ogreslayer

I think the Wings are leaving #29 open for someone's eventual return

If he doesn't accomplish enough to have his number retired after he hangs 'em up, at least Hank's beard should be raised to the rafters. Maybe a dual beard raising ceremony with Kris Draper.

Yes he did. So did Tomas Holmstrom at one point.

Pretty sure that Riley Sheahan wore #15 when he was up with the big club.

Or IF Cleary comes back, he gets a nice payment for giving up the number.

Initial alumni game roster released was: Mark Howe, D, 1992-95 Chris Chelios, D, 1999-09 Chris Osgood, G, 1993-01, 2005-11 Darren McCarty, F, 1993-04, 2007-09 Dino Ciccarelli, F, 1992-96 Jiri Fischer, D, 1999-05 Joe Kocur, F, 1984-91, 1996-99 John Ogrodnick, F, 1979-87, 1992-93 Kirk Maltby, F, 1996-10 Kris Draper, C, 1993-11 Larry Murphy, D, 1997-01 Mickey Redmond, F, 1971-76 Igor Larionov, C, 1995-00, 2000-03 Mike Vernon, G, 1994-97 Alex Delvecchio, Legend, 1950-73 Gordie Howe, Legend, 1946-71 Ted Lindsay, Legend, 1944-57, 1964-65 And I know Petr Klima, Dallas Drake, Paul Ysebaert, & Garry Unger were added after. Edit: Looks like the following had also confirmed before it was canceled last year... Luc Robitaille, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Paul Coffey, Martin Lapointe, Mathieu Dandenault, Aaron Ward, Red Berenson, Jimmy Carson, & Dennis Polonich. Wonder how much the roster might change given the cancel/reschedule

And you can scratch Thomas from that list given that he would suit up for the Leaf's alumni if he's there.

My guess is Steve Duchesne & I'm sticking with it

And somewhere Brian Burke is working on a press release claiming credit for all of it

And in breaking news, Dion Phaneuf has just announced his intention of lifting the Wales Trophy as well instead of just posing next to it.

Which is why I want to see Mike McKee work out as a forward instead of sticking to d. If he ever does make the big club, I would rather he not be limited on when he throws down because of his position. Easier to do if he's 1 of 12 instead of 1 of 6.

Filing for arbitration is used quite a bit just to kickstart negotiations & get a deadline out there to get a deal done before it does go to an arbitrator. It was speculated from the start that Smith filing was nothing more than that.

Glad to have it done. Now get Nyquist & Andersson taken care of, find a way to trim the roster of a couple of forwards, & let's get camp started.

From everything I've read, it comes down to wanting a guaranteed spot in the top 6. He's not going to get that in Detroit so I seriously doubt he'll be back.

For those of you acting as if Brunner to NJ is a done deal: Tom Gulitti ‏@TGfireandice1m Just talked to Damien Brunner's agent, Neil Sheehy. Wouldn't say which teams he's talked to. Says "nothing imminent" as far as signing.

I think the question is whether or not they get into the Hall of Fame. Isn't that one of the musts set down by Mr. Ilitch for the Wings to consider retiring a number? I believe that's one of the reasons given for taking Larry Aurie's number down from the rafters.

I realize you're probably doing the smart ass "source?" thing that seems to be replacing the "we like our team" comment that pops up in every thread, but here's your sources: http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-07-11/ilya-kovlchuk-retirement-trade-nj-devils-atlanta-thrashers http://www.sovsport.ru/blogs/blog/bmessage-item/14336 http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2013/7/12/4517436/ilya-kovalchuk-retirement-devils-khl He's reportedly going to sign for up to $20m a year. May or may not be tax free (I would be surprised if it ended up not being tax free) but at the very least taxes will be a hell of a lot less for him in Russia than in the US & there's no escrow held back by the KHL like the NHL does. Edit: And for those of you who haven't been following this as closely, the rumor is that Kovy & SKA already had all of this worked out back in January as the lockout was ending.

Of which after escrow & taxes, he wouldn't have even seen half of. He'll get at least that & all tax free in the KHL. By "at least that" I mean the $75m over the next 5 seasons.

Conks: 2011-12 (Det): 15 app, 5 w, 6 l, 1 otl, 3.28 GAA, .884 sv% Monster 2012-13 (Det): 7 app, 2 w, 2 l, 1 otl, 2.92 GAA, .879 sv% I would call it a wash actually. Monster's lower GAA can be attributed to the Wings playing a better overall defensive game last season & I for one think Conks would have gotten as short of a leash (i.e. playing a fewer percentage of games) as Monster did if he were backing Jimmy up last year given the importance of each game in a shortened season & where the Wings sat in the playoff race.

Agreed, Quincey is going nowhere. If the Wings were to unload a d-man, the most likely candidate would be Lashoff who's out of waiver exemptions & will be a #7 at best with the current line-up once Smith re-signs.

From The Hockey News: A little too convenient for all involved... http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/52816-Kovalchuk-retirement-a-little-too-convenient-for-all-involved.html Pretty much my first thoughts when the news came down.

Wasn't Lou not all that happy to have to sign Kovy to that ridiculous deal in the first place i.e. was strong-armed by ownership to do it? If I were him, I would actually be pretty happy getting out from under that contract, especially now that he's not looking down the barrel of an big cap penalty if Kovy stayed on instead & retired a year or two before the contract was up. Given the size of the contract & the Devil's ongoing money issues, there's no way they would have bought him out so I really don't see Lou putting up much of a fight to convince him to stay if there were really any regrets about signing him to begin with. Edit w/ additional thought: I do wonder how much of the retirement was Kovy's idea & how much Lou contributed to it.

Given all the press on him possibly not wanting to return to the NHL post-lockout last season, this news isn't as shocking as it could be imo.

NJ won't be paying him until then, they'll have a cap penalty. I would assume that if he were to decide to come back though, the NHL will consider his contract with the Devils still valid so he would not be a UFA.

It's a pretty safe bet that Aflie will still be "on the books" during the 2014-15 season given that his $2m bonus cap hit will be defered to that season instead of taking the entire $5.5m hit in 2013-14.