Matt

Hemsky is a bad example. He's hitting year 2 in a 6-year deal in 2007-08. When it's done he'll be an UFA.

No, that's why they're restricted. If Buffalo matches the offer he's a Sabre.

Hemsky won't ever have RFA status. He'll go straight UFA. Why all the backlash on the RFAs? They *are* restricted free agents for a reason. With a cap these players can now legitmately come into play on the free agent market. You're watching the start of a trend.

Not surprising at all.

Wow! I would think Buffalo will match this.

If the Red Wings have room under the cap Hasek's bonuses can be applied to this season. If not, they are rolled over. Previous bonuses to Hasek and Chelios rolled over to this season because they were not payable because the Wings ran right up the cap limit after acquiring Bertuzzi and Calder.

Have you looked at the rest of their roster? You're assuming he's done. But let's just sign Smyth or Drury or Gomez or whoever and then when you've got both Lidstrom and Zetterberg to re-up, there's no room. Lidstrom will be the big re-signing next summer and there has to be room out there to re-sign Zetterberg. If you're going to make a big leap (and Smyth/Gomez/Drury would have been -- not just in money, but in term most importantly) you had better be planning ahead. It's not going to continue to go up like that. I think it will rise a few million next summer (boosted by merchandise sales of new jerseys), but it will start to level off. If you *honestly* believe it is/was that easy, then why didn't the Red Wings' front office even explore any of those options? Smyth was heavily rumored, but reports recently stated the Wings didn't even contact him. Do you believe that Holland/Nill/Babcock & Co. don't even perform due diligence on their free agent options?

I don't have the list in front of me, but you Chicken Littles do realize there could be more free agents by virtue of arbitration results, right? There may not be any marquee names on there (not sure), but not ALL of the FA options have been picked bare. There will still be options this summer.

This is the kind of post that would've been tucked away for a couple years if we had signed a Ryan Smyth to a 5-year deal at over $6m per and we lose Zetterberg to free-agency in two years. In the prime of his career, no less. Good GMs don't just "shoot for next year" -- they have the foresight to do BOTH.

FYI: Hasek's bonuses in his latest contract can be applied, if earned, to the cap either this year or next year.

Again, you're speculating. I don't have to because what Bertuzzi signed for is in black and white. Yes, he loved being here but there's a price tag attached to that. Would he have been willing to take 25% less in guaranteed salary to play here? You don't know that, I don't know that -- so there's no point in speculating.

Oh god, no. The Cloutier extension (and the trade itself) was horrible. I agreed with that... But Lombardi's track record as a GM isn't bad, hence why I questioned the "horribly managed" line when applying it to the Kings. I don't think Lombardi's been there long enough to say that's the case -- yet.

Hmmm... Well, he would definitely take the minimum and sign a one-year contract so if Howard's ready next year he can step in... But the playoff thing is a no-go for me. Maybe take a flyer on Peter Ing?

Touche!

I love this. Got any bright ideas on who we would put in goal that would lead this team to a Stanley Cup that's available?

Who said anything about looking forward to it? You're already assuming that's how it's going to shake out. In July. July! When we get to October 1st and we're still staring at that as our #2 line, then have at it. Be my guest. You're speculating. At least I have hard numbers on what they commanded on the market to support my argument. You're also assuming that there were only "horribly managed teams" bidding on them. Since when has Dean Lombardi been considered a horrible manager for the Kings? Maybe you're still stuck in Dave Taylor mode.

Is there an echo in here?

You do realize you're bitching in July, right? The market dictated what Holland was able to do and not do up to this point. So if you're going to *****, make it a high-quality ***** where you consider the entire scenario at hand. What if Bertuzzi re-signed for 2-years at $4M+ for each? What about Guerin at $4.5M for two years? What about Kozlov at almost $4M per? Fedotenko at almost $3M? Kyle-freaking-Calder at $2.75M over two years? The same guy that was getting scratched for Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky during the playoff run? Does any of that sound like fiscal responsibility in operating under the Wings' cap?

But he's 6'5!!!!!!11!!1 And 235lbzz.!!!!!!! ZOMG!

This is a prime example of talking to a brick wall. But again: Read the link. Henry -- Don't waste your time.

Another thing... I do find it humorous how much people ***** about the job Holland is doing. I admit I had my doubts in the past, but the guy knows what he's doing. It's almost sad to think that if we didn't lose our No. 2 and No. 3 defensemen last spring we would be celebrating another Stanley Cup championship and some of you would still be bitching about the job Holland has done.

One thing to remember, too, regarding multi-year contracts: In addition to securing cap space for Zetterberg when his contract is up in two years, you may also be staring at the prospect of having to find a starting goaltender next summer if Hasek retires and it's determined Howard isn't ready. The front office has excellent reasons for not signing guys long-term that they are not completely sold on (Rafalski and Datsyuk, obviously, being "sold" guys), and I think that gives them tremendous flexibility every year... You just can't afford to have dead weight on your roster eating up cap space any more. (Unless your name is Lou.)

Again. You're assuming that it's Holland that has his hand in all of these things. Suggested reading: http://www.mlive.com/sports/grpress/index.....xml&coll=6 Maybe it's just me, but I recall these signing announcements as "Detroit Red Wing sign...." not "Ken Holland signs...". Stop fretting about it. Oh, and regarding last year -- you do realize that the Griffins' roster was gutted last summer, right?

Good lord -- calm down. Every single off-season there are signings like this to replenish the AHL team. It has NOTHING to do with Holland being obsessed with anything -- G.R. is pretty much Nill's territory right now.

Honestly, with what's on the market right now I'm not surprised. Khan said tonight in his blog that one official doesn't think Detroit will even talk to Yashin (probably the best of what's left on the market at this point). Am I disappointed they haven't landed a Top 6 forward? Yes -- but only to an extent. Some of the price tags being thrown around for certain players ($4.5M for Guerin? $4M/2Y for Bertuzzi?) would make me hold off, too. So we've got a few extra mil in the piggy bank when the season starts. So what? There *are* some kids that have to go out there and play, so let's let them. There's always the trade deadline and certain things can develop as the season goes on. I'd rather still have options and see what the kids can do than lock up cap space on players I didn't really want but "settled" for.