FlashyG

Personally I don't think the team or Babcock have any interest in each other after this season. Its been a decade with him as the coach, its time for both sides to move on. When Holland refused to let people interview Blashill it all but confirmed he's our next head coach. Maybe Babcock just wants to wait until his daughter has graduated before moving on to his next challenge and Holland is showing him the same loyalty he's showed everyone else in the organization.

Here is his game winning goal and post game interview. Its in French though. Video

The rule that you're talking about is for NHL players joining the AHL. In their case they have to be on the AHL roster on the day of the NHL trade deadline. You'll see a bunch of teams making paper transactions at the deadline to make age and contract eligible players available for the AHL teams should the parent NHL franchise be eliminated. There is no such rule (from what I can find) that applies to major junior players joining the AHL when their CHL season is over. Based on the transfer agreement they seem to be perfectly eligible to play.

According to the agreement between the CHL and the NHL/AHL all drafted CHL players are eligible to play for their respective AHL teams once their CHL season is over. There is no rule I can find anywhere in the agreement, or in the AHL's rules about players having to play a regular season game to be playoff eligible. I could be wrong, and ultimately the point is probably moot as Mantha's season will likely last longer than the Griffins, but I believe he is eligible to play should they lose game 7.

Apparently it wasn't much of a fight. He got jumped and didn't even drop his gloves. It seems BC resorts to goonery when they are losing.

his arrival has been delayed again. Val D'or won 5-3 today to force a game 7 in the QMJHL finals

Word around Toronto is that Carlyle is being brought back because the Leafs think there is a chance they can get Babcock after next season, and they don't want to sign an inferior coach long term while that door is still open. I know Babs says he wants to stay in the Detroit area because of his daughter but 4 hours away in Toronto probably isn't out of the question considering the money they'll probably throw at him.

We did it last year to get Datsyuk the win. We should be doing it again...I can't remember who wrote the script though.

Mantha with 2 goals and an assist tonight as Val D'or takes a 2 game to 1 lead in the QMJHL finals. Babcock was in attendance for the game as well

Transitioning from one core to another doesn't mean the style of play needs to change. Why would the team change from a puck possession style anyways? its proven to be the most successful style of play by far. You also don't rebuild over the course of 1 year, its going to take a few for the next wave to surpass the old wave of players, the fact that we're doing it for a 3rd time under Holland without missing the playoffs at all is why Holland will likely retire as the greatest GM in NHL history.

We are transitioning/rebuilding right now.

Here is Game 7 of the playoff series with Colorado http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4hL4nUq3Y4 Game 5 of the Finals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqRHDppnxCs

I don't think coaches can be traded under the current CBA.

Tootoo played almost every game last season. He had a chance to keep a spot in the line-up but he didn't seem to gel with Babcock's system. It shows even further now that he's struggling to crack the line-up under the same system in Grand Rapids.

They can't they already used both their compliance buyouts on Montador and Olesz. They're certainly not going to use a regular buyout on him and find themselves paying him for the next 2 decades while playing with 5.5 million dollars missing from their cap space for 4 of those years

Franzen was the only player on the team I saw put Lucic on his backside, he led all forwards in blocked shots, he had twice as many takeaways than giveaways and set up all kinds of scoring chances that didn't get buried. There was bad too, he took a lot of bad shots, the turnover's he had ended up in our net and he couldn't bury any of the chances he had, but he wasn't close to the worst forward for the Wings during that series.

It ended up being a turnover but "lazy"? It was a hard saucer pass, that would have led to a breakaway or at worst a 2 on 1. Krug had to make a great play at the line to knock the puck down or Helm was gone. Even Datsyuk, who was unquestionably our best player made worse passes in the series than that one.

Torts will be ok, this will give him the freedom to continue his promising Rap career.

If Babcock was sick of management he wouldn't have stuck around for a decade. He also wouldn't say he's willing to stick around on a year to year basis. I think its also silly to think he's not PART of management. No decision is made on the roster without his input. Tootoo was the only person even considered for a buyout. If he isn't bought out, then the 2nd compliance buyout isn't used at all. If, hypothetically, Franzen did get bought out he would in all likelihood be one of, if not the best free agent forward in this years entire crop.

If Val D'or makes the memorial cup he won't be playing in Grand Rapids at all. The AHL playoffs would almost be over and if the Griffins are still alive I doubt they'd bring in a rookie, even as skilled as Mantha over the guys who would have brought them there.

Who knows. If he was planning on buying him out though he definitely wouldn't tell the media "I have no plans of buying out Johan Franzen".

The Wings are unquestionably a better team going into next season than they were going into this season and injuries were by far the biggest factor in how this season played out. Out the door are, Cleary, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Eaves, Tootoo, Quincey, and from the sound of things Kindl and Andersson aren't far behind Replaced by Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Glendening, Jurco, Ouellet, likely either Callahan or Ferraro also upfront and possibly Almquist on D. What free agents of consequence are available? Who exactly are you looking to get rid of?

Agreed on all counts. Hopefully the Wings know exactly where Weiss is health wise before deciding what to do with Legwand. If he's going to be on LTIR all next season I wouldn't mind a 1 year deal on Legwand.

Hossa was offered the deal first, he rejected his, Franzen was offered a similar (but less financially lucrative) deal and accepted immediately. Is Hossa the better player? Clearly yes, but he was option #1 and he wanted to see if he could get more money. Franzen was the back-up option. Alfie is in the plans over Legwand more due to Babcock and his love for RH shots in a line-up dominated by lefties. Legwand also wasn't any more useful when it counted than either of those "Soft Ass Swedish players" Tootoo is being bought out because Holland is well known as a GM who tries to help his players out of bad situations (See Mike Commodore). Tootoo can't even crack the Griffin's line-up but still has personal hopes of playing in the NHL. Rather than paying him to sit out of hockey completely Holland will do him the favor of allowing him to try and continue his career elsewhere.

They've tried Franzen there but its not really a great fit. He has the size to do the job, but he's more effective shooting the puck than he is screening the goalie and trying to deflect it. The best net front presence the Wings have right now is Bertuzzi but he's too much of a liability elsewhere to take a regular shift.