WingNut 25

I no longer have faith in the organization's direction. Give the kids more playing time and start moving out worthless vets in any way you can (for whatever return you can get). Let the playoff streak die. Holding onto that is making this team stagnant. They aren't moving up or down.

All prices are delivered. Paypal is preferred. Henrik Zetterberg RBK replica home jersey w/ 2008 Stanley Cup Final patch and tackle twill letters/numbers, size XL - $80 Henrik Zetterberg autographed 8x10 photo w/ Frozen Pond COA - $45 Jimmy Howard autographed 8x10 photo (obtained in person so no COA) - $20

Hard to hold out hope for Parise when he apparently wants $10 million a year. Suter we need. They need to go all in and not let another team outbid them. Not sold on Semin but if they could offer him a 1 year deal for $5 million, a la Hossa, and see how the experiment works then I'm interested.

I see any Nash deal starting with Franzen. Columbus won't take any 3rd and 4th liners. Drop the pipe dream. It would take kids like Kindl, Tatar, etc and a pick along with Mule. Mule's long deal provides security for Columbus.

We all knew this day was coming, either this season or next. Frankly I have had a gut feeling since the season ended that he was done. I was hopeful the allure of the Winter Classic and potential big name signings in the offseason would bring him back but he has nothing left to prove. I think the injury he suffered also played a factor, regardless of whether or not he'll say it publicly. He didn't bounce back from that very quickly and I think that was a wake up call for him.

If paying Lidstrom $6 mill. next year costs the Wings flexibility and/or Parise and/or Suter, let him retire. The bigger picture is what's most important, not the past.

The true insult would be a 42 year old getting $6+ million next year. We all respect the hell out of Nick but he was overpaid this year. It would be a tragic mistake to give him more than $2 million should he return.

Parise gets an A if they sign him. Otherwise the 3 A rotation ends. Captain - Z Alternates- Dats and Kronner

Saw this article over on the Production Line site and it really is good food for thought. http://theproductionline.us/building-the-new-dynasty/ Seeing too much of the NHL video game GM junk in a lot of threads, so I'm making this one for much more realistic talk and scenarios. Here are some of the UFA's on July 1 (assuming they do not resign with their current teams). The UFA class is very underwhelming so realistically the Wings may need to work the trade route to make an impact. To me, the "all in" UFA's, if they are there on July 1, are Parise and Suter. Holland needs to push and push hard to acquire at least 1 of them and the reasons are obvious. They fill tremendous needs for this Wings team. Their value is in many ways immeasurable to a team trying to get back to elite status. Our defense will be interesting should Suter sign elsewhere or stay in NashVegas. IMO, Lidstrom will retire. I hope deep down he'll be drawn back by the allure of the Winter Classic in The Big House. But the realist in me says he doesn't want to become Chris Chelios and stay too long. I think he walks away with the kind of sad end that Yzerman had (a disappointing playoff defeat). Stuart is gone. Sad to say but there's a reason his family has never moved and the obvious speculation is that his wife cannot move their daughter due to custody issues. My personal guess is Stuart signs with the Ducks as they need him more than the Sharks or Kings do and CA is his desired destination. Kronwall, White, Ericsson, Smith and Kindl make for a nice group of defenseman but more is needed. I have my doubts on whether or not Quincey will be back but it cost the Wings a #1 to get him so the likelihood they let him go is very small, the likelihood they sign and trade him is quite realistic. Back to Zach. He is the perfect fit for this Wings team, a sniper that could easily get Datsyuk back up to the sort of point range we expect from him and who gives the Wings that 40 goal scorer they are sorely missing. Now while I've seen it suggested that Franzen and/or Filppula could be moved, I don't see it happening unless an impact scorer is coming back in return. While Mule is extremely streaky, he still pots nearly 30 goals a year for a cap hit of less than $4 million/year. Look at the list below and find me guys who are likely to sign with the Wings who can match that production. Again, a Franzen-type scorer would have to be acquired in trade for the Mule himself. I think Fil and Z have something special and I think we've finally seen the real Fil. I'd hate to see him moved for anything less than someone like a Rick Nash. The problem there is simply that the likelihood of Columbus trading their captain to a hated division rival is slim and none, and slim is packing up to head out of town. So unless the sort of deals like a Richards to LA that caught everyone off guard last year emerge for the Wings to get involved in, the Wings will likely have to rebuild via free agency and look for less earth-shattering moves. Here is the list of UFA's below. As you can see, Suter and Parise are the gems and the rest, well see for yourself. Centers Daymond Langkow $4,500,000 Jarret Stoll $3,600,000 Jochen Hecht $3,525,000 Olli Jokinen $3,000,000 Jiri Hudler $2,875,000 Jason Arnott $2,800,000 Samuel Pahlsson $2,650,000 Saku Koivu $2,500,000 Paul Gaustad $2,300,000 Chris Kelly $2,125,000 Steven Reinprecht $2,050,000 Jay McClement $1,450,000 Torrey Mitchell $1,366,667 Brendan Morrison $1,250,000 Kyle Brodziak $1,150,000 Gregory Campbell $1,100,000 Dominic Moore $1,100,000 Jim Slater $1,000,000 Daniel Winnik $950,000 Erik Christensen $925,000 Lennart Petrell $900,000 Alexandre Giroux $825,000 Colin Fraser $825,000 Jeff Halpern $825,000 Jake Dowell $800,000 Brandon Prust $800,000 Toby Petersen $775,000 Ryan Carter $750,000 Jesse Winchester $750,000 Tim Wallace $700,000 Zenon Konopka $700,000 Blair Betts $700,000 Scott Nichol $700,000 Left Wings Alexander Semin $6,700,000 Ryan Smyth $6,250,000 Zach Parise $6,000,000 Kristian Huselius $4,750,000 Dustin Penner $4,250,000 Jason Blake $4,000,000 Andrei Kostitsyn $3,250,000 Niklas Hagman $3,000,000 Ray Whitney $3,000,000 Marco Sturm $2,250,000 Andrew Brunette $2,000,000 Sean Avery $1,938,000 Tomas Holmstrom $1,875,000 Alexei Ponikarovsky $1,500,000 Travis Moen $1,500,000 Steve Sullivan $1,500,000 Jay Pandolfo $1,400,000 Ruslan Fedotenko $1,400,000 Daniel Paille $1,075,000 Cody McLeod $1,033,000 Taylor Pyatt $1,000,000 Darcy Hordichuk $825,000 Shawn Thornton $812,000 Tanner Glass $750,000 Brandon Yip $725,000 Brad Wincester $725,000 Trevor Gillies $625,000 Raitis Ivanans $600,000 Fabian Brunnstrom $600,000 Right Wings Brian Rolston $5,062,000 Shane Doan $4,550,000 Ales Hemsky $4,100,000 Teemu Selanne $4,000,000 Brad Boyes $4,000,000 Jaromir Jagr $3,300,000 Ales Kotalik $3,000,000 Jamie Langenbrunner $2,800,000 Milan Hejduk $2,600,000 David Jones $2,500,000 Mikael Samuelsson $2,500,000 Mike Knuble $2,000,000 Lee Stempniak $1,900,000 Radek Dvorak $1,500,000 JP Dumont $1,333,000 David Moss $1,300,000 Jordin Tootoo $1,250,000 P.A. Parenteau $1,250,000 Ian Laperriere $1,167,000 Adam Burish $1,150,000 Tom Kostopoulos $917,000 George Parros $875,000 Krystopher Barch $838,000 Arron Asham $775,000 Joey Crabb $750,000 Byron Bitz $700,000 Petr Sykora $650,000 Mark Parrish $650,000 Ryan Shannon $625,000 Joakim Lindstrom $600,000 Trent Hunter $600,000 Brian Willsie $600,000 Brian McGrattan $600,000 Jonathan Cheechoo $600,000 Adam Hall $600,000 Brad Staubitz $575,000 Jamal Mayers $550,000 Brett McLean $525,000 Cam Janssen $525,000 Defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom $6,200,000 Michal Rozsival $5,000,000 Dennis Wideman $3,875,000 Pavel Kubina $3,850,000 Jaroslav Spacek $3,833,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Filip Kuba $3,700,000 Barret Jackman $3,625,000 Cory Sarich $3,600,000 Willie Mitchell $3,500,000 Ryan Suter $3,500,000 Jeff Finger $3,500,000 John Oduya $3,500,000 Matt Carle $3,438,000 Bryan Allen $2,900,000 Bryce Salvador $2,900,000 Mark Eaton $2,500,000 Joe Corvo $2,250,000 Hal Gill $2,250,000 Radek Martinek $2,200,000 Carlo Colaiacovo $2,125,000 Shaone Morrisonn $2,075,000 Adrian Aucoin $2,000,000 Sami Salo $2,000,000 Greg Zanon $1,933,333 Kurtis Foster $1,800,000 Chris Campoli $1,750,000 Kurt Sauer $1,750,000 Sheldon Souray $1,650,000 Nicklas Grossman $1,625,000 Milan Jurcina $1,600,000 Steve Staios $1,600,000 Matt Hunwick $1,550,000 Brett Clark $1,500,000 Francis Bouillon $1,350,000 Randy Jones $1,150,000 Shane O’Brien $1,100,000 Scott Hannan $1,000,000 Brad Lukowich $1,000,000 Mike Lundin $1,000,000 Colin White $1,000,000 Matt Carkner $700,000 Jason Garrison $675,000 Clayton Stoner $550,000 John Scott $512,000 Goalies Cristobal Huet $5,625,000 Martin Brodeur $5,200,000 Dwayne Roloson $3,000,000 Antero Niittymaki $2,000,000 Chris Mason $1,850,000 Michael Leighton $1,550,000 Dan Ellis $1,500,000 Tomas Vokoun $1,500,000 Jonas Gustavsson $1,350,000 Johan Hedberg $1,250,000 Scott Clemmensen $1,200,000 Alex Auld $1,000,000 Martin Biron $875,000 Johan Backlund $800,000 Ty Conklin $750,000 Josh Harding $750,000 Andrew Raycroft $650,000 Al Montoya $601,000 Curtis Sanford $600,000 Brent Johnson $600,000 Some of my personal suggestions, aside from Parise and Suter, that the Wings should target for various needs are: Forwards - Brandon Prust, Paul Gaustad, Jason Arnott, Jiri Hudler, Brad Winchester, Milan Hejduk, George Parros, Jamal Mayers, David Jones, Mike Knuble D-men - Hal Gill, Matt Carle, Barret Jackman, Colin White, Dennis Wideman Goalie - Martin Biron, Josh Harding, Johan Hedberg

Cap space is key now a days. Lord only knows what the next CBA has in store. Pop a decimal point between the 8 and the 2 on Giroux and you have his salary for next year.

That's not a bad approach but one thing to keep in mind: do you want to nearly max out your cap space with those players? I prefer to see them save some of that for 2013 if they don't land Parise.

Agreed that they need scorers. Unfortunately the market is slim there. You also can't sit around hoping for a bunch I talent to come up UFA next summer. The new trend is to lock up guys before UFA status, not gamble they will come back. We did it with Pavel before it was popular to do so.

Would we want Hossa at this point if he ends up with concussion issues?

LOL you're pathetic kid. You can't even keep on topic while everyone blows holes in your ridiculous fantasy trades like Franzen for Morrow. No one is making competitions out of thread creation. What are you 10? Who cares who replies?? I frankly was exhausted by page after page of fantasy scenarios. I hadnt even started posting on this forum again until recently so no, I didn't make any predictions like you apparently did in your crystal ball. You're right, no one's opinion is right or wrong. But that doesn't mean an opinion isn't dumb or even ridiculous in nature, like your master plan you laid out. It's dumb, it's short sighted and my daring prediction is none of it will happen. Let's agree to disagree from here on out. I get tired of replying to useless drivel.

I'd prefer Kindl be moved before White. Very underwhelmed by Kobdl in all facets of his game.

White dropping down to 2nd or 3rd pairing is likely where he belongs anyway. He's signed cheap for another year. I don't see the benefit in moving him.

Weber will sign long term with Nashville.

I think we've well established at this point that Leftwinger does not know what he/she is talking about. I can't have a rationale, thought provoking discussion with an irrational, fantasy GM. Waste of time.

You have to think Luongo gets traded. Frees up a lot of cap space, unless of course they take a bad contract in return (Lecavalier perhaps). You're absolutely right; there's going to be a ton of movement as the "elite" clubs fell well below expectation and will look to shake things up. I personally think the Sharks will be blown up.

Talk about a ratings nightmare. Preds in 5.

YES.

No need to. This is the "general discussion" forum is it not? So we're all having a discussion and that isn't always gonna be high fives and hugs. There's far too much laughable fantasy hockey GM talk going on. It's far more interesting to have factual discussion. Save the "Franzen for Morrow" junk for NHL 12 or fantasy hockey.

I've read a few times that Gaustad's contract asking price is going to be in the $4 million/year range. No thanks.

4-0 now. Done deal.