Dr. Scrappers

Blame Chelios. Babcock is terrified to play him because he knows Chelios will take at least one penalty per game. Sure enough Chelios took a dumb penalty last game and Anaheim scored the go-ahead goal on the ensuing powerplay. That's just about when Babcock benched him for the rest of the game. Then we had to play a marathon game with only 5 defensemen. We desperately need Rafalski back, so we don't have to awkwardly double-shift our other defensemen. I never thought I'd miss Lilja, but it would be huge if we had him healthy right now.

And bear in mind Burke didn't just cut Bertuzzi simply because he was overpaid at $4 million. With Niedermayer coming back (again), and Perry going to be an RFA on July 1... Burke wanted to free up salary cap space so that nobody will make an offer sheet at Perry just because they think Burke won't have enough salary space to match. He wanted to reduce the chances of an offer sheet for Perry. Without that situation, he likely never would have bothered to waive Bertuzzi and thereby admit to a mistake. So even though Bertuzzi isn't worth $4 million, I think the whole waiving process makes Bertuzzi look less valuable than he actually is. Also, as for us not re-signing Bertuzzi back when he was our property: remember that part of the deal with Florida was that if we re-signed him we would have to give Florida an additional first-round pick. That was a deterrent for us to re-sign Bertuzzi compared to Anaheim. So again here, the fact that we didn't re-sign Bertuzzi reflects worse on Bertuzzi than it should. Now we could get him without giving up a first-round pick, and for less money. I doubt he's any less of a player now than he was when Holland was originally negotiating to get him re-signed. Holland will be talking to his agent, you can bet.

It's easy to hate Bertuzzi. He's got a real hateable mug. But before calling him useless, consider some of this: He had the third-best plus/minus of all Anaheim forwards last year (behind only Getzlaf & Perry). 40 points in 68 games ain't too shabby, when you basically didn't play at all the season before and you're getting to know a new team and dealing with a concussion to start that season. That equates to about 50 points in 82 games. He's a giant with an edge. Gives the Wings a dimension we totally lack. Our only giants are Lilja & Franzen. And they are harmless puppies. Having a mean giant on the ice for you who isn't a defensive liability and also gets you 50 points (and possibly more) isn't something we want on the team? Tell me he's overpaid at $4 million, tell me he's a pain in the neck to have in the dressing room.... but don't tell me he's useless.

True. But Kariya had a sprained wrist all that season, which is a killer for a goal-scorer. And Selanne went straight into knee surgery after that season. Basically a worst-luck scenario for Colorado.

Naslund and Bertuzzi to Detroit ala a discount package deal! Do it! Just like the Kariya/Selanne package deal that Colorado did a few years ago. One year deal for each, the buddies get a chance to play together and prove they've still got it! I could see them being successful. They sign on for a discount price, we have one-year cap space galore anyway. There are alot of "washed-up" comments from fans around the league about Bertuzzi and Naslund, but if the Wings announced the signing of these two guys on July 1, then it would strike fear into the hearts of the other teams in the Western Conference you can bet. And rightfully so!

Very nice analysis B.B. Keep in mind that the salary cap considers average yearly salaries over the life of the contract. You were doing your calculations using the year-by-year figures. So you've overestimated the salaries of guys like Draper and Osgood. Some other guys' numbers need tweaking too. I love the idea of bringing in Sundin or possibly even Naslund. Of course it would have to be a one-year deal - like you projected - since starting in 2009-10 we'll start having cap issues as Zetterberg and Franzen's will be getting their big raises. But I think that would be a great motivation for all the Swede's that lead our team to win a Cup for a Swedish legend of sorts. It might be the perfect situation for Sundin too, sign a one-year deal, get that Stanley Cup that's been hanging over his head taken care of, and then return to the Leafs to peacefully finish out his career. And despite the positive stats in these playoffs I still think our second-line scoring isn't a big enough threat. Yeah it could be with a step forward next year from Filppula and Cleary. But a Sundin addition would be a slam-dunk. Rolston could be an intriguing option too, but we can't necessarily just add some chump like Nolan thinking that will motivate the team to rally to win the guy a Cup. These players aren't stupid, they're gonna know if you're bringing in a guy mainly to motivate everybody else with no specific help to the team. Yeah Nolan could probably fill a Drake role nicely, but that's gonna cost a competent friend like Downey his spot on the team and that could be enough to offset the motivational factor. In our situation it's gotta be somebody the team is excited about adding - maybe Nolan could be exciting enough but I doubt it.