mmamolo

From a lot of what I have read there seems to be some confusion on what can and cannot happen after arbitration. From what I understand there is nothing that prohibits Detroit from trading Hudler once the arbitration process is complete and the Wings agree to a deal. I think a lot of ppl are confusing the arbitration situation with the offer sheet situation which is when you cannot move the player for a minimum of one year. As far as I know the Wings can sign Hudler to a deal and then either keep him on their roster, let him walk to the KHL or trade him. At the end of the day it's some what arbitrary at this stage as Hudler is all but going to the KHL anyways. All this process does is determine what contract Hudler will have if he chooses to come back to the Wings and the NHL after his KHL contract expires.

Even during the heated rivalry between the Wings and Avs you had to love watchign Forsberg play. Even though he could single handedly beat us he was still one of the best players of the 90's and early 2000's. Who else can miss an entire regular season and then come back and lead the playoffs in scoring? Forsberg WAS an absolute beast. But those days are done. Would it be a fun novelty to have him on Detroit today? Sure. Would it be funny to see one of our biggest rivals of the 90's suit up for us? Of course. Will it be an effective move if done by Holland? For all intensive purposes, most likely not.

Losing Hudler to the KHL is different than losing Hossa, Samuelsson and Kopecky to other NHL teams. Although we get no return we still own his rights if he decides to come back. I know we don't get anything in return today but it's still a little bit different. Although I do see what you're getting at by losing a roster player today

I think the Wings cap situation just got all that much more complicated with the news that the KHL won't officially register Hudler's contract until after the arbitration hearing which all but ties Holland's hands in terms of making any other moves. The only way this won't affect the Wings is if Hudler fully commits to Russia regardless of what the arbitrator awards him and Holland tells him to go. This kind of puts a kink in their cap planning I would think.

Does anyone know exactly how this would work? If Hudler goes through the arbitration process and the Wings sign him he can still go to Russia? If the Wings choose not to sign him after arbitration wouldn't he then theoretically become a UFA? How will it work so that Hudler can still go to Russia but then after his two years if he returns to the NHL be the Red Wings property?

Not that the Wings needed Jay Mckee but I cant understand how no one else would have offered him more money. I know that he probably wanted to sign in Pittsbrgh to have a chance at the cup but at 800k that is insane. There are a ton of other contenders would easily coudl have offered him 1.5M and a realyl good chance at the cup too. No matter how good PIttsburgh is everyone knows how tough it is to repeat. Just ask Marian Hossa

I agree. Personally Im a little surprised Abdelkader wouldn't be on the 4th line in some ways. I do think he'd be better served to spend the season in GR than play on the 4th line but it really all just depends on what Holland decides to do before the season begins. If he signs a 4th line grinder/pk guy and keeps Abdelkader then Abdelkader plays on the third line. If Holland signs someone like a Sykora or Bertuzzi or whoever and keeps Abdelkader then he plays on the 4th. Or Holland can sign two players and send ABdelkader down. Hell, He could even move Meech up to play forward for the time being. We'll see I guess

Not to mention replacing the following: (last year's salaries) Hudler ~1.015M Samuelsson 1.2M Kopecky .5M TOTAL=2.715M with: (this year's salaries) Helm ~.6M Leino .8M ABdelkader .85M TOTAL=2.25M That is only a saving of 465k to interchange those three players. Then you look at: (last year's salary) Hossa 7.45M with: (this year's INCREASE in salaries) Zetterberg 3.433M Franzen 3.012 TOTAL= 6.445M That is a saving of 1.005M So when you think about what happened we got rid of Hossa, Hudler, Samuelsson and Kopecky and replaced them with Helm, Leino, and Abdelkader and gave raises to Zetterberg and Franzen. This saved up a total of 1.47M in cap space. This is all assuming Abdelkader is on the active roster come the beginning of the season.

It's really unfortunate Hudler decided to leave. At the beginning of last season Hudler was given a top six spot and struggled offensively. He was passing the puck in situations where he should have shot and was really not playing effectively. He was moved down onto the third line with Filppula and Samuelsson in hopes that he would find his comfort zone and excel, which he did. Personally, I think he left for the money. For some reason I do feel as though he will come back to the Wings in a couple of years but I think in terms of his role on the team and things such as ice time he's being short sighted. The wings will never be able to match the money Hudler could make in Russia but if he was really that upset about playing time and offensive role on the team leaving on a two year hiatus isn't the way to move up the depth chart. Had he stayed and proved his worth this season, when there is all that much more opportunity up front for the wings, he cuold have really become their 4th best forward...which is all he could really ask for (fitting in behind Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen).

This is the first off season or trade deadline that I feel a little torn on what I think the Wings should do. In some ways waiting until the deadline seems like the smart move but in others taking a slight gamble on someone like Petr Sykora, Todd Bertuzzi or even Miro Satan could work out decently. I think there is a lot to be said about beign able to sign a guy now and not have to give up any assets at the deadline. Especially considering the asking prices have been so high the last couple of years. Either way, someone needs to be signed. Whether it's a fourth line gritty penalty killer or someone they feel could add soem scoring on their 3rd line. Depending on what they do shoudl dictate how they handle Abdelkader in October.

Personally I think ABdelkader will end up starting the season in GR. If he is on the main roster I can't see him being on the 4th line, it just doesnt make sense to have a guy like him playing such few minuntes. At the same time though I don't know how I'd feel about having Helm centre Leino and Abdelkader either. Obviously if he was to play on the third line we'd see some different line combinations. I think we'd see Leino get moved up to the second line and then maybe drop down a guy like Cleary to fit well on a line with Helm and Abdelkader. They would have speed, grit and some scoring ability.

Breaks aside, it all really boils down to injuries. Datsyuk and Lidstrom not being at 100% hurt us big time. It just wasnt meant to happen for us this year. Look at how some turnovers cost us and didnt cost the pens. Look at how we'd kill off the first minute and 45 secodns of a powerplay only to let in some cheesy goal. Things just didn't go our way. It was bound to happen sooner or later. At the end of the day it's pretty tough to get to the finals and win it five times out of your last five attempts. We had to lose one sooner or later. It's just too bad it had to be to Bettman's lover boys.