FlashyG

the difference between a 2.35 and a 2.83 goals against average isn't insignificant. It amounts to a 20 goal difference if they were to split the season evenly. Here are McCollum's #'s at the AHL level vs Howard and Mrazek. Games Started - McCollum - 98 (most in a season was 28) Howard - 173 (most in a season was 51) Mrazek - 28 Wins McCollum - 40 (41%) Howard - 90 (52%) Mrazek - 18 (64%) GAA McCollum - 3.28 Howard - 2.66 Mrazek - 2.34 SV% McCollum - .877 Howard - .911 Mrazek - ,915 SO McCollum - 3 Howard - 14 Mrazek - 1 I know I'm exaggerating just how bad he is, but I don't think we could even get a 7th round pick for him considering his play and the length of time left on his contract. There are tons of options out there better than McCollum as far as goalie depth is concerned.

Well clearly your 3rd hand hearsay is irrefutable evidence then.

I've got about a 5 hour drive to see them at the Joe. Funny thing though, its cheaper for me to drive that 5 hours to Windsor, get a hotel room, pay for tickets and all expenses for the game (bus to and from, couple drinks and snacks) than it would be to see a game 25 minutes from my house in Toronto. Even standing room only tickets in Toronto cost over $100 for a Wings Leafs game. Lower bowl tickets would run you about $500-1000 for a pair to a Wings game there. Leaf fans are a dedicated bunch

I think you are misunderstanding fact with opinion. You have no more insight into Lidstrom's decision to retire than I or anyone else here does. I don't think the lock-out or the talent level of the Wings had anything to do with Lidstrom's decision to hang them up. He was 42, and didn't have the motivation to go through another training camp. Also from what I've read about Datsyuk recently he has requested players like Holmstrom and Bertuzzi on his line because their size creates space for him to maneuver. I don't think he's as upset with who he's playing with as we are. Although I'm sure we both agree that Cleary and Abdelkader are certainly not the line-mates he should be playing with.

Flip Mostly but Cleary had a shot as did Abdelkader

If Datsyuk is leaving I could care less about getting a draft pick for him. No draft pick is going to be able to replace him right away and I'm not interested in replacing him with a guy who might be able to fill some of the void 5 years down the road. I'd rather keep him for the year, trade prospects and/or picks for a guy who can step in right away and continue with Zetterberg and whoever that may be. It gives us a great chance to send him out a winner and keeps us competitve while we allow the rest of our prospects to develop. There are no dynasties in the NHL anymore, there haven't been since the Oilers in the 80's. There is no scenario where trading Datsyuk would make this team better. Yet you have proposed it countless times in countless threads. The odds of it happening are only slightly better than the odds of all 30 teams being killed in a 30 airplane pile-up mid-flight.

Yet when Franzen was out for a couple games that line completely fell apart. Over that span Zetterberg and Brunner were a combined -9 with almost all of their points coming on the PP in one game.

Clarkson had 30 goals last year but only 46 pts and was a -8. The player you're calling overpaid scored 1 fewer goal and had 10 more points while finishing +23 on a team that finished with an identical record. I don't really think either would be overpaid but I'd rather Franzen over Clarkson based on his consistency. I'd take Clarkson over Flip though which is a far more likely scenario considering his contract is up and he'll be looking for a similar salary to Clarkson. And you know damn well I'm not saying Franzen is better than Zetterberg or Datsyuk. I don't base my opinions of players based on a stretch of 15 games. What I am saying is that you seem to have no idea how to assess someone's defensive abilities, and that you are completely wrong about how Franzen has played in his own end this year. Through this very small sample size he's easily been one of, if not our best defensive forward.

I wouldn't trade Datsyuk under any circumstance whatsoever. If the WIngs are shopping him every team in the league will know why and it would drive the price down exponentially. If he's retiring I'd look to move some prospects/picks for a player who can step in right away, if he's coming back I let my talent develop as they have been and slot them in when they are ready.

So what? I said your assessment of his defensive play is completely wrong. I didn't say his offensive numbers have been great this year. Here are a few players quality of competition #'s from this season. (the higher the # the better the opposition) Franzen 4.39 Zetterberg 2.068 Datsyuk 2.820 Samuelsson -1.046 Clarkson 0.298 Here is their GAA per 60/m Clarkson 2.01 Samuelsson 3.73 Zetterberg 2.30 Datsyuk 1.70 Franzen 1.20 Here is their total # of goals against with them on the ice Franzen - 4 Zetterberg - 12 Datsyuk - 8 Samuelsson - 2 Clarkson - 9 Clarkson may be having a great year, but one great season doesn't make him worth 4.5 million when he's been a sub 50pt player for the entirety of his career. I'm not saying that at all, I'm saying that Franzen is playing on Line 1 based on the amount of even strength ice time each line gets. Although that changes from game to game based on Babcocks whims and their opposition. On most recent nights the lines have been #1 Franzen-Zetterberg-Brunner #2 Cleary - Datsyuk- Abdelkader #3 Tatar - Andersson-Eaves #4 Miller - Emmerton-Tootoo

4.5 is still pretty steep for Clarkson considering he's only really had 1 good season and still hasn't topped 50 pts in a season. He might be an ok replacement for Filppula should they not be able to sign him, but even Flip has the versatility to play center or wing. I'm not sure if Clarkson can play anything but the Wing.

This is just all kinds of wrong and unlike some of the other Franzen critics who've made good points this lacks any and all sense. First how can Abby and Cleary be playing over Franzen on line 2, when he is playing on line #1 with Zetterberg and Brunner? Technically speaking he's playing over Datsyuk, Cleary and Abby. Secondly, why would he retire costing a team thats been loyal to him when he could just go on LTIR and not cost the team at all should he want to hang them up? Third, your assessment of Franzen's defence is so wrong its mind boggling. Franzen has been on the ice for a total of 4 goals against all season while facing the toughest opposition of anyone on the entire team. Per/60 minutes Franzen ranks 3rd among the Wings forwards in goals against. He trails only Tootoo and Eaves both of which face easier opposition. Sammy on the other hand ranks dead last on the entire team, while facing the worst opposition of the entire team. The only way you can reach the conclusion you did is to either be completely biased, or completely oblivious to what happens on the ice. Clarkson

There isn't a team in the league that would be willing to trade for McCollum. He was atrocious in his only NHL game, he was terrible in the AHL and he was just as bad in the ECHL. On top of that he's a FA at the end of the season. We could have moved Joey MacDonald to them and they'd probably pay a hefty fee for Mrazek but not for McCollum. Florida is another team desperate for Goalies after losing Theodore for the rest of the season but even they probably aren't THAT desperate

While in front of Babs I'd also appreciate you asking him why Datsyuk is playing with the 4th line.

I don't see Brunner getting a long term deal yet. He'll likely get a short deal to see how he handles a full NHL season before he gets a big contract. I also don't think the WIngs have any serious cap problems where buying someone out becomes necessary. 18 Million should be enough to re-sign Brunner, Flip, Howard, Kindl, Andersson, Nyquist and Smith.

Both were offered similar deals between 3.9 and 4.5 although I forget the exact dollar figure Hossa rejected from the Wings. In hindsight would it have been better to keep Hossa instead....clearly yes but at the time I don't think it was that obvious. Keeping both was never really an option considering they already had 2 guys on lifetime deals, they still had hopes Lidstrom would keep playing for a few years and they knew Datsyuk was going to need a new deal in the near future as well. As it stands there is an outside chance Hossa gets bought out this off-season. Chicago isn't in a very pretty spot capwise, with Kruger, Stalberg, Bickell, Mayers, Rozsival, Leddy and Emery all needing to be re-signed with only 4 million in cap space available.

I do think the idea behind the article is correct. Franzen takes way more heat than he deserves. Franzen's production has been extremely consistent for a scorer but for some reason when he got his big contract expectations of him raised considerably among fans. Personally I think outside of players on entry level deals he's one of the best bang for your buck scorers in the entire league. I also think its funny that everyone was just waiting for a chance to jump on him after his first bad game of the season the other day against Chicago. Before he got his hip flexor he was putting up a point in every other game. On top of that he's led the team in scoring the past 2 seasons and people talk like he should be bought out. Its kind of ridiculous, but then again we are one of, if not the most spoiled fan base in all of hockey.

The chance of that happening is around 0%. If Bert's injury is bad enough that his career is threatened he'll go on LTIR until his contract is up and Sammy would only be bought out if we landed a big fish FA who put us over the cap. Even then he might not be the first option to buy out depending on how much salary they needed to cut.

The only sourced piece of "information" in that link was that Flip wants 4.5 million a season. He then speculates that its too rich for the Wings, and that the Wings won't be willing to pay Cleary 2.8 million a season. Its all just the opinion of a writer who doesn't even cover the Red Wings. I don't see any reason to be scared until we hear there are contract talks happening between Cleary's agent and Wings Management.

If the Wings wanted to move Franzen (They don't) they wouldn't have any trouble doing so and they certainly wouldn't have to retain any of his salary. There is no shortage of teams out there who need scoring and he provides that at a good price. His contract may be long but as far as the Wings are concerned that's not an issue either. He's loyal to the team so If he wants to retire early they would just put him on LTIR like the Flyers did with Pronger.

We have a very large contingent of very good to elite Defensive prospects with only a couple forwards in that category. We also have more depth on D than at forward so if anyone is moved from the current roster it will likely be from the back end. I don't think its out of the question to move a prospect combined with some picks or depth defenceman to improve the top 6. It would all depend on the player we are getting back and which prospect(s) we would be giving up. We can forget any dreams of moving guys like Cleary, nobody wants to sign a rental who can't even produce while playing with an elite set-up man. He's ours till his contract is up. Trading Datsyuk will never happen unless he demands one himself so that's another non-starter.

He may not want to play in the AHL at all and I wouldn't be surprised if there is an NHL team out there willing to guarantee him a roster spot just to get his signature on a contract. If he is ok with playing in the AHL though the Wings should have an inside track on him with his former coach being the bench boss of the Griffins.

He only played 1 game at C as far as I know and finished with 1A, and +1 in a shootout loss. From what I read he wasn't spectacular as a C, and is far more effective playing his normal position. Since then he's put up a handful of assists and has a 5pt lead in scoring by defence, despite playing about 20 fewer games than the guy in 2nd.

He would have in the old CBA, but the rules were modified in the new CBA so only UFA's have to clear waivers not RFA's Edit - I guess the writer who wrote this was wrong, Bill Daly confirmed that indeed O'Reilly would have had to clear waivers meaning he'd probably be a Blue Jacket.