Rice

No one knows whether he'll be a bust or not, but Hossa won't be purely a rental like Guerin and Forsberg were. Hossa is younger than Datsyuk and he will sign somewhere long-term. Adding Hossa is beefing up for the playoffs and for the next few seasons, at least. The same couldn't be said for Forsberg or Guerin. Plus, Hossa is far better than either of those guys were last year.

I know for a fact Holland tried to get Forsberg from Philadelphia last year.

Also, you have to remember that the Wings' offensive attack begins with their puck-moving defensemen. With Lidstrom, Rafalski, and Kronwall out, Lebda is the Wings' best offensive defenseman -- a guy who has 12 points in 63 games. Not saying secondary scoring isn't an issue; it is. I'm just saying it's not just the forwards that are the problem.

Holland got Lang in 2004 when he was leading the league in scoring. I'd guess he was pretty sought after. The Wings getting Hossa will come down to who Hossa is willing to sign with and for how much. If he gives a smaller list of teams it will lower Waddell's asking price as far as assets go. If Hossa will sign for below his market value with the Wings for five years, Holland will be prepared to offer a lot. It's like adding another Zetterberg or Datsyuk. The Wings don't have the best assets, but I'm pretty sure they have enough to get a deal done.

Put this thread on hold until Tuesday.

This coming from a guy who is calling for McCarty to return. Interesting. People want Fedorov because he's very talented, plays both ways, and can play any position if needed -- three very valuable qualities in the playoffs. Who knows what a return to Detroit would do for the guy? He's always been a stud in the post-season.

That site is a joke. For your own sake, don't ever go there again.

I wasn't implying they're "trash"; what I meant was they don't have enough trade value to get a guy like Hossa. Everyone thinks the Wings can just throw our expendable players away to get a superstar. They can't.

Ah, the universal trade package. It's so interesting that you can trade Samuelsson, Hudler, Meech, and "a couple draft picks" for any player in the NHL. Why does everyone seem to think "one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies to the NHL trade deadline? It doesn't. You have to give something up to get something.

It all depends on what kind of money it would take to lock up Hossa long-term in Detroit. If he's willing to take, say, $6-7 million from a team like Detroit that is always at the top of the league it's possible and if I were Holland I'd be willing to give up some significant assets. If Hossa wants in the $8-9 even 10 million range, it would be very, very hard to work things out over the next few years.

Good news.

Please, tell me how exactly they can take on Richards and St. Louis for a combined $13,050,000 cap hit while only giving up $7, 060,000. They are adding $5,990,000 until the 2010/11 season. The Rangers have about $2.3 million in cap space which probably gives them enough to take on that much salary for this year but I don't see how this big of a trade is possible in a cap world past this season. Jagr's salary likely comes off the books next season but the new Lundqvist deal negates that. I also doubt the Rangers would trade Drury the same year they signed him to a massive deal. Doesn't he have a NTC? If so, why does he want to go to a basement-dweller like TB?

Yeah, I'm pretty excited for the deadline.

TSN Nice trade for the Sens. Stillman is a valuable second line forward to have. He's a very underrated player. Commodore is a tough defenseman too, the kind of defenseman I would like the Wings to get. They just acquired a lot of valuable playoff experience.

This reminds me of the time the Wings lost in an ugly game against Philadelphia. A lot of writers and fans were saying the Wings were "exposed" by the Flyers' toughness and would never survive in the playoffs. Then the Wings beat Calgary, San Jose, and came damn close to beating Anaheim.

I thought he looked pretty good.

Which ones?

Every team slumps. It's not the end of the world.

That's funny, because we have pretty much the same defense as last year and we almost beat the Ducks without Schneider and Kronwall. Kronwall is out, obviously, and he's a bigger part of the defense this year -- and rest assured, the Wings will pick up at least one defenseman at the deadline. I'm betting Lebda is moved in favor of a bigger guy. A few bad games and our defense sucks...unbelievable. Actually scratch that, it's time to rebuild.

Time to rebuild!

You don't remember right.

Proven first-liner, proven third-liner...it doesn't make a difference. At the trade deadline last year, Franzen was more important to the Detroit Red Wings than Matthias ever has been or likely ever will be. Want to argue with that?

Well, shutting guys down has to occur during 5-on-5 play and the penalty kill. When did I say I would be totally opposed to trading Franzen? I just said he doesn't have to go, like you and others have implied. The Bertuzzi trade obviously bit Holland in the ass, but like I said, it was a lose-lose for him. He was aggressive at the deadline like fans wanted him to be. If he hadn't been, fans would've been disappointed.

How many NHL games has Matthias played in? How many has Franzen played in? Alexander Daigle was hyped up, too.

He also said last year that he wasn't going to make any big moves at the deadline, maybe a minor tweak or two -- and ended up dealing for Calder and Bertuzzi, obviously. He has said recently that if the right deal comes along he'll listen. He's never going to tell the media what players are available and what aren't...and you're right; we're just going to have to wait and see.