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I was refering a previous discussion on the blues GM thing. I didnt actaully realize Legace is getting 2.5m. From a wings point of view, conklin is a much better deal. But seeing as this thread is supposed to get people to try and see teams from their GMs point of view, I was trying to point out that spending 5.5mil on goalies is too much for a team that doesnt have goalie trouble but a lot of trouble scoring.... -------------

yeah, so was I. the point is, for team that performed as bad as they did last year. (dont forget, not only were they 2nd last in the conference but central division was also worst in the west (with the exception of ourselves of course - and we didnt even play that well in our own division!)) they shouldnt be having the luxuries of a goalie combo that they have while they struggle to score the way they did last year. the blues lack offensive capabilities and leadership. we can expect johnson to get better, but boyes can't do everything on his own. Kariya is only getting older and isnt the offensive player he once was. and they lack leadership. brewer isnt the type of guy to get this team going in the right direction. thats why i think they really should try and bring in a player like guerin...

i see your point(s) BUT just because something is bargain doesn't mean you need it. but it does mean that you can use it in our advantage... if both players come so cheap, but there is so much debate as to whether they are "getting in the way" of young players and their ice-time. then may be they are more valuable to us as 'trade bate". personally, i dont like lilja and sami. i dont see why meech and lebda cant be our 5th and 6th man, and rotate on occasion for the young guys. same goes for helm and kopecky. i'd prefer to see them get some ice-time. in face, may be we should have trade lilja or sami for legace or even mason instead of conklin...

i disagree.... many legace had a better save percentage than kipper, miller, nabakov. In terms of stats, he was in the top half of all goalies last year, despite with having a less than adequate defense helping out. and of course you cant get a kronvall for legace, but thats because in most team, kronvall could be a number 2 defenseman....but perhaps we could get someone like robidas or guerin. or may be even trade up. say legace plus next years 2nd round pick for.

Your completely right. What makes sami valuable is that he is dirt cheap compared to what he delivers. WHICH IS WHY WE SHOULD TRADE HIM FOR A HIGH PICK IN NEXT YEARS DRAFT. There are plenty of s***ty teams that need to increase depth but dont have cap space. These teams could really use a player like Sami who is cheap, reliable and contributes from time to time. In the mean time we could give players like kopecky, helm, abdelkader, and leino some ice time. and we wont have to consider taking maltby off for an enforcer.

winning the cup is never a fluke!...

Screw Sammy! I dont know why people like to line this guy up. He sucks! Play hudler instead. I like the old grind line together again! So it should be: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom Hossa, Filppula, Franzen Cleary, {Kopecky or Helm}, Hudler Maltby, Draper, McCarty

may be 13 years is a little exagerated...but 10 years or so? why not? first we had stevie Y from beginning to the end, now we have lidstrom, I think hank is should be our new man....

of course we dont have a substitute for lids! there isnt a substitute for lids in the entire league! he is the best defender this league has seen in 20 years at least. we could however bring in another star defender like markov, kaberle or campbell. I can see zetterberg becoming the new wings captain after lidstrom....which brings me to another point, next time round we should def. sign zberg and dats for contracts that would guarantee them being a wing till the end...

of course we dont have a substitute for lids! there isnt a substitute for lids in the entire league! he is the best defender this league has seen in 20 years at least. we could however bring in another star defender like markov, kaberle or campbell. I can see zetterberg becoming the new wings captain after lidstrom....which brings me to another point, next time round we should def. sign zberg and dats for contracts that would guarantee them being a wing till the end...

cheli should only stay if he "clicks" with the new guys. his role is not as a player, but as a mentor. i'm sure he is a great mentor, one of the best BUT he has to be the rite mentor for the new young guys. if he isnt, let him go. its hard to tell before hand, but i think cheli can make that judgement pretty well together with stevie Y, babcock, and holland...

exactly, we dont need em both. and since mccarty CAN play hockey and will only get better next season and downey CANT play hockey, never has and never will, we should loose downey. of course he has great presence in the locker room, but so does mccarty. and in the end, he is not the guy that 20 games into the next season ppl will be missing. sure they/we will remember him, but we just dont need him, he is a liability and not an asset. from a players and a fans perspective sure its too bad to let him go, but from a management perspective, its wise to let him go. in the end you cant keep all the players just because you like 'em

well he did have the most hits during the playoff of any player...!?

I like the idea of a line with filp hudler and franzen. but..... It hasnt been discussed that much lately, but Franzen was pretty much the big surprise towards the end of the season. Why? because he started playing like holmstrom. Traffic in front of the net. However, he was only succesful when he had both samuelson and cleary on his line. Without him, the line producd almost nothing. With him, samuelson and cleary produced nothing themselves. The only one who produced was franzen himself. Cleary and samuelson both had by far the lowest shot % of the team (lower than 4%). That tells me that franzen was obviosly using those missed shots to score. So basically, franzen needs players taking shots, but we should put franzen on a line where others contribute as well. Thats why i would move match filpula with franzen to replace samuelson. So i would propose the following: Z _D_H Franzen_Filpula_Cleary Sam_Draper_Hudler Maltby_McCarty_Helm This way we have franzen as a scorer, filpula instead of samuelson to boost production of the line, and cleary to back it up (he should play a more defensive role though that he did last year). In terms of new players to join the wings....I dont really see how we would fit him in the system. If anything i would have him replace cleary, and cleary would move down to replace maltby. McCarty would be the player that possesing the position to be fought over between kopecky and others...

I agree. The best post I have seen yet. The truth is that kronvall played AWESOME with stuart because he could always count on stuart. Proof of the level of trust he had are the HUGE hits kronvall made mid-ice throughout the playoffs! At the same time, Stuart made some good plays, some good hits, few mistakes and i am sure he would be able to improve in the red wings system. Lilja on the otherhand has made many mistakes, and lost the puck too often in important moments. The thing with lilja is that you never notice his play, except when he plays bad. So his play is either mediocre or bad, but he never shows anything good. So yeah, u can say with lilja you know what your going to get from him: a player who average or below average. Lilja should go. If we cant sign stuart, find another defender. Preferably a stay at home defender but who is quick on the transition and can move the puck up the ice quickly. Doesnt necesarily have to be someone who scores its more important that he is a good solid skater, who makes few mistakes. Any ideas? I also agree with the fact that chelios should go. It was great while it lasted but, i dont see him really contributing all that much. No matter how well he plays, he will prob cost us more than he can deliver. Cheli should make room for the meech and lebda. I also think Downey should go together with drake. Downey doesnt contribute in terms of hockey, he just fights. McCarty does play hockey though, AND he fights. Also as good as drake was in the playoffs, i'd like to see Helm play regularly in the next season. He REALLY impressed me. He only played 6 regular season games and went out there during the playoffs and played like he had nothing to lose. Despite the fact that he was out there and had to prove himself, he played with confidence and took the puck to the net. And on top of that his speed is phenominal!

a guy like avery doesnt belong in the wings...i like him as a player, but he doesnt have the right character for the wings...to be a wing, the team is all that counts for you, i dont see avery playing like that, and i dont see avery working well with kenny or mike (or rather following instructions), in a situation where he disagrees with the situation...

I agree most positions are taken care of.... Detroit is, compared to most other teams, in a unique position. because of our depth and great scouting we have one advantage no other team has, and that is time.... zetterberg, lidstrom, rafalski and dats will be atleast as good next season as they were this season. players like hudler, filpulla, kronvall and franzen will only get better. if we sign stuart we have a good 2 solid ligns of defense, plenty of offensive and a great goalie combo. we should be able to develope with this setup for 2-3 years. the prospects we have will fill any vacancies. that should buy us 5-6 years in total.... i dont think there are a lot of teams that can say they are willing to wait 6 years for their next star...most teams are desperate for such a player IMMEDIATELY, all the other cup contending teams, are all one star player short...(either that or they lack depth).... for that reason, i think we should look to take risks on our draft picks this year. take risks on players, that other teams see as "too early to call" and too risky. our internal deveolepement of players is the best in the league. give them 5-6 years and we will make find our next generation top liners ....we have 6 picks this year rite? if 1 of the 6 picks turn out to be a zetterberg or a dats then we can consider the draft succesful...

european-heavy teams can't win cups? I would say the wings are def european heavy, and they just won the cup!...