LeftWinger

IMO, unless something falls into Holland's lap (ie Hossa 2008) he should just go with the kids. But unfortunately it's not going to improve the team that way. Franzen is a head case and unless he is 100% by time the buyout expires, he needs to get bought out, then you have to replace him. They absolutely, positutely NEED a #1 defenseman and a different back up goalie. They need a sniper, but that just may come via the farm... I am actually OK with going kids up front, but the D needs something and something quick! I would LOVE to have a UFA or trade deadline scorer. Unfortunately, "getting Pav, Z and Weiss back will be our trade deadline blah blah blah..." I still say we target Ladd and Bogosian ASAP. I would trade Smith before I trade Ouellet or Sproul. That being said, I would like to keep all of them if at all possible, but in this world, it takes something to get something and if they are looking at someone like Bogosian or Yandle or Edler, it is most definitely going to take something. The trade-able D-men for me are in this order: Quincey, Kindl, Almqvist, Lashoff, Smith....if we have to dig deeper than that, I am getting a little cold in the toes....

I truly believe nothing will happen because all teams will try to rape the Wings, business as usual. Very little will happen this UFA because Holland will not outbid another team for a player he NEEDS. So with that, I can only hope that Cleary is NOT re-signed, Bertuzzi is NOT re-signed and Quincey is NOT re-signed. I hope Alfie retires and then we just go in house with all the kids and start building the next Dynasty. I just hope one of these kids can be that sniper that Datsyuk yearns for, because he did sign to play 3 more years in hopes to win another Championship and I would hate to waste those years, because he probably will retire after...

Detroit would be a better team with Datsyuk and Stamkos than Zetterberg and Stamkos. Although both teams would be VERY good with either of those combos. Zetterberg NOR Datsyuk are being traded so this is all for fun, but what will be fun is if/when Holland gets that type of scorer to play on the same lilne with BOTH Zetterberg and Datsyuk...and that is a major missing piece that Holland needs to address this summer... Moving to the D. Some folks here say that the Wings aren't ONE superstar defenseman away from the Stanley Cup, but if you look at our Stanley Cup winning teams, each and every one of those teams had ONE superstar defenseman and 5-6 solid others. (outside of 1997 when Vladdy was here and Lids was just becoming a superstar) 1997 - Lidstrom, Konstantinov, Fetisov, Murphy, Ward, Pushor, Rouse (Dandenault was still a RW) 1998 - Lidstrom, Murphy, Fetisov, Rouse, Mironov, Eriksson, Macoun (Dandenault was still a RW) 2002 - Lidstrom, Dandenault, Chelios, Duchesne, Fischer, Olausson (Krupp, Slegr) 2008 - Lidstrom, Chelios, Kronwall, Lebda, Rafalski, Stuart, Lilja The common here is ONE superstar and a group of level B solid defenders. Right now we have a whole D corps of level B-C defenders Kronwall - Ericsson - Dekeyser - Smith those four will be your solid group of level B defenders, we NEED that superstar to anchor this team for the next 6-8 years+. SUPERSTAR - Kronwall Ericsson - Dekeyser Smith - B defender C Defender That's the key on D.

...throw in the 1st round pick and Winnipeg makes that trade. If Q wasn't pending UFA you could throw him in. But WPG would want that guarantee that he would stay there. Besdies of our 7 NHL defensemen there are only two, maybe three that are not tradable: Dekeyser, Kronwall and Ericsson (unless were are talk Weber, then Big E would be gone.)

You don't trade Datsyuk. Around the league he is the PLAYERS choice for best player in the league. If ANYONE is going to want to come here and play, it's to be able to play with Datsyuk, not Zetterberg. I'm sorry, Zetterberg is a star, but he is an average star, there are a bunch of players in the NHL that I would rather have on this team than Zetterberg. Pav, is a Superstar, there is nobody in this league that is a better complete NHL superstar, and nobody you could offer me that I would trade him for... I am not saying trade Zetterberg either, but if it came down to another "choice," Zetterberg would be the one to go everyday of the week.

Dickie, I usually love all the things you say and agree with 99% of it. I loved your last post, I always like reading informed user's thougts, BUT I have to stop you in your tracks when it comes to Hossa v. Franzen... If ANYONE hates "The Choice" more than anyone else, it's me. With that, if anyone knows all the comparables at least as good as anyone else, again, it's me. You say that Hossa's regular season stats are better than Franzen's, but Franzen's playoff stats are FAR better than Hossa's, let me break it down for you: Hossa - Regular Season: 293gms - 275G - 143A - 418pts. 1.42 PPG Franzen - Reg. Season: 252gms - 90g - 96a - 186pts. .73 PPG Regular season, you are spot on, but maybe you should have used the words FAR better when it comes to Hossa in that regard. Hossa - Playoffs: 54gms - 12g - 26a - 38pts. .70PPG Franzen - Playoffs: 39gms - 13g - 15a - 28pts. .71PPG although Franzen is .01ppg more than Hossa has been, I would not call that FAR better playoff scoring, and would go as far as not even calling it better period. Especially when you factor in that Franzen was chosen over Hossa because he was supposed to be better in the long run...add to that Franzen has 4 PP goals in the playoff to Hossa's 6, in that time span along with 2 GW goals for Franzen to Hossa's 4. Hossa is there more when you need him. This was a bad, BAD choice to keep Franzen over Hossa, but it is done and there is nothing that can be done to change it. Holland just needs to address it NOW, today and make right what he has wronged since July 2009...

pa.the.tic.

wings need a #1 AND a #2 defender...bottom line. Until Kenny gets it done, the Wings are done...

ok, two things we are learning....kronwall is not a #1 and Ericsson is not a #2. not landing Suter hurts more and more each game...

PP....lets try Cleary out

open net Q.....

jeez Cleary sucks

kronwall and E again....

WTF KRONWALL!!!

Wings win 4-2 and then promptly trade Dan Cleary to them before the bus leaves for a 7th round pick.

Franzen needs to kill his wife and kid and then himself?

Trade Q for Iginla today...

if I am buying a rental property for the playoffs, then I am offering Edmonton a pick for Ryan Smyth. Especially if Franzen is out for the season. Not out 1st pick have you, but a 3rd maybe...not unless they'd be interested in Andersson...

that is why I said he needs to guarantee to re-sign here. I also would not give up any of our future for a couple month rental. I also need to correct myself, I mistakenly included Jarnkrok in that scenario and I meant to put Pulkkinen... Jarnkrok in my opinion, will see time on our roster next season and be a mainstay in 15-16.

so we all pretty much agree, we need that top pairing defenseman...but who do you target? There aren't that many available via UFA, so it will have to be a trade... Bogosian, Yandle, Erhoff, Edler, Visnovsky, Wisniewski...etc... who do you target and who do you offer in return?

I would sacrifice our 1st for Vanek. If there is any season that we do not need our 1st, it's this season. I do not like him as a rental though. IF Holland can indeed score him off the Island, then he needs to re-sign ASAP. He needs to become the #1 priority and give him Z and D money for 8 years. This guy can a will be the closest thing to Hossa we have had since....well, Hossa. If we need to include Nyquist and Jarnkrok, do it! Nyquist, Jarnkrok, 1st rounder...can and should get that deal done...if you need to throw in an established NHL player, throw Andersson in.

speaking of Mantha, he has currently leap-frogged in to the #1 spot on the Wings prospects list, knocking Jarnkrok down to #4. Jurco and Mrazek maintain the #2 and #3 spots. Riley Sheahan rounds out the top 5. I think in the long run, we will all be happy that Holland did not trade that 2013 1st for Nash... for those interested here is the top 20 wings prospects: 1. Mantha 2. Mrazek 3. Jurco 4. Jarnkrok 5. Sheahan 6. Ouellet 7. Sproul 8. Backman 9. Marchenko 10. Athanasiou 11. Glendening 12. Ferraro 13. Pulkkinen 14. Almqvist 15. Janmark 16. Callahan 17. Nastasiuk 18. Paterson 19. Frk T-20. Jensen T-20. Bertuzzi

LTIR for the rest of the season...Get healthy Franzen, come back in 2014. Do the team a favor, let go of that roster spot and cap hit. You need to get 100000% healthy so you can go back to being the Franzen that was chosen over Hossa... here's you money, take the rest of the season off, we don't want you having to wear helmet off the ice as well!

I am not so sure about the Nash trade.... If we offered Flip, Franzen and a 1st (which we used to select Mantha) I think NYR paid much more in that Columbus got in return the aforementioned Anisimov, they also got Dubinsky, Erixon and the Rags 1st in which they chose Kerby Rychel. I would take Anisimov, Dubinsky and Erixon over Flip and Franzen... But I guess at the time, Flip and Franzen were probably considered better than the others...ironic is that usually a team asks for more from an inner-divisional team that others, now Columbus is in NYR division! Also, Nash is being outscored by Dubinskyand nearly by Anisimov. Delisle and Buchnevich are still nowhere around. So Columbus really took NYR on that one! Grant it I think Nash was injured a bit this season...

Stefan Noesen is from Plano, Texas... he has played only 2 games for the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL, after a very good career at Plymouth where his best season was 82 points in 63 games. Nyquist had just as impressive numbers at the U of Maine... I just don't understand Holland sometimes, but then again, wonder what Anaheim wanted from Detroit, IF Holland even showed interest. I can imagine it was far greater than what was accepted from Ottawa...this is why the NHL needs an arbitrator again, so teams cannot rape other teams. All trades and proposals need to be fair.