SwedeLundin77

I would think the Isles would more than likely want prospects for him.. Then it will boil down to what team is willing to give up the most in prospect worth. I don't see the Wings being at the top of that list as Holland won't give up future for a 35 year old backup goalie when he can just as easily sign a comparable backup goalie out of free agency. The options would be: 1. Mike Smith 2. Johan Hedberg 3. Chris Osgood 4. Ty Conklin 5. Marty Turco 6. Josh Harding 7. Jose Theodore 8. Brian Boucher 9. Alex Auld These are in no particular order... So you see there are options out there outside of Nabokov. Given his salary and a one year contract, he would be very hard to obtain without giving up more than Kenny H would.

I mentioned it because he has bounced around the league the past few years and being an Assistant Coach can sometimes grant better job security (Look at McCrimmon - how in the hell he lasted here 3 years is beyond me). Plus he and Babs are good friends. I just thought it would be cool, but I also like the idea of moving MacLean back to D and hiring an O Coach. Or bring Chelios in possibly.

I hear Ken Hitchcock is on the market for a job... Could he fit in nicely with Babcock as our Defensive Coach? Didn't they work together at some point (Olympics)?

Yes, I understand that some of our veterans are going to retire, but you have to consider the youth on the roster right now as well as the youth in GR that will come up in your alloted 2-5 year span. You also have to consider with some payroll coming off in the years to come, free agency. Let's start with Goaltending. I honestly think Osgood will come back for one last season, but if he doesn't, I do not see them going with Larsson, McDonald, or McCollum this upcoming season. You can count on them going out and looking for a competent back-up and the market is ripe for it this year. Hedberg, Boucher, Conklin, Nabokov, Theodore are the bigger names out there on the UFA market coming up. I personally would take Nabokov if he'd want to play for 1 million or less like he did this past season. He is a veteran who WANTS a cup and is in his upper 30's. He'd be another guy who can mentor, to a degree, Jimmy Howard and give him different insights. On the other hand, I would be fine with Osgood, or any of the other names I mentioned. Now onto Defense. I believe Lidstrom will come back for one final season and Rafalski is going to be here until the end of his contract. I see him retiring in 2012. So our defense is pretty shored up right now. We have guys in the minors who should be able to step up within 2 years. Brendan Smith comes to mind first and foremost. This guy should be our next big homegrown D-Man. This is not to say we won't make a move to acquire a 5 or 6 d-man in place of Salei. I cannot see them going with Ericsson and Kindl with regular playing time. More than likely you'll see Kronwall - Stewart, Lidstrom - Rafalski, Ericsson - UFA D-Man/Kindl. I think you're looking at Kolosov as a 7th d-man at best in the NHL. He will more than likely serve as depth in GR for the Wings as long as he is here. You have other guys like Max Nicastro (could be ready in 4 years), Nick Jensen (could be ready in 4 years), and Adam Almqvist(could be ready within 3 years and has the tools to be a Ralfski type). Given these prospects and free agency, I don't see our defense having any issues post-Lidstrom. What really needs to change with defense is McCrimmon. It's obvious since he's come on in 2009 that our defense has suffered. And finally onto Forwards. Out with the old guard, in with the new. Make no mistake, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Kronwall will hand the team to the next generation when the time comes. Let's assume that Draper is done. After this season you'll see Bertuzzi, Holmstrom, and Hudler gone. That will leave us with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, Helm, and Abdelkader. So we would need to fill in with 5 forwards. Assume 2-3 would be through free Agency. I can see the Wings bringing back Eaves for sure. I'm not so sure on Miller, however, as his skills are somewhat redundant on this squad and with Holland already speaking about a roster shake-up, I see Miller being expendable. So let's assume in the coming seasons, the Wings add 1 or 2 forwards by way of free agency. One more than likely will be a scorer and the other an energy guy or tough guy. Looking at our prospects, you can make a case for Mursak to come up asap, but my only problem is that you can't keep bringing up these energy guys if they are all identical. That's what I see with Mursak. Can he put the puck in the next? Can Helm? If not you have a carbon copy of a guy who is already up on the team and they need to add more scoring punch if they want to continue to compete through the years. I believe you need guys like Tatar, who is ready to step up this coming season or the next. Other guys you could mention are: Gustav Nyquist, who should turn pro this season with GR, Teemu Pulkkinen, who is still in Europe but developing nicely and had a great season in 10/11. He should be ready to go sooner rather than later. Mitchell Callahan has the chops to be an aggresor on the 3rd/4th lines and could be a couple seasons away. Landen Farraro has the potential to be our next gen 2nd line center, but needs to get his act together. He's still three years out. Andrej Nestrasil has had a great career thus far and I think he could be ready within 5 years time, but it seems as if the Wings are going to be patient with his development. As you can see there are a lot of options that will work for the Wings on all fronts. I think they'll be good for years to come. I think you'll see a tiny drop-off with Lidstrom's departure, but nothing too significant to overcome through free agency. As long as we keep the character of a team that doesn't quit, and doesn't get rattled, we'll be a-ok. This is what happens when I have extra time at work.

Wiz would be a sweet pick-up if we can work it into our cap. I think we're forgetting other potential FA's that may or may not be on the market this summer: Christian Ehrhoff Kevin Bieksa Grant Clitsome (he may be an RFA, but would be a nice young pick-up) Hopefully we have the power to pick up one of these guys, but I personally like Wiz the best. Debate!

This. These people who just ASSUME that the front office is stupid to not inquire about players are real idiots. Holland has been known to kick over every rock and look at EVERY player. Someone already said that Asham wanted to say in the PA area. So we didn't get a 4th liner that can muck it up a tad and put a few points up. We have probably the best 4th line in the league. Does it fight? Not really, but will it roll over? No. Eaves, Helm, and Abdelkader are all gritty players, they will cause problems for other teams by working their asses off. I'd rather have that then worry about fighting. It's such a stupid argument. We are so horrible, must be why we have won all these cups and have been a successful team for the past 2 decades. Stop acting like Asham would have been our savior, cause he wouldn't have been. We don't have the room on our roster for him anyway, so it's a moot argument. Stop assuming everything and start being smart about what you say.

I respect your opinion and the way you go about discussing it, unlike some on these boards... Anyway, as far as our PK goes, you are missing a few names: Helm, Eaves, Draper (when he plays). So that makes the list of PK guys as follows: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Filppula, Cleary, Eaves, Helm, possibly Abdelkader (like you said)... That is plenty to roll given how responsible a team we are when it comes to penalties. As far as a 6th defensemen goes, if we are spending more than 1 million on him, then we are spending too much. Especially when we roll with 7 d-men. So signing Modano to a million doesn't hurt our chances when you consider we won't sign Miller, in this case, and will more than likely trade one other forward, depending on how Holland wants to roll things. It all works out cap-wise. And with Miller out, we still have approximately 500K like Holland said for injuries and the like. Again, it's just my opinion, I'm not caught up in the "romanticism" of having a future hall of famer and a hometown boy here, I just think he could do good for our team and help in an area we were seriously lacking in last season: secondary scoring.

Amen. Obviously there are those of us who want to be gritty and tough without sacrificing offense and there are those who want to get nasty and mean like Anaheim or the Flyers when both of those franchises have seen a decline (besides the Flyers run this one season - other than that, they haven't been overly successful). Two opinions clash and we get this hot mess... oh well. Agree to disagree.

Bend my words all you want, but some people want the bruise brothers back and that's just not going to fly anymore. We will NEVER be the most penalized team in the league, that's not responsible hockey and Holland won't let it happen, so get over it. Do we need grit and a little bit of nasty, yes! Maybe Holland doesn't feel that the players on the market are the types of players to fit in with his system, and that's just being responsible. Who has changed since we won the cup? Drake, Sammy, and Chelios? Don't tell me we don't have grit.... Are we nasty? No, but we haven't been nasty since the mid to late 90's and we won 2 cups since then. We will have a strong chance to make a run this year too, Modano or no Modano. But don't try and tell me that Modano in and Miller out hurts our chances.

God-willing, our 6th d-man will not be Meech, because Holland has already said he wants a tough stay at home guy/veteran to play alongside Ericsson.... this means someone outside the organization. Modano will displace Miller. Miller is redundant and brings absolutely nothing to the team that we don't already have. Modano is the same way but he brings secondary scoring, which we were SEVERELY lacking last season. We can still go out and get Hnidy, Exelby, McKee, Morrisson, Mitchell.... someone who can mentor Ericsson, be a strong stay at home guy, and be more tenacious than Lilja was. I love how we keep talking about getting this "guy who can fight and play the game a little," and of who's available we have Asham who fits that bill, but there is no way in hell we're signing Asham for 1 million or less when other 3rd and 4th liners were getting contracts for 1.25 and up. Plus he would be coming to a system with a logjam of forwards - do you really think that would look appealing to a player like him when our history with those players the past few years has been spotty (playing maybe half the season) and MAYBE the playoffs if needed... Hence getting Modano for ONE season does not hurt the team, it only helps.

Calm down there champ... geeze. If we needed an "enforcer" SO bad, Holland would go out and get one, there is still offseason to go, and Modano hasn't signed yet. Our 6th d-man will be our enforcer. Or we will acquire one during the season via trade. I never said Abdelkader would be our enforcer, but he's a Maltby type player that can piss opponents off and cause them to take stupid penalties which, in turn, creates odd-man chances for us to score on the PP. Hence having a strong powerplay "helps" in that sense. Tell me which available "enforcer" you would have Holland sign...

Who is this 4th liner you so desperately think is out there? Some hack who can fight but can't play a bit of hockey. That was the difference with Drake in 08. See, he could play the game, but the only player I really see worth going for right now is Asham, and he will command more than 1 million and that's not worth it. All the guys who would have signed either went to other teams already or signed ludicrous contracts worth too much. We had serious scoring issues last season, and yes, we were hurt, but addressing that is just as important, if not more as adding a bruising 4th liner. I'm sure Babs has no problem having Helm and Eaves on the wing and Abby centering the 4th line. This is one HELL of a 4th line. Fast and grind-specific with a scoring touch. Who knows, maybe Holland will sell Modano on the 4th line but also have him playing 2nd PP time and jumping up in the play in key times as well. We'll see when we see.

It's certainly not as important as it once was, 10 years ago. Live in the present. I'm not saying I like it that way, I'm just saying that's the way it's going and has been since the lockout. We can get our nasty on the defensive side. Remember, he may not be the most nasty, but Abdelkader didn't play a full season last year, so we'll have that in the lineup every night. We weren't overly physical in 08 and we won a cup. We have guys who can physically grind, that's more important than fighting and being one dimensional in todays game. Besides the only real guy worth getting for our team to be a nasty 4th liner would be Asham, and I'm thinking he will not be affordable, especially not after Boogard got big bucks. We can, however, still get someone like McKee, Hnidy, Morrisson, or Exelby and they'll provide some snarl on the back-end.

You need to realize that if this does happen, we can still add that nasty 6th d-man (McKee, Exelby, Hnidy, etc) since we won't be signing Miller and Meech or they'll be traded closer to the start of the season. Hudler increased our scoring, yes, but we also lost Hossa, Samuelsson, and on the minor side - Kopecky. That's a LOT of scoring that needs to be made up, and Modano will help. He'll also win faceoffs and be a good mentor for some of the young guys. Maybe it's not perfect, but it's not all that bad either. And one year doesn't mess up the team plans heading forward, so guys like Tatar, Nyquist, Nestrasil, Smith, etc. will all have the same opportunity regardless. In Kenny I trust - you don't have to like it, but then again, when it comes to putting a hockey team together - he knows WAY more than us.

One step closer with this upcoming meeting (hopefully tomorrow).... I hope this gets resolved in the next couple of days, because I want to see what we do on defense soon too! It'd be nice to wrap all this up now so the new players can be brought into the fold and get comfortable with the new teammates... Just my thoughts though. Modano will wear one of these numbers if he does come: 90, 67, 27, or 81.

Hey, I got an idea... let's get this sweet offensive player who can score in many different situations, and we'll.... we'll put him on the point on the powerplay and waste all his talent. The Devils are idiots and if he stays with them, I can almost guarantee his point total taking a dive since they don't know how to properly utilize such an offensive weapon. DO NOT PUT KOVALCHUK ON THE POINT YOU STUPID B-HOLES!

I like Miller, but he is just too damn redundant on this team. You already have a large crop of your forwards being defensive minded. On the bottom six you have Eaves, Abdelkader, Helm, and Draper... 4 of your 6 bottom end players are all defensive minded first and foremost. You need to be able to roll some balance down there. I'd give Ritola a chance over keeping Miller. He is defensive, that's it, he's not overly gritty, or aggressive, and he can't put up a lot of points. You get a guy like Modano, let Miller walk. Then you see what Ritola can provide going into the preseason.

Agreed.

Read closer there, that's the bloggers idea, nothing more. Holland will not offer a multi-year contract, plain and simple. He's wise enough to know that we have cap coming off the books next season and we have youngsters like Tatar climbing up the ranks.

Lateral in a way yes, but you have to consider that with the concussion issue last season, Lilja may never play with much of a bite anymore - not that he had that much to begin with. We need someone who is a little more aggressive and knows when to drop the gloves - Lilja never did that.

There is rather a simple equation to the lines that Babcock has already put out there and it goes like this: Sniper, Net-front/grinder, Playmaker Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom (Datsyuk and Z both have good shots and both can be strong playmakers while Holmstrom is the net front/grinder type player) Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi (Babcock has already taught Bert to be that net front guy and it worked out pretty well last season, Filppula is the playmaker and Franzen has the shot and can also play in traffic too) Hudler - Modano - Cleary (Hudler has the shot, Modano is more of playmaker but still has a good shot too, and Cleary is the net-front guy) Helm - Abdelkader - Eaves (Being our 4th line, this is more of an energy line anyway, but you could make a justification that Eaves has the shot, Abdelkader is the net front guy, and Helm can put some plays together - but pretty much they're all grinders) Draper would be our 13th forward in my scenario, I just don't understand how else Babs does it without screwing the kids over... Even with Modano out, you still have the possibility of Miller and Ritola and wouldn't you rather see what they can do then have Draper in there? I mean Draper didn't do much at all half of the season, hell, he didn't even take faceoffs int he playoffs, so what's the point of keeping him? But I know we're loyal.

Babcock already said he's scaling back on the first pair minutes and that you'll see Ericsson playing 20 minutes sometimes, so that makes me think you'll also see Kronwall and Stuart playing more time too.

The problem with Draper is that I think he has an NTC in his contract. So it's very unlikely he would want to move at this stage in his career. I completely agree, I think Drapers is only a locker-room guy these days, and I really hope he gets the Chelios treatment where he will only play every other game or something like that to give playing time to Ritola. I do think Modano would be good for the team this season as I think he still has something in the tank, has good wheels still, and can put up reasonable points for the amount of money he'd earn. He'd also be a great center to have on the 3rd line. I am also not going to be upset if we don't get him, as I am happy with the team as it is (besides adding someone with some size and bite). Eaves is a must keep, he is someone that can play in all situations, and if we start grooming him properly, we could get him back into the scoring ways, the only problem is that I think he has gotten accustomed to the defensive side and that's his niche now... but you can tell he still has that scoring touch. I hope he gets it back. I believe Miller, as much as I think he's a good player and a good guy, is redundant on this team. If it were to come down to him or Ritola, I would give Rit the chance to show how he can play. Sure, Miller is a fellow alum and a hometown boy, but that shouldn't be a reason to keep him around. We'll do good things this offseason and I think we have a good season coming up.

Anyone else read how Babcock was saying that he's planning on scaling back the ice-time for his defense (Lidstrom and Rafalski), especially the first half of the season so that would mean that Ericsson would need to play 20 minutes more often and they're counting on that and for him to improve alongside a good stay at home d-man. I wonder if this is also a tactic to get Lilja to return, since his major complaint was wanting more playing time.... I could definitely see this as a wise statement to release on the part of Holland and Babs in order to increase the chances of re-signing Lilja, but also signing a good 6th d-man in general. Not only are you going to play more minutes than most 3rd pairings, but you are also going to be counted on to give Ericsson a boost and help out a young kid improve. So you're a valued commodity, even at the 6 spot. I think we should let Miller walk, re-sign Eaves and sign Modano - granted he takes 1 mill or less. Modano is not some old hack, he will bolster our 3rd line better than any option we have right now. The planned third line is Hudler - Abdelkader - Cleary... swap out Abs and put in Modano and you have one of the better 3rd lines in the league. Enough said.

Statistically they are about the same: Getzlaf Regular Season GP:363 G: 107 A: 232 Points: 339 +/-: +64 GWG: 16 Post Season GP:56 G: 16 A: 31 Points: 47 +/-: -1 GWG: 4 Zetterberg Regular Season GP:506 G: 206 A: 269 Points: 475 +/-: +131 GWG: 43 Post Season GP:97 G: 46 A: 45 Points: 91 +/-: +35 GWG: 7 From this standpoint, the only real difference between the two is +/- in the playoffs. Zetterberg is far more defensively responsible, yet their point outputs thus far in relation are very similar. Getzlaf is a good player, yes, but you need to look at the intangibles too, and what that means to the TEAM. Zetterberg has more when it comes to that. Time will tell who is the better player when the careers come to a close 10-15 years from now.