LeftWinger

someone earlier reminded us about Vancouver in 2002 when the Wings were down 0-2. Thats true, and it could happen again, but there are a few things that are different: 1. Steve Yzerman 2. Brenden Shanahan 3. Sergei Fedorov 4. Brett Hull 5. Luc Robitaille 6. Dominic Hasek 7. Igor Larinov 8. a 31 year old Nick Lidstrom

Franzen has been overrated since he signed his lifetime contract. I agree, just because you can score 11 points in one series and disappear for the others, doesn't make you a playoff beast. But, I guess since he has that "potential" (there's that word again that so aptly describes Hudler) he will be in the lineup no matter what... ...side note, both Tomas Fleischmann and Ville Leino are UFA's in the off season, would it be ironic if they were both Wings this summer?

I will say though, as much as I have hated him forever, he is by far NOT the only one playing crappy...

I guess some folks will always argue their potential, but no way is salary being earned...

...not unless Change means a Naturalized U.S. citizen can occupy the White House... I'm just saying...that would be change...

It's May, so I can restart me quota.... You left out Hudler's piece o' s*** ass...

...yes, so we can be down 0-2 still. The way the Wings are playing 5-10 mins a game, it wouldn't matter who they played. The Florida Panthers would be up 2-0 to the Wings right now...

During the long break in between rounds, the Wings forgot to pay the DTE bill and the Switch that was turned on in the first round lost power. Mr. I better bring his account out of the rears and hope that it isn't the real DTE servicing his electricity because the power won't be back on in time to flip the switch in game 3...

it aint over yet guys.... but if for some reason this is how the Wings are going to play and DO get eliminated, can we please stop with the small soft skilled Euro experiment... at least gets some Euro's with some snarl. Lets go Wings! IF you got to take it to 7, then do it, but for Heavens sake, show up for 60 minutes!

How dare you insult Chumley that way? Without going thru all these pages has anyone posted the San Jose kid freaking out after their first round loss a couple years ago? Classic, Classic, Classic!

Isn't it nice to know that since the lockout, there is only ONE defending Stanley Cup Champion left in the playoffs....

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...