kipwinger

I agree with Dickie about Green. I just moved to Washington D.C. in November and I watch a lot of Caps games. Green is ******* horrible. He plays zero defense, he's no good on the PP anymore, and he makes way too much money to be in and out of the lineup on a weekly basis. No thanks. I disagree with Dickie about Weber. He's hugely overrated defensively. Sure he can score, and he's pretty good defensively, but like Letang he's an offensive defenseman dressed up (and paid) like a two way guy. He's not. Plus, take a look at all the guaranteed money he gets based on insane bonuses. There's no way the Wings should bring in a guy who's going to make almost 30 million dollars a year for the next two or three years. And they definitely shouldn't gut their promising young forwards to do it.

Said it before I'll say it again, I love Brian Lashoff. Despite never scoring, and being on the ice with linemates who never score, he's still a respectable -2...ya know...because he actually plays defense. A far cry from the defensive ubermensch that are Kindl and Smith.

Cool, thanks for the info fellas.

I like your gusto, but you just gutted your penalty killing. Miller and Andersson are key components in one of the league's better PKs. Agreed. I mean, it's entirely hypothetical. I was just trying to explain why I don't see Sammy as "unmovable" the way many do. Also, because it's possible doesn't mean it's probable. Also Also, I still don't want Fleischmann. I just think that's the kind of move Holland would do.

Aha, so barring an injury to a player who makes a decent amount of money the Wings would be able to add nobody because we're up against the cap?

I mean, he's definitely in a hot spot, but personally I don't think it's as bad as everyone says. Holland has always been reluctant to move potential, but if he is willing and can find the right deal around a young player, prospect, or pick then I don't see the vets being a problem. Here's why: If you're Florida and you're willing to trade Fleischmann for prospects and picks and Detroit is the right match for you, but the only way to make it work is to take Sammy as well, then you'd be stupid not to do it. Sammy's cap hit wouldn't matter because you've got plenty of room. You'd only have to pay about 1/3 of his salary because actual salary is pro-rated for the season. And finally, he's not under contract so he doesn't hurt you long term. Basically, You'd lose Fleischmann's bigger salary for Sammy's smaller one, and you'd gain the prospects and picks which wouldn't count against you financially until next year (at the earliest). At which point Sammy would be gone to free agency or retirement, and it wouldn't matter. Also since Sammy isn't playing much (at all) and he's getting paid either way, I don't see it being a hard sell to convince him to waive his no-trade clause to go "earn" his money soaking up the sun in Florida for a couple of months. Using the same formula you could potentially move anyone. Hell, if you can get clear of Sammy then everyone else would be a piece of cake.

Unless something has changed, the last I heard was that Florida was trying to dump salary for prospects and picks. Given that Fleischmann has another year on his contract, and if the prospect-pick combo is still what they're after I could definitely see Holland offering our 2nd and a second stage prospect. Not a Jurco, Sproul, Mrazek type of prospect, but maybe a Marchenko, Pulkkinen, Ferraro type. Those are exactly the kinds of trades that Holland will make. It's that whole "offering something of value" thing that really jams him up.

Legit question here for the forum. How does the roster expansion work after the trade deadline? I mean, how do the rules work to ensure that there is no cap circumvention? I legitimately don't know the nuts and bolts of this one.

This is my darkhorse trade deadline pick. Tomas Fleischmann to Detroit to play with Weiss. Calling it. Ugh.

I absolutely love Anton Volchenkov, always have. But he makes way more money (4.25 million) than he's worth at this point in his career. The only way I'd consider it is if the Devils were willing to retain some salary. Plus he really doesn't help our transition woes, which in my opinion is the biggest shortfall of our defense. At this point he's a third pair stay at home guy, with excellent penalty killing skills. We really don't need that at this point as Lashoff, Ericsson, and Kronwall all kill penalties and Lashoff can do the work on the third pair for MUCH less money than Anton.

What are the numbers beside their names? Those aren't their current goals, is that a projection for the season?

Well that certainly makes me feel optimistic...until they crush my dreams that is. But until then I'm going to foolishly hope that we're trading for Okposo.

I think they'd move him. They're apparently thick with defense prospects and Letang isn't playing that well. Plus he makes a fortune. I could definitely see them trying to get out from under that cap hit, it's WAY too much for Letang (7.2 million). Which brings me to my second point. No way do the Wings trade for a guy who makes more than Datsyuk or Zetterberg. I just don't see it.

Where did you hear/see this?

I used capgeek to build the roster and nhl.com for stats and special teams info.

I'd rather have Stamkos because I remember how Datsyuk looked the last time he had a real shooter playing on his wing.

Exactly, based on the rules it's impossible to have Stamkos, Crosby, Zetterberg, Ovechkin, etc. etc. etc. You really have to find bargains and/or guys who are still good even though they're old. It's way harder that you think.

You're right, one game doesn't mean it's a turning point. However, I think the actual turning point was right around the Winter Classic. We've lost 5 times since that game and won four. We beat REALLY good teams in Chicago and Los Angeles(twice), and played very well against the Rangers, Ducks, and Maple Leafs (all one goal games). We had two terrible games against San Jose and St. Louis. Additionally, since the WC Jimmy Howard seems to have regained (and hopefully not lost to injury again) his dominant form, and Tatar and Zetterberg have carried the team. Add some combination of Dats, Franzen, Helm, or Alfie to any of those one goal games and we probably win a couple of them and our record could very easily be 6-3. Not too shabby when you consider that Chicago, LA, St. Louis, San Jose, and Anaheim are probably 5 of the top 7 or 8 teams in the league while Toronto and the Rangers are playoff teams as well. People freak because all they see are the tight standings, but we're actually playing some pretty good hockey in spite of having a farm team.

Where did you see this...link me please?

It's tough dude. You've really got to work to find the quality bargains because there aren't too many good players over 35 and there aren't too many quality younger players in the price ranges stipulated. Plus, only being able to choose one player per team can really throw a monkey wrench in your plans. Have fun though.

Something to the effect of "The Wings are a veteran team who know how to get away with holding so they do it a lot". Or something. It's one of those statement that people get upset about, but in reality it's probably true.

Any other GM in hockey would view the fact that he's got rookies able to outplay vets as a "blessing in disguise". They'd say to themselves, "look at all these capable forwards I've got. I should trade some of them for things we need and/or draft picks". Any other GM would then actually move some of those players and in doing so, free up the logjam which is the reason many of these guys aren't playing consistently in the first place. Any other GM.

I started typing out some lines and I keep forgetting guys because we've got two million forwards and the only ones we can get off the roster are the ones who are playing well, so I erased it. Screw this roster anyway.

I don't want to move Abby either, and I don't think that they will. But I wouldn't say he's untouchable either. He's a guy with value that another team might want. And it's not like he's so good that he's irreplaceable. It's sort of a truism to say that "for the right price I'd move him" because that's true of almost anyone, but if Abby was the deciding factor between us getting a power foward or not, I'd move him.

Gotta say, this was a really fun lineup to build based on all the stipulations. It was hard to find good quality and still meet the requirements. Particularly the age based requirements. Kudos to the OP for creating this one. A. Steen (25)-Datsyuk (15)-Hossa (21) Kunitz (24)- J. Thornton (6) - Okposo (20) Boedker (14) -Ryan Johansen (19)- W. Simmonds (17) M. Raymond (13) - C. Eakin (11) - A. Cogliano (12) J. Faulk (3)- Beauchemin (1) E. Johnson (7)- L. Smid (1) T. Krug (11) - A. Emelin (0) B. Bishop Total Cap Payroll: $59,014,444 Strengths: The forward lines score...a ton. Good combination of size (Thornton, Okposo, Simmonds, Johansen), Snipers (Steen, Hossa, Kunitz), playmaking (Dats, Thornton), and speed (Raymond, Cogliano, Boedker). Penalty killing would be very good to excellent. Goaltending and defensive defense would also be excellent. Defense has better than average size, but excellent toughness. Beauchemin, Smid, and Emelin would wear forwards down really quickly. Weaknesses: The offensive defensemen aren't great. I didn't really want to use Krug, but I needed anther quality PP point man. Also, one could argue that the offense "could" run a little hot and cold compared to other lineups that could be made.