Hank Dats 'N Homer

Doug Weight....

are we going to start this now that playoffs are over or are we waiting till after jult 1st or is this just dead?

You know, there isnt a whole lot to look forward to during the hockey offseason (lucky for me im a die hard baseball fan and have the MLB) but i still need my hockey excitement. So yeah there is the draft to look forward to, but there is no immediate payoff from the draft as most of our picks are guys we wont see for years. Between the draft and training camp, the only thing we have to look forward to is July 1st. The question i ask is how active do you think teams are going to be on Junly 1st? Ive been waiting for it for a while now, but i cant help but have the feeling that i am going to be left with a sense of emptiness due to the inactivity of July 1st. For some reason i have a feeling there will be a few signings, but not many, and most other signings will be dragged out over a period of some months. On the other hand, there are some really good free agents this year, so there maybe a chance of some big signings on July 1st. Either way, my question is how active will the league be come july 1st? Are we going to see big names go right away or are they looking to test the market for a while? Also, here is a list of the FA for this year http://www.nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?t...amp;type=salary I know everyone is tired of all the "who will the wings signed talk" so my new question is after looking ath the current free agent list, where do people think everyone will end up? Who will retire? I dont know, just trying to spice up the whole July 1st thing. If the mods find this dumb and or repetative please delete or merge. But i didnt a search for the topic and couldnt find anything other than the threads about who the wings will take, so i thought this would be different.

Just saw that doug weight is a free agent. Is there a possibility that Holland may see him as a Drake replacelemt? Similar styles but a little better offense...? anyone?

I was thinking about this while i was reading the list of names of free agents this year and i came across Doug Weights name. It dawned on me that if Holland is thinking about bring a Drake type player to take Drakes place, wouldnt Weight be a decent replacement? Hes got michigan ties being from Warren and plays almost the same style as Drake. I've always liked him even if he has been an oiler for years and currently plays for the ducks....what does everyone think? Dumb idea?

Well holland said we would be packing an enforcer this year....

Make it happen Kenny! He looks so good in a wings uniform it should be illegal! Flip- Rolston - Franzen.......yeah thats the ticket!

well ill say this, the central is shaping up to be a very good division in my book. The hawks boys are only going to get better and if they can all stay healthy and play every team the way they played the wings EVERY game last year than they should be in good shape. St. louis well i dont think much has to be said about these guys. I dont think they will be anything to worry about. I hear manny is undergoing another surgery on his knees this offseason....SUPRISE. haha. I love the guy but man those knees yikes. Now Columbus in my book has made alot of improvments already. They got umberger from Philly whom i think is going to shine in Columbus with Nash, and i thought i heard that they traded for the rights to Ryan Malone. If they can sign Malone that would make for a pretty good offense. Not to sold on their Defense though...and their goaltending is mediocre. If they can pick up a few more pieces during free agency this year, mainly some solid defensive players and maybe a good veteran goaltender to help the younger guys, and make sure to retain some of there worth while RFA like Fritsche and Lindstrom and DEFEINETLY LECLAIRE and try and keep some of their UFA like Peca Vyborny and Hainsey, than i think they will be a pretty good team. Seems like they got something brewing down south in Ohio if you ask me. Nashville...they have some great players and should be good, but we say this every year. They done good by signing ellis, but i dont know if he can be the glue for that team or not. I hate Tootoo so i have to say that Nashville will suck but honestly they are a big ? in my book. Could go either way. Conference wise....Sharks, flames...i really like how the flames went out and got Cammalleri. I really wanted him on the wings, but i know there is no room for him. I think he can really help the flames especially seeing as they didnt have to give anything big up for him. Dallas for sure. Morrow is a hell of a player and the team just feeds off of him...he scares me haha

he was getting paid i think 850,000 last year so i think he would gladly take 2.5-3 long term....or else hes lying when he says he wants to stay in detroit...very reasonable for what he has given us so far. It doesnt have to be like a 9 year contract. Maybe just a 3 or 4 year, that way if he does break out in the next two years we can renegotiate and get him some more money. But the best thing for both sides would be to sign him for about 3 years around 2.5-3 i would say. Wings get a young player to build around with lots of talent and potential, and Flip gets what he wants and gets to stay in Detroit. But we all know the things that make sense are not always the things that happen in real life....especially in hockey, or else the wings would win the cup every year right?

Not every captain that plays for Detroit is Steve Yzerman....

Rolston looks good in a wings uniform.....

His whole family seems like underachievers. Seems like all should put more points up....anyways, why would a young guy like Ruutu sign a 1 year deal. That seems odd to me. Usually you see younger guys get multiyear deals and the older fellas get the 1 year contracts.

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? Dont get me wrong this is a great deal for both sides. Tampa gets the star they get in Vinny and Vinny gets the money he deserves but....hes now stuck in Tampa for hte next 9 years. Lets hope Melrose and new ownership can turn the orgo around so Vinny isnt trapped in a dead end orgo. Although he does have a cup under his belt so maybe he just wants to stay with whats comfortable for him. I thought once Tampa dealt long time best friend Brad Richards that Vinny would hold out for free agency and go elsewhere. But ive been so very wrong before! haha. Good for both sides, kind of sucks for us because now Z is going to get a ridiculous offer....although he does deserve it.

I would love Milan Lucic from Boston, i know it wont happen because hes a youngin and i think that boston is going to want to keep this guy in their system for a very long time, but the boy is HUGE and likes to mix it up. Hes not even affraid if hooking up with big enforcers even though he himself is only 19. Hes going to be a force to recon with in the future. With that said i think a pick up like a laraque type player is coming. With Drake gone we need a guy that can put the puck in the net ocassionally or chip in with an assist here and there. I think our chemistry was fantastic with drake, and now that he is leaving we need a guy that can do exactly what he can do and provide that spark that hebrought. A guy like Laraque that can fill Drakes shoes pretty closely might be a good idea. With that said, im not Holland so my opinion doesnt mean anything.

No disrespect but...no way Lids moves down to a second pairing and no way does Ericsson play with him. I dont think they will even play the same style of hockey. I think Babs and the Orgo are expecting Ericsson to play a Gritty hard nosed hitting style and the best thing for him to learn that is to put him on a line with Kronner. Kronwall looks like he has really perfected the art of hitting this last season and think he could be an excellent Tutor for Ericcson. The guy needs to learn to throw that big body around and hes not going to learn to do so playin with Lids. Although he is projected to be a big Point getter as well, i think that will come later in his career as the wings really need a hard hitting big boy that we can mold him into. His shot will also kill on the PP and put some pucks in the net. Love the kid, but not enough to put him on a line with Lids for next year and Lids is way to.....perfect to drop down to a second defensive pairing. Oh, and i dont think Meech would cut it as a Forward, we saw him play a little last year at that position, but i just dont see it working out for him as a forward, especially with depth we have there as well as the decent FA market this year.

Do you have a link or something that says that playing in detroit was millers dream? Im not debating you i just would love to read it. Im sure thats the dream for any goalie who grew up in Detroit, or any hockey player in general who was born and raised here, and if thats true, than his chacnes of being a red wing in the next couple years might be a big possibility if howard loses his backup role or shows the wings nation that he is a bust. Regardless the Kid has to play this year as a backup or hes finished as a Red wing.

I dont think there is a chance that howard stays in GR this year. If he doesnt get the backup spot than i think that our staff will trade him away or wait for the year to finish out and let him go since he will be an UFA. Frankly if he needs one more year in the minors to get better, well truth be told, he may never be ready to play. If he expects to have a career here in Detroit he needs to show the wings he can play and to do that he NEEDS to win the backup spot in training camp. With that said, i think a signing of a Vetran goalie as backup would be a waste. We have a Vet in Ozzie, we need a young guy that Ozzie can teach about the pressures of being a goalie on a team like the wings. Dom and Vernon did it for Oz and look what its done for his Career. We dont need a Vetran backup to backup our Vetran Starter. We need a Vetran to teach and work with a younger guy, whether that guy is Howard, Larsson, Mcollum or Miller.

I heard this as well. Larsson is suppose to be a goalie that can win the game all by himself, the only downfall i have heard about him is that he has to get used to playing on a North american rink rather than a European rink they use in Sweden. I dunno if this signing was to light a fire under Howards ass or if he is really suppose to battle howard for the spot. Regardless, you can use anyone you want to back up ozzie, truth remains Ozzie will be our starter and hes going to be awesome. I'd like to see Miller here after next year, but unless hes going to take a paycut to play here, i dunno if thats going to happen especially since that will be Z's UFA year if we dont get him signed to an extension soon. I hear Larsson is going to be great, but for some reason im a little "sweded" out right now and really would love to see a North American boy be out goalie of the future. I like Howard, and i hope that our draft pick this year that Thomas Mcollum or what not can really do something for us to (although that will be a long time from now) and i would really love to see Miller here since hes not only an American but also a Michigan boy. But beggers cant be chosers so as long as one of these guys steps up and backs up Ozzie and shows us he is ready for a starting role when Ozzie retires or signs up as a backup i am fine either way...

Ya know, ive always like Mike, a good hometown boy that played at U of M, how can you not like him? Whats really impressed me with him is that he didnt really become a high scorerer till his 8th season when he hit around the 30 years old mark. Its weird to see someone actually bloom that late, but its nice to see that the 02/03 season wasnt a fluke for him bcause he has posted good numbers since than as well. I like the fact of replacing a guy like Drake who has great roots in detroit with another guy like Knuble who also has roots here. I think he would be a pretty good replacement for Drake although i would still like to have Rolston here. I would have to see some kind of a buyout though by the flyers, becuase i dont think trading for Knuble is a great idea and take the chance of losing one of our younger guys especially when the free agent market is decent this year. Its always nicer to pick someone up for some cash rather than trading ....unless however, the flyers would take sammy....haha after all he did for us in the playoffs and im still bashing him. Im sorry sammy...

I could understand your argument if we took him as like a 3rd or 4th round pick. To me, usually a teams first round pick is someone they think very highly on, and hope to have in the organization the quickest. Not many teams take first round goalies. If your first round pick is a goalie (which this year only two teams took goalies in their first round, the other being Nashville who is pretty bad with depth except for Ellis) it makes me beleive that our staff thinks that we are shaky at that position. Im not saying he is a threat to Howard now but possibly in the next few years. I think that by taking a Big bodied goalie like that along with having a guy like Larsson who could take howards spot this year as backup, it shows to me that the staff may not have as much confidence in Howard as they did in the past. I love that we have an American goalie in our minors now, im glad to see that. I also have been hearing alot about a Ryan Miller possibility in the future. It just seems like a whole lot of options for the postion that was suppose to be a lock for Howard since his draft day.

i like howard as much as everyone else, and i really hope that he does become our goalie of the future, but it seems like our GM and staff dont beleive in him as much. When they sgiend Larsson they said that he was good enough to battle Howard for the backup spot behind ozzie and that Howard might not even make the team for the 09 season. Which was fine in my book, a little competition to kick him the ass and hope he gets his act together. Then they go out and with their first draft pick they pick a big bodied goalie. 6'2 205lb goalie. This just makes me thing this is the year that the Wings give up on howard altogher. I think that if he doesnt turn it around quick you could see his traded at the deadline or something since our depth at goalie is now as good as our depth at just about every position now.

I didnt mean that so dont take it that way. When i said "if it would please you" i just meant that i understood where you were coming from, i wasnt trying to be a smart ass. haha just so we got that straight. Anyways, the way i look at it is we didnt have Stuart all the first half of the season, and he went down with injury pretty quickly once he got here, so we practically played the whole season with him as our #4 Dman. Even without stuart we still finished with the best record in the NHL. He did well in playoffs, and i hate making bold assumptions like this, but i think we would have been ok without him in the playoffs. Like i said i HATE making those assumptions but i think we were good enough before him and he just pushed us completely over the top. I still like the idea of signing a defensive forward like rolston or a veteran guy like sundin, and let our young guys play a bit in the back, but i think it would be smart to save some cash incase we need a better Dman at the deadline. But thats just me. holland is a very reasonable guy which means he probably wont be looking to me for any advice haha.

We have a huge overload on defense right now, i dont think that if we lose Stuart it will leave a HUGE hole. I think we can let our young guys who need the expereince play, however if signing a defensmen would please you for our #4 hole, than we should go do it. I think Stuart is a great player, but if he wants 1st or 2nd Dman Money, to me its not worth it, plus he doesnt want to be here anyways more than likely. So if you want to g out and get a 4th Dman than by all means do it, but even if we do i think we would still have enough money to sign Sundin to a one year contract or sign Rolston for a long term at 4 mil a year. The cap will go up enough, and i think we would be ok. I dont think losing Stuart would weaken any chances of getting a Defenseive forward who can score like rolston. It would free up 2.5 mil of cap which in my book would strengthen a signing of Rolston or Sundin.

Well ifi the Wild continue to low ball Rolston, knowing that hes not going to take a discount to play for the wild, than i dont see any reason that he wouldnt come to detroit if holland threw him a decent contract for 3-4 years or so i think he would take it. Am i saying hes going to take a contract for 4 years at 2.5 mil? No prob not. But if you threw 3.5-4 mil with some bonuses i think he would jump on board. I like him and i hope he shows up in a wings Uniform for next year.

if stuart walks than. in my book holland would HAVE to go after one of these guys. I think sundin would fit in well with the swedes of course so a 1 year deal would be awesome. as much as I want to see him win a cup, I would hate to see him leave toronto. but if he is going to leave than id much rather have him on our team than on the opponents team. with that said I think rolston is a little better fit. if drake retires we have an open slot for forward on our 3rd or 4th line. if we sign rolston we can move sammy down to the 3rd or 4th line where he belongs. rolston can play any 3 of the forward positions, and quite effectively at that! he can also replace sammy on the point during a pp. he's got a shot twicw as powerful and is much more accurate. plus he won't aim for the logo on the goiles chest!plus if stuart does walk it weakens our defense a bit. rolston is a great 2 way forward and would help out in our own zone. he plays great defense while still posting above avereage offensive numbers. he has had three great seasons with the wild who are a dump and chase team without a lot of offensive force. I think if you put rolston on our 2nd line and allow him to play our puck posession style he could have some high scoring years here in detroit. plus he's a flint native. gotta love that. if stuart walks, than we need one. I love sundin, but rolston would fit the mold better for us in my opinion.