FlashyG

With the term limit on contracts and the rules against front or back end loading deals contracts like that will become the norm for Elite players. Still, the Ducks are going to be praying the cap only drops for next season and then starts creeping back up to its current level or they're going to have trouble keeping their next wave of Free Agents.

I agree completely about Tortorella. He seems like the kind of coach that you can stomach when you're winning but who would be unbearable for a losing team. Kinda like Scotty Bowman, but with a lot less winning.

I think the east might play a tougher brand of hockey but the idea that the conference is bigger is mostly a myth. If you go by average height and weight the Wings are actually a bigger team than Boston, although certainly not as physical. If the Wings can have success in the east with their style next season I think you'll see a lot of the teams in the North East dumping tough guys for guys with more skill to match up with the Wings.

I think its a definite possibility but I disagree with the reasoning suggested in the blog. I highly doubt playing in the East has anything to do with his decision. If that were the case he'd probably wait until they actually played there before claiming its too physical for him. I think if there is anything driving him to go back to Russia it would be his daughter. If that's the case and he just wants to be closer to his family I can't hold it against him and I wish him nothing but the best in Russia.

I've actually been of the opinion that Babcock should be let go for a couple years now. Its not that I don't think he's a great coach, I think he's probably one of the best in the world, I just think every coach has a limited amount of time where their message is effective with their team. I also think a coaches style should mesh with his roster and with the management of his team. Babcock seems to be in open disagreement with management as far as what style of team they should put on the ice and if I have to choose between Holland/Nill/Develanno vs Babcock I'm letting Babcock go for sure. I wouldn't be too upset if Holland was let go but I don't think it would fix the problem with Babs as Nill has shown from his drafting that he prefers skill over size just like Holland does. Its pretty clear though that the rift between Babcock and Management isn't working itself out, it kind of reminds me of a less dramatic version of Moneyball with the manager using everything at his disposal to fight against the decisions of the GM.

If Babcock was giving ice-time based on players actual play this season and we were continuing to lose I'd agree, but the fact is that he will not give ice-time to rookies that don't play his style of hockey. Tatar was playing great out there and was limited to less than 10 minutes a night, Nyquist was brought up for tonights game to play in the top 6 accoriding to Holland and he wasn't given a single shift there by Babs, yet Abdelkader has played like 20 games up there despite having only 2 pts all season. Babcock is a great coach but he's a terrible fit for the Wings best players and its time to move on. Unless you'd rather keep him and blow up the roster for guys better suited to his style of play.

There is a major difference of opinion between management and the coaching staff about what style of hockey the team should be playing. Holland prefers skilled players that are better in a puck possession style of hockey while Babcock prefers grinders who dump and chase and clear their zone off the glass and out. The problem is that our best players (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Flip, Kronwall and Brunner) are all players the thrive in Holland's style but not in Babcocks. Then in our prospect pool you have a large contingent of Holland style players as well (Tatar, Nyquist, Sproul, Jurco, Jarnkrok, Frk and Pulkinnen) For a while we played a hybrid style where the bottom 6 played Babcock's style and the top 6 were free to play their style but lately it seems that Babcock even has them playing defence first off the glass and out hockey. Its not only painfully boring to watch but it hasn't been effective either. Its time he moved on to a roster that is more suited to his style, and its time the Wings brought in a coach whose style matches up with the talent the Wings have. You can bet their first move would be putting Cleary and Abdelkader on the 4th line or in the pressbox while increasing the ice-time of skilled rookies like Tatar and Nyquist.

I couldn't disagree more its 100% up to Babcock who plays and who doesn't. Babcock is the reason Tatar didn't get any top 6 time, He's the reason Nyquist was in the minors for the majority of this season, and he's the reason Abdelkader is still in the top 6 tonight. Babcock doesn't trust younger players like he does guys like Cleary. So I wouldn't hold my breath hoping for him to all the sudden have a change of heart.

I think Babcock is one of, if not the best coach in the league but no matter how good you are, after a while your messages no longer hit home with your players. Bowman never stayed in one place too long for this reason, Hitchcock is another that has tremendous success in the short term with teams but seems to lose the room after a season or 2. Babcock has been in charge for a long time, with very little turnover on the roster. So its not that surprising when rumors come out that more and more players don't like him or his style of coaching/playing the game. He clearly has a different style of hockey in mind than our management does and that style doesn't fit well with our best players either. It's led to us playing a hybrid style between puck possession and north south hockey that works some nights and doesn't on others. I think he has this season and next max coaching the Wings, its unlikely he'll be signed to a new deal and I don't see him being in charge as a lame-duck coach in the final year of his contract, so barring a Stanley Cup run, I think we're in the tail end of Babcock's tenure in Detroit.

Which player are you referring to? Kulemin? He's not exactly going to be available unless the Leafs fall out of contention. Also goals aren't everything Filppula has the highest single season point total of all the players you want. In a shortened season where everyone is considered a playoff contender the few teams that are sellers will be getting insanely high returns for anyone they deal. There is absolutely no chance in the world that ANY team is going to be getting all 4 of those players. It would cost them their farm teams and their draft picks for the next few years considering the prices this year. Acquiring all 4 of them would cost us several of Nyquist, Tatar, Smith, Sproul, Ouelette, Marchenko, Mrazek, our first round picks for the next few years and possibly some later round picks as well.

I'd take Stewart in a second but I wouldn't want Clowe if San Jose paid us to take him. Maybe a couple years ago but at this point he's less productive than Cleary.

That's as close as Mindfly gets to a positive post.

No way I'd pay Getzlaf that much with the cap dropping to 64 million next year. Its also a very good indicator that the Wings will not be signing any Free Agents of value this off-season...not if that is the kind of prices it will cost. We just don't have the cap space.

In Russia Referee Punches you.

Absolutely tore apart the AHL with multiple teams. Hasn't been able to find the same success at the NHL probably due to his size (5'8) I wouldn't be opposed to giving him a shot but I doubt he'd fit Babcock's style of play and he'll probably get claimed before the Wings get a shot.

I've seen the video and while tragic I didn't think the hit was a dirty one. The player who got injured initiated the contact by driving his shoulder into his chaser. He was just overpowered and went into the boards at a terrible angle.

I'd say he'll command in the 4.5-5 million range when the cap drops. He might take a discount to stay in Detroit, but on the open market he'd get at least that.

Based on the Oilers site their current lines are Paajarvi - Gagner - Eberle Hall - Nugent Hopkins - Hemsky Jones - Belanger - Yakupov Eager - Smyth - Brown Smid - Petry Schultz - Schultz Whitney - Peckham

If Dekeyser is following Schultz playbook then he's probably down to Detroit and at most one other team. He'll still field offers from others to drive up his price. At least that's how Schultz operated, he had no intention of signing outside of Canada. It was between Vancouver and Edmonton. With Dekeyser I think its between Tampa and Detroit...but he'll probably get more NHL time faster with the Lightning.

I agree that Dekeyser could step in this year, and could next year as well, I just think its extremely unlikely given how the Wings handle prospects. We have 9 defenceman as it is. Kronwall, Ericsson, Quincey, Smith, and Lashoff are all essentially guaranteed their roster spots going forward. Kindl, Huskins, White and Colaiacovo are all battling for the last spot. Its possible White gets traded but there's a good chance that's as part of a package for another defenceman. The only way Dekeyser would see any time on the Wings this season is due to injury, and even next year I'd imagine the best Dekeyser could hope for is to battle for the #6 spot in camp. If he lost that battle there is no way they'd waste him in the pressbox as the 7th defenceman, he'd be getting big minutes in Grand Rapids with his former coach.

Count me among those that would rather Bogosian. I don't have any interest in Bouwmeester at all. He would provide a little offence from the back-end but he would hurt the team defensively. Dekeyser is an interesting option but even if we sign him he wouldn't be on the roster this season...We have too many defenceman as it is. Maybe after a trade we could fit him in but I don't think we'd even see him as a regular next year.

My guess on why that line exists, can be answered in photo form

I guess I should have said I wouldn't shop Datsyuk under any circumstances, I'd still listen to any trade offer that came my way and that one would be interesting depending on who the prospects were. I wouldn't have any interest in getting picks from a team that would have both Datsyuk and Ovechkin on it though.

I think I figured out whats behind at least half of that second line