stillwater

We have to wait until Lidstrom retires for Rafalski to be valuable? Not only will he be "valuable", he'll be really old too. Again, I'm not advocating a Rafalski trade, just trying to find a way to fit everyone within the cap ... including Hossa, as the threadtitle suggests.

The other issue is, if you let Hossa walk, you get nothing in return, whereas, if you can get Rafalski to agree to a trade, you get something of value in return. Once again, I'm not suggesting or hoping Rafalski is traded, I'm just trying to stay within the thread title and the repercussions of re-signing Hossa.

Was that sarcasm? I hope so.

Gloaters and trolls are pretty much the same thing.

You're spot on about the PP, but you'd honestly rather have Rafalski over Hossa, if it came down to it, given that the suggestion is Hossa would sign for less money than Rafalski is currently being paid? Keep in mind that Rafalski is 6-years older than Hossa.

I didn't say "I want to get rid of these guys". The economics dictate that if you're going to give Hossa a cap-hit contact like Franzen's ($4 million) then someone has to go. Stuart or Kronnwall could replace Rafalski pretty nicely, IMO. Who was your #2 D-man for the last 2 victories? Look, the idea of the thread topic, is a notion discussed by Eric D of the Hockey News that Hossa and the Wings have a verbal agreement on a Franzen-esque contract. If that is in fact true, and it may not be, then I'm just laying out possibilities of trading players the Wings could most do without ... because someone has to go, sorry.

I don't see them trading anyone either ... but if you're going to sign Hossa, someone (or two) has to be dealt, otherwise the math doesn't add up. I can't see them trading a 25-year old Filppula. Purely from an age standpoint, Rafalski, Draper, Maltby, Holmstrom and Lilja are the pieces you could most likely do without, and in Rafalski's case, get a decent enough return.

No-trade clauses notwithstanding, trading one of Danny Cleary (who's trade value at the end of this playoff year will never be higher) or Brian Rafalski would easily free up room for Hossa. Cleary and Rafalski are very good players, but Hossa is better than either ... and Cleary is a personal favorite. There's also the possibilty of retirement from the likes of Draper, Holmstrom and/or Maltby ... all of whom are under contract for next season. Don't want to see anyone leave, but a Hossa re-signing requires some collateral loss ... that's just the way it is.

The only way Darren Helm sees a minor league game again, will be as a spectator.

'Yep' ... 'You got that right'.

He should demand #18 from Maltby.

This team is 3 wins away from the finals ... who cares what number players are wearing.

I can clearly remember watching games where they've gone to the booth to determine whether the puck crossed the line before the whistle blew. Why wasn't that done?

Typically of Cherry, no.

If Brown hits Sidney Crosby the same way, he's gone for the duration of the playoffs.

Really going out on a limb there.

Meh ... Do you have a link or a report to support this, or is your imagination running wild once again?

In all likelyhood, no one. You see, the concept of the top ten is to be funny. You can suggest it wasn't funny, but it's a stretch to deem it 'disrespectful'.

You'd like to trade Franzen because 'he's not coming back', but it becomes a huge fail when you suggest trading him for an inferior player (Neil), who also becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season.

It's only been a week: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=52297

You give up what the CBA tells you to give up, according to the money offered. The Wings cannot afford him, and I doubt the Coyotes would let him walk via an offer sheet.

HE wasn't "picked up", he was traded for. Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey and a 1st round pick went to the Whalers ... after the 1996-1997 season began, so I'm guessing there wasn't "MANY FA guns on the market" at that point ... right? You're "too lazy" to list the FA guns that could've been signed after the season began, yet you still want to argue the point? Failure.

But "defenseman coaches" did exist? The goaltenders outside of the "truly gifted" didn't play in the NHL, of course, they became posters on internet message boards and sold insurance. All players in the NHL were truly gifted at some point, or at least considered truly gifted or they'd never have gotten to the NHL in the first place.

Pearl Jam? Now you're my best buddy. Debate over, Lidstrom wins in 2008-2009, lock the thread.

Well, I'm on holidays and drunk as a skunk so here's to you all. Cheers everyone.