Opie

So with the 4 mil bonus paid does this make him more attractive now? Any new suitors in the mix?

Chi's biggest problem, almost all of their D is offensive, save Kieth, and Huet is mediocre at best. With 4 men in the O zone and one D and Huet back that is bad news. Real bad news! They are almost turning into the lightning, only saving grace right now is there young D which they may lose next season. They should have gone after anyone, hell take a shot at Clemenson or Conklin, who is there back up currently? Maybe they trade Hossa to Bos for Rask and Kessel! Just kidding!

Yeah and everyone seems to forget that when he scored those 40 goals the wings were allowing 4 goals a night and needed the offense to save their asses. Hossa and Dats did a s*** load of work in the regular season to get this team to #2 in the West #3 overall. Why is it again that wings fans are labeled spoiled? Can't remember?? If your Hossa V. Mule argument only involves skill then yes, you are 100% correct. However in todays sports age, cap hit has to be figured in, and on this Wings team Mule at 4m >>>> Hossa at 5.2. I would like to see Mule Flip (Leino/Hudler/Cleary) this season or (Mule Helm Hudler/Leino/Cleary) (I assume the 1st line will be Cleary Z Dats, however my assumptions are usually way off!) I think a line of Mule and Helm would be awesome, those two forechecking and a speedster in the zone looking for loose pucks, WIN WIN!

Fantastic post! Ken Holland is the best GM in sports! He may have had a great help with what he started with, but how many GM's go somewhere only to blow it all to hell even if they had a contender there the year before!

I am not saying there is any merit behind it, just that with Bowman behind it two things are going to happen, it is going to work, as in their is a very friendly cap hit to trade if need be to make room for others. I would be way more worried about Campbell and Huet contracts before I would hossa's. The other way it works is that Bowman is losing his marbles and this destroys the Hawks. I am on Bowman's side until I see it bomb in his face, but I agree if Holland put the Wings up against the cap for 12 years with an aging forward and the Wings lost the core young players I would be bulls***. Detroit (except this past year, because you can't pass on last years Hossa contract) always seems to be set up for Vets leaving or on expiring contracts when the young up and comers are scheduled to get paid. For instance Lids next season, he will sign for less and alleviate all the cap hell from the one year Hossa signing. I imagine if Lids contract were a year or two longer, Holland would have passed on Hossa, cap hell for 4 years is a lot worse than 2.

I almost had to vote NO because there was not a option. EDIT: Egroen, I hate to be riding on your coattails all day, but it is such a nice ride! If that is true I would still rather have Mule for 4 and no Hossa. I said all along I would love to have Hossa back, but some where near 5 so as to keep Mule and the rest of the core together. That Mule Flip Hossa line was sick in the postseason against ANA!

Hossa >> Havlat Hossa 12 years 62.4 m << Havlat 6 years 30 mil (numbers from article) Same cap hit (basically) one 12 years for a 30 year old, one 6 years for a 27 year old? If Bowman is behind it there has to be merit to it!

Draper and malts contracts both bothered me. especially the Malts one, he was on the decline before he signed that deal. I would have like to have seen a 2 year deal or a succession of one years. But like you said: apparently a lot of people on this board don't like the mileage in their Ferrari!

Wait until July 1, give him a one year deal and say, hey remember when Hossa left you and lost the cup to us. Well we got him one year on the cheap, took him to the finals and he let us down, can you do better? Now I don't blame Hossa for the loss, however what a great sales pitch to one of his former teammates! Plus Datsyuk and Kovy, oh I need to go change my shorts, BRB!

These two teams will be better just by maturity, especially if the B's pull off Kessel for Kaberle, they badly need a playmaking D-man. He may not be Doug Harvey defensively but he will likely be paired with Chara, so that may not be too bad, although Chara does like to pinch. The B's will need a first line scorer, last year with Savard having Kessel and Lucic they B's were hot and cold, if they trade Kessel they definitely need another forward. Hey Kessel's rights, for Hudler's rights? Just kidding~

Egroen, I think Holland had no option, everyone knew they were up against the cap and needed a Grateful Dead style miracle to get him on the team. After back to back to back WCF and back to back SCF I have a feeling no one wanted to help Det, not ever Lowe was going to throw an offer at Hudler, because as much as that could help EDM it definitely would help DET. And no one wanted to be the guy with Hossa' s rights. Nobody had a clue what he wanted. Now with Hossa gone it will be interesting to see if Huds gets a sheet, I doubt it as he did not have a Dustin Penner 07 kind of year and he is not Tomas Vanek either. Other than Quincey (replaceable) what did Holland really lose recently for nothing, that would have made the roster? Loses this year Sammy? got more out of Sammy than the Wings ever put into him (not that he is gone yet) Hudler, they may lose some future value, but I will argue they are smart enough drafters to make up for that as there never seemed to be top 6 minutes consistently for him. Hossa, as much as I wanted him around, he was not fitting and I can not blame him for leaving. This team made the SCF game 7, and Hossa as Helm, Leino etc.. were all a part of getting there and all a part of coming up 2 goals short. Kopecky, meh no beef with the kid, but Helm is better IMO. Lebda/Meech (With a healthy Lilja ) no big loss again due to Ericsson. Maybe Holland sees it as what he has(In the system) is cheaper and equally talented to what he is losing. Obviously not Hossa. Abdelkader is waiting for Malts to be gone, Leino is waiting for Sammy to be gone. To me the Wings are still the deepest team in the league, if not they are near the top, I see your point though as Quincey walked away for nothing, not even a low draft pick and Hossa, Sammy appear to be doing the same. BTW NOT ARGUING WITH YOU! more brainstorming.

Another class move by the org if true, and I am with them, he played here for relative peanuts, he turned down nearly 10 a year(I think edm's offer was 10 but I could be wrong) to play in Detroit. He did nothing but praise and good things to say about the org. Played his ass off in the regular season, played great defensive hockey with no goals and a lot of posts to show for it. Oh well, you can't win them all, but Detroit sure likes to try! And I love that my team is always trying to win and get better! As much as Maltby, Draper, Homer, etc.. deserve respect and consideration so did Hossa. He did the Red Wing thing, he took far less money to be a Red Wing. I think if the Wings had been able to do 50 over 10 he signs. Good luck Hossa, except when playing the Winged Wheel!

Not a bad deal for the team or the players!

Draper stays or goes his cap hit stays, so yeah cut his ass and then still eat his salary even though the wings are in cap hell! Good thinking Sparky, next time post before you puff puff pass, it is my rule and has stopped lots of dumb posts, well some still get through but nothing that quite holds this kind of beauty! Friends don't let friends post stupid s*** without thinking it through first! Losing: Sammy Hossa Lebda\Meech (with Healthy Lilja Kopecky That is 4. OH oh I have another fabulous idea, instead of just posting who to get rid of, find the replacement that fits under the cap that would be better and as cost effective (read cheap) as Draper and Malts? Listen I am all for Malts hitting the road, but how?

To me the top three should start with the 3 Lester B Pearson nominees firstly the winner! Ovechkin Datsyuk (Hey I am a wings fan, jk you get the point though) Malkin But what do I know?

Great Idea, trust me keep the tradition. I tell this story a lot when it comes to this discussion, but here it goes anyways: The Garden to Fleet Center transition was horrible, the feel of being in an old building was gone, the Garden was uh the Garden. Fenway continues to remodel and find ways to get more people in and increase the conditions in the park each year. Granted it is the most difficult ticket and one of the most expensive, they are doing tremendous things with that park. Year by year a new section gets new seats, each year they have added seats to landmarks. The seats on the monster where better than anything that can be accomplished by a new building, you can't replicate the monster, and then to be able to sit atop of it! OH MAN! The Fleet Center Bank of America Center TD Banknorth Garden TD Garden can not replicate the history and is such a standard pro venue that there is no history of its own to make. The feel is gone when there, the building and environment is the same as going to the Manchester Monarchs here in NH, Going to Fenway is like going no where else on earth!

No but if Holland hands Babs 4 rookies (Who all have playoff experience) he is going to have to do something with them, especially with an aging Maltby and Draper on the team! Babs will make the lines and minutes decisions, but not what he is handed.

He doesn't have the choice that is what you are missing! Babcock can make suggestions but when push comes to shove it is Holland that makes the call. Like I said Babs wanted Ericsson Leino and Helm last year he got none of the three, he can want Dany Heatley, Travis Moen, and Chris Neil and it means all of jack s***. He may be saying, I would really like depth over Hossa, and Holland could be saying well we will see what happens. He may be screaming like a monkey that he wants Hossa, it is not his decision. BTW, I don't think Flip will be traded, it doesn't have to happen to keep Hossa, and I think the 2nd will be Mule Flip Hossa, but I disagree with your point.

The same Babcock who put Jonathon Ericsson on the top pairing? Who wanted Helm, Leino, and Ericsson on his roster last year? Yeah, that Babcock, he has publicly stated he does what he can with what Holland gives him, he will make them work. (As in making his lines, he can't call up who he wants, not that Holland gives him garbage to work with) EDIT: remember your "Watch the Playoffs" argument, did you see the Draper Abdelkader Leino line at all?

I'm sorry weren't you the one just preaching about paying attention to playoff performances? See your above post as hypocrisy! Helm had one of the single best shifts in the playoffs and played a huge role, and none of those guys are 18 year old rookies. I will agree that 4th line looks like trash, but what is to say that will be it, Swap McCarty out for a non-washed up player and that line looks good to me. I learned long ago that Ken Holland will always put the team ahead of one player or line or game, he will do the right thing. I even offer you this Daniel Cleary ($2.8m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.1m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.7m) Johan Franzen ($4.0m) / Darren Helm ($0.6m) / Marian Hossa ($5.0m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.8m) /Kris Draper ($1.6m) / Ville Leino ($1.0m) Kirk Maltby ($0.9m) / Stephane Yelle (.750m) /Tomas Holmstrom ($2.2m) And that was just using Yelle because I know he is a cheap UFA, I didn't even look hard and I like those lines a lot!!! The speed on the 4th is similar to the Homer, Igor, Luc line!

Question here, I haven't read the thread just asking, sorry if I derail: Have they stated they want to stay together? Is it the media that assumes they want to stay together? It will hinder them greatly if they insist on staying together the rest of their careers, don't you think? I mean they then will only be able to go to teams that have the cap room to add two high priced UFA's. Those are no usually the teams finishing in June. Didn't really want to start another thread just for this question, if it should be another thread can a mod please do the necessary with it.

Flip is the Wings' depth? Sammy meh, I have been a supporter of his on this site from way back, but really, I'll take Leino. Hudler, here is a tricky situation, he is an enigma, with 3rd or 4th line minutes he is en fuego, on the top lines he is almost invisible. He and flip are only expendable if Hossa is signed (IMO) no other UFA. To me Flip + Sammy + Hudler < Hossa + Leino + Helm Kopecky replaced by Abdelkader or UFA is no great loss to the depth. Lebda is a healthy Lilja away from being gone. Cheli is gone Hossa or no! Conklin is gone Hossa or no! So please do elaborate on how keeping Hossa costs the Wings all of their Depth? Ericsson is ready, Helm is ready, Leino is ready, Abdelkader is ready? So next year instead of having solid NHLers in the A they will have AHLers. I would love to see what Axelson has in GR, love to see Ryno in NA, Kindl in the NHL would like to see what he has. The wings have depth still, we just haven't seen it in the NHL because some of it isn't even in the AHL yet do to the fact the Griffins have had NHL ready talent there for 2 seasons now.

Yeah I have to agree, no one can claim he never had heart, there were two whole seasons in particular where he was about as untouchable as one can be playing Hockey. And yes he was one of the most talented Wings to ever lace them up. I tend to throw a lot of cheesy music, movie, or TV quotes out there. A couple of weeks ago I started a post using a tv show pic (I think it was different strokes that started the mayhem) to use their title instead of the words in my post. I am an asshat, with ADHD, a fair amount of time on my hands, and a lack of self control. A deadly combination!

/thread!

Um that would be because we are fans of the Red Wings not the Ducks, much like all with Cheli was forgotten when he got here. You can assert your sarcasm all you want, but there is no mistaking what happened and how he played. Your opinion of him is whatever you want it to be, but lets not pretend the guy was out there every shift with his heart on the blade of his stick. IF it was we are now talking about arguably one of the best hockey players the game has ever seen. Moginly speed, Bure sniping, Draper Defense, a flare for the dramatic play, the man had a tool chest full of high end skill no denying that, he just liked to keep the tool box locked up and in the trunk more than most of us would have liked, including one Mr. Bowman! Eva loves to through stats and facts out there that look like they completely back up his story and make it unflappable, until you look at what he conveniently left out! For instance in his great defense argument of Feds he completely failed to bring up the Carolina incident, so the front office was supposed to completely forget about him dragging out the team once already only to sign a tender from another club and take him on his word that it is really just personal problems and he is not negotiating with other teams. As Great White once said: My my my I'm once bitten twice shy baby