Tomash

Jagr didn't agreed on contract with Florida (source: czech newspaper and facebook account)

That's understandable. After poor season, you have to find something, what will bring people to the new arena. Number retirement could be one of the showcase. To be honest, I'm expecting, that Sergei's number won't be the only one which will go to rafters

It's simple business. NHL doesn't want to make Olympic tournament the best ice hockey competition on the world. It is not controlled by them. NHL wants to make World Cup the best ice hockey competition on the world. That's fully controlled by them. I don't like this approach, but I can understand it. Btw, did NHL disallow players participation, or did they just decided not to make a break during the season?

Based on the information from slovak hockey portal Jurco will probably miss begining of the season due to back injury. http://www.hokejportal.net/?q=clanok/jurco-po-operacii-chrbta-uvod-sezony-v-ohrozeni/65483

My opinion. "Rafters" honor should be reserved for people, who are faces of the franchise. Fedorov was great player, one of the best in NHL, but he spent 7 seasons elsewhere. He definitely deserve some kind of honors for his seasons in winged wheel, but i'm not sure if the number retirement should be one. I will always remember Osgood in red&white, but in that time there were more great players. Are Datsyuk and Zetterberg faces of the franchise? They are, for sure. I personaly think, that lack of trophies isn't a problem here. Let's take a Shane Doan example. He has only two trophies, but he is the face of Coyotes, and his number should be retired by them. But I would wait a little bit with any retirement now

UPDATE: The #RedWings have recalled center Joakim Andersson from the Grand Rapids Griffins http://redwings.nhl.com/club/m_news.htm?id=877815 Does this mean no Mantha in? Sorry, I didn't notice, it was already mentioned in a different post. Please can you delete this thread?

Detroit Red Wings ARE in rebuild process. You have to accept that, and be patient. The difference is, that red wings already has a wagon of young talent so they don't need to make huge trades, or tank the season.

There is an interview for slovak portal http://hokejportal.netwith Jurco. Summary, they are close to 2-years contract, because he has some medical problems, and in case of possible injury during a season, he would like to have more opportunity to convince redwings, that he is a right player for red wings. He also mentioned, that he welcome Blashill as a coach, because he (blash) knows him, and he will not probably try to make him a 4th line player