Scott Stevens

You're saying the same thing I'm saying. He's brought in players that have HELPED at times. Andersson and Bowman are responsible for players/development that have been the BACKBONE = Lidstrom, Fedorov, Konstantinov, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, etc, etc, etc.

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Zach Parise ($5.750m) Jiri Hudler ($3.000m) / Darren Helm ($1.500m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.250m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.500m) / Matt Carle ($4.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($5.000m) / Ian White ($2.875m) Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Thomas McCollum ($0.816m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,236,210; BONUSES: $247,500 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $63,790 Everybody Pray for This.

Ughhh. I don't think so. Hakan Andersson and Scotty Bowman are responsible for the Wings turnaround. Ken Holland is a pawn in the game. For every Shanahan and Hull, there has been a Kruup and Hatcher out of Holland. Holland is an ok GM in my opinion, but I wouldn't consider him anything else but o.k. Importing the Russians and Swedes when that became vogue was Andersson's work. Getting the team to play defense was Bowman's work. All Holland had to do was bring in/ship out a few pieces when Bowman told him what he needed.

Sorry. Yah, I forgot about Bert. He needs to be part of the mix for the rest of this year for sure. I like your lines. That's how I would do it, too. But I'd start mixing Helm with the big guns sometimes to see if his speed could clear up some ice for Dats and Z.

Really? Damn. That's the smallest I've ever heard of!

This is a good point. Hudler seems to have pulled his head out of his butt. It seems like money and stardom got to him 3 years ago, and he did what 99% of us would do if we suddenly became millionaires and had women flailing themselves at us. If he continues to play well for the Wings and doesn't cause any off ice drama with his contracts and personal issues, I don't know why the Wings wouldn't want to keep him around. He's never going to be Datsyuk, but he's a pretty damn good third line player. If the Wings can get him for 2.5 - 3 million per for the next 5 years of his career, which should be his prime, why wouldn't they want to do that?

Hudler has never scored 60 points, has he?

Hudler is a third line winger. Not a second line center. Cleary-Datsyuk-Helm Franzen-Zetterberg-Filppula Hudler-Helm-Mursak Eaves-Abdelkader-Emmerton Holmstrom on the bench, except when we're up by 2 or more goals 5 on 5, or on the power play.

yah, you get an image in your head of Tiger Williams, but it's a 5'7" guy!

Wings should be looking of a couple of things this offseason: top 6 forward and a top 4 defenseman. Worst Case = Cleary/Dats/Franzen/Hudler/Zetterberg/Filppula = top 6 forwards 2012. Best Case = Cleary/Dats/Franzen/PARISE/Zetterberg/Filppula = top 6 forwards 2012. Worst Case = Kronwall/White/Kindl/Ericsson = top 4 defensemen 2012. Best Case = Lidstrom/White/Kronwall/Carle = top 4 defensemen 2012.

I never could understand why we didn't put this guy up front when we entered the playoffs and use him for back-up if one of our d guys went down.

What's awesome about Helm is that he is a 5 on 5 scoring chance creator. The Wings are loaded with guys who can put up points on the power play, but that doesn't cut it in the playoffs. The Wings need more burners. That's why I'm excited about Mursak, too. That guy can skate, too. Everyone that's posting all this "Helm = Draper" and "Helm needs hands" nonsense can stuff it. Sure, Helm isn't Pavel Datsyuk with his stick handling and shooting ability. Nobody else is. But give him 4 or 5 minutes on the power play every night and I guarantee you he'd end up with more points than any other wing besides D and Z.

You may not realize it, but Hudler is about to streak to 23 goals and 31 assists by the 40 game mark. Because Holland fears that he will not sign for anything less than Datsyuk money as a UFA, Holland trades him to Montreal for Plekanec.

I wonder what he'd be like with Dats and Z. In front of the net on the PP too.

Both teams have pretty cool normal unis as it is, so it's tough to like new ones.

1st selection or 2nd?

ORRRRRRRR ..... Let's speculate on this: If Hudler has 40 points by the halfway mark, does he make the all-star team?

I think you're right. I think Philadelphia will re-sign Carle before he gets picked up by another team.

You've written a lot of words here, but really haven't said much.

Can you two get a room and make up already? Damn. Babcock LOVES Filppula, so neither of you guys is doing any good slamming or defending him right now. The FACT is that Flips is going to play and get points because Babs knows Flips is solid. Just let him do his thing.

This made me laugh!! When Helm nets 2 pk break-aways in a row, let's get rid of Z for a 2nd rounder.

Here's how I see it - 1) You can't hate on Dats, Z, Cleary, Helm, or Lids. They are off limits. 2) You almost can't hate on Filppula, Franzen, or Kronwall. They are pretty much off limits too unless they have a really really horrible game. 3) You better have good reason for hating on Abdelkader, Babcock, Howard, Eaves, or Miller. These guys are solid 80-90% of the time, so hating on them will likely make you look foolish once the next game is over. 4) The rest you can hate on, but remember that it's someone's favorite player so you're gonna have some backlash if you hate on them. These guys are likely to piss you off again if they've pissed you off before. Just remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though. You might be pissed that Holmstrom skates like a 500 pound Galopogos turtle, but someone else thinks he's Nancy Kerrigan in pads.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Stuart gone after this season and Ericsson in the 2nd pairing with Kronwall. Just a hunch, but I think Stuart is gonna want money Detroit doesn't want to give him. Lidstrom - White Kronwall - Ericsson Kindl - Smith Janik/Commodore That's what our 2012 Defense is going to look like. Post Script - I'd really like to see the Red Wings take a run at Matt Carle this off-season instead of Stuart. I'm big on that guy.

Injuries should start to make room for these guys. It's hard for all the forwards to go 80 games straight without getting dinged up.

I'd just like to see if for a couple shifts a game is all. The Euro-Triplets.