Lidstrom for life

I am just glad he went to an Eastern Conference team so he can't hurt us too bad next year

From George Malik's blog on mlive: CKLW radio in Windsor is reporting that former Red Wing Bob Probert has died at the age of 45 after being rushed to a Windsor hospital with no vital signs. Wow. I don't even know what to say here.

Kovy to Kings rumors don't surprise me at all they have the cap room and could use a marquee winger.

By "Dallas Drake type free agent" Holland meant free agent who use to play for Dallas

If the wings sign Modano I am buying his jersey. Just throwing that out there.

Gonchar had a cap hit of 5 million, the pens then signed Martin for a cap hit of 5 million plus Michalek so that is a little weird when you would think they would be looking for a winger right now. Especially since I don't think Martin or Michalek provide anywhere near the offense that Gonchar did.

I see what you did there

Yes! Welcome back Bert!

Right, I would not mind Hudler on the third line, I was just pointing out that the OP is wrong to suggest that we had a bottom six of all tough players every time we won the cup. I think your third line should have a combination of toughness and skill, you can't rely on just your top 6 for all your scoring. Bertuzzi can play in the top six and that allows us to have either Filpulla or Hudler on the third line to hopefully provide us with more scoring depth.

I seem to recall Hudler playing on the third line in 2008, he doesn't exactly fit the bill of tough. I think Bertuzzi is the best player we have a realistic chance of getting in the 1.5 million range so I hope we get him.

I think its funny that he would comment in a Detroit Red Wings forum and then say its funny that we are talking about the blackhawks...

Of course he doesn't realize the depth of the problem he said they probably won't lose Campbell....are you freaking kidding me? If Chicago keeps the 9 players on that list besides Bolland like he suggests those 9 players alone will total about 43 million in salary (that is assuming 2.5 million deals for Niemi and Hjalmarson) That would mean that with their cap penalties they would have about 11.5 million with which to sign 10 more players just to get them to the minimum roster, realistically they need to sign at least 11 more. And remember that would mean they lose guys like Bolland, Byfleyn, Brouwer, Ladd, Sopel and replace them with 1 million dollar players. If they don't unload Campbell they are epically screwed. I can only hope that Stan Bowman is thinking along the same lines as this guy.

My wild guess based on absolutely nothing: they will find a way to get rid of Huet and Campbell because they have to. They will trade one of their big forwards (Hossa/Bolland/Sharp) and resign Hjalmarsson or a free agent top four defenseman. They will resign Niemi. They will sign a lot of cheap free agents/bring up some cheap prospects. Byfuglein-Toews-Kane Hossa-Sharp-Versteeg Brouwer-Kopecky-? ?-?-? ? Keith-Seabrook Hjalmarsson-Sopel ?-? ? Niemi ? Assuming they can get rid of Huet and Campbell they aren't completely screwed. They will likely have just under 1 million on average to fill each of those question marks. I could see them trading two of Hossa/Bolland/Sharp to get a little more depth, especially at defense. Yes I am bored enough to go on capgeek and solve Chicago's salary cap situation.

The Kings make a huge splash in free agency (Patrick Marleau?) and are the best team in the West for most of the season but fade a little at the end of the year.

I don't know anything about classes but my sister was at a bar in Royal Oak last weekend and saw him there so I would suggest you just keep going to bars in the metro Detroit area and you will probably eventually see him. Good luck and stay safe in the desert.

According to mlive's George Malik "Bertuzzi repeatedly stated that he has two choices to weigh: he'll either continue playing for the Red Wings or he'll retire." http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/06/red_wings_focus_shifts_to_keep.html Also in the article Holland says they will have to "hold the line" on Bertuzzi's 1.5 million dollar salary because raises are due for Abdelkator, Helm, Miller, and Eaves. I found that interesting because I know some people were thinking Abdelkator was not going to get a raise from his 850k salary. Malik says the wings are looking at a # 6 dman and or a grinding forward in free agency and that they will not add a scoring line player. "Mike Babcock very plainly stated that the return of Jiri Hudler and step-up seasons from Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula, Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall would offer the Wings the punch they lacked at times during the 2009-2010 season. There's no payroll room to bring a marquee forward in, and, really, there's no need. Healthy seasons from Johan Franzen, Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula, Henrik Zetterberg and a 20-goal, 50-point season from Jiri Hudler will do the job." I realize it isn't the most popular opinion on this board but I really want Bertuzzi to finish his career as a wing. I was kind of hoping we would find a way to squeeze in a bit more firepower but if we can find a good penalty killing defenseman and a checking forward I will be very happy.

I said "hopefully" not "realistically"

For all you guys saying that Cleary isn't that bad.....you're right, he's "okay". However being just "okay" does not justify a 3 million dollar salary, especially in the cap world. Numbers are slipping, he's becoming more and more weak with the puck, constantly loses battles, and is it just me or does it seem like the guy falls down more than Gerald Ford on a bad day? Cleary was also extremely injured last year and had surgery on both his knees when the season ended, that probably explains the falling down. Hopefully he gets healthy in the offseason and can play like he did in the playoffs a couple years ago all next season.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2010/06/red_wings_tomas_holmstrom_clos.html

Regarding Miller, I think the main reason we are going to sign him is for competition in the summer. I think after training camp we will likely trade or waive Miller if it looks like Ritola is going to work out.

Fox 2 is a TV station in Detroit. Hammond is a sports reporter there.

My thoughts: 1. Apparently the wings don't need a bigger stadium because they are only 17th in the league in attendance percentage. Having a bigger stadium would certainly allow them to sell more tickets during the playoffs but we aren't selling out during the regular season as it is so the economic gain from a bigger stadium wouldn't be that great, at least not until the economy recovers and more people can afford to go. 2. Phoenix should not have a team. Seriously. 68.5% attendance at their home games? Dead last in the NHL. That is terrible for a bottom feeder, for a team that finished with the fourth best record during the regular season it is absolutely disgusting. 3. Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Minnesota all missed the playoffs yet they all had 100% + average attendance. I gained respect for the fans of all four of those teams after seeing that, good for them supporting their team even though they weren't good. 4. The biggest surprise to me was Colorado. Why is their attendance so low? They finished in 8th in the west but they were higher than that for most of season. I can't believe they didn't attract more fans.

Its still a small market. These numbers reflect the % of people in the city that watched the game, not the total number of people in the city that watched the game.

I don't know if you caught Holland's interview during the tigers game just now but he said they are working to resign Holmstrom and Bertuzzi, they are looking forward to having Abdelkator on the team full time next year, and when they get done with their own free agents they will look at adding either some toughness or secondary scoring so it looks like option 1 is more likely than option 2. According to my cap geek calculations they could resign Bertuzzi and Homer for what they made this year, resign Abdelkator and Helm at 930k each giving them the minimum roster requirements and then they would have about 2.8 million in cap space left (assuming the cap goes up 2 m). So for option 1 we can sign Bertuzzi and an UFA for about 2 million or option two is not sign Bertuzzi and sign an UFA for about 3.5 I am not sure we can get a "great" player for 3.5 million but for the purpose of this thread that is probably the range we are looking at. I would prefer they keep Bertuzzi and try to sign a third line winger with some offensive upside but I don't know who that would be.

Please god no. I hate Notre Dame, its bad enough we signed Jordan Pearce. I think I would rather we take a defenseman in the first round unless the brass thinks one of the forwards left on the board has absolutely huge potential and I just don't think this guy does. 4 goals in 28 games in the CCHA is not impressive even if he was a freshman and a two way forward. Frankly I can't believe this guy is projected to go in the first round, I don't think I would even want us taking him in the 2nd if he was available...