number9

Don't know what's so confusing about this. Tatar is our only forward that doesn't have to go through waivers. If we sent anyone else down to make room for Goose, they'd be exposed to a waiver claim from another team. So that's business, Tatar had to be the one to go down. He earned his playoff spot and his roster spot for next year though. Have fun in your last year in the A tomas!

He's actually doing better than Gilbert point wise when you consider how much time Mckee spends in the box. Who knows if he's already hit his offensive ceiling though. Definitely hasn't been described as an offensive minded D-man. Oleksiak is 20 and is already in the NHL. Mckee is 19 and in the USHL. To me that's a big difference. Oleksiak graduated from the USHL when he was 17. Mckee didn't even join till 18.

Yeah I like De Haas as well. He's being described as a guaranteed #5/#6 D-man. Which isn't a number 1 spot but still it's a spot that needs to be filled. If we need to sell a guy higher than him thats fine by me, if he can fill his roll and we have other guys who can fill top roles. Mckee probably could fill a forward roll. However he's being described as an enforcer with wheels. If Detroit can teach him defense, which can be learned, I'm fine with him on D

Sustr - Dekeyser Ouellet - Sproul Backman - Marchenko Mckee At least one will succeed. Those are all good D-men in both ends besides Mckee. However, Mckee brings EDGE

I think it's very foolish to take Brunner out of the top 6. He's very much a top 6 guy and very much on an expiring contract. Hate to be a player pleaser, but the young goal scoring star who needs to be re-signed is not the guy you demote on a contract year. Let him flourish and fall in love with this system in the top 6 with the stars he signed on to play with. The only guys who should not be up for demotion right now are Z, D, and B. Everyone else is on the chopping block.

I hate to burst some peoples bubbles, but Jimmy probably commands at least 5 million per. IMO he could get 6 per on the open market. That being said though, Jimmy is a Wing and very much a team guy. I could easily see him signing for 4 million per just because, despite his own knowledge of his value, he loves this team.

The problem with Fil is he's naturally a playmaking center. We are doing him and ourselves a disservice by trying to play him as a scoring winger. We already have 2 incredible playmaking centers, we don't need a third. It sux, I love Fil, I think he's the definition of a Red Wing forward, but he just doesn't have a niche to fill. Hudler had more of a niche to fill. We should be trading him instead of paying him Hudler money for something we don't need this summer. When it comes to Franzen, we can all hope and pray to trade him, but we all know he's going to retire a Wing for better or for worse. No team is going to take on that contract unless we give him away. I mean If there was an expansion draft I would honestly probably leave him unprotected because the bad contract would leave me to believe he very well may not be drafted. Plus Franzen is like our only capable big body right now, lazy or not. Simply put, Filppula is expendable and tradeable. Franzen is not.

Tatar - Jarnkrok - Jurco Tvrdon - Sheahan - Frk Athanasiou - Ferraro - Pulkkinen Quine - Andersson - Callahan Ouellet - Sproul Backman - Marchenko Almquist - Mckee Mrazek Paterson Should we just sell the rest of the team? I know I'm exaggerating, but seriously I've never been this excited about our prospects. The last few years the Wings have really done work at the draft. If we add Dekeyser and Sustr AND get higher picks than usual, I'm gonna start believing in this farm so much I'll have to buy a tractor and a pitchfork

Hossa will sign where the team is competitive and the money is right. He doesn't give a flying f*** about Detroit unless he can get the contract he wants out of Ken. And I'm doubting Ken will be willing to cash out for a guy he let walk a few years ago.

No way Perry resigns unless the Ducks are willing to offer him the same if not more. If they do offer Perry the same amount 1/4 of their cap hit would be taken up by 2 players. For those two that is DUMB. Murray should have sold Getzlaf and done a little rebuild, I know he's the captain but that's a ridiculous overpayment. He's now screwed his team for many years IMO.

http://thehockeywriters.com/johan-franzen-is-the-red-wings-most-undeserved-whipping-boy/ Sammy is one of the streakiest players ever, but he never gets accused of floating... at least not that I've heard. Seems unfair to be hating on Franzen.

Kronwall can move the puck, White can move the puck, Colo can move the puck, Quincey can move the puck, Kindl can move the puck, Smith can move the puck. Sure Campbell can move the puck slightly better, but puckermovers are not what we need. Sorry but this thread IMO is ridiculous. With that contract for Campbell, Holland wouldn't even look once. We might as well discuss trading Emmerton for Chara while were at it.

My guess is a player of his caliber can easily play until 40, retire from the NHL, and then go onto play in the KHL for a few more years. Heck if really wanted to I bet he could play in the NHL until he's 43, but that probably won't happen. Absolutely no reason for him to jump ship at 34 when he'll still have 6+ NHL caliber years left in him. He said he wants to finish his career in Russia, not play his last 9 years there.

No way, I'll be in suite for tomorrow's game and was supposed to get into the locker room as well, but my hook up is busy tomorrow and bailed on me at the last minute. Looks like I'll just be stuck in that stinky old suite enjoy the locker room tour for me!

Yeah that makes sense in the strange and unlikely hypothetical that he won't jump ship at 34 but for some reason would jump ship at 35. He is absolutely beloved in Russia and could make gobs of money over there if that's what he wanted... however he's never been one of those money guys, seems unlikely he'd start being like that now. ​The only statement he's made is that he said it would be nice to finish his career in Russia. AKA pull a Fedorov and play in the KHL from 40-43.

.......uhhhh why would Datsyuk's agent want good bargaining position for a contract if Datsyuk doesn't want a contract?

Wasn't Franzen's original cap hit like $5.6 or something? And now it's dropped to 3.9 for the remainder of it? If he continues to put up 55 pts a season then I think he's worth the 3.9 per year No I didn't intend for this to be a Hossa v. Franzen thread. While were at it does anyone wanna share their opinion on whether or not Osgood will be in the hall of fame?

Datsyuk's own agent has indicated the exact opposite. Not sure how "other GM's" would know more than he does.

Spot on. He just looks plain solid out there. His defensive instincts have really matured. With his size I would love to see his offense get better. Could end up with a helluva slap shot, and could be another guy who knows how to pinch in the O-zone. Well as long as we're calling other peoples opinions "stupid comments", I think your opinion is a... "stupid comment" The stupid mistakes and dumb penalties he takes drive me crazy. IMO White and Quincey should have his shifts. Yeah I said it. White & Quincey.

Filppula - Datsyuk - Franzen Cleary - Zetterberg - Brunner Nyquist - Helm - Tatar Abdelkader - Andersson - Tootoo

I'm aware. I just hope we don't have to wait till Kindl is 29 for him to do anything worth while. Maybe we should just give him a $3 million contract like Ericsson... then he'll magically evolve into a player worth that amount like Jonny

Thing is his agent won't let him sign until right before the draft. The more games he plays the higher his price tag rises.

Ericsson has become a beaut, can't rave enough about his play this year. But Kindl... I don't care if he's still developing, he doesn't belong on NHL ice right now.

play off incentives!

Who in their is going to be the guy that dirties it up? Camps in front of the net? Works the boards? I see 4 passers, a Tatar, and 1 sniper in that top 6. Not very balanced.