puckbags

You realize that's a roughly 25% difference right? So if someone is worth 8 million we should just give it to them even though they are worth 6 million??

AA made the threat of walking to the KHL and played his hand. The problem for his camp was that NHL teams, owners and GM's don't buy into the " i'm going to leave for Russia" threat because they know that the last place a young north american kid wants to spend his winter is Russia. At first I blamed Holland for this situation but he knows he has all the leverage. If AA really liked that Russian money that much he would've signed a contract there and bought a nice little condo in some obscure Russian city. The longer he sits the worst it gets for future negotiations.

There is nothing about this place that doesn't look top notch.

Good luck Drew, Guy worked his a$$ off all the time.

Exactly, Tats contract is far from our biggest problem. Great negotiating from his side. Threw out some crap about leaving. Probably got 300k-500k more per year. Glad to have him back. Something has to give with the cap , see what Holland does.

Blank check, Pick your amount.

I think thats the only other option rather than paying him what he wants it trading him like today. Can't wait until the season starts in case he decides to mail it in and eff the dog.

Just pay the guy his money and get on with it. Unfortunately 5 mil per seems like the going rate. He's averaged 25 goals a year in his 4 full seasons and I think he has a bit higher ceiling than that. He's drawn his line in the sand. Do we really want to bring a guy back on a 1 year arbitration deal ? He decides to put in a half ass effort and then has no value at the trade deadline. Pay him and get on with it unless we magically have another guy who is going to chip in an extra 25 goals this year.

Haha, his response was a little aggressive. Possible he needs a couple of white russians

Haha. XO played 66 games last year, scored 12 points and was a +2 on a terrible defensive team and wasn't very noticeable which is a great attribute for a guy who plays his style. . Sproul proved nothing while he was up, he's terrible in his own end ( -8 ), plays with no edge, he has a big shot I will give him that. Then he got hurt. I guess he has " potential ". Once again he's a fringe NHL 3rd pair guy. XO's potential isn't much higher but I can 100% tell you who will be starting in Detroit out of training camp. What? Sproul was terrible in his limited time, super inconsistent. Big deal he shoots the puck hard. He played a handful of good games. Yep because smooth skating looks really good when you can't get the puck out of your end. Sproul barely knows where his own end of the ice is. We need solid defensive d men who can make a first pass back there. Not saying XO is that guy but he's a helluva lot better option than Sproul right now.

Sproul will sit because he's on a two way contract isn't he? We can send him down and I don't think he has to clear waivers. I'm not that good with this stuff though so I will probably get owned by some 21 year old cap guru. ....also consider the fact that XO at this point is a much better d man than Sproul.

Sproul is never going to be a top 4, he will be a fringe 3rd pair/AHL'er. If they thought he had any top 4 potential they would've protected him. Daley isn't taking " minutes" from Sproul. Daley is good enough to play his own minutes. Sproul will have to play better and earn his 3rd pair minutes.

yes because all of your logic points to this happening. Smith was + 2 on a good rangers team and -1 on a bad red wings team. Smith's best 14 games of his career were in 2011-2012 when he had 7 pts in 14 games. Season ended and he never played that good again. There isn't a single category that Smith is better than Daley in. Daley is better, you keep arguing for the sake of arguing. It's like talking politics with my 90 year old grandmother.

Not much has changed. We definitely upgraded a bit by getting Daley. Him and Green are our best D men and after that it's a bunch of " C" graded guys. I can't wait to see how Jensen plays in a full season. Guy actually has a brain on his shoulders. Kronwall and Ericcson are garbage and Sproul wasn't even protection worthy so that sums up where he is on the depth chart. DK will get less minutes and I think it will help him a bit because he really needs to bounce back with that albatross of a contract.

I just don't want his contract to play in Detroit ever again.