DickieDunn

He's slowing down. Someone is going to give him far too many years. I'd be ok with him for 3 years, at the right salary, maybe $5.5 a year.

If you go to play it again sports, watch the prices. Last time I was there the equipment was obviously used, but it was almost as much as brand new gear. Every rink I've been in has had a board with people selling stuff though. If you want to take your time and do it, you can get good used stuff, or just wait until there's a big sale somewhere.

This. Tippett is my #1 choice by a mile

Everybody who is out is faking it. Franzen just wants a vacation, Weiss doesn't want to admit he sucks, and everyone else is just resting for the Olympics. FACT!

If Vanek could be had for 5 years $30 million I'd do it. Very much more than that, I'd stick with the kids. Unless Franzen retires, then getting Vanek or Moulson becomes a bigger need.

I liked Hudler, and always thought that he got way too much crap. But, they had Tatar and Nyquist coming, and you only need so many small wingers on your team, so I wasn't really upset that he left. I couldn't wait to see Filppula leave town. He had one season of over 40 points despite playing in the top 3 or 4 ice time for forwards and I always thought his defense, while pretty good, was overblown by his defenders. Last year he acted like he just plain didn't care.

Snow will undoubtedly trade him if they don't get something done by the deadline to keep him there. I'm not going to give up much to get a guy on an expiring contract who looks like he wants to test the market. Vanek isn't going to put the wings over the top, especially if they trade Franzen to get him, and Jurco could very well be as good or better in 2 years.

Other countries would still figure out how to make sure their top players can play. I could see top Euros signing 3 year contracts in the NHL, going back home for Olympic years to play for a "club" team that doesn't pay players, but coincidentally all the players have nice endorsement deals that pay them what they'd be making if they were in a "pro" league, and the players playing in the Olympics. If the IOC says that if you play in the NHL at all, you can't go to the Olympics, I could see fewer Europeans coming here at all, and they can't say you can't get endorsements without losing all of their top athletes across the board.

Just seeing Cleary, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, and Cleary leave will open plenty of cap space. They 13 forwards and 6 7 who are either signed or RFAs going into next year who are not waiver eligible. That doesn't include Jurco or Glendening. Sheahan will be on the roster. Callahan will almost certainly be on the roster. Ferraro has an outside chance depending on what else they do. Glendening has almost no chance because he's waiver eligible. Jurco's status will depend on what they do in free agency. Almquist is almost certainly gone. They can sign one free agent forward or make a trade to bring one in, and roll with: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-UFA/trade target Franzen-Weiss-Nyquist Tatar-Helm-Sheahan Miller-Andersson-Abdelkader Callahan, Ferraro reserves Kronwall-Ericsson Smith-Dekeyser Kindl-Marchenko or another rookie Lashoff reserve I'd be happy with that roster. Arrange them however you want. The problem is there's not likely to be any players they NEED out there, and even if there are, giving Vanek $40 mil for 6 years just because someone else offer $38 mil over 6 years, or paying a 40 point winger $23 mil over 5 years is kind of stupid. you're implying that not doing so would be some kind of failure on Holland's part. It would be a lot smarter to just roll with the kids.

+/- is a crap stat and that's not why I said he's bad defensively. He's bad because he has no defensive awareness and is more interested in scoring. Unless he wants to move to wing I'd rather move back in with my ex-wife than have him in Detroit.

Give them 5 years they'll be changing their name again. Portland Lumbermen sound good?

Foggy Dew by the Young Dubliners, set Pandora to Dropkick Murphys and let it play.

He's also fat and bad defensively. I'd rather see one if our prospects up full time.

With the comments the Wild owner made after signing Suter and Parise I can't see him oking another big contract.

Sorry, I thought you were making a joke when you suggested that package could bring a good player in return. As far as where Tatar plays next year, he probably will be on the 3rd. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Weiss, and Franzen certainly are ahead of him. Nyquist is better defensively so he probably is too, and if they sign a free agent he'll probably be ahead too. Jurco might be there too because of his size. That's 6 or 7 forwards ahead of him.

He is on ltir

Griffins want to win too and all their good forwards are in Detroit. Besides it'll be one of their minor league vets sitting not a kid. Best case scenario is he tears it up and someone decides to give a conditional pick for him.

The thought of Mike Green a a Red Wing makes me ill. His defense makes Smith look like a defensive rock.

It sounds like that's exactly what happened. You could come back after 3 good days and be fine or wait 3 weeks and have issues. He is on IR but I think the cap is still in effect until the playoffs.

The offense is because everyone who can come close to 20 goals has missed a bunch of time. Tatar because he was scratched early while they tried to figure out if Samuelsson could contribute at all and Nyquist because Holland made a bad bet that he could easily make a spot for Nyquist. Everyone else has been hurt.

If a player is 35 or older when the contract goes into effect the entire cap hit counts if he retires. That's why Pronger hasn't officially retired. Holmgren thought that if a player signs before he turns 35 it's a standard contract, but Pronger turned 35 before the cutoff date so they're stuck playing this game and paying him every dime. And somehow thus guy has a job, and it's screwups like that that put Holland's "blunders" in perspective.

Like I said, ridiculous

I'd trade anyone, but it would have to be a ridiculous return for me to trade Datsyuk, Zetterberg, or Kronwall.

Where did you get your numbers? He's never been above a point a game in Chicago, how can his totals there be 1.42 PPG? He's never come close to that in one season in his career even in his highest scoring years. Hossa has played 293 regular season games with Chicago. He has scored 118 goals, 143 assists, for 261 points, per game averages are .403/.488/.891 Per 82 games he's had 33G/40A/74 pts. Playoffs he's played 54 games, 12G/25A/37pts, per game .222/.463/.685 Franzen regular season 252 games, 90G/96A/186pts, per game .357/.381/.738. Per 82 games he's had 29.3G/31.2A/60.5 pts. Playoffs he's had 39 games/13G/14A/27 pts, per game .333G/.359/.692.60.5pts So Hossa scores a few more goals and has more assists in the regular season. Once you get to the playoffs, Franzen has more goals in 15 fewer games. Chicago has won 2 cups more because of Kane, Toews, and that defense group than because they had Hossa, a guy whose production drops in the playoffs every year. Let me ask you something now. How much is 4 goals and 9 assists worth to you? Is it worth paying someone an extra $1.3 mil against the cap and $2.4 mil in real money? That's $100k and $185k a point, respectively. Paying the extra money also means losing other depth players and replacing them either with less vets or rookies you don't think are ready. 4 more regular season goals and some assists and lower production in the playoffs for $1.3 mil more in cap hit, and $2.4 mil in actual salary isn't really worth it in my opinion. That's ignoring the fact that Hossa wasn't guaranteed to sign here and not signing Franzen when he was willing to sign would have meant possibly losing both. Players have egos, and they're not likely to wait around while you talk to another guy when they have the chance to go somewhere else and probably make more money.

He was good for 3 days of practice, not one day.