dirtydangles

if not this season, then in the next expect to see one of weber, doughty, burns in a detroit uniform. its gotta happen to keep this team afloat. P.S. We need a right handed defensman badly now. Wis is the only viable option imo. but i would only do a 1 yr contract. ill name my first kid kenny if he brings weber in somehow. i really don't mind giving up 4 firsts for him. He is young and talented. Better than anything we would draft with those late first round picks in 4 years. Not to mention we could trade hudler for picks as well.

Two year plan: 2011/2012 Main thing is prepping the D so that it can hold up when Lids and Rafi leave. Trade Huds to move up in the draft. FORWARDS Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.800m) Sean Bergenheim ($0.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Christian Ehrhoff ($4.000m) / James Wisniewski ($3.500m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Josh Harding ($1.000m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $62,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,423,711; BONUSES: $260,000 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $976,289 2012-2013 Sharp becomes a free agent.... not likely he'll make it to free agency but if he does. Not sure how the salaries work with Lids and Rafi coming off the books. FORWARDS Valtteri Filppula / Pavel Datsyuk / Patrick Sharp Tomas Tatar / Henrik Zetterberg / Johan Franzen Daniel Cleary / Martin Hanzal / Patrick Eaves Justin Abdelkader / Darren Helm / Jan Mursak Gustav Nyquist DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall / Brent Burns Christian Ehrhoff / Brad Stuart Jakub Kindl / James Wisniewski Brendan Smith GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard / Josh Harding

WOOOH!!! as the boston arena announcer would say. I'll only accept hitch or chelios. almost anything else would be selling this team short.

turned on tsn, saw boyle and heatley bitching about vancouver diving and was like "now you know how detroit feels, man up *****."

we can have him back next season. hes a ufa and philly has a lot of guys already signed. leino needs a pay raise from his 800,000 contract last season.

might as well get forsberg too

I'm from london and seen him play a bunch. He's got great hands and speed but will need a lot of grooming to turn him into a player with the "Detroit" attitude. Needs to become more responsible defensively and work harder all over the ice. Jurco could be good (real nice hands). I would be really happy with any of those boys.

Zibanejad would be a dream. If he somehow fell to us I'd be so pumped. A 6 foot right-hand center is always a great addition. There are a lot of quality guys this year so I'm sure we'll get someone decent that falls to later in the round, just have no clue who. Hoping is one of those right-handed centers.

Thats why I included a draft pick in there too. I said Hudler, emmerton, 2nd. hell id give up a first for hanzal.

it kinda sucks that we can't truly discuss options because we really have no idea who will be left near the end. Id like to go after another right-handed center like last season and then load up on defenders.

Hanzal would be signed at his current pay rate with Pho, as he has another year left on his contract before he is an RFA. so we'd get him for one year at that 1.8mil and then we'd give him a raise next season if things work out. I agree, Ehrhoff should be closer to 4mil

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Ville Leino ($1.500m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Martin Hanzal ($1.800m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.900m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Christian Ehrhoff ($3.500m) / Anton Babchuk ($1.500m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Josh Harding ($1.000m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $62,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,683,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $1,716,289 I think this solves a lot of our problems. I will address each of them separately. There is an extra 1.7 mil left for wiggle room as I took the liberty of increasing the cap by 3 mil for next season so if you don’t think the salaries are enough for the UFAs then there is money to spread around. 1. We need more size. First off, by trading Hudler, Emmerton, and a 2nd or 3rd rounder for Hanzal we get a center who is 6 5” and can score and replace a small salary-sucking player. Bring in Ehrhoff and Babchuk as UFAs who are 6 2” and 6 5” respectively to make up for letting Ericsson and Salei go and these guys can bring some physicality that the latter could not. 2. Need to get younger. We need young guys that are hungry for a cup. Ehrhoff (28), Babchuk (27), Leino (27), Hanzal (24) would be a great shot of youth into the lineup and these guys aren’t so young that we risk inexperience. We are also left with 6 forwards that can play center. That defense that is left (minus Lidstrom) is fairly young and could be solid for many years if a decent replacement for Lidstrom is available next offseason (Weber). 3. Solid D and Goaltending all around. Our D would be solid for next year as seen. Kindl is also a very capable 7th Dman. I really don’t think that Smith is ready to play on the big team next year. When he is, it would be easy enough to make room by offloading Babchuk. Harding is the kind of backup goalie that is capable of playing quite a few games, and at 26 he is young and still has something to prove. He won’t challenge Howard for the starting spot but will be a solid enough backup that we can be confident giving Howard a rest regularly so that he isn’t overworked come playoff time. Note: The only thing that is not covered here is a Right-handed center. There really isn’t much available (nothing in UFAs) that is worth going after. We don’t have much trade bait either to go after an RFA. I think we have to wait until Sheahan and Jarnkrok are ready in a couple years. I wouldn’t disband any core players to land one. Kyle Wellwood is a pretty cheap option but I just don’t think he is a viable solution as his right-handedness isn’t enough of a reason to insert him into our lineup. I really think Leino can play on this team now. He has gained his confidence back and is proven ready to play on the top lines. He wasn’t as bad defensively as people made him out to be either. As a UFA he can be grabbed up for a lowish price for a 1-year contract to see if he’s the real deal and if he is I see us signing him to a 3 year deal next offseason. The next offseason Patrick Sharp becomes a free agent and I’d love to get him on our team. With Bertuzzi and Homer gone it will be very possible as long as Chicago doesn’t resign him first. This year snipers aren't available so I think we just go with what we got.

would you guys take leino back as a ufa????

need to draft a right handed center. just saying. some late first round possibilities: Mark McNeill (not likely gonna go late), Mark Scheifele, Zack Phillips. The other higher options that we won't be able to get are: Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think they are all righties. there arent a whole lot of viable options out there for right handed centers unless we want an old guy or a small low end ufa. We won't likely be disbanding any core to get one either. I'd use Hudler as a part of a deal to get Hanzal (left handed center) just because of the size and youth he brings not to mention he can score.

i think hes got more in him. especially if babs is keeping him off the pk from now on. i mean, if we bring in one more good dman like ehrhoff and a good young forward with size like hanzal or ladd we can definitely do some damage next season.

thats ******* cool. if we made it to the next round we would have lost a ton of depth.

whats the quote that mickey said at the start of the series with the coyotes: It went something like this: in the playoffs when you win you feel like you'll never lose again when you lose you feel like you'll never win again. what was it and who said it?

realistically after cleary went down we didn't have enough jump left. I loved this series and i think that if we had gone to overtime we still would have lost considering our track record against SJ in OT. I gladly take all the chirps from my buddies over this as we showed true heart and we'll be back next year to spoil their parties and win the cup. lids has to come back one more year. Holland has to make some big moves to give this team that last shot. and i dont mean tweaks, he needs to make this team unbeatable, that means saying goodbye to some old favs but I think its worth it.

you left out stuart on the second year. id rather go after ladd, ehrhoff, hanzal than doan, bieksa, cole have less potential imo.

Hows this? Picking up some big bodies that can score. Trade: Hudler, Ericsson, 4th Pick – Ladd Filppula, Prospect (Emmerton), 2nd Pick - Hanzal UFAs: Babchuk, Erhoff, Goc, Winchester Let Salei, Miller, Eaves, Modano, Draper Walk CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Andrew Ladd ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Martin Hanzal ($1.800m) / Marcel Goc ($0.750m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Brad Winchester ($0.600m) Jan Mursak ($0.550m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Christian Ehrhoff ($3.000m) / Anton Babchuk ($1.500m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Josh Harding ($1.000m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $59,133,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $266,289

nm. rafi has a NTC

f*** me. rafi had a ntc. ill be back with something else

i don't see why babs is so stubborn. last game we were desperate for a win and he held lids off the pp. maybe he wants guys who shotblock with their body a little more? like wtf? just saying, shea webber played 42:12 in game 2 for the preds against vancouver. that is awesome.

can we please just light niemi up with 5 tonight??? that would be dope.

LGW!!!! f*** em up!