LeftWinger

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...

Well, for the right price, someone would take Hudler, even if it were for a lower draft pick (4th or 5th.) I certainly hope that $9M is enough to get Richards anywhere, not even saying he would be here, but if he turns down $9M, then there is a problem, Crosby is $8.7M and Ovechkin is $9.5M, with all due respect to Brad Richards and as much as I cannot stand Crosby, Brad aint no Crosby or Ovechkin, so there is NO WAY he gets more than Ovechkin and the only reason I put him down at $9M (more than Crosby) is that I would hope it would be more than anyone else would offer him...but there is always the Rags. But surprisingly they, even when the Cap goes up, have a bit less cap space than Detroit does and they only have 13 roster players sign right now...Detroit has 14 signed... Ok, Hudler for Malone! There ya go Stevie, some cap relief!

Yes, The Rangers are where players go for big paydays and no Cups.... but he has won a Cup already in Tampa, so maybe he wants the moon now too....God Bless him! Even though I worked up that roster above, I personally would rather see a Tanguay and a Jokinen here for a ton less Cap hit, that way Holland could easily sign the right players...

The thing is, and i know its 99.99999% fact that he wont be a Red Wing next year, BUT Holland does have enough cash next year to offer him a $9M contract. If the Cap goes up to the rumored $62.3M (third number I heard BTW) that will give the Wings $21.49M in Cap space before anyone is signed... Given that Lids will get at least $6, Wiz a generous $4.5M, they would then have to trade away Hudler's salary, giving them $4.8M to finish up the roster. Slight raises to Miller/Eaves and then add Mursak. That would leave $2.5M and they would have just enough for another $1M defenseman a 7th league minimum defenseman and a league minimum goalie... I know there has been a lot of talk about Jovo, but he made $6.5M last year, do you think he would sign for under $2M somewhere? Anyhow, I will leave the mopping up to Holland, but so far my pipedream roster looks like this... CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Brad Richards ($9.000m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.950m) Drew Miller ($0.850m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) Jan Mursak ($0.550m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / James Wisniewski ($4.500m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / ???????? ???????? GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) ???????????? CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $62,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $59,783,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (19-man roster): $2,516,289 ...BUT, this all depends on Holland being able to move Hudler before July 1st, if he cannot dump his salary, then even this pipedream goes up in smoke... I sure hope the cap goes up the $5.1M that it has been rumored to (that would be $64.5M and would give Holland $4.7M to mop up,) that would help out alot! But, Richards it is not impossible, just improbable... (unless he does pull a Hossa for one year and then gets a multi-year deal next off season...)

...although I differ with most folks on how good Holland is in dradfting players, he is, by far, the best GM on the business standpoint and pretty much can judge how much talent is worth. And for the most part offes contracts that are above what they are worth. Look at Hudler, before he ran off to Russia, Holland offered him $3.5M a year and he said no and went to arbitration, well we see what the arbitrator saidhe was worth, and now he aint even worth that... If Holland believes Ericsson is worth $2M then odds are that he is in reality worth about $1.25-$1.5M. BUT if Ericsson (or his agent) thinks he is worth more than $2M, the go test the waters because there IS always someone out willing to overpay for potential or just because if the fact that he is a Champion. (Lebda) These players need to realize that Holland isn't out to screw them (yes, he is managment, and needs to make more money than he spends, but I don't think the Wings are in danger of being in the red none too soon,) they should know that he overpays his own players just to try to keep them. Ericsson should take the $2M and run with it... Any of you think that Holland could re-sign him with the notion of moving him back to wing? He would be a huge obstacle in front of the net... Just a thought...

I say no more than $1.8M... Our D would look nice with him back there along with any combo of the UFA's we all want, but I am not gonna lose any sleep if he goes elsewhere. Wouldn't be the first time we gave away a huge D-Man only to find out he wasn't worth it anyhow....see Kuznetsov...

Well, I DO hope Hudler is traded at the draft or before the season starts...I guess he could hang around to prove his worth, but even if he plays better this year, he will be the one going in a package at the trade deadline when Holland acquires his REAL top 6 forward...preferably he goes a the draft... anywho, how would you guys feel if Holland added three UFA D-Men along with re-signing Lidstrom? Let's say something like: Lidstrom - Stuart Kronwall - Wisniewski Babchuk - Jovo Kindl or skip one UFA from the outside and re-sign Ericsson... I have no problem with Ericsson as long as Holland doesn't overpay by too much. (just cause we have the cap space, doesn't mean we should overpay) Then I am gonna hold out hope and cross my fingers for Tanguay, Jokinen or maybe Cole...I know that is a lot of changes, and just like I would hate to overpay just to spend the cap, I would hate to spend it just cause we have it, although saving too much seems to be a waste... I am still not sure if a team can carry 14 forwards and 7 D for a total of 23 players (with goalies) or is 22 the max? If 23 is possible then I would like to see: Tanguay - Datsyuk - Filppula Jokinen - Zetterberg - Franzen Bertuzzi - Helm - Eaves Cleary - Abdelkader - Holmstrom Mursak/Miller Defense see above.... Howard Whoever...

This just in from the "I Had No Idea" desk.... I had no idea that Pavel Kubina played 55 games with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1997-1998... I see he was drafted by the Lightning, I wonder why he played in Adirondack? Oh well..... back to topic...

FTW! I am glad I read the responses before I just threw Larionov out there! He would be awesome as an offense coach, who in the world has a better brain for Hockey that is not named Bowman? If Hitchcock goes the Jersey Shore then Boughner... I have always loved to see Larionov and Fetisov as our asst. coachs, now that would be a dream!

Well, I certainly hope you are wrong about the 0% chance.... You are right, usually when someone on LGW starts talking about how bad we want a player here, most the time it only makes sense to him/her and a handful of others here. But, Holland is looking for certain qualities in a d-man that would help his team. Most cases what Holland is wanting and what we are wanting are total opposites. This couldn't be more wrong in the case of Wisniewski, Holland needs a right handed shot on the point and the powerplay, he needs someone who is gonna be more of a physical presence in front of the net, plus he is looking to replace Rafalski's point production as best he can....The ONLY thing that is working against Wiz coming here is (and I am not being anit-Euro) that there are a couple Swedish Defense available as well and more times than not, Holland seems to target them first. But, other than that, Wiz seems to be exactly what the Wings need back there... Regarding his potential overpayment, it wouldn't be the first time Holland has overpaid a player after a breakout year (Draper) and with the available cap space, I see no problem in offering Wiz a $4.5M contract, maybe even $5M but if other teams bid it up over that, then I am not sure about it, I would say instead, give me Jovo and Babchuk and lets see what we can do next off season. I can see Wiz coming here because Detroit is one of the few teams that every training camp you can truthfully say this team has a legit chance at winning the Cup, not just making the playoffs, but actually winning. You cannot say that about Phoenix, LA, Carolina, NY Rangers, Florinda, Colorado et al... Just because a team has a ton of cap space and offers him $6M + at what point does he think he'd rather take less and have a legit chance at a Cup? Whether it be $4.5M here or San Jose or Pittsburgh or Philly, you would think he'd rather take the lessor contract for a Cup...In this case though, Detroit is a perennial Cup contender WITH a ton of Cap Space available, it's a win-win for Wiz and Wings, it should be a no brainer... I do hear you about the injuries, and that is not a very good average only two 70+ games seasons in seven, BUT just look at Franzen's games played the last 6 years, he has only played 60ish more games than Wiz and has been injured almost every, if not every, season of his career, if not in the regular season, then in the playoffs. Yet we still have him on this team for the rest of his career. Same goes with Kronwall, he has played 7 seasons and only topped 70 twice and has often been injured throughout his career thus far, and its a safe bet when his contract his up, he'll get $5-$6M... I do think Wiz is worth the same gamble we take on these guys every season. I just hope that Holland is actually looking at Wiz for the reason's that I mentioned above that makes him a great fit/need for this team. After all the crap I took for being mad and confused at to why Holland did NOT sign Malhotra for $1.5M instead opting for Williams at $1.5M because he was a right handed shot and (supposedly) great on the powerplay, if Holland opts to sign a lefthanded defensman instead of the right handed Wiz (for the same or similar price,) I will be even more mad at and confused as to what makes Holland tick. He says he needs a right handed shot, toughness, grit and points, lets see if he actually goes after Wiz on July 1st. Win-Win... Do It Kenny! Do It! Yes, a top six forward: Tanguay/Jokinen/Cole ...and yes Wiz would be awesome here, I say offer him a two year $4-$4.5M per and then if he actually improves this team and continues his offensive threat as well as remains the aggressive guy we lack, then give him a nice fat contract, heck in two year he will still only be 29 years old, so if he works out like Stuart or better, why not make Detroit his final stop? again, Win-Win...

Tanguay or Jokinen Datsyuk - Filppula Bertuzzi - Zetterberg - Fanzen Eaves - Helm - Cleary Miller - Abdelkader - Holmstrom Mursak ...Tanguay or Jokinen will cost way less than $4M a piece, spend the money on the defense, even if it means giving Ericsson a one year $2.5M contract to prove he deserves more next go round. (re)sign Lids ($6M) Ericsson ($2.5M) Wisniewski ($4M) if you wanted to keep Smith in GRR for another season, then add a Jovo for ($1.5 - $2M) or a higher end player like Pitkanen, but Joni is gonna cost more like $5M since he already makes $4M... Lids - Stuart Kronner - Wiz Ericsson - Jovo Kindl that would be a nice solid lineup that I would be happy with....(not that Ken Holland is too worried about what makes ME happy) just a question for anyone out there, can teams carry 14 forwards and 7 defensmen or is it only 13 forwards? If they can have 14, then you could try to get two forwards and keep Mursak and Miller to rotate in and out of the top 12...

Did I miss something? I find it hard to understand that if Rafalski does anything while retired (including but not limited to, breaking a bone,) it would have any kind of affect on the Wings... To the OP, seriously? Bertuzzi as the 13th forward? If the Wings sign three $4M players, two of them will be on the defense... Eaves and Miller are pretty much locks to re-sign, Mursak cannot be sent down without clearing waivers and Hudler is going to be traded... I don't get where that makes Bertuzzi #13 on the list... Even if Holland pulled Brad Richards out of his ass (not intended to sound that way, pervs) Bertuzzi would still be AT LEAST on the third line...

Legace is far from terrible...

Wiz pretty much encompasses what the Wings lack on the blue line. Could his 51 points be a one hit wonder? He scored 30 last season with ANA, and he started out this season with the Isle, so that hurt him a bit, but he still scored 21 there and then 30 in Montreal. I don't think he is bad defensively, yes he was a -14 on the year, but he was a -18 while on the Isle (not many players are in the + on that team) but ended up a +4 with Montreal. I have a strange feeling that in Detroit, he would be a + player as well... $4M is well worth him being here. The other guys you mentioned outside of Jovo, would either cost too much or there is no chance of them NOT re-signing where they are right now...although I still hope for Pitkanen as well as Wiz...

ya, he should, wherever he ends up playing... Anyhow, Stuart, very valuable to this team and he deserves and probably will re-sign to end his career as a Detroit Red Wing...