chaps80

That's an excellent article. It is funny that Brodeur and Roy get a pass for playing on stacked, multiple cup winning teams, but Osgood always get's accused of padding his stats because he played for the Red Wings. The guy has more playoff wins then JACQUES ******* PLANTE!!!

Not tons, but wouldn't it be common sense to take the best player available regardless of position? Max Jones was still on the board and he takes a guy he probly could have taken in the second round. Fail.

Yeah. I didn't mean that i'd like to see him injured badly in a game. Just thinking that if his back problems got worse and he couldn't play anymore in another couple years, it might be for the best cap wise for the team, and for his personal safety on the ice. We all know how other teams like to take liberties with Wings players because there's nothing anyone on the team will do about it. Except maybe Ott, if he plays, Abdelkader and Smith bigger maybes, or Errorsson if he got his balls back.

True, but him being slow and struggling to make plays makes him vulnerable, and he's not a big guy. If someone lines him up and he takes a nice hit in the wrong spot, that's it. Nothing we can do but wait and see how it plays out though.

Too bad Kenny has been burning cap space like mad signing too many forwards who aren't needed when he knows he still has to sign two players (DD,Mrazek) who are crucial to the success of the franchise now and for years to come, and hasn't done ANYTHING to improve the D. Together the two going to arbitration will get $8-$10 million a season. After that's done, then that's it, unless Kenny plans on making some trades. Everytime ANOTHER forward is signed, alot of them for more than they should be, i cringe.

Oh he'll finish, just not on the active roster. Too many more years, not enough left to give physically. He'll be on permanent LTIR in a couple years most likely, which by that time it will be the best thing for the team. His salary doesn't count against the cap and he won't be a liability on the ice getting outskated and outplayed by much younger players. I like Z, but the reality is he's almost done. I understand Kenny wanted him to be a Red Wing for his entire career, and so did he, but the term was too long. Not that he's making much in the final two years. I think $1 million per.

I though Andersen signed for less than that. My bad. That's overpayment, but the Leafs like doing that. Look at the Martin deal. lol Elliott is due for a new contract soon, but I don't think he'll get $5 million. He's soild when he's on his game, but he won't win you a cup. St. Louis traded him for almost nothing even though he took them to the Conference Final because they wanted to get rid of him and move in a different direction. That says alot. Toronto traded Bernier to Anaheim in a completely different deal for a draft pick. Weird. lol

Never know. He did fall hard in the rankings before the draft. He was pegged to go 2nd overall at one point. We'll see I guess. I still think Holland could have drafted better with the first than he did either way.

Barring any season ending injury to a starter in the league this season, Holland is stuck with Howard. I thought Calgary and MAYBE Toronto would take a chance on him, but they got Elliott(which was a surprise move) and Andersen (who they resigned for 5 years) respectively for much cheaper.

I said he MAY be NHL ready. And no, probably not in Detroit, because they like their prospects to get moldy before they play in the NHL, with some exceptions. On a team like Arizona, he will probably play this season.

I think Holland would have drafted Chychrun had he still had the 16th pick. Would have made a lot more sense than whoever he did get with the 20th. Chych could be NHL ready this season, other dude who's name I forget, apparantly not for a few years. He was pegged as a 2nd rounder. Holland should have taken best available regardless of position with his pick. Max Jones was a no brainer. I know the Wings need defensive prospects, but Jones would have been a good trade piece to help get the D we need now, not in years.

IMO Osgood should be next. His numbers speak for themselves. Only reason he wasn't a career Red Wing, which many people give as the reason against retiring his number,is because they had the chance to get Hasek, who they would have been stupid not to get, and there wasn't room for him. He was picked up by NYI and had great numbers there and was a main reason they made the playoffs for the first time in years. When Hasek "retired" they went after Joseph. When Joseph's contract was up and Osgood was a UFA, he was resigned and won another cup(nearly two). After Osgood it should be Fedorov before Dats and Z are even considered.

I dunno what the proposed size reductions are, but it should increase scoring some, at least until goalies learn how to play with the smaller gear. It could actually benefit some goalies though in terms of less restriction of manuverability. Goalies will always find a way to cheat if they have to though. Giguere clearly had oversized gear, but somehow never got in s*** for it.

Yes they were smaller def.

Still pisses me off how he was treated here. Was a pointless signing by Holland (who for one rare time actually signed a tough playerto fill a need)because Babcock didn't want him, then he had to be bought out. Communication is a good thing sometimes. Idiots. I dunno if Tootoo will see much playing time in Chicago though, but at least he's got an NHL contract again.

I hate the pads goalies use now. I remember when they used to only cover up to just above the knee. Now they go almost to the waist on most goalies. I think Brodeur was the last to use the old style pads. I hope the new changes include cutting down the height.

This has to be my favourite free agency signing. Low cost, potential for very high reward. And he's played with Nilsson in NYI, so those two could light it up together. I know Nilsson had some great things to say about him after the signing.

Holland can't move Howard. I'm sure he's tried, but recent things i've read have him sounding like heks resigned to the fact that he's screwed and knows he's going into the season with a $5 million backup, and now since Mrazek is going to arbitration, he's probably looking at another $4 million a year tied up in goaltending. As for the Vasilevsky comments, how is his new contract going to affect things in TB? Yzerman has quite a bit tied up in goaltending now to. Is he looking to move one?

Pretty sure Holland hasno intention of moving Howard at this point, at least from an article I read. He said they will be going into the season with Mrazek as the number 1 goalie, but he's happy to still have Howard, as he doesn't want to put too much pressure on Mrazek yet, and likes having Howard's veteran presence behind him to help out. Mentioned that Mrazek is only 24 and doesn't want him to have to handle 70 games. Or maybe he's just resigned to the fact that he's stuck with Howard and is trying to put some kind of positive spin on it. Who knows I guess.

NM. Had some comments about OHL overagers, but Spiritfan said he's done there.

They took it from a couple others as well. Who is their captain now anyways? Pavelski? Burns?

I think the captain should be the captain until he changes teams, retires, voluntarily gives it up, or does something really stupid off the ice like a couple teammates of his have that calls his character into question. I do understand the circumstances here in that he's underperforming and maybe not acting like a captain should, but it's not going to help his confidence losing the "C", and that's something they should take into consideration when he's signed for another six years at $5 million+ and they need him to improve. They don't need another Mike Richards. Then again, he may have already been warned the change might be coming and did nothing to help his case. Who knows. Hopefully it doesn't turn into another case of passing the "C" around between three or four guys a bunch of times ala SJ.

Pittsburgh heading to the Finals. Wow. Never would have predicted that, much less a Sharks/Pens Finals match up when the season or the playoffs started. Just shows anything can happen in today's NHL. Interesting that it's two pretty inexperienced goaltenders who made it. Murray being a rookie backup to Flower in Pit. taking over cause of an injury, and Jones who had about 40 games of NHL experience before being traded to SJ and given the starting job heading into the season. If Pit. wins, Murray will be the youngest goalie(22) to win a cup since Patrick Roy did 30 years ago(20). For many of us Wings fans, I can't really think of another match up where we'd want to see both teams kick the s*** out of each other more than this one, other than Hawks/Bruins and Hawks/Bolts, which we've already seen and would like to forget the outcome. Gotta go with the Sharks here though, I don't hate them even close to as much as I do the Pens. I can't bear to see Crosby hoist another cup.

Yes I agree the D was horrible. If Howard had a better defence he'd probably do better. He really didn't really look very confident in net most of the past season and the season before, was a shadow of his former self. He's lost his starting job..maybe a change would help him. Howard for Neimi would open up a bit of cap space. Only around $700,000 though, but the real win would be Neimi is UFA after next season, so his $4.5 million comes off the books and can be used elsewhere while signing a cheap journeyman to backup Mrazek. I'd be for it for the cap relief and to give Howard a shot to turn his career around, because I don't think he'll get much of a chance in Detroit anymore. That's if the Stars take the gamble with the two extra years contract and on Jimmy returning to form with a better team in front of him.

Howard CAN be better than both. But currently he isn't. If he can return to form, then I do think he could go there and take either of their jobs. Not sure if the Stars would take that chance though, unless one of their two came back the other way or they had a trade lined up. They already have like 12 million tied up in goaltenders, they don't need to add another 5 million plus. Not sure another team would want Lehtonen or Neimi's contracts either. Guess you never know though. It's too bad Lehtonen never lived up to the hype and potential that made him a second overall pick. For some reason though, he keeps getting paid like he has.