LeftWinger

I think that the OP putting Hudler on the second line, let alone on the team at all, is more of a atrocity than Holmstrom being on Datsyuk's wing... Sure Homer has lost a step or 9, but he is still one of the best at what he does, and he doesn't do it JUST on the power play. Therein lies the problem with putting him on the 4th line, he is not a grinder, and for him to do his job correctly, someone had to get the puck on the net once in awhile. I agree with being a power play specialist, but he still has enough talent to play with the big boys.... other's on this team, do not....

ya, and only 1, ONE of those Cups were won with small skilled forwards. So take your head out of your other ear so you can hear. Oh, and on that Cup team, the two recently drafted forwards to actually contribute? Abdelkader and Helm, far from your small, skilled, soft player. Example of a player who was that way? Ritola, and he contributed himself right off the team. The list of small, soft players Holland has drafted goes on, and for the most part the have yet too, and may never make this team. I get the shakes when I think of this team when the grittiest player is Datsyuk. Image this line, Mursak - Hudler - Tatar. EEEEEEGAD! Listen, I don't claim to know as much as Holland, but as a fan of this team since 1979, I have seen the makeup change a few times, and right now, this team is FAR from winning another Cup, especially if they don't get bigger and tougher. I am not saying a team full of enforcers, but a team full of Hudler's and Mursak's isn't gonna win you a Cup. I just hope that Holland trends the way of Sheahan rather that the way of Hudler... edit: You Avatar says it all...unfortunately...Of course I can deal with Filppula as long as he plays on Datsyuk's wing. Holmstrom and Rafalski are here til the retire, Hudler...... Oh Father, Thou Art In Heaven, Please Tell Holland To Trade Hudler, Please....

True, and that was a shock! I (like a lot of us here) are just brainwashed into hearing that Holland wants to get bigger and tougher, yet drafts small and soft. How many years now? I am happy he went with who he went with last season, and like you said, hopefully its a trend that continues! (of course he must be talented too, not just big and tough, but he must be able to play!)

Hudler...... I have been mentioning Wisniewski for a few months now, and even though rumor says Montreal wants to negotiate with him, I will still want him here until he isn't available anymore! If he is gonna $4m, the Hoilland, make it so! With the Cap scheduled to increase and trading Hudler away along with giving some modest raises, $4M should be easy to take on...

East...NICE! Why? The Wings USED to be in the Price of Wales COnference back in the 70's, so it's not like they don't belong there. PLUS, who cares about playing Columbus 8 times a year, I want to see Boston, Montreal, Rangers, Leafs, Flyers and Penguins MUCH MUCH MORE!

This I agree with! I would love to have a healthy Hossa back in our lineup....

with that being said, Holland will draft 5' 10" 165lb. Defender Hok Ptew out of the Swiss Army League.... (no offense to any Swiss we may have on this forum...)

So in your mind, Holland just should sign Leino, Kopecky and Fleischmann... Oh and put Hudler on the first line and THEN re-sign him for even MORE money that he hasn't earned.... Hmmmm.... Sure glad you are not our GM...

I am sorry, but any Wings roster with Hudler on it is NOT a step in the positive direction. PLUS you actually re-signed him AGAIN at $3.25M? Sorry, but Hudler and the Wings are not good for each other.

Armia was born in Finland....

Thats is true, if they could get him to about 210-220, then he could be a beast (plus he is right handed) but would the extra weight affect his scoring and skill? Would it slow him down?

That is HanZal's salary through next season, that would be great if we could acquire him, but I don't think Phoenix wants to dump one of their best players for $3.4M in Hudler and Emmerton. I think Hudler may get us a draft pick, but not a player of Hazal's talent....

Phoenix cannot pay their payroll now, the City just had to cover what they team couldn't pay, so I cannot see them trading $1.8M for $2.8M PLUS $533,333 for an under-acheiving over-paid Hudler adn a player who hasn't proven he could take the next step... Vancouver may win the Cup this season and will undoubtedly try to retain one of their better D-Men... If we're keeping Smith down (which will benefit him) and letting Ericsson/Salei walk, I could see Babchuk and Wisniewski fitting fine as number 5 & 6... I really think Holland has Nabokov up his sleeve and will acquire him after the Isle's force his year long contract on him...

Please just focus more towards some Strength and Size along with scoring, instead of small, soft and scoring, PLEASE! Armia? Please, if you are 6'3" and weigh less than 190lbs. you are gonna get tossed around like a rag doll. Not unless he can bulk up to about 210lbs by time he reaches Detroit... I wouldnt mind that Joe Morrow kid, I just am tired of small, weak, soft players. Sure 6'3" is big, but 187lbs? thats too soft for me...

Well, if I were Holland, I would make some changes for sure.... Trade Hudler, let Draper, Osgood, Salei, Modano (sorry it didn't work Mike) go, retire, whichever. Re-sign Lidstrom, Ericsson (give him a chance as long as it's CHEAP!) Sign Wisniewski for 3 years, re-sign Eaves & Miller. Mursak has to make the club or clear waivers. Let Smith and Kindl battle for the last D-Man spot, if Smith wins, trade Kindl. Trade Janik or risk losing him on waivers, he can't be sent down anymore. If I could acquire a sniper, then I would sacrifice Miller exposing him to waivers for his roster spot. Acquire Nabokov with any of the people I would trade. Maybe package Hudler/Kindl & Janik for Nabokov & another player or draft pick. That would leave me: XXXXX - Datsyuk - Filppula Bertuzzi - Zetterberg - Franzen Cleary - Helm - Eaves Miller - Abdelkader - Holmstrom Mursak Lidstrom - Rafalski Stuart - Kronwall Wisniewski - Ericsson Smith Howard Nabokov The XXXXX is unknown, maybe getting a High end UFA or via trade... Looking at that, even trading for a Sniper I wouldn't have to expose Miller, but if I am trading let's say Kindl for Nabokov, I don't think Hudler/Janik are gonna get me a 40-50 goal scorer, unless I sweeten the pot a bit. I'd like to see Filppula a whole year with Datsyuk, so I am hesitant to trade him, but if it gets me my sniper, then I would do it. My team HAS to be better defensively and in the goal scoring department next year. In the Draft, I go with size and strength, no more small skilled soft forwards and defensman. Funny to see some names bounced around here, Tanguay, Malhotra. We could've had both of these guys two years ago, Malhotra's agent actually called Holland and said that Manny wants to be a Red Wing (the year he played one season with San Jose for $1.5m) and Holland said no thanks, he doesn't fit our mold, then signed Jason Williams for the same $1.5M. Thats when I question Holland's thought process, but oh well. Tanguay could be a nice fit, I don't know if he would be the pure sniper I am looking for, but he can score, is only 31 and wouldn't hit my Cap hard. Another option could be Erik Cole. I would go after Tanguay first, considering his salary, and the projected cap increase, I should be able to entice him here for around $2M for 2 years. If I exposed Miller, then I could try for Cole as well 2 yrs @ $3.3M each, I have enough Cap space left over (even after giving Lidstrom $6M) I upped the cap only by $4M, I know the rumors are between 5-6 million, it may not even go up $1M, but I am hoping. Lets see what that gives me: CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Alex Tanguay ($2.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) Johan Franzen ($3.954m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Erik Cole ($3.300m) Patrick Eaves ($0.750m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($1.200m) / James Wisniewski ($3.000m) Brendan Smith ($0.875m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Evgeni Nabokov ($0.570m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,295,378; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $3,104,622 You see this still leaves me $3.1M in space for injuries or if I need trade deadline help. That's assuming the Cap increases... If I were Holland, I would do something like this, but the REAL Holland will probably remain staus quo and offer Draper and Osgood and Salei contracts... Besides we all know, Franzen/Bertuzzi/Cleary being healthy will be our UFA signings... :violin: edit: I just read in the post prior to mine that Ericsson supposdedly turned down $2M a year? REALLY? Adios! I am not giving him more than $1.2M until he earns it. I guess I sign him then trade him to the Isle for Nabokov and keep Kindl for the 6th spot...oh well, damn these players that think they are worth more than the good of the team... Oh Well, that just leaves me more Cap space...

...thats a sad list. Don't remember seeing him play, I am sure I have against the Wings, but just don't recall. I do know that every off season, his name flew around LGW as someone Holland should get, so that tells me he was respected and that just means he was a good person. RIP Mr. Boogaard, tell Bobby Probert we all say Hi!

I hate when I see anyone do stupid ass s***, but its life, not everyone has common sense. It's goes back to an old saying we have around my parts. You can take the person out of Taylor, but you cannot take the Taylor out of the person... Ain't that right Weldy? Hmmmm, don't want to speculate, but sounds like he may found his wife cheating on him.... Do the Barnaby's know Adam Oates? Wait, would they rather him say the women in Nashville are cows? Sheesh pretty bad when you can't say a woman looks hot...

Manny is running his Goalie Clinic....

Nah, more times than not, Leino's are rare. Most of the time Holland pulls a Fleishmann or a Matthias... remember how up in arms the folks were when they traded them? Well, if Hudler goes on somewhere and becomes great, good on him, I just don't want him on the Wings anymore... btw, remember Fedorov? Sure, Holland didn't trade him, but he left thinking he was the man and Detroit needed him more than he needed Detroit, well look where that got him.... If Fedorov never left, he'd be ritiring a Wing and his jersey would be going up in the rafters... Trade Hudler, we won't miss him, even if he becomes something...

call the goaltender interference on the Gooch and you don't get the third goal. or did you miss that one? Bottom line bud, game 1 OT, lucky bounce, Wings could've won it, game two I will give you, even though Wings played better, game three hmmmmm, lucky bounce in OT (again) Wings could've won it, game 4,5,6 your team couldn't handle a full 60 mins, game 7 goaltender interference not even bringing up the fact that the Wings were without Franzen, then lost Bertuzzi AND Cleary without the ability to replace them! So your team squeaked out a game 7 win with us only having 10 forwards. You see, you claim that without Heatly or Marleau you guys would still beat us, but fact is, even with those two, YOU BARELY BEAT US. No lucky bounces in OT, Wings could've won 4 games to 1. Be glad you got the lucky bounces, it's part of hockey, but they won't always come. Be man enough to admit, that you were inches, fractions of inches to NOT winning this series. Congrats that they did, but it's not like you rolled over the Wings. Simmer Down...

What are your guys opinion of Maxime Talbot and Pascal Dupuis? (they are both UFA's) I'd like to Wisniewski to come in Salei's place, maybe another cheaper vet to take Ericsson's place, then have Smith on board. I am not sure I am sold on Kindl, if you could package him and Hudler for some help or even draft picks, that would be fine with me... Then again I heard about a trade rumor involving HUdler and Ericsson to Atlanta, but I forgot who it was for in return...

I cannot comment of this topic because of my (well known) hatred for Hudler, I will just say I wish him a good future, just not as a Detroit Red Wings forward... ...I do get a chuckle at how many people have turned against Hudler, when it was but last summer that I amassed more than -95 user rating while I was expressing my views on him. Oh well, he could've proven his negative critics wrong, but failed to and actually amassed a lot more negative critics. Listening to 97.1 today, I couldn't believe all the folks calling in saying how its over for Hudler... To quote James Brown, "I feel Good!" I do agree Holland doesn't have to balls to make a big trade. The problem is, and the worst thing that could've happened was the Wings forcing a game seven. Now Holland is looking at it like, if we only had Franzen, if only Pav and Zetts were 100%, if Bert and Cleary didn't get hurt, blah blah blah! Thats all good, but in the end its gonna end up seeing the Wings ice the same team next year with the exception of Modano and possibly Salei... HE needs to get rid of Hudler, Ericsson, & Salei. Osgood and Modo should retire. Try to get Nabokov to push Howard to the next level, because right now Howard knows there really isn't a ligit back-up and his job is safe. Bring in Nabby for the back-up and if Howard doesn't improve even more next season, Nabby could come in and take that job. Lidstrom? Who knows about him, I just hope he decides before July 1st... Holland please ditch Hudler! IF there was a trade on the table for him and Ericsson (it may have to be sweetened now) then do it. On the open market Ericsson will probably get 3-4 million, but he is not worth the huge cap hit here. Especially after this season and playoff...

I do think the Marleau goal was goalie interference on The Gooch though, but we had 4 PP and they had 3, the difference is, they scored on one of them...

4 power plays, 2 shots... Babcock made some bad line choices ZDH is no longer any good... I dont get his coaching decisions. I feel sorry that the greatest American born player had to finish his career riding the pine....that is the reason he wasnt re-signed in Dallas. He wasnt the best anymore, but he was better than Hudler and should've have been in every game instead of Hudler.

without sounding like a homer, but on the 3rd goal, the goochi shot the puck and then skated into howard and knocked the puck free for marleau to score, isnt that goalie interference? Oh well, doesn't matter now, if the Wings would've showed up, the ones that showed up in game 6, they'd be going to vancouver... bring on the changes! Hudler OUT! He blows so bad, has no confidence, afraid to shot, cant pass...