DickieDunn

Could he be much worse than Bertuzzi? At least he can skate.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Weiss, Helm, Cleary, Samuelsson, Howard, Gustavsson, Andersson. 9 players. NINE F---ING PLAYERS are out. Granted, Samuelsson and Cleary being out probably helps right now, but still.

If they decide they don't want Kindl, they should be able to find someone that will take him hoping he just needs a change of scenery.

Cleary hasn't been a center in a long time. He also hasn't been effective because of injuries. I like his attitude, but he's not an NHL player anymore. Neither is Bertuzzi.

Franzen is better at wing. So is Abdelkader. Legwand helps now, Jarnkrok might help in 3 years.

Might as well try Ferraro. sheahan wasn't scoring in the AHL either, maybe the NHL would bring something out in him.

Andersson isn't the 3rd center anymore because he went 12 games without a point, simple as that. Emmerton isn't the answer either. Their only real option would be to put Nyquist on Alfredsson's line and Abdelkader with Franzen and Legwand. Given the crap game the entire team had yesterday, I wouldn't be shocked to see a shakeup like that.

$2 mil of his deal is bonus money that can be deferred. They have 7 guys who can score. Andersson hasn't been getting the job done so they might as well toss someone else in. It would be dumb to break up the kid line or the Franzen-Nyquist combo when they're hot. That leaves Alfredsson as the odd man out.

Howard had the 12th highest cap hit. Halak, Crawford, Hiller, and Varlemov ate free agents this summer and may pass him.

He's not one of the elite guys but he isn't being paid like one either. Mrazek might eventually be better but for now there aren't many better options.

Happens a lot for these early games.

NOTE: The $3 million minimum applied only to accelerated compliance buyouts and does not apply to normal compliance buyouts. from capgeek

Someone might take Tootoo for a late pick before the buyout period. I think a big part of the reason nobody took him this season is because of the cap situation most teams were in.

Or Poile was set on getting Sproul or one of the younger guys on the Wings roster instead of Jarnkrok and Holland wouldn't budge so Poile caved at the last minute. The people unhappy with the deal are basing it on the idea that because Jarnkrok is going to be a top line center because he was their best center prospect and the idea that Holland didn't work Poile down from what was asked for. We don't know either is true, but based on Holland's comments the Wings didn't necessarily view him as likely to reach that high end potential.

Ideally Marchenko could step in and be the PK 3rd pairing guy, but right now outside of the top 3 D, Quincey is the best defensive defenseman. That's not good enough.

Hard to score when you're playing with Glendening and Abdelkader

Yeah, it was finished right before 3:00, but Holland said he called Poile around 12:30. That's plenty of time to talk.

I just looked at the standings. My God that other division is bad. If the Wings win today, they'd be tied with Philly, who is 2nd on the Metro, but they're still going to be 5th in the Atlantic.

Part of that depends on Helm, too. I like what he brings, but the guy just can't catch a break with injuries.

Yeah, he reminds me of Sandis Ozolinsch. Puts up tons of points, but he needs a Garmin in the defensive zone to keep him from getting lost.

In reality, they need 2 d-men. They need an offensive guy for the top 4 so they can have 2 balanced pairs, and they need a big PK guy for the 3rd pair to pair with Smith or Kindl. There's still hope that Smith could be a top 4 guy, but I think Kindl is what he's going to be and I'd like to see him traded. I think there are some teams that would take a chance on him blossoming in a different system.

Kronwall is pretty damn good offensively. Since he's been on the top PP unit he's been in the top 10 in defense scoring, and before that he was generally in the top 30 despite playing on the 2nd PP unit most of the time. He's also improved his defensive play the last 2 or 3 years, although he does still make mistakes like everyone not named Nicklas Lidstrom. I think the reason he doesn't blow people up anymore is he knows those hits tend to lead to suspensions now. If he destroyed Havlat now, he'd get at least 3 games and probably more.

It all starts with an owner who knows nothing about how to run a team. Kind of like the Lions.

A bunch of guys you listed are bad in their own zone. Yandle and Letang for instance. Someone did a pretty good analysis of the list. There are probably 8 who are clearly better and another few you can make the argument for.

Yup