LeftWinger

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! With Hudler's "potential" we are going to get Ovechkin...mark it!

Everyone has holes in their game, nobody is perfect. Regarding Wiz, the positives outweigh the negatives, even if you are counting points, he has gotten better 7, 10, 26, 24, 36, 51 points. But all this talk about untimely penalties and bad penalties, he only topped 100 PIM's once and has only had over 50 one other time, the other years were less than 40. Last season he played the most games he ever played, most minutes on ice and he only had 38 PIM's. 7 of is 10 goals were PP goals. Wiz fills a huge need for the Wings, he is everything that Hollland "says" he needs on the defense. Let's see if he signs him. I agree with your one year idea, epsecially in the case of Jovo, but more-so in Ericsson, if Ericsson wants that big payday, maybe Holland can convince him to sign a one year $2M with the incentive that if he meets certain totals and goals he will get that larger longer term contract. In Wiz's case, I think he is worth tying up $4M-$4.5M for 3-4 years. Even if Lids retires next season and Holland pursues Suter (if not already re-signed by Nashville) The "D" looks very nice for a few years to come with Stuart, Wiz, Kronner and Suter (hopefully) as the top four, with Kindl and Smith as #'s 5/6. We have the money now, spend it on a few one year contracts and re-load for the long run next off-season when we have even MORE money with Holmstrom and Bertuzzi coming off the books (although it will take a pretty good chunk to re-sign Kronner and Stuart) Then again, Lids just may come back next year too....

Sure, Jovo made $6.5M last year, but this year he will be signing somewhere to try for a Cup, his career is winding down fast. Will he get more than $1M? Of course, but he won't get $6.5M again. I would be ok with Holland paying him $2.5M, maybe $3M, but anything more than that, someone will be overpaying him. Lets summarize: RE-Sign Lids/Miller/Eaves, trade Hudler, sign a top six scoring winger, sign Wiz, sign Jovo and if Ericsson wants more than $2M then let him go and find another UFA d-man for $2M or less...sign a solid, back up goalie... Hire a GREAT defensive coach...Raise 12th Stanley Cup...

I hear you, but if you have been a Wings fan for any amount of time, you know then that Holland doesn't sign players with toughness and physical play up front. Hopefully he addresses that on the D with JOvo and or Wizzer, but (and I begged and begged for Ladd last off season) Holland is not gonna sign that type of forward. To Holland, a top six forawrd IS a 190lb. European. I hate it, but thats how it is... Holland wants scoring from his top 6 and even though he is not a Euro, Tanguay and/or Jokinen would provide that...SOFT, yes, but history dictates that we just aren't gonna see Laich, Cole or Ladd.... Of course that would be Crow I would gladly and happily eat if Holland did sign someone of that nature! But by all means, Holland, PLEASE prove me otherwise! PLEASE!!!!

I believe the only way Richards signs here is if its a one year, one shot at another Cup, Hossa type deal. I do agree the more glaring need is defense. I would rather see Holland spend $12M on making his defense better than spending $8M on one forward.....

I'm sorry, I meant to say, Give me Weber, Richards and trade Hudler for Ovechkin...

It's all about money... That was a concert of his is Chicago and he was probably told it was gonna happen to help keep the "Stanley Cup High" going in the city. He needs the people of Chicago to buy his albums and to come to his concerts, so he is not gonna say anything bad about the Blackhawks. It's sort of like when one night a rock band playing in Detroit will announce that Detroit has the best fans in the world! Then the next night in Houston, he'll announce the same thing, except that he'll say Houston fans are the best in the world... You have to do PR wherever you go and do whatever it takes to keep the fans spending money on your stuff! You did notice that he didn't come anywhere near putting the Jersey on, this shows that he still bleeds Red Wings... I am not that big of a Kid fan now-a-days with the music he is making now, I am more of a Stone Cold Pimp Kid Rock fan and even as far back as Pimp of the Nation, but you can have the All Summer Long Kid Rock. Either way though, he is a great Ambassador for Detroit and him along with Eminem (like him or not) are the type of positive things this city needs to get back on it's feet... (if that's even possible)

I see your Wisniewski and Jokinen, I rasie you a Jovanovski...

Honestly,I don't know too much about him, alot of folks here get excited about him and alot don't. I've mentioned him before just based on stats and some of the positive stuff I have read on here, but I am reading more and more negative things and I am not liking it.... Honestly, I believe the Wings should sign Wiz, Jovo and Lids, then decide whether or not to pay Ericsson or let Kindl be our #6 guy and have someone else be #7... I hear things negative and positive about everyone, nobody is 100% positive, there are always negatives about someone, but when the negatives start piling up and passing up the positives, then there may be a problem. The negs I hear about Wiz and Jovo are a little concerning, but I believe the positive things about them outweigh the negatives I have heard. If Holland can convince Ericsson to take 1 year at around $1.5M, Jovo 1 year around $2.5-$3M and Wiz $4-$4.5M, I think the D would be great: Lids, Stuart, Kronwall, Wisniewski, Jovo, Ericsson, Kindl...Add to that whomever they hire as new Asst. Coach, the Wings should have a much better defense than last season. That's about $15M of the possible $21.5M on D, leaving enough to re-sign Miller/Eaves/Goalie & bring up Mursak. (possibly Tanguay or Jokinen as well...) So, to the topic at hand, after reading positive and negative things about him, I think the Wings should pass on Pitkanen. Especially if he is worse defensively than Rafalski was AND would cost over $5M...

I am hoping for a VAN sweep, so we can get this off-season underway!!!!

Hey, I will tell you what, IF Smith is destined to be in GR for another season (not counting injury call ups) AND Holland signs 2 UFA d-men form outside the organization, of course re-sign Lids, then I would be OK with Meech being the #7 guy here...but would Meech be OK with being #7, or would he be #6? just an example... Lids - Wiz Stuart - Kronner Jovo - Kindl (meech) Meech (kindl)

As much as I despise him, I am not gonna say he has no worth, so I voted $1M-$2M. If he was making $1.2M then I could probably put up with his awful play a little more, but I still wouldn't like him on this team... (I wonder who gave him the ONE vote for $3M+....hmmmm....)

I am not so sure that we are stuck with Hudler, but if he doesn't get traded before the season, he will more than likely be offered up in a package around the deadline to help get that one player to put the Wings over the top. Or if he is stinking up the ice (which he will be) he may be just a pending UFA salary dump. I prefer to trade him yesterday, but that just me... There is no reason why both can't be Wings. Even if Ericsson comes down off that date rape drug he is on and realizes he needs to accept a contract around $1.2-$1.5M that would still leave two spots to be filled allowing Smith to remain in Rapids... Lids - Wiz Stuart - Kronner Eric - Jovo Kindl

Uh....Tanguay 22 goals 47 assists $1.7M.... Hudler - 10 goals 27 assists $2.89M...Who the hell would want Hudler on their team? Is it Squirt AA? BTW Tanguay is putting up points like it was 2003 when he had 26G 41A. I would GLADLY give Tanguay the $3.0M and see him score 30+ playing with Datsyuk, Hudler has played with Datsyuk and still stinks...

Oh, so he won't get that much? He is already at $7.8M so $9M isn't out of the ballpark... and Holland does have that much and more to offer him...wipe your tears and come back...

My thoughts are similar...even though I believe it is possible to sign Richards, there are others out there that are just as good that Holland could throw money at. That is the reason I used Crosby and Ovechkin as a comparison, while Richards is one of the best in the league, there is no way he is better than Crosby (pre-concussion) and shouldn't (but just might) be making more money than him, or Ovechkin... The only thing is Parise is a RFA, so I don not think Holland will be offering up a contract with the potential of losing multiple draft picks. He would be awesome here, but it's just something Holland does not do... I look at Jersey and wonder how they are gonna do it too. They only have $7M right now, and with the rumored increase, would have about $10.3ish. They need 5-6 more players including Parise...

are you being sarcastic or haven't you been reading the last couple of weeks? He has been mentioned more than a few hundred times...

Well, that is all I can go by...Babchuk made $1.4M I figured for his stats a $500,000 raise would suffice, but I guess it all depends on the market... True for Tanguay, he did make $2.5 two years ago, that's fine, I'd have to choose one or the other for about $3-$3.5. It's all fantasy anyhow, I think if Holland just did as little as sign Wiz, I would be happy... This would be nice too, if we had to keep Hudler around and just re-signed most of our own UFA's... Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Alex Tanguay ($3.500m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.950m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Drew Miller ($0.850m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) James Wisniewski ($4.500m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) Ruslan Salei ($1.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($2.500m) <---I still don't like Ericsson at $2.5 Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Joey MacDonald ($0.750m) SALARY CAP: $62,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,408,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $891,288

Carolina is a possibility because of his involvement with Karmanos and the Plymouth Whalers... The more I look at it, the more I'd rather have two 20-30 goal scorers for a combined $6M or less than to throw $9+ at Richards...but...

Ya, that is a lot of new faces and a good amount of salary....but I question that it wouldn't work for the $62.3M cap...are you saying Tanguay and Jokinen $3.5M each? or together? same question for babs and Jovo? I hope you aren't suggesting Tanguay will get $3.5 after making only $1.7 last season. Same salary Jokinen made, $1.7M... I question though if Jovo would take a huge paycut, folks are suggesting $1.5M to $2.5M, but he made over $6M last year, do you think he would sign that cheap somewhere? For me, Jovo is neither here nor there... I can see Wiz at $4.5M ad definately Nick at $6M, and I agree with you on Miller/Eaves/Goalie... $2.5M seems fair... Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Alex Tanguay ($2.300m) Jussi Jokinen ($2.300m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.950m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Drew Miller ($0.850m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) James Wisniewski ($4.500m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) Anton Babchuk ($1.900m) / Ed Jovanovski ($2.500m) ( or Ericsson @ same price or lower) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Ty Conklin ($0.875m) (not saying Ty for sure, just added a random goalie under a million) SALARY CAP: $62,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,658,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,641,289 of course this requires Hudler to be traded, but if Holland wants to give him one more chance then remove one of Tanguay or Jokinen... Like I said Jovo is neither here nor there, not even sure he'd sign for that little, but maybe Holland could convice Ericsson to stay 1 year for $2.5M (although I don't think he is worth it, so maybe he would sign for $1.8M or so....) My combined total on Miller/Eaves/Conklin is just over $2.6M...and I really don't think Holland would give Eaves more than Helm, but I put that number in just to give him a raise. He may only go up to $850,000, but whatever, that just gives it a little more cap room then... It's a lot of change, therefore it realistically won't happen, but theoretically and financially you could... with still some cap space for injury call ups... If Hudler stays for another year, let him walk as a UFA and give Helm his salary...He's earned it...

Probably right, and I hope he would opt for a chance at a Cup with Detroit than $5.5M with Florida...

wait, what? Huh? Wait! First I voted for the war, then I voted against it....what? No, I was responding to someone saying that nobody on the Wings should make more than Dats/Zetts or Lids... and what I said was if Ovechkin wanted to sign with the Wings at his current rate of $9.5M, I wouldn't turn him a way just because he would make more than Dats/Zetts/Lids...

Well, since the Blues seem to like to overpay their players, they can have Ericcson too...

Here is Columbus' currect roster situation before any increase in cap. They could afford him, but they sure need to makes some other moves as well... especially on Defense... CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Rick Nash ($7.800m) / Kristian Huselius ($4.750m) / R.J. Umberger ($3.750m) Antoine Vermette ($3.750m) / Derick Brassard ($3.200m) / Samuel Pahlsson ($2.650m) Matt Calvert ($0.891m) / Jared Boll ($0.725m) / Derek MacKenzie ($0.600m) Derek Dorsett ($0.562m) DEFENSEMEN Fedor Tyutin ($2.843m) / Kris Russell ($1.300m) GOALTENDERS Steve Mason ($2.900m) BUYOUTS: Duvie Westcott ($0.616m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $36,339,583; BONUSES: $162,500 CAP SPACE (13-man roster): $23,060,417

I gladly take Ovechkin and his $9.5M.... also, regarding Hudler, if push came to shove they could send him down and someone would surely pick him up for free? Wouldn't they? Holland could always loan him to a Euro team ala Chicago...