NGKEIB

In any case, here's to some news! Let's face it, this forum was close to stagnating. I'm excited.

Sorry, but with this much cap space, there is no way that Abdelkader will be paying in Detroit. We have more than enough to sign a solid bottom-six forward... Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary Franzén-Filppula-Leino/Holmström Leino/Holmström-Helm-Eaves FA (hopefully Betts or Grier!)-Draper-Maltby Meech/Oulahen

It irritates me when teams don't announce the terms of deals... In the salary cap world, transparency is essential, so the deal information will be released sooner or later... I don't see the point of witholding that information.

MLive has posted the TSN article, for what it's worth. Interesting signing, it looks like he has potential (based on his first two seasons). He does have a few fights, but all against people like Miroslav Satan and Glenn Metropolit. It looks like Tucker worked him over but good in a fight, and Colby Armstrong has gotten him with a good hit. That is all Youtube has to offer... Based on the fact that he's gotten a buy-out, I imagine this will be quite cheap. This means that perhaps we can get a cheap grinder, and have some cap room left for possible trade deadline moves (this is how I see it at least). However, Kenny in an interview said that he was looking for two players who could each contribute circa 15 goals, so maybe Eaves is just the first one. Say no to Justin Williams! Say yes to Blair Betts!

I'm guessing that it means that they are free agents, and that the team name supplied is the name of the team they last played for.

Another famous Finn was involved in an potentially game-changing turn of events in the 98 finals. Can you name him?

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...t_jiri_hud.html

He won't be happy if Detroit was offering 3 million a year, and the arbiters give him 2.5 million a year, when he was looking for 4 million a year... I guess the NHL wanted to send a message to those who considering leaving to the KHL, perhaps. Or the whole report is just BS.

Nope, that would only be true if Eklund had reported that Malhotra and Pyatt had had no contact with the Wings.

I don't think that they will be punished for it. The thing that all of the owners and teams fear most is them being picked off one by one. Their fear will bind them together, and the teams won't stand for Chicago getting a tough penalty... Especially when the charges would be next to impossible to prove. If Tallon or some other disgruntled Hawk says something, it's just his word against Hossa's and Bowman's.

You're all wrong. The only way to the promised land is to bring Tomas Sandström out of retirement.

They couldn't penalize the Hawks. They've done nothing wrong. This is probably a sign that the NHL is going to move to close the loophole as soon as they can - and making an example of the Hawks would be the easiest way of doing that. Still not sure how they can prove anything...

I find this funny, but I don't see how the Hawks can get in trouble for it, unless the NHL has a source inside. But all that that guy would be doing is guaranteeing that he never gets another job with any sports franchise for the rest of his life. This screw-up will go alongside the other dumb things that were done this summer, but I don't think that they'll get penalised for it. The Hawks are one of the many teams to have found a way around the CBA. Fair enough. The NHL is just being pissy.

Do you have any idea what his injury situation is after the Brashear hit? I haven't found anything... He would be cheap as well, he only got like 600k last year. I'd love him.

I don't know... I'm so biased in my dislike for Crosby, that when I try to be fair I may consider him better than he is...

That's the tricky thing - do you take into account how they've played over their entire careers, or how they're playing now? Let's face it, Brodeur didn't have a great post-season...

I fixed the spelling mistakes for you

Well who else was it going to be? As things stand, Crosby is the best Canadian player in the NHL. The one thing that does bug me is how they say that he played like a man possessed in the post-season. In the final round, Zetterberg once again showed the world that when it comes to hounding and shutting down superstars, he is the top dog.

Good points, all of you. But it doesn't matter a whit. Hockey isn't important enough to the people who made this list.

You could be talking absolute crap, and I still wouldn't care because of your avatar (though her political views are somewhat questionable). It's a valid point. I can only assume that they're going for one guy who is good for c. 20 goals, and also want to get a grinding, defensive player. I've said elsewhere that I have no problems signing Williams per se, but I will be irritated if we overpay him. He's not worth near 2.2 million in my eyes, and the fact that he's apparently 'considering' the offer means it is probably closer to 1.2.

I'm not against Sykora per se, or Williams for that matter. However, if we're close to signing Williams, we shouldn't sign Sykora. I think that we need a guy who is good for around 20 goals or so, as well as a solid defensive forward. Ideally, I would like to get Prospal and Betts, but that probably won't happen. Signing two offensively slightly above average, defensively sub-par, not particularly gritty players is not what we need. However, I'm sure Kenny knows that, and if this rumour has substance to it, the Wings may just be making sure they get someone in case Williams falls through. Like I said earlier, I'd be happy with either Sykora or Williams - as long as they come for around 1.25-1.5 million - but not both. Spend another million on a solid defensive forward (Help us Blairi wan Bettsobi. You're our only hope.), and leave us with wiggle room, and also ensuring that we're not forced to move another defenseman without knowing what Lilja's condition is going to be.

To the people who call Maltby cowardly, I have one thing. Is not fighting because you know it will irritate your opponent and give you less chance of drawing a penalty cowardly? If Maltby's not fighting irritates you, surely it must irritate the hell out of his opponents even more. I don't care that he doesn't fight, or never fought, I just wish that he would throw more hits... Is declining a fight for the sake of pissing off the opposition more cowardly than throwing yourself in front of a heavy shot? I've seen Maltby do that plenty of times. I've seen him take big hits plenty of times. And I've seen him give them too. EDIT - Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't at all mind a guy who knew how to fight, and wasn't one-dimensional.

Calling Maltby a coward seems pretty special. He chooses not to fight. Some people are clearly very annoyed by this, but just think about how people on the other team must feel? Quite irritated I imagine. Just because he runs his mouth and draws penalties and doesn't fight does not make him a coward in any sense.

I think that Sundin could still count as a great FA. He wasn't great last year, but it only looked like he got his legs back by the time they got knocked out. I think that he could still put up a good number of points. And he still has talent. We might have 'veterans', but no one of the caliber of Sundin (when you look at our forwards, our only 'veterans' are Maltby, Draper, Holmström'). If he could be had for a cheap price, I'd take him. Sundin would do more than 'nothing'. And Maltby had a good post-season.

If you really want to stir things up, and attract people to the NHL, sign a LaVeyan Satanist *** transvestite.