dirtydangles

B. Richards? Carter? Who do you think would be a good fit for second line center? Or at least work in with Z on that line as part time center if dats and z split.

id go bats*** if somehow holland managed to bring Wiz and Burns here next year. We already had a discussion about Burns and the issues associated with a trade for him, so no need for that again. But I just read an article posted at the top of the site saying that Wiz is the best option for the Wings as long as we can get him at a reasonable price. I like that he has a mean streak, brings character to our team in that sense. I'd be down with Kindl staying up next year as the 6th dman if ericsson is lost-I think Kindl has a lot of potential and was just trying to stay out of everyone's way last season. Coaching: Babs Gallant (O) Hitch (D)

f***! this is bulls***!

THIS. I agree sooooo much with this. I'm so nervous to see who we get. Ideally we'd keep MacLean and pick up Hitch (not likely) but I'd love to see Jiri Fischer or Cheli get a shot because as you said, they would know "Red Wings hockey" and the organization. I want somebody with either extensive experience like Hitch or extensive experience within the Red Wings organization. As for the players, I think that there is a big step to take this offseason. Wiz could be perfect. I like the spark he would provide on the back end, which has been pretty quite of recent years. He, Kronwall, Abby, Helm would keep other teams in check with their physical play for the most part. I want Burns so bad, as i have stated many times, but I know its a stretch. Other than that, I thought Zherdev could be a real steal for this team. He has the tools required to put big points up, just needs the motivation to be there, which I think guys do get from coming to Detroit.

i mentioned zherdev 2-3 weeks ago and got ripped apart...

I agree with this. Of course a GM has plans for when certain guys will be replaced and the contract length reflects that. Rafi retiring really put a dent in us. I hate the fact that we have so much wiggle room. Its fun to dream, but its going to end up being disappointing when Holland doesn't make any big splashes. I was happy with the extra cap we had plus the cap going up, i didn't really want 6 mill from rafi. Thats way too much to play with, so too many options. I think Holland wanted to make one or two changes this offseason to make next years easier. Now he has to be careful making rash decisions, decisions which I think would be exciting but kinda stupid in the long run (all the trades i propose are pretty rash). The more changes you make the more unpredictable the result will be. The timelines for guys moving on are kinda screwed by this a bit, Kenny prolly had some sort of plan worked out that now has to be completely rethought. Lids not knowing yet if he is gonna return makes it a little harder too.

Alright thats fair. But the opposite stands that Richards may take a slight cut in pay to come to Detroit. I dont see him getting 8mil from anyone worth going to. 7mil cap hit is pretty decent coin considering Crosby is at 8.7mil and Dat is at 6.7mil and I'd obviously go with a front loaded contract for around 5-6 years. The other thing is I set the Cap at 62.2 mill which is modest, and there was 1 mill left over. Some sources have the cap going up even 1 mill more than that. There may be more money to go around, i have no idea what Richards is thinking. Second, I don't see why Burns would dislike Detroit, and the whole idea was that when Lids retired we could offer him that big contract for long term with Lids salary. I am proposing that Burns would replace Lids' salary the next season. I don't see why he would want to test free agency. There is that risk, but I think he'd probably stick around as we can promise him a great salary and we have a great group of guys and a lot of players want to play here due to our treatment of players. Finally, we do have some goal scorers on that roster. Franzen only put up 28 this year i believe and 5 were in one game. I'm just saying that he spends a lot of time injured and he's just young enough that if we wanted to move him we still could. And with signing other guys like Burns, Kronner, Stewie, Richards to longish contracts it might be a decent idea to move him. There are guys that can put the puck in the net on that roster. Z,Dats,Richards,Cleary,Jokinen,Fil can all put up 20 at least. I also think Helm will surprise us and pot 15+ this season and Bert will chip in too. The problem is when we rely on Franzen to score all the goals and then he gets injured for a month. I get that its nice to have a guy that can do that, but with less pressure on guys like Z and Flip to center lines they could score more goals. I had Homer listed last not because I thought he should sit, just because I wanted to slot guys into their places (LW,C,RW) yes he can play RW but the lines looked more impressive the way i had it. Just think we need to experiment with somebody other than homer on the top line. But heck, thats my two cents. Holland said he'd be open to making a trade to replace Rafalski. I think Burns, who shoots right and is young, big, and physical is a great option. Its not like im saying lets get Weber or Doughty, I'm proposing something that has at least some potential.

do you have any ideas of your own or do you just hang around ripping on other people's? This is "changes this offseason if you were Holland". This isn't "whats most likely to happen due to the fact that Holland doesn't make big changes."

no thanks. don't need another LW. rather have zherdev and nobody here wants him. We need to think about getting guys on D and O that shoot right...

With Trade of Franzen, Kindl, 1st rounder, 2012 2nd rounder for Brent Burns: CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Brad Richards ($7.000m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) Jussi Jokinen ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.850m) Drew Miller ($0.750m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brent Burns ($3.550m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.800m) / James Wisniewski ($4.500m) Jonathan Ericsson ($1.700m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Joey MacDonald ($0.550m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $62,200,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,145,833; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $1,054,167 This lineup has Cup winner all over it. Maybe just use some of that extra cap space to sign a better backup goalie, I'm not sure who. I'd rather Filppula go over Franzen, but I think Franzen is somebody the Wild would want more than Flip. Plus Flip plays great D.

what would it take to get Brent Burns? I think it would be ideal that he would be up for a new contract in a year so we can use lidstrom's salary to resign him and kronner and stewie for a long time. Then if we signed wisniewski for a real killer top 4. That would be two great Right shooting dmen for the future. Next Season: Kronwall-Burns Lidstrom-Wisniewski Someone-Stuart Year After: Kronwall-Burns Smith-Wisniewski Someone-Stuart I think we can agree that looks like an awesome plan. But what would it take to get Burns in a wings uniform? I'm thinking Kindl would have to go, 1st rounder, future pick, and one top 6 forward (they won't touch Hudler) im thinking Fil maybe even Franzen (might want to get rid of that lifetime contract). P.S. don't come back saying Burns won't be resigned and we can wait a year, the wild WILL trade him for something if he refuses to resign.

THIS. This is VERY true. We don't get a lot of guys coming out of GR at age 24 that are as solid as a guy like Carter. We don't have a top 5 pick in the draft (and likely won't for a long time), so waiting 3-5 years to see if that guy is gonna pan out as an nhler is a real gamble if he's not a top 5 pick (which are likely going to pan out). Instead you could have a guy like Carter who we know is a proven sniper.

agreed, but i think if we want to really make this team a contender we may have to make a trade.

so ur cool with getting physically dominated by the sharks? We were manhandled by them during the regular season and the first 3 games of the series. we need size and youth. Its possible to get a guy with size and youth that can be a: top 6 forward and pker, so theres 2 of your criteria covered. I see guys on other teams sacrificing their bodies (pavelski) by going to ice block shots all over the place (especially sj and vancouver) and we don't often. Stuff like that bothers me. We need some youth and size. id be willing to trade for that, not pick up unwanted scraps from other teams. you gotta give up quality to get quality.

A lot of people are talking about tweaking here and there but in reality we need to make a big move. We need to bring in guys that can help us beat SJ, Vancouver on a regular basis. I see this being a trade for a young top pairing dman and a big ufa signing (richards). otherwise its gonna be another second round exit to a team that is bigger and younger. Our team is good to cruise through the regular season on top but when the playoffs come, we don't have the ability to compete with larger and younger teams when it counts.

This. need to dump hudler if we do this.

if we got rid of hudler maybe. but id rather have carter....

Ud likely see Kindl instead of Cleary going the other way and leave versteeg out of it. Philly won't give up their best Dman prospect without picking a decent one up in return.

I totally agree. Babs does mess with the lines a little too much. Thats why I'd like to see a guy like Carter who is guaranteed a top 2 line spot replace somebody, gives babs less options to keep promoting and demoting guys. For 6 spots ud have: Z Dats Carter Franzen Cleary Filppula (If not part of the trade) Which makes it less likely that there will be juggling of all 4 lines. It would be a guy or two moving between the top 2 lines.

Agreed. Fil would have to go the other way in a package. Him or Abby+ I think philly would like Abby+ better as he is grittier and has a lower cap hit....

They would want a Dman in return. I don't think rights to ericsson who wants a butload of money will fix the situation. We'd have to offer up Kindl as opposed to Hudler probably.... I want to dump him, but he's not philly's kind of player.

Id roll with this (must consider some of these guys may be traded the other way): Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen Filppula-Carter-Cleary Bertuzzi-Helm-Eaves Miller-Abdelkader-Mursak Holmstrom I think Helm has earned 3rd line status with the top 2 lines being loaded.

I've been talking about this for days and everyone has ripped me apart.... I'd offer abby, kindl, first rounder 2011 for carter. philly gets low cap hits and good potential. We get a plug for Kindl on the 3rd pairing until Smith is ready next season. Carter is unreal. I'd take his contract on. He can score AND hes right handed center. These are hard to come by nowadays. Could make the deal bigger to contain Carle by sending back a something like flip+pick.

Well done sir, I actually really like the idea of adding montador. If we don't make any trades this offseason and we are just making UFA signings, Montador would be a great bottom pairing guy. He shoots right, would make a solid bottom pair with Kindl. I'd do a one year contract. Just to keep us flexible for next season with possible UFAs Burns and Suter becoming available. I think we need to make one big UFA Dman signing this offseason (Bieksa or Wisniewski) and then grap a guy like Montador this year. Not to mention Smith may be ready next season. If Holland makes a trade for another Dman as he said he may, its likely that Kindl goes along in that deal. So as long as that doesn't happen, I like the idea of Montador.