mmamolo

These Howard bashing posts are ridiculous. By no means is he perfect but wow the blind hatred is astonishing. If you would rather have Varlamov, Bobrovsky etc. instead of Howard then so be it. To lump Howard into a category with those, while ranking a goaltending like Giguere who is a shell of his former self is mind numbing.

I completely agree that a lot of players probably think the same way about Detroit as Wisniewski. But to me it's those types of players who tend to overvalue themselves in terms of both role on the team and money. Personally, I wouldn't really want that type of player on my team if I were a GM. It speaks volumes when figuring out what these players really play for. I'm not saying you cant want money and to win the cup but when players determine their value based on the free agent class and then get overpaid well that's not true market value. Assuming McCabe or Hannan would come here for a year. I think that Holland was pretty shrewd with his money because he knows how much it's going to cost him next summer to re-sign Kronwall and Stuart and find a replacement for Lidstrom (assuming he retires). It's not that he needs to save cash on this year's cap but it's that he has to save next season's cap hit for players he could have signed this summer. Meaning, the chances of any of these players coming here on one year deals are slim. If he signed an Ehroff or Wisniewski that's 4-6M of unavailable money/cap space next summer.

Gee thanks Yzerman...way to announce the Stamkos signing just hours after the Osgood retirement ha

This could turn out to be huge for McCollum this year.

I know, I honestly thought the exact same thing. As painful as it would be to lose in the first round yeah I would trade a 2012 first round loss for a 2013 Stanley Cup - provided Lidstrom forced another season out. If Lidstrom isn't around then I'd have to rethink that.

As other posters have noted, everything goes through cycles. However, what all of these articles that predict or warn of a fall or dismantling or rebuild that is in store for the Red Wings, sooner or later, fail to ever talk about is the extent of these 'falls'. The Colorado Avalanche are an extreme example of a team that was on top for a period and has since fallen of dramatically. However, the ebs and flows for different franchises won't necessarily be to the same extent. You can point to a couple of stretches over the last number of years as the Wings fall. Through 1999-2001 the Wings didn't get passed the second round. From 2003-2006 the Wings didn't get passed the second round (only making it once and losing to the Flames). Those were years when there were several question marks around this team. They were/are considered transition periods. Just because the Wings didn't fall from contenders to bottom feeders doesnt mean they didn't 'fall' like the article is implying. After those periods the Wings transitioned and move forward in different directions which made them better. Also, for all of you who are so angry after having lost to the Sharks for back to back seasons in the second round just look back to '99 and '00 - the Wings lost back to back second rounds against the Avs. Granted, the following year they got beat in the first round but that was followed by a cup. Maybe the only time the Wings truly make changes is after a first round exit (again, as they did after the '06 loss to Edmonton).

Even though the 2011-12 Wings may be better off with a healthy back up goalie I have to admit this is upsetting. Some times you take for granted these players and what they accomplish. He was a massive part of the success the Wings organization achieved over the last 20 odd years and he deserves far more credit than he'll probably ever get.

Osgood

I really doubt the Wings announce the Conklin (or whoever) signing for at least a day or two (maybe more). I don't think they would want to take attention away from the retirement of essentially the Wings' most consistently prominent goaltender of the last 15 years. Maybe once Osgood's retirement was settled up they signed Conklin. He could already have a deal. Whether Conklin is yet to sign or whatever I can't see an announcement made until at least tomorrow or Thursday - maybe even mroe likely Friday.

I'm just surprised so few of you are conflicted about this news. When I first heard the news about a conference today I heard it was a press conference so I automatically thought retirement. In a lot of ways I think the Wings, as a team, would be in a better position if Osgood did retire simply based on his health/injury status. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be a little sad to see him go. For those of you who have watched the Wings over the last 20 years we literally are at the forefront of a changing of the guard. It's one thing to talk about it but another to see it happen.

You literally stole the words right out of my mouth. No joke, I was going to say the exact same thing. It's funny though because before adding Rinne into the joke I sat here trying to think of any Nashville forward good enough or worthwhile for the Wings to call Nash and since they have s*** for forwards Rinne won out. Rinne is awesome but we're set with Howard. Now that was worth a +1.

Fair enough...but don't discredit all the times it didn't work out

Unless it has been posted somewhere (on LGW or otherwise) no one has said what Detroit offered Vokoun. You shouldn't compare what he signed in Washington to what he could have signed in Detroit for to what Patrick Eaves got. People always act as though any team can have any player for the money they signed elsewhere - as if that's the one and only factor. The Wings, whether people like it or not, have invested in Howard as their starter. They think by showing confidence in his game and role on the team that he will respond. At this point they feel as though he has already earned the starting job and doesn't need to compete for it with a potential Vokoun signing.

Wow, just all kinds of wrong in here. 1. Buying out a player above the age of 26 means you buy the remainder of the contract for 2/3 the value ($). The buyout value can then be spread out over twice the remaining life of the contract (that's how you end up with approximately 1/3 of the contract as a cap hit each year for twice the remaining life of the contract). 2. When a team buys out a player they cannot re-sign him for (the last time I checked) at least 1 year. 3. Tampa is a team struggling with cash. Buying out Lecavalier is not an option because they'd have to dump the full amount of the buyout (2/3 of remaining dollars on the contract) to Lecavalier right away. That would be a massive dent in their bank account and then you think they'd turn around and commit massive amounts of money to Stamkos? That makes no sense

Crosby sees Commodore driving straight at him. Sid freezes as Commodore RAMs him into the boards and Sid has no memory of what just happened. That'd be sweet if he ends up missing a game due to the flu

I think we might be a bit surprised. I think, in camp, Kindl and Commodore will battle for who will be the starting 6th d-man to start the year. Commodore definitely has to prove his physially ready to take on the role and Kindl needs to show he's progressing. Plus, you know there will be an injury - most likely Kronwall. I bet we see White and Commodore in the line up at the same time more often than not. But you're definitely right, I don't know where people are getting the idea Exelby will get time with the Wings. He's probably tenth on the depth chart (Behind Wings 7th, Smith, and Janik).

That McCollum call up was purely due to injuries and after Pearce was there briefly they just wanted to take the chance to let McCollum be around the big club and sit on the bench. It's unfortunate the Wings were being destroyed by the Blues. Babcock took a massive gamble in putting McCollum in the net (I would imagine the plan was just to put him in for 5-10 mins to light a fire under his team's ass) in hoping his team would rally around the young goalie and protect him. It failed miserably and although McCollum's developement has been extremely slow and nowhere near where any of us would like it to be he really should not be blamed for his call up last season. If anything that St. Louis game was a deterrent to the rest of his season as his confidence was shaken. Next time he gets a sniff at the NHL he better be protected. If he gets lit up it could be extremely damaging. Right now I'd say Smith and Tatar are the only sure fire guys to get a look. If any others are needed due to injuries they will emerge as the season progresses.

There's an article on redwingscentral.com right now that notes Holland was in contact with Vokoun.

Don't get me wrong, that trade sounds terrible today. Even at the time, I was 13, I probably would have freaked out if it happened. But in '96 Yashin was 23 and putting up nearly a point per game. Plus, at the time the Wings had a hard on for Russians (today it's obviously Swedes).

I think that's definitely a good point. Most sports fans tend to over value their own players and then get caught up with the idea of getting someone new. They project abilities onto these players and feel as though they are far better than they are. Hell, even some GMs do it and that's why there are always players who are vastly overpaid. That being said, Yandle is definitely a rising defenseman in this league. At his age he still has room to improve his defensive game. But the production he had last season was huge. I would much rather have Yandle's contract than Wisniewski's.

yeah but if we front load that 7 dog year contract hopefully he'll retire before it's completed and we'll be bailed out anyways.

Brunette is a sweet signing. I always liked that guy and for $2M he'll get you 40-50 pts for sure. Olesz is a massive disappointment so far in his NHL career. Stahlberg had a disappointing season - no doubt. He only netted 12 goals. However, Olesz (even if he was brought here to replace Stahlberg which I doubt) has never scored more than 14 goals or 30 points. Not mention his salary is $3.4M in 2011/12, $4M in 2012/13 and $4.25M in 2013/14.

Although you may be right that it would take a package like this to move Doughty there is literally zero chance Holland would make that move.

Sorry Konnan, but you were wrong again... Don't take it too personally, I'm just messing with you.

The following is a list of players who did not receive qualifying offers from their teams by the 5pm deadline yesterday. If they go unsigned by this Friday they will become UFAs. When looking over the list there are a couple of players who could (potentially) be of benefit to the Wings. Personally I like Matt Gilroy, even though he hasn't been as good as he should, and Anthony Stewart. I'm not saying the Wings need to or even should sign these players but I think they're worth a look. For the record, Anthony Stewart scored 14 goals and had 25 assists in 80 games last season with the Thrashers. PLAYERS WHO DID NOT RECIEVE QOs (will become UFAs) ANAHEIM: Kyle Chipchura, C ; Ryan Hillier, LW; John de Gray, D; J.P. Levasseur, G; Nigel Williams, D; Eric Regan, D (Signed in Germany). BOSTON: Matt Dalton, G; Anton Khudobin, G. BUFFALO: Felix Schutz, F. CALGARY: John Armstrong, F; Gord Baldwin, D; Hugo Carpentier, F (Signed with LNAH); Josh Meyers, D; Matt Pelech, D. CAROLINA: Troy Bodie, RW; Jiri Tlusty, LW. CHICAGO: Jake Dowell, C. COLORADO: Philippe Dupuis, C; Brian Elliott, G. COLUMBUS: Sami Lepisto, D; Anton Stralman, D; Tomas Kana, C (Signed in Czech Republic); Petr Kalus, RW (Signed in Finland); Michael Ratchuk, D; Gustaf Wesslau,G (Signed in Sweden). EDMONTON: J.F Jacques, LW; Zack Stortini, RW. FLORIDA: Nicklas Bergfors, RW; Steve Bernier, RW; Byron Bitz, RW. LOS ANGELES: Rob Bordson, RW. MINNESOTA: Patrick O'Sullivan, C. MONTREAL: Alexandre Picard, D; Tom Pyatt, RW; Benoit Pouliot, LW; Dustin Boyd, C; Nigel Dawes, LW. NASHVILLE: Dan Gendur, F; Mark Santorelli, F. NEW JERSEY: Anssi Salmela, D. NY ISLANDERS: Rob Hisey, F; Dustin Kohn, D; Jack Hillen, D. NY RANGERS: Matt Gilroy, D; Justin Soryal, F; Devin DiDiomete, F. OTTAWA: Ryan Potulny, C; Cody Bass, C; Jason Bailey, F. PHILADELPHIA: Dan Carcillo, LW. PHOENIX: Jeff May, D; Matt Watkins, F; Jonas Ahnelov, D; Josh Lunden, F. PITTSBURGH: Tyler Kennedy, RW. SAN JOSE: Patrick Davis, F; Kevin Henderson, F; Carter Hutton, G; Joe Loprieno, D; Nick Schaus, D; Mike Swift, F. ST. LOUIS: Matt D'Agostini, RW. TAMPA BAY: Mike Lundin, D; Matt Smaby, D; Alex Berry, F; Stefano Giliati, F; Kevin Quick, D; Vladimir Mihalik, D; Levi Nelson, F; Paul Szccechura, C. TORONTO: Christian Hanson, C; Brayden Irwin, F; Fabiann Brunnstrom, LW. VANCOUVER: Lee Sweatt, D. WASHINGTON: Josh Godfrey, D; Joe Finley, D; Trevor Bruess, F. WINNIPEG: Rob Schremp, C; Anthony Stewart, RW