Opie

I highly doubt it, in order to fit Sundin in under the cap the Wings would have to trade Sammy and Lilja or one of the following Cleary (NTC correct?) Homer Flip Plus offense really isn't a concern now it is d, and there is no better top 4 in the league they just need to get their bearings. I just don't see him fitting under the cap. EDIT: sorry other ways to make this fit Trade Sammy and Malts/Hudler/Kopecy/Lebda/Meech However they would have barely any room for call-ups, much like right now.

Exactly why buy from China on the cheap when I can order it from NHL.com for well over $100, which by the way was made in Indonesia for about $5. Buying it from these people is no different than buying it from the NHL.com website. They are made in Asia shipped to the US company and from there sent out to people. But make sure you support you US based company which is outsourcing all of its labor and has been since '85, that way you are supporting the good ole USA.

If it were Lucic is way different than it being Laraque, Lucic is a power forward who can fight, Laraque is an enforcer. I agree with you, I would straight up trade Mule and any prospect (yes even Ericsson) to Boston for Lucic. Lucic can't drink legally in this country and is a stud already. He may not be top 10 in the league, but he can score, defend, gets in high traffic areas, and can kTFO some one. I think it is the right decision, 1.5 for Laraque, to me, is an overpayment.

Options: Lehtonen: Is a Free agent at seasons end, probably the most expensive and least likely option. Fernandez: Hasn't done crap but get hurt in Boston and it looks like they have pegged Thomas as the man. UFA at seasons end Khabi: Holy salary cap savior for the Hawks, however they would probably have to eat half of his salary to get him out of town. Rolly: IMO the most likely scenario, former starter being outplayed by a youngster. Half of the price of Khabi. Long Shots (never happens) that are purely me having fun on NHLNumbers.com Halak: do the Habs really need two young future goalies? Biron/Nitty: Maybe but I highly doubt a Phi/NJ trade. Conklin/J-Ho: Maybe Holland feels J-ho will be the real deal, maybe he thinks he will be an AHLer for ever, either way I doubt NJ wants an unproven in net, might as well let Weekes do it, Conklin stepped in very well last year for Pit, but Holland would have to be absolutely 100% sure that J-ho is going to be the man. Raycorft: Maybe Lou doesn't read the hockey section in his paper?

This sentence is what I replied to, you stated that you suspect the real reason he wasn't courted, which to me implies you believe the reason he is not a wing is because he didn't want to be. I simply, sarcastically, pointed out that there were far more serious mitigating factors than just Laraque's desire to play in Montreal. Again, an enforcer who wants or commands 3 years at 1.5 million is all Holland had to hear to know that he was not interested in him. Then on top of that you add the contracts he has to plan for next season and the work he put into Hossa and Stuart's deals leaves him very little time to even think about a contract for a type of player that he very rarely courts or looks into. I don't doubt that the deal to Montreal was forgone conclusion, what you are assuming is a forgone conclusion is that Holland would all of the sudden change the way he operates and look at an enforcer who makes more money than some one in his top 6 forward spot.

Well for future reference I don't need your pity, and sarcasm is a tool used in daily life, for humor and/or emphasis. You must feel pity for a lot of people. I am really glad that I got to converse with such a humanitarian that you feel for so many people. My life seems fuller for having met some one of you high character and moral fiber. What this has to do with Holland signing or not signing Larague is beyond me but, a lot of conversations that happen here are beyond me. But please do tell me how Holland was going to fit a 1.5m 3 year contract under the cap with what he has. He most certainly would have had to give up on A) Hossa B) Stuart or trade Sammy and Lilja. But wait Holland signed both of those guys and when everyone is healthy again is still going to need to trade some one, Quincey did not free up the necessary space. Explain to me, in ways other than trying feeble attacks at my posts, how Laraque fits into the Wings as of the end of last post season. How does he handle signing Laraque and then what does he do with Lilja, Stuart, Flip, Hossa, Conklin, D-mac, Downey. I would be very interested in this theory.

After siging Hossa and Stuart, Holland had no space left. If you think Holland was debating George and one of these two I think you are severely mistaken. Cap space can be cleared huh, the Wings are still in cap trouble once everyone is healthy again. I am not saying George didn't want to come to Detroit, I never argued that, what I was saying is that I don't believe Detroit was even an option. Did you ever hear Holland make a mention of his name? Did the Wings even offer him a contract? Holland and the Wings Modus Operandi for the recent past has been to not sign big name(or whatever term you want) enforcers, not my theory, not my guess, just what has happened in the past 5-6 years. With Hossa, Stuart, Sundin, Selanne (potentially), Campbell and others on the free agent market you want me to believe that the only reason Laraque is not on the Wings is because he didn't want to be is a little bit of a stretch in my mind. It stands to reason that if an enforcer is available that Holland will look right past him (ask GMR and the other "pro-enforcer" crowd what they think Holland's stance on enforcers is), especially when he had already stated that D-mac and Downey would be the enforcers he focused on. Edit: Plus do you think Holland is paying an enforcer 3years at 1.5 mil you again are mistaken, part of the problem with signing Hossa was the amount of money he wanted, and the fact that it had to be either 1 year or multiple years on the cheap because Z, Mule and others needed to be taken into consideration. Sorry you are so sensitive to sarcasm, I tried not to use any in this post.

Trade Hossa Dats and Z to the Bruins for 2 draft picks and a meatball sandwich, then I would quit, leave for Maui and enjoy the rest of my life hockey free and rich with 3 bisexual women with varying size of breast, sometimes I like little ones other times not. Then I would start up my own Cigar company, with the money I made under the table from the Bruins trade!!

Because it is panic time, ahhhhh hit the button, can you imagine this place if the team were 5-5-2, let alone have a losing record through 12 games!!!!!

Really, are you sure about that, useless, really well there are about 18 more useless players than Sammy on this team currently, but yeah why not the 5th highest scoring forward on the team, that is a good way to win another cup!

Point 3: I have stated since the signing of Hossa that Sammy has become expendable in a trade, but with the injury bug to Mule I question that a little, he seems to have a hard time staying healthy. However; I still believe Sammy is going to create the most space in the lineup and garner the most attention from other teams. I question how it would work on the return though, does Leino step in for Sammy, or does Huds get the nod. It can work roster and cap wise to trade Sammy for a true knuckle thrower, but it would be tricky on Babs end of things. Maybe Flip on the first line with Hossa and Dats, Z Huds Mule, Cleary Draper Homer, Leino Helm enforcer/malts. Possibly????? Point 1 is spot on, Cheli coming back is going to perpetuate some movement by the wings,it has to. Point 2, SOONER THE BETTER!

You do have the right to an opinion but when it comes of as an uneducated opinion, as in when you through guys on the roster that don't fit under cap, some one is going to question your opinion, hell posting an opinion of any sort on a forum is usually going to draw questions from some one. I asked you about 5 questions regarding your first post, your response was you have always like Kopecky so why not try it. Sorry if my expression was too harsh for you, I take back the boner comment and instead replace it with: How can you make that roster work in the current NHL? Throwing out impossible scenarios, including ones that remove a top 6 forward for the last 3 years, is going to draw some criticism. If you can't take that I would suggest researching your opinion a little bit better.

Are you also aware that since you are not trading anyone there is no way possible to put those guys on the team? And to your last post, you are going to pull out Sammy and his points, because you have always had a boner for Kopecky, solid reasoning and I am glad you are indeed not Ken Holland.

I am assuming you know you left Sammy off of your roster. So Kopecky, Helm, Abdelkader are all better than Sammy? You do realize there are 4 forwards on this team out scoring Sammy, 3 of which are 3 of the top 20 players in the game? The other forward is Homer, playing on a line with 2 of the top 20 players in the game? You are going to get rid of Sammy why, because you don't like what aspect of his game? or is it just because it is the thing to do? Whom are you going to play win Franzen's spot for the next 2 weeks? How does the cap look with those guys up? I didn't do the math.

Yeah you are probably right, it had nothing to do with the 3 free agents Holland signed and the cap space, it was that Georges didn't want to play for Detroit. You bring up a great point! /sarcasm!

F-Michael, Lucic is technically canadian, not sure if I misread your post or not, but when reading it I got the impression you thought the Wing's Euro scouts missed him. If I am wrong, meh happens often! Sorry if I misinterpreted your post!

Hey don't laugh at Judge Judy until you have peeked under her robe, you will get a whole new sense of what just and injust!

This one should have been on the SATs I would have gotten into Havard with questions like these, KEN HOLLAND WAS TOO BUSY SIGNING A GUY NAMED HOSSA AND ANOTHER NAMED STUART! Sorry for the caps but please people, in this offseason Holland added the premier UFA, the best (IMO) available 3-4 D-man, and a solid backup. A knuckle thrower past his prime was not going to fit under the cap, hell he had a hard enough time filling out the roster under the cap and that is with a log jam of Defensive prospects, that he had to trade one and probably will another to stay under cap. Were half of you people paying attention this summer, what happened was Holland was too busy signing impact players.

I would find a way using CIA technology to delete any past, present, or future thread on LGW that is a ZOMG!!1111!! hit the panic button and change things now the team is not undefeated ZOMG!!!OVERREACT!!!ZOMG!!!FREAKOUT!!!

Everyone who has ever played for the Wings (ever from inception to current) should be on the current roster and could contribute big things!

I don't hate you, but not so sure that is going to get a lot of people on your side. BTW I have Savard and Lucic (kessel on the bench) in my fantasy league, I got 26 PIMs from those two alone!! Thanks to Lucic, and to a lesser extent Hartnell, I win Pims every week by a long shot!!!

My hearth just skipped a beat!! Lucic on this team would make me wet my pants, he is Mule with the fists and fury, I would actually trade Mule straight up for Lucic and even throw the B's a prospect!! But that is one man's opinion. Oddly enough some one who is considered anti-enforcer because I don't think Downey, Norton or D-mac are viable options for an enforcer on THIS team!

The good thing about people freaking out over, what I consider, nothing is that it changes up the arguments on here. It is slightly refreshing to see some one besides me and GMR, or GS&T and Eva etc arguing, now it is usually (not always) some one with a join date of 8/8/08 and Eva, GS&T, GMR it is almost uniting old enemies to face the new enemy. There should be a slight bit of humor and a slight bit of truth to that post!

So with all of the negative threads flying around here I figured lets start one about the pleasantly surprising of just good things going on for this team right now. I would like to keep this a positive thread, there are plenty to post negative thoughts in, can we try our best to be civil, can't we all just get along! I'll start: -Dats and Hossa seem to be meshing quicker than I thought - Pretty balanced offensive attack getting points from 15 different players, only 3 of them having less than 4 points - Hossa scoring on 1/8th of his shots, that is pretty impressive, almost as much as Homers .300 SH% !

In lieu of starting another thread here are Jordin Tootoo's thoughts: Linky-Dinky Doo!!!