VM1138

No. The fact was, they wanted to play together. Parise signed first, with his home team, for considerably more than the Wings offered (which was under 90 million), and Suter, though he was considering the Wings, decided to play closer to home with an old friend. Simple as that. We were in the final cut but family and friends and a little bit more cash tipped the scales. If Babcock were the problem we never would have gotten as close as we did to Suter.

I think Holland will be shifting gears a bit. Whereas he had considered making a trade to bring in Nash or perhaps Ryan, the disappearance of quality UFA defensemen means he's likely to have to trade for one of those instead. So look for a lower key UFA forward (Doan perhaps) and a big trade on D, the opposite of what the plan originally was. I know he might sign someone like Kubina, but I can't convince myself Holland would be satisfied with a move like that, looking at our defensive needs. Losing out on Suter means we don't have any future UFA D-man prospects, either, except an outside chance at Weber next season. He still needs to fill that void and an aging veteran isn't the way to go.

Well, we have to trade now. I don't think there's a high caliber defenseman left in the UFA class. And since we don't even have a full compliment of defensemen, let alone ones who are good enough, we pretty much have to trade now and hope Doan signs with us. There's nothing wrong with Doan, he could help us just as much as Parise...just not long term. But it buys us another year or two. Doan is now the must-sign player, and hopefully he won't just string us along to increase more league interest in him.

....and the NHL community gives a collective: WTF? 13 years for a perennial bottom-feeder/mediocre team? They've got to realize that their contracts have just hamstrung the team for at least a few years. Even with their additions I'm not sure that team is a playoff team. There's just not much to build around. That's a ballsy move to stake your career on a team that has nothing but promises. Minnesota was dead last in offense last year. Adding one player (albeit a very talented forward) isn't going to improve on that much. And their defense, with the addition of Suter, now has a whopping one notable players.

Man, Jagr has just been a poster child for putting money above all else, hasn't he? I don't get what you mean. Jagr was a UFA, he wasn't in Philly's plans anyway so how does this change the situation?

Whelp. Another day spent chasing unicorns.

I don't think Holland will pull the trigger on a trade so long as Parise is still an option and wouldn't cost us anything but money.

Right. On the day rumored to be the day Parise (and thus maybe Suter) make up their minds, he just happens to be going home. Right when potential signees might want to meet with the coach he's headed out to the middle of nowhere, going AWOL. Something doesn't smell right with that story. EDIT: He may very well be going home but I find it very hard to believe he's not making a pit stop first.

Well, if it's true that Parise is down to two or three teams, it's a good sign that Babcock has flown to the city, whether or not Parise will be meeting with potential suitors. The fact that he's there indicates we're in the final group of two or three. Or it could just mean he's there to push Suter into signing, but it's a strange coincidence, especially considering the rumors that Suter and Parise may be wanting to go to the same place.

The Wings struggled to score when it mattered. They were not an offensive powerhouse the last portion of the year. Sure, we can score goals, but we rely on role players to score consistently and too often it just dried up. The Wings need a reliable scorer to carry us through those droughts when our role players can't score for us. And, many times we lost games because we didn't have a "shoot-first" mentality player. Sammy will help a bit in that regard, but a bona-fide finisher like Ryan, Nash or Parise would help this team get out of the 1st round. EDIT: And adding Semin doesn't really help us. Sure, he can score goals, but not the kind we need. The desperately need a hard working scorer who will go to the dirty areas. Datsyuk and Zetterberg alone can't carry this team on their backs for 82 games plus playoffs.

MacDonald never really indicated he could be a starter, but he has proven time and time again he can handle being an NHL backup and play well enough to be the starter for stretches of time. I really hope some team takes a chance on him, he's really earned the chance and I wish it could have been with the Wings. But I don't blame him for not wanting to be buried in the AHL after his last two seasons.

I really don't see Parise going to Pittsburgh, honestly. Playing with Crosby would be fun on the ice, but just ask anyone who has left the team, it sucks playing in his shadow, they have no goalie or defense. But who knows what perspective a player takes when considering teams. They may not analyze it the way we do. He may just see lots of money, a perennial playoff team and think that's good enough. There's no way in hell the Wild are among his final picks. I'll eat my hat if that's the case. Don't care what the rumors say. I have a bad feeling about him coming to Detroit, which I don't understand. Datsyuk would be just as fun to play with as Crosby, he knows we're going to improve our D corps and our back end is likely stronger than MAF. Plus, we're an original 6 team and our players and management are all class.

I know. Happy Hudler has always been a Red Wing and to see him wear another jersey will be weird. I kind of hoped he would have at least gone to a decent one.

It will be a few years before Nyquist and Tatar can score 25 goals a season. Meanwhile we know that Sammy will score at least 20 right off the bat.

It'd be nice if one of these types of signings worked out for the Wings.

I get that feeling, too. We just have too many players right now. Forgive me for speculating on lines as they stand now but we have: Franzen-Datsyuk-Brunner Samuelsson-Zetterberg-Filpulla Tootoo-Helm-Bertuzzi Miller-Emmerton-Eaves Nyquist And we're still waiting on Abdelkader and Homer and are likely to get a top line scorer. So that's two, possibly three spots to clear. And on defense we have: Kronwall-Ericsson White-Smith Kindl Still waiting on Quincey and presumably a top defenseman. Honestly, I'm not sure I like that defense. I feel like we really need to upgrade Kindl's spot or else hope that Smith has an outstanding breakout year. EDIT: On the bright side, combining Tootoo and Bertuzzi on a line could be fun.

He won most popular player on one team he was on. I think he's generally well liked in the locker room and I've never heard of him having a bad attitude.

Come on guys, you all wanted grit and agitation. You got it. Who did he have as linemates last year that he had a career high 30 points?

It could also indicate we're adding depth before making a roster move.

I think people should relax and realize that this doesn't really affect our Suter/Parise sweepstakes bid. It's a secondary scoring move, one the team had to make.

For all the crap, Sammy did score goals. But most importantly: he shoots. This team seriously needs a shoot-first player, and Sammy is that. Sure, 90% of his shots go into the chest pad, but he does score a decent amount of goals. And besides, it wouldn't be a Red Wings summer without resigning an old Wing. He's not going to put us over the edge, but he's a suitable Hudler replacement and adds a shooting dynamic. That's where he fits on this team.

Entry level is like $750,000, right?

I don't think it disqualifies us from Parise. They are probably doing due diligence so they don't get screwed if either one signs somewhere else. Or maybe a deal will be put together that will enable us to get both Parise and Nash (!)

I think it has more to do with the fact that having two fairly young goalies is better than having one and a vet. Our cupboard is pretty bare prospects wise. I'm not sure how old Gustavsson is, I'm guessing 24ish? I think it's more to add depth than send a message to Howard. This is the Wings preparing for the future.

Gustavsson, Doan, Parise, Suter, 4th line center. Summer: Success.