VM1138

It'll be fun seeing their offense run into a brick wall of another teams' defense. It's sad that a bunch of professionals can be so oblivious to something so obvious.

I bet they sign Hossa and Sundin next.

Yet another forward, what the hell are they doing?

How much less money do we have, capwise? Calculating all the little loopholes in the cap confuses the hell out of me. It doesn't strike me that we're in any different situation than we were before, overall? All our calculations were done pretending like Stuart was staying, I think.

Lebda and Lilja are both under contract which I think solidifies them as our 3rd pair for most of the season.

Well, those are risks for those players. They could develop into great players so in the long run it might not be that crazy. Malone is an overpayment, I'm not familiar with Greens' skills, and Perry very well could continue developing into a great player, though a *****.

That's how I see it. Ericsson in Grand Rapids, Chelios #8, Meech #7, and Quincey is the odd man out. Lids-Raf Kronner-Stuart Lilja-Lebda Meech Chelios

By the time Raffy and Lidstrom are done, Kronner and Stuart will be matured and at their peaks...my God, the transition could be seamless! I never thought we'd resign Stuart, let alone for a fairly long term contract!

Wings don't stand a chance. I highly doubt many hockey fans are registered with ESPN.

I wouldn't say they are a lot better. The moves theyu've made so far, I really don't see them being THAT much different than last season.

What the hell happened here? Am I seriously reading that we have Stuart for 4 years, and he finally has a home mere minutes after reading about how he was gone? AMAZING!!!!

I like all the Wings players (except for Kopecky, who is useless), but to suggest that Hudler is better than Franzen is a bit silly. I don't think it's beacuse Hudler is small. I think it's because he's more inconsistent than Franzen has shown to be. He shows flashes of brilliance but needs a breakout year like Franzen had to put all the pieces together.

It seems they watched what Philly did last year, but were totally oblivious to the fact that Philly had defense. I wrote about it here: http://national-hockey-league-nhl.suite101...e_the_offensive

I'm going to try to make this clear. We were tough enough LAST YEAR. But now Stuart is gone. We had enough scoring LAST YEAR. This year we have to keep up. Every other etam in the league is going to try and improve. If we stand pat we fall behind. So we cannot stand pat. We always have to be improving. I can't believe some of the things I've read on these boards. Some of you seem to be happy with limiting our opportunity. You always want the most firepower you can get, no matter how good you have it right now. If Lecavalier were on the market, we wouldn't say "Well, we have Datsyuk and Zetterberg, who needs another scorer?" But I agree that some people think a team full of goons wins Cups. Clearly we are tough enough, you don't have to be physical to win, you just have to be physical enough to out-physical the team you are playing that night, which the Wings do.

The regular season is for experimentation, but come on, Hudler second line and Franzen third line? If anything I think Franzen more than anyone else has proven and earned a permanent spot on the 2nd line for the season.

Miller still has to mature, too. I think this whole "resign a player long term and hope it works out" thing is getting a little out of hand. It's okay for a player like Datsyuk, or a Lecavalier, or Zetterberg, but signing EVERYONE to long-ass contracts is just going to make things really freaking dull.

I was against Naslund at the start, but if management think he has waht it takes to play with heart and stop being so damn lazy, I'm all for it. I'm beginning to agree that Sundin and Rolston aren't going to happen, and Bertuzzi is a long shot. I'm kind of afraid we're only going to sign a goalie who we don't need and let that be the end of it.

Flip and Hudler really dont' count. They play amazing, yes, but are pretty inconsistent. We may have had enough to win this year, and they may come into their own, but there is no reason to turn down more secondary scoring. None whatsoever. This whole "we have enough to get by" thing is not goign to cut it when other teams like Dallas, etc. are IMPROVING their teams. Have you all forgotten we need to compete again next year, and that it won't just be a repeat. Other teams are going to improve and we have to keep ahead of them. So if we have 2 lines of secondary scoring, let's get 3 lines of it.

But the year after they could be a force. I haven't crunched the numbers (don't care enough to), but if they build up their offense long-term, they can make some gains this season. Nothing substantial though. But it'll be enough to figure out who they can keep and who they can get rid of, then build their defense much the same way they did this year. So, in a way, they're building half their team this year, half their team next year, then being a decent contender the second or third year. It's a long-ass and unsubtle way of doing things, but maybe there is some logic to it.

It's always amusing to see how players always want a long term contract, yet for virtually the same amount of money and a year or two less, they could have a better chance of winning a Cup. And then probably be re-signed for more money. Go figure.

Frankly, I wish Holland wouldn't stall when re-signing players. He always waits until after someone overpays and sets the tone, and then we suffer as a result.

Yeah, you're not going to make a huge statement either way. They just need to compete with the SouthEast right now, and offense will help them. THey don't plan on winning the Cup this season. Then, at the trade deadline and next free agency expect them to tweak their defense and try to balance out their team. But you can only do so much in a single offseason. I still hold out hope that Rolston won't want to go there. It just seems like Tampa is a place for young players who aren't concerned about winning juts yet. Established vets would seem to want to stay away from places like Tampa.

We won't be able to ship him out. No team in the league wanted to claim him from waivers, because he's so much of a cancer. If the Wings got him we'd be stuck with him until his contract expires.

When we all talk about a replacement for Drake, I don't think most of us literally mean a replacement for his role. I think we're simply thinking in terms of roster spot/veteran experience to win the Cup for, things. That being said, I'm not sure Bert would be a player the team could rally around in that scenario. So, to split hairs, I would think of Bert as more of an addition than a Drake replacement, too.

I'm beginning to think maybe you're right. Detroit has a lot going for it. Probably more than any other team in the laegue, but that doesn't always equal the expected result. Maybe he's considering something totally different than what we are considering. Just think...we're only 2 days, maybe 3 days away from a decision. Unless it's one of those half-summer things, but I don't think so. He's already turned down two of the "favorite" teams, he has something in mind. It may not be Detroit, but I think he certainly has an idea what he wants and is ready to commit fairly soon.