VM1138

I think Holland might make an exceptino for a guy like Rolston, who is a proven player.

I love how people say we will be juts fine without him, yet one of the primary reasons we won the Cup was because of him and Kronwall. Go figure. Wouldn't a shoulder injury make it easier to re-sign him? Other teams might nto be willing to wait to see if he'll gel. And as for Baghdad Bob, I never knew he was his agent. We're screwed.

Ericcson would do best to learn from Chelios or Kronwall, not Lidstrom. He's a different style defenseman. And my head nearly exploded at the thought of Lidstrom playing anything other than the absolutely highest spot in the land.

They're looking to lose a few more players before it's all said and done. Stupid move by Roberts, though. Will anyone want him?

He wouldn't hurt us. But first preference goes to Rolston. Then Knuble.

I think he meant back up to Miller, which is just as frustrating. Ozzie may never get the respect he deserves.

You know, I bashed Sammy pretty hard, but he was good for us in the playoffs. He's never been bad, he just takes frustratingly badly timed shots. Keep him unless someone better comes along.

Is there actually discussions in management about going after a veteran goalie? I haven't seen or heard anything other than fan gossip and baseless rumor. The only commitments I've heard from management is to sign Stuart and go after a replacement for Drake.

Exactly. We all liked him when he was here, but after he left he just got a little out of control, and his skills aren't really all that special. He's a decent hockey player, but so are 200 other players in the league.

The Wings better re-sign Stuart, even if he wants a little too much money. No one out there is any better, and I'm sure Zetterberg would take a little less to keep him if he were made aware of how crucial Stuart was. He really had chemistry and I think people underestimate what Stuart did for this team. I know we can argue how he's only worth such and such, but we have the money, pay him a little extra to keep him, but sign him long term, like we did with Datsyuk.

He'll be a nobody. Liles will be an awesome defenseman in the coming years. Whoever locks him up long-term gets a steal. Naslund could be one of those re-invented players. If Sundin goes somewhere cheap, he'd be a steal. I agree with a few others here, Rolston will be the biggest steal, and I hope we get him.

Excuse my French in regards to the Lilja on the second pair speculation: f***. What a gaping hole Stuart would leave.

It's really not that shocking to pick Franzen over Hossa. Franzen was putting up similar numbers to Hossa the last part of the season, and every time he returned from an injury (after the initial one) never missed a beat, which makes me think he's the real deal. I'd rather take a CHEAP risk on Franzen and see where that goes tahn risk tying up all our money in a single player who has been sort of a problem for his past two teams who could very well bolt if he doesn't sign long-term. That could also mess with the chemistry, too. Like I said, give us Franzen and a few other scorers over Hossa any day of the week.

As to the guy talking about Franzen, I have to say I'd rather have Franzen. He's shown he's the real deal. A whole season could put him among the best players in the league. I'd rather have him, "Hossa Lite", who is homegrown, comfortable in our system, reliable, and relatively cheap (long term) than an expensive gamble that could or could not pan out, and possible not hang around. I like Hossa, but Franzen all the way.

On paper, yes. They came through in the playoffs, but they all were inconsistent in the regular season. You can NEVER have too much secondary scoring, ever. If we can blow out teams 5-1 instead of 3-1, why wouldn't we want that?

Columbus has good fans, I thought. I've never heard anything bad about them, and they've got to be good fans to support a team that's a perennial failure for 10 years or whatever it is now.

Nolan, Peca, or Liles. Unless I missed someone there's no one out there worth it. Peca is a gritty as hell playoff warrior who could easily be a better Dallas Drake. Liles is a backup plan to Stuart leaving and is developing EXTREMELY nicely. Nolan, well, he'd just be a good pickup.

And now it's kind of pointless because we're getting to the point of pre-lockout numbers, but not quite there yet.

Probably, but would we want to? Think about it. We're not a rebuilding team who needs to get pushed over the edge. We just need some consistent, timely scoring. We can pick that up long term for under 5 million. I was once all for Hossa, but now, really, we don't NEED him, we just need to ppick up some reliable role players to augment our lineup. Some good secondary scoring as an insurance policy against Filpulla and Hudler remaining inconsistent.

Anyone else notice the picture on NHL.com? It's of the Draft Center, and the banners up in the rafters have the Western Conference teams above the Eastern. How appropriate.

That's true. I think Chicago is going to make a case for the 8th spot this year, which might bump Nashville out. Which will be nice because for some reason I'm completely bored any time the Wings play Nashville.

Didn't seen this noted, but it's related to the Umberger move. Philly just got Eminger (D) from Washington.

Woops, I got mixed up, I thought we played Colorado in 1998. Still, 3 out of 4 times is a pretty strong indicator.

Uh...yeah.....most of their talent was out at some point, they had no cohesion, and their goaltending sucked. Keep in mind they don't play the Red Wings every game all season, so they should get into the playoffs.

It only seals the deal if they come to an agreement. It could very well be that come July 1st, no agreement has been reached, and Sundin won't want to play for rival Montreal. But it's 50/50, from what I understand right now.