vOrophin

Datsyuk is the man.

Hoping the Wings get their first road win, moreso since I will be in attendance.

If Chicago can get rid of Campbell and Huet somehow they might be ok, but I'm not sure who in their right mind would take either of those contracts.

If they lost every game it might be worth it.

Homer took a shot? And SCORED? Top shelf? That looked pretty.

Great work on the PK by Pav, Kronwall and Stuart.

While he has never represented Canada in international play, as pointed out before, it wasn't because he wasn't good enough, just that there were better. He might have been better than some of the other goalies to play in the Olympics or World Championships, but was not the best Canada had to offer. And while it is a negative, I don't think it discludes him wholly from entering the HOF. If he gets another ring or a gold medal, or climbs up to around #4-5 on the alltime wins list I think he has a good shot, but will not be definite.

If we had Luongo instead of Ozzie we probably would have had 60+ wins in the regular season and a second round exit in the playoffs (also one less big salary in front of him to make room for his 6.75 million dollar salary). I'm pretty happy with where we are at right now, all 4 of our prospects have a good shot at being a quality goalie and we still have Osgood for a little bit more.

If it will benefit the team in a large way I can see him taking a fairly significant pay cut. If it would not, I am guessing Holland will give him as much money as he can while not sacrificing the quality of the team. I would wager Lids would want another ring over an extra few million dollars at this point.

I'd like him back provided he doesn't cost the $3m number that people throw around so much in connection with him. He's a talented offensive player, and still has plenty of time to mature defensively. He may never be Helm on the boards or hitting, but I don't think his size is such a huge downside as many people do. An excellent 3rd line player with a scoring touch right now, with potential for more than that. It does not need to be a long contract either, because I agree that if he has peaked already we don't really need to keep him. I would love to keep him if he's willing to take less money than some people are bound to offer him should he trade his rights.

I'm willing to bet stats like leadership have a lot to do with many of the perceived imbalances with this list.

In financial terms Meech makes the least sense to trade, it really doesn't free up much space. I also think Lebda played beyond his salary during the last leg of the season and into the postseason. Realistically though we only need one of them. What happens if the guy we want to trade based on their performance is one of our NTC guys?

Let him have a payday somewhere else this year or for another couple. In a few years if we have room enough for him and he wants to come back I would be happy to see him wear the winged wheel again. Right now it just isn't feasible though. We would have to work our roster around him to some extent, and I don't believe it is worth doing that for him, or almost any single player.

While I will miss him, there does come a time for everyone. The utmost respect the Chelios, and I hope he can find a place to do what he wants, whether that be play another year or get a job behind the bench, whatever. 47 and still playing hockey. Not many will get to do that. Fewer still will be able to contribute at all on the ice at that age.

I believe Osgood will be worse than he was in the playoffs, but better than he was through February last year. The main question is if Howard will be the backup, and if the Wings will continue the 2 goalie rotation through the regular season, or mainly lean on Osgood. I don't have a lot of confidence in Howard at the moment. Conklin for the same price would be a godsend (if we can afford it, haha), but probably would not happen.

Most likely would be on the 1st line or 3rd line, depending on Homer's success on the former. Either drop Koko and move one of the GR boys down a line or keep one of the GR boys down in the AHL. One of my concerns is 'Kader playing wing, which Babcock seemed reluctant to do in the playoffs. However, it is the playoffs, so it might become possible when games aren't life and death and he is given time to adjust to it.

It will be impossible to find a goalie of Ozzy's quality for the same price, probably not even for double or triple what he earns, unless you get lucky with a rookie, or extremely lucky with a callup. Goal scorer... probably best to see where things go with Hossa as far as contracts. I wouldn't mind seeing a new face on the lineup from free agency if possible though.

Pipe dream: sign a 1-2 year deal with Hossa for ~2 mil per year, promise him a longer deal and more money when we get more room to maneuver with the cap (impossible, I know). Realistically, it all depends on what kind of deal he is willing to take. If it's Franzen-esque, it's impossible to turn down that kind of money for that kind of player. If it's closer to Zetterberg level money, it's a very tough decision.

Osgood did everything he needed to and more for the Wings this postseason. A shame he didn't get to lift the cup again and get Conn Smythe. Next year, lets get one more playoff win than this year.

With just the rookies/AHL guys we have right now I think we could easily have another great year. If we get back to playing defense and not giving up as many goals as we did this season, I think we will actually be more successful. I highly doubt the same offensive production will occur, but that might be a necessary sacrifice. Take into account a few free agent signings and we could have an improvement.

Winter Classic (since I was there) Ozzie's huge turnaround All of our rookies playing out of their minds at times Making it to the last game played in the playoffs and coming up short.

How about: Hossa heads to an EC team, Wings play them in the Finals, Wings win in the finals.

While I'm disappointed by his lack of an appearance in the finals, I would not mind him back on the roster, albeit for a much lower salary. If he ends up moving on, I'll remember the regular season fondly.

Let's Go Wings!

Datsyuk not skating at 100% doesn't show as much because there is so much more to his game than that. He still stickhandles like no one else, makes passes, plays defensively, does basically everything. The only time I noticed his lack of speed was coming back out of the Pens zone tailing someone who was carrying the puck, other times he would have overtaken them and stolen it, but he could not make the play because he was not at top speed it seemed. Not many people look like one of the best players on the ice coming out after an injury that kept them out for 7 games, even fewer can make jokes about it while they are out and after they come back.