't outskill teams, you need players like Doan that will have that edge to play a gritty style and it would hopefully rub off on some of the other "softer" Red Wings. Besides Z and Pavel, no forward in the top-six had any desire to drive the middle of the ice in the Nashville series. I don't think the Red Wings are getting Parise, which might not be the worst thing if the rumors about his potential deal come true. Obviously the dream scenario is signing both Suter and Parise, but in reality the Red Wings have more holes than usual and need all of that available cap space to address their needs. If you can add two forwards for more depth (Semin/Doan) for close to the same price as Parise would get, I would be OK with that outcome. Then there's still some leftover for ideally a 4th line center and backup goalie.

Obviously nothing is guaranteed. However, the Red Wings have two components necessary to make a splash in free agency: money and a desirable destination. The Red Wings are in a good position right now and the front office definitely knows what is at stake this summer. At least give Holland a chance to improve the team. The Ducks defense has no depth. I can't say for certain, but I would be quite confident that any deal for Bobby Ryan would absolutely have to include Smith. Mursak has nearly no value; Quincey for better or worse is going to get re-signed. Anaheim doesn't have to move Ryan, so any deal for him is going to have to really be worthwhile.