Yellowknife Redwing

Hudler is extremely talented, still young, and has improved his point production steadily every year. I think he's really going to prove something in the next 2 seasons. I don't think 80 points is an unreasonable ceiling for his career if he continues to improve the way he has. I'm extremely excited to have him back.

Easily '97 That cup felt like a life-changing experience.

If not Modano, Asham would be a really nice touch on the bottom 6 and I bet he'd become a fan favorite in a big hurry. Arty, Krajicek and Morrisonn are all nos as far as I'm concerned because they aren't good enough to displace anybody on the current squad. Afinogenov doesn't appear to have the work ethic required to succeed in the Wings' system, but if Modano decides to take another route, I'd definitely be thrilled to see him compete for a spot in camp.

It's times like this that I wish Franzen knew how to fight so we could kill this conversation for good. Holland wants to add a 40 year old first-ballot hall of famer in a 3rd line scoring role for around a million bucks and people get all up in arms ("we're hindering the development of our kids!!" etc). Now a 35 year old washed up scrapper gets a tryout and people get excited. Downey's an awesome guy and he deserves to play hockey somewhere, but it's not worth the roster spot for him to be a pylon and take on the other team's goon once every 4 games. If you're going to pick a vet as your 13th forward, why not go with Maltby?

Going out on a limb here, but by "they" I think he means rappers

The worst part about that post isn't even the trade proposal...it's that you could bring in Jack Johnson to "replace Lidstrom when he retires" Are you ******* kidding me?

I don't see any correlation between "best" hitter and "most frequent" hitter. I would say Scott Stevens is the all-time greatest hitter in NHL history and he was far from the most frequent hitter. He just made them count. Phaneuf has been plastered with the "overrated" tag so much in the last couple years that people forget how devastating he can be and apparently nobody watches the Senators because Volchenkov is the modern Konstantinov...pure nastiness on rushing forwards.

NHL's best open ice hitter by a mile and hardly anybody in this thread mentioned him

Absolute tragedy... Probie was the greatest enforcer of all time in the greatest era of hockey. We'll miss you Bob.

To clarify, by "Plug" I mean a player whose value is generally somewhere between 800k-1M that plays low minutes. There are a ton of guys like that looking for work around the league and whatever can't be hired, can most assuredly be found in their depth chart. Look at what Miller and Eaves did for us this year and they were scooped up for next to nothing from the unemployment line. This year we're going to be relying on a pile of guys who don't make a whole lot of money but play important roles. Eg: Kindl, Ericsson, Meech, Helm, Adbelkader, Eaves. Who's to say that the Hawks don't head right out and scoop up Lebda, Lilja, Miller, Maltby, Williams from our castoffs alone? Building a 4th line, 3rd pairing and hiring a backup goalie during FA season isn't exceedingly difficult. They've got the goods where it counts.

I'm enjoying the dismantling as much as anybody, but I also think there's been a great deal of hyperbole regarding the Hawks' anticipated nose dive for next season. They currently have just north of $3.6M in cap space, but are expected to bury Huet in the minors, freeing up an additional $5.625M, which in and of itself is enough to facilitate a raise for Niemi and Hjalmarsson and pay for a seasoned backup goalie. Marty Biron just signed a sub-$1M contract, for example, and there are plenty of reliable, seasoned goaltenders that could back up Niemi at a similar dollar figure. When you look at this situation realistically, the Hawks still have a solid foundation to ensure that they're not going to get rolled and will most likely be a playoff team for the next 5 years. The following still looks more imposing on paper than any of Columbus, St. Louis or Nashville by a mile from where I'm sitting: Hossa/Toews/Kane Bolland/Sharp/Kopecky Stalberg/Reasoner/Brouwer Plug/Plug/Plug Keith/Seabrook Campbell/Hjalmarsson Plug/Plug Niemi/Plug It's fun to partake in a little schadenfreude at the expense of their depth, but let's not pretend that they're going to magically start sucking over night. Also, be wary that if they can find a way to jettison Campbell for spare parts, they're going to become very dangerous again in a big hurry.

What part about Cheechoo's last couple seasons makes you want him to have anything to do with the Wings?

We have no "good" fighters and I'd be genuinely surprised to see anybody on our roster that has a convincing record on their fight card. I voted Bertuzzi because he's the guy I'd want to drop them when push comes to shove. Ericsson and others have proven that they can hold their own, but there isn't a single player on this roster that would make an opponent think twice about shedding the mitts.

I've always assumed Pool-kin-en

He's ours in the 4th round if we want him.... EDIT: and we took him!

There must be a serious drawback to Pulkkinen that has become known recently

Probably a solid pick, just not a sexy pick. Realistically, there's no imagining that this kid will suddenly burgeon into a 70pt+ producer at the NHL level, but chances are he'll become a useful pro and the selection will be warranted.

I want Nill and co. to grab as many of Burmistrov, Tarasenko, Kuznetsov, Galiev, Kabanov, and Kitsyn as possible. There are a ton of high-skill Russian players in this draft that are projected to be risky picks and I think we could benefit by scooping some serious talent that other GMs are afraid to take a chance on.

For a million bucks I'd sign him in a heartbeat. This would have to be one of those "last kick at the can" deals, though.

If the Wings have a shot at picking Kabanov and pass I think it would be a massive mistake. I'm a firm believer that first round picks should always prioritize skill over everything else. Always pick the best available player with the highest projection, regardless of need. Besides, Kabanov will have the best possible example to show him how to become a Russian NHL superstar with humility and class.

I absolutely couldn't resist. I'm sure some of you will have a field day with this: http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1276034236156RA61 EDIT: Wait til the end and you can customize your own, this is just one I threw together

Maybe he'll send Florida's better players to Detroit for cheap just to stick it to the Hawks ..what? I can dream

Chances are I'd blame the Sharks. As far as I know they've scored the game winning goal in every Wings round 2 loss. Can anybody confirm?

wtf, it's triple posting all my stuff