LeftWinger

I have filled my quota of that name, cannot mention it until May. You cannot compare any player to someone who was injured over half the season.... I respect your opinion though. Let's Go Wings! I have a feeling that before the series is over, or even game 1, the Sharks will be worrying more about Helm's line than Fil's...

Modano Scratched.... That OTHER GUY still playing even though he sucks.... I am sure Modano is glad he signed here to be scratched during the playoffs, especially for a little hobbit who cant do s***... anyhow, Go Wings! Here's to Modano getting in and feeling like he contributed...

One year.... AND if the Cap indeed goes up a significant amount, I see no problem giving Lidstrom a RASIE, yes, A RAISE. He is the best defensman in the world and should be paid that. If indeed the cap goes up enough. Lids is the kind of player that wants to win and win often, so if the cap only inches up, I am sure he would sacrifice some more money to make this team even better....

I would gladly welcome Malkin or Staal on the Red Wings.....just saying.

I am so happy, that the PengWHINES are out! AS am I equally happy the Hawks are as well! I know the WHINERS are going to blame the injuries to the "Chosen One" and Malkin, but I say its about time the Hockey Gods distributed some justice. We are injured all the time and nobody feels sorry for us, so Pens......SEE YA! It's a long fall from the throne! So glad the Wings have been so dominant for so long! Concerning the announcers, before I was able to turn it to VS. to watch, during the second period Bob Errey had said something about Roloson and his "SHUTOUT!" and then he said said, "That's right, SHUTOUT!" like he was trying to jinx him, so much for that working... Another instance, they were talking about Tampa's coach's suit (sorry his name evades me) and how he wore it for game 5 and 6 and now 7, one of the guys said he gladly pay the cleaning bill in the morning because he won't need the suit anymore and Errey followed up by saying the suit is gonna be garbage in the morning, especially how the pens are dominating the playoffs and he looks forward to continued dominance as the playoffs go on! I am all for your home announcers showing some excitement towards the team that employs them, but I am SO glad Ken and Mick aren't like that, it made me want to puke...

you mean the officials help teams? You mean like a Penalty Shot call that was totally wrong to call at that juncture? You mean like a non-call to Bickell on an exact same blind-side shoulder/elbow to the head hit that was called against Torres? Hmmmmm..... Interesting Theory you have there....

+33 is hard to ignore from Chara, but as we all know, a high +/- doesn't really mean crap when it comes to the Norris (Konstantinov 1997.) I am surprised Chara had that many less points than Nick. I am also surprised that Visnovsky didn't make the top 3, 68 points +18, he is about the only one who would deserve it over Lidstrom just going by points and +/-. But too bad for Lubby, IMO Lidstrom SHOULD get it, but I have a feeling Weber will...

Sheeeeeeeeit! I forgot about Tatar! Ya, I am all for that guy coming up too. I love Drapes, but if he comes back, to me, he is just causing us to lose a player for no reason...

Ya, well, Miller has a roster spot on this team no matter what. Right now, he is more valuable to this team than Hudler. As much as you are tired of hearing me say get rid of Hudler, I am tired of hearing how good he "COULD" be....Time for could's are over. Time for seeing what he can do is over. Filppula is proving his worth, Helm is WAAAAAY outplaying Hudler, Helm deserves Hudler's money. If Hudler was making Helm's salary, I'd have no issue with him, because that is all he is worth. But, he held out, went to arbitration, hand-cuffed Holland all off season that year and THEN bolted to Russia. F*&K Jiri Hudler. His time in Detroit has passed. I'd rather bring up Emmerton/Murask than endure more Hudler. Trade Hudler while we can still get a pick for him, or package him up. No matter what, we aren't gonna see eye to eye on Hudler, you have your opinion, I have mine. This team is no worse without him, you cannot say the same about Miller. Miller and Eaves have more than proven they are worth keeping and playing well above their pay. Emmerton and Murask are have too much potential and at their pay, we cannot lose either of them to waivers... Especially to keep an overpaid underachieving Hudler. Whats gonna happen when HUdler is a UFA after next season? Is he gonna want even more undeserved money? or do you think he'll accept a paycheck for how he has played?

They MADE Maltby retire... Is keeping Draper worth losing Emmerton? And Hank, I will continue to wish Hudler gone until he is gone. So yes, Trade Hudler... Wisniewski is making $3.2 right now, it only makes sense that he will get a raise, that is why I put $4M, if he would sign for less, super! Either way, Wisniewski and Smith on D is better than Salei and Kindl... Murask and Emmerton held not lost to waiver wire is better than keeping Hudler and re-signing Draper.... It's time to get younger and more tenacious and move on....

Trade Kindl & Hudler for picks/Nabakov (not necessarily to the same team or as a package.) Get Wisniewski, let Salei go, bring up Smith. Bring up Murask and Emmerton, let Draper retire. Re-sign Miller & Eaves (longer terms this time, they've earned it.) If Lids wants back, who are we to argue and let Modano retire (hopefully after becoming a Stanley Cup Champion again.) With the increase in cap, losing Kindl and Hudler salary, you would have plenty of cap space open for injury call ups and trade deadline acquisitions... (note, these are not real line combos, this is just how capgeek listed them) CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.000m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Drew Miller ($1.000m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) Jonathan Ericsson ($1.200m) / James Wisniewski ($4.000m) 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: $65,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $58,978,711; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $6,421,289 With the "kids" coming up, you will save lots of cap space...

Wisniewski, Nabokov. A ligit sniper....hmmmmm, not sure who is available on the cheap. If somehow Chicago buys out Hossa and then we can sign him for about $2M (since Chicago will be pay a portion of his salary) that would be nice, but Kopecky is a UFA, so we'd probably have to pick him back up.... Then it would be too crowded...

Well, I am just going by his value to this team. I understand what you are saying, and I am sure he is not going to hold out or go to arbitration (cough Hudler cough cough) so ya, he probably will take a contract around $2M-$2.5M because it would be such a huge raise for him, but he is outplaying a lot of players that are making a lot more money...

Helm, right now, is one of the most valuable Wings. He is more important to this team than most, if not everyone not named Lidstrom/Datsyuk/Zetterberg. There in lies the problem. After next season, he will be an RFA, he will easily, EASILY get more than Filppula, Hudler or Cleary. If he continues his playoff magic this season and throughout next, he will be in the $3.5M - $4M... More Cap, More Problems... He is well worth the money! When Lids retires, Helm could easily be the next Alternate Captain. If Lids stays a couple more seasons, he could easily become the next Captain, even ahead of Zetterberg... Well, maybe, in the off season, Holland could package Stuart/Hudler for a trade to LA for Jack Johnson....

Funny, the same things were said about Steve Yzerman prior to 1995. The difference is, the dedication of (or lack of in Phoenix's case) ownership and lack of hiring the right people to run your organization. Plus that whole Gretzky as a coach thing will haunt this organization forever....

...or... Doan: What Happened, Doc? Doc: You Were Kronwalled... Doan: Where Am I? Doc: Winnipeg Doan: Whew! Thank The Maker! Doc: What Do You Mean? Doan: Man Doc, I must have been really knocked out, it felt like I was stranded in the desert for 14 years... Doc:

...and just like Babcock answered in the post game presser, when ask if he was concerned that the Coyotes controlled the game in the first, he calmly asked the questioning reporter, "Did they control the first period or were they just on the power play?" Then he mentioned something about after the first they had 11 shots and we had 10, so we did ok for ourselves....

Woe is Me? I don't want sympathy, nor get it. It's just my opinion of Hudler (I am not the only one who feels that way, but I understand people supporting him too.) I just love when some folks say I am not a REAL Wings fan because I don't care for one of the players, it makes me laugh, like just because he wears the Wheel I should bow down and worship him? Even if he sucks? Heck, I know I said I wish he were gone, but then I wouldn't have nothing to post about! ok, back on topic, sorry for the Hudler stuff. I really hope Modano gets in soon, I would love to see him prove that Holland made the right decision...

Yep...because Hudler is omnipotent not to mention he is also the best player in the world. Honestly though, I'd have no issues with Hudler if he didn't handcuff the Wings that off season when he wanted WAAAAY too much money and pretty much made the Wings miss out on players that were not only better than Hudler, but signed for less than what he was asking for. So, if Hudler was around $800,000 to $1M I wouldn't be so hard on him, but since he demanded so much money, then bolted to the USSR, he should be playing up to what he felt he was worth. Yet, Helm has outplayed him all year long, it may not show in the stats, but Helm has been 100X more valuable to this team than Hudler has. Start playing up to what you are getting paid and maybe I would feel different. But it is gonna take alot to win me over from the way he screwed the Wings around when he was a FA. Until then, this old bag of pucks in my garage will be more valuable than Hudler. I serously, SERIOUSLY hope he gets traded in the off-season or doesn't get re-signed after next year...

Modano at 40 is better than Hudler will ever be... besides, just when does Hudler score? IF Modano was healthy all year he would've outscored the cream puff...

...well something has to wake the Wings up! They sure as hell haven't been awake the last few months! BTW, if they need to be awaken for the playoffs, then they have already lost.

Gee all this talk about this series being chippy and Miller being tougher than Modano, but lets keep Cream Puff Hudler in the game.... Horrible horrible decision... This team is far better with Modano in and Hudler OUT!

Any lineup that has Hudler sitting in the press box....

...but....but Franzen is the next Fedorov.... I agree, Hossa should've been the choice. We'll see what happens in the playoffs, because everyone here says he is gonna light it up! Maybe that is what he is waiting on. Who cares about giving the fans their money's worth in the regular season. Why don't they just play the regular season without any fans in the arena, because who cares that they spents $500 for tix, parking, concessions, etc... to go see their team play 100% and give them their money's worth. I now have two players I cannot stand, Hudler and Franzen. As far as I am concerned if they play their last game in a Wings jersey this season, I couldn't be happier. Whew! and I thought I was the only one that saw it! That switch flipped right about 9 minutes into the first period. I still hope for a better showing come playoffs, if they're gonna flip it, they better start this week!

We're getting Hudler back....oh.... don't worry guys, it's early....oh.... just wait until half our team isn't injured.....oh.... Franzen will be our trade deadline aquisition.....oh..... Franzen is better than Fedorov...oh.... They'll flip the switch in the playoffs! (crosses fingers....) Just an observation, but isn't it ironic that the sub-million dollar players are the ones that are playing the best? I am so glad our farm team is full of Hudler's and Filppula's.... (I certainly hope Smith and Sheahan are as good as they are touted.) We need an entirely new defense. Lids is finally human, Kindl sucks, Ericsson is showing why he was the last player drafted, Kronwall really has gotten bad over then last couple of years, Salei was a bad experiment. What are the Wings gonna do for defense in the off season? I really hope things turn around in the playoffs, I'd hate to see this team fall flat in the first round. I hope and hope above all hope that they turn it on, but if what we have seen the past couple months is the real identity of this team, then there really needs to be some major changes this summer....