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Whole team was a mess back then. Find it hard to believe he would just become useless at wing. If he can play center he can play wing

I agree. This contract sends a great message to all the up and coming hardworking, depth guys. Then Gus contract sends a message to guys like Tats, Sheahan, Pulkinnen... This is just the order of things. These guys deserved to get paid and it was time

Love the lines. Been saying Sheahan should be tried as a winger. He can do the dirty stuff along the boards and in front of the net a lot better as a winger. Hopefully he will shoot more h

So if Abby wanted 8 years and Holland wanted 5, would you naysayers have told Abby to walk? I'm not thrilled with the term but I'm happy for Abby that he'll retire a wing. These 4M contracts aren't back breaking even if he does regress badly in his final years. People act like Holland has decided to replace Datsyuk with Abby because of this deal. He's paid like a secondary player

50 Canadian dollars

I will make a LGW wager that Abby scores at least 15 goals this season

Having a guy that hovers around 20ish goals and leads your team in hits at 4.25M is a pretty good deal. 5 years would have been the perfect deal imo but I'm sure Holland considered this but Abby didn't want to hit FA on the downside of his career with only a few years left in him

I think Holland plans on continuing with the youth movement. Abby will be a great complimentary guy with Dats and Z and then with Larkin and AA. We are just now seeing our high end prospects seeing NHL ice time. The deal is long but it's not like Abdelkader is being paid like some corner stone of the franchise, he's being paid like a good complimentary forward. Who knows what 20 goal scorers will be getting in 3 years and this saves us from getting a gritty scoring forward through FA. Something we will always need even int the future considering our prospects

If Abby scores around 25 goals (maybe) and leads our team in hits for the millionth time (definitely) teams would be offering him 5M. The term just says to me that they want him around for the future and see him as leader on this team. This contract should inspire guys like Glendening. Abby got here by working his arse off every second of every shift, started on the 4th line and now he's making big money playing with super stars. 4M cap hit contracts don't hurt your team these days

Yeah Smith's puck grab against Montreal honestly could have been the difference in making the playoffs or not. Unforgettable and inexcusable

How was Franzen dreadful? He led our team in goals every year until his injuries. People on these boards spend more time talking about players then actually watching them. There's something wrong with people having their own personal investment in players struggles just for the sake of I told you so's. Abby got a fair deal in today's NHL and the term just guarantees he retires a wing. They probably see him as a great leader and somebody they need around when Dats retires

Even if the cap stayed the same, these 4M cap hits aren't really going to affect how you build your team. The term just guarantees he stays a wing for life, not a trade able player and they would never take him anyways. It's those 7-10M deals that prevent you from making deals. With those contracts your accepting the core of your team and that it will never change, you live and die by those deals

Why does everyone consider Franzen's contract some sort of failure? We got great production out of him for his cap hit and now him likely going on LTIR he has no cap hit at all. I'd say it worked out pretty well for us

Put Mrazek in against the Sharks since we always suck against them. Worked against the Caps. Weren't we like 1-7 against them previously?

Well nobody agrees with you. No top four defensemen are playing for under 3M around the league that should give you some realistic expectations. Ericsson is a top 4 around the league

I wouldn't say anybody is overpaid actually. E is objectively a top 4 defensemen on this team despite what you think about him. We have too many players not too much salary. Who in your mind is overpaid besides Ericsson which is objectively wrong? Kindl? He's gone next year so I'm not worried about it, not like he has a massive cap hit anyways

Abby is the prototypical Red Wing that proves if you're a real professional, that works hard the possibilities are endless. He'll be a great veteran presence, hopefully his body holds up. Hasn't missed any significant time his whole career so I'm positive he won't break You're comparing 4 players salary to 2 and two of those guys are done after this season. Our salary situation is pretty good right now. Ericsson is the only guy that might be overpaid and realistically he isn't.

Not bad actually. Good for Abby. He'll be wearing the A soon

Abby is not going to get any better. 40ish points is his ceiling. He does a lot of good things that go unnoticed but he's not suddenly going to emerge as a Backes. Hopefully his body stays together and he can be a good veteran for this team. We're banking on it

The only way I like this deal is if it's 4.25M max. Still 7 years is just way too long especially when he's not taking a discount to stay in Detroit. Abby's got a hell of an agent. With teams so pressed against the cap I don't think any team would give him 5M plus 7 years. This feels like Ericsson's deal. Thanks for getting getting paid peanuts for so long here's an extra couple million a year I would rather see 5M+ for 3 years

I would be okay with 4.25M but getting close to 5M for 7 years is pretty close to being a bad deal imo. Not terrible, that's close to market value but with that term it should be lower You're dreaming

Complaining about our defense when we just shut out one of the most potent offendes in the league. I'm usually the first to complain about the defense but to me it looks like their finally coming into their own. We have 3 well balanced pairs. I don't think the pairs have looked this good in years

Yup, we're looking at Q's replacement for next season right now in Marchenko and he looks damn good. Absolutely NHL ready.... Only way Q stays is if he takes a big discount

I think the defense was fine. I think on the PP leaving the one time shot to Ovie was a strategy to give Mrazek a clear look and he was prepared for it everytime. Ovie had chances on the PP and the one time shot late in the game that were the only dangerous chances. Defensively they played one of their best games imo but their is still a lot of room for improvement moving the puck up ice and offensively Honestly Kronner was the only guy last night on the defense that I thought could have played better

I agree I think we were really missing him until now. One of our most versatile players. The guy has games where he's the best player on the ice still. He will be invaluable to this team once we get the top 6 more balanced, depth guys like that in the bottom 6 are crucial in the playoffs