VM1138

RIP Anaheim. The rivalry was fun while it lasted.

Well, he's already stated he's looking for a forward in mid-July and later will trade a defenseman. But I agree that training camp is going to be the main battleground.

Sounds like he could fill in a bit for Lilja if Lilja is out for a long time.

Yeah, this is actually relatively old news, and it means Hudler is more likely to stay thanl eave. It also doesn't mean that other teams aren't interested, it means Hudler is committed to staying here.

I'm really torn on Bertuzzi. When he was with us I felt he contributed even though he was injured and out of shape, and felt that if he stuck around another year he could've been really good for us. Then he went on to other teams and just sucked (from what I hear). So I'm really not sure, to be honest, what he has left in the tank. I won't be upset if we sign him, but I'm not sure if he really has any value left, just because I haven't followed him since he left.

Don't know much about him, is he gritty? That's what Holland is looking for.

Nothing coming out of Quebec is ever even remotely accurate. So no.

I love that Abdelkader will probably play, but with all of our Black Aces on the roster next season, is anyone else worried about us having virtually no backup depth? The roster's getting pretty thinly spread and the Wings have routinely had to deal with large spats of injuries during the last few years. We basically relied on the callups and now it seems we don't have as many to count on.

Good luck, Sammy. You were frustratingly bad at timing your shots, and aiming your shots, but for some reason, you could always be counted on for a clutch goal. Despite all my misgivings about you over the years, it's not giong to be the same without the love/hate relationship so many fans had with you. It's a shame you'll never see a Cup while you're in Vancouver, though.

Unbelievable. Quincey AND Preissing? What were the Kings thinking? Time for the Wings to trade Lebda for Quincey!

Lidstrom-Rafalski-Stuart-Kronwall-Ericcson-Lilja > Keith-Seabrook-Hjalmarsson-rest of Chicago defense. Someone had to say it. I like Keith and Seabrook, I've heard good things about Hjalmarsson, the rest....meh.

I agree with this. We set the bar and now teams are following with long-term discounted contracts. Some teams (Edmonton, NYR) still overpay, but the vast majority seem to have caught onto the idea of building a core out of loyal, hard working players and building around them. Chicago will find a way, just like Detroit and Pittsburgh have found ways to survive and flourish under the Cap system. Toews and Kane seem like good guys, I'm sure Toews especially will take a slight discount to stay with the Hawks long-term. Toews and Kane are basically their Datsyuk and Zetterberg and from an outsider's perspective they seem to carry themselves off-ice similarly. The Hossa situation doesn't hurt them nearly as bad as some people (Want) to believe.

Hossa's contract is actually pretty reasonable, and tradeable if it doesn't work out.

I think so. Hossa isn't made of glass and Khabibulin was really just an overpaid backup the past few years.

Way too many people are angry with Hossa. You all look like pathetic Pens fans. He had a great season with us until the Finals, cut the guy some slack. He took a huge discoutn to play for us and he always had an excellent, hard working attitude. It sucks to lose the Hoss because like when we lost Robitaille, he's going to have a great year next year and it won't be for us. Good luck Hossa, just not against us.

The Wings will be worse. They COULD be better, but really only if Leino, Ericcson and Helm somehow rejuvinate this team (Abdelkader won't be playing full time) and have massive breakout years and if Draper and Maltby and Homer don't continue to slide. The key is not just to look at our roster, but look around us. Those teams taht have been nipping at our heels are improving while we're still essentially the 2008 team. Consistency is good, yes, but at what cost? We saw that the team struggled and would have been a low, low seed without Hossa. Was that just Cup hangover or will they continue to struggle next year? I won't say the Wings will have a bad year, but I will say that there are a lot more "IFs" hanging over this offseason than usual.

Williams.....Williams.... No thanks.

Hossa has a tendency to score hat tricks against the Wings.

Their best move might be to sign a couple second tier guys instead of a big name. They're assembling a quality team and like Lombardi said, if they can put together a good season or two they can compete for big names. Getting some workhorses who aren't quite big stars would put them in good shape.

Kopecky is useless, but I'm kind of angry that we lost both Kopecky and Hossa (they have the same agent, don't they?) for nothing to a division rival that was already pretty good. We better do something, I don't want to hear people say "we won the Cup with this team two years ago" because after we won all the other teams got a lot better. You can't just stand pat completely. We have our core but we need to be adding some people and getting things in return when we lose players.

St. Louis raids our goalie closet yet again. Good luck Conks (not against us though). Should be pretty solid there for them.

Wow...this really sucks. I wish we could have gotten something for Hossa, we really got screwed on this deal. Having to face Hossa for 12 years on a decent team? The Hawks got considerably better while the Wings slid a little in quality. Yikes. Can't wish you luck now, Hossa, Chicago is just too close.

I could be wrong but not much is going to happen today. It's just the start of free agency, not like a trade deadline where everyone rushes to make their final moves. We have all summer for this to develop.

Already said he's not leaving the Sharks except to retire.

Of course you will because his last game is likely to be a game in which the team win the Cup thanks largely to his stellar post-season play.