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Wow, the difference between deals of Hossa, Z, and Mule are not that far apart. We must have been real close to being investigated if they decided to try and work over Hossa....

Its called Eklund wants hit to his site to make money. This guy is just laughing. People just keep flocking to his site. :shakeshead: But without validating his story, I have heard, loosely in the past that the sharks were interested in him, but I`m sure a lot of other teams were too. The cap thinkers in SanJose and Chitown are going to have lots of work to do over the next year. ...off the topic slightly, in regards to the hawks, sure they are going to have lots of firepower this year, but with all that talent I cant wait for their team defensively (especially in goal) to break down sometime in the playoffs, while we move on (hopefully).

I just want us to win our division again, weve won it ten years in a row right? All i care about is when our team reaches the playoffs Holland has tweaked the roster to give us an excellent chance of winning. It might be a bit of a rocky start, but well find our way. I really feel after losing the cup, we will not have that lazy, no show non defensive attitude that we had last season. If we play the same puck possession defensive system that we did in 07-08, we should be fine record wise until the trade deadline when we can bolster our personal, we can be buyers when desperate teams look to offload players for salary. That puck possession and defensive style mixed in with the hunger will be the biggest difference maker in terms of wins and losses. We have picks, and plenty of prospects we can use to trade at the deadline. I'm confident once the playoffs start we are one of the 6 favored teams to win it all, and we'll have a good shot at it all. Look back to the 07-08 season, when we won. We didnt have Hossa. Now losing Sammy doesnt hurt at all, he is a 40 point guy, who benefited by our system and personal around him. His loss means nothing. With Lieno he more then replaces Sammy and his 3 turnovers per game, and innacurate shot and 2nd pp unit gafs. Losing Hudler is a knock against the 07-08 team in terms of scoring, but he can be replaced by a trade, say Chuck Kobasew whom boston maybe looking to deal. He would have generated about 57 points if he had played the whole season, the same as Hudler, plus hes faster and bigger and under a 2.3M cap hit for the next couple of years. That to me is better then Hudler. Right there with those changes we are slightly better off then we were in 07-08. The season hasnt started, its not like Holland and crew arent going to do anything if the team is lagging midway through the season.

If a guy is shooting left when hes suppose to be a right handed shot on the powerplay its hard to get one timers off straight off a pass. Whoever is a lefty suppose to be righty on this years power play will not look nearly as good as they would if they were shooting the correct way, and the other team can adjust their penalty kill to exploit it to a degree. The only right handed Dman that could even possibly man the powerplay that is in our system is max Nicastro, and hes not a top top prospect but he may pan out. I'm thrilled with our picks in this years draft, but I was wishing we could have drafted a right handed Dman somewhere in the first 2 rounds. A guy I liked that could have filled that Bill was Charles Rousell. 6'1 200 pounds, will be 215 by the time he enters the leauge, he was still growing in his draft year. He is good in all aspects of the game and is quite physical, plus hes a righty, and plays well on the powerplay.

It was heavily rumoured that Loungo was going to resign for a bunch of years right before the draft, but I havent heard more about this. If he is going to be in Vancouver Long term, it doesnt make sense to keep a high end Prospect in Cory Schneider around as back up for 15 games max a year, while Loungo is the starter for the next 6-7 years. They could sign a semi cheap UFA in the future for that position (Conklin would have been great). Which gets to me where I'm at right now. If you have or know you will have Loungo locked up long term, it makes sense to move that high end prospect to go for the cup in the shorter term, ie whats left of Loungos prime. Nucks have a bunch of 20 goal scorers, but no elite talent up front(besides the Sisters if you call them elite), more so on the wing. Their Dcore was exposed as slow against the hawks, and their D cost them big time. If i were the Nucks I would be adressing those issues, and for me Schneider would be moved in a trade with a couple extra forwards, some slower but semi valuable Dmen, and say some picks to get that Elite scorer and mobile Dman. If the Nucks go for some Dman with more mobility they would be wise to get a guy that is a legit power playguy, a guy who does it well. But even considering moving Shcneider I still would have elected to sign a diff goaliethen raycrof. Oh well. On a related note, its been rumoured the nucks are eyeing up kaberle. I dont know if its legit or not but Ive seen people talking about it. if i were the nucks I would move their two slowest Dman and bring in more mobile guys, and Kaberle would be one of them.

Yeah I saw you copy that blurb I wrote at the HF boards, I know what you are talking about. I guess we are right fu<ked with the cap? Who do we trade? Its not good. I wish it was wrong about the Hudler situation and mlive was right, cause we lose someone important. Only scenario that works ok with me is Homer retires, saves us 2.25 Mil, Hudler somehow accepts 2.5 Mill, and it leaves us 1.56M under the cap with a 21 man roster with the usual sujects plus abs and Lieno. It leaves is 1.56M for another forward. How about Pyatt for that much? Hes big, and can score a bit and is improving. Size and youth is something we could use. If Homer stays, we cant trade Pavs, Z, Mule, Cleary, Drapes, Stuart, Rafs, Lids, due to extreme loyalty or NTC's,and Gator and Erricson are untouchables, plus the other guys make so little they dont count in this discussion. That leaves us with kronwall, or Filpulla, unless we go for a 21 man roster. Can anyone tell me if thats really such a good idea? I'm all ears. I wanted to trade Huds before or at the draft. We could have used a couple picks (2nd 3rd) to grab a couple more picks in a deep draft. I like him, but as mentioned he has a few drawbacks like size and speed, but also it would almost be good for him to go to a team where he could get more time and opportunity. I have nothing against him, and hope he does well so dont take me wrong when i say I hoped he got traded before the draft, its just perhaps one way of thinking, that could have worked out better for the team and himself. He is a sniper though, his teammates have said it.

Hey folks who keep saying we can trade hudler if he gets too much awarded by the abirter, it cant happen. I know some of us think we can because a blog from mlive told us we could, but its just a blog, its not the be all and end all source of information. Ive asked name known well known knowledgeable hockey people like Specter and others to settle the debate on RFA's, arbitration, and tradeability, and have pm'd a bunch of the more knowledgeable folks at hockeysfuture's board too. So unless they are ALL crazy, then maybe I'm wrong, but everything points to saying no. Below is my Q&A with Specter aka Lyle Richardson: This is an enquiry e-mail via http://www.spectorshockey.net/ from: Brad Stewart <dirtydirtydawg@gmail.com> Seeing as you know your stuff, there is an argument amongst redwing fans regarding what will happen with Hudler and our serious cap issues... could you please settle this debate. Basically Hudler has filed for Arbitration, and if he gets his 3+ Million, it puts the wings over the cap with a 22man roster. Our argument is this: Some people believe once a player files for arbitration, and the team elects to pay that amount (and not decline and lose the player to UFA), then that player cannot be traded for a period of one year. Ive searched the net but cant find confirmation. A few posters at hockeybuzz agreed with me, some did not. If they cant trade him for a year, and they are over the cap, they have to trade other players to get under it...thats what we are worried about. Thanks for your help. Wait, how about this question: Could they trade him before the team enters the arbitration process in a few days? Thanks. The Response: It's true, once a player is awarded a salary under arbitration and the team doesn't walk away from the award he cannot be moved for one year. Once he's filed for arbitration he cannot be dealt. Even if the Wings re-sign Hudler before arbitration they'll still be over the cap so they'd have to move out some salary prior to the start of next season to get under the cap regardless. Cheers, Lyle Richardson Spector's Hockey www.spectorshockey.net

I cant wait for Phillies goon squad to tendorize Cindy and the rest of the Penguins...LOL! I`m dreaming they meet in the playoffs. They added Lappy and Pronger to an already big and physical team. Yikes.

We're going to trade one defenseman

Plus the tie down rule too, thats an auto game too. He has two things that get anyone an automatic game suspension, and minutes after the game I read on nhl.com, that he isnt going to get suspended. Thanks bettman, I bet he wears penguins underpants to bed, autographed by Cindy Crosby

Looks like the hawks are self imploding in the offseason. I love it. WHo ever is running things i hope he stays there forever. The hawks were starting to worry me for next year, but after the last few days I feel better

When gainy sees a big contract, he will do anything to get it, if it means selling the farm thats even better. The man cant get enough. Best GM 09-10=Gainey, you wait and see.

Draper will be 40 years old in his last contract season, Maltby 39, Rafalski 38. Draper and Rafalski have NTC's. I'm sure Holland Learned his lesson, but its the team that takes the hurt because of it. It would be a good idea to put NTC's at the first few years of their contracts, not for all of them. How can you predict where a player is going to be physically when they are fourty when you sign them at an age when their cap hit still counts, and give them NTC years all the way through. I hope whomever is bringing the team down with their geezer play this season gets thrown on the LTIR before the trade deadline and a fresh body gets inserted with some physicality. Are we the softest team in the league? Losing a fourty point guy in Sammy is no big deal, thats replaceable IMO, and its better he leaves anyways, he is the giveaway king, and sucks on the second PP unit. We didnt have Hossa before and we won, and he disturbed the lines and their chemistry plus he choked in the playoffs. Plus the people who are eating up their minutes this year are improving as players IE Flip and Hudler. Helm Erricson, Abdelkader, Lieno are only going to be better then what we saw of them this year. Its Maltby, Draper, and Holmstrom that makes me cringe the most. A year older, a year slower :eek:

If Hawks are able to Move either Cambell or Huet anytime before they have to resign those players next year, they can get it done. It might be hard to move one of them, but if they sweeten the deal, add a prospect to the deal or a pick, it could be done If i was Chicago i would have been all over Conklin as an insurance policy, things could get rough in the windy city.

Holland will hold fast till hudler is figured out, then MAYBE might make a move. I think we will play till the trade deadline, and when teams are desperate for a trade, Holland will choose a good deal to plug a hole or juice the team up a bit. We are good enough to play till the deadline even if a couple players are dragging the team down. If Homer or Drapes is hurting, they can go on the LTIR for the rest of the season, and then we can add players/salary for the playoffs to strengthen the team.

Looks like Heatley finaly agreed to go to Edmonton after all. A couple reports now say he decided to waive his clause.... would still like to see a couple more sources to be 100% sure... Edit: maybe I'll hold off on this one for abit...wait for multiple credible sources...

Whats this, its being rumoured/reported that the wings have given Hossa permission to talk to Vancouver and Boston: http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=657339 http://blog.canoe.ca/offtheposts Not the best source, but if its true, its too bad we couldnt get something for his rights, even a fourth rounder.....

What do you think will happen with Maltby Draper, and Homer? I agree we need some toughness on the bottom lines, and it would be nice to bring some youth into the picture. The wings and their loyalty, they might try to bring back all three, but we could use Homers 2.25M if he retires, and Maltby could retire. Drapes cant retire cause his salary counts against the cap, and if we would buy him out, its costs us 480k towards the cap? If we have to bring back draper, which it looks like we have to almost, then Myself I would be happy having the 3M+ of salary freed up from Homer and Maltby to sign Neil, and say a travis moan, who arent terribly old and will have gas in teh tank for years to come. What do you think about that? Moan- Helm-Neil on a fourth line? It would wear teams down, and bring energy and create turnovers and create fear to an extent. Its just what the team needs.

Exactly what i was going to say. They had better do something to fill the holes and trim some of the dead weight thats slowing the team down. Why have we not traded Hossa's rights if we are not going to sign him?

The wont and cannot trade Rafs and cleary because of the ntc, and raffy would never do it. Heater is one dimensional and doesnt play our two way style, plus with his attitude the detroit braintrust would never allow such a trade, he wouldnt help the dressing room. I dont mind Ohlund but I think he might want too much coin, he will be seeking more then his 2.2M salary from last year, hes on the downward slope despite his age of only 32. Bertuzzi is done, and we already lost Shawn Mattias for signing him, he left our team after we traded for him. Hes going down, if not already done, and doesnt fit at all,and people here have a bad taste in their mouths regarding him. Maybe a few years ago, but not now. His salary could be better spent. ....watch out our posters here are pretty well schooled and arent afraid to speak their minds, and they will bash your proposal. I fear this could get ugly.... I do really like Neil, and Larose would be decent if drapes and maltby are out of the picture....

... Im with you on this. I'll be pissed if for loyalty reasons that Draper and Maltby are both back next year and we dont add a real fourth liner that has size and physicality and the ability to drop the gloves. Maybe the ducks dont take all those liberties with us if we had Neil. Our stars would be better protected. Maybe we have a couple more healthy players. Lilja wouldnt be sidelined right now(maybe) if he didnt have to drop the gloves. Plus our fourth line would not only have contributed a bit more offensively with Say a Helm and Abdelkader, but more importantly it would have worn out the opposition. Its such a plus to have this. Suddenly the pens in this years finals have an extra injury and they are the ones that are out of gas like last year. Will the wings buy out draper (this will still count ~480k towards the cap leaving just over one million for another player to take his spot) and buck the loyalty thing like others have suggested they wont? Will they get Maltby to retire, and Homer too and use his salary on other players like we could use? Moan, Malhotra, Neil, etc etc could all be helpfull here. I like Moan and Neil the best, Manny might want too much. I have a better Idea about Abs....so its better for abs in the minors rather then our fourth line due to playing time? Ok, why not put him on the third line here then, he has some scoring skills and hell play more minutes, I dont think he will embarass himself on it to be honest. Just a thought. On a side note, i think one of the reasons they kept Kopecky around this year and were thinking of keeping him thereafter was to keep hossa happy and make him want to stay here. Now that isnt going to happen, it makes it easier for him to be let go...

How about this roster. Its realistic, and I feel comfortable with the team we put on the ice, we are more well rounded next year, and we have a bit of cap space to play with ontop of everything. Assumptions used in this roster: Hossa does not come back, it kills our depth and I dont think we have the money anyways. Sammy is gone, he wants the bucks, we cant help him, besideds hes already in 33 next season, and he has enough flaws so he walks. Now at this point we have some older banged up guys who are near the end, and we are still tight with money at this point..these guys are draper maltby and homer. Drapes is just into his contract, hes was 35 or older when he signed it, and its hard to move him especially when you consider the loyalty equation and the contract. He stays for another year. Maltby we owe nothing to, hes been very fortunate to play on such as winning team for so long, but his offense is gone cause hes too old and hes shot. He lacks speed and energy and doesnt do anything for the team anymore. He retires, or is convinced to retire nicely. Homers 2.25M cap hit is needed for other players. Weve been very loyal to him, and hes been a a wing for along time. Your career ends or is really close to the end when you cant stay healthy and have to play through multiple bad injuries, miss lots of timeand your speed and scoring slips. Hes done as an effective player that we remember him as. I dont see him making it through another season without more injuries and more games missed, and he wont retain his speed enough to play with Pavs and Z, he wont be as effective on the PP, and I dont feel he brings enough to the fourth line with his lack of speed and energy, when we can get a better cheaper younger player to fill that role better. Homer retires. Abdelkader is up full time and adds toughness, physicality and youth, something the wings need. With the added cap space freed up I purchased a physical, tough big role playing penalty killer in Travis Moan. I hope we can sign him for about 1.7 or 1.8M. The only thing I dont like about this roster of mine is bring up a cheaper player to round out the fourth line due to the departures. For the sake of simplicity I added Ritola who makes about 511k. We could add a different player in his spot from our own system or via minor trade/free agent signing. Here is what our roster looks like: Here we have a 22 Man roster, with a cap hit of 56.073M, leaving an impressive 726+K of free cap space. We can tinker who plays on what line. Lines are: Forward: Z-Dats-Cleary Franz-Flip-Lieno Huds-Helm-Gator Moan-Draper-Ritola(or compareble player). Meech=13th Forward Defense: Lidstrom Rafs Kron Stuart Lebda-Erricson Lilja=Reserve 7th Dman Goalies: Ozzie Howard We are still loyal to an extent, brought in a tough physical penaltykiller(which we need) Free agent, got rid of some dead weight. The only issue i have with my roster spot is with Rittola their, but like i said we could switch him with someone else and we have abit of cap space to play with anyways. Each line has got some grit, except the second line which is kinda soft. But we can rotate them around. Yes i realize gator might not be ready for a third line role like i have him pencilled for but with the cap and free agent issues, well hes there and we can still tinker with the lines and move him to the fourth. If Lilja is still out with his head, Meech can switch from the reserve forward to reserve Dman, which is handy. Not a bad line up if you ask me, still a little soft for me. Our extra cap space could go toward Huds a bit who i have earning only 1.7M if he demands a but more which he will likely do.

What contending team that Hossa would like to play the rest of his career for, will Hossa sign with thats going to have the cap space to afford him? I could see the Hawks if they make some room, or Vancouver. Edmonton maybe if they make some room. Maybe LA as they will be an up and comer, and La would be a great place to live imo. Tough call. I just hope we get a third rounder for his rights. I dont think he fits anyways, and I didnt like his gut check in the playoffs. WHo cares about pressure, you play through it, he didnt want to sacrifice physically or put out 100% effort when it mattered. We know who did, and they will remain as wings.

I agree wholeheartedly

Yeah I know about Erricsons killer slapper, and i watch the games i see him do his thing and his offensive flair, but by me saying hes semi offensive, i should have said it differently. Perhaps what I mean is to some degree less offensive then Say a Rafalski and Lidstrom in terms of production, but still productive and offensive. I can see Erricson being a 45 point guy, but Lidstrom was or is, a 60-70point defensemen. In other words he will be a good offensive guy but not an elite powerplay quarterback, or elite rushing Dman like Nick,Rafs, Green, etc. Maybe like a Bowmeister who gets his 45-50 points with time spent on the powerplay. I guess you know what Im talking about. I do realize BigE has offensive skills. Yeah Roussel to me looks like a good pick, but will they take him with their first 2nd rounder, i think no, but he might not be around with their 2nd 2nd rounder. RedLine report has him ranked High, like 14th overall. I just thought if we were going to pick another Dman in the first, or second round like Nil said, i figured he would fit the mold of what we need and could use. We have enough skilled puck moving offensive Dmen. Roussel helps us round out that skill with some toughness, size and grit with the skills of what SOUND LIKE a fairly talented well rounded defensemen. That is if the description is any indication. I would love a more defensively responsible version of Phaneuph. I love looking at this stuff and being a keyboard GM....lol