Shaman

No multiyear contracts for anymore 35+ players.

If you read the OP you'd know I was trying to post this in the rumor section. Again I apologize.

With the pimping his agent's been doing, he will make 4.5-5.5 million dollars... he IS a third line player, but he will be PAID like a 1st liner.

I think it was Pierre McGuire ‏@pierremcguire_ (verified) trolling now. Same format as Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger_ PS this should have been (and was meant to be in) the rumor section Any admin if you'd be so kind.

After the Wings signing Monster yesterday reports are that Joey Mac wants a trade.

Sammy has only one season where he did better than Hudler... and guess what he was playing wing with the Sedin twins. He got 50pts playing with two guys who had nearly 180 points between them, if that doesn't make it clear, nothing will.

It was mine first. And I like it, and its probably true, so get use to it.

Better get out the welcome banners for Hudler in 4 years.

If Doan wants to win, he should accept a one year deal. If the Wings want to play the 'well at least we didn't overpay' card, they don't sign Doan.

He's 35 almost 36, and if he is given a multi year contract, there is the 35+ rule, so given the good chance that he decides to retire in the next few years the Wings are saddled with his cap hit for the rest of the contract. On top of that if he isn't worth 5-5.5 million this year what about for the rest of the life of the contract? So not only is he overpaid this year, he gets more and more overpaid every subsequent year. No thanks, rather not have a 3rd line winger making 5 million and on the downside of his career.

If you pay someone more than they are worth other players will want more than they are worth. Overpaying is at epidemic levels in the NHL. Paying Doan 2 million more than he's worth is not going to solve anything.

Drake didn't make 5 million a season.

Well, his agent has contacted 12 teams including the Wings, so I believe he is trying to drive his value up for negotiations with Phx. His offensive production has been dropping over the last 5 years, and he projects to be a 3rd line winger based upon production, age, and skill set. Do the Wings need another 3rd line winger? The answer is no. And to leftwinger, 3 years at 5.5 million is a joke, that would make him paid in the same ball park of Zetterberg, and hes no Zetterberg.

He has said to the media he will take less to play in the NHL.

With the departure of 3 of the 4 top defensemen on the team in the past two season there has been a real void left on the back end. Add to the aging forwards in the top 6 (Bert, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Sammy, Franzen all over 30 years old), the team has few options going forward. The first option is via trade and free agency acquire the pieces the wings are currently lacking (being a top 6 scoring winger and 2 top 4 d-men). The second option is the option I believe is the better way to address the systemic problems the wings have, and that's a short term rebuild. The process of rebuilding is not a fun one to watch, but, is one that has a lot of upside that trades and free agents don't bring. The first would be with the current CBA having good young players is rewarded because of how the Entry Level Contracts (ELCs) are step up to work, they are very friendly to the cap, as opposed to how free agency is today where any player that isn't locked up long term and hits the market is grossly overpaid for their services. Next would be that the process of rebuilding would mean that the prospects that haven't had a chance to cut their teeth in the NHL would get a chance to come up and play at the top level and gain valuable experience, in past years this has not been the cause and some players have not survived the trail by fire of coming up without waiver exemptions (Quiency, Ericsson, Kindl). Third it there is a benefit because the Wings do have a very good (and underrated) farm system, they have a lot of great talent on forward, and a lot of intriguing young D-men. Other teams are aware of this, and any trade would cost the wings some of this hard won prospect depth. Finally, if the wings don't make the playoffs in this rebuilding mode they have two other benefits, first a top ten draft pick, which they haven't had in over a decade, and the ability to trade players like Cleary or Bertuzzi to a contender for more draft picks or prospects. The first part, the top ten draft pick in most drafts (and looking to be true in the 2013 draft) as well are usually players that either are able to come into the NHL the following season and compete at a high level or are only 1-2 years of AHL play away from that. This would be perfect for the wings because they have a youth movement coming that would be supplemented by being able to add more youth to it. The second part, being sellers at the deadline... well I am sure everyone can remember the last 3 season and the gross overpayments made for players at the end of February, imagine a draft where the Wings have 1, 2 or even 3 top 40 picks? This not only gives them an even better prospect pool, but also gives them pieces to trade for NHL ready talent without having to do as much damage to the prospect depth. I know this is not what a lot of fans will want, and I really would love the wings to be a top contender for the cup next season, but, if I had to choose between one more run in the next 5 years, or taking a year or two where they rebuild and have another 20 years of success, well I'll take the latter everyday.

http://www.theleftwinglock.com/2012/07/08/weary-pulkkinen-soaking-up-first-red-wings-experience/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Good article about Pulu at the Wings prospect camp, it sounds like he has the right attitude.

Touche grammar Nazi. My point is that the Jets will not part with Kane via offersheet, hes worth more to them than 4 low first round picks. If they part with him it will be for a roster player plus prospect and picks. This is too much of a sellers market for them to lose him cheaply.

They. Won't. Let. Their. Best. Young. Forward. Go. Edit: Grammar.

To the argument about him playing on a horrible team and still excelling, if you haven't noticed it seems that a lot of players do better on bad teams.

This is a lose-lose, if the the Jets let him go they get a crappy package for a top forward, and for this even to be possible Detroit will need to massively overpay on an offersheet, because the Jets will not just trade him away. So definitely not.

Right now of all the players mentions I think Fistric would be a great fit, better to try to get a shut down guy with some snarl than to try another puck mover, already well stocked in those.

Any bottom pairing d-men that plays shut down d with a mean streak available?

I agree its possible from 8th place to win the cup, and we have a lot of good parts, but selling the farm to get Yandle or the flavor of the month in February to try to make it a lock to me is a bad idea.

Are you 6? The only player I disagree with people about is Andersson. As for Dats, hes said more than once that he wants to play in Russia in the future, when that future is no one knows, but, the Wings can't count on him to be here till hes 40 like someone suggested. And again are you going to go on the record and say the Wings aren't going to be 6-10th this season? Because the difference between 6th place and 9th is usualy 4 to 7 points, that's 2 loses that separate a playoff team from a non-playoff team. Let me be clear I am not saying the following: That the wings are a bottom team That the wings have a bad farm system (I am saying the opposite) That the Wings will miss the playoffs for sure (I believe they will be between 7th and 9th next season with 6th being the most realistic best case and 10th being the most realistic worst case) That this rebuild will be a 5 year thing (I think this will be a mini-rebuild lasting 1 to 2 seasons as they transition into the post lidstrom era.)

Its not Hudler that I care we lost, its the 25 goals on a team that has regressed defensively I care about. Anyway, I have never seen one report that said Andersson is a lock for the NHL, I have seen MANY that call him a character guy, a career 4th liner, and other things to this effect. Knowing how the NHL works, and the turn over on 4th line players, to say that a 4th liner could end up being a depth guy/AHL player is not a stretch. Next Q isn't terrible, but the Wings are hurting for shut down defensemen not scoring defensemen. SO as I said, unless he has a huge bounce back year, I don't think its fair to say Q is a replacement for Stuart. He has abit of snarl, but it I would say him and Ericsson have more in common than him and Stuart. Finally, unless you can give evidence that the team as it stands now is not a border playoff team, and that I'm missing something please address my points about not overpaying in trade for Yandle/Jbo and not overpaying at the deadline. This thread was about not selling the farm in trade and eating a season where the wings may not hit 100 points and may struggle to make the playoffs, not about blowing up the team and tanking for the first overall.