numberthirtynine

Peace out Huds, you'll never be more than you were here. Shame you couldn't just accept your role. Hossa likely will be good in Chi, Sammy and even Kops I can say may have good careers away from here. I know Conks will. But Huds? You'd better hope you light up the KHL and get a huge NHL payday cause you would not survive anywhere else in the NHL. You're a wing. And you just pissed it all away. Your choice. Your problem. Bye.

I think he's a Norris candidate down the line. But in a couple years? Are we really ok with not having a top guy while we wait for him? We're a constant contender, we need a true #1 Dman until he's ready.

I'm not saying he's far behind Lids, he's right there. But Lidstrom became perfect. Vladdy was as close as anyone could get but Lidstrom is just a machine.

This is kinda like letting the special kid have his toys. C'mon...they kinda need him. We all feel a certain pity for Toronto don't we? I mean, after being bad for a long time, they went and got an idiot coach and a clusterf*** GM to really ruin things further.

Unless.......they don't think they'll be able to resign him and this is a move to ensure getting good depth and starter material if it coms to it. Maybe while popping the cap off of their pens, the Nucks front office had Luongos comments on repeat in the back of their minds. His complaining of the team, wanting to win, his impending free agency. Hmmm...I wonder. Because why else would you go out and sign Raycroft to back up a guy who can play over 75 games a season. Unless it's injury concerns in which case, that never really stopped them before. Just saying...

I love Vladdy as much as the next guy but no one's stronger defensively than Lids. Ever, nm Vladdy. You can't be better than perfect. He was a beast though, no doubting that.

I read on capgeek that Zdeno Chara's contract is up one year after Lidstrom's. He makes about the same amount of money. And I think we may target him. The front office isn't stupid. They're not naive enough to try and replace our number one Dman, who happens to have been the best blue liner to ever play hockey, with someone from the roster now. I like our kids as much as the next guy but they know that if Lids goes, and they have over 7 mil to play with, they're going to go out and try and ****** the best FA defenseman around. A few other names that come to mind are Duncan Keith who makes around what is it? 1.5 mil? Yeah, he's not going to want a raise or anything in a year lol. But how in the hell could Chicago keep him? Esp with Seabrook, Kane, Toews, Madden, Buttfuglien, Ladd and Eager all being free agents too. They're going to lose someone. I just noticed the length of Campbell's contract. He's mooching 7.1 mil off the cap until 2016. LMMFAO. Smooth move Hawks. The only other FAs for 2010 worth anything are Neidermayer, who as a rental may not be bad but his best days are beyond him. I never thought he was that good. Pronger, who I wouldn't want on this team. Gonchar, who doesn't play enough D to play on our number one pairing and Pavel Kubina who just isn't good enough. In 2011, same. Not a hell of alot other than Chara. And Shea Weber. He's very good, I dunno if he's #1 defenseman on the Wings good, but he's not bad. So either we make a blockbuster trade sometime in the next two years, or pick up Kim Johnsson or something, I dunno I'm running out of ideas, we're going to sign a FA or rely on someone already here. Which I think we all know deep dpwn, won't be adequate within the next year or two. Kronner and Stuart aren't good enough, they're a perfect second pairing. Ericsson may hit those heights one day but not this soon, no way. I hope we've got something planned. Maybe Lids will sign another two year deal worth a litte less and give us time to plan more. Can you picture Lids resigning for something like 4.5-5 mil, Rafalski leaving, and us getting Chara in his place? Lidstrom and Chara might just destroy planets and impregnate girlfriends. Though one thing I've realized, is we're not going to have free pickins like some years. The NHL seems to be going through a good defenseman drought. There aren't nearly as many as in previous seasons. The best ones are getting older and/or retiring, the younger guys are either all about offense or are horribly overrated (Mike Green, dion Phaneuf, etc.) and the few diamonds in the rough seem to be signed long term (Bouwmeester). But one thing all awful teams had in common? The number 1 Dman on the team, wouldn't be fit to play on our second defensive pairing. If this isn't an indication of how important that specific position is, I don't know what is. We need someone great there. Every team I came across who seems to be able to score but not stop the other team, or just couldn't win for trying, had an overpaid scrub as their first defenseman. We can't turn into that. We're deep but we need that superstar. We can't waste our team not getting that guy.

If he were willing to sign for a low enough amount that we can get Huddles and Leino signed, would you want him as a one year rental?

Goon, to me, embodies a player who a complete dick. A player with no regard for fairplay or sportsmanship. Chris Pronger is a piece of human s*** who defines what I refer to as a goon. And Simon, well....he goes without saying.

frack. oh well.

If this is a joke then I apologize but c'mon, it was once, he didn't have a rep for crippling people and he's been a standup guy ever since. He made a mistake. He's definitely not a goon. Let's just look at it from across the table-if we wanted a knock down drag out kickass goon.....we'd be disappointed with him. Goons are Chris Simon, Chris Pronger, Boogard, most of the Ducks lineup, etc. Not Bert.

Has Tyler Arnason signed anywhere? He made like one and a half mil last I saw and is a former 50 point scorer on a pretty blah Avs team. I'm not sure of the grit factor but he might not be a bad signing if we can't retain Hudler.

Buddy don't fish for an argument here. I never said I wanted him. I'll say it again. I was just genuinely curious to see who would sign him under the given circumstances because it's not impossible and it was a certain reality a year ago, so asking for opinions shouldn't need your approval. And the universal answer so far isn't no so that's all the answer you need.

Lmao did I forget to pray to you before I hit submit? It's a legit question. We may not retain Hudler and it's not impossible that Sundin, who certainly isn't indecisive or anything, may want a chance at a championship with us. I was genuinely curious to see the popular opinion on whether or not we should sign him under these circumstances. Thanks for contributing by the way.

Wow. Settle down, that wasn't the idea. And I'd rather have Drake back again than Moen. Moen seems to be the new name we overrate when we panic and want a grit player. Or Mike Grier lol. Mike Grier would do absolutely positively goddamn nothing to make us better than we are now. Now Chris Neil, that's a different story. He at least has some skill to go with it. He wouldn't be a liability. It's too late but still. I'd much, muuuuch rather have a player who isn't likely to cough up the puck in his own zone constantly than be gritty. A smart defensive forward is what I'd want. I wish we could've got to say, Madden first or someone like him.

Why is Travis Moen the recent sexy choice for a FA signing? I think sometimes we go too far with our love for no name grinders.

Funny thing about Detroit is we get hearts right back into it. You come here, you have fun, play with great players, fellow countrymen, a perfect work environment and no pressure to be the superstar of the team. If he comes here and doesn't get that spark back, at least he'd know for sure then that it's over.

He who benefits. Guys, relax. He just wrote this to get page hits. It's like writing an article saying Hasek or Roy were horrible goalies, or Yao Ming isn't tall or George Bush was a good president. You know it's stupid, wrong and was just written to rile up and excite people, and get page hits. It's a cheap ploy for attention. Usually these bloggers get a big hit at first and fizzle out because they have no content. Quality writing rules all. Or there's the small chance he believes this and he's a total moron.

K. Neither do I. Never said that. I'm not here to fight. Datsyuk and Hank didn't get paid top dollar but man, they're still getting a total of around 13 mil between the two of them. That's a huge diff compared to 3 mil. I can't blame him totally if he takes his payday.

I always wonder that. Like I said before the diff between 1 and 3 million is huge compared to the diff between 10 and 13 million, or 30 and 33 million. It's security and a future for your family. Alot of people on fan msg boards preach taking less to play for a winner but I also would love to see how many here have the grapefruits to turn down a truckload of 3 million dollars.

Ah Kenny you're so professional lol. The cap world works but we give out so many hometown discounts and it makes us the best team in the league. He's being modest but the man knows how to work the cap. We couldn't keep Hossa but meh, no big deal. I think Abs is coming up. Helm and Leino too. It's time. s*** or get off the pot. May as well bring them up now, they played well and the AHL can only give a player so much. They're all ready to get on a team of superstars and get experience. At this point, I can't think of many reasons why not.

Must be what they wrote on my degree. Probably just that I'm not able to read it, right? People here suggested he's worth 2-2.5 mil. Go look up any other Hudler topic and see for yourself. To say that we all universally hold him to a value of 3 million dollars is so stupid it's an insult to my intelligence. The problem with this statement is that you're projecting your value of him as the value everyone has for him. Not everyone sees him in that light, and an arbitrator likely will not either. He's undersized but undersized players have been stars. He's not relied upon only because we're Detroit and we don't need to. He didn't play that well in the playoffs but I've seen guys awarded decent value in spite of one off postseason. Others here see him as a diamond in the rough who just needs more minutes. Who has more natural talent than guys like Hossa or Mule. Who is a clutch scorer who needs to be on a PP unit. I criticized the collective and I don't expect anything but typical forum responses arguing with it but the fact remains we praise him and then undervalue him. 57 points with no decent linemates, no top unit PP spot and barely any good minutes, in the eyes of an arbitrator and many others, will get him 3 mil or maybe more short of some sort of miracle. Not to mention his age and experience. He's a cup winner who has played for what can reasonably be referred to as a dynasty. It's not as if he's some schmuck who just fluked out in Florida because of having a superstar linemate.

That's all I ever see. Hell I see it in this very topic.

Must've tested it for about 5 min. TSN says he's a Pen.

Dude. Don't question it.