WordonaWing

No, it means he becomes a UFA. Arbitration is only for RFA's.

All legitimate reports suggest it will be around that mark, although no-one can say for sure right now.

I think it needs to be said that the salary cap has not been changed to $59.64m. There is no official statement releasing the exact salary cap figure. A few second-hand sources have simply jumped to conclusions without knowing the facts, that's all. The topic title should be changed -- it's wrong. The only thing the statement confirms is that the cap will go up.

The situation you describe is something that happens with draft picks from rounds 3-9.

This is true and one of the biggest reasons why I compiled the stats I did. It helps display how players help or hinder their team-mates to make the +/- stat more relevant. Just like how in this discussion, you really can't blame Lebda for Ericsson's bad plus/minus rating even though it seems, at first glance, like it would be a factor.

Hi Drake, I used the word "oppressive" and the reason I did so was because Ericsson has shown the ability to be good in his own zone. This was very well demonstrated by both his play in the AHL and mentioned in several scouting reports. His 34 points wasn't so impressive that it alone got him to the all-star game -- he also had a great defensive game. It's worth noting that in his years for Grand Rapids he was never the leading goal-scoring Dman in the team, outdone by Derek Meech and Garrett Stafford in his two main seasons. The only offensive upside to his game is his big slapshot and his first pass. And these are great upsides but, and his is just my assessment so take it for what it's worth, I feel that he'll need much more than that to be an effective defenseman. And I believe he does have much more than that. He has size and he uses it. He has shown he can play a physical game and I've also seen him quite effective with his stick, making use of his long reach and good stick-handling. So this is the reasoning behind why I hoped he could be an "oppressive" defenseman. I hope it makes more sense to you now. It's also important to me to never limit a player's future to his past. Particularly a guy like Ericsson, who is still completing his transition into a defenseman. The Red Wings front office have made a dynasty out of asking their players to be something they are not. Sometimes it doesn't work -- Leino. Sometimes it does -- Yzerman. With everything else -- I totally agree. You're are right. Just like most, his confidence is vital to his consistency and getting numbers seems to affect his confidence quite a bit.

Wow! It's been a long time since I've been to dobberhockey, I didn't realize they'd added that sort of stuff. Awesome!

You're most welcome. I'm glad you found it useful. Yes, those stats were compiled by myself with some pretty complex spreadsheets, all game summaries from NHL.com and the data from timeonice.com. I too would like to see Lidstrom and Kronwall play more together 5-on-5. Those pairings seem pretty good and yeah, Stuart should not be paired with Ericsson is at all avoidable. I really hope Big E can take the next step next season though. He's going to need to learn how to handle more than 3rd and 4th line forwards. I still have faith he can though.

Plus/minus can be such a tricky stat. It's interpreted so many different ways. While I agree with a lot of what you've said here, I feel compelled to respond to your mention of Brett Lebda. What wouldn't surprise you, is that Lebda was Jonathan Ericsson's most common partner 5-on-5 last season, playing over 326 minutes together overall. However, during that time they were only minus-1 together. Compare that with Ericsson's time on the ice with Brad Stuart and you get a much different picture. While paired with Stu for only 126 minutes during the season, they were a truly horrendous minus-12. This isn't a damnation of Brad Stuart, I just mention this because I think it more clearly displays the possible reason behind Ericsson's poor +/- during the season -- he just couldn't step up and play against top-6 forwards. This I do find at least a little concerning. After the Red Wings' saw the return of many of their injured players, Ericsson's +/- improved. I don't think that had anything to do with Lebda though. In that late part of the season, Lilja became Ericsson's partner and together they were plus-1 in 166 minutes together. A rusty Lilja wasn't much of an upgrade over Brett Lebda, in my humble opinion. The statistical improvement Ericsson saw seems to be a product of the Red Wings' increased success and the reduced responsibility he was given. Back to my conern, I do find it a little troublesome that whenever a more challenging assignment was bestowed upon JE, for the most part, he failed. He'll need to be able to answer those challenges soon, or it's doubtful he'll be that oppressive top-4 defenseman many Wings' fans hoped he would become. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. In case you're wondering where all this came from, all stats can be found at my blog, Word on a Wing

Thanks very much! Yep, they were the most paired forwards in the team. I'd like to see Franzen after a full season though. His stats in such a short time with Homer are astounding. They just need some defensive responsibility from their center because their +/- wasn't too impressive. I definitely think a Holmstrom-Zetterberg-Franzen or Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Franzen line should be given a go next season. I'm not too quick to be fooled by the Mule's synergy with Bertuzzi. It was an anomalous game, Homer and Johan were putting up numbers together for a long time at the end of the season and these stats do not include PP.

Thanks for posting. My blog is fairly new but I have a few followers. It seems it's already known to a few in this forum as I noticed my Sharks/Refs image has been used in another thread This is true, I do have too much time on my hands, but in this instance it was only used for the graphics. The stats are automatically generated, they're all there on the site. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. RC