marcaractac

We'll be stuck with Howard until the bitter end of that contract. And once that contract is up, he won't get another with any team. Too many good goalies in the league now with plenty more on the way.

Sad to say it, but until the playoff streak ends, nothing will change. Until that streak is over, we will see nothing but safe moves. Even if we are well out of the playoffs come trade deadline, I still can't see Holland having it in him to move players for picks and prospects.

Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger 14s14 seconds ago Flames have acquired a goalie. Working on details. Elliott was a strong candidate. Bishop as well Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger 11s 11 seconds ago Looks like Elliott to Flames. Awaiting announcement. f***

Holland needs to basically give Howard away. Ridding that contract is itself a huge win for this team. If Calgary is interested, Holland has no excuses. Get it done.

For the love of god, leave disney.com unprotected. Vegas will not draft him.

I will always miss sirdrake

Teams have been given the green light to start negotiations with Lucic.

It's called negotiation. Other teams ask for a lot, Holland offers low, they meet somewhere in the middle. In the end they'll lose a Jurco/Pulk level prospect. Someone who can jump in and play for their new team right away.

1. His blood clot issues have been taken care of. It's a non issue. 2. He is a center. If you haven't noticed, we kind of need a #1 center right now.

Because if he is locked up there, some of that team gets broken up next summer. Money can also play a role, which gives Detroit and Buffalo and advantage. Tampa has money coming on the books big time over the next year. Detroit has more coming off than going back on for the time being. The cap will also be higher by the time guys like Larkin get paid, so a Stamkos contract wouldn't hinder the Wings in the way it would hinder the Bolts. In the end, Holland needs to take a risk and move that Datsyuk contract. As long as it doesn't cost a first or a top prospect, it has to be done. The team has a legit shot at Stamkos (if he hits the market) if they take a legit run at it.

Seems the Bolts don't wanna offer any more than 8.5. Team that gets him gotta be able to top in 7 years what Tampa would pay him in 8.

This. It would take some creativity on Holland's part, but the team would only be in cap hell for just one season. They'd manage. Hopefully Holland has it in him to be willing to go over the cap if need be to try and lure him here. He'd have all summer to trim salary.

I wouldn't sign #99 for 3 years fat 7.5 million per if he was in his mid to late 30's. At some point you have to be realistic. It's not like the team was a cup contender at the time. Face it. The team is fighting to keep the streak alive. I'd get it if we still had a Norris winning Lidstrom on the team. But he was already retired.

Blocking Poel helps. I've done it ages ago. In the end, people keep comparing pav's contract to others that have been moved. Difference is, these other contracts involve cash that is owed. Pavel's does not.

That one would be hard to blame on anyone, because the penalty for that was implemented after the contract was signed. It was a great contract at the time, and the league decided to punish teams who signed players to perfectly legal contracts after the fact. In the end, Holland is gonna have to be willing to trade something upwards of a 3rd rounder or a Pulk-level prospect. I can understand saying no if teams are only willing to get more than that, but he has to be willing to give up something to fix this. Chicago had to give up a good player to dump a contract. The difference is that contract has to be paid. This is a money-free cap hit, and under no circumstances should a team be looking to get that kind of a return out of Holland.

Not making excuses for him. Holland's MO for a while now has been hanging onto players for too long. Why would this be any different?

I feel like Holland is full of s*** to be honest. Why would Datsyuk have been asking for a 5 year extension, only to want to return to Russia pretty well as soon as he inked a 3 year deal? None of it adds up. Sounds more like a GM trying to cover his own ass after trying to convince Pavel to stick around longer than he wanted to.

If this is true it's bulls*** that the Wings would be punished with the cap hit while not being allowed to trade it. Either waive the cap hit or let the team trade it. The Wings are not in the wrong here if Dats wants to go play in Russia.

I think he has done a lot more "signing em at a little higher than their value than have the contract turn into a steal" type contracts than signing em for cheap right from the get go. I feel this deal is a lot more in line with what he has done in the past, except with a much shorter term.

Too be fair our dollar is in the toilet. They probably wanna see it stabilise before bringing in another Canadian team.

I hope Helm stays. Especially over Miller. Also, Devils acquired Marc Savard's contract from Florida. It begins.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from being Darren Helm?

Another issue is that most of the roster had bad years as far as production goes. Outside of Larkin and Abdelkader, it's been a disappointment all around (only counting players on the team all season). Nyquist and Tatar were invisible for long stretches during the season. Hell, even Abdelkader took a couple seasons to start producing playing with Pav and Hank. His production early on playing with those guys was not good. Yet the coaches always stuck with it because he brings more to the table than just putting up points. I don't think it is at all unreasonable to think that Jurco can have a similar impact on the team given some consistency in the lineup.

This part makes me laugh considering one of the best players in the world may be a UFA July 1st, and with an impending expansion this might be one of the most actives summers for trades in quite some time.