TheOwl

If Holland does trade Flipulla, who the hell is Hossa going to play with? Him and Datysuk played terribly together in the play-offs, and the only guys Hossa could even get it going with was Franzen and Flipulla. Flipulla fits into the system to well as a 3rd line center, and his potential to become a star is much higher then anyone currently in the roster, including Helm.

Last time I checked the NHL was a business, and when a part of your business has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade, and has never made any money, you cut it out. Look at the Wild, now that's a successful franchise. Sold-out every game in their history, even with marginal success.

Yeah man!! Would be a great deal. However it would still mean trading a roster player. Especially if Holland wants to sign Leino for 0.9 million again. Homer is effective when 100%, Cleary and Flipulla have greatly improved. The only deal that makes sense is trading one of the top 4 D-guys, which Ericcson would replace. That would be more then enough cap room to sign a decent back-up, Hudler (maybe), Leino and Hossa.

Chicago can afford him if they trade Huet, but Ottawa's already got a decent goalie in LeClaire.

Franzen took 4 million, I don't see why Hossa thinks he's worth more. Hossa didn't score that many more goals then the Mule in the regular season, and didn't play as well in any of the series. Front-load it just like they did with Z and Franzen. I don't think that thing is right. Check the other salary cap sites. Or just add it up. Dats, Z, Mule (16.6) Flipulla, Cleary, Homer (8.1) Draper, Maltby (2.5) Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall, Lebda, Lilja (22.1) Osgood (1.4) = 50.7. So about 6 million under the cap, with one goalie, 4 forwards needed to be signed. If you replace Lilja with Ericcson you gain 0.4 in salary. A right off. Replacing Conklin with Howard is a right off. The Wings can't sign Hossa for even 4 million without losing salary.

The Wings players need more defined roles. The whole everyone playing with everyone, and everyone playing in every situition was one of the big reasons the chemistry never clicked, and everyone got tired. The defensive game is important, but then why do the Wings spend 22 million of a 56 million cap on 4 defensemen? And if the Wings have two of the best penalty killers in Datsyuk and Zetterberg, why is the PK so bad? I think Babcock needs to let the goal scorers score some goals, and let the 3rd and 4th liners kill the penalties. I love Maltby and Homer, but their very slow, and the Wings 4th line isn't a shut-down line, a speed line, or a grind line. It's just two 35 somethings and some 500,000 a year filler. Wings need some big guys in the line-up, younger versions of what they have now. The powerplay was also pretty terrible in the finals. The Wings take way too many shots from the point and hope they go in. How many times in the regular season did we see Lidstrom and Rafa draw the defender in then Datysuk or Hossa snap a goal in? Happened all the time. Getting rid of Sammy on the PP is a start, but in the overall scheme of things, Franzen, Datsyuk and Zetterberg should be thinking of one thing, scoring and making plays. I think the whole defensive game is getting into their heads a little bit.

What else are they going to say? He let us down? Hockey players are classy people, and even though they don't blame Hossa, I bet they all realize he was a no-show. The only thing going for Hossa is that he hit rock bottom after Game 7, has gotten over the pressure and will perform next play-offs. The Wings need play-off performers, and without Hossa, the Wings still would've won the central, still would of gotten to the finals. He wasn't a difference maker. He has a lot to prove.

If I'm not mistaken no team spends more on their 6 defensemen then Detroit. Why? I mean really, with all of the Wings great defensive forwards, why spend a third of the cap on 6 defensemen. Let Rafalski go. Then we can keep Leino, Hossa and still have oodles of cap room to get a decent third liner.

How are the Wings going to sign Hossa with for 5 million with only 6 million of free cap space next season? Especially since the Wings also have to fill a back-up goalie spot and 3 more forward spots? All of the Wings UFA's make nearly the bare minimum (except Hossa), and will have to be replaced with the bare minimum. The Wings won the cup without Hossa, and Hossa obviously didn't help the Wings this post-season. The chemistry was way off. Signing Hossa to a huge deal might not be a problem since Lidstrom's salary goes off the books after next season, but really, would you really want him for 6 million a season? Which would also mean Holland trading Flipulla, or some other significant salary.

If Holland will actually consider signing Hossa for 6 million a season, why Hossa? Why not try and get Heatly from Ottawa instead? Why not Gaborik. I mean come on, if the Wings wanted to spend 6 million on an elite forward, they should consider other players then just Hossa. Hossa had his chance, and he blew it. Time to give another rental a chance.

In the midst of all this Hossa bashing, we should all thank Osgood for proving the majority of us wrong. Thank you Chris for getting us to the finals.

I really hope Holland gets some new blood in the roster, not just replacing Sammy, Hudler and Hossa with GR guys. Get some cheap UFA's. And really, I would be very happy if Holland got rid of one of the top 4 D guys. All 4 played pretty badly in the finals, and all 4 of huge cap hits. Hudler will be lost for sure since the Wings can't match any medium offer, Sammy could be replaced easily, as can Kopetsky. Goaltending will be another challenge. Conklin will probably get a starter position somewhere else, Osgood probably doesn't want to play more then 50 games in the regular season. Let Howard and Larrson rotate in for the first half, and keep the one who plays better. How the top 6 D comes together will also be interesting. Meech, Ericcson are probably ready to be rookies, Andreas improved but may not be ready.

Bettman is ruining the league, but the fact he has a bias on who he wants to win the Cup is pathetic. The salary cap and rule changes in the last 3 seasons have been very good, but the whole Pheonix situition proves Bettman should not be in charge of the league anymore. On a side note, does anyone feel like the Wings system needs changing? The Wings were obviously tired by the end, and the stupid schedual did nothing to help. They should have a full week off between the conference finals and Cup finals, with one day breaks between games. But on the other side, using Datsyuk, Franzen, Hossa, and Zetterberg on the PK didn't help. The Wings were horrible on the PK, and it seemed to just tire their elite forwards. I think Bab's should reconsider how he allocates ice time. The PK was terrible all season remember.

After those first two games, I thought they had it 100%. So disapointing. And all this bulls*** about the Wings being the evil franchise is getting old. The Wings didn't need two first overall picks to win the Cup. The Wings organization is the epitome of working hard and being rewarded. Pittsburgh winning the cup is the opposite. Get handed opportunity and you will succeed. The Wings had their second straight cup, and blew it. Pittsburgh didn't play great, the Wings just played bad.

Man watch Ozzies post game interview, tough stuff to watch. He proved everyone wrong, and still it wasn't enough. Very sad.

We all lost, but I somewhat agree. He's got zero excuse. He gets paid 7.45 to score goals. Not be great defensively, or float around with the puck just to throw it away. That's Sammy's job. I forgive Sammy though. He was clutch in that Anaheim series. Some guys earned the right to sit back. But Hossa, man Hossa didn't show up in any series. And when he did, Flipulla earned most of those gifts he sent Hossa's way. Hossa had the most to prove. Everyone else has rings, everyone else didn't switch teams to win a cup. This was Hossa's series. He could've made a difference in any of the games, and he would of won the Cup. But no. He didn't show up. He didn't show up when the Wings were 2-0, he didn't show up when the Wings were 2-1, and he didn't show up in Game's 6 and 7. He could've choosen at random any of those games to make a difference, to score a goal, and he didn't. He choked, the Wings just got beat. One game Hossa, one game from the Cup. And you blew it. You. The simple fact is, if Hossa would've shown up to one of the last FIVE games, and he would've had the Cup. That was the difference in this series. 1 goal. And he could'n't provide. But he should come back, if and only if he takes exactly or less then what Franzen took. He let me down too, but at least he showed up to more then 2 games.

Does anyone else agree Hossa's chances of coming back are higher now that Detroit lost? He probably wants that Cup more then ever now. Where's he going to go? Pittsburgh? No. San Jose? Vancouver? Really, what team in the NHL has the best chance of winning a cup in the next 5 years? Detroit. Guaranteed. Hossa is probably on the phone right now, begging to come back. And the fact the Wings lost largely in part of HIM not stepping up means his chances of returning are even higher. If he'll sign for Franzen money, sign him. But he's not worth 7.45 on the Red Wings.

Flipulla earned his spot as well. Too bad Holland gave out those NTC's to Stuart and Rafalski. They played horribly in the finals. And stop defending Hossa, of all our top forwards, he played the worst. Detroit lost this series because of offense, and Hossa was supposed provide it. 7.45 million dollars worth.

He wasn't good, but it's not like he was getting tons of chances. Stuart, Kronwall, Lidstrom and Rafalski looked like they couldn't hit a barn let alone the net in a lot of these games.

It's not as bad as I thought, but still, the Penguins beating Detroit at their own game is sad. 2 goals in the final 2 games is pathetic.

They have way more problems then Detroit, half their roster are UFA's, and they have almost no cap room. But seriously, the chances of either of these teams making the finals against next year is slim.

At what cost? I mean seriously, the Wings can't resign Hossa for anything more then the league minimum unless they move someone. Flipulla and Cleary played too well to be traded. Unless Stuart or Rafalski waive their NTC, Hossa is not coming back. A sniper? How many goals did Hossa manage to snipe past anyone in these play-offs? One? Two?

The Penguins are cap f***ed for next year. Hopefully their players don't sign for less. The Wings had a pretty easy road to the finals though, minus Anaheim. The chances aren't good to make the finals again

Hudler had a great first half, but floundered in the back stretch. Sorry to say it, but it's time for Maltby, Draper and Homer to retire. Get the rookies going.

It was a good ride. But the fact is Datysuk, Lidstrom, Franzen and Hossa couldn't step their games up in the final. It's amazing we got here without Dats and Hossa scoring anyways. Either way, the one guy I'd love to see go is Rafalski. Detroit has too much money tied up in D as it is, 6 million could go a long way. And Ozzy. I should of never of doubted you once. You were the MVP of this team, every game. You stepped it up when no one else could.