stevkrause

I like the way you think!

I'm just fine with this, as long as he's not taking up an active roster spot... when it comes to injuries, in 4th line minutes, I'd gladly take the experience Maltby brings to the table... I'm pretty convinced that if anyone claims him on waivers, should Detroit need to waive him, that he will retire as opposed to reporting...

you can really tell it's the middle of August... damn there's not a lot to talk about... Bruins - Milan Lucic Sabres - Ryan Miller Canadiens - Brian Gionta Senators - Mike Fisher Leafs - Phil Kessel Devils - David Clarkson Isles - Kyle Okposo Rangers - Ryan Callahan Flyers - Jeff Carter Penguins - Jordan Stall Thrashers - Evander Kane Hurricanes - Eric Stall Panthers - David Booth Lightning - Vincent Lecavalier Capitals - Alex Ovechkin Flames - Jerome Iginla Avalanche - Kyle Quincey Oilers - Jim Vandermeer Wild - Brent Burns Canucks - Ryan Kessler Blackhawks - they still have players left?! - Duncan Keith Blue Jackets - Rick Nash Red Wings - Nick Lidstrom (since I can't answer almost all of them) Predators - Matthew Lombardi Blues - David Perron Ducks - Bobby Ryan Stars - Brad Richards Kings - Ryan Smyth Coyotes - Shane Doan Sharks - Dan Boyle

I couldn't agree more - He doesn't (and shouldn't) have to stand on his head to have one hell of a career here, he just needs to be able to shake off the bad and play solid and I think he has that in him - I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Jimmy Howard in the Winged Wheel... for the record, my original post was actually agreeing with you, I was just playing devil's advocate a little and pointing out both sides of the coin, but I think your thought is in the right place...

Although I agree with this to some extent, the NHL is a different beast and HOW many goalies have we seen that exploded onto the scene, only to be out of the NHL altogether in 3 years? (Steve Shields, Brian Boucher - although he kinda had a resurgence last year, Roman Chechmanek, Jim Carey, etc, etc....) the point is, it's all about how he handles it mentally and how consistent he can stay... I think he has shown through college, to GR, to Detroit, that he can handle adversity and let it roll off his shoulders (remember, he almost lost the job in GR to Larsen and came back to have a Calder'esque first season in Detroit, so I don't think he is in that group and I think he will continue to play solid... let's just keep things in perspective and accept the fact that he may still have a few down points in the season... the focus is, and should be, on how he bounces back from it...

Tier 1 games: Any out of conference, original 6 teams are always good calls, just because the new format doesn't bring them into Detroit every year and the air is always electric for these match-ups (Canadians, Bruins, Rangers, Maple Leafs) Tier 2 games: Eastern conference, competitive teams - same reason as far as them not coming to Detroit every year, so it's always a little more pumped up, there's just not as much history, but can be just as good of, OR BETTER, games to watch(Washington, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Tier 3: Games with a vested interest - Tampa(obvious reasons), Anaheim, Nashville, San Jose, Chicago(bad blood) Tier 4: Every other game, because at the end of the day... it's still the Wings!

none of the allowed deals will be repealed, they're just blowing smoke to try and "scare off" deals like this in the future... Bettman is good at blowing smoke...

he has no arbitration rights and will be a Wing long term, no worries, it's just a formality now... my guess is that he signs a 2 year deal for 700k for this year and 1mil next year for an overall cap hit of 850k, then in 2 years, he'll get a decent raise depending on what he showed...

I still think he'll end up on NJ when all is said and done - What I'm predicting now, is a 13 year deal worth 90 mil... takes him up to 40 lowers the hit to 6.9 Year - Value: 1. 11 mil 2. 11 mil 3. 10 mil 4. 10 mil 5. 9 mil 6. 9 mil 7. 8 mil 8. 7 mil 9. 6 mil 10. 4mil 11. 3 mil 13. 2 mil this way it's harder to argue that it's JUST to lower cap hit (even though we basically know it is) and he still gets a boatload... watch for it...

NO - It's cursed, they need to just remove it from rotation as Lebda has forever tainted it and he owes Dino a personal apology...

Me neither, I just assume that between Kindl, Smith, Ericsson, Lashoff, Pyett and Kolosov that at least 2 of them will be playing full time, coupled with the return of Kronwall, Stuart and Rafalski on the last year of his deal... since Nick will have retired, I think we will go after a FA to fill a top 4 role and that guy will be a top 2, or Kronwall will move into the top 2 and the new guy will go top 4 (possibly Kaberle) and then it will just be a numbers game... with that said, ALL of this goes off a lot of "what-ifs" so there's no way to know for sure, that's just the way I think it will play out...

If I had to guess, I would guess 2 or 4 as well, keep in mind, Salei will only be here for a year, so he could still wear #2 this year and Smith could take it in a year or 2 when he comes on board if he wanted... if I had to guess though, I would assume Salei will wear #4 out of respect to Fischer and to be honest, I don't foresee the Wings having a #2 again for awhile and would guess that even Smith will wear something other than #2 when he gets here...

Salei is a defensive defenseman, he will definitely be used on the PK and has a big frame as well... I think he's about on par with Lilja on that level, I just think Lilja has more durability... all and all, I would have preferred to have Lilja back, but at that cap hit, when it's reported Lilja wanted 1.5+, I have no problem with it...

None of them were ANYWHERE near as absurd as Kovy's... I think Luongo's, Hossa's and even Franzen's to some extent are pushing the envelope, but due to the fact that they don't peter out as drastically, or for as long on the back-end makes them NOWHERE near the same... Zetterberg's can't even BEGIN to be argued, as the Wings have signed and kept MANY players to 40 and it's not at all unreasonable to expect Z to, as for Pronger's, if they want to draw his out to 50 it shouldn't matter, it's 35+ and they're still going to be on the hook for the cap hit, so if they want to eat that cap for that long after, they should be allowed to... All and all, I think it'd be absurd to go after contracts that were already approved, but moving forward, SOME form of regulation should be put on them... I still like the idea that any contract that exceeds the age of 40, will count against the cap, regardless of when the player retires... I'd even be fine with them dialing it back to 38 or 39, but I don't think there should be a duration limitation, as teams should be allowed to retain their own assets, for as long as they want...

don't love it, don't hate it...

one hot playoff streak for Leino does not mean that was a mistake... time will tell the story about Leino and he flat didn't fit our system - just because a player does well somewhere else, does not mean they would have done well on a different team either... but I do agree, I like Ritola's intangibles and work ethic and the fact that he was a Wing's draft pick AND is a little younger, plus locked up for 3 years, makes me want to keep him, but I wouldn't be surprised or dissapointed either way they went, as I like Miller as well...

It's not really a "sign-and-trade" per se when the guy is an RFA and you're merely qualifying him... these are quite common, as they're all about retaining assets - if you sign an UFA and THEN trade them, that's what is looked down on and HIGHLY unethical in the NHL... the same will apply to Meech...

this made me actually "lol"

Agreed 100% - Both were great when they were here, same as with Shanny and Fedorov, but I think the Red Wing's organization is too storied and this honor should only be reserved for the TRUE elite of Red Wings history (Aurie's #6 should go back up there too, but that's a different debate for a different thread) With all that said, the only players to don the Winged Wheel in my lifetime that belong in the rafters, are the one that just went up a couple years ago - Yzerman's #19 and when the time finally comes - Lidstrom's #5 The story is still to be written about Hank or Pav...

I've thought all along that it would be Miller, as he has more "trade-ability" at this point really with the 09-10 season he had, but Ritola is younger and teams LOVE untapped potential, so I wouldn't be surprised either way... since either of them will basically be a 14th forward and see limited action, I'm really at the mindset now, that whoever gets us the better return via trade is the better choice...

Agreed, he doesn't fill our needs whatsoever... I'd rather roll with Meech on the roster than Krajicek at this point to be honest and just play both Ericsson and Kindl daily, as 5/6 and Meech as the #7... With that said, as I've said all along, in terms of adding another defenseman, I want them in this order, or none by this point: 1. Mitchell (if he came at a huge discount, which is unlikely, so this one is a pipedream and can probably be omitted... I just have him as 1, because if he IS available, come on...) 2. Hnidy 3. Lilja 4. Exelby If one of those 4 isn't the #6 out of what's left, I'd rather just roll with what we have, unless a trade can be made to fill the role - I still think a Ritola, Meech and pick for Mark Stuart in Boston isn't out of the realm of possibility, as Boston needs to cut cap and fill out a roster...

nope, he's 23 years old now, so the waiver cut off is 60 games and he's already played in 75 (playoffs and reg), last years playoffs put him over the mark... http://www.nhlscap.com/waivers.htm exactly... even if he did still have waiver exemption, it wouldn't matter... it is a moot point though, as last years playoffs took him over the 60 game mark and he's no longer waiver exempt anyway, but you're dead on, he's flat out too good of a player to not play night in and night out.

Abs cannot and will not be in GR... he is no longer waiver exempt AND he has flat earned a spot... if anything, its more a matter of trading depth players like Miller, Meech and maybe Ritola to clear the cap space... I still don't think there's any chance Mitchell takes that big of a paycut to come here, but I'd love it if he did...

I posted this in another thread and it got me thinking - In order to disperse defensive minutes better and get that right handed shot on the point for both PP pairings that Babcock loves... I have a suggestion that many may think is crazy, but I think it would be perfect... add Eaves to the point on the PP - He has a cannon of a shot, has pretty damn good puck control and has proven that he can score, given the chance... I think it's more situational settings that need to be addressed for our defense to even out the minutes and I think adding Hnidy would also help with this... disperse the minutes, given the situation... spread out the PP and have Nick play less on the PK to conserve minutes... Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-Rafalski Ericsson-Hnidy PP1 Lidstrom-Rafalski PP2 Kronwall-Eaves PK1 Ericsson-Hnidy PK2 Stuart-Kronwall/Lidstrom (rotated out depending on shifts) when all is said and done, minute dispersal should be something like this: Lidstom, Rafalski - 22 mins a night Stuart, Kronwall - 20 mins a night Ericsson, Hnidy - 18 minutes a night Obviously, as there are more PP or PK situations in a game, this will vary, but with the proper dispersal and situational settings laid out, it shouldn't have to vary much and guys would be more effective and rested... Once again, some of you may think this is crazy, but I genuinely believe this would work AMAZINGLY and I think we'd see Eaves have a career year...

You're just flat wrong... Holland has said flat out that unless Meech wins an everyday spot, meaning he would have to beat out Kindl AND Ericsson (yes, we WILL be adding another dman and you can quote me on that) that he would trade or waive him, so he would have a chance on another team... Ritola or Miller will likely be traded AS WELL once we add that dman, to get back down to 23, but Meech will NOT be on this team on opening day(barring some unexpected injury or unforseen trade) and you can quote me on that too...