wingsownnhl43

Another thing I noticed... Your signature says you think Red Kelly and Larry Aurie's numbers belong in the rafters, however your profile says you are 33 years old. Red Kelly's career ended in 1967. Larry Aurie's career ended respectively in 1944, which means you have seen neither of them play. I bring this up because I think it further portrays how much stock you put into highlights and statistics. There is so much more to hockey than that. The game is played at both ends of the ice. Like I said earlier, you just cant have enough players that do the little things to help you win. Filppula is much more of a complete player than Hudler. It really is night and day.

I dont know what else needs to be said, building off of my previous post. It really isnt a debate amongst the informed. You dont trade a way a guy capable of playing 20 mpg to sign a guy that is barely trusted in 5-5 situations. You can never have enough two-way players and we saw this first hand in the SCF. The Pens depth exposed our depth players that have subpar defensive ability and that includes Hudler and Samuelsson.

Dont take offense to this. Ive read some of your posts on here, and you seem like a good guy. However, it boggles my mind that for a fan base as blessed with great hockey and such a rich tradition as ours has, that so many people cant see how obvious it is that Filppula is heads and shoulders better than Hudler. I realize that people can simply watch hockey and be entertained by players skating around the rink at a fast pace scoring goals. My girlfriend likes watching but really doesnt have a clue how the game is played. If you are knowledgeable enough and watch how plays are developed, how the team breaks out of their zone, how players play their position, how players battle along the boards, win races to the puck, how certain players make heady plays that dont show up on the score sheet.. etc, this really isnt even a debate. If you arent able to watch the little things that go on in a game. To me, proof is in the pudding when Hudler cant be counted upon to play more than 12 minutes a game, and that some of those minutes are logged while we have a 5 on 4 advantage. At times, he is a liability. While I'd like to have Hudler back, it is pure idiocy to say he should be kept over Filppula. Filppula still hasnt even peaked offensively.

"Jeremy Williams might just be the anti-Samuelsson. He’s been an interesting player for me to follow the past couple seasons because he was a scorer coming out of the WHL, one of the bigger Leaf prospects. He wasn’t good enough to stick in the lineup on a day-to-day basis, but what was weird is that he always scored goals. He played one game in 2005-06 and scored. He played one game in 2006-07 and scored. He scored in his first game in 2007-08 too, but then only once more in 17 games. This year he scored 3 goals in his first 3 games, and 5 in his first 6, but not again through his next five. He has a career shooting percentage of 22%. I like this signing a lot as a reclamation, low-risk, high-reward signing. He’s only 25." http://babcocksdeathstare.wordpress.com/20...s-kris-newbury/ This little scouting report/write up makes me think, why not just put the guy on a line with Zetterberg and Datsyuk to start the regular season just to see what happens. It's gotta be worth a shot, right? We just lost a lot of scoring and Williams can score in bunches. He doesnt play defense, so why not put him with the best two-way players in the NHL who are also great playmakers? Maybe Dats and Z's two-way hockey would rub off on Williams. Also, with a cannon of a shot, and a righty shot at that, maybe this guy can stick as our #2 pp point man replacing Sammy. Nothing but upside with this signing. I could definitely see us striking lighting in a bottle. Cleary, Samuelsson, Stuart are just a few that dissapointed in other organization but worked out here. It's not like we havent done it before.

If you told me about a prospect that oozes with talent offensively but isnt committed to playing two way hockey and doesnt back check. Detroit would be the first organization that I would want him to go to with the hopes of turning it around. Good Signings.

There goes any credibility you might have had.

on CapGeek.com i pencil Ville Leino in for 875,000 and everyone else currently under contract. The result is 21 players signed for 55,195,653, which is 1,604,347 million in cap room. Now capgeek says we need to get 2 more playes signed, but I believe it is legal to have a 22 man roster (not positive). The reason I bring all this up is this. How can we afford Hudler? Samuelsson just signed for 2.5, and I believe Hudler is better. Filppula got 3 million last year and even though I believe Flip is heads and shoulders above Hudler, an arbitrator might want to award him similar money due to his superior point production. To the people saying we might lose all three prior to the offseason, you guys might turn out to be right. And please. Don't say we will be able to free up some room by trading Meech. He makes under the league minimum, people. If we deal him we would still have to bring someone else in to fill his roster spot.

I agree. Im just hoping Hudler will agree to 2.5 million so we have enough left over to fill out our roster, and keep Leino.

I really think we are waiting until July 20th for Hudler's arbitration situation to pan out. If he gets awarded too much, we will probably look to sign one of the best available players that are left. If he gets awarded an amount we think fits, we probably wont do much else other than a depth forward for close to the league minimum.

I dont think he should be in ours either.

Well then we agree. I wouldnt be for buying out Homer just to put Downey on the roster. Im for buying out homer for capspace.

For all of the people down about our cap situation this year, have no fear!!! As long as we dont committ to any dumb contracts this off season (pretty much impossible), we should be in real good shape for next year. 1. Assuming Hudler prices himself out of here. 2. Holmstrom, Maltby, Lidstrom, Lebda, Lilja are UFAs 3. Helm, Abdelkader, Meech are RFAs 4. I pencilded Lidstrom in at 3.5 mil, a significant decrease that I expect him to take. 5. I dont know what kind of money Helm or Abby will recieve as they have not played a full regular season yet. I just penciled them in what they are making this year. We encourage copying and pasting capgeek.com's generated results on message boards and blogs, but we hope you will consider leaving mention of capgeek.com when you do so. A link back is even better. This will help capgeek.com stay alive and grow. FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.7m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.1m) / Johan Franzen ($4.0m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.0m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.8m) Ville Leino ($0.9m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.8m) / Darren Helm ($0.6m) Kris Draper ($1.6m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalaski ($6.0m) / Brad Stuart ($3.8m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($3.5m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.0m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.9m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.4m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.7m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 16; PAYROLL: $45.8m; CAP ROOM: $11.0m Official numbers ROSTER SIZE 16 SALARY CAP $56,800,000 PAYROLL $45,803,987 CAP ROOM $10,996,013 Is there even a list yet for next years crop of UFA's. How would we go about filling in the wholes. 6 players, 10 million to play with, leaving 1 mil for flexibility???

I cannot believe you would say no to Bertuzzi for cheap but would say yes to Travis Moen. People. Travis Moen would barely crack our lineup. And if Bill Guerin can compete as a top 6 forward, so can Todd Bertuzzi.

Alright, I get how your thinking but you're missing the big picture. A. I think a lot of people throw Downey into scenerios just because he makes .500, and thats exactly what I did. No matter how the offseason plays out we will probably need to add one or two players for the league minimum to fill out a complete roster. Whether it be Downey or someone else, I dont really care. B. The Homer buyout saves 1.5 million towards the cap. Under the scenerio I gave we would be 1.2 million under going into the season, which is necessary because we would have flexibility to add a player or two or even three at the deadline. If we didnt buy-out Homer, we would have absolutely no flexibility whatsoever.

I'm just basing that off what I've read. It has been reported that Kenny is offering Huds a contract worth 2.5 per and that Hudler is in the 3.5 range. If the reports are accurate, he is indeed pricing himself out of town, just as Sammuelsson did. And yes, I meant Lidstroms last run for whoever questioned that.

He is declining. Lidstrom used to be god out there. This year he was a Norris trophy candidate on name recognition only. The trend will continue, mon frare. It's just the nature of the beast.

A slap in the face? There are so many other variables involved. Lidstrom has already made his money in this league. He may take less so Kenny can put as many pieces in place as possible for a final run at the cup? Yzerman's last contract was around 1.25 by the way, at age 40. Lidstrom will be 41. And sure, he was a Norris trophy candidate this year. We will see how he plays this season.

I hate to break it to alot of you... I realize there is an unwritten rule right now that no one makes more than Lidstrom. However, if he continues to play into his 40's that rule WILL change. You can count in it. You guys act like if he plays until hes 50, he will continue to make over 7 million a year. The guy is already showing signs of slowing down. 3.5 million for a 41 year old is not that far fetched, for the love of god.

haha ok buddy.

There always has to be someone.

When Bertuzzi was here he had just come off missing two seasons. If youve watched him play since, he has shown flashes. He's still a nice player. Id love to have him in a series against the Ducks or Pens. I like these matchups Throw Hank/Franzen/Cleary against Crosby/Kunitz/Guerin Throw Datsyuk/Filppula/Bertuzzi at Malkin/Fedotenko/Talbot Then We'd still have a chance to beef up the third line at the deadline.

I think Bertuzzi wouldnt be a bad signing if Hudler prices himself out of Detroit. If we can get him to for something like 2 years at 1.25 per, he would be a nice addition. Bertuzzi is capable of scoring 45-55 points still and is still a physical player. Id consider him a huge upgrade over Samuelsson, especially when it comes to playoff style hockey. I also think Bertuzzi would relish at a chance of being on a line with Hank and Z. Bertuzzi is still without a cup. He should be hungry. Also, I think he is a better player than Bill Guerin at this stage of the game, and Guerin provided a nice spark for the Pens.

When you figure out where you saw Downey making 1.25, then you let me know.

If I were Kenny this is how i would go about the offseason. 1. Re-Sign Leino 2. Try and convince Hudler to stay for 2.5 million. He has said he'd stay for less. If he wants to try and get 3-3.5 in arbitration, then why would you even say that sh!t and good bye. 3. Trade Lilja (He's grown on me but business decsion) 4. Buyout Holmstroms contract. It's the obvious move. It would save us 1.5 million towards the cap. However in reality, once again, our loyalty towards useless aging veterans will probably cost us a 25 year old, 70 point scorer. This roster gives us 21 players with 1.2 million in cap space, which gives us Hudler and a little room to maneuver at the deadline. Pavel Datsyuk $6,700,000 Henrik Zetterberg $6,083,333 Johan Franzen $3,954,545 Valtteri Filppula $3,000,000 Daniel Cleary $2,800,000 * Jiri Hudler $2,500,000 Kris Draper $1,583,333 * Ville Leino $950,000 Kirk Maltby $883,333 Justin Abdelkader $850,000 * Holmstrom Buyout $750,000 Darren Helm $599,444 * Aaron Downey $500,000 DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom $7,450,000 Brian Rafalaski $6,000,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Niklas Kronwall $3,000,000 Jonathan Ericsson $900,000 Brett Lebda $650,000 Derek Meech $483,333 GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood $1,416,666 Jimmy Howard $716,666 ROSTER SIZE 22 SALARY CAP $56,800,000 PAYROLL $55,520,653 BONUS MONEY (ESTIMATED) (0.2% of cap) $110,000 CAP ROOM $1,279,347

If the arbitrator awards him 3.5 to 4 million he is as good as gone. Thats not an unfathomable salary for him either. There are plenty of players around the league making upwards of four million with similar point production.