South Dakota wings fan

Probably a fair contract. But holy crap they have a lot of cap room tied up in about half a roster.

I think the hardest part about trying to get the game will be a lack of an outdoor football stadium in Detroit. I think they league has said they sight lines are better, and the atmosphere is better with 65-70k people in a circle around the rink.

All-Star game can't come fast enough. Hopefully they rest up in the next couple days and are ready to go on Wednesday. Anyone else wish Rafalski was UFA after this year and not next? I'm not saying he is THE problem, but that cap space would be handy to fix this D corps.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2010/12/red_wings_hope_nhl_will_stage.html After recently reading this article about the Wings wanting to host the Winter Classic, I have been trying to figure out this question. Who could/should they play? I feel like the only division rival they could play is Chicago, but that's been done before. I think the NHL would like the game to always include two teams from the U.S. So, while I think Toronto or Montreal would draw interest, I'm not sure the league would allow it. I doubt they would bring in a team from a warm climate. Minnesota makes a little sense, but they want to host their own, and aren't much of a national tv draw. The Rangers? Wouldn't they rather host their own game? I love the Winter Classic, but the originality could wear off in a hurry if they keep recycling the same teams every year because 2/3 of the league can't draw an audience on tv. Side note, I would love to see 24/7 with the Wings and how Babcock handles things.

If I had to bet money, I bet they would go for the Avalanch to play up the 90's rivalry and bring in the left coast of the country for viewing. Glad to have gotten the discussion going.

My assumption is that there is a little sarcasm in those pairs, but I could be wrong. When referencing a bare d corps, my over riding point was that Kronwall, Stuart and Rafalski are all UFA after 2012. Plus the loss of Nick whenever that may be. I do believe Kronwall will be back at a minumum from that group, possibly Stuart as well. But there are some excellent prospects in the waiting as well. I thought the team played great sans Hudler last night.

Totally agree. I kinda hijacked the Hudler thread with my salary cap rant, but I had thought it would be near impossible to keep Hudler on the roster next year if at his price if he is not performing. A lot of whether or not he stays may depend on how much $$ Howard's salary cap is on is next deal. Let's not forget Howie is UFA and not RFA, so he will have more leverage if he wanted to test the open market. I think we are in for a surprise at how much he and Big E get this offseason. Remember how surprised most were when they saw Filppula's cap hit, which was based on potential. Same could happen with E if they want to try to lock him up for a solid term. D corps is bare after 2012.

Just looking at the numbers, I don't see how Hudler is on this team long term. I still don't blame him for going to Russia, he had to do his best to secure his future. But it appears as if that year in la la land caused him to regress. I think the following players come off the cap next year: (rough numbers) Ozzie = 1.4 Draper =1.4 Miller = .6 Eaves = .750 Modano = 1.5 Howard = 1.25 Lids = 6.2 Salei = .750 Ericsson = 1 Roughly 15 million coming off the cap. Let's say the cap goes up 2 million. So they have 17 million in space. 6 goes to Nick(ego, gotta have no less than Rafi). Down to 11. Backup goalie for .750 million and 6th D-man for .750. Down to 9.5 million. If Jimmy were to get 3.5. That puts them down to 6 million. Let's say big E gets 2. Down to 4 million to sign some depth forwards. It is doable, but does he fit in? I just don't think so. Time will tell, but if he stays on the team all year, I won't be surprised if he is dealt at the draft. Sorry for the length, that thought kinda got away from me.

I wouldn't have a personal problem with it, but I don't think it would help the salary cap situation one bit. If they win the cup, I think he would retire. If they don't and he plays at a high level, I wouldn't be surprised if he came back making slightly more than Rafalski like he did this year. Either way, I think next year would be his last before the possible uncertainty of the labor situation.

My choice: Lids-Stuart Kronwall-Rafi Kindl-Salei E I'm not 100% sure that Kindl plays the left D pairing right now, but as long as they are playing well, I would leave them together. I would also leave Lidstrom with Stuart. They seem to be playing well together, and Stuart prefers to play the right side anyway. Let Rafi play the right side with Kronwall and everything will come more naturally to all of them.

I just hope Draper starts the season on LTIR and allows them to stay under the cap and roster limit for the first month. Let Draper's old legs rest a little more, allow Ritola to play some games, and wait to see if anyone else gets injured. If there is an injury, then activate Draper when ready. If everyone is healthy when he is ready to come off LTIR, then you have to trade or waive someone. At least that helps buy some time.

Not 100% true. Center ice show playoff games for the first two rounds, since VS and NBC can't show every game. To me, it is totally worth it. I think it is around $170. Divide that by around 70 games not already on VS or NBC and it's cheap. My cable provider lets me do it in 4 payments, and it is cheap entertainment all winter. I also keep up on what is going on elsewhere in the leage with it, as well as watch wednesday night hockey on TSN that I couldn't normally get in South Dakota.

I voted 50-60. I'm keeping my expectations low so I am not too disappointed.

I don't like this idea. The wings need to get younger, not older. Plus, Modano has won a cup. So, the whole "win one for Mike" doesn't really work.

You might be on to something here. It does kind of make you wonder about a glut at center. The nice thing about Val is that he seems to be capable of playing wing when needed. But as you point out, you could reunite Hank and Pav, and play Savard with the Mule on the wing. That could be deadly. Do we even know if Boston would want Val? It doesn't really solve their glut at center either. I would think they would want a winger, which the Red Wings don't have to offer. So it probably makes it hard to complete any swap.

It doesn't seem crazy to think Maltby could end up in Tampa this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see any combo of Maltby, Lilja, Lebda or Meech down there. Bring some of the Red Wings culture to the dressing room. I agree with other posters that trading Ozzie is a bad idea. I think we all know he wasn't happy last year, but he really has his own poor start to blame. Hopefully, he comes in trying to prove something next season, and he and Howard push each other in a healthy competition. Plus, who knows if Howard will have a sophomore slump?

Who am I to tell Ken Holland how to do his job, but I guess that's what I'm on here for. I think the management has gotten a bit like the Yankees a few years ago where they fall in love with guys and keep them around too long. Now, I realize the NHL has a salary cap and MLB does not. But my point is, they need to be more cut-throat. Maltby was one of my favorite players, but he should not return. Stop clinging to the past, father time wins every time. I'd keep Eaves over Miller. I'd get rid of Meech, and make Bert wait to see if we can find someone better. If we can't bring him back. If he finds somewhere else to play, bon voyage. Homer for one more year only. I think Lija should return.

I know the loss still stings everybody, but try to relax a little bit. Guess what? The Wings didn't win the cup and the world is still spinning. I know, it is hard to believe. I read that this morning, and you have to look at it in context. It is written by a fan of your rival and supposed to be funny to others who read and make fans of that team mad all at the same time. There is a lot of truth in that eulogy masked in jest. All year we did think when they got healthy, they would "turn it on." Ville Leino was a bust. Homer is old and slow. Helm does have hands of stone. Bertuzzi was good for about 2 weeks in December and mostly bad the rest. I think it stings because a lot of it is closer to the truth than we would like it to be. Now to the positive. Howard played a lot better than most of us could have ever predicted. (I was at the game he started in Minnesota last season. It was awful) We have a little flexibility in the cap, depending on how big of a raise the RFA's receive and how much of a pay-cut Nick takes if he returns. Let a Hawks fan have his fun for one year. It doesn't happen very often. Their team will look a lot different next year due to their mis-management of the salary cap anyway.

The thought of discontinuing my Center Ice is crazy. It costs me $160 bucks to watch every game I had time to watch or DVR this season. And I watch more than just Red Wings games. What a bargain. It costs that much to attend one or two games live. Not even a question. When they aren't on Center Ice, I have Versus, NHL network and NBC. I just wish NHL Network was in HD. Not sure what your service provider charges, but it is usually a much better value if you buy at the beginning of the season. They really don't discount it much after the all-star/olympic break. I also don't understand the whole "I don't want to give the league any more money" arguement. If the league doesn't make money, there won't be a league.

I agree. It makes it very easy to compete when you have got players that are hungry in their early 20's who are still on entry level "cap friendly" contracts making major contributions. I wonder how hard it is to find that outside of a top 5 pick though.

Actually, what the start time tells you is that NBC is covering the TPC this weekend as there major sporting event, so the NHL is not having their afternoon games on Saturday or Sunday. It's not a conspiracy. They put the East coast game on at 7 Eastern time, and the West coast game on at 10 so their product could be seen seperately on their national cable home. I have Center Ice, so it wouldn't matter to me, but for those who do not, I bet they prefer this start time instead of some "joined in progress" game. Not to mention that if it was an afternoon game, that would be less rest for the teams after having to travel so far with only the one day in between games.

After that series, Mike Green should no longer wonder why he was left off of Team Canada in the olympics. Norris candidate my ass!

Everytime he gets near the net, and doesn't score, I can't help but think "He would have scored in '08". Maybe the Mule set the bar so high that no mortal can meet those expectations. Let's not forget he's only played for 2 months and his knee might not actually be 100%.

I don't think it is time to panic, but I think it is a very real possibility that Abby will be inserted for Williams soon. I just don't think May has the scoring ability or speed to keep up out there. And if they are looking for someone who can be physical, I think Abdeldaker had more hits than May did anyway. I realize May wasn't playing as many minutes, but I don't think it will matter.

It's called rest.