wingsownnhl43

Lombardi is under contract with Phoenix. I meant trading for him at the deadline.

I agree with your last sentance, however I think you fail to realize if we re-sign Hudler we will not be able to make an energizing deadline deal as we will have no flexibility. In my opinion Hudler is not the type of player you try and keep at the expense of having very little cap room. Let him walk. Let the younger players play. Make a few moves at the deadline to prepare for another long playoff run. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom (hopefully he was hobbled this past year and can play a little better this year) Franzen-Filppula-Leino Cleary-Helm-Abdelkader Maltby-Draper-Cheap Free Agent after the dust settles Downey Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Ericcson-Lebda or Lilja Meech Osgood Howard I think either Lebda or Lilja will be gone. If Lilja cant go, then the decision becomes easier. If he can I think Lebda is the one to be moved given Liljas penalty killing ability. I gave Leino 1 million, Downey .5, and the Depth forward .6 22 players, just over 1 million in cap room. As you can see if Hudler were resigned, we would have zero cap room for the deadline. This way we can add a player or two later on.

Pittsburgh did this and they are going to be hanging a banner. Let our young kids play and gain experience. Load up at the deadline.

Very nice post. I dont think it would be the worst thing in the world if we lost Hudler though. I know its hard for some people being that they have developed emotional attatchments to some of these players having watched them play over the years, but you got to remember this is the Red Wings. Guys like Samuelsson and Hudler are products of our system. The wings can throw almost any offensive minded player in there on the third line and they can become 40 point scorer. That is something we have to realize. In my mind, we have already replaced Samuelsson. I think Leino can pick up his production. While it sucks losing Hudler, if you look at the business aspect of it, it'd probably benefit us most to let him walk away. You cant get tied into a bad contract when you can easily replace him. Our best bet would be to go into the regular season with some cap room and pick up 2 or 3 players at the trade deadline, much like Pittsburgh did with Guerin, Kunitz, and Fedotenko. I think we would be able to better access our team needs at that point anyways. I think a guy like Matthew Lomabardi might be available at that time. A nice fast, 2 way forward that can put the puck in the net. He's an awesome penalty killer and above average faceoff man. We could get a couple guys like this if we just waited, and in my opinion we could get a couple of guys even better than Hudler. He only make 1.8 mil and it would be even less of a cap hit at the deadline.

I honestly believe Hudler is going to get awarded 3-3.5 million. In which case, we would need to waive bye-bye. Hudler is not worth that much.

Accurate or not accurate, that article ruined my morning just reading it.

I dont know if anyone else has brought this up about Hossa signing with Chicago yet, but I was looking at their depth chart on capgeek.com and I noticed that Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith are all set to be RFAs next season. I dont expect them to get anything less than 5 mil/per as free agents or through arbitration. Did they just sign Hossa at the expense of a Toews or a Patrick Kane? Or is Hossa the one who made the mistake for not looking into this? If Chicago really gets in a bind, could it be possible that they deal Hossa at 5.2? I could see a bottom feeder giving a pretty penny for him at a reasonable cap hit. Or is the GM just going to magically make this all work? Itll be interesting for sure.

Am I the only one that doesnt see getting Hossa and Madden over Havlat and Khabibulan as an upgrade?

I have absolutely no fear about Chicago. I was merely pointing out that this could be a huge blunder of a signing if it means they lose Kane or Toews as a result. I think this would have been a good signing if it puts them over the top. If winning a championship means losing one of your star players, then it works. But they gained Marian Hossa and lost Kabibulan and Havlat. I dont think Hossa would do that much better than Havlat in a 7 game series against the winged wheelers.

I have noticed a lot of panic from Red Wings fans. If you are one of those people thinking the bottom is falling off, take a step back and look at the grand scheme of things. Everything is fine. Yeah, we lost Hossa. So what? We basically have the same team that won a Stanley Cup two years ago. I honestly think Ville Leino can be just as productive as Samuelsson. Honestly, Ill be glad I dont have to hold my breath when hes on the ice and the puck is in our defensive zone. I'm also happy I wont have to see him turn the puck over ever again. Also, we have a budding stud named Jonathan Ericcson that we didnt have two seasons ago. Even if we lose Jiri Hudler as well and are completely inactive during free agency, I still expect us to be one of five teams that could win it all next season. Moreover, if that worse case scenerio does happen, look on the bright side. We will still be a top 4 seed during the regular season with virtually the same team that has made back to back Stanley Cup finals and about 3 million in cap space to throw around at the trade deadline. A time more appropriate in identifying what we need to put us over the top, rather than overpaying for someone that we may or may not need right now.

If we are putting are red colored goggles aside to answer this question, it's flames no doubt. On this message board ive heard all about how great our defense and depth is over the past year, and on paper, maybe I'll agree. However on the ice, where games are played, we saw first hand when the penguins took us to school, that even their defense was superior to ours. Most biased Red Wing fans must of missed it. When it comes down to it, no one wants to admit this but... Lidstrom - Still Great. However is no longer than invisible force he once was. Rafalski- Awesome on the powerplay, awesome offensive force. Absolutely abysmal defensively. Kronwall- Has lapses at times but I still think is a solid top four d-man. Stuart- Same as above. Ericcson- Will only get better. Moreover, To say that Rafalski is even in the same league as Bouwmeester is outrageous. Bottom line, Ill take Bouwmeester and Phaneuf over Lidstrom and Rafalski at this stage of the game. Yeah, I said it. However id probably take our depth (Kronwall, Stuart, and Ericcson)

This thread is a year premature but I have been playing around on capgeek.com running through all sorts of situations that may play out for next season and i noticed something. We will have over ten million dollars in expiring contracts coming off the books after next season which includes Nick Lidstroms 7.6 salary. If we are able to get Hossa back in the mix we will have around 6 million to play with. Nick will be 40 years old at that point so if we win him a fifth cup i could definitely see him calling it a career. Which brings us to our next point: Replacing Nick. So I started looking at the best available defensemen for the 2010 free agent class and at the top of the list, Chris Pronger. You all know where im going with this, but before you call me crazy, when I say at the top of the list, i mean at the top of the list. The next best available dman was Marek Zidlicky. Also.. 1. We will have about 10 million in cap room and with the way the Red Wings operate, we will without a doubt be looking to sure up our defense. 2. Why would Pronger leave one western conference powerhouse to go to another? Well, with trade rumors spiraling around him, Anaheim may make that move for him. I certainly cant see him spending his remaining years in the NHL with a team like LA if this trade were to end up happening. Also, I could fully see Pronger wanting a shot to take out his former team if he were moved. Like I said, i know this is a year premature, but it is the offseason after all so I think its interesting to discuss. Begin.

This is if, and only if we can convince Rafalski to waive his no trade clause. But why not try to do something like this if he does? The rumored deal is Pronger for Johnson and a first. I would be willing to trade Rafalski and a first for Jack Johnson. We would clear about four million dollars and get younger in the process. We would be able to easily re-sign Marian Hossa. Jack Johnson is an RFA next season and we would be willing to give him a raise being that Homer and Maltby are going to be gone and also, Lidstrom will likely take a significant paycut. Win Win Win Win. I hope Holland and Rafalski would be willing to do something like this. Rafalski is horrible defensively. And we'd be getting tougher

Being that there are about two powerplays a game in the SCFs, who really cares?

I think we should take notice to what helped Pittsburgh win this series. I know they lost out on Hossa, but bringing in players like Fedotenko, Guerin, and Kunitz helped them big time. It was players like Fedotenko, Talbot, Staal, and Kunitz that helped them grind out a victory because it certainly wasnt Malkin or Crosby that won them this series. I say we follow suit. We need to let go of Hudler and Samuelsson. We already have highly skilled players on our top two lines such as Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Filppula, and Franzen. It was the third line matchup of Staal and Talbot that dominated Hudler and Samuelsson. Hudler and Sammy are very easy to play against. We need to insert high energy, defensive minded, physical players on our third and fourth lines. Helm, and Abdelkader will work nicely, but a player like Laperriere would be a great fit. Ian Laperriere is the type of player, when youre against him, gives you headaches. He is a physical player that has a lot of energy. He would be a great fit on the third line with Helm, and maybe another guy like them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3B7poRzKg...feature=related I dont know about you guys but i see the correlation between the 1995 and 1996 Red Wings and the 2009 Red Wings. Both teams were filled with smaller not-so gritty players. In addition, now that we have lost to Pittsburgh, a rivalry has been created. Every fan if asked who they would like to see in the finals next year, would undoubtedly say Pittsburgh. Couple that with Crosby snubbing Lidstrom, players and fans alike now have a fire brewing inside them. We should take note how our 1997 team was created. They needed some attitude. They needed some backbone. This team needs both of those things. We need some high energy, gritty players to create a persona. The days where opposing players take shots at our skill players need to be over. With players like Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula on the top two lines, guys like Samuelsson and Hudler just arent necessary. We need more of a balance. Third liners need to be chekers, not 5'9 forwards that wont touch anybody. Now, I know we were two goals from winning back to back cups, but this team still could be more dominant if they had more of a mix. If they let the skill players be skill players and have the rest of the roster beat you down. This is how I would go about this offseason. 1. Marian Hossa- This is the debate of the offseason. Many Red Wings fans want to see him go. I disagree. Regardless of how he played in the playoffs, he remains one of the top 20 players in the NHL. The Hossa situation is unique. No contending team is going to offer him a fat contract. If he wants big bucks its going to be with a bottom feeder. Will Hossa sign a contract with a bottom feeder? I think not. He needs to win. After signing with the wings to win a cup and falling short to the team he left, he needs to avenge that decision, and he still can... with the Red Wings. He can still make right on the decision to come here. We are graced with the opportunity to sign him at a number that was unfathomable one year ago. We can no pass on the opportunity to get a top 20 NHL Player around 4-5 million. If he agrees to that figure, we have to take him. If not, good riddance. 2. We can not simply re-sign Hossa. Someone needs to be moved. Looking at the players making a significant salary that we can afford to lose, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, and Tomas Holmstrom come to mind. Rafalski makes 6 million, I doubt anyone would take that on. I say convince Stuart to waive his no trade clause and move him, to sign Hossa and let Hudler and Samuelsson walk. 3. Where does the whole attitude, backbone part come in? Right here. Holmstrom needs to go. He has lost a step. Trade him away. 4. Sign Ian Laperriere and Chris Neil. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Hossa Laperriere-Helm-Abdelkader Maltby-Draper-Neil Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Ericcson Lebda-Lilja Osgood Howard I know we are losing Stuart on defense, but we won with a core of Lidstrom,Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart. so we can we with Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Ericcson. I dont know if this link works but it shows this depth chart on a salary chart. http://www.capgeek.com/cap_calculator.php 21 players, 2.1 million in cap space remains. Hossa at 4 million Laperriere at 1.2 Neil at 1

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hossa, Filppula, Franzen, Cleary, Lidstrom, Kronwall, Stuart, Osgood remain. God, 6/6 top six forwards , 3/4 top four defenseman, 1/1 starting goalie remain, I really tore this team apart. Get a clue, dude.

Well, lets say, just for sake of argument, the Red Wings do what I want them to do. Rafalsk is traded to LA for Jack Johnson. We Re-Sign Hossa for about 5 million per. We Buy-Out Holmstrom (saves 1.5), Sign Ian Laperriere for 1.2. Cleary-Datsyuk-Zetterberg Franzen-Filppula-Hossa Leino-Helm-Laperriere Maltby-Draper-Kopecky Meech Lidstrom-Johnson Stuart-Kronwall Ericcson-Lilja Lebda Osgood Conkilin 221,013 under the cap OK, now Lidstrom, who has said he wants to play as long as he is healthy enough to play, comes back for 3 million per. Holmstrom, Maltby are fully off the books. We re-sign Jack Johnson for around 3 million per. Cleary-Datsyuk-Zetterberg Franzen-Filppula-Hossa Leino-Helm-Laperriere Abdelkader-Draper- OPEN SPOT OPEN SPOT Lidstrom-Johnson Kronwall-Stuart Ericcson-OPEN SPOT OPEN SPOT Osgood Conklin 18 players signed, 4 spots open.... 8.2 million in cap room. We could fill out the roster averaging 2 million per player. Trading Rafalski overpaid salary is fiscally responsible in the cap world.

This is where your argument falls short. Rafalski is a world class defenseman because of his offensive abilities as well as his ability on the powerplay. He is actually below average defensively. Acquiring a young stay at home defenseman would only help us against those growing offenses according to your argument.

Well, I'd rather trade Rafalski but i doubt it happens.

Well not specifically Johnson. I said in the original post, Why not try something like this? Just curious. What about having Hossa and a young defenseman at the same cap number as Rafalski is idiotic?

You are misunderstanding the point of my post. I do think Rafalski is a legitimate #2 defenseman in the NHL. The fact of the matter is, he makes 6 million perseason and if we want Hossa (which i do), we have to get Rafalski or Stuart to waive their no trade clause. Also, Id much rather have Hossa and a guy like Jack Johnson over Rafalski at the same or very similar cap hit.

Also, under this scenerio, LA would get to keep a top 10 pick if they dont do the Anaheim trade, and gain a first if they do this.

Maybe if Anaheim doesnt trade them there? But Redwingsfan18, raises a good point. If you're Brian Rafalski and Ken Holland comes up to you and says, we want you to waive your no trade clause.. Under any condition, would he waive it?

Scrap the system???? Who said that? Since when do third and fourth liners dictate a teams style of play. I never understand when people say this as a response to getting tougher. With Datsyuk, Hossa, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, we will still be a puck possession team. Why dont people understand that we CAN get tougher while maintaining our style? That core group would without a doubt, remain the most talented of any group in the league.