JeeSpot82

See, but... he couldn't still be trying to sign him. They'd be at 50 contracts and it's past the point where you can even buy out someone on a deal. So... where's DeKeyser's deal going? Do you think he'd wait until the summer to sign somewhere to help the Wings? I'm seriously asking because that's most definitely an option. Did I sensationalize the Holland Foresight thing? Maybe. But it's not like he's NOT brilliant when it comes to player management. It's not so far out of the realm of possibility that I'm ridiculous for breaching the subject.

He's NHL ready on most-any team in the league. That rarely includes the Red Wings, as we all know, but if he wants to play for a highly respected team that will build him into a champion forever, he'll choose the Wings and take his time. If he wants the NHL RIGHT NOW (and, frankly, would anyone blame him), he'll go elsewhere. But, as we've already learned, he's not eligible for the playoffs, so perhaps he forgoes his few weeks of NHL games with a look toward the future. I just think the deck is stacked too perfectly for him to end up anywhere but Detroit. Maybe that's red-and-white colored glasses, but... it seems like a perfect fit on a lot of different levels.

Hi there, my name is Michael Petrella -- the author of the article in question. No one is saying he'll be playing for the Red Wings this season -- especially in the playoffs, where he'll be ineligible. And I'm sure that sending Mike Commodore to Tampa WAS doing a veteran a solid, giving him a chance to show he can still play in this league. But it's not like it would be the first time that Ken Holland made a brilliant foresight move. Getting a kid like this under contract would be a great coup, particularly with the imminent departures of Brad Stuart and (eventually) Lidstrom. Dan DeKeyser won't off-set the losses of those fine gentlemen, but it'd certainly help having a guy like that in the pantry when it comes his time to make the jump to full-time NHLer. If your "check the rules" was directed at me, you should ride your high horse elsewhere. I'm very familiar with the rules of the game and how these contracts work. Garnet Exelby will never play a game for the Red Wings, and I'd wager that you'd see a random kid like DeKeyser before you'd see him. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that in the playoffs, eh? =) If the GRIFFINS wanted to sign him to an Amateur Tryout Contract, he'd be eligible to play for them without having an NHL deal -- but why would DeKeyser do that deal if he's going to get 30 offers? If he's a big time Wings fan and wants to stay close to home, he certainly may... but let's not poo poo the article just because it's 'feel good.'

Hi everyone, Michael Petrella here. I've been a long, long, LONG time member of LGW and consider it a first home of sorts. I don't comment around here as much as I used to, but I'd like that to change. Running TPL is (surprisingly) quite a bit of work, but it means the absolute world to me (and to Disch and Hollis, I assure you) to read these nice things about our site and our storytelling. I'm honored to have shared those stories with you and all of Red Wings Nation and hope to bring you similar stuff in the future. We hope you enjoy the podcast and the posting -- please don't be strangers! MICHAEL PETRELLA

Came across this little tidbit in my morning industrial newsletter. It comes to my email, so I don't have a link from the source for you - but I'll try to dig one up. VERSUS invited three NHL Stanley Cup champs to be part of the Hockey Central studio team this month as guest analysts. Former coach Mike Keenan will join Bill Patrick, Keith Jones and Brian Engblom tonight for the Boston Bruins/Pittsburgh Penguins game starting at 7p. Coach Peter Laviolette joins the hockey crew on November 16 for the Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils match at 7p, and Darren McCarty, four-time Stanley Cup winner, will join the crew on November 23 for the Detroit Red Wings/Nashville Predators clash. Also posted on The Production Line. **UPDATE** Huzzah: here's a link to the newsletter: http://www.cynopsis.com/content/view/4761 The story is the first under the heading "Production and Development." Enjoy.

FRIDAY CHICAGO over Florida DETROIT over St. Louis RANGERS over Pittsburgh CAROLINA over Philadelphia SATURDAY CHICAGO over Florida DETROIT over St. Louis VANCOUVER over Colorado BOSTON over Carolina PHILADELPHIA over New Jersey MONTREAL over Buffalo PITTSBURGH over Islanders RANGERS over Ottawa TAMPA BAY over Atlanta WASHINGTON over Toronto COLUMBUS over Minnesota DALLAS over Nashville ANAHEIM over San Jose CALGARY over Edmonton LOS ANGELES over Phoenix

I missed this because I was posting... but, WELL DONE. Very funny.

It's been said plenty, but the Sportsnet article has already been debunked by Kenny himself. He's still awaiting the arbitrator's ruling - and it will DEFINITELY be more than $2.5M. Smart money is on $3-$4M, most likely around $3.75M per.

Cap hit of $883,333 is nice, too. Especially considering that he'll be expected to be an everyday player by 2010-11...

Howdy fellow LGWers! My buddy and I started a snarky little Red Wings site, and I wanted to share the link with the good folks at LGW, who - for my money - are the most educated and entertaining bunch of Wings fans out there (minus the GDT ha!). Check it out. Feel free to give feedback. We'd love to have you. http://theproductionline.blogspot.com/ Enjoy! (And if this is inappropriate or bad form to plug my own stuff, please remove the topic)

Happy Birthday, and the wishes of many, many more. We're all incredibly lucky to follow a team with such an amazing owner.

Jensen is committed to St. Cloud State for 2010, so it's like the Max Nicastro situation: the Wings have FOREVER to sign him. Long term projects are just fine.

Brad Stuart has a no trade clause through 2010. He'll be in Detroit for at least another season.

+1.

To steal a line from Bart Simpson: he "both sucks AND blows."

Ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. There have been dirty hits that have ended seasons and careers that got fewer than six games. Yeah, he's a dick, but come on.

Because Shoreline's Greek made me laugh at my desk, I went ahead and punched it into Google Translate. Enjoy. Larsson on the long bus trips - and the dream of NHL Long trips in a bus bumping and games before the next mourner. Team Målvakten Daniel Larsson, 22, gladly take it - for a while. For the bus window, he can glimpse the dream, the great NHL arena. - Everyone wants to take a place in the NHL directly, but I would have expected to play in the Ahl from the start. There, you must have that attitude when you come over. , We operate well, train hard and play well, so get the chance to finish, "said Larsson who are in the Stanley Cup-champion Detroit farmarlag Grand Rapids Griffin in Ahl. So far this season, 46 Swedes have played in the NHL. It may be more. Many Swedes are in different farms and junior leagues and carries the dream of NHL games. Right now, 19 of the Ahl which is the main league during the NHL. A couple of them have been in the NHL but sent down. Daniel Larsson was appointed this year and this year's rookie goalie in Elitserien with Djurgården last season. He played in the Tre Kronor and was close to taking a place in the World Cup squad. To him, the NHL is still a dream - and he does not see the game in farmarligan as something nerköp. - No, I think that's actually not. It is a different hockey so it's something new to learn. Compared with the Elitserien is the more players in front of goal and very returned shots. It's not like in Sweden that we always try to play the puck. It's more fun here, more shots and more situations. Henke an exception As a goalkeeper, it is also harder to get straight into the NHL. The vast majority of starts in Ahl, except among English goalkeepers named Henrik Lundqvist. All others have played in farmarligan. TT hits Daniel Larsson after a match in Toronto, the city is known as ishockeyns capital. It is felt not on this night. Grand Rapids game against the Toronto Marlies seen by 1 363 spectators in a stadium with a capacity of 8 000. Had he come to Toronto with the Detroit Red Wings had been in the club lyxplan and games for the over 19 000 spectators in the large Air Canada Center. Now could Boden-born Larsson glimpse the vast arena of the bus window as the team came occupants from a match in Lake Erie the night before. - The bus everywhere. We will fly to any match, otherwise the bus. The shortest trips are five hours, so it is accustomed to sitting in the bus. It is just like state and bite the bullet, "he said. Number four He ranked fourth goalie in Detroit's organization. Chris Osgood, the Red Wings to Stanley Cup victory last spring, Ty Conklin, 32, is the second goalkeeper and in Grand Rapids is Jimmy Howard, 24, just a bit before Larsson. Howard has played eight NHL games the past three seasons. Daniel Larsson has so far stood in ten matches in the autumn, which yielded five victories. No timetable for when the big dream to be honored are not. - I have not heard anything. I have two-year contract so I'm going to play it anyway. It wants up as quickly as possible, but it is the (Detroit), which determines when it is ready. For now, it is a life in hockey back in force - and the long, long bus trips.

It's very cool that they're giving these undrafted kids a chance. I heard a story that the Wings had a tough time deciding between Jesper Samuelsson and another player (for the final pick in the draft), but that they were going to invite the other player to rookie/training camp. I'm guessing it's one of these two guys. Kenny's math/estimate is a little off. Before Lashoff and Raedeke, the Wings have 44 players under contract, meaning six below the limit. With these two, it'll jump to 46. G(4): Osgood, Conklin, Howard, Larrsson D(14): Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Lilja, Lebda, Meech, Chelios, Quincey, Ericsson, Kindl, Pyett, Kolasau, Lashoff F (28): Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Hossa, Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, Draper, Hudler, Samuelsson, Maltby, Kopecky, McCarty, Downey, Helm, Leino, Abdelkader, Emmerton, Ritola, Haydar, Mursak, Axelsson, McGrath, Oulahen, Tardif, Gelech, Ryno, Raedeke We all know someone's going to get moved off the team, but if Quincey/Downey/McCarty/Leino/whoever end up in Grand Rapids, they still count against this 50-man limit, obviously.

I actually read the CBA dealing with the salary TODAY trying to find any sort of penalty explanations or anything like that, but couldn't find anything specific. The CBA does state that the team MUST be under the cap by the final day of training camp - but we all knew that already. There was no mention of a fine or anything else that would be levied against the time should they not comply, but I got the feeling that it's just a RULE - like it is that you can't play with a rocket launcher. It doesn't explicitly say you CAN'T use a rocket launcher...you just can't. I assume that when you submit the payroll to the accountant on that day (per the CBA), they have to sign off on it or you have to make changes. They do have a clause in place that states the NHL will overturn any transaction (signing, trade, etc -- including voiding contracts signed that would put a team over a cap) DURING the season, but this 10% over during training camp is a unique situation. My gut tells me it's just something that all teams agreed to and you'll never encounter a situation where someone's trying to play it out. If there was a loophole, it would have been found by somebody. I'm looking at you, Brian Burke...

Wow. Nice tidbit - I'd be mistaken then. They can offer whatever they'd like. But I would rather have Flip than the picks.

For anyone interested in how this actually works... Vancouver can only offer an RFA either of these options: $863k or less (no compensation) $1.3M - $2.6M (2nd round pick) $6.5M or higher (four 1st round picks) Since the Canucks no longer have a third round draft pick in 2009 (Steve Bernier package), they aren't in a position to offer any other sum to an RFA. Detroit would clearly match the first and second, and the last option is lunacy.

Nobody wears 00 because it's not allowed. It was allowed once upon a time, but the league has altered the number rules (for some reason) to make it so no player can wear 0 or 00. The last person to wear 0 was Martin Biron in Buffalo in 1996. The others were John Davidson and Neil Sheehy (a defenseman). My vote would be for 81, while we're here.

You can sign players for increasing salaries all you want, but the new CBA says that the CAP HIT your team will take is the average salary over the length of the deal. So signing Flip to 2.5 / 3.0 / 3.5 / 3.5 for four years would make his cap number 3.125 for the upcoming season, NOT 2.5.

I, too, am kind of scared. I don't think he'd SIGN an offer sheet, but the Red Wings are 3.7M away from the cap by my count. And that's without Chelios, Downey, McCarty, and Flip (all of whom Holland has said will work themselves out). I was thinking Flip was in the 2.5 - 2.8 range. It's a little bit troubling.

I'm going to disagree with the majority here and say that Meech moves. And potentially Lebda. While Derek Meech made great strides this year playing and practicing with the big club, Kyle Quincey has more upside when it comes to potential and future with the Wings. Although, Meech can dress as a reserve winger, so that will be a plus for his staying. In addition, Quincey isn't signed. He's restricted, and I can't see them signing him to trade him (or him signing just to be traded). So either we lose him for nothing (or - unlikely - a low draft pick), or it's Meech/Lebda, who are already under contract. Ericsson's not going anywhere (except Grand Rapids this year), so I have the feeling it's Meech on the way out.