mmamolo

I completely agree with this. I also wouldnt touch any of them because we simply wont have the roster spot regardless of hwo much money they would sign for. The only change I would make to your line up is the fact Draper will absolutely still be a part of this team next season. I think he will be our quasi 13th forward and Eaves, Miller, Abdelkader, and Draper split time until an injury occurs (which obviously it will during the long 82 game season). With injuries to forwards all of those players will each play at least 50 games. I think that makes our group of forwards so much more deep than this season. Unfortunately if this is the route we go it means Ritola walks since he is out of minor league options. However, in the pinch we're in I wouldn't be too upset with that.

To me the criteria are set in a very specific way for a reason - both in terms of defining the age requirements and the experience requirements. That being said, for anyone to make the arguments of (1)Howard's age being used against him or; (2) his few previous games of NHL experience or multiple years as a pro in the AHL being used against him, seem really contradictory to me. I'm not trying to knock anyone by saying that and the fact is despite the fact I think those two arguments are silly, I do realize that not only will ppl believe them but the sports writers will use them. The facts are Howard is not only classes as a rookie by the NHL in terms of age but also in terms of experience. Being 26 years old and having AHL experience and 5 odd NHL games experience before this season should have nothing to do with the voting. That being said, as much as I'd like to see Howard win, I'd be hard pressed to not vote for Myers. My prediction: 1. Myers 2. Howard 3. Duchene

At the end of the day we all have our biases and you can make all the justifications you want. Any of us can spin this argument and make either goalie out to look better or worse than they are. Personally, I really like both Howard and Osgood and I don't want either of them gone under any circumstances next season because I think they both bring a lot of value to this team. Yes, the Wings had poor showings in both of their last two games while both Howard and Osgood were in net. Yes, both goaltedners let in weak goals. And yes, the Osgood supporters can blame it on the rust and the Howard supporters can blame it on fatigue while the Osgood haters can blame it on diminished skill and the Howard haters can blame it on being overrated. The fact is we should be approaching this topic as (hopefully) Osgood and Howard are and embracing this duo as a tandem. Osgood is mentoring Howard and the duo are working well together. Babcock is going to go with who he thinks will give this team the best chance to win and we, as Wings fans, should be pumped at how our season (and team defence and goaltending) has turned out because a couple months ago we looked like s***. Yeah, I wish we had had the luxury of being able to get Osgood more starts throughout the year but we've seen the emergence of a great young goalie. Yeah I wish Osgood didn't let in a s***ty goal some 20 seconds into the game in philly but I'm happy that he had a solid 3rd period. With 3 games to go in the season we're battling it out for 5th in the West let's reserve judgment on our goaltedning situation for these last few games. I agree it would have been great if Osgood had come out and dominated the Flyers but now that he had a chance to knock some rust off he should have a chance to play the Jackets on Friday and if he puts in a solid performance I think we should all be pretty content. Things have come together well for this team so bickering over the goaltending seems pretty silly to me.

100% Agree Also, I like Abdelkader as much as the next guy but I don't understand all the posters on this board that think he's going to get a raise. 850k is a big salary for what's he's done so far. Coming into this season Ville Leino had way more hype and 'potential' surrounding him and he had the same price tag. For me, i can't really imagine Abby getting a raise. Yeah, he'll be on the team but I think his price tag will be about the same. Plus, there is no way he is immediately thrust into the 3rd centre role. Everyone keeps making projected lines and throwing him in that spot and that is ridiculous. He didn't exactly have the greatest of tenures with the big club this season and he'll be slowly integrated into things next year. Also, I can't understand how so many ppl are willing to part with either of Eaves of Miller. I do understand there is only so much room but both have played massive roles in this team this season. Both Eaves and Miller have shown they have the ability to put up solid numbers in 3rd and 4th line roles. By getting rid of Williams and with the potential retirement of Maltby those spots are all the more important. Obviously a lot depends on Hudler's and Maltby's plans but on the assumption that Hudler comes back and Maltby retires and Ritola impresses at camp: Franzen - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Filppula - Zetterberg - Hudler/Cleary Eaves/Miller - Helm - Cleary/Hudler Draper - Abdelkader - Eaves/Miller Ritola If Hudler isn't able to get out of his KHL deal then Bertuzzi is brough back: Franzen - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Filppula - Zetterberg - Bertuzzi/Cleary Eaves/Miller - Helm - Cleary/Bertuzzi Draper - Abdelkader - Eaves/Miller Ritola

My understanding on the LTIR is the following: While a player is on LTIR you are allowed to replace him with a player who has a salary equal or lower to his for the duration of the initial player's injury. After that injury both players may remain on the roster so long as you are now cap complaint and do not exceed the 23 man roster. So you can look at it in terms of temporary relief I guess

You missed the point of what I was saying in my previous post. My point was that Howard is hopefully turning into that legit stud goaltender and Holland wont be giving up on him. The Wings were patient in his development and are not seeing the benefits of that patience. As good as Osgood has been in the last two playoff runs and as good as he has been in various regular seasons etc he's never been looked upon as a premier NHL goaltender. If Howard continues on the path he's currently on he potentially could become a premier guy in this league. That obviously is hoping for a lot of things to go right but the point is he is on that path. All i was saying was that although Holland would overpay and shell out an absurd amount of money to make it happen, there is no way he gives up on him either. So maybe you should understand the post first before you try and knock it

Another way to think about it is terms of daily cap hits and allowances. The season is broken down into 193 days. Do if you take a players year long cap hit and divide by 193 you get their daily cap hit. You can use that information to figure out how much space a team would need to have a vailabel to add certain players at the trade deadline. That's why right if you go and look at the Penguins cap figures (which are all presented in annual cap hit numbers), which include Poni and Leopold, something doesn't add up. However, if you were to break everyone's cap hit down into daily cap hits and compute days on the active roster and sum them all up they'd be cap compliant. Most NHL cap sites don't go that extra mile to show that daily break down because there's no convenient, easy to follow way of doing so. Persaonlly, I think capgeek.com does the best job. If you hunt through their site a bit you can find enough relavent information to work your way through your questions.

Although I do agree, let's take a look at the stats: Ryan Miller: 38 W 16 L 8 OT .929SV% 2.21GAA 5SO Jimmy Howard: 32 W 15 L 9 OT .926SV% 2.24GAA 2SO Pretty damn comparable. That being said, I still think Miller wins it but you gotta figure Howard gets some thought.

This is spot on. If Osgood has to come in this postseason it wont be like last year. I'm not saying he has zero chance of performing but it will be a different beast he'll have to overcome. Last year he battled with inconsistency while this year he'll have to battle with inactivity. Those are two very different situations.

In all honesty I think it's safe to say that Williams is the weakest link up front. He's supposed to bring some secondary scoring but he hasn't. The only thing he does is play the point on the second PP unit but that unit isn't exactly clicking. In my opinion, if anyone sits in the playoffs for one of the blackaces it'll be him. THere is zero chance that Miller or Draper sits (like some posters on this site have suggested). That being said, in my view, there is zero chance Williams is brought back next season. While Miller and Eaves have proven their worth not only by their inspired PK work but their constant work ethic and daily drive to learn and improve.

I completely disagree. Blowout or no blowout I think had Canada lost that game they would have been in a complete state of panic. I live in Canada and honestly, the media here throws a complete s*** fit when Canada 'underperforms' on the big stage of international hockey competition. They have competition committees and task groups and strategic implementation teams and blah blah blah to find out what's wrong with Canadian hockey. I swear, you can't turn on a sports television station without hearing about it - when Canada loses. It is absolutely insane. If Canada had lost taht early it would have been an absolute s*** storm

1. The Oilers streak ends tonight, no questions asked. 2. Can someone tell me why Draper was elevated to the 3rd over Helm? Hell, I would have much rather seen a full shift of the 3rd and 4th lines. This is a perfect chance to see how some different combos work. Personally I would have tried: Miller - Helm - Eaves Meech - Draper - Williams Or at a minimum gone with Helm as the 3rd centre Miller - Helm - Williams Meech - Draper - Eaves

You're definitely right. Looking over Lidstrom's career numbers one might say that this year's offensive numbers are on the low end but if we take everything into consideration I think we should all be really happy with his game. In a year where everyone's numbers took a dip (due to injuries and departures etc)he should end up with 50 pts. Yeah it'd be great if he got 55 pts or whatever but with the PP struggles we had mid season and the lack of depth during our injuries I think he's done a great job. He's consistently played great defense and despite his goalless streak this year, in my opinion, he should still get some thought when discussing the Norris. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter if he wins it or not. Obviuosly I'd love for him to win it, hell I'd love for him to win two more and get 8 for his career, but he helped do what so many ppl thought the Wings couldn't do and that's get in the playoffs. He's a key cog on this team and if his play continues the way it has been down the stretch we're looking like we could be dangerous.

That may be true. But if Howard continues on this path and turns into a legit playoff performer you don't just let a guy like that walk. You find a way to make it work. Franchise players, at any position, just just turn up. Now, I'm not saying Howard is a franchise guy but I'm saying the way he's playing it's not entirely impossible that he develops into one. We've waited a long time for Detroit to produce a legit stud goaltender and we've waited a long tie for Howard to develop. If after two years in the NHL Howard looks like he's moving well along on the path to stardom and you can retain him you better believe Holland will do so.

Fair enough...although Lidstrom strikes me as the kind of person who likes everyone. He's too mild mannered to dislike a teammates wife/girlfriend etc. Or at least vocally.

Going into the playoffs we see the same goaltender discussion come up. Some goalies get an unfair bias in their favour while others get an unfair bias against them. One thing that is fair to say is that if someone has never played in the playoffs you simply don't know how they'll handle the atmosphere - to me that's Howard. As much as we all love what he has done, and he should get the recognition for that, until he does it in the playoffs we just have to sit tight and wait and see. But for anyone to blab on and on about guys like Luongo and Kipper it just baffles me. On one hand you have Luongo who at times has looked good in the playoffs and at others has stunk up the joint. He has yet to prove he can absolutely steal the show and take his team all the way. Kiprusoff has at least made the finals but he's always so fatigued and really, in my opinion, is inconsistent come playoff time. Some ppl will throw the Olympics into the equation when talking about these two guys (as a + for Luongo and as a - for Kipper) but at the end of the day the Olympics aren't the grind that the NHL playoffs are. Single elimination is nothing compared to the rigurs of a 7 game series. As good as Bryzgalov has been this year, even he is unproven in the playoffs. Huet has done jack s*** in the playoffs. Nabakov has never been exceptional come playoff time either. ANderson is unproven, Quick is in the same boat as Rinne as Niemi and as Howard. To me the West is wide open in terms of goaltending. It's all a crap shoot. Some will surpass expectations while others will falter. Let's just hope that Howard is one of the few that surpasses them. I'm on board and agree in principle but let's be fair, Kipper has been to the finals.

1. Hawks - goaltending to cause them to flop 2. Sharks - Marleau and Thornton to choke 3. LA and COL to put up good fights no matter how far they end up going 4. Bryzgalov to play well 5. Theodore to bust and Varlamov to take over 6. CAPS to eliminate PENS in 7 in ECF 7. BUF to take PITT to 7 in 2nd Rd 8. BOS and MTL to get man handled in the first round 9. Howard to continue to be the man no matter how far Detroit makes it 10. Franzen to continue to be a playoff, clutch goal scoring machine 11. Datsyuk to be playoff injury free and continue to put up pts like a beast

Personally I dont want Vancouver in the first round. I think the Sedins are playing really well I'd rather see if they can make it or break it against someone else....same thing for Samuelsson. Luongo hasn't looked that great since the Olympics but he *can* be a game changer. The thing with Phoenix is although they have been playing really well since the Olympic break they have won a chunk of their games in shootouts. That's not to take anything away from them but it is worth noting. Also, in all fairness they do have players that are playing well above their heads. Since the deadline Lee Stempniak has 12 goals in 12 games. There is zero chance that he keeps up that pace. To me, the Coyotes just reak of a team that will be happy to get into the playoffs and some of their overachieving players will fizzle out. The only thing they legitimately have going for them is Bryzgalov and as good as he is I think the Wings could beat him. I dont want to pick my poison but I'd rather not seeing a Wings/Canucks first round match up.

Iginla has 3 years left on his contract and turns 33 on July 1 of this year. HIs current contract pays him $7M/yr over the remaining three years of his deal and that goes along with a $7M/yr cap hit. I'll admit that he is a great Right Winger and could definitely do a lot of damage but that price tag is huge and he only put up 35 goals last year and currently sits at 32 this season. Granted, that is in Calgary and he is playing with Stajan right now I believe. So you'd like to think that would obviously go up playing alongside Datsyuk or Zetterberg or hell even Filppula. But in my opinion, $7M for 3 more years is a lot to tie up when we have a lot of guys over the course of the net few years needing contracts I think that would make things that much harder to retain the future of our team. Stuart and Kronwall need new deals in two years. Ericsson and Howard need new deals after next year etc.

Let's assume Howard keeps up his play through this year's playoffs and throughout next season and the 2010-11 playoffs. Personally I'd imagine he'd get the same treatment as the other young players that established themselves as part of the young core of the Wings moving forward (Kronwall, Filppula etc) and would get a similar contract. They got 5 year deals with their pay increasing over those years to reduce their cap hit. I'm not saying Howard would necessarily get 5 years because as ppl have mentioned goaltenders are a little riskier in terms of term of contract but I think he'd be treated similarly. I could see a 3-5 year deal in the $2.5-3M/yr range. Which, in my opinion, based on experience and performance would be fair. It's true that his numbers are extremely good and that if they continued to be that solid through 2010-11 that some could argue that would be enough to establish himself as a legit potential long term #1 guy in my mind I think that earns you the trust and faith of a 3-5 contract as I outlined above. Personally I dont think that earns you a $5M/yr contract. Also, after the 2010-11 season Osgood's contract is up and you'd imagine that either he'd retire or he'd be our full blown back up and would be paid accordingly (say 750k). Draper's deal would be up and he'd almost for sure retire as well or see a pay decrease (from his $1.583M/yr deal). So even if Draper resigned for say 750k suddenly you have an additional $1.5M to go towards Howard's new deal, plus the 715k coming off the original Howard deal for a total of $2.215M. If Howard were to get a deal with a $3M cap hit you only need an additional 785k to make that happen. I think they'll absolutely make the room. After all the time and energy they put into this kid there is no way they let him walk if his play continues at this pace - let alone if he continues to grow and mature over the course of the next year +. Howard was, and still is, looked on as the goalie of the future. Ideally he has, or will, join the young core of players we'll watch for years to come on this Red Wings team.

s*** Riggs

Even though I have nothing to do with this, somehow even I feel vindicated by this. Good on you

Datsyuk is our best chance and in my opinion this season was an extreme set of circumstances primarily based around the departures and injuries. He has all of the tools to do it and I'd be shocked if next year he didn't end up with at least 90 pts. So that being said I think Datsyuk has a great shot at 100 pts/yr over the course of at last the next few years. I woudl imagine he breaks that mark at some point. So yes, I think we'll have one - Datsyuk.

Will you marry me? This DVD is absolutely amazing. Anyone who doesn't own this needs to buy it right now.

That one chick looks steamed....maybe she's jealous Patty is giving that other chick all of his attention. Also, I agree, I think Eaves should get a shot on a scoring line at times. He's got a bomb of a shot when he uses it so hopefully if things ever slow down (which Im not hoping for) he'll get a bump and he'll show everyone he's the man