wingsownnhl43

I kind of like the option of pairing an offensive minded guy with a defensive minded guy. Volchenkov-Rafalski Stuart-Kronwall Ericcson-Kindl Ericcson is an interesting topic of discussion. I dont think you can throw in the towel on a guy after one season, especially after what we saw in the 2009 Playoff. Maybe we should re-up with Lilja to hold that third pairing down in case Ericcson or Kindl or both should falter next season.

I am in agreeance with a lot of what you said. However if NIck retires, his offensive abilty becomes much more valuable to us. Rafalski might need a partner like Volchenkov, from here on out to end his career.

Lets be real, Rafalski is a very good player. Definitely a top four defenseman. If we want to attack his cap hit, then ok. I'm with ya.

Drake Marcus, you're one of the people I respect most on this board, but come on man. This is directly from my post that you yourself even quoted. "I just think Volchenkov would be perfect to try and make up for Lidstrom's loss. Volchenkov is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the league, so I really dont think we'd lose much there. Rafalski would obviously keep his role offensivly and on the powerplay. Kronwall would be counted upon to step up his game, and we'd look for Kindl to contribute some points, maybe even Ericcson. It really will take a group effort to replace a guy like Nick. No one defenseman in the last 10-20 years could"

1. Anton Volchenkov 2. Anton Volchenkov 3. Anton Volchenkov 4. Andrew Ladd, just because I dont think the Hawks will be able to match and is 24 years old. --- I'll do a back flip if we sign Volchenkov. It looks like he's for sure going to sign elsewhere. If we lose Nick, Im sure we will be looking for a defenseman and I dont think there is much better on the market. Scott Neidermayer is available, he could be a Red Wing type signing. Id be pretty against that though. I just think Volchenkov would be perfect to try and make up for Lidstrom's loss. Volchenkov is arguably the best defensive defenseman in the league, so I really dont think we'd lose much there. Rafalski would obviously keep his role offensivly and on the powerplay. Kronwall would be counted upon to step up his game, and we'd look for Kindl to contribute some points, maybe even Ericcson. It really will take a group effort to replace a guy like Nick. No one defenseman in the last 10-20 years could, but if any team can do it, its Ken Holland and Co.

Phenomenal post. I remember this board when we lost Stevie and Shanny in the same season.. I dont think anyone thought we'd recover.. People just need to put their emotions aside.

Yes it would. Id be surprised if there wasnt a chant.

Stopped reading there.

Alright, how do I say this without sedning LGW.com into a tizzy. I will premise this by saying Nick Lidstrom is one of my all time favorite Red Wings right behind Stevie, and right up there with Shanny and Konstantinov. Now. If we lose Nick, add Hudler, Volchenkov (Please god), and another 2.5-3 mil, 40-50 point forward huge is definitely possible, we WILL be a MUCH better team than we were this year. There I said it. For those of you in this thread that has said Nick is just as good as he ever was, not to be rude, but I have to question if youve really been watching. Dont get me wrong, I want him back. He's probably my favorite Red Wing, but losing a defenseman in decline and replacing him with two solid players does not = the end of the world. Just as one of the posters said, look at the defensive cores around the league. Take Lidstrom away and add a stay at home guy to our core. Are we really that much worse? Come on guys. If we were losing 36 year old Lidstrom id be but not now. And yes, we would be far worse next year if either Datsyuk or Zetterberg were to retire as a opposed to Nick.

Ummm... I know there is an emotional attatchment to Nick Lidstrom, but Datsyuk is easily our best player. Datsyuk is one of the top 3 players in this league, hands down.

Another thing we could possibly do is sign Andrew Ladd to an offer sheet, maybe in the 2.25-2.5 range. We'd have to give up a 2nd round pick, however Ladd is 24 years old and has scored 49 and 38 points in consecutive seasons. It'd be tough for the Hawks to match given their salary troubles, and we'd get some revenge on them for the Hossa signing.

I had a thought pertaining to Nick Lidstrom about next year.. How would you guys feel if he decided to pull a Scott Niedermayer and sit out half the year to spend time with his family and such. In my mind, this would be the best case scenerio for both him and the Red Wings. 1. Nick isnt getting any younger and has played a lot of games over the last few years. He could still stay in shape and I honestly think 30 regular season games would be enough to get him rolling for the playoffs. 2. His cap hit would be more than cut in half, giving Ken Holland more flexibility. I dont think it would really matter if we didnt have him for the first 50 games. The Wings will be good enough to have a solid regular season next year. They will have a bit more depth, and will hopefully be healthier. FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Darren Helm ($0.750m) * Drew Miller ($0.600m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.600m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) * Nicklas Lidstrom ($2.000m) - Will come back after 50 games. CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 20; PAYROLL: $49.963m; CAP ROOM: $6.837m BONUSES: $0.000m This doesnt include resigning Todd Bertuzzi or Andreas Lilja. I like both of them, but Ken Holland would have $6.8 million in cap room with this scenerio. He could decide to bring them back or try to upgrade those positions. I just think this would be ideal because come playoff time we would have the same team as this year + Hulder, and $6.8 to play with.

Our off-season will obviously hinge on Lidstroms decision. If he comes back, great. I think everyone will be ok with it if he comes back. If not, I dont think itll be that much of a problem. Our defense has been sub par this year. A change is needed. Even though Lidstrom is our best defenseman, if we add a stay at home defenseman in his place it may be a good thing. It may send a message to guys like Rafalski, Kronwall, and Ericcson to step their game up. It also would allow us to spend some money on a forward for much needed depth. In terms of our RFA's, Helm, Abdelkader, Eaves are obviously welcomed back to be apart of our fourth line. Ritola is out of options, so in my mind, he gets a chance to play with the big club next year. Kris Draper will be back to round out the bottom five forwards. As far as Drew Miller goes, I was happy with the way he played, but we have too many guys like him. We will have some flexibility this off-season so we wont be pidgeon holed into having two fourth lines again. UFA's - Ill be happy to send Jason Williams and Brett Lebda off to wherever they can latch on, if they can latch on somewhere else. Todd Bertuzzi, I was a fan of his this year, however I think we can find someone younger and more physical to replace him. Andreas Lilja is good PKer, shot blocker, but we might not have room if Lidstrom comes back because we have to make room for Kindl. Im also cool with Holmstrom coming back as long as he takes a slight pay cut. If Lidstrom goes... #1 priority is to target a stay at home defenseman. My personal favorite is Anton Volchenkov. He would be a much needed stay at home defenseman that isnt afraid to lay the would. We would have Rafalski, Kronwall, and Kindl, who are more than capable of contributing enough offense from the point. With that, we would have Volchenkov, Stuart, and Ericcson as our stay at home guys. I actually think it would be a pretty solid core, and might even be better than this years core, given that Rafalski, Kronwall, and Ericcson step up their games with Nick being gone.. Add Janik or a veteran minimum guy to be your 7th defenseman. As far as our forwards go, I think we really miss not having a third line that can score. As mentioned, we've had two fourth lines this entire year. We should have some flexibility to change that. Getting Hudler back obviously helps. Hes better than both Bertuzzi and Williams. I think we will be able to find another forward to fit thats better than Bertuzzi and Williams as well. FORWARDS Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m)/ Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) * Slava Kozlov ($1.000m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Colby Armstrong ($2.000m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.600m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Mattias Ritola ($0.511m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Anton Volchenkov ($4.500m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) * Doug Janik ($0.500m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 23; PAYROLL: $56.374m; CAP ROOM: $0.926m BONUSES: $0.000m

+1. The powerplay is where losing Lidstrom is going to hurt the most. We'll be fine moving on if we add a stay at home defenseman, and a 45 point forward to replace him. Rafalski, Kronwall, Kindl should provide enough offense from the point. Stuart, Lilja, Ericcson will have to be relied upon to be your stay at home guys, which I honestly think is where our D has weaknesses. Stuart and Lilja are fine as apart of our 2nd and third pair. Ericcson either needs to be better, or an Anton Volchenkov type of addition will be most useful.

Under your scenerio, there is absolutely room to add new players unless you think Lidstrom going to sign for 7 million again, which in my mind wouldnt be worth it. Players are listed left to right in order of salary. With $4.4 million in cap room, we definitely can add a third line forward or two, which is desperatley needed. Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.600m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.450m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) * Doug Janik ($0.500m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 20; PAYROLL: $52.313m; CAP ROOM: $4.487m BONUSES: $0.000m

Well, Washington would be awarded a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick. But thats a small price considering Backstroms a 22 year old forward that has already scored 100 points in this league. I Just wonder if the posion pill loophole is prohibbited, or if anyone in the wings brass would even think of doing it.

Does anyone know if the "poison pill" loophole is prohibbited in the NHL CBA? I know this loophole has been exploited in the NFL a few times... For those of you that dont know what this is, it applies to restricted free agents. Here is an example... Detroit Signs Nicklas Backstrom to an offer sheet... say 10 years, 60 million. Under normal circumstances Washington would match this offer in seconds. However, part of the contract negotiated with the Wings would award a bonus of $40 million to Backstrom if he plays 30 games in the Verizon Center, making it next to impossible for the Caps to match...

If Lidstrom retires, heres my dream scenerio. Its a bit dreamy, but plausable. I dont think I undervalued Kozlov, Volchenkov, or Armstrongs cap hits. If Nick decides to stay, just put him in Volchenkovs spot. I think Kozzie would be a nice, cheap pick up to replace Williams. He could really work well with Datsyuk. Back in the day, the Kozlov/Fedorov/Homer line worked well, this could have a similar effect, however at this stage of the game Id look for Kozlov to be a Larionov type. I like what Bert did this season, but I look to get someone younger that wants to play a little bit more physical in Armstrong. We would have 3 solid lines again. And I dont think we lose much, if anything defensively by replacing Volchenkov with Nick. FORWARDS * Slava Kozlov ($1.500m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Colby Armstrong ($2.000m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.600m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Mattias Ritola ($0.511m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Anton Volchenkov ($4.500m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) * Doug Janik ($0.500m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 23; PAYROLL: $56.374m; CAP ROOM: $0.426m BONUSES: $0.000m

I honestly think Franzen and Holmstrom together is flawed. Just saying. And Filppula has clearly shown that he's deserving of being on the top two lines. Bert and Williams as far as I'm concerned are gone. Im looking for Kenny to go out and get another scoring forward (40-50) point player to round out the top 3 lines.

I agree. I dont think anyone should want him to retire. However, to play the other side, I think people worry too much about replacing All-God Nick Lidstrom, and in reality, hes just not that anymore. Hes certainly still a top 10 defenseman in the league, but you do see him starting to get beat more and more. I dont doubt that the guy can be a top 4 defenseman until hes 50, but I have trouble shelling out 5mil plus to a defenseman in decline. If he wants to give us a home town discount and re-sign for 4 mil or less, Im all for it. If he wants market value, we honestly might be better off with him retiring, because I do think we can contend without him. We've managed success with life after Fedorov, Yzerman, Shanahan, in large part because of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Nick will probably be the hardest to replace, but I do think that we can get by without losing anything in the defensive zone if we sign a physical stay at home defenseman. We'd obviously miss his point production and power play ability, but thats going to start to decline too as time goes by. Like I said, if NIck retires it will be a sad, sad day, but I do think we can manage. Instead of signing him, we will probably be able to add a solid defenseman, and a nice forward to replace him.

This. This. This In my mind, you have to get Z and D back together for a full season. They make up one of the top lines in hockey and that second line is more than capable of holding its own. As for Hudler, he is not the answer, but is definitely part of the solution. We need secondary scoring in the worst way. We really miss not having three potent lines anymore. I feel as though we have played with two fourth lines the entire year. Keep Helm, Abdelkader, Eaves, Draper, and Ritola rotating as your fourth line. Miller has been good, but we have enough players like him so good riddance. I think Cleary can stay on the third line. He is still good for 40 points. We should have enough cap room to pick up two third line guys that can put the puck in the net. As I mentioned in another thread, maybe Kozzie will come back here to finish his career on the cheap. If Lidstrom retires you obviously cant replace him, but If we go out and sign a physical stay at home defenseman, we really wont lose that much defensively. We would however, lose a lot of offensive output from our defensive core, and our powerplay would regress.

If Lidstrom should retire, Id immetiatley target Anton Volchenkov. Losing Lidstrom obviously would hurt, but I think adding a physical stay at home defenseman would help our defense that has really struggled this playoffs. I also am thinking that if Slava Kozlov comes back for another year he could be had for cheap and I think he could be pretty solid and could help us with the secondary scoring we've been lacking. Could be a Larionov type. FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) /* Mattias Ritola ($0.511m) / * Slava Kozlov ($1.200m) * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) / * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.650m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Anton Volchenkov ($4.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) * Doug Janik ($0.500m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) ROSTER: 22; PAYROLL: $53.624m; CAP ROOM: $3.176m BONUSES: $0.000m 3.17 in cap room to either pick up another forward, or wait to the trade deadline to assess our needs and possibly make a huge splash. Losing Nick would suck, but it would give us a ton of flexibility.

Ugh.. you guys didnt have to remind me. You got me looking into the game 6 and 7 summaries and box scores, still wondering how in the hell we let that one slip through our fingers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Stanley_Cup_playoffs

I have never seen this done on here. They do it over at spartantailgate, and can be pretty funny. I figure LGW is pretty creative with the photoshop pictures, so you guys could be pretty good at this too. Here is an example http://www.spartantailgate.com/forums/msu-red-cedar-message-board/438344-tofficial-butler-look-alike-thread.html

babs on 97.1 now