DickieDunn

That depends on what Weiss and Franzen can do. Weiss has a pretty good history of production, and Franzen can usually be counted on for over 25 goals and around 60 points. If Weiss can get back into form, he's better than Sheahan. Franzen was on fire when he got hurt, if he can come back healthy, he's better than Jurco.

I wonder if the Flames would do a multi-player swap and send Giordano or Wideman plus Smid for a nice package including Smith and Kindl. Smid would be a fantastic PK shot blocker for the 3rd pair.

Cleary is probably going to need to go down for cap reasons, and so will Samuelsson. Bertuzzi only clears $100k though. Unless they make a trade, they can afford this forward lineup: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelkader Franzen-Weiss-Nyquist Tatar-Helm-Alfredsson Miller-Andersson-Bertuzzi and one of Glendening or Emmerton. That leaves not very much cap space. If they choose Emmerton, they may have enough for Samuelsson too, but only just. I didn't run that scenario through capgeek because Samuelsson is so terrible.

Unless a trade is made to clear salary or more people get hurt. Even if it wasn't for the cap though, you can't send down every vet on your roster in favor of prospects.

Early, leaning towards dud.

Like a guy lacking in NHL level skill

Any big trade would probably need to be an offseason move, but it's certainly possible.

The Wings have a ton of good prospects though, they can afford to move some to get a good player in his prime now. Unless they're 100% sure that Sproul and Ouellet are both going to be studs, move one now when his value is high. Same with Mantha and Athanasiou

I'd rather have Wideman than Campbell, unless Florida is eating some salary, and I think I'd rather see Ouellet and Marchenko brought up in place of Kindl and Quincey rather than see them make a trade just to make a trade.

It looked like their strategy in the first was "let's not get blown out early." Tatar has been their best player. If I was GM for another team I'd be talking to Holland trying to get him.

That's also why I want Marchenko up next year. He's big, can skate, and plays a defensively responsible game. Get the kids up when they're ready so they're not trying to break in 3 rookies at once.

I don't like Wideman, at least not with that contract. He's not overly physical, doesn't block a ton of shots, and seems to be out of position defensively. +/- isn't a great stat, but comparitively on his team, he's right near the bottom on the team ranking at -16. Stempniak is the only one who's worse, Butler is tied with Wideman. If they trade for a Flames D, I'd rather have Giordano. He doesn't hit or block a ton of shots either, but he's better defensively and is 3rd in scoring for the Flames despite missing 18 games, and he has a better contract.

Any trade that brings back a good player is going to cost. The Wings have more defense prospects than they have roster spots available. Kronwall, Ericsson, and Dekeyers for sure are going to be around long term. Smith might still get it and turn into a decent defenseman. Kindl is probably gone, either in trade or as a free agent when his contract is up. Lashoff is a decent 6/7 guy. That only leaves 2 or 3 open spots for Sproul, Ouellet, Marchenko, Backman, and Jensen, all of whom look like legit prospects, any of the other guys who are farther out from the NHL. If they can swap Sproul, who I think has the highest top end potential but also the highest chances of not coming close to that potential, and Kindl, or Kindl, Marchenko, and a 2nd for a defenseman to give the Wings two balanced pairs for the top 4, that's a good deal. If Edler isn't traded at the deadline, they might be able to get him for Kindl and a pick. I think he'd be a lot better here away for Tortorella.

In every sport I've ever played where officials had whistles, a blown whistle means the play is dead. The US-Canada thing wasn't even the intent to blow argument, the whistle had been blown.

I just saw the replay of the 2nd goal Canada scored against the US women. That is utter bull. Whistle blows, play is over. Period.

The only way European expansion would work is if there was a separate conference and each team had to make only one trip overseas each year. Even then the Cup Finals would be a nightmare. You think that West Coast trips were bad for the Wings? What would an LA-Berlin FInals be like time-wise? It would also lead to a mostly North American player based group of teams and a mostly European player based group of teams. Canadian and American guy are going to be less likely to want to play there and Europeans are going to be less likely to want to play here if they can get NHL salaries playing close to home. Then there's the difference between how European teams are traditionally run and sponsored, and pay their players, and how things are done here. Would NBC or ESPN want to pay a s*** ton of money to have broadcasting rights for teams that are going to play their games at 6 AM our time? It is in no way a good idea.

Swap Kindl and a pick or prospect for a top 4 guy and let Marchenko take Quincey's spot and I'll be happy. Ericsson and Dekeyser both do OK offensively for guys who don't get PP time. Last year Ericsson had as many or more points at even strength than guys who are considered offensive d men.

A younger guy signed next year is going to be valued more than an older pending free agent who makes more money more often than not. Lots of teams see guys like Kindl as guts who maybe just need a change of scenery. If you can get him for not that much why not take a chance?

Yeah, but those points don't count as much because if he played hard he could score more. 28 goals from Franzen is the same as 12 from Miller because Miller works harder. Or some other stupid line of thought like that. And Hossa.

12 weeks of leave, then they can fire you. If it's a work related injury, it's 6 months, and I know that from personal experience.

Sproul's not ready yet, his defensive coverage is way too weak still. Beyond that, Kindl has more value. I'm not sure anyone would take Quincey at his salary.

Then he'll probably go on LTIR, delaying the cap hell the team will be in if they can't get rid of salary.

Kindl for Gilbert straight up. Wings get a RH shot for the PP and cap room and the Panthers get a young d-man who might benefit from a change of scenery. I don't know if that will be the exact deal, but if the Wings make a trade it's probably going to be something like that.

1) Why should a company hold a job indefinitely for someone who hurt themselves outside of work? if I'm not there doing my job, other people have to do extra work to make up for it or the company has to hire and train a temp to do it. If it's only going to be a couple weeks that's one thing. If I'm not going to be able to come back for 3 months, why should they hold the job that long when I got hurt playing hockey or whatever? 2) Why should the team pay the bills for an athlete who hurts themselves not playing for the team? Do the players get Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance or something? If so, fine, the insurance can cover it, but why should the team doctors take care of them for free? 3) The World Championships/World Cup is after the season. A broken finger or sprained knee there isn't going to keep a player out of NHL games. If a player gets hurt at the Olympics, it's going to cost a team games. Are you going to be happy if Kronwall misses 8 games because he got hurt playing for Sweden, the team goes 3-5-1 in that stretch, and the Wings miss the playoffs because of the tiebreaker, where one more point would have gotten them in?

Sure there is. Get a player who's not an old, overpaid, injury risk.