kliq

Its so weird, I think Fedorov is the only player ever to have such a rep for being lazy, and have coaches go to those lengths to get him going, yet has 2 selke's on his resume.

I dont think there is anything the PA can do. As long as the Sharks are paying him, the team can do whatever they want in terms of letters, playing time, etc. Nobody can prove the reason behind the decision. If a grievance was filed, the Sharks can easily make an argument that they feel their team needs different leadership given the past few playoff failures.

By 1 year......Datsyuk is 36, Thornton is 35, Marleau is 34 (turning 35 in a month)..............according to their Google Bio's.

In addition to taking the C away from Marleau back when they gave it to Thornton, in the story you it says they also this time stripped him of the A. So Marleau when from being captain, to an assistant captain, to nothing..........way to treat your players San Jose. They are lucky they are not a huge market, if they were a Toronto or New York etc. the media would be all over this story.

I've planed a fundraiser before, and trust me when I tell you their can be a lot of overhead with these types of events. It may seem like a lot per ticket, but at the end of the day the purpose is to raise money. If you charge to little and barely make a profit for the charity, it defeats the entire purpose of putting on the event. It does suck for people that can't afford it, but it is what it is. As long as the charity maximizes its profits, its a good thing.

Reports indicate that San Jose wanted to trade Thronton earlier this offseason, but Thornton said no (he has a no trade clause). I think this is SJ's way of getting him to back-down from that stance. Kind of a d*** move if you ask me, Thornton loves SJ, and as a result took a hometown discount (6.75mil over next 3 years), then 5 months later they try to trade him??? 7 months later strip him of the C??? You didn't want him, don't sign him. As much as fans hate Holland for the Cleary signing, these are the types of things players remember. A team like Detroit has a reputation of taking care of its own, SJ now look like a team who don't give a crap.

I think both at their prime giving 100% full effort, I would have to give the edge to Fedorov. However, if they were both in their prime right now and I could only have one, I would choose Datsyuk. Fedorov as good as he was, brought drama, I dont think I have ever heard a single teammate/coach/executive ever say a bad thing about Datsyuk. I think both end up in the HOF. If question 4 was: Who's jersey do the Wings retire, my answer is: Fedorov no, based on the fact it hasn't happened yet, and because of the way left. Datsyuk I think yes, because h's played his entire career here, always given 100%, and been a great guy in the locker room far as I know from day 1.

Jurco is also an RFA.

LOL. You never know on here!

The question I asked was based on LeftWinger saying he wanted the Wings to sign some depth players instead of resigning Alfie. Suter and Backes are not UFA so they cannot be signed. Plus, neither would be considered as "depth", and neither would fit under the cap.

If that was the case, I'm glad we didnt pull the trigger. I see much more upside with Gus then Ryan, nothing against Ryan.

I would love to have Seguin, but I dont see Boston trading a young stud like him to a division rival. Ryan wouldn't have been a bad choice, I remember there were rumors about that.

Let me ask you, who are the UFA's you wish he signed over the past few years? Weiss and Alfie were two of the best last year (projection wise) and this year was filled with above average/good players. Those two in particular, I am glad we didn't trade for. I admit that they are both good players, but they are extremely injury prone which is the last thing we need to add to a roster filled with guys with injury history. Then factor in that guys like Mantha and Jurco and company were the asking price, I am extremely glad we didnt pull off a big trade. I am okay trading for a star, but a want a young star, who doesn't have a ton of red flags and those guys aren't typically available.

I think you and I have a HUGE difference in opinion on the skill level of Erhoff and Niskanen. Niskanen has played in the NHL for 7 seasons and his points totals are the following: 26, 35, 15, 10, 21, 14, 46. His 46 points last season statistically seem more like an outlier then a true reflection of his ability. This should be a huge red flag to GM's and I am glad Holland didnt give in to the pressure and outbid Washington, I dont want a guy for 7 years for the kind of money that Washington threw at him. If an impact D-man was available in UFA (say a Shea Weber caliber D-man), I would be the first person to say sign him to a long term deal for top dollars, but Niskanen is not that guy. He would not be the difference in us winning a cup or not winning a cup. He may make us slightly better for maybe a few years, then his cap hit would hinder us a few years into his contract. Ehroff is 32 and appears to be regressing. I believe (I could be wrong) he saw the year Niskanen had offensively playing with Crosby/Malkin and co. and signed a one year deal hoping to up his value so next year he can sign a huge contract. Also, not a guy I feel puts us over the top. I would have loved if we got him at 1 year, 4mil but from what I have heard he wanted much more term/$ to play for the Wings. Glad we didn't overpay. Whats the point of having capspace? So when your core become UFA/RFA, you can sign them to long term deals rather then lose them. I would be totally fine with signing the guys above to 1 year deals to see what happens, but that wasn't an option. I don't want a stupid signing now to hurt us in 2016 or 2020 etc. when we need to re-sign guys like Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Mantha etc. The Nashville trade.......it may end up being a horrible trade, I'm not going to argue either way, but you cant know that now. In 3 years we will know if that trade was bad or not.

Out of curiosity.....what depth players out there do you want?

To preface my own point, none of us are actually in the room when an offer is made. So other then hearing rumors and speculation, none of know for sure what was offered or what was turned down. Rumor has it that Holland did try to sign some of these UFA's, but once the term/$ amount got ridiculous with the exception of Suter he walked away which I am personally extremely thankful for, even in the case of Suter (no thank you 14 years). Also, I don't get why people speak as if Holland hasn't gotten a UFA in years. The fact that he didn't sign Boyle, Niskanen, or Erhoff this season is not a big deal, and each player had his own reason of going where they did. Last year the top UFA's were LeCavalier, Iginla, Alfie, Fillpulla, Weiss, and Clarkson, and he signed Alfie and Weiss two of the biggest out there. I'm sure some people are reading this saying "you're saying those are big names lol" to which I respond "you're right, buts that free agency now". This years class was "headlined" by Niskanen and Stasny, middle of the road to good players being overpaid to contracts that teams are going to be looking to buy-out or trade away in a couple years (In the case of LeCavalier it didnt even take 1 full season). Unless you are giving a vet a couple years, anyone at the top of a UFA class is going to be overpaid.

number9 pretty much answered the question exactly how I was going to. I never said in my original statement that Holland has kept the Wings Cup favourites during the re-build, I said he has kept them competitive. You asked me to define competitive...okay: The 2013 playoffs. I believe that taking out a #2 seeded Anaheim Ducks, and then being a goal away from taking out the #1 seed Chicago Blackhawks can be classified as "competitive". Yes the Wings have been the #7 and #8 seeds respectfully in the last couple seasons, but i think its safe to say that if they weren't littered with injuries, they could have been right there in the thick of things with teams like Tampa Bay, Montreal, NYR, and Philly. Even with the injuries look how close we were.....Montreal had 100 points this year, TB had 101, and we still had 93. If we literately won 4 more games out of the 82 played this year, we finish 101 points and are #2 or #3 in the division. Again, im not saying we are elite, or favourites, but definetely competetive, this is the NHL in 2014....parody. Yes we are not Boston, Chicago or LA, but we are right there with the teams below, and as the playoffs showed with Bos vs Mon, Det vs Chi 2013, LA in 2012, etc. if you get in anything can happen. I do believe we were "competitive". What do I define as not being "competitive": Buffalo, Florida, Calgary, NYI, Edmonton etc. Like everyone else here I wish the Wings were still cup favourites, but we're not. We are rebuilding, but with the exception of one bad playoff round in the last 2 years I feel we have definetely been "competitive". As far as "how is Holland trying"......I think NOT trading the kids is his way of tyring to build for the future, while NOT trading D & Z for more prospects, and signing Alfie last year are a couple examples his way of trying to keep the Wings competitive now. Even the Cleary signing.....as much as I hate it and wish Cleary retired, I believe Holland did this because he was fulfilling a promise he made to Cleary last year when Cleary turned down the Philly deal of 3 years, 9mil. (the promise last year was Hollands mistake, not the signing this year) If Holland reneges on his promise and doesnt sign Cleary, this is something players remember. And to do it to a guy who has sacrificed his body and is a locker room leader/loved by the guys could have had long term ramifications. Point being, Holland isnt perfect and I'm not trying to say he is. But I do believe he is "trying".

Boyd Devereaux? I remember they called the line something like 2 kids and an old goat. Or am I missing some type of sarcasm here lol

I'm happy with Holland getting 4 more years. Holland is putting the Wings through a rebuild right now while at the same time trying to keep the team competitive, a very hard thing to too, especially with all the internal/external pressure to either completely rebuild, or 100% go for it. While I am personally happy with the rebuild and am thrilled to see all the young talent the Wings have developed and acquired (nyquist, tatar, jurco, sheahan, sproul, marchenko, ouellette, callahan, etc.) Only time will tell if it worked, four years seems like a fair window.

Agreed on Hillier. I believe he was benched for Frederik Anderson & John Gibson in the playoffs last year. Nothing against those two, but a "star" doesn't get demoted to third string. He's a below average starter at worst, and decent starter at best.

I think Jurco will be playing on a full time basis sooner then later. With any NHL team, there always seems to be at least one forward injured at any given time if not more. While I do wish that Cleary retired and Jurco was there from day one, with Franzen, Cleary, Alfie?, Helm, Weiss and Datsyuk in your lineup, I hate to say it, but one will go down. I would be shocked if they all played even 70 games each.

I definitely see your point, but in hockey specifically it worries me because of the cap. I would hate to see in 2018, 2019 or whenever they became UFA's. having to let a player like Tatar or Nyquist walk away at their peek because we cant fit them under the cap due to a bad long term contract. In baseball I am much more for long term deals then hockey.....plus, in baseball you can always trade that bad contract to the Yankees

I don't think necessarily means anything, I think the reason for each missed UFA is purely situational. I think GM's sometimes get way to much credit when they attract a free agent, and at the same time get way to much crap when they don't get a free agent. There are a variety of things that a player looks at when deciding where to play, in no particular order: family, climate, skill set of team, money, the way a team treats its players, just to name a few. While there very well could be some players that went elsewhere because they thought another team had a brighter future then the Wings, I don't think we should take this as an alarming sign. Suter is a perfect example, he wanted to live closer to his wife's family, and unless Holland threw a dollar amount at him he simply couldn't refuse (thank our luck stars he didnt), he wasn't coming here........For the record, nothing against Suter, I just don't want a guy under contract for 14 years at 7mil+ cap hit.

Live....for me it was Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. Even though it was taken away with a minute left, I have NEVER felt what I felt in the building when the wings were 1 min away from winning the cup. Then to be on the edge of your seat through 3 OT's, with the Wings being 1 goal away.....simply amazing! Ending sucked, but the intensity was awesome! Still pisses me off that in OT Pittsburgh didn't get a penalty when the puck went over the boards, hit the netting, came back in,and they played like nothing happened!

lol