Z Winged Dangler

#5 could possibly be for Filppula, who only reached his potential for 1 season and then retuned to old Flip this year. When he signed, a lot of people wondered why he was getting 3 mil including myself. The other player may be Ericsson. Same story as Flip. He's playing really good now, but when he signed, he was a 1.5 mil per Dman.

Count me in!

I was more gearing at Nyquist replacing Flip. Tatar could go top 6, or he could beef up the offense on our 3rd line. I'm with you though that we NEED a goal scorer. I do not like it one bit when the Wings get shut out. It's rather boring to say the least. Hopefully Brunner hits the gym this summer and adds 10-15 lbs of muscle which will only make him better overall, but the glaring hole in our top 6 is that goal scorer we keep talking about. If Clarkson isn't a possibility, then Holland needs to figure out who is. With larger divisions and every team getting better, we need to beef up the weak areas asap. Personally, I think our G is top 5, our D is servicable, but we need to get a couple big ass forwards here. 1 power forward type for the top 6 and a Hanzal type gronk for the bottom 6 to take up space and generally give the other teams D a quality headache.

I was born a Wings fan. My dad named me after Steve Yzerman. I grew up on the couch with my old man watching Yzerman and Probert, then the 91 draft made us a power house and I loved all the guys we've got over the years. Lids, Vladdy, McCarty, Fedorov, Shanny, Hull and Robitaille for the 02 Cup... This organization in my lifetime at least has always tabled an amazing product and I've always liked most of, if not all of the players on our teams. This year there's a few I'm not a fan of, as well Ulf Samuelsson coming to the Wings I hated, but the general product has always kept me a huge fan. Being born a Wings fan, I only became a bigger fan watching all the guys mentioned above, and then the Grind Line, the Russian 5, the rivalry with the Avs, Dats and Z have been my favorite players since Yzerman retired hence "Z Winged Dangler" which is basically a mash together of Dats and Z. Even the last few years where this team has been losing guys, needing to create a new identity, kind of like the misfit in school that no one wanted to play with, trade with, help out at all...I still like the different things that Holland has done aside from just getting rejected in trades. Look at the guys we drafted in the past few years. We have some guys in our system that are in all likelyhood going to be superstars for years in the NHL. The Wings for me are the first and last part of my day. I wake up, get to work 15 minutes early and drink my coffee while I check LGW and TSN for Wings news, and at lunch, and when I get home every day. No matter how good, or how bad they're doing I'll continue to follow them and they'll always be my favorite team. And I love puck possession.

Definitely gonna agree with this one. I'd rather try and get Clarkson to play with Dats and let Flip walk. We have Nyquist who is also a playmaker and just as fast, and he's also responsible defensively. And then we have Tatar. Howard i'm not the least bit worried about. He'll be signed and I have no doubt there. We need a scorer/power forward. Clarkson is target 1.

I agree with the sentiment that Dats' decision would have to do with the quality of our team at the time his contract expires, but numerous other contracts will be expiring as well for guys that are non-essentials to the team. With the newer blood that will be coming into our lineup that year hopefully that will entice him to stay. Imagine the Wings pushing for a cup with the likes of a bigger stronger Jarnkrok, Sproul and Ouellet may be good to go, Tatar and Tvrdon may make their way up, Pulkkinen may turn out to be a sniper, Backman should be up next year or the year after.... This team could have a whole new look. If you add all of those guys and then imagine if Kenny somehow gets Clarkson to sign here by telling him, "we want you to play on Datsyuk's wing". What we need to do is be patient and hope that Colo and Sammy get bought out, some of our guys take .3 mil less than they want so we can get a guy like Clarkson in under the cap and we'll be a contender in 2 years max.

And what you're doing is very understandable and your plan is a great one and very good for those business owners that were hit hard by the lockout. Good on ya.

Buy it anyways cause Dats is the man and you'll never forgive yourself if you don't get it, even if it's roster relevancy is only for 1 year, he's a lifetime Wing. I still wear my Yzerman shirt all the time, even with its unfortunate holes and I may even get a Gordie Howe shirt. Choices for jerseys for lifetime Wings are never a bad choice. Just got a Z jersey myself and he's a skating band-aid.

Stamkos got 1 tonight too. Tied at 26. Gonna be exciting down the wire for the next 9 games.

Also strangely satisfying.

I've mentioned that before in the past. Eaves' one-timer is awesome and he's a right handed shot. All the different things that Babcock tried this year, I'm surprised he didn't try that.

Not sure if it's a knock off, but apparently the one's from Shanghai are official NHL and it's a Reebok with a tie down, so who knows. Either way, it's Z and it's badass.

Helm is the best checker we have, top 3 fastest skater in the NHL, and he has the potential to be a 20 goal scorer but he's been in a checking role his whole career. Make him the 2nd line centre and he pots 20 guaranteed. He also gets the Wings team momentum when everyone else is playing like garbage and can't get anything going. That's one of the ways he improves our scoring. Also, when teams have to chase him around and get tired it opens up more chances for our top lines jumping on to attack a dead line. It happens a lot after a Helm shift.

One of the pilots at work brought me back an official NHL Zetterberg Wings jersey from Shanghai. It apparently cost $15. Best part, it is made in Canada, sold in China. Everything sold in Canada is made in China.... I'm amused by this. And the NHLPA was brought in cause players had no medical benefits, had to pay for their own moves when they got traded and if they got injured and couldn't play anymore, they ended up homeless and one of Ted Lindsay's old teammates died in his car that he was living in. The NHLPA has gotten out of control with demands and the main thing I wish was gone was player agents. If you're too stupid to tell your GM why YOU think you should make the money you want, then your dumbass can play for a couple million less.

But strangely satisfying.

Once again why I with those 3 to name a few were offered 1 year deals. But anyways, I hope you're right. Sammy and Colo have been injured the whole year basically and Colo has been mediocre when he has played. Quincey, we could at least hope to trade to a team like the Oilers or Islanders who are beyond pathetic on D. A way to improve this team is to have a healthy Helm on the team and in no way traded. He's our 3rd/4th line centre until he retires a Wing. How many games have you watched this year? Dude hustles as a constant. He's not so tough, but as I stated in a different thread, he's in his 1st NHL season against big competition and he'll benefit from a summer in an NHL weight room. I wouldn't cast him aside. He'll be retained over Emmerton for sure and would get a spot well above Ferraro and even Sheahan.

5 inches higher and that was a snipe show. He would have to change his Xbox gamertag to #//Dang13z*3ric550n*~~t0p*5h31F*5n1P3R!//~~ and he'd demand $5 million a year on his next contract.

I got inspired in the Sheahan thread. I laughed at the video with the costume only going slightly passed his knee caps. This one's staying until I get inspired again.

There's definitely better ways to describe the hardest working Red Wings player than useless though. Like "unfortunate" would be the way to describe our loss of Helm. Then the many Helm fans will stop biting your head off.

He's under 30 years old and is about a .65 ppg player in his 1st (partial) NHL season playing on a smaller ice surface, against bigger more physical guys and on a Wings team that unlike in the past CAN'T SCORE WORTH A DAMN! If Brunner was on a team with better scoring top 6 guys, he'd be a point per game. Side note, Martin St. Louis is 5'8, and Theo Fleury was 5'6. Size is the worst argument in hockey for scorers. Sure I'd love a power forward, but you can be small and successful. Crosby is under 6'0, Z, Dats, Duchene and so on. Those guys find ways to compete with the larger guys and given a couple seasons and lots of practice and a summer in an NHL weight room, Brunner will too. Next year I say he gets 35 goals and 70 points.

You mean just like Crosby has to the Penguins? Dude severed his wrist last year in the 1st playoff game and has a severe back issue this year. Not much can be done about this kind of stuff. Just like Crosby taking a clapper off the chicklets. These things just happen in the NHL. The most surprising part of it is that I though it was reported a couple weeks back that he was practicing with the team and that he was close to a return?? Moving Flip down spreads more wealth to all 3 lines, though i'd like Goose with Brunner, it may help us get more than 0 goals next game having offense spread on 3 lines. Glad that Brunner will be back too. As for Helm, he must have tweaked something or re-injured his back to be out for the rest of the season.

That was a sweet ass goal. Good thing Brunner can pass too, Eh?

The NHL is SO lucky they have all us die hard fans. I was on the net every day waiting for the lockout to end getting super pissed that I didn't get to watch 10 hockey games a week, and then getting pissed more than anything thinking about the sinking North American economy and the stress that small business owners were under cause of their lost revenue from no NHL. The whole thing was a disaster. We were waiting with so much anticipation of that s*** show ending that we geared up for the start of the season without blinking an eye at the numerous months of garbage we had just endured as hardcore fans. And I would never bail on the Wings. I watch hockey. I don't watch baseball cause I find it boring. Basketball is all hype and the only hitting sends wuss' to the free throw line. I used to watch football, but every play some dude celebrating a 2 yard run is aggrevating, so I've taken the past 4 years off aside from watching the Packers win the Super Bowl. Hockey is the sport I eat, sleep and breathe and I will never stop watching. I just hate the powers that run the NHL, on both sides. And I ran into a small amount of money this year and I spent probaly $250 on Wings clothing. I haven't been able to do that in about 10 years and as soon as I could, I bought wings stuff. No matter what any of us say about the NHL and the lockouts and all that crap, we're all die hard Wings fans, we're never gonna stop paying for Red Wings and we're gonna keep coming back to watch them no matter where they are in the standings. I got Gamecentre for the sole purpose of watching EVERY Wings game this year, and I have yet to miss one, and I will not miss one.

Maybe next time instead of a sports car next time he'll see how fast he can go on a motorcycle. That's the only way he moves fast these days. I'd be ok with Setoguchi in a sidecar.

Let Cleary, Miller and White walk. Howard $4.8 mil Brunner $2.5 mil Filppula $4.25 mil Andersson $1 mil Nyquist $1.7 mil Kindl $ 2.5 mil Smith $1.5 mil These are what I think are realistic projections. Out of the $17.2 mil left over, that's $18.25, so I'm not sure how Kenny's gonna sign all of these guys under the cap and not lose any of the guys on that list which will be getting raises. And I did not give Flip $5 mil, and Howard just under. Once again, this is why I wish only 1 year deals were given to Sammy, Bert, Quincey and the likes of which are taking up the kids roster spots and tightening the noose on spending for a UFA this summer, of whom would need a roster spot anyways.