DickieDunn

Holland won't sign him to a deal that would put them over the cap, and he won't clear room until right before the season starts in case the LTIR fairy visits again this year to save him from his own mess. I said earlier I'd think about Europe if I was him. At this point I'd be telling Holland to sign me to a contract I've earned (and that's a lot more than $1.4 mil), to trade me to a team that will pay me, or I'll go play in Europe until I'm an UFA. This is where overpaying players by "only $500k or so, so it's not THAT bad" comes back to bite you. Hell, just giving Glendening the 2 year $900k per deal he should have gotten would enable them to sign AA to a $2 mil a year deal and get them under the cap. Why wouldn't he be seriously considering a European offer?

Datsyuk told management long before that. It wasn't made public immediately. It was no secret that the deal was front loaded to lower the cap and that he probably wouldn't play out the whole thing. Deals like that are the reason behind the recapture penalty that was made retroactive.

Holland is dragging his feet because of cap reasons still

he's making Tyler Seguin before he broke out money. Seguin would be making at least $3 mil more a year of his contract had been up before now.

No, he won't do any of that, and there is no reason to think that he won't still be with the Wings after this coming season, either as GM or as President with his handpicked replacement at GM who will continue to run things the way they are now. You're right, we don't "know," but we can be pretty damn sure he will be. As far as needing cap room for future signings, it can be cleared at that time, potentially easier than it could be now. Howard's contract is up in 2 years, he might be easier to move on an expiring deal to a team that needs a stop gap in net until a younger player is ready to be #1. Mrazek won't be back unless he rebounds. Sheahan's deal expires next summer. The other players will be one year closer to an expired deal and it would be easier to live with 1 less year of retained salary or 2 fewer years of a buyout penalty. Plus, there's a very real chance that either the league or the PA will opt out of the current CBA in 2 years, which will probably result in a lowered cap and a round of compliance buyouts. As far as Tavares signing here, it's a pipe dream. It's no different than "well, we'll go hard after Suter and fix the defense, or Stamkos is going to be a free agent, they can throw a max contract at him," or whoever else people think will be a magic cure. Do you try? Yup. But there's a difference between being realistic about the odds of getting him (the why would he sign here argument) and pinning your plans on getting him.

I'm asking you a simple question. What would be the point of moving a contract like Ericsson's when it will probably take an asset to do it?

Does he wink or blink? Contracts dumped in order to do what? Just to have extra space, or make some other move? Holland has consistently shown that he uses whatever extra space he has, and sometimes then some, in order to sign a veteran. So would giving up a third round pick and a 2nd tier prospect to convince someone to take Ericsson be worth it if it meant he signed another 30 year old defenseman to a 4 or 5 year deal that takes him right back to the cap?

Here's a list of every trade Holland has ever made. The last significant roster player moved was indeed Kozlov back in June of 2001, other than some pending UFA's recently. http://nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Ken_Holland/138

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hateleads to suffering.

Abdelkader played more than either Mantha or AA. Helm played 15:22 a game, not much less than Mantha and more than AA. Lorito in his 2 games played more than AA. Sheahan, he of zero goals through 79 games, played more than AA. Abdelkader spent more time on the PP than Mantha or AA. Until later in the year, Sheahan played more PP time than either, and both were pulled in his favor at times later in the year even though he couldn't buy a goal.

rumors, or at least speculation, is they might take Sheahan. I'd rather move Helm, Sheahan can be cut loose or be given a minimum salary deal as the 13th forward next summer, Helm is going to hang around like a bad rash.

I was referring to your list of guys who were "guaranteed" to make the Griffins roster. None of them should be if a younger player shows the ability to push them out. None of the older guys have any real chance of playing a meaningful number of NHL games going forward. Of course, it IS Uncle Kenny's Red Wings, so there really isn't much chance of them getting cut loose, because LOYALTY Sproul is 24 years old and has only played 28 NHL games because of his poor defensive play in the AHL. Scoring 7 points in those 28 games isn't that impressive when he's been as bad in his own zone as he has been. Not everyone needs to be a shutdown defender and the best defense is a good offense, they should be competent at least. And potential to be a bottom pair offensive d-man is exactly what Lebderp was. As far as top 4? Only if he takes a miraculously big step forward in his development, and then probably only for a team lacking a real top 4 player.

Do you blame him? If I was a young free agent I wouldn't go anywhere near Blashill or Holland

if he isn't signed he isn't going to camp None of those guys, except maybe Russo, have any real shot of being NHL players. Any or all can be let go with no consequences. Sproul might be as good as Brett Lebda someday. Regardless of his potential when he was drafted, he hasn't come close to it.

points 1 and 2 are dead on. He used to let vets walk and make trades if he needed to. Now he doesn't. I'd love to be a fly on his wall and figure out what changed.

The lone unsigned restricted free agent on the roster is forward Andreas Athanasiou. And it’s likely to stay that way for a little while, as the Red Wings deal with the salary cap issues. General manager Ken Holland said he’s exchanged offers with Athanasiou’s representatives as talks continue. The Red Wings will get $3.95 million of salary-cap relief with Johan Franzen gets placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), but that will only leave approximately $1.4 million for signing Athanasiou (likely not enough money) and recalling a player from Grand Rapids during the season if someone goes on short-term IR. It's in the Butcher article from Kuflan He also told Kahn he expects to go with a 22 man, possibly a 21 man, roster. Holland said they would like to carry 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders but might be forced to go with a 21-man roster due to the cap.

Rasmussen is similar to what Sheahan was. A guy who is probably going to play in the NHL, but limited upside. Vilardi has more upside, but is a bigger risk to bust. Signing Butcher wouldn't prevent any good young D from getting ice time, there is zero risk in it. AA alone isn't going to bring a potential top pair D. Rasmussen hasn't shown very much play making ability and there's a good chance he ends up as a winger. How did drafting him ahead of Vilardi make sense if you're looking for a position of need?

What's stopping him is he's not sure how he's going to be able to get under the cap for day 1 of the season. Signing AA to more than $1.4 mil puts them over the cap with Franzen on LTIR. Again, this is what Holland himself has said. It's not me bitching, or speculation, or whatever else. You know that they play more than 3 D each game, right?

Holland flat out said he's waiting until the end of camp to make a decision, and he won't be able to sign AA until that happens unless he takes a deal for the $1.4 mil the Wings have left.

Yippee, another free agent kid to overhype and be lucky to get a decent 2nd pair d out of. Because we don't have any of those. And sure, maybe AA doesn't get an offer sheet because most GMs seem to have a gentleman's agreement not to give players an offer sheet unless it's for a star, but it's a possibility. But even if it doesn't happen, Holland is keeping a player in limbo because of his poor cap management. He has said he doesn't anticipate making any moves so he can see if the mess fixes itself via LTIR, which means AA probably is going to miss most, if not all of camp, which means he isn't going to be fully ready to go once he doesn't finally get signed. That hurts the team. I suppose someone COULD take Ericsson, but it's probably going to be a deal where Detroit retains half the salary and gets nothing in return or even has to give them something as an incentive, adding another $2 mil+ in dead money to what they're still paying Weiss. Holland needs to go ASAP

CapFriendly.com Armchair-GM User-Generated Roster FORWARDS (12) Right wing: G. Nyquist ($4,750,000) - A. Mantha ($863,333) - D. Larkin ($925,000) - M. Frk ($650,000) Centre: F. Nielsen ($5,250,000) - D. Helm ($3,850,000) - L. Glendening ($1,800,000) - A. Holmström ($686,667) Left wing: H. Zetterberg ($6,083,333) - T. Tatar ($5,300,000) - J. Abdelkader ($4,250,000) - L. Witkowski ($750,000) DEFENSE (7) Right: M. Green ($6,000,000) - N. Kronwall ($4,750,000) - T. Daley ($3,166,667) - N. Jensen ($812,500) Left: D. DeKeyser ($5,000,000) - J. Ericsson ($4,250,000) - X. Ouellet ($1,250,000) GOALTENDER (2) J. Howard ($5,291,667) - P. Mrazek ($4,000,000) BUYOUTS S. Weiss ($2,566,667) DETAILS Roster Size: 21 NHL Salary Cap: $75,000,000 Bonus Overages: $457,500 Cap Hit: $72,703,334 Cap Space: $2,296,666 That's without AA signed. If he gets offered $3 mil and they match, they need to clear $703,334 to get compliant with a 22 man roster, and leaves them no room if someone gets hurt. Who the hell would take Ericsson, even at half his salary? Trade Glendening and you're going to need to retain salary probably, unless Babcock has a hard on for him and insists on it, which I don't see happening, so that doesn't help much if at all. Holland won't trade Kronwall because "loyalty!" He won't trade Green or anyone else who might actually be tradeable because PLAYOFFS BABY!!!!!" Maybe they can move Mrazek as long as they don't expect anything in return, but that's probably a mistake. Even if they COULD move someone Holland was willing to trade, the other GM would know that Holland is backed into a corner and would have little choice but to take whatever was offered, and any GM with an ounce of functioning brain cells would give him next to nothing. And that's IF he moves Sheahan for a pick or a lower tiered prospect, which he has shown zero indication that he will do. so yes, if someone offers AA $3 mil, Holland is screwed, and it's his own fault.

If a team gives him $3 mil, Holland can't match without completely screwing himself. He's either have to find a player he can trade and get almost nothing for in return or not match the offer.

Holland needs to go. Guy has lost his mind. This might be an occasion where a team cold offer AA a 1 year $3 mil deal or something and Holland has no way to match it. Side note: If Malik just does his cut-n-paste routine, could we post links to the original articles instead of giving that douchenozzle clicks?

retaining salary doesn't help unless they replace the guy with a cheap young player. We all know Holland doesn't like doing that.

Why would anyone want a guy like Helm, Ericsson, Glendening, etc. at their current cap hits?