Carman

And pittsburgh being in good shape has nothing to do with Crosby... I was just going off what Iginla himself said, sorry that it doesn't coincide with your opinion on the situation. Hate Crosby all you want, but he has the highest PPG for anyone not named Gretzky, Orr, or Lemiuex, and that's pretty impressive, at least to me. But who cares about historical stats and talent. Guess not everyone here enjoys seeing a once a lifetime talent play the game. It's a shame, because I love catching every game I can, he is that great.

Probably more right then wrong , definitely wouldn't say that here though.

Ah good catch, was typing too fast. Meant to have "one of the" in there. My bad.

What is a schtick about what I said? Take it from Iginla himself. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2013/03/28/boston-bruins-jarome-iginla-peter-chiarelli-sidney-crosby/2029149/ Sorry about stating facts.

Did you not read the story? He nixed the Bruins deal last minute. He only wanted to go to one team. Crosby is another level than Toews or Datsyuk, he's one of the 5 best players in the history of the league. Bob McKenzie tweets

It's not Holland's fault we don't have Crosby. That's the only reason Iginla was going to leave Calgary. Was to play with one of the* greatest talent in the history of the league. 29 other teams were in the same position as the Wings. This isn't a good basis to blame Holland for, keep it to his many other mess ups like trading for Quincey, and letting Hossa go. Plenty there to blame him for.

He's also made two really outstanding moves with getting Sutter, a top 10 pick(Pouliot), and Dumoulin for Staal. That trade is huge, Dumoulin and Pouliot are both top pairing defenseman prospects, and are both very highly rated. Add in getting James Neal, and Niskanen for Goligoski. This trade is a home run, Goligoski is a good puck mover, but Pittsburgh had that already with Letang. James Neal is a young 30 goal at least power forward, there is no way in the world Neal would be trade for Goligoski, not to mention Niskanen which has really settled right in on the Penguins and is actually not that far of a drop of with what Goligoski provided, less offense, but better contract and decent defense. The Morrow trade doesn't look great, as Joe Morrow was pretty high regarded, but Pittsburgh has a pretty big cupboard with Despres finally showing flashes of the prospect he is thought to be add in the gluttony of very good defensive prospects Pouliot, Maatta, Harrington and Dumoulin. The Iginla trade is huge, they landed at least a 20 goal scorer(on pace for more), for a late first round pick, and 2 unsigned NCAA free agents, neither were ranked highly for the Pens, they didn't trade any of their top 8 prospects, and an argument can be made none of their top 10. The equilvent for the Wings would be Athanasiou, and Tvrdon. Maybe Sheahan, but Sheahan has more value because of his deal and has some more AHL experience. Then think back to the Hossa trade where they got Hossa and Dupuis for Colby armstrong, Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a first round pick(Daultan Leveille). This trade in the long run isn't as big because they couldn't keep Hossa, but what it did do was provide the team with experience in the playoffs, and an attitude that they knew their GM wasn't afraid of making a move, and then the next year they win a cup. Yeah, he's had the advantage of getting great players, but he's also done some very good moves outside of no brainer draft picks.

He is either unbeatable, or unplayable. He is very inconsistent. He has played pretty well this year though so far.

Umm do you know how Jagr plays the game? I understand he's old, but he's still a very effective board player, and still can take it to the net like the best of them. I think it would be very interesting, I don't think he provides the overall game that we need, but he would certainly help offensively, he can really slow the game down and I think would fit really well with Filpulla.

Or he can show up like he did in 2007 and 2008 and take over series.

I disagree, Crosby has the entire pulse and respect of these players, it's his team and iginla and morrow understand that.

Umm that's not the value at all. The list for penguins goes maata, pouilot, despres and Bennett. The only blue chip they lost were joe morrow and a very late 1st round pick. That's very disingenuous to compare our top prospects to two unsigned NCAA prospects that were not highly touted. The forward is the only one that projects even close to a top 6 and even that is a big stretch.

As long as they have Crosby they will always be Stanley cup contenders. That's what you get hen you have the best forward since Gretzky.

Good thing they have vokoun then.

So we could miss the playoffs playing in the worst division in the league? No thanks at least not yet.

Or we keep a cheap good player for a playoff run and don't waste one of the last years of datsyuk.

As a fellow 23 year old recent college grad I have respond to this. To me it seems that going to college is exactly the same thing, a multi million dollar business using young people for profit. I love having 100k in debt for my OT degree. Education and personal development can come outside college, it's not going anywhere for him. He can easily finish his last year/years during summer, but his one chance to play the sport that he's worked his entire life, doesn't have the same lee-way. He can only be in his prime physical condition for so long, while hopefully his mental aptitude has a much better chance to stay sharp through his years. I do agree with your take on overhyping, it's exciting to get a free prospect, and he definitely checks out as a high caliber prospect, but he's not miles ahead of let's say Nick Jensen, another Wing's defensive college prospect. Jensen has a ton more offensive upside(about doubled Dekeyser's points), and is in my opinion just as smart of a hockey player and is a couple months younger. Yet we don't have the same hype about our own guy, kinda interesting to me. Expectations are probably a too high on this kid, it's just a really good situation to get a good young defenseman for free, and hopefully that's were the excitement lies.

As someone that is friends with a lot of hockey players, the agent is responsible for 99% of all that you guys are hearing. The agent has to show interest in more than one team, it doesn't mean anything really what the player actually desires. He's just driving up the value for his player, if he doesn't at least entertain other offers then all intrigue is gone and the opportunity to promote his players "brand" is wasted. If he just came out last week and said "I'll only play for the Red Wings", people in the hockey world wouldn't look into him as much. His job is to hype up his client, the decision will come down to Danny, and with what I know of the guy I can't imagine him not coming here. By all accounts he loves the area, and loves the team.

And his team was 3rd worst offensive club, and he played the most minutes. Somebody better call up Mark Streit and let him know he sucks too. Bad team's #1 guy is going to have a bad +/-. It's not a new concept, Leetch was -36 one year, but he must have been terrible. If he was as bad as you say, he wouldn't be playing 26 minutes a night, and would have received the Wade Redden treatment by now.

Umm bouwmeester is most certainly a first pairing defenseman. And comparing him to Quincey makes me wonder how much you watch him. Yes he's overpaid on his current contract. But look around the league he's a top 20 defenseman, he might not live up to the offensive potential, but he's a pretty damn good shut down guy. I really don't understand why people think bouwmeester is awful, he was over hyped out of Florida, but he's still a great skater with great range.

That term is scary. But hey if he keeps it up he's worth it. But the issue never was his talent, it was his commitment the test is how he will look in a couple years if they are waddling in mediocrity, can he carry his team out of the dumps, because he's getting paid to be one of those players and leaders? Wish him luck though, he's got unbelievable talent and seems like a good fit in Carolina so far.

You are nuts. Bouwmeester is overpaid. But the guy is solid defensively. He has huge range an great speed for his size. I really think he could be a great partner for kronwall. He can give kronwall a ton more freedom. Boueestwr might not be a Norris candidate but he's an effective top pairing guy.

If our future is dependent on a couple prospects and a first round pick, we don't have much of a future sorry. Fact is Iginla is effective at this moment, and would be our teams best winger. His shot isn't going anywhere, his game sense isn't going anywhere. This is a hall of fame player. The deal to me would have to be either Jurco(a more unsure prospect) and a first, or Nyquist/Tatar(more sure prospects) and a second/third. With some added depth like White etc. I wouldn't give up a sure thing, I'm not going to to touch a first round pick if Nyquist/Tatar are in the deal. I believe we have enough prospect depth that we can afford to set Datsyuk up with a hall of fame winger. Especially with our cap situation. This 35 year old rental is averaging .70 PPG, he would be our best forward not named Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Man he must be way past his prime.

I'd have some faith that if we do this deal we would be able to sign him to a longer term. I have no idea how these situations played out, but if I had a good feeling that he's interested in signing for us. I feel the risk is worth the reward here. Wings have enough prospects that can fill holes the next few years like Andersson, Kindl, Lashoff, Smith, Tatar, and Nyquist making the jump to every day NHLers. And Datsyuk/Zetterberg are only going to get older, that first round pick won't likely ever play with them, at least not at the elite level they are playing now.

If we make a move for Iginla it's not going to be with a top roster player. We would want to win now. I'd be ok with Jurco, 1st and something little like White, or a lesser prospect like Aubry. Wings would be getting a top 6 winger that is of the same caliber this season as Marleau, Bobby Ryan, Sharp, Skinner, Simmonds, Seguin, Eberle, Justin Williams, Selanne, Kane and Clarkson. If Iginla is regressing, he's not doing it fast.