wingsownnhl43

What are you talking about? I'm sorry but McCarty is just awful. Z, Dats, Hossa, Homer, Flip, Huds, Draper, Cleary, Kopecky, Samuellson, Franzen, Maltby are all substantially better players.

1.5-2 would be a steal. someone, probably pittsburgh will sign him to an offer sheet for 3-3.5.

Alright, with the Hossa signing, the Wings are just over 4 mil under the cap. We have 11 forwards, 7 defenseman, and 2 goalies signed, which means we need to sign 3 more players, preferably all forwards. Three more players with four million to maneuver, also Holland likes to be about 1 - 1.5 million under the cap. -My guess is that we will recall forward, Darren Helm for his contract, 598,000 thousand. This leaves us having to fill two spots with around 2.4 million to play with. (leaving out 1 mil for flexibility) -Sign either Darren McCarty or Aaron Downey for the minimum. (500,000) This leaves us with one spot, preferably Val, with 1.9 to spend. - Being that Val is in the 3.5-5 mil range, this leaves us in a tight situation, leaving us with only two possible solutions: Solution one- Lose Flip, collect the draft picks. (this is not my favorite, but may be reality.) Solution two- Clear cap space. The only tradeable salary/player is Mikael Samuelsson. I know he is the most hated Red Wings by the fans, but just know this idea does not come out of spite, it may be the only way to keep flip. Trade him for a dozen hockey pucks, clear his 1.2 mil salary giving us 3.1 to offer flip. Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Zetterberg Franzen - ??? - Hossa Cleary - Draper - Samuelsson Hudler - Helm - Maltby Kopecky-(McCarty/Downey) Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Lilja - Lebda Meech Osgood Conklin Regarding Chris Chelios. I know he wants to come back and play, but we simply can not afford him for anything more than the league minimum. The Red Wings are a loyal organization but they cant give him a contract at the expense of Filppula.

I think the idea of expansion is ridiculous. The league as it is, is already watered down. The NHL should be a 26 team league. The fact that Bettman is even pondering expansion further shows how clueless he actually is.

Does anyone else just not see him cracking our lineup? We have about 14-15 forwards coming back who helped contribute to a Stanley Cup. Not that Leino isnt talented, but its not going to be given to him. I want the lineup to look like this. Zetterberg- Datsyuk - Holmstrom Franzen - Filppula - Samuelsson/Hudler Cleary - Draper - Owen Nolan (perfect replacement for Drake) Helm - Kopecky - Maltby Downey - McCarty - Hartigan - Abdelkader <--- all great team character guys Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Ericcson - Lebda Chelios Osgood Howard

i agree, the Illitch's and Holland are to loyal to turn their backs on Mac. But as long as Downey still has a shot. He seems like a great guy.

Sundin is obviously a sexy choice but we dont need any more studs. We need Dallas Drake's replacement and wingsfanatic, your post reminded me an awful lot of the posts i read after we signed Dallas. Dallas is a washed up 38 year old, blah blah blah

rivalred, im not gonna completley agree with 5 hole and say Mac is worthless but how are you going to deny that he didnt take lazy penalties?

I honestly think this is a charity contract. In my opinion Downey is a better player AND fighter. Aaron Downey is a great guy and a great teammate. This isnt what I wanted to see happen.

I wish the NHL had the NBAs Larry Bird exception where you can go over the cap to resign your own players. That way we wouldnt have to worry about getting screwed with Z and Franzen by signing someone to a multi year deal.

Did anyone else chuckle when CBC was going through the Red Wing players showing their favorite players growing up and Pavel Datsyuk said he didnt have a favorite player? Datsyuk is so funny in his own way.

I think this kid is so promising. He was very valuable this playoff run, and I think the best is yet to come. Kelly Hrudy mentioned this on hockey night in canada and i totaly agree. I could see Val having around 25+ goals and 50+ points next season. Does anyone else see this?

Funny because this was just brought up in the Shanahan thread. Everyone commented on how much of a class move it was on Shannys part that he was able to recognize that by him staying he would hinder the development of the team. Same goes here. Hasek needs to step aside. Howard needs to make the next step. There also should be spots open for our young defenseman to make the next step. If it were up to me Good Bye Hasek Good Bye Chelios I think Drake will retire. He was a great piece to the puzzle, we should definitely look into finding a player similar to him.

In 02, Robitaille, Fedorov, Hull, Yzerman, and Shanahan all had 30 plus goals. It's not impossible to think Zetterberg could get 40-45 Franzen 30-35 Datsyuk 25-30 Filppula 25-30 Holmstrom 25-30

OMG, nort, that video is HILARIOUS

I have to admit, i still have man love for Shanny. He still is my favorite non Red Wing in the NHL. When he departed he said he felt he was more apart of the past than the future, which i understood and didnt hold against him, but i think you can make the same argument that Malts, Drapes, and Mac are more apart of the past but now they have another ring. This one had to be tough to watch for Shanny.

We can give him a one year deal only. a multi year deal kills our chances to resign Zet and Franzen

hhahahaaha i love the get your red on song by mickey redmond

I've said it all year long, the wings will go as far as Chris Osgood takes them. No team in the NHL is nearly as good as the Red Wings. They carry the play and outshoot every team they face. but you just cant win without solid goaltending. I had my doubts about Ozzie carrying our team through the playoffs, however he has shocked me by being one of our Conn Smythe candidates. Tonights game was a different story. Ozzie played like s*** and looked horrible all game. We out shot this team fifty something to twenty something reminding me of the last 3-4 years when routinely got bounced early. Hopefully this was just one bad game and he hasnt returned to human one game to short of winning a championship because if Ozzie doenst play well, we may experience one of the most devastating SC final come backs of all time.

HenryMalredo, thank you for being the only person to understand where I'm coming from. No where in my first post did i say Ozzie was solely at fault. No where did i say he hasnt been great this playoffs, in fact, I said him and Z are our two conn smythe candidates. Also NO WHERE did i say replace him with Hasek. It's just funny because BOTH cbc and nbc made comments multiple times throughout the game saying how shaky Ozzie looked, yet if i post on homerism.com, i mean LGW.com about how shaky Ozzie looked, I'm the biggest idiot in the world.

I don't think any poster has said that any player sucks. Posters have said Osgood and Franzen SUCKED. There's a difference, and to comment about how poorly someone played in a loss, as a fan, is acceptable.

some of your responses infuriate me. "Conn Smythe winner to to scapegoat quote" --- What the F8CK are you talking about. You people have to look at i from an unbiased perspective. I still think Ozzie is a candidate to win that trophy. He has played outstanding throughout the playoffs, but he didnt play well tonight. Can anyone criticize a player on their own team without being called a band wagoner? Don't take posts to personal people, Ozzie played like s***, the CBC commentators mentioned it through out the game, dont take offense to it. Yeah, not all the goals were his fault, but to be a goalie on a SC winning team you have to bail out your players to give your team a chance, just the way he has done throughout the playoffs. He didnt do that tonight. He let up 4 goals in 25 shots, and we just wont win like that.

Before the season I started a similar thread and got some homer flak for putting Zetterberg in the top 10 but now what? Seems like him and Datsyuk have definitely arrived and should be considered. Compiling a list like this is extremely difficult. Players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg arent as highly touted as Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin, but as we've seen, I can safely say they belong in the same class, maybe even higher. 1. Sidney Crosby, PIT 2. Nick Lidstrom, DET 3. Alexander Ovechkin, WAS 4. Henrik Zetterberg, DET 5. Pavel Datsyuk, DET 6. Jarome Iginla, CAL 7. Vincent Lacavalier, TB 8. Dany Heatley, OTT 9. Joe Thornton, SJ 10. Evgeni Malkin, PIT Extremley biased, I know, but after watching Hank and Pavs in the playoffs, I think they are every bit as good as any of these players. I didnt put goalies in the list because I think it's just too hard to compare them with players. They deserve a list of their own.

After browsing many threads on this forum, I'm some what amused at the double standard most of you posters have set. You guys continually preach and criticize the Pens for the lack of respect they have shown the Wings. While I agree, it's just funny reading your posts and the lack of respect most of you have for the Pens players. Example 1 The Sidney Crosby bashing There is a thread out right now saying that Zetterberg and Datsyuk are better players than Crosby. WTF lol. Come on guys, I'm as big a Wings fan as any but lets be real. I think you guys are blinded by how good the Red Wings defense really is. Our defense is capable of shutting down great players and making them look average. You guys are judging Crosby by this series and you just cant do that. Just because the Wings have made him look average, doesnt change the fact that he is the best player in the world. Always remember that great teams are more effective than great players. 2. There is a thread bashing Crosby for his post game press conference showing the Wings lack of respect by saying the Wings havent ran away with the series and that they are going to take it one game at a time. also WTF. What do you want him to say. "Oh well, the Wings are just an amazing team. We arent ready to beat them yet. We might as well not even travel to Detroit because we are finished." Yeah, that would be a GREAT message to send to his team as captain. Of course he's going to say that they are still in this series and every game has been up for grabs.

Is that this team has not even reached it's full potential!! It's not like this is a last horrah cup run. We will be just as good if not better next season. Zetterberg and Datsyuk have blossomed into two of the best players in the game. Franzen has come out of no where and has become the power forward we had been missing. Also, I personally believe Flip will be even better next season. You can just see him oozing with potential. He is ready to break loose at any point. It is imperative we dont let another team sign him to an offer sheet. I can see 25-30 goals from him next season. We also have great young role players such as Cleary, Helm, Kopecky, Hudler to go along with experienced vets Draper, Holmstrom, Maltby. Just a perfect mix. Our defense will continue to be the best core in the league. I don't think we will let Stuart slip away. Also alot of you may disagree, but i do see us looking on the free agent market for a veteran forward. Next season we will be well under the cap so we CAN sign someone to a one year contract. We cant sign anyone to any more than one year obviously, as we have to have cap room for Johan and Zet. What's more is that the league has finally gone back to where the best teams advance in the playoffs and there just arent any teams in the Wings class in the west. Im thinking Wings-Pens round 2 next year.