wingsownnhl43

I really can see the Wings sitting on $10 million in cap space. I'm not exactly doing back flips over the available players next offseason, and I dont see/dont want the Wings brass handing out irresponsible contracts.

This has been debated ad nauseum over the past 5-6 years, and I do realize that it is a relatively pointless debate being that we have both players. But are the die hard Hudler supporters ready to put this one to bed and eat crow?

I wish I could change this thread title to, "should Hudler even be on an NHL roster?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When will this end? Flip avergages 5 minutes more per game than Hudler. Wouldnt you agree that the best forwards log the most ice time? I'd say you would have an argument if it was 1 or 2 minutes more, but 5? thats 10-12 more shifts. Give it up, guys. And point production is not the determining factor here.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ac-6998878 Ummmmmm... Is there one single true claim in this entire piece of garbage article? "The Detroit Red Wings are the New York Yankees of the NHL" We buy our championships, really? Not only has there been a salary cap for the past five years but even when there wasnt, our core was home grown. Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Osgood, Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov, etc. "The Detroit Red Wings are arrogant" Who???? LMAO! Steve Yzerman? Brendan Shanahan? Nick Lidstrom? Chris Osgood? Henrik Zetterberg? Pavel Datsyuk? Val Filppula? Brian Rafalski? Jimmy Howard? These are some of the most humble guys in the entire league. "The Red Wings fans are some of the least knowledgeable, obnoxious, arrogant group of wannabe hockey fans I've ever had the displeasure of meeting." Ummm.... I dont even know how to respond to this one.

Along with Jimmy Howard, I think he has been one of our few bright spots this season. I still think he can get beter and I dont think he has reached his potential yet, but I am very pleased with his progression. Your thoughts on Val's play this season...

Stamkos, Lecavalier, St. Louis, Downie, Gagne, Malone...... very nice top six.

When calulating re-signing Helm, Abs, Eaves, Miller, and Meech we will have about 1.7-1.8 million in remaining cap room. I feel we already have one of the best teams in the NHL. I dont think we will have to pursue anyone in free agency in order to have a strong regular season. Does anyone feel as though we would be better off waiting until the deadline where we could obtain a $4 million dollar player for the stretch run as opposed to signing some $1 million dollar player now?

I've heard all this Vancouver/San Jose talk around the interweb, but how arent the Wings the top dogs? The Wings are far more balanced than any team in the West. Hank, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula, Hudler, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, Cleary all can score 40+ points. I think Helm and Eaves will only improve. I like what we have in Abdelkader. I dont know that theres a better 1-2 punch on defense with Nick and Rafalski. I expect Kronwall to play better. Brad Stuart is steady. The big question is in goal, but I have to believe either Howie or Ozzie will step forward. Starting with Vancouver. Yeah, the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler are great players. Alex Burrows, Mikael Samuelsson are nice. They still have to fit Mason Raymond in somehow. That'll be a nice group of six players, but after that, what else is there? Looking at their roster it's Manny Maholtra and a bunch of single digit point producers. It doesnt appear that they will be able to bring back Kyle Wellwood or Pavol Demitra without cutting some salary. Their defense is very solid, though. They have six pretty steady defenseman. In goal, I really believe Luongo is overrated. San Jose. I look at a roster that has the best group of top six forwards in the NHL, some nice secondary forwards, a very weak defense, and a very weak group of goalies. LA. They are an up and coming team but are Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and company really ready to compete with the Wings? I dont think so. 1. Detroit 2. Vancouver 3. San Jose 4. Los Angeles 5th seed is up for grabs. I still think Chicago is pretty solid but it looks like they may lose even more off their roster.

Exactly. He came in and did a nice job when we were decimated with injuries, but we dont need him anymore. Let him go. Especially if he wants more than $500-550k. We can easily find someone in that price range to be our 13-14th forward, which is what MIller is here.

Well said. There is no doubt we havent seen the best of Patrick Eaves yet. He is definitely has 40 point potential here and possibly even more.

Why try to force a square peg into a round hole when we can just wait til the deadline.

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Modano/Bertuzzi Cleary/Filppula/Hudler Helm/Abdelkader/Eaves Deepest group of forwards in the NHL...

If it's around $1 and we can just not re-sign Miller and still have $1.2ish to spend, then I'm happy with signing Modano.

Not sure who will be available. Depends on how teams do during the regular season. Also, I think it'd certainly be worth parting with draft picks if it puts us closer to winning the cup.

Let Miller walk, Sign Modano. The way I look at is that we already have five bottom five forwards. (Helm, Abdelkader, Eaves, Draper, Ritola). Miller has no place here. If a veteran is going to come along for cheap that could help strengthen the top 9, then pull the trigger.

Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart

"Shakes Head" I dont know how many times this has been brought up, and every time someone tries to make the argument that Hudler is better than Filppula, their argument gets blown to shreds. 07-08 Even strength points Filppula, 11 goals 25 assists 36 points, 80 games Hudler, 17 goals, 12 assists, 29 points, 82 games Flips stats for 09-10, 35 points, 55 games = 52 point pace Also, Flip is much, much better defensively. Im glad to have Hudler back but it isnt even close guys. Theres a reason Flip is paid more than Hudler, and it will come more clear for everyone next season.

Color me confused, but.... Why are we looking to re-sign Drew Miller and Derek Meech in the $700k range when we could sign someone else to the league minimum that would contribute just as much. At forward we have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Hudler, Holmstrom, Cleary, Bertuzzi, Helm, Eaves, Abdelkader... Thats 11 forwards who I think are better and then we also have Draper and Riotla already signed. That's a total of 13 forwards. What place does Miller have here? Theres just no room. If we want to bring in another forward, let it be someone that brings something to the table that we dont already have. At defense we have Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericcson, Kindl.. Thats six defenseman above Meech on the pecking order. If Meech doesnt want to play for the league minimum, then good bye. If we want to spend in the 700-850 range, go out and get someone that brings some physicallity to the table.

Alright LGW, Im bored and just trying to stir up some conversation. As we all know the Red Wings were able to successfully rebuilt on the fly by transitioning from the '97, '98, '02 championships to a very different core that won in '08 (exception is Lidstrom, OZzie, Drapes, Malts, Mac). This was pretty much unthinkable for modern day sports, as the transition was pretty much seemless. I know that the current core is not done contending, however my question to you all is this. Are we set up to rebuild on the fly again? We have the same management with an incredible track record of finding talent late. I think to be a legiitmate contender you have to have two very good lines, secondary scoring which isnt hard to obtain when you have two solid lines in place, two top D pairings, and obviously a solid goalie. Currently, Pavel Datsyuk is 31 Henrik Zetterberg is 29 Johan Franzen is 30 Valtteri Filppula is 26 Jiri Hudler is 26 Tomas Holmstrom is 37 Nick Lidstrom is 40 Brian Rafalski is 36 Nick Kronwall 29 Brad Stuart 30 Jimmy Howard is 26 Right now, in place, I really do think Jimmy Howard can be a SC quality goalie. He obviously has to improve from what we saw this playoff, but i think he can. Other than that, with the exception of Nick, Raffi, and Homer, everyone is still in their prime so we have a few years to incorporate the next wave of talent. Hudler and Flip are top 6 players and they are still young. Getting to the point of this rambled thread, do we have top six forwards or top four defenseman in the system? People are high on Tatar and Nyquist. I have my doubts on Kindl, Ericcson, and Brendan Smith. What say you, LGW?

To me, the 2009 Red Wings, 2009 Penguins, and even the 8 seeded 2009 Ducks were all better than the 2010 Blackhawks. Dont get me wrong, the Preds and Canucks are nice teams but they arent elite by any means.. The Sharks series was impressive, but come on, they are perennial chokers. The Sharks were outscored in a series against a Wings team decimated by the salary cap. Lastly, the Flyers made a cinderella run in a very weak conference. Maybe Im underestimating them, however I just dont think they had to beat any elite teams this playoff,and I still think the Wings of last year would have beat them pretty easily. I think this was the easiest road to the cup in the last 10-15 years? What do you guys think?

What is it with the Adam Burish all the sudden? Is it just because he ran his mouth about Pronger? He's litterally barely on the Hawks fourth line. And please dont say he can fight. Logon hockeyfights.com, hes lost about every fight hes ever been in.

Yes, but at Holmstroms price.

Yeah but I think if Huet clears waivers, which he will, they can just send him to the AHL and not have his contract on the books.

haha sorry i typed this out real quick.