kipwinger

I'm not basing it on hope, he was injured most of this year and played on a garbage team. You look at his numbers and he's trended upward, consistently putting up 20+ goals the last three seasons. Plus his stats show that he produces more with more ice time, kills penalties, produces on the powerplay, plays solid defense. Basically he's Filppula but can score, on the market he'll get at least what I'm giving him, probably more.

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER My Custom Lineup FORWARDS Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Stephen Weiss ($4.750m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Gustav Nyquist ($1.500m) / Joakim Andersson ($1.000m) / Damien Brunner ($2.500m) Jordin Tootoo ($1.900m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Danny Cleary ($2.300m) Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) Kyle Quincey ($3.775m) / Jakub Kindl ($1.200m) Danny DeKeyser ($1.350m) / Brendan Smith ($1.200m) Carlo Colaiacovo ($2.500m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($5.292m) Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,904,545; BONUSES: $850,000 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,245,455 Ok, I tried to be realistic and not make too many changes as that's not really Holland's way. So I gave all the kids the raises they deserved. I waived, traded, or bought out Emmy, Sammy, and Lashoff. I let Flip walk and gave the money he wanted to Steven Weiss as he'd already been on the Wings radar and is the kind of second line center that Holland likes. Finally, I resigned Cleary at a slight decrease in pay, though there's cap room enough that either he wouldn't have to take the cut, or the kids could each get a little more money.

People don't EVER trade first rounders for negotiation rights. The rights to James Wisniewski were traded for a conditional seventh round pick, the rights for Brad Stuart were traded for a conditional seventh and the negotiation rights to Andrew Murray. Unless you're suggesting a sign and trade for Filppula there is exactly zero chance we get a first for him, maybe at the trade deadline, but not now. And even then, when has Ken Holland ever signed and traded anyone?

Isn't Stephen Weiss a UFA? Wings were rumored to have interest in him at the trade deadline, and one has to think that he'd get a look as a Filppula replacement in the offseason. The guy's got second line center written all over him if you ask me.

My team is cap compliant, has a good mix of youngsters and veterans, it can't be scored on, it puts up goals, and you would DEFINITELY not want to cross the blueline against it... Lucic, Backes, Doan E. Kane, Carter, A. Stewart Abby, Helm, C. Neil Kaleta, B. Boyle, Clutterbuck Kronwall-Orpik Dekeyser-Wisniewski Yemelin-Volchenkov Vokoun Mrazek Blueadams, my team would eat yours for lunch.

2.5 mil per year for two or three years. And I'm thrilled about it. But a little weight on this guy and build up his strength and I think he's going to be a whole lot better. He's already noticeably better defensively, and a full training camp will only improve that as well.

Clearly, as every indicator of performance suggests Kindl is the better player (right now). And it's not unlike Babs to give guys ice time based on anything other than how they are currently performing.

That argument is a wash because it goes both ways. Maybe with more ice time and better teammates Kindl increases his stat advantage even further. And I'm not simple talking about Kindl leading in points or goals. He also hits more, has more blocked shots, more takeaways, fewer give aways, more shots, fewer misses, and on and on and on. He was simple the better player this year.

As I said, he leapfrogged those guys, and got more icetime, and played much worse with that additional ice time. It still doesn't make him the better player because he played more. With the exception of goals, Kindl was better in every single statistical category than Smith was during the playoffs. Ditto for the regular season (where Kindl led in the goals category as well). I don't know why Babs loves watching Smith f*** up, but he does and that's why he plays more. Not because he's the better player, as every single fact suggests otherwise.

He did average more time than Kindl, he also averaged more goals against than Kindl and more turnovers than Kindl. All while scoring less often, in spite of the ice time, and in spite of the fact that he's an "offensive" defenseman. As I've said all along, he shouldn't be traded, and he will get better. But I'm tired of this "he's a rookie" excuse. He IS a rookie...a particularly bad one this season.

Brendan Smith got a lot of minutes this season because there was nobody sitting in the pressbox who was a better option. Our defense was much better when Kindl, Ericsson, and Kronwall were rookies and so there was no need to play them that much. It's obviously much harder for a guy like Kindl to crack the lineup as a rookie when Lidstrom, Stuart, Rafalski, Kronwall, Ericsson, and Salei are head of him, than it is for Smith to crack the lineup with Kronwall, Ericsson, Quincey, White, Kindl, and Colaiacovo ahead of him. However, that doesn't mean he's the better player. You're right on one point though, he did get thrown into the deep end. And he sunk. Here's hoping he'll be better moving forward.

Cue Brian Burke's comparison to European soccer.

For years my father has claimed that the league "hates the Wings" or "wants Detroit to lose" or whatever. I constantly have to remind him that we are the most successful organization of the last two decades. If there is a conspiracy against the Wings, it's the least successful conspiracy ever. Why would anybody give a rat's ass about an ineffective conspiracy?

rook·ie /ˈro͝okē/ Noun A new recruit. A member of an athletic team in his or her first full season in that sport. bad rook·ie /bad/ˈro͝okē/ Noun see: Smith, Brendan People keep screaming "rookie" like we don't know what it means. But there are rookies who play mostly well, and rookies who play mostly bad. Yes Brendan Smith is a rookie, he's a bad rookie. His rookie season is noticeably worse than that of Kindl, Ericsson, Kronwall, etc. Will he get better? Sure. But that doesn't mean that he isn't a god awful rookie. He is.

Right and their fans (and players) were saying the same things when we were winning. If the refs called every penalty that they saw every game there wouldn't be any 5 on 5 hockey. Remember two games ago when Abby got the crosschecking penalty after his fourth whack at the guy? Would you have been happier if he's gotten after the first one? What about every charging call? We did that a whole lot in the beginning of the series and got away with it. They won those games because we play like s*** in the third period. AND because nobody in our top six has been effective. Hossa, Toews, Kane, and Sharp have outplayed Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Abby and Cleary. The stats don't lie. We've gotten production out of our bottom six. They've gotten production out of both and it shows. Here's hoping Jimmy stands on his head again in game 7.

I can't believe that we're still talking about this. Refs on the ice thought it was the right call. The CBC announcers thought it was the right call. The NBC announcers thought it was the right call, and now Fraser thinks it's the right call. The only people that don't think so are the Detroit fans. We all need to get over it and perhaps ask ourselves why our team consistently gets outplayed in the third period. Despite having frequent leads. And despite at times overwhelming play in periods one and two. If you think that call was what lost us the game, ask yourself this: "Why did he have a breakaway in the third period at all? Why haven't we had any?"

Haha that cracked me up when I heard it. Torts is a comedy goldmine. p.s. What I wouldn't give for Dekeyser in the lineup instead of this thread's namesake.

So I didn't get to watch the game (except for the last few minutes). Anybody want to give me a summer...without blaming the refs?

Yikes, this got out of hand pretty quickly. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

I'm not so sure that it's because Quenneville is a mediocre coach, he's a good coach, but he's doing what any coach would do...trying to free up guys. The problem is, EVERY Red Wing forward (aside for that lovable Brunner) plays good defense. He's mixing and matching trying to find open ice for these guys but the only way he's going to get any of his top line guys free is to try and get them out there against our third line and that opens up a world of hurt the other way when Pav or Hank's line is out against your third line guys. In an interview earlier this week Quincey was talking about how Bab's has really preached "swarming" on defense, and not playing man on man. Right now Chicago has no answer for it and Quenneville is searching in vein for open ice.

So anybody else ready to concede that Kindl has the best point shot on the team? Aaaand he was hard along the boards last night. I liked his game. Then again I like everybody's game any time you win essentially every single puck battle and scoop up virtually every loose puck. Good game boys! Post Script: Is Jonathan Ericsson the strongest man alive?

I don't know about down state, but up here in Mt. Pleasant it seemed like everybody and their sisters were out for the game last night. Bars were packed and people were going nuts for every big save, penalty kill, goal, etc. Maybe hockeytown isn't getting it done like in the past...maybe. But up here in Northern Michigan s***s getting wild on game night.

Yeah they deserved to win that game in the same way that the kids camped out in New York deserve jobs. Entitled little s***s. Who's winning the match...

I honestly don't think the phone lines die down because people don't want to talk about the Wings on their show. I think most (but not all) sports radio shows pander to the lowest common denominator. Basically, the shows are stupid. It's typically a couple of blowhards shouting other each other and occasionally spitting out the odd catch phrase. So basically it's PTI on the radio. As such, if you're a sports fan but you're not an idiot you stay away from those shows as much as possible. And since the shows attract idiots, it makes sense that they would want to talk about the sports easiest for idiots to follow...e.g. the NFL and NBA. Why talk about gametime decisions, line combinations, strategy, etc. when you can talk about endzone dancing, arrest records, drug use, and on and on and on. Sensationalism attracts idiots, and there are a lot of idiots with opinions on dumb things. Don't believe me? Ask yourself why reality tv exists, or why the comments section on any Mlive.com article is mind numbingly stupid. It's too bad too, because both the NBA and the NFL used to have a good product. But in trying to expand their fanbase they tapped into the demographic most detrimental to any organization...idiots. Idiots love spectacle, and that's what those sports have turned into, and that's what sports radio has to sell to keep listeners.

Hell I hope you're right. If they're gooning it up they're taking penalties, and it's real hard to score goals when you're short handed. I want them in the box as often as possible. I don't think they will be early in the game, but if we can take a lead they'll lose their heads.