Red Crazy

Just what I was thinking. After Hanks payday do you not think that Mule will have $ signs in his eyes? He could get up to 6m on the open market if he finishes this year off strong and has another great playoff run. At the point he is at in his career I say that he goes for all he can get, after all he does have a cup. Hossa, I think should be Hollands next target. Hossa wants to be on a cup contender but does not want all the pressure of being the only star on the team. I don't think that it is out of the way to see him sign long term for 6.5m to play with Detroit.

Ovechkin is great! He loves the game and he is not affraid to show it and he will do just about anything for the fans! I thought the whole performance he did in the skills stole the show. Crosby is a great hockey player but he does not have the personality to sell the game, at least not to people over the age of 10. It makes me wonder if Sidney is affraid to get shown up by Ovie and that is why he didn't take part?

It would be nice if we could get Buttman's Email address. It would be nice to send him a FU from all of us! lol

Just looking at it from a cap point of view. Lilja or Lebda being moved will do nothing for the cap.

I agree the Raffi needs to stay. What about moving Kronner? It would free up 3m in cap space and allow us to bring up a young D man like Meech or Ericsson. If you take .5m to replace Kronner and use the 2.5m to help sign one of our FA this year. I like Kronner but he is playing like hell this year and he is injury prone, I just don't see him as top 2 on this team. I think that with time Meech will be a much better puck moving defenceman although would be giving up a bit of size but 3m is 3m

We don't need an enforcer in the lineup. San Jose has Shelley and just what did he do last night that won the game for them.....hmmmm nothing. He looked like a turd on skates at best and Downey would have only looked the same. I will agree however that the Wings could use a bit more size on the 4th line and for the role players to be the role players. If you want to intimidate a team in this league you won't do it with two meatheads beating the crap outta each other at center ice, you need kronner to crush a top six forward in open ice. You need the 3rd and 4th lines to bang their d-men at every chance not to circle away all the time.

Babcock didn't start his hot goalie against the best team in the league. The results 6-5 Sharks. It is not all Ozzie although he should have had a couple of them. Stupid penalties again and just o.k defence are as much to blame. Kronner looks like a zombie out there and has all season, what is wrong with him? I agree Ozzie needs to get much better but this is a team game. Nabby also let in 5 and I am sure nobody is saying he sucks today in San Jose!

That is interesting. Considering the play of both of our goalies as of late I see no reason to make a deal, besides I am not sure who on the forward end that I would be willing to trade anyways.

Not if Holland is still the GM. Holland is a fan of two good lower priced goalies and very good Dmen. He has proved that this works and who are we to argue? lol When Lidstrom retires I think that Kenny will go after another D man. Stuart and Kronner are good but not top two on this team.

Welcome. I agree with you about Hossa. Not saying that he is not a great player but I think he is or will be overpaid for his track record. I would love to see Hank signed to a 5 yr 35M contract and no longer due to his back problems. Mule and Huds I hope will stay as well but it will mean they have to take a discount.

Seems like there is no simple solution to this. It seems like this will be a much bigger issue in the minor leagues then in the NHL. Most ( and I don't have the stats) fights in the NHL players have their helmets on and there only seems to be a few that prefer to take them off prior to fighting. I like the idea of tear off visors but like Harold said it would be almost impossible to design.

I thought that the 4th line had a bit more jump last night. They didn't give up much in their own end and got a couple of scoring chances at the other! I say keep rotating Meech in for Maltby and Kopecky

Take out the mandatory visor rule and this is not an issue at all. Changes are going to happen in the game and usually we all adapt and soon forget about it. Now I am not saying I totally agree with it but what are they supposed to do? Doing nothing could also bring huge legal implications for the league.

Nice to see! I hope this will give the 4th line the spark it needs.

Will be interesting to see how this turns out. Nice to see the OHL doing something to prevent another tragedy. I still wonder why they can't make a button on visor that they can peel off when it's go time.

Hudler has really surprised me with his play this year, considering who he plays with most of the time( Sammy ) He is a huge asset to this team and I hope that he is signed. As another poster said if he was just bigger he would be Jagr! I couldn't agree more

Duthie is the Best! Seems to me that Ottawa needs a new coach and GM. They still have the players to get it done and I would hate to see them clean house. Too bad they lost Chara, he was their defence cornerstone.

I agree! lol I do think that Meech has shown that he can play in whatever role he is given and I would like to see him play more, he still can improve but that will come with some ice time. Right now I would make Meech a regular and scratch either Malts or Kopecky.

Wow this is new to me! So what your saying is if they are traded that would be the only way that the Wings wouldn't take a cap hit for Maltby and Draper?

I am glad to see most of us are on the same page! I wonder if the Wings could put Maltby on the LTIR and bring up Helm? Scratch Kopecky and use Meech, Helm, and Draper on the 4th line. Maltby could have a "groin injury" and that would avoid putting him on waivers.

After last nights -2 rating. Draper, Maltby, and Kopecky go to -14, -8, and -7 respectivley. This is terrible. Why does Babcock continue putting these guys out together night after night? I have noticed some improvment in Kopecky but Maltby is playing like hell. I know that Maltby and Drapes have played a big role in this teams past but I think that it has come to an end. The three have a total of 17 points and are - 29. If they were out there checking like crazy and were bringing energy to the team this wouldn't be so bad but they are not. Babs likes to role four lines and I agree but not if they can't keep the puck out of the net. I say scratch Maltby for Meech and see if this will wake this line up. Anyone have any ideas?

I think it is a good deal for the Pens. I wonder only about what this will do to an already tight cap?

And the decline of hockey continues. Ruutu, Tootoo, Avery, etc should not be in this league they are all idiots and they are making a joke of the NHL and hockey in general. These " instigators" serve no purpose and they usually only play on teams that have to resort to this BS. It is time the NHL kick these assclowns out and get back some " code" back into this league.

I hear what your saying but do you think that Holland is going to not entertain offers on Franzen if he is not signed by the deadline? He would be sticking his neck out a long way with all the free agents he has. Look what happened to Buffalo a couple years back, they took a risk and lost huge. Don't get me wrong I want to see Franzen signed but I would like to see Hossa and Z first! lol

Hard to say what might happen when you consider our free agents. If a deal with Franzen is not looking good will he be traded? He could be worth a good first pick! We know that Hossa and Z will stay till the end of the year but I think that Franzen is Holland"s Wild Card! ( if he is not signed) If Lebda's stats continue to improve I think he might be moved for a pick or a Roberts type grinder.