Hank Dats 'N Homer

haha i love when a guy gets a clean hit then has to answer for it by fighting another guy and kicking the s*** out of that guy too. The only thing that makes this clip better for me was seeing malkin on the end of a good hit and seeing CROSBY on the side of the butt whoopin. Crosby cant even defend himself what was he thinking trying to defend his lover?

Who are they ganna move out that way? I heard the Islanders were thinking about selling/moving. I dont really understand how Phoenix still has a team if they have filed for bankruptcy, could they be moved out that way? I would love to see the Nordiques back, i thought they had the some of hte best jerseys ever. If a new team is moved there though, would the avalanche still be considered the expansion team from Quebec or would they lose that title/right?

Nope. Not even close. Bert hasnt shown up on the score sheet much, but this guy is playing defense. He saved a goal against the Hawks the other night when he jammed up the Hawks players stick preventing him from putting the puck in the wide open net. Last night, he was backchecking and skating hard the whole game. I think he is playing really well. Its been said a 100 times by the wings players, coaches, staff and GM that the wings are focussing on a more defensive game this year after losing alot of scorers. I think Bert is fitting the mold that the wings are trying to create for this season. Now does that mean i dont expect him to score some goals? No, he should put up some pretty good numbers since this is the first season of his in a very long time that he has said he feels 100%. Add that to the fact that hes ganna be getting plenty of playing time with first liners Z and D, the guy should put up plenty of good numbers. But he has impressed me so far this season with his hard skating, especially in his own zone, and the responsibility he has shown in the defensive aspect of the game, a few things that Lang never did....I think its a little earlier to pick our scapegoat for the season if you ask me.

Im ganna call today to complain. what did you say to them for then to give you the 50 bucks?

Cheli's actually has 3 locations now. Dearborn, Detroit and the Utica/macomb area. But yeah hes right about Hockeytown authentics, thats a bit of a drive from the joe, but if you want to buy a game used stick or jersey its defiently a cool atmosphere to go to, plus its not to far from the Chelis Chili in the utica/macomb area so you could make a day out of going to Hockeytown authentics and getting lunch/dinner and chelis (although the full experience of Cheli's is really the Detroit location if you ask me). If you are just looking for Wings shirts or something, save the gas money and just go to the HOCKEYTOWN cafe, they have some good cloths if thats what you are looking for, plus they make a pretty good Burger and have a FREE shuttle to the Joe. I would definetly strongly recomend Greektown for some good food. My favorite place is Pegasus (which if you do go, you HAVE to try the saganaki and also the Chicken Gyros...trust me). The casinos have a great atmosphere of Wings fans before and after a game if you are of legal gambling age, and they usually have cheap drinks on those nights too. A Coney dog is definetly a good experience though if you are planning on spending a few days and want to get the full exerience. No matter what you chose to do, i think that you should definetly try to get your girlfriend in a wings jersey for the game, not because she will get attacked by wings fans or anything ( we arent those kinds of fans) but merely just so she doesnt have on a jersey of the losing team for that night and have to wear it in shame (even if it is an Ovechkin jersey and he scored twice that night haha).

Yeah i dont know about that one. He played a pretty critical role in 96-97 and 97-98. If im not mistaken, he even got the game winner that won us the cup in 96-97 against the flyers. But even dispite his offensive ability, the guy DEFINETLY contributed to those two cups atleast. Take him off the team, you might lose the effectiveness of the whole grindline, which was in its prime and is a big reason why we were able to win those cups back then. Thats my opinion atleast. I could care less if you are a fan of Dmac or not, and im not weighing in on that, but i do think your last statement that i put in bold is a little absurd.

I didnt/dont know all the terms to his KHL contract. If those are the terms, that sounds like it could be a realistic deal, but i still dont see it as an option that someone in the Wings orginzation would take. But i do see where people are coming from now.

Where did you get this info from? Im not saying you are wrong, i just didnt hear anything like this. I dont see him being worth the 4-5 million per year, that the KHL is going to pay him, even if we had the cap space. His one way play and lack of size and physical play makes him a 2.5-maybe 3 million a year (even less to play on a team like the wings). In my Opinion, its not a matter of playing for another team in the NHL or not, its a matter of, "well ill play for Detroit, or ill play somewhere much closer to home", which is the case for alot of the euro players from what i hear. I just dont see him taking the necessary pay cut to come back to the wings in 2 years, when he can play for more money much closer to home. Again, im not saying you are wrong, it just doesnt make alot of sense to me.

That plan seems far fetched. I dont think they would send him there for 2 years if that were the case since we will have cap space next year. Plus hes not going to improve his game over in the KHL, they dont play physical or play defense, the two aspects of Hudlers game that he lacks in. I thought Hudler loved being here especially after seeing how happy he was when we won the cup last year, but this seems like a move that someone would make if they just do not care whatsoever where they are or what they are doing as long as they are cashing a heavy paycheck. It doesnt sound like a deal that Holland would make. Maybe Burke, but not Holland in my book. If this is the case, how many Wings fans would accept him back? And why would Hudler come back for 2.5-3 million (which is all hes worth in a wings uniform, at most) when hes making 4-5 million in Russia? I sure as hell wouldnt pay him 4-5 million to be a red wing, and i doubt hes going to want to take a paycut to come back to the NHL which is far from his home, and making less money.

Thats about all i want at this point. Dont really want him back on the team after this whole thing. What kind of compensation could we get? Cash or something? We lost him to the KHL so we couldnt get like draft picks or anything.

Didnt all this happen last year in nashville during the Radulov case and nothing come of it? Or was he a UFA? Either way, to be honest, i love Hudler, but knowing he is willing to walk away from the wings makes me not want him back. Thats not hte kind of players we pride ourselves in having....thats my opinion atleast

Im from America, we speak American...

This is the arguement for the ages haha. Being a regular guy that will never make Millions of dollars a year, yea we would chose 2 million over winning a cup. But if you are already Guaranteed 2.5-3 million a year, would you chose to play for a crappy team to make an extra 1-1.5 million and never win the ultimate prize? The prize that every person in your profession is chasing? To me, im a helpless romantic for the cup, and i would hope that most players out there are the same and play to win rather than to Bank big bucks. With that said, i certainly understand those that would chose the money.

I can understand and agree with this statement. If i was a player i would like to think that i would take less money and play for a better team, than take more moeny and play for a noncontender, but who knows right? I would never fault a guy to taking more money elsewhere, i just think that if you REALLY want to be a red wing and want to be in contention each year you have to be willing to take a little less money. Realstically i understand that some people value the money more, and i cant fault them AT ALL for that. But in this cap space era, i think it takes a different breed to be a Red Wing, and i hope Hudler is that type ofguy. If not, like i said, i cant fault him.

thats one quote in this whole topic. Listen, im agreeing with you on the fact that hes not worth 2-2.5 million. on the open market he is probably worht about 3-3.5. I, myself just dont see a purpose in giving him 4.5 million for a guy who hasnt learned to play defense and does get pushed around a bit. I love the guy and i dont think in anyway that the wings will sign himfor under 3 million at this point. Im jsut saying that hes not worth 4.5 million or even 4 million in a wings jersey. In a Kings jersey or a nashville jersey, he is probably worth that amount, but like ive said in previous posts, regardless if you liek it or not, the wings are a contender every year and you have to factor that into contract negotations and if you want to play for a contending team, you have to be willing to take less than what you think you would get on the open market. Im sorry if i came off rude before, its not what i was trying to do. I just think that Hudler needs to realize that hes not going to get paid top dollar to play on the wings. Hell even a guy like Datsyuk and Zetterberg didnt get paid top dollar, but thy understood what it meant to play for a winning team. Look at lidstroms salary. The best Dman in the world would be making alot more elsewhere if you ask me. I agree with you on the fact that LGWers underrate Hudler when the season is in progress and UNDERrate him when its time to sign a contract, but i just dont think anyone here is realistically thinking he is ganna stick around for under 3 million, which is why hes going to arbitration after being offereed 2.5. Sorry for the confusion and rudeness if there was any. Its not what i was intending.

As much as the truth hurts....it is the truth. This is the cap world. We had Dats Z and Hossa last year and it was great. But realistically it cant be a long term thing. Its Chicagos turn to try and see what they can do with Toews Kane and Hossa (again this is a one year thing as they are sure to lose either Kane or Toews to free agency next year). With that said, im glad out young guys are ganna get the chance to place. Im excited to see how Helm steps up as a starter. The guy FLIES on he ice. I think he might be able to help ese the pain of losing Hossa. Im not saying hes ganna score 40 goals, but hes ganna playsome Two way hockey and putsome points up on the board. Same with Leino and Abby is a young Maltby. Likes to hit and can put some points up. Im sad that we lost our ALL STAR caliber player in Hossa, but its time to get back to what the wings are used to, role players that make a difference. Here we come!

You CANNOT replace Hudler with a goon. If you dont resign Hudler you MUST replace him with a 20-30 goal scorer. We already lost a 40 goal scorer in hossa and a 20 goal scorer in Sammy. Losing a 20-30 goal scorer in Hudler and replacing him with a goon that doesnt score would be suicidal....We NEED to resign Hudler or a guy that scores like him or else we are in trouble. I think we need to sign Hudler and a cheap Gritty guy, but thats just me. I would hope that Hudler will see that we dont have cap sapce and chose to sign for 2.5-3.0 to give us some room to sign a Drake replacement.

In that case you have no idea how to read.... I reccomend reading again. People on here are sarcastically saying "dont mention his stats or compare them to a guy that is making 4.5" not because they dont think hes worth 4.5 but because they dont want to pay him 4.5 because it leaves us with no cap space. Hell the orignal poster said that he doesnt see a way to sign him for 2.0, so that in itself shows that Hudler has much greater value. I dont know where you are getting the fact that noone apprecaites or is unrealistic about how much he is worth. MAN, Some people just feel like bitching just to here themselves *****!

I dont think anyone is saying hes not worth 3 million here. Id say hes worth atleast that. Its jsut with out cap space, and the fact that we are the red wings and consistently in contention for the cup, if he wants to stay here hes going to have to take a little less moeny than what a non contender would offer. The guy puts points on the board, no doubt. We all think he is under valued, i guess its just high hopes on our part that he takes the discount. We cant see value in giving him 4 million when we gave Franzen 5 and were offering Hossa 5. Hudler is good, but hes not in that caliber. I think 3 million is pretty reasonable and works for both sides. Hudler gets to stay in Detroit and Detroit keeps a potential 30 goal scorer.

Alright, that much i can understand than. Its just some people in other threads were trying to use Moen as a replacement for Hudler and it wasnt making sense for me. I still think Bell would be a good choice, and possibly cheaper than Moen so ill continue to push a Bell invitation to camp. The rest i can agree with. the only thing that scares me is our Goalie. Hopefully Osgood can play the regular season like he did the playoffs the last two years. If he can do that, we have a pretty good chance this year. I dont think we can rely on Howard , so Osgood is going to have to play very well in my mind.

I wouldnt be so sure hes going anywhere yet....i think he will see the light and the fact that 2.5 is a good price for a team that will be in contention every year. But if not, draft picks wont look to bad....although knowing Holland he will trade the draft picks for a 5th or 6th round pick since he loves to draft late in the draft haha

I think that comparison is a little skewed. I think for those stats you would HAVE to pay 4.5 a year to keep a guy in NASHVILLE who doesnt have a very good future. But If you want to play for Detroit who has made the playoffs for like 20 years straight, 2.5 million a year for those stats os VERY reasonable. I just think that if you want to play for a cup contender every year you have to be willing to understand you are going to get paid less than what you would get paid by a team that isnt always in competition for the cup. I know its all about the money these days, but i would take playing for a cup contender every year over an extra 2 million any day...but apparently not everyone is like me *cough HOSSA cough*, so who knows where Hudlers future lies.

I havent seen anyone wish and hope that he fails. There are people that are saying that he will fail because they think he was a product o the Wings system, but i havent seen one post that has siad "I hope you fail". I think even if you hated the guy (like i did at most times) you are still sad to seem him go and wish him the best of luck...

I hope its a little less, but i woudlnt be dissapointed if it were 2.5 over 2 years.

I totally understand where you are coming from, i know hockey is not just about points. Defense wins championships, we all know that as wings fans. I stated that Moen wasnt the right choice because alot of poeple are saying that we should let Hudler go and replace him with Moen. I have a problem with that if we chose not to add an offensive force along with Moen. If we were to go out and get a guy who can score along with Moen i would be fine with that. But i dont consider Moen a Hudler replacment. We have lost a ton of offense this offseason, and merely going out and picking up a Moen type player who plays good D but doesnt put up points is a mistake in my opinion. I totally agree that we need toughness and now we need good PK now that we dont know the future of lilja and now that Maltby and draper will both probably be gone after next year. I just think that if people are seriously talking about letting Hudler go and only Signing Leino and one other guy, i dont think Moen is that guy. If we are to sign only one guy he has to be able to put points on the board, in my book. Like i said, in a perfect world, we should sign a point getting like Hudler and then go after a Tougher guy like Moen or bell. Sorry for the confusion.