Nev

Remember when Flip was the youth? Remember when he put put up 70 points in GR and everyone was all over Babcock and Holland for not playing him enough? Now he's greedy and one-dimensional and useless Remember when Hudler was the youth? Remember when he put up 96 points in GR? Remember how everyone was all over Babcock and Holland for not playing him enough? Now he's greedy and one-dimensional and useless and lazy. Remember when Kopecky was the youth? Remember when he put up 72 points in GR? Remember how everyone was all over Babcock and Holland for not playing him enough? (well, OK, its was just Eva ) Now he's just useless. Remember when Kronwall was the youth? Remember when he put up 53 points in GR? Remember when he was Nick Jr? Now he's useless and can't defend, and a turnover machine and not a #1 defenceman. Remember when Smith was the youth? Remember how 12 months ago he was LOCK for the Calder on here? Now he's the most useless defenceman in history, a Frankenstein combination of all the worst parts of Anders Ericsson, Max Kuznetzov, Matthieu Dandenault and Brett Lebda. Are you spotting the pattern here? When they're in the minors all our prospects are the next coming of Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom on here. Then they get here, and they turn into what the scouts projected (3rd line checker, 2nd line 2-way winger) and not what the LGWers predicted (Pavel Zetterberg), and LGW treats them like they're something they scraped off their shoe. So good luck Nyquist. Good luck Tatar. Good luck Sheahan, Ferraro and Jurco. You'd better turn into HOFers, otherwise you'll just plain SUCK!

Well, I was always on the "Kindl is an AHL player" bandwagon, but I've got to admit he improved leaps and bounds last season. Its not inconceivable he could pot 40 points next season. As for those complaining of "overpayment", he's a defenceman, and defencemen are usually "overpaid" cf Kyle Quincey and Jonathon Ericsson.

First of all, you can't just pretend someone is injured. They have to be properly medically assessed, and there are strict rules about it. If the NHL found out the Wings were falsely reporting injuries to circumvent the cap, they'd go absolutely ballistic. Secondly, Franzen's last 2 seasons only pay a million dollars each, rather less incentive to keep playing than when you're getting $5M per season. He's earnt 95% of his money at this point, he's 38, it gets harder and harder to come back each season for less and less reward. If Rafalski quits a year early and leave millions of dollars on the table because he feels called to do something else, Franzen can sure as hell retire because he can't be bothered.

Thanks for putting into numbers what I've been saying elsewhere. Franzen retires 2 years early at 38 and we get punished with a $3M cap hit penalty. Its an incredibly dumb rule to boot, penalising teams for signing perfectly legal contracts.

Well, they tied their hands behind their back when they limited themselves only to #30 picks which had been taken in the first round, so 2nd round #30s were ineligable. Given that, the choice was this Despres kid, Rickard Rackell (?) and David Steckel.

Pretty much this. No-one else can offer him an 8 year contract, so he's either incredibly greedy, or he really, really wants out of Pittsburgh.

Can someone give us the TL:DL summary? Thanks

I'm definately in the "trade up" camp. Our prospect pipeline is absolutely jammed at the minute, we don't need to trade down to get more prospects. Use some of that stash to trade up and grab a real impact player.

No, I agree, buy out Sammy this week, and Franzen next summer.

First - for how many more seasons is Franzen going to be a 25 goal scorer? He's 33 right now. He's got another SEVEN seasons with a $4M cap hit. Once his production starts declining, since he contributes nothing else, how much longer does $4M stay good value for money? Second - The early retirement penalties that have been brought in are a biatch. No-one expected the likes of Franzen to see out their contracts, now if he retires early, its the Wings who get punished while he sits on his mountains of cash. Third - I hate the message that Franzen sends to our youngsters. Have a couple of half-decent seasons, sign a mega-bucks lifetime contract and coast your way into retirement Fourth - As I already mentioned, we've had the best years of Franzen's contract - the years of artificially low cap hit with decent production. The contract is only going to get worse from here on out. If we buy him out after next season, he'll be 34 and we "only" have to pay him $12M for the remainder of his contract. Fifth - We have lost MUCH worse players than Franzen over the years. Many and more of them, and we've always been OK. We'll survive without Franzen too.

Any contract will be front loaded - they always are. Players prefer to get paid NOW before they get bought out And gives them more time for their investments to grow.

No, you need to realise that mid-tier UFAs are "over-paid" under the CBA structure, and thats the way it is. Quality RFAs are under-paid because of the punitive compensation required for even a small offer sheet (1st and 3rd for $2 to $3M! 4 x 1sts for $5M+ !!!)

That makes sense. Same with Richards, Hossa, Franzen (please?). You keep them at their artificially low cap hit for as long as possible, you reduce the amount of money you're paying them not to play, and you still have them off the books at the end of their contract when they're old and over-paid (per cap) and avoid the brutalising early retirement penalties. Really? If I understand the CBA correctly, that means say TB do this to Lecavalier, he get picked up by say NYI, plays a few years, and then retires before his contract is up, TB still get hit with the early retirement penalty, yes?

The fact remains that Holland is far more succesful in the draft than every other GM in the league, especially in the mid-rounds. Some interesting analysis http://www.coppernblue.com/2012/2/8/2202287/ken-hollands-draft-success

Really? OK, I was not aware of that. I still don't think we should buy out Bert. I'd save that 2nd buyout and use it to threaten Franzen all season.

Yeah, I'd take Jagr on a cheap deal, but he'll be looking for $4M+, and he'll probly get it somewhere.

Surely it would be Smith PLUS our first? 5th overall for Smith is a ridiculous trade.

And is free to sign another contract with another team and get paid twice!

Emmerton and Tootoo are essentially worthless in trades, unless used as a make-weight as part of a bigger trade. Bert has an NTC and can't be compliance bought out because he makes <$3M I don't understand trading Colo unless its part of a package for a better defenceman (eg Yandle). He's a good player with a low cap hit. If we trade him and don't get another d-man back, then Lashoff becomes our 7D *shudders*

That's not quite what he said. He said Gustavsson was under contract next season and they would rather Mrazek played 60 games in the AHL at this moment. Depending on their play in 13-14, decides their destinies in 14-15. If Gustavsson turns into Conklin 2.0, and Mrazek has the traditional struggles with the "difficult 2nd album" then Mrazek stays inthe AHL. Mrazek continues his improvements and Monster does nothing ,then Mrazek will be backing up Jimmeh in 2 years time. Hopefully the latter. I don't want to see Jimmeh keep playing 60-odd games per season and being ground into dust by Babcock.

Interesting, do you give a guy a 5 year contract based upon a good half season? OTOH, if he gets a longer contract, his cap hit will be less. 2 years $8M or 5 years $15M?

That's without Pronger on IR. Put him on LTIR and they're under the cap.......just.

Being strong on your skates does not = being a good skater. Bert is strong on his skates and rarely gets knocked down, does that mean he's a good skater despite having the speed and agility of an oil tanker?

Effective to the money he WAS paid, and that's the key. Say what now? Flip is an exceptional skater. A couple of years ago Babcock called him the best skater on the team. He's been a good player for us. His skating, his playmaking, his defensive play. He was huge in the '08 run, shutting down Malkin in the finals. But now, via the vagaries of the CBA he's about to be way overpaid and its time to say farewell. Lets not berate him for not being Pavel Zetterberg, like this place is so fond of doing to anyone who doesn't play at a HOF level. He was a decent middle 6 forward at a good price, be happy with that.

Not as much as Andersson is like by the head coach, and he's the one that matters the most.