Carman

I'll take Yzerman for the bigger impact on the Detroit Red Wings, on the sole fact that he was the heart and soul of the team before we emerged as one of the greatest franchises in NHL history. But if you were to ask me who was a better player overall I would say Lidstrom, he has been unquestionably the most dominate defenseman of the past 20 years. Yzerman was great, but he was a notch below Gretzky and Lemieux in his generation. Eh just my 2 cents.

I'll take anyone that can throw and take a punch without ending up on the IR for half a season. I don't like the term 'goon' either, but I would enjoy as a fan to see some physical play 6-8 minutes a night in the regular season to go along with our massive collection of skill players.

Do we really need a Right handed shot this badly? If this deal happens I'm going to miss the hell out of Sammy.

Players are paid for the role they perform on their team. Kovy is practically the only thing keeping the Thrashers a NHL team. He is undoubtedly more important to his team then those players are to their respective teams. With that said, this does show what is important to him, Money over Winning.

Well, Jimmy Howard is either going to be good or gone, it isn't hard for a team like Detroit find a suitable back-up if he doesn't pan out. As for your situation it's going to be Ozzy unless the injury is really serious.

I don't see why people are comparing a center(Filppula) that was signed when we had money to spare, and a winger(Hudler) who we are trying to sign when we don't have a lot of money to spare. It's pretty simple, Filppula plays a important position for the Wing's(Center-PK), while Hudler plays a position that we can replace(2nd PP); albeit not as well. I don't hate Hudler, but in a salary cap world it sometimes isn't worth it to complete do back flips while on fire to sign a Winger. Face it if the Red Wing's thought Hudler was more valuable then Filppula we wouldn't be having this conversation. Obviously they think Hudler is a good player and want to keep him, but with the salary cap, tough decisions come once the players that come out of your system fully develop, there are bound to be loses.(Which is a major reason, I would love a salary decrease to resign a team's own draft picks, but that's another thread).

Nah, without Pronger I don't really hate anyone on the Ducks anymore, I mean Perry is annoying but that's about it. I respect Ryan and Getzlaf a lot. I'm hoping Chicago is going to be our rivals, two original six teams with lots of history, same division and both have good futures = a good rivarly.

All I know is that Hossa with that contract is great trade bait if need be. Other then that they really are going for it all next year, they'll have to pull out so good moves to keep the face of the team intact the next coming years.

I wouldn't want it. Teams should never spend more then 4-5 million on a goalie, especially in the Wing's situation.

Yep pretty much. Still don't hate him, he is a hell of a player. But man it's going to be great calling him a playoff choke when we beat his team in the playoffs for the next 12 years.

I agree, but then again I don't know what another 38+ year old grinder would do for a veteran team. Lappy does not have the wheels Drake did either so don't use him as an example.

Sometimes the best move is no move. The slaries teams are handing out today are crazy. Good news is we'll actually have cap room and can make trades without shedding salary when the time comes.

Tatar and Kader?

Pretty much. Grats to Chara.

Pretty much, Osgood earned another season at least. Conk will be a perfect back up as long as his salary doesn't go up.

Every fan in the NHL hates Bettman. That's why we find this 'funny'.

Awesome

Leino is going to make less then Hudler to start, and we need to shed all the salary we can. Also Hudler will fetch a good draft pick, which is about the only thing any of our FA's can get. So it's pretty much Leino + a first, or Hudler.

So you mean go after Hossa?

Oh yeah, I'm fully expecting a Franzen/Zetterberg type deal if it happens, the '6+' meant millions =P.

We'll see Kader throughout the regular season and playoffs next year probably all playoffs and 20ish games for injuries. He is one of the only ones still with a 2 way contract, no reason not to use it. How soon most of us forget Leino's first games of the year, 9 points in 13 games? No way he should be signed to GR on his contract year. Hudler and Samuelson are probably let go to make some $$$ Helm and Leino fill their spots, Ericsson replacing Lilja(either Lilja is LTIR or out of organization) Conklin is about as good of a back up as you could get, I was expecting him to want to go somewhere else and get a chance at a #1 so as long as we can get him at a back up salary I'm all for it. Hossa is the big mystery card, personally I would only want him back if he takes a ridiculous 4 millionish deal, as long as we don't sign him for 6+ I don't have an issue. I'm too lazy to go through the salary cap to see if all this is possible(Lilja on LTIR etc.) but the Wing's will be strong

4-5 million for Hossa? Sign me up. Length scares me, but I'm pretty sure at 4 million he can be decent trade bait to a s***ty team later if doesn't work out.

Signing Hossa depends on the Salary cap, and what he needs. 5 million and the cap stays? Yes. 7 million and the cap goes down? No. I'll pass on having more then one "Kopecky" type player on the 4th line because of the cap space.

Top players drastically change every year depending on circumstances/injuries etc. That said I can't believe all the people saying Crosby isn't the best player on the pens as a insult. He already has accomplished more then our super stars at a much younger age. With that said I think this season Malkin>Datsyuk>Crosby would be the order just between those 3. Malkin had such a lead on points that you cannot give Datsyuk the edge, but Datsyuk was nominated for the Selke which both Penguins players aren't very close to so that has to be taken in account. But hey I'll keep Datsyuk on my team, he is far from soft(ask Malkin after Datsyuk hit him), is a better defensive player(Could just be the way Crosby/Malkin plays, but it's the way it is), has tons of offensive talent aswell, and makes 2 million less.

The NHL is marketing one of the greatest talents in the past 20 years. Do I sense hate and jealousy because he beat the Wing's? Crosby happens to be one of the top 5 players in the NHL that is North American, have you seen Malkin's or even Datsyuk interviews? Bettman comes from the NBA philosophy where individuals>team, I don't agree with it, but obliviously it works. So go ahead and continue to bash something that you have no control over, only wasting your breath. The marketing plan doesn't have much to do if anything with the actual game it self, so it's your loss if it 'ruins' it for you.