xtrememachine1

We won't be saying that a month from now, if this continues. The Wings were good last year up until February and they weren't the same since. This year, we had that 6 game win streak, but then fell apart and now we look very much like that team that finished last season and limped into the playoffs. My point is they fell apart last year, but it was late enough into the season that we still made the playoffs. That won't be the case this year. They need to find a way to break this slump.

The third period was half over and we only had 10 SOG for the whole game. Blowing third period leads, losing to garbage teams like Arizona and barely getting the puck on net. Unfortunately, this isn't a problem that will go away with a couple moves. I wish it was. Maybe get a couple guys back and things would improve. That's not going to happen now though. Overpaid players and bad coaching(imo) is killing us and that's not a quick fix. On the plus side, Vanek and Howard are playing well enough to trade. Green too. So at least we'll free up some cap space in the coming years.

I would take Hitch in a heartbeat. He's been successful everywhere he's gone except Columbus. He would fix up our defense real quick.

That, right there, says either a lot about Holland or Blashill. One of them is the probably and I'm leaning towards the latter. I've never seen so many blown third period leads as I have since Blash has taken over as coach.

1. Neither Mrazek or Howard is our starting goalie by the end of the year. 2. Tatar will lead the team in goals, Nyquist will be on another team, Vanek will be a pleasant surprise. 3. The Wings will make the playoffs for the 26th straight year despite all these "experts" picking us to finish LAST (seriously?) in the Atlantic.

Pretty nice deal for who is probably the best d-man on our team right now and entering the prime of his career. This will look like an absolute steal in a few years.

Glendening led all of our forwards in blocked shots by a huge margin, took the most faceoffs on our team and won 54.6% of them. You don't improve defensively by losing a guy like that. This is a good signing by Holland.

Vanek, Nielsen and Helm could be similar to Kessel, Bonino and Hagelin. I like this signing. Yes, we need to pick up at least one d-man if not two. Marchenko doesn't count.

Losing is kind of like getting into quicksand. You'll need something strong to pull you out and you should never willing get into it. People that think we should "tank it" for the sake of getting high quality prospects from the lottery should take a look at Columbus and Edmonton. Sure we'll get the best of the best from some particular draft, but the best of the best could be the next Alexandre Daigle, Alexei Yashin or Patric Stefan. Not to mention, if you're losing, its harder to draw in quality free agents. The Wings did a pretty nice job of building the 2008 championship team through the draft without being terrible for a number of years.

Obviously, he's not always right, but where I'll read about a trade or signing on his site way before it happens. Maybe he's just getting lucky, but either way its an enjoyable site to read. Yzerman is pretty much owning this offseason. Looks like TB is going to be a pain in the butt for many years to come.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/

Rumor has it we're in on Shattenkirk and Versteeg. Shattenkirk better not involve Larkin.

I'm actually happy Helm is back. I'm not thrilled about the money, but it was necessary to keep him. I can see that most of you didn't want him back, especially at that price, but the truth is, if we lose Helm we're going to be a slower team. I think our options were to either sign Helm at 3.85 or sign a different player, who is slower or has similar production for $4 mil or more. Different doesn't mean better. Sometimes better means trying something different. Carl Hagelin, who I feel is a similar player to Helm, had numbers similar to Helm before he was put on a good line with Bonino and Kessel. Helm could very well be the same way. Put him on a line with AA or Larkin and Tatar or trade for Nash or sign Vanek and that line could produce big numbers.

I think Backes would be the best type of player to fit our team and I value him above any other FA center out there. He's not great, he's not flashy, but I think he'd do well in our system. Take some of the edge off losing Datsyuk. He turned down $5.5 mil from the Blues, so he's going to be at least a $6-7 mil player to make it worth his while to leave St Louis. He's 32 and if we give him a big salary like that it has to be for just 2-3 years.

The scariest part of losing out on Stamkos is what will Holland do with that cap space now. We have $18 mil in cap space, $22 mil once Franzen goes on LTIR again. That puts us below the cap floor. That's a lot of cap space, not a lot to spend it on. Mrazek and DeKeyser need signed. Best available center or not, I don't want Eric Staal. He wasn't very good in Carolina lately and was terrible in NY. Somebody will be stupid and overpay like Buffalo. Backes, Lucic, Okposo, Martin, etc. None of them excite me in the least. I would really hate to overpay for one of them to give us a tiny upgrade in some area. Maybe we trade for Rick Nash. His cap hit is similar to Datsyuk's and his contract will expire at the same time Larkin's entry level one. He could be a good source of goals which we're desperate for at the moment. However, I have no idea what NYR is looking for in return. Is this a salary dump for them? Do they believe he's not worth the cost anymore? Is he a locker room problem? Are they trying to add depth? Or do we use this money to bolster our defense? We have a lot of good young talent at forward, maybe we just run with that and build up our defense with dependable vets like Kris Russell or Luke Schenn or Brian Campbell.

That's pure speculation, however, I'd use it. Tell that to the guys in the locker room. Motivate them. Piss them off. He's going to be playing for a division rival for pretty much the rest of his career. Show him he made the wrong choice. I'm disappointed in not signing him, however, TB is a solid choice and if I wasn't a huge Wings fan, I would have probably done the same. Make a lot of money and continue to play for the organization you already know, which is a pretty good one already.

How much of an upgrade is Okposo over Nyquist though? The numbers look pretty similar. Maybe Okposo is a better fit because he plays a different type of game? I don't know. It seems like you're giving up on one player for another that's more expensive and just as effective.

I wonder if Rick Nash could be Holland's plan B if we don't land Stamkos. His cap hit is almost the same as Datsyuk's, the Rangers want to get rid of him and Holland was pushing hard to get him when CBJ wanted to trade him.

All this love for Shattenkirk and he's been good in recent years, but not great. He's not elite. I read somewhere that he's looking for $7 mil a year and the way d-men are going that's probably fair. I'm not so sure we want to blow another $7 mil on a guy that's another Mike Green type player. I mean, Shattenkirk was a -14 on the Blues, which was worst on the team last season.

I rooted against Eric Lindros for the majority of his career, but he is very deserving of this honor. Dominate power forward throughout the 90's. He shot hard, hit hard and was always a big presence on the ice. Unfortunately, when you're as hated as he was and got physical as much as he did, injuries are inevitable. Regardless of the level of this particular class, I'm glad he is going to be recognized as one of the best to ever play.

The same exact thing was being said 4 years ago except people were saying Minnesota instead of Buffalo. We all know how well that worked out for those two.

$10 mil per year would be my max offer. If Buffalo wants to offer that much, fine, but I think that's ludicrous. We need to keep in mind that there is a salary cap and putting $12 mil into one player is insane. You could get a couple of good defensemen for that price. $10 mil isn't so bad especially considering $7.5 of it was going to be counted towards Datsyuk. You could think of it as giving younger Datsyuk a slight raise. BTW, I know Datsyuk and Stamkos are completely different types of players, I'm basically just saying, we're trading one star for another.

I keep reading that Buffalo and Toronto are both serious contenders for Stamkos, as are the Islanders. Maybe I'm a little biased, but... what?? I'm sorry, but how can these franchises be compared to the Wings. Toronto, despite all the money and fame that goes with playing for the Leafs in Canada, hasn't been a serious contender for decades. I don't know its the pressure from the Toronto media, a bad string of coaches and GMs or simply bad luck, but why would commit to a team, long term, that hasn't done anything in most of our lifetimes. Buffalo is another I don't understand. The best team they've ever had was above average at best. That's not to say that they won't ever become great, they have a few good young guys that will most likely develop into stars, but if management is offering Stamkos $12 mil per year, what are the odds they'll be able to keep that core together? Meanwhile, here's the Wings potentially throwing big money his way, they have been the epitome of excellence these past 25 years. While winning championships, management and scouts have been able to rebuild, using low draft picks, another championship team. The Wings have a deep history of winning and greatness. Some of the greatest players to ever play the game have worn the Winged Wheel. The team, while not impressive at the end of the year, made great strides throughout the majority of the year with younger players like Larkin, Athanasiou, Mantha, DeKeyser and Mrazek. Holland basically needs to ask Stamkos this question, does he want to be the next Steve Yzerman or does he want to be the next Marcel Dionne. Again, I'm biased because I'm a (huge) Wings fan, but if its my life and I'm trying to make a decision on where I spend to spend the next 7-8 years of my life, I'm going with the organization that has proven it knows how to win and has made its great players into legendary ones.

So Thomas Vanek just became available. http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/hockey/news/wilds-thomas-vanek-wild-will-buy-out-contract/ He's in decline for sure, but with him being bought out, maybe he could be had for a good price.

Stamkos would be dumb to take that. I know they have Eichel already, but people don't go to Buffalo to win Stanley Cups. They could offer him $20 mil a year and he should turn it down unless he's strictly in this for the money. The best case scenario for Stammer is to get a good blend of both, which is where I feel like the Wings are right now. We've been competitive for 25 straight years, have had more success than any other team during that time, we have a good young nucleus that could develop and reach its potential even quicker with Stamkos on board and we're giving him a pretty impressive contract. I think we're in a good position right now, if in fact, we are going to offer $70 mil for 7 years.