Buppy

They'll keep all three and dump salary elsewhere...Versteeg, Sharp, Buffy, Bolland, Barker, Seabrook. There's no shortage of tradable salary. Probably get them all cheaper than $6 million too. Unless one or more of them have killer seasons, arbitration won't give them that much. Few if any teams would give up a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd round pick for any of the three, much less another 1st if they sign much over $6 mil. If I had to guess, I'd say they each get similar short deals, 2 or 3 years in the $5-5.5 range. They'll dump Sopel, Versteeg, and probably Bolland.

A few weeks ago, Franzen was healthy. Still, even without Franzen I'll be surprised if we miss the playoffs. Nor, I think, is your interpretation of Devallano's comments accurate.

They already use Cleary-Flip-Bert most of the time for the 2nd PP unit (at least the last few games).

Can't see this year being much worse that 98-99 (43-32-7, 2nd round loss), and that didn't hurt us. Granted, that was only 1 year removed from back to back wins in the finals, and we still won the division. But not a wholly dissimilar situation. I don't think 1 year can hurt us, unless maybe it's truly awful. Aslo, most of the teams that might be more 'fashionable' destinations have cap issues...

It's not about being happy, it's about being realistic. Reality is the parity in the league. There simply isn't that big of a gap between the top and the middle or even the bottom teams. You shouldn't be too upset over being 3-6. It's 3-6, not 18-36. You're reading too much into what he said. All he said was that realistically, we shouldn't expect to win 50+ games. He said we need to work very hard to win games and make the playoffs. You're all acting like he said 'we have no chance to win the Cup, so we won't even try, and you should all be happy about it'. In regards to the front office: For one, I don't think anyone can 'plan' for Lilja's lack of recovery, Franzen's long tern injury, or Hudler's defection. Anyone should have known Hossa would leave, and that we wouldn't replace him. Last year we had Hank and Franzen at bargain prices...this year we don't. I think they wanted to keep Hudler, though we may have had to move someone to do it. Leino for around $2 million less is a move I'm sure most here would have done in the offseason. Willy in for Sammy at $1 mil less...doesn't seem like a bad deal to me. Helm for Kopy is a big upgrade. I'm sure most here wanted Ericsson in full time. And funny you should mention 'axing nostalgically overpriced veterans', (assuming you mean Maltby, Draper, and Homer by that) when they have been among our best performers thus far. I'd like to know what moves you think should have been made. Including contract specifics, and exactly how said moves would have effected our record this year. Then build a time machine, and make those moves happen. Basically, unless you have some way to prove that a different strategy would have been more successful, you're just blowing smoke. You all come off like a bunch of pissy brats, whining over a handful of losses.

Well, I think you're being a little too pessimistic about the line. They're not scoring much because they're not shooting much. That isn't that hard of a problem to correct, though I think they could use a net presense. Despite that, both Flip and Leino are on pace to hit around 20 goals. I expect some cold streaks, and some hot streaks that will even them out. I wouldn't really be disappointed by 15 goals from each, but I wouldn't be thrilled either.

Keep in mind that the numbers and players he singled out would leave the team with a little over $6.3 million (assuming that the cap doesn't change, and they have no carry-over from this year's bonuses, and also that his numbers are close...reality could turn out better or worse) to sign: A backup goalie, 4 defensemen, and 4 forwards. (I didn't include the 'entry level' kids, since he didn't really call for anyone specifically.) It's not a completely hopeless situation, and the Hawks will undoubtedly remain a good team, but it is as bad as any contender has had to face. As bad as what we had to deal with this summer, or worse.

Bottom line is that parity is good for the NHL and hockey. The cap helps to achieve parity. Sure, maybe it's fun for you to tune in to a Wings game knowing they will most likely win. But look at it from the perspective of the other team fans...would you want to tune in/buy a ticket if you knew they would most likely lose. Seems that way if you're already losing interest in your team for not being able to dominate the way have in recent years. Yeah, it is being a bandwagon fan if you're only interested when the team is winning. That's the definition of bandwagon. The simple fact is that cap or no cap, we weren't going to stay top contenders forever. Cap or no cap, we'd eventually miss the playoffs. You can only get so many prized free agents, so many gems with late draft picks...The cap maybe will hasten the end of our run, maybe not. Maybe we'll recover, win the Cup, then reload next year and stay on top for another 15 years. Maybe without a cap, we'd have signed Hossa, and still be in a similar situation only due to injuries. Maybe we'd have brought in other FAs only to still struggle with players trying to learn the system. It's not like anyone has thrown in the towel on the season or suggested we're in rebuilding mode. No one has said 'we're not going to win this year'. Only that we're not a lock for a top playoff seed, that we probably won't be winning at the pace we're used to, that we shouldn't expect a Central title or President's Trophy. If you're going to lose interest in the team simply because we're not favorites, well... don't let the door hit ya.

That's more or less what he did say.

The line has been very good, probably our best in fact, but they haven't really been producing all that much. I think they need someone to play in front of the net. They seem almost unwilling to shoot at times. I would've never believed it before seeing it, but Leino looks more reluctant to shoot than even Flip. Ideally, Leino will start firing more often, since I'd rather keep the line intact. But if they don't start getting some more goals, I think they need someone like Cleary or Homer in Willy's place.

Of course Yzerman. Dino probably second, then most of the rest of the Wings. Modano, and Gilmour were my favorite non-Wings. Hasek, Selanne, and Mogilny get honorable mention.

It definitely should be a penalty, but only a suspension if you had a good reason to believe it was intentional. I liken it to boarding or high-sticking. Many of those are unintentional, but a player needs to be responsible. If you're going to blindside someone, avoid the head. Or at least hit the body first. And Booth wasn't admiring his pass. He was looking at the defender in front of him, then glanced in the direction he was passing for a fraction of a second. Richards came out of his periphery. If Booth had been looking in Richards direction, you'd all be saying he deserved the blindside hit he would've taken from the other defender.

There are plenty of positives in their play. It might not mean much to the fans if we're not winning, but the team played as well or better in the two games against Colorado and the game against Phoenix as they did in the wins against Chicago, Washington, and LA. Whether or not anyone likes it, or believes it, the team is doing a lot of good things. The PK has allowed 2 goals in the last 17 chances after allowing 6 in their first 18. They are generating shots and scoring chances. Neither the defense nor the goaltending have been terrible, mostly just suffering from occasional breakdowns. The offense is suffering from a lack of finishers. Willy, Leino, and Bert have looked good at times, and will likely get better as they fully integrate into the system. But they're not Hossa and Franzen. Pav and Hank have both had early injuries that, coupled with their traditional slow starts, have also hurt. We don't need major changes. At least none that we could actually make. We don't have the tradable assets or cap room. The truth is that we do need to keep doing the things we've been doing the last few games. Keep the PK and PP strong. Keep putting up 30+ shots. Pav and Hank will start producing. Our secondary scorers will continue to produce or even improve. Then we'll start winning. Not likely 50 games, maybe not 100 points, or a division title, but enough to make the playoffs for sure. Then, with a hopefully healthy roster that has had a season to gel, another good run or even a Cup is very possible.

What are you talking about? The only time he played with Lidstrom was the few games when Rafalski was hurt. He was paired with Lebda for the majority of his games, and looked great. That said, the third pair is terrible right now. Something needs to be done.

While I agree that would be a very good line, they were never a 'regular' line last season, unless you count the last three games of the Finals...in which they were, in fact, quite stoppable. As for the rest of your post, I can't agree that any of it would solve our problems, though I wouldn't think it would hurt either.

They already tried that. Meech was just as bad. The real problem is that Ericsson has been poor too. They need to split that pair up, or severely cut their minutes. Lebda was OK two years ago with Lilja/Chelios. After his benching last year, he was fine with Lilja/Chelios/Ericsson. Not great or anything, but fine for a #6. The one common factor was he had a reliable partner. Now he has Ericsson who is looking very much like a rookie. That amplifies Lebda's weaknesses. Put Rafalski with Kronwall, then let Lidstrom and Stuart try to fix the other two. Alternately, cut their minutes in half for a few games, try to win a few and then experiment. Alternate alternative: Trade Lebda or Meech, call up Kindl, Janik, Delmore, etc.

Heh, not that it matters, but... '97 we started 2-4-0, 4-4-0 after 8, finished 38-26-18 (the last time we won fewer than 40 games)

Question for the Ozzie bashers. Who could we get who would: a) Be better than Ozzie b) Fit under our cap once Franzen comes back c) Be available at a price that wouldn't cost us as much or more on offense or defense as we would gain from a goaltending improvement? A similar question would also apply to Lebda, Maltby, Homer, etc. We're not exactly swimming in assets, so to improve anything via trade we likely have to downgrade somewhere else. The defense, despite the talent, isn't performing. The offense is already lacking goal scorers without Franzen. Our goaltending is struggling. And we already have a lot of new faces on the roster, adding more will just require more time to gel. I think we just need to accept the fact that this team is going to struggle while waiting for Franzen to come back. If we can be 3-5 games over .500 by February, we'll be fine to make another playoff run (as long as we don't have any more serious injuries).

The Hossa contract is still a very good one. He's as good or better than anyone they might lose. We'll see in 5 or 6 years if it stays a good deal, but for next year having a player of his caliber at that cap hit is very good, no matter what other problems they might have. Campbell's on the other hand, would be awful even if they were well under the cap.

He's a RFA too, so I doubt the Wings would be willing to give up the compesation they'd have to pay for anything the Hawks wouldn't match. There's a few good UFA defensemen out there, like Volchenkov, if we need one.

And if Kane and Toews get all of their bonus money, they'll be like $4 million over the cap...which will count against next year's cap. It's about as ugly as you can get. Still, I think they'll end up keeping all three of their big RFAs, and trade some other players like Sharp, Versteeg, Sopel, Campbell (if anyone will take him), or maybe even Hossa.

Over the last four years he's averaged better than a point per game, and 30+ goals. That is $6 million consistency, and he was doing at $2.65 million.

I wasn't saying we would have that much, just that it's possible. For instance, I think it's very possible that Homer will retire, and Lilja may be forced to. Nor do we need a full 14 forwards (technically, we don't need even 13). That leaves you with over 7 mil with two spots to fill (and hand out raises). Again, I'm not saying it's going to happen, just that if Kenny thinks we need a big ticket FA, we definitely have some room to work.

The situation looks a bit better if you consider that 6 of those 7 forwards (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, Leino) could very well be our top 6 next year. Optimistic perhaps, but feasible. $16 mil is a lot to sign Nick, a 6th & 7th d-man, and 6 bottom-6 forwards. Then you have Kindl making a bit over $800k probably taking one spot. Helm, Abdelkader, Eaves, and Meech are all RFA and only Helm I think has much chance of getting over $1 million. (Though Jabs and Eaves have a lot of time left to prove themselves.) Someone like Maltby, Homer, or May could help fill out the bottom of the roster for something close to league minimum. It's conceivable that we could have as much as $5-6 million to spend on a FA. That's if the cap stays flat.

I wouldn't agree with any of that...