UKWING

dean mcammond is pretty fast. for the wings i would say it is between hossa, helm and lebda

how so? zetterberg is a far better player now than datsyuk was when he signed his current contract. and if datsyuk were a free agent next summer then he would be asking for considerably more than 6.7m per year.

hank will make at least 7m per year. my guess would be that he will sign for the same amount as lids (7.45m) for around 5-6 years.

YoungGuns was not referring to dats and hank; he was talking about kane and toews.

getzlaf. schneider or redden?

word - which is why a long term deal for flip would be preferable for the wings. similarly, i think they need to sign franzen to a long term extension sooner rather than later too as his value is likely to go only one way from here.

cleary. brad richards or scott gomez?

the wings were not soft last year. the main difference was that this year our top 4 d-men were lids, raf, kronner and stuart. last year (due to injuries) it was lids, markov, cheli and lilja. the wings also had an easier route to the cup this year than last. they also had more solid scoring depth and better skaters. but i don't really think the wings were much tougher than last year - they just faced far softer teams this time. and i don't really see how the wings will be going with a softer team this year - downey did not play in the playoffs and mac only played because of injuries. so the main difference will be hossa instead of drake and there is no way that will stop the wings winning the cup. don't get me wrong - i definitely want the wings to re-sign both mac and downey. but even if they don't then i still think they will be favourites to win the cup.

sundin. morrow or kovalev?

hossa for both. morrow or kovalev?

i have never been a fan of lebda but i thought he played very well throughout the postseason and certainly much better than chelios. but i guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.

malkin. turco or MA fluery

no - i thought he was our worst d-man in the 1st 3 series. i was nervous every time he was on the ice and i was relieved when he was benched.

forsberg. lilja or hal gill?

i hope hossa does get that many points. but even if he does then he will do it earning over $5m more then hudler and sammy combined. yes grit and toughness are vital but i really don't see that being a problem for the wings as long as they sign at least one of downey and mac (though personally i hope kenny signs both of them!). with stuart, lilja and kronwall on the back-end the wings have enough physicality there and the forwards showed they are plenty gritty enough. the only thing lacking is one or two people to drop the gloves when needed which is where mac and downey come in. but what this past season really showed is the importance of secondary scoring and nobody has as much scoring depth as the wings. there will be times (just like this season) where datsyuk and zetterberg (and now hossa) are kept off the score sheet. this is where you need other guys to step up just as sammy did in game 1 of the SCF and hudler did in game 4. at their respective salaries, these guys are almost irreplaceable. quite simply, the wings showed that they are without doubt the best team in the nhl and now they have added marian hossa. the most important thing is to make as few other changes as possible.

you must have been watching a different playoffs to me. cheli really struggled and was rightly benched in favour of everone's favourite whipping boy lilja. age seems to finally be catching up with chelios and i would rather see him in some kind of coaching capacity this season. i thought ericsson showed a lot of promise when he came up and the only reason he is not a lock to be playing for the wings this year is because they have so many d-men already and ericsson is the only one who can be brought up and sent down without having to clear waivers.

sawchuk brian rafalski or brian campbell?

sports stars are just paid in line with how much money the sport brings in. if you don't like how much money they are paid then you should all stop watching and buying merchandise so that the sport makes less money.

because they would both get considerably more than that on the open market. whilst it is not as big a discount as lids and hopefully hank will give the wings, it is still a discount.

i can't see the wings putting that line out there. they will want to have someone to screen the goaltender - whether it be homer, mule or cleary. having said that i do think that a PP unit of dats, hank, homer, raf and lids is a more talented one than crosby, malkin, staal, whitney and gonchar. both units are pretty damn talented though!!

they will still be one of the best teams in the east and i would not be at all surprised to see them make the SCF again next year.

at least downey wasn't dumb enough to ever take 4 minor penalties in 1 game. and at least downey will actually hit people when he is on the ice.

very good post i certainly feel that downey had a big impact on the mentality of the other players this year. finally pav, z, hudler etc. had someone to watch their back and it resulted in a far more aggressive style of play. especially dats - who would have thought he would lead all wings fowards in hits (in the playoffs) and would be going after guys like malone and roberts when they started to take liberties? no way would that have been the case if it weren't for downey. we need a guy like him on the roster.

i think it was pretty even between crosby and hossa but both were better than fleury. whilst he made a lot of big saves and had a couple of great games he also gave up a lot of weak goals at crucial times.

still with the sammy bashing? really?!? to be fair, i suppose he does eat up a whopping $1.2m of vauable cap space every year and all he does is score 2 crucial solo goals in game 1 of the SCF and make a vital assist in the cup-clinching game. he also had more points than mule and flip during the regular season - 2 guys who will demand much larger salaries than sammy's $1.2m. why is it that there always has to be a whipping boy even when things are going as well as they are atm?!?