LeftWinger

Homer needs to retire. We already have 13 forwards (once Helm and Abby are re-signed) and will be getting (hopefully) a Parise type player for Datsyuk. That already pushes one of Mursak or Emmerton off the team, now you want to re-sign Homer and push both of them off the team? So signing Homer is better than keeping Mursak and Emmerton? Of course in my scenario, I get rid of Mursak, but I am NOT signing Homer at the expense of any of them, and God forbid at the expense of not signing Parise...Thanks for the memories Homer, but it over. This team needs its youth to remain. Bottom line, if they sign Holmstrom, and Parise, then they lose BOTH Emmerton and Mursak and Sheahan never comes up. If they don't want to lose one of those, then they cannot sign Parise, so in order to get Lidstrom back and keep some youth, you are passing on Parise and siging Holmstrom... Parise and Emmerton far better than Holmstrom and Mursak...sorry Homer lovers...

Nah, not a biggie. I only complain when people neg for no reason. I would take 3000 negs if folks had the nuts enough to explain why they disagree. Whatever... It's just funny when people say Homer is too old and needs to go, they get a plus, then I agree and get a neg. Sure, maybe it bothers me more than it should, but if folks would say why, it would be nice. But, ya, I should know by now, they won't and it shouldn't bother me...

You are hilarious...Hey, Chris Chelios is great friends with Ryan's uncle Gary, so he has more connections to the Red Wings PLUS he played with Patrick Eaves in Ann Arbor, so there, na na na boo boo!

Ok, so, where do Miller-Abby-Eaves end up? Emmerton and Mursak are already your 13th and 14th forwards, So which two guys are going when Homer gets re-signed? Miller, Abby, Eaves, Mursak or Emmerton? Oh wait, lets just not sign Parise and sign Homer instead...all set, book the parade!

egads! Who is the 40 yr old holding the beer? Is that Stiffler's mom? Kane may still be acting up, but his chicks at least are getting better looking...

Ya! Thanks for noticing! Anyhow, someone is just going thru and negging everything I say now. It's not because they disagree with me, I know this because someone gets pluses for list the top 10 things Holland will say and I simply reply, nice to meet you Mr. Holland and it gets a neg. No biggie. When their son grows up swallowing a sword, they at least will know why...

What X Factor? What exactly are "a lot of connections to Minn" supposed to mean? He has never played there, here did not grow up there, he play TWO years in Michigan, so he actually has more connections in Michigan than Minnesota. Maybe you have an inside informant, please enlighten us of his connection to Minnesota...and no connection to Michigan. Besides, Madison is just as close to Michigan as it is Minnesota geographically. Also the last I heard, his family lives in Nashville, so Detroit is closer to Nashville than Minniap. Geography doesn't matter, I was just pointing out that people are misinformed by saying he has connections to Minni. I was simply saying he actually played in Ann Arbor, so he has more of a connection to Michigan than Minnesota, which he has never lived nor played in...(besides against the Wild.)

Wow, lots of Homer love still I guess. At least by all the negs. Of course no one man enough to debate it.... Let me ask the negger, do you like the team you had last season? Sure they were 1st overall in February, but that was because of an anomaly. Think about this, they won an NHL record 23 straight home wins, yet still could not bury the rest of the league...why? Because they stunk on the road, their PP and PK stunk. Look how early the 2001-02 Wings put away the rest of the league and they didn't even sniff a 23 game win streak...If you can honestly tell us that this team, exactly like it was last season, is a Stanley Cup caliber team, then please, explain it to us, don't just neg and run. Of course, just like usual, you won't... edit: I did what I could to bring everyone back to plus. It's asinine to neg someone just because they think Homer should retire...

Worse, since there will be no 23 game win streak anomoly.... Nice to meet you Mr. Holland!

Package? What is this, Hossa/Kopecky? Just say no to Holmstrom, its time to go. Sign Homer at the expense of who? Typical ******* Holland. Guess we can forget Parise and look forward to Samuelsson.....that better not be the plan!

I am not sure where the misunderstanding came from, but Ryan Suter is from Madison, Wisconsin. He played two years in Ann Arbor, MI. for the US National Development Under 18 team and one yr for the Badgers before reporting to Nashville. He has never played youth hockey in Minnesota. And considering his time in Ann Arbor, and the lack of NHL in Wisconsin, signing in Detroit would be more of a homecoming than Minnesota. Edit: Wow, negged? So, ok, Minnesota will be a homecoming then, even though he has never played there or lived there...I plan on having a homecoming in Hawaii next week. Jack ass...

Caps....why not...

Franzen's work ethic was never questioned while playing for Sweden. That is always the knock on European players, they play harder when it comes to International Play than in the NHL. It's always been said that the Europeans value International Championships higher than the Stanley Cup. When young Europeans are playing hockey, they dream of winning an Olympic gold, when young North American's are playing they dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup...that just the way it has always been. So of course Franzen is going to play harder and with more heart for Sweden...it's just how it goes...

Let's start by saying, I, just like most of you, would LOVE to see Lidstrom come back for another season, as long as he is 100% healthy and 100% still in love with this sport and this town and has the heart and desire to seriously put up with another pre-season, 82 game regular and playoffs. If he is ready, it will be great to see him back, BUT... ...he cannot be paid his normal salary. In all the "Off Season" threads, there are a lot of folks bickering about "offering" him only $3M and most people say that an offer like that would be an insult to Nick. I agree to an extent, if indeed it is an offer. Plus, Ken Holland would probably never "offer" him anything. So the question isn't what will Ken Holland offer him, it is what does Lidstrom want. I believe that Nick knows that he isn't the same as he was 10 years ago, he is only going to be around one or maybe two more years. I believe if he does come back, that he no doubt wants to have a serious shot at the Cup on last time AND I do believe he'd like to leave this team in a great position to continue it's domination over the league that he has enjoyed the last 20 years. For that to happen, Nick needs to seriously get with Kenny, talk about what this team needs in order to secure the future for the next 5-10 years and THEN and ONLY THEN should they talk about what Nick will make this year. Nick should tell Holland (yes or no) that he is coming back, BUT Holland can do everything in his power to secure the future of this team by getting 2-4 GREAT players signed so when he does retire, this organization isn't going back to the pre-Yzerman era... Only Holland knows which UFA's he wants to target, and usually that is players that are complete opposite of what we as fans would "like to see." For the sake of this thread I will use the names that everyone has pretty much been using thus far this offseason, Suter and Parise... Nick and Kenny need to get together, agree that the first and foremost needs are Suter & Parise, so here is what I think the sequence should be something like this: Sign Suter to "whatever it takes" contract... Sign Parise to "whatever it takes" contract... Re-sign Helm & Abdelkader Either re-sign Quincey to no more than $3M or just have Smith on the roster permantly... Sign a UFA Goalie to REALLY challenge Jimmy and push him to the next level. (Jimmy needs this to make that next step. Joey and Ty just aren't good enough to Challenge him) I suggest Vokoun, but thats just my opinion... Once these are done, the future (Suter, Parise, Helm, Abdelkader) are all secured for at least the next 5 years. (of course, along with the already signed kids from GR.) Then, whatever Cap space is left (hopefully it goes up like experts are projecting) THEN Nick sits down with Holland and if he wants one more shot at the Cup and be a bridge between the Wings of the last 20 years and the Wings of the next 20 years, he needs to sign for what Holland can now afford to sign him to. If Holland can do some magic, there may be about $4M left over, not sure, but this won't be an insulting offer to Nick, considering that if Nick wants this team to win and continue to win after he retires, he needs to let Holland secure the future BEFORE giving Nick a contract. All this relies on Nick though. Holland isn't going to offer him anything, he is going to give Nick what he wants, I just hope Nick wants to give the fans what they want and that is Suter and Parise and then their beloved Captain for one more shot! In that order please...

correct me if I am wrong, but does't this CBA become "amendable" and not expire? I seem to remember reading somewhere that if an agreement isn't made that the current CBA just keeps extending until an agreement is come to...maybe I was dreaming it or something...dunno...

He only had 54 points in the regular season and 1 goal in the playoffs... ...we have a 56 point scorer in the regular season and 1 goal in the playoffs and I can't believe I am going to say this, but I'd just rather keep Franzen... :puke: argh, sorry that snuck up me! Let me get a napkin... ...ok, Franzen is cheaper, younger and well, already here so unlike Jagr, he wouldn't bump someone off the roster... Parise - Dats - Nyquist Franzen - Zett - Filp Bertuzzi - Helm - Cleary Miller - Abby - Eaves Emmerton (Mursak)or Moen if Eaves isn't healthy enough yet... Trade or waive Emmy and Merz if Moen is signed and Eaves remains healthy... No thanks Jagr, not even for $1M...I'd rather have Moen, he is more of the type of player we need to change the way teams approach playing us... edit: And if Holland cannot sign Parise, instead of just going to washed up 40 yr olds, he should seriously see what it would take to get Nash here. Wings need a Parise or Nash, not a Jagr...

For the right price I'd ta.........nah, no thanks! We have plenty of roster players, need Parise and Suter. I'd rather have Nyquist up permanently than Jagr....

Yes, my point exactly. But just like Wiz, players do go to bottom feeders for a bigger payday than if they wanted to actually win. Marian Hossa passed up a lifetime deal worth nearly $10M per season from Edmonton to sign in Detroit for that one season to try to win. He was willing to stay for even less, but Holland chose Franzen and Hudler over him...just goes to show, there are some players that actually take less money to win...

COrrect, that is why I said trade them. May not get much, but at least it's not losing them to waivers....Tater's situation I am not so sure about...

Happy Birthday Steve! Thanks for all the great moments and memories! Happy Birthday baby! Thanks for all the great moments and memories! 18 years together! Love ya!

ACtually, if the Cap goes up to $70M, Holland will have exactly $26,482,955 to spend. Suter and Parise should cost at least $15M together, Lids gets $6.2M and Abby/Helm get $2.75M combined. That leaves $2,532,955 under the Cap for a REAL backup goalie and then some left over... That is with Emmerton, Mursak & Mac on the roster, in which I think all three should be traded or demoted...Adding to that Sheahan is still showing on the roster, demote him and you are getting another $2,533,333. So after Lids, Helm, Abby, Suter, Parise Hollland should still have around $5M under the Cap after trading Emmerton/Mursak and demoting Mac and Sheahan. Life would be good if the cap increases!

On a different note, I REALLY hope Holland signs Jeremy Welsh to a contract for GR. He is 23 and 6'3" 200lbs. He could, along with Sheahan, become a force in the NHL in a year or two. I also am still hoping the Holland inks DeKeyser as well. Sheahan/Welsh Smith/Dekeyser All playing together 5 years from now in their primes...NICE!

Well lets hope it's the Detroit Brass salivating to sign him, and not just the fans doing the salivating...We salivate every year only to be disappointed most times, lets hope Holland is salivating so much the he owns stock in Sani-wipes...

This! But I think what he meant was more teams get 100+ points now because of the stupid shootout and 1 point for an OT loss. The test would be to look at the points and take away the one point for the OT or SO loss and see where everyone would have ended up...or take away the shootout and see how many would've ended in a tie for 1 point....too much for me!

If Holland offer them both $7.5M per for 5+ yrs. That should be enough to entice both of them. But if they'd rather sign in Columbus for $9M, then let them... I don't doubt that if their respective clubs don't see a re-signing coming, their rights will be traded before they become UFA's...