wingsownnhl43

I don't think the roster is that bad it's just unknown which understandably concerns people. The offense as it stands is better than it was last season. I'll take Samuelsson and Tootoo over Hudler and Holmstrom, and I like the full time incorporation of some youth with Nyquist and Brunner. Tootoo gives the team an element we've desperately needed, and this would only be magnified if we are able to sign Shane Doan. On defense, I think Brendan Smith is ready to step in and fulfill Brad Stuart's role. I really don't think he will be a huge loss. Obviously you dont replace Nick Lidstrom, but Kronwall, Ericsson, Quincey, and Kindl all have the potential to get better. I expect a lot of growth from within and if we open the season with the current roster I'd expect a 5 or a 6 seed.

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER My Custom Lineup FORWARDS Alexander Semin ($6.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Shane Doan ($4.550m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Mikael Samuelsson ($3.000m) Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) / Jordin Tootoo ($1.900m) Drew Miller ($0.838m) / Damien Brunner ($1.350m) DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) Matt Carle ($4.500m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) Kyle Quincey ($3.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $70,200,000; CAP PAYROLL: $68,883,712; BONUSES: $462,500 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,316,288

This would definitely help us be aggressive this off-season. Holland would have to worry less about the following off-season where Howard, Filppula, B. Smith, Nyquist, D. Miller, and Ian White should all get nice raises.

Nobody is answering you because people on here don't watch enough hockey to be able to tell and are basing this trade on the Kyle Quincey from three years ago.

#5 for sure #13 on the right track #40 has a lot of work to do but it's possible. This honor should be a no brainer as mentioned. If you have to debate it, then no. This isnt Colorado.

Cleary doesn't hurt you. He's responsibly defensively and difficult to play against which is ideal for playoff hockey. Despite his scoring slump, Cleary is still on pace for 36 points, which will most likely be 7th best amongst our forwards. I'll take 40 point guys that play two way hockey on my third line all day.

The guy is a bigger forward, 6'1 205. He's capable of putting up 40-60 points if he's healthy and has played on his team's top lines in the past. He is a proven winner and playoff performer. He has been captain of the Devils and Team USA in the Olympics, etc. If we could add him for $1-2 mil, why not? I think adding a player like Langenbrunner would improve our chances.

Crap. I dont like seeing Chicago getting out from under that contract.

@CraigCustance "Ken Holland sounds open to the idea of a trade to replace Rafalski. Most likely at draft. Agreed that this isn't the best UFA crop." Interesting but not that surprsing. We've all heard the Zach Bogosian and Mike Green rumors. Should be interesting.

Yeah, but we could have Lids- Stuart Ehrhoff/Bieksa- Kronwall Wiz- KIndl for $1-2 million more than what Campbell makes.... Also, how hard do you think it will be to trade Hudler? We don't need to take on a $7.1 million player to unload him. That part is just puzzling. If Holland chooses to move him, he will do so easily. There are plenty of teams that would be willing to take a flier on him. Especially after what happened to Ville Leino.

He was 15th on the Hawks in scoring that playoff run. But yeah, let's make him the highest paid player on the Red Wings and help out the Blackhawks while doing so. Blackhawk fans will be blasting Chelsea Dagger all summer if we trade for Campbell.

This could quite possibly be the worst idea I have ever seen on LGW.

Agreed. Even though if Ken Holland is looking for a trade, there are only so many names that make sense.

I'll never know if Eva is serious when he talks about Hudler.

Just playing around on capgeek. How about signing Ehrhoff, and trading Hudler in a package for Bogosian. It's been rumored that the Red Wings have discussed acquiring him internally, but have never actually reached out to Atlanta. With this, we replace Rafalski with Ehrhoff, add a big right handed shot in Bogosian, and we add two defenseman under 30 to the roster in the process. Being that Hudler and Bogosian have a similar cap hit, the Wings would be left with over $6 million to add 3 forwards. It sucks losing Rafalski, but man did it leave the Wings with a ton of flexibility. It sure is fun to speculate. CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.900m) Jan Mursak ($0.550m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Christian Ehrhoff ($5.250m) / Zach Bogosian ($3.300m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Chris Osgood ($0.850m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $62,200,000; CAP PAYROLL: $55,858,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $6,341,289

This. Hopefully our options are Ehrhoff, Bieksa, or trade. I am not really going wild about the other UFA's. You make a great point about Kronwall's progression. He showed us his ability to be a top pairing defenseman this playoffs. Hopefully he continues to improve and eases the blow of losing Rafalski and eventually Lidstrom.

That does look nice.

I really cringe at the thought of signing Wisniewski for $4 million or more to a long term contract. I'm just not sold on him long term.

Depends on the cap hit. Wouldnt be the worse thing in the world. I would rather offer him a short filler contract than over paying some of the other names out there. Also, I hear Helm needs a roommate.

A couple of options I wouldnt mind pursing that I heard mentioned on the radio are attempting to sign Mason Raymond and/or Devin Setoguchi to offer sheets. Both are restricted free agents and Vancouver/San Jose have cap restraints. I would love to add one or two 25 year olds to the forward corps and moving Hudler in order to sign a defenseman. This would be an outside the box approach. I know Kenny doesnt like poaching RFA's, however we have a ton of cap space at our disposal with a relatively weak UFA market. I really hope he considers it this offseason. Edit: *** Mason Raymond is an RFA in 2012. Still wouldnt mind poaching Setoguchi though.

Who knows, maybe Nashville would be willing to deal with us if the we move to the east???

This would be pretty cool if we could pull it off. Honestly, these are pretty much the only two UFA defenseman I'd be comfortable signing. If Vancouver is able to resign these guys, alot of the defesneman like Wiz, Kaberle have too many flaws for my taste. I am just happy we have Holland as our GM. You know he wont change his approach. I cant see our management overpaying someone they arent high on just to replace Rafalski. I can definitely see us staying the course and waiting until the first wave of UFAs are signed. I am very comfortable with having Datsyuk, Z, Franzen, Lidstrom, and Kronwall as our core five. We will have plenty of cap space to add to the core, and we very well could head into the season with cap space allowing us to tweak the roster at the deadline. Should be an interesting offseason to say the least.

Easy, killer...

Type in Brent Burns trade rumors on google. There are rumors swirling that they might not want to pay him when he hits the open market. He is an unrestricted free agent next off-season. To me, he seems much more likely than Doughty and Weber. Weber is restricted, Nashville would match any offer, and we play in their division. Doughty is also restricted, and LA would match any offer.

It is highly unlikely that Doughty and Weber are moved. However, one name that isnt mentioned on this site and has been involved in trade rumors is Brent Burns. IMO, he'd be a great fit. Right Handed Shot. Big and Mean, etc.