marcaractac

I'd imagine Lids will win it again this season, barring injury **knock on wood** Hard to say who will be the runner ups really. If it wasn't for the fact Brent Burns plays for Minnesota, I'd say he'd give Lids a run for it. I couldn't get over how good he was in the World Championships this year.

Lol I thought the same thing. I was like Vancouver trading for a goalie prospect? For a second I thought that meant they were going into rebuilding mode and were gonna shop Luongo. That'd be crazy.

Imagine if Vancouver signed Flip to an offer sheet, and Holland didn't match it. Imagine if Vancouver sucked during the season, and finished in the bottom 3. Imagine if their pick was drawn to get the first selection in the draft. That pick would then belong to Holland. omg. The way I see it, if a crappy team wants to pay Flip 4 mil, then go ahead. It would suck to lose him, but we got Hossa, and Hossa > than Flip, which still makes us a stronger team than last year. Any team stupid enough to overpay Flip is gonna suck this season anyway. They'd only do it as a desperate attempt to get better, and a 40 point player isn't gonna cut it. It would suck to lose Flip, yes, but imagine having a shot at the first overall pick next year....

If you are referring to his sig, it is basically saying that we should let a crap team like Vancouver sign Flip to an offer sheet, so we would get their first round pick, and seeing how they are gonna have a bad season, we'd have a shot at landing the #1 overall pick that we'd get from Vancouver (or some other crappy team that would be stupid enough to throw a big offer sheet at Flip). I honestly think we are safe from teams throwing offer sheets at Flip anyway, just because of that. a GM of a crap team is not gonna risk losing their chance in getting a player like Tavares next summer. And they most certainly would not let the Wings be the team to get their first rounder. Imagine adding a player like Tavares to our roster? Good lord. I don't think ANYONE in the NHL not involved with the Wings want to see that happen.

If Feds sticks around, I can see the Caps suprising a lot of people in the Easy. If Theo will hold up (he wont face us), and their kids learned a LOT in the playoffs last year. They'll certainly win their division again.

Which is exactly why Holland wants Mac and Downey on 2 way contracts. He'd only have to have one on the roster at a time, or send both down to bring up Howard for a start.

I think Kopecky could be a good scrapper if he works at it. His one fight last season was awesome. And if he could keep playing like he did at the end of the season, he could be a big on ince presence for us to, and also put up some points here and there. I've said it once and I will say it again. Kopecky/Helm/Abdelkader will eventually become the next McCarty/Draper/Maltby. Talk about energy.

Ericsson will stay in Grand Rapids for one last year, and Lebda will be traded. Meech and Quincey have more value than Lebda, and Holland said he'll carry 8 defensemen this year.

I think Hank will be talked into taking a Datsyuk-like contract, maybe a tad more. I wouldn't doubt Hossa being willing to do the same to stay with a cup contender for the rest of his prime. Mule will definitely make 4-5 million, assuming he keeps the play up this year. Even so, he could probably be talked into taking slightly less as well.

Holy s***. I was just thinking. We already have 4 guaranteed players on this team to be selected for the All Star game. That doesn't even include Ozzie and Rafalski, who could also possibly make it. It could basically be the Eastern Conference vs Red Wings and friends.

Well Holland said today he'll definitely look at trying to sign Hossa long term next June. He was talking about the whole asking players to take less to win deal, and said he will have lots of talks with Hank and Mule, and Hossa when the time comes to see if they can all be kept. Sammy is gonna be gone after this season anyway. Thats a no brainer. And unless Hudler has a crazy Franzen-like year, he won't make much more than he does now anyway. Now having said that, I'm not counting on Hossa sticking around, but it is possible. If Hank and Hossa are willing to take Datsyuk money, then things look good. It's not like you can't live off $6.7 million a year for multiple years A lot of things need to happen for it to work out, but the possibility is there. I mean, if Hossa has a career year, wins the cup, and loves playing here, you think he'd be willing to take a slight cut to stick around? Of course! The guy wants to win, simple as that. If he just wanted the money, he'd be an Oiler right now. The only reason this contract is 1 year, is because the risk of losing Hank or Mule isn't worth it. They need to wait and see what happens with the cap first. I can't see the cap not going up again though, the parity in the league this season has been great, and I think it's gonna be even closer this year. The only teams I can see flat out sucking is Atlanta, Florida, and Toronto. The rest have something there to stay close in the race for at least part of the season.

The big hits are so epic. They aren't gonna just go away. But remember how crazy he played when he came back from his injury, and Lids and Raffi were still out? Damn.... He was a man on a mission that game. It was incredible. Just a preview of how great he will be when he starts playing on our first pairing with Raffi. Just goes to show, even when Lids retires (), our defense will be in VERY good hands.

He'll always line up the big hit if he has the opening and it makes sense. He doesn't hit for the sake of hitting. He doesn't get hurt laying out the big hit anyway, it is always some freak accident. He isn't injury prone by any means. It's not like he has a certain problem that keeps popping up every year, none of his injuries are ever related. They are fluke. It's not like Floppa and his bad feet and/or groin acting up all the time. It's always some random bone that you've never heard of snapping due to some weird awkward position he is in. I'd say he just needs to drink more milk.

His contract is basically a 1 year tryout. If he impresses at the AHL level, then I would say he gets a shot for the 2009/2010 season. We won't see him here this season. The team is too deep. I don't even think there is room for Helm either, unless we got rid of either Sammy or Hudler. No way we lose Kopecky or Maltby because we need grit.

This is what I expect to see: Homer/Datsyuk/Hossa Filppula/Zetterberg/Franzen Cleary/Draper/Samuelsson Maltby/Hudler/Kopecky Extras: McCarty/Downey Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Stuart Quincey/Meech Extras: Lilja/Chelios Osgood Backup: Conklin Howard will spend time with the Wings and with the Griffins. Downey and McCarty will get sent down to allow Howard to get starts when possible to prove himself for 2009/2010. Ericsson will spend another year in Grand Rapids just because he is the only one who can. Guaranteed a spot for 2009/2010 though. Helm will spend the year in Grand Rapids for the same reasons as Ericsson, and also so he can get lots of playing time. It sucks, but thats the way it goes. He'll be back the year after for sure though because either Hossa or Sammy will be gone. Lebda will be the odd man out and get traded (I'll definitely miss his drunken celebratory antics). Quincey and Meech have more of an upside to them. Our 3rd defense pairing will be rotated around a lot.

s*** I want to see Holland sign Owen Nolan. That would make my day. Talk about perfect Drake replacement.

BLARGH!! Lock up Flip Kenny!!!!

I'm still seeing hard times for Florida ahead!!! Good player for them, but they need a LOT more yet. I see them getting Tavares next years draft.

It's a one year deal, don't know about financial details yet. too funny though. we can go from scoring 8 goals on them to like 12

That is true. He has the tools, but come on, playing with the Leafs or not he has look flat out BAD at times. Jose would be good if he didn't demand so much money. That's what is foolish about him. He can be great, but not worth what he is making at all.

LOL the Av's signed Raycroft. Imagine how bad we'll light them up now!!!

Ozzie is our veteran goalie. Huet is real good as well.

I guess Huet is going elsewhere. Wouldn't it be sweet if we got him?

The guy said he'd take a pay cut to sign with a contender. It was well known for a while the Pens were gonna start having issues when their stars needed extensions, and thats exactly what started to happen. They let Malone walk because they wanted Hossa, and now Hossa is gonna walk as well. Roberts said himself they have to tie up their money in other places. But there HAS to be something going on with that franchise for everyone to be bolting like that. I'd say it's their coach. Eiter way, I don't blame Hossa for wanting to leave what mess that team is starting to become. Shero gets way too much credit IMO. Sure he built a cup finals team, but the core of it was obvious choices in top draft pics. The only good thing he has done was getting Fleury the way he did, and even that was a big gamble at the time, it just happened to pay off. And to give away everything he did to get Hossa in the first place? Stupid! Whether you can go for the cup right then and there or not, it was just a stupid move to make in the cap era. It is obvious they couldn't afford to keep that team together after this season, but he made the deal anyway, losing a LOT of depth he can REALLY use for next season. Of all that they've given up, Dupis may be all they get to keep out of it. As for Hossa to Detroit? It is definitely possible. Crazier things have happened. Do I expect it to happen? I have my doubts. Will I be suprised if it does? I'll certainly be s***tin' kittens if it does. It would require Holland to get real creative, but it is definitely possible.We'll just have to wait and see what happens later on!

My God, for some reason that made me bust out in laughter. I think in may have subconsciously reminded me of a movie....