Buppy

Keep in mind that the cap is a cumulative daily calculation, and savings can be banked for later use. $11M in free space would translate to around $50M in free space at the deadline. There's no possible way we could use even close to that much, so you're essentially just wasting it. For a team like the Wings that actually makes money, saving anything more than $2-3M would be horribly, horribly wasteful. If you want to save money for next summer, then just give 1 year deals this summer. You pay a premium, but that's better than throwing it away.

I'd definitely take him if he came cheap. He didn't have a very good year, so he just might. Then again he might go back to Russia or the Rangers could give him $3m+. I'd definitely give priority to the defense though. I'd like to see two of the better FAs here. After that they can worry about forwards.

Depends on if you're talking on or off the ice. Off the ice, I think the vast majority of hockey players are very classy individuals. I haven't met a ton in person, but the few I have and the stories I've heard seem to point in that direction. On the ice I think it depends on how you define "classy". Apparently you think it's the opposite of tough or dirty. I tend to think more 'professional' and 'mature'. I'm not really sure how to quantify it on the ice. At least the Wings don't start fights when we lose.

I don't know that a trade is that likely. If so, it would almost certainly involve draft picks and maybe minor prospects. Aside from Pav we have no one that could bring an impact player in return. Flip could be a piece, and Huds could be moved for cap space, but in both cases we'd need to add a forward. FA defensemen seem much deeper than FA forwards, so I'm not sure it would really help. I'm sure Kenny will be on the phone come draft day, but I wouldn't expect much. Maybe something for rights to an RFA. Free agency looks like a much more viable path, though of course that could change in the next month if guys start re-signing.

I know sentiments are running high right now, but let's not act like Rafalski is irreplaceable. Wisniewski, Ehrhoff, and Markov are all comparable offensively and better in other areas. I've always been one to say Rafi's defense was better than he got credit for, and I didn't even mind his contract. But I can still be realistic. This isn't like losing Nick. He can be replaced, and quite possibly at a cheaper price.

FORWARDS Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.250m) Brad Winchester ($0.750m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Cody McCormick ($0.750m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / James Wisniewski ($4.500m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Joni Pitkanen ($4.500m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Zach Bogosian ($3.500m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Joey MacDonald ($0.750m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $61,500,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,217,044; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $282,956 Not too far fetched at all. It would be nice to do more with the forwards, but honestly there's nothing out there (Richards aside) that would really take the sting off any injury to Pav/Hank/Mule. And at least with that defense we wouldn't need to score much, and that forward corps would be tough to play against. Done right, we could also have some decent trade options for the following season if needed.

Weber/Doughty would incredibly unlikely. I doubt Kronwall will ever be a dominant player or Norris candidate. All-star, maybe. I can see Kronwall as a #1 here, just with a very strong #2-6 behind him to lighten the load. It's the only realistic way to replace Nick.

Pretty sure if we end up with $816 million in free cap space, someone's math is wrong.

No it isn't, and in that scenario it doesn't hamstring us at all. The cap may not actually go up by $5 million and I would be hesitant to give up 4 firsts, even for Weber, but it really isn't a bad idea.

Surprisingly feasible actually, and still quite a bit of flexibility. However, coming off their first-ever playoff win, steady if slow improvement in attendance, extra revenue from the TV deal...fair chance Nashville would match even that much or more. He's their franchise. I'm sure they could retool the roster to keep their revenue sharing. Without him, they might lose more than the extra $4.5 million they'd be paying anyway.

Don't know what you're talking about. This is one of the best FA defense classes since the lockout. Maybe no 'headliner' like Campbell or Bouwmeester to get grossly overpaid, but it's a pretty deep group of good players.

Wow. All the best to Rafi. I wanted Wis before, now he makes so much more sense. RH shot, scoring numbers not far off from Rafi (and more physical/better defense), and a local boy to boot. We could also potentially afford Wis and Ehrhoff or Pitkanen, either would be awesome even though both are lefties. I'd still love a 2nd RH for the 2nd PP unit. Babchuk if he comes at a decent price, or Markov. Bieksa/Brewer is not what we need to replace Rafi. I'd love Burns, but I doubt we have the assets to trade for him. Next summer though...

Unless I missed the press conference where Eva was named Boston's new GM, Hudler and our 1st wouldn't likely get us the #9 pick by itself, much less a decent all-around player like Campbell as well. Other than that it'd be a decent move. Maybe change to swapping 2nd rounders (Det 55 - Bos 40). (And if Eva is Boston's GM, have him throw in Seguin, Boychuk, and Rask. And change our 1st to a 5th.)

I think you're really misinterpreting Holland's philosophy and comments. I think you're so emotionally invested in change that you're assuming the worst; as if Holland said we're bringing the exact same team back. Like every year, we'll make some tweaks. Wisniewski, though pretty good, would still be a tweak. One that Holland will certainly consider if it looks like a realistic option. Personally I think he'll want too much. After Nick, he's the 2nd highest scoring UFA defenseman available. Montreal has a ton of space, and no one but Subban signed. Wis may not even make free agency. Even if he does all the other good FAs create holes on the teams they played for. Many of those teams will have as much or more money than we will. What I get from Holland is that we're not going to blow up the team. We're not going to trade guys just for the sake of change, but he's said we're open to making a trade if it makes sense. We can't go out and spend like crazy, but that doesn't mean we won't spend up to the cap. We have every year, we will again this summer. This year we're in better cap shape than the last two years, so we should expect the moves to be a bit more impactful. The prime guys like Ehrhoff, Bieksa, Wisniewski, Richards, maybe even Laich and Cole, might be out of our range. But we should be able to do better than Salei and Modano.

Not sure what 'long haul' means to Kal. Apparently 2 years or less. Or maybe 'core' just means Pav, Hank and Mule. Regardless, most of the team is set for next year assuming Nick comes back. I think Kenny will at least explore signing a good defenseman, but don't get your hopes up. We aren't likely to spend $6M on a FA. Ehrhoff and Bieksa could be in high demand, especially if they win a Cup. I think both are very unlikely. I'd like Pitkanen or Wisniewski, but they might be out of our range. Maybe Markov could be had cheap (though reports are he's already negotiating with Montreal). Babchuk would be decent I think. There's a lot of good defensemen available, but that also means there's a lot of teams who will be in the market. A big cap raise will mean a lot of teams have a lot of room to spend. Or if it's just a small raise, we won't really have the room to do much.

It's not that big a deal. Depending on the number of games you're talking one, maybe two extra trips to Florida a season for the other West teams. Not that much different from one or two extra trips to Columbus or Nashville. It's worse for the Florida teams, but again really not that much worse than it is for Columbus or Nashville. You can't be perfect when half the league is concentrated in one quarter of the continent and the rest are so spread out. MLB doesn't have a problem with coast-coast leagues. But a North/South alignment does make more sense, though I have no idea why you'd mess up the divisions like that. Just make the divisions like in the map, with the NE in the Northern Conference, and the Pit/Phi/Was/Car/CBJ division in the South. The only psuedo-rivalries that threatens is Boston/Philly, and all the Western teams who think they're our rivals.

That's why Nashville makes the most sense. Geographically, they're closest to Carolina and the Florida teams, and about the same distance to Washington as Atlanta was. Minnesota then joins the Central, and Winnipeg takes their spot in the NW.

These days most GMs last about 3-8 years. Maybe he'll be wildly successful and turn TB into a perrenial contenter; maybe not. Maybe the ownership will remain as solid as it seems right now; maybe not. But it's not like the decision to stay is completely up to him. He's spent more than half his life here and has never had anything but great things to say about the franchise. He's a beloved icon in the city. No reason to think he wouldn't want to come back. If he's available and Kenny's ready to step aside, no reason to think he won't be back.

Shero has been GM for 5 years. If he maintains a similar level of success for another 3-5 he will almost certainly earn similar praise, and deservingly so. Holland has done it for 13 years. Secondly, Pittsburgh has not been quite as successful, unless the only thing you consider success is Cup wins/trips to the finals. This year was the only year they finished ahead of Detroit in the regular season. One division title to Holland's 4 in the same span. Playoffs the Pens have 1st-round loss, Finals loss, Cup, 2nd-round loss, 1st-round loss. Wings have 3rd-round loss, Cup, Finals loss, 2nd-round, 2nd-round. One thing to keep in mind with all these mistakes you say Holland is making, you can't judge them by comparing them to some imaginary results you think we'd have gotten with some hypothetical move we didn't make. Rafi maybe hasn't been quite worth $6M the past couple years, but he has been very valuable. Maybe $5M-ish. What, really, could we do without Rafi? Name any realistic move that would guarantee a Cup. Hossa was a great move that made a championship team even better. Stuart, Cleary, Eaves, Miller, Bert 2.0, Ozzie 2.0, Sammy, Conklin, Salei, Drake...all solid moves. And that's just post-lockout. Calling Hudler a 'misfire' after one s***ty year is premature, especially when he signed his contract after a fantastic season. Flip and Mule had sub-par years, are those mistakes? Modano had a freak injury and so never really had a chance here. Part of what makes Kenny so good is that he's not so fickle as the fans. He won't cast away every player that has a bad stretch; won't gut the team after every failed Cup run. Some people might think those are mistakes. I think it's the reason we've been so consistently successful and the most respected franchise in the league. I'm not saying he's perfect. Just better than anyone else. Again, I think you're so spoiled by the success Kenny has helped create that even that success isn't enough.

Too hard to predict really. We still seem to be a team a lot of FAs are interested in, but long-term deals are really hurting the available talent pool. Nick is really impossible to replace, it will take a team effort. Fortunately, the next couple years seem to be good years for FA defensemen, so that transition could be less painful than we fear. But our own guys are also UFAs at the same time so it could be even worse. Our D in GR looks pretty pathetic. Pyett, Ehrhardt, and Kolosov probably aren't even NHL caliber, or at best borderline line Meech and Janik. Lashoff is maybe a little ahead, but it's still probably a year or two before we really have an idea what he'll be. Smith seems the lone bright spot. Almqvist and Nicastro sound promising, but like Lashoff we need a couple more years at least before we can really judge. We're still not really sure what Kindl and Ericsson can be. I think we'll see Stuie and Kronwall stick around, Smith, and at least two good FAs/trades, and maybe a FA plug as well. One or both of Kindl/Ericsson gone, with at least one of Lashoff, Almqvist, and Nicastro trying to crack the roster. Howard for now looks good, but goalies are fickle beasts, so who knows. McCollum and Pearce weren't very impressive, but neither was Howard in GR. Larsson looked promising then he bolted back to Sweden. I think we ride Howard for at least the next two years, probably with a vet backup. After that it's too hard to guess. At forward I don't think there's any reason to think Pav, Hank, and Mule won't still be the big three. Maybe (hopefully even) we can add a big 4th. Flip, Cleary, and Huds are all talented enough to stay as our 2nd tier while we wait (and hope) for our younger guys to develop. We're full of bottom-6 candidates, with Miller and Eaves potentially staying. Helm and Abby should stick around. Mursak, Emmerton, and Andersson in GR. FA vet and/or a fighter type. Aside from Tatar, most of our better looking forwards aren't in GR yet. We'll probably need a rental or two in the next few years while we see how Nyquist, Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen, Sheahan, etc., develop. But we should be good for the next 5 years. Maybe not a top contender every year, but close at least. We have a handful of potential stars, and a couple more drafts to find more. If two or three of them make it (and our defense and goaltending doesn't fall apart) we'll stay right where we are, or even get better. If none of them do, we'll be in trouble. I don't think FAs could fill the holes, and if our prospects don't develop we won't have the trade assests for anything big.

Holland was also an assistant/co-GM during that era. And don't forget that our emergence in that time owes a lot to the emergence of late round gems Lidstrom, Fedorov, and Konstantinov. Not to mention Yzerman, Kozlov, Lapointe, McCarty, Osgood. Also, developing our draft picks properly is as important as drafting right in the first place. Maintaining a high level of depth lets us avoid putting too much pressure too early. Who can say how that affected Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Howard, Filppula, Helm, Abby, etc. Even guys that haven't worked out so great like Ericsson, Kindl, and Hudler are in limited roles so their flaws don't really hurt us. A lot of GMs might have made a #19 pick like Kindl a key part of their plan. With us it really doesn't matter if Kindl is a boom or bust. I think what says the most about Holland is that he's played a major role in creating a standard of success so high that some of you consider Hossa and Rafalski bad moves. Try judging any other GM in the game by the same standard you're holding Holland to. If Stevie falls short of a Cup this year, are you going to say all his moves were failures? Because that's basically what you're doing to Holland. With the moves Holland has made and, just as importantly, not made, he has kept this team a legit contender every single year he has been in charge. It may have been a pretty easy gig to start, but his success over his tenure can't be overlooked. Steve, as much as I love him and believe he will be great as a GM, has barely proven himself worthy of shining Kenny's shoes, much less filling them.

Because for the most part, all the players are already signed for next year. Mursak in for Modano seems almost certain. The rest of our FAs are at the bottom of the roster, aside from Nick. We'll probably make a few minor changes, but anything major seems highly unlikely. And our biggest need is defense (backup goalie should be simple). We were 2nd in scoring. 23rd in goals against. Nick (and Rafi) probably won't be around much longer. FA defensemen are much deeper than forwards this year too. If we have the cap space for anything significant, we need to spend it on something to help ease the eventual Nick transition. We also don't have much in terms of tradeable assets. Flip, maybe Cleary and Abby. Anyone else with value is more valuable than whatever we could get in return. If we move Flip, we probably need a top-6 capable center with speed, solid defense, but better goal scoring. I don't know that we'd be able to put together any package that really provides much improvement. Our forwards were fine. They'll most likely be fine again next year. The team as a whole was good enough to win a Cup, just didn't play quite well enough to start the SJ series. We have one more year with a very good team that should again be a contender. After that we'll probably need a shakeup, with Homer, Bert, Huds, Rafi, Stu, Kronwall, maybe Nick, plus any temps we get for next year all UFA, Helm and Abby RFA. Then a new CBA to worry about too. That will probably be our big transition year.

A lot of people really seem to under-appreciate Homer's contributions. He's still one of our best forwards working the puck in the corners. His vision, passing, and hockey sense are much better than he gets credit for. He's a great compliment to skill players like Pav, Hank, Flip, Hudler, and Mule. With the roster we have, it's tough to find real good combinations, but it's not because of Homer. At least not to any greater extent than it is Hudler, Flip, Cleary, or Bert (and Modano this year). Flip and Cleary will fit in the bottom 6, but at the expense of their offense, and that also leaves a very slow and defensively weak top 6. Homer doesn't really work in the bottom 6 at all. Bert is mostly wasted too, though he could maybe bring some toughness. Hudler doesn't work very well, though he could add some scoring threat like he did with Helm and Maltby in 08. You can replace any one of those guys with someone else and get line combinations that look better. We have 5 guys who need to be in the top 6 (at least for offense, and/or to earn their salary), but only 3 open spots. We can get a 9th (like we tried to do with Modano, and Willy and Leino the year before) and try to build 3 lines. We can suffer some guys being in 'bad' spots, and juggle around depending on injuries and who's hot (like we did this year). We can try to move some guys for someone that 'fits' better, but likely at the cost of depth and flexibility. You can't build a perfect roster that's guaranteed a Cup. Every option has its pros and cons.

If you dream of Handzus at $4M you're doing it wrong...

If the cap goes up $5m+ I'd look to shore up the defense in preparation for Nick's eventual retirement. Ehrhoff, Pitkanen, Wisniewski, White, Bieksa, Babchuk...some nice options this year, then the year after you got Burns, Wideman, Boychuk, Suter. UFA forwards suck this year, aside from Richards. The few mid-tier guys will probably be way overpaid, especially if the cap does go up a lot. I'd take a flier on Zherdev or Frolov if they were willing to play for dirt cheap, but beyond that might as well stand pat. Maybe save a little and make a deadline move, or if we can get a good deal package Flip + something for a good sniper, preferably a center (though goal-scoring centers are hard to come by).