kipwinger

You mean the Marian Hossa who Holland had no interest in, and who's agent called Holland and said that Hossa wanted to play for Detroit so bad that he'd take a pay cut and sign a short term deal to do so? I remember him too, but I hardly think that his actions are par for the course.

Agreed. I think Mursak is the only effective fourth liner we have right now. I really don't understand why Nyquist isn't on the third line, and Cleary given a rest against a soft team like Columbus. Plus, I really think Miller, Abby, and Nyquist has the potential to be a pretty effective line. They all skate well and I think Nyquist and Miller have very complimentary skill sets.

Doesn't sound like Stuart wants to come back, but if he can be had, we should sign them both.

Exactly, we're not THAT much better with Parise and Suter than we'd be with guys like Brent Burns and James Neal. I know that neither of those guys are available right now, but I just mean those types of players. And what's best is that you wouldn't have to pay as much for those guys and still get similar production. I'd rather sign guys like that and have money left over than chase the highest priced guys on the market and not have any wiggle room.

Jesus, you're entirely beside the point. You can't have an all star at every position, and go look at Cole's numbers if you think Montreal didn't make a good decision on that one. Unless you think his 30 goals and 25 assists (on a s***ty team) isn't worth our time. Parise only has 30 goals and 34 assists. Is it really worth spending 3-3.5 million extra for ten more points? And let's not even compare Neal and Parise.

For some, the fact that we've got two young decent hockey players is more than they can handle. Look around on this thread and the "Early Off Season" thread and you'll see people suggesting that Nyquist should be in the top six over Filppula and Bert, and Smith should be a top four defenseman over Quincey. Never mind that neither of them have 20 NHL games under their belt yet, and never mind that none of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, or Lidstrom broke in to the NHL at that level. It's best just to nod your head and go along with it.

Here's the thing, why push hard for Parise when he will easily go between 7-8 million. I know he's really good and can score around 40 goals, but do we really need a 40 goal guy? Wouldn't we be just as well off with another 25-30 goal scorer to fill out the top six and save the extra money. Basically, I'm thinking about someone like Montreal got in Erik Cole last season, or Pittsburgh has in Neal.

Both Suter and Parise are going to want at least 7 million apiece. And that's before Glen Sather's stupid ass bids them up even higher.

Dude, I'm really trying not to be a dick here but sometime I have to wonder where you get this stuff. 1. Nyquist will not play in the top six over Filppula next season. 2. Barring injury, Smith will not be on the top two defensive pairings at all next season. 3. The team will resign Quincey. 4. Detroit will not sign Suter AND Parise if Lidstrom doesn't retire (in fact, they probably won't sign both of them anyway). 4. Helm and Miller (who's coming off a career season) are not going to get demoted after working themselves into bigger roles. 5. Where's Cleary, since when did the Wings just start trading good team guys and locker room leaders for nothing? I hope this is just some sort of strange wish list, and not that you actually think any of this is realistic?

Parros? Lol.

Give it a few years for Teemu Pulkkinen to develop and Gus to set him up and then just watch sparks fly. Check out this kid's shot.

Any chance a mod can move these last 5 or 10 posts into a new thread about a defensive replacement. It might just be me, but I think it's an interesting debate (Best D-man vs. Best Value for D-man) but nobody will be looking for it here?

Agreed. Just ask Fabian Brunnstom.

Agreed on the second line, but is the first line clicking any better now than it was when Datsyuk was healthy earlier in the season and was top 5 (in the league) in points while Franzen was leading the team in goals? The line is good with Nyquist, but they aren't setting the world on fire by any means. I'd like to see Franzen back on line one, Nyquist down to the third, and Cleary healthy scratched for a while to rest his knee (or on the fourth line if he absolutely must be in the lineup for these last 6 games). I disagree with dropping Mursak from the lineup. He's the only fourth liner who fore checks effectively and makes it hard on the d-men to play.

I was much more impressed by the Carolina game than the Columbus game for a couple of reasons. Obviously the come from behind was sweet, but mostly what I liked most was the style of game they played. Good hard working north/south hockey is what wins games in the playoffs and that's what they did. All that fancy pants, east/west, no look passing, stuff works against s*** teams, and looks really cool, but won't work in a tight checking, hard working type of game. Obviously I'm happy with any win, but if I did have to nit pick the Columbus game, I would have liked for them to keep it simple and fundamental, rather than Harlem Globetrotter esque (Datsyuk excluded as he's good enough to do what he wants). Either way, glad to see them coming around.

This is what I mean. You say that Burns isn't in the same class as Suter. Based on what? Burns plays comparable minutes, has comparable points, more goals, higher shooting percentage, and an equally respectable +/-, and managed to do it all without playing beside Shea Weber and Rinne standing on his head every night. You just assume Suter is that good because everyone talks about him as if he's the best defenseman in the league, instead of the best defenseman in his UFA class. They're a really good shutdown pair who play in front of one of the best two goalies in the league. Ryan Suter is good, but he's not two million dollars better than Burns, Yandle, Keith, or Letang, and yet he'll get that kind of money. Again, why pay out 7.5 or 8 million dollars to a guy when you can get someone as good, or almost as good for 6?

Well when you consider that Brent Burns agreed to a contract extension with the Sharks for 5.7 million and he's as good as Suter and not much worse than Weber, I don't see how someone can justify paying either of them 7.5 or 8. Nobody is going to be as good as Lidstrom, so what I want is someone who's first class, but who's not the current media darling. Weber and Suter will go high, just like Parise will go high, not because they're SO much better than everyone else, but mostly because they're good enough that people will get into bidding wars for them. Other top flight defensemen with good contracts include Yandle, D. Keith, Pietrangelo, Letang. I'm hoping that will be the model for Holland in terms of quality of player and contract size. I just don't want to see them give out some Drew Doughty sized contract to guys who aren't all that much, if any, better than the guys I've listed here.

God damn I hope Holland doesn't get into a bidding war for either one of those guys. I'd hate to end up with a 7.5 or 8 million dollar cap hit for those guys when we don't really need an 8 million dollar defenseman, when a 5.5 or 6 million dollar guy would do just as well.

Doesn't the NHL website allow you to customize sweaters? I think it costs an arm and a leg, but I recall seeing that at one point in time.

Yeah, the name of the place is Bugsy's and it's on the main drag in Alexandria, King Street. The place is totally awesome and right down where everybody in that area goes to party. And Bugsy himself is in there a couple times a week to drink and watch games. The bartenders are all really great and will put on any game you want and there are tons of flat screens. Plus the food is awesome. A buddy of mine met Mark Messier down there one night but it was a night I wasn't at the bar. I just moved back to michigan from there about a year ago.

Well obviously I wanted the guy before he signed that contract. Crossing my fingers to get him after he signed his contract would make me retarded, and fundamentally incapable of understanding the basic premises of contracts.

I was one of the people screaming all off season about signing Wiz, and it's pretty apparent why I'm not a GM for the Red Wings. While I still think he's a real good player, it just goes to show you don't need the best guy at any position, but rather the right one. What a good call the White signing was.

How is it possible for Homer's English to be so bad considering he's been in the U.S. for pretty close to half his life?

I agree.

I wonder if he'll go back on the top line when he gets back given how good Nyquist has looked on that line. I'm sure he will, but I can't imagine it will be the easiest decision in the world.