LeftWinger

First of all, Hudler won't be coming back, not for less than half the money he is making MINUS taxes as well. Lidstrom needs to hang em up. The RFA's will get a modest raise, since none of them are really tearing it up, yet they desever a raise because of all the work they've done this season. We will need to sign a couple of D to replace Lids, Lebda, Meech & Lilja. Willie Mitchell is a UFA and so is Derek Morris & Aaron Ward. With that, I am not sure if we can afford a Kovalchuk, he is rumored to wanting the max, and Detroit is no longer the discount warehouse it used to be, it will take some money to get some folks here. I would still love to steal Andrew Ladd and or Hjalmarsson out of Chicago. Rafi Torres is a UFA so is Fernando Pisani, those could be some cheaper talent to try to get. Kovi is definately the cream of the crop UFA this offseason, there are plenty of teams that will be able to throw the max at him. I just hope he doesn't go to Pitts, they have $15M available next season, although they only have 2 defensemen signed next season though. I can't wait to start hearing all the Mike Grier talk around here again! BARF! edit: When it comes down to it Stuart needs to be your number 1 priority to keep around. Rafi should retire in three years, his contract is up the same time Stuart's is. If you can swing Mitchell for a few years that'll give you a top 4 of Rafi, Stuart, Kronner, Mitchell, with Ericsson #5. edit: If Lidstrom retires (using the OP's modest rasise to RFA's) we should be able to get Bertuzzi at the same or less than now and throw a big contract at Kovi. But that pretty much removes Mitchell from my plans (unless he takes less money, but I am not gonna start going in that direction.) I gave Abdelkader $1M, Bertuzzi $1M, Helm $850,000, Miller $525,000 & Eaves $500,000. I then gave Kovalchuk $8.9M (Crosby cash since like it or not, he should be the benchmark) which leaves $3.3M to sign two or three defense, since only 4 guys remain signed into next season...

as long as it is for $1.5 or less. We NEED the cash to sign a sniper and two defense when we cuts ties with Lidstrom, Lilja, Lebda and Meech.

and to think, Ken Holland chose Jakub Kindl over this guy. Hmmmmm........ Guess it was more important to have that softy than a good ol' Canadian boy....

Need a sniper....... can't hold a lead..... can we worry yet?

NHL conspiracies aside, it's painfully obvious that this team cannot score like they used to. We were ALL excited last off season for the likes of Abdelkader, Helm and Leino to be in the lineup full time. We knew we were gonna miss Hossa's 40 goals, Hudler's 50ish points (well not me ) and Sammy's production. Of course the injury bug has taken it's toll on us, but really, do you think Franzen was gonna put it 40 or more? The point being, sure Ott's shoot out goal was a killer, as has been a ton of games this year where they called off the tying goal or allowed another teams non-goal to stand, but if the Wings could score some freaking goals, we wouldn't be in the situation where one goal would matter. Zetterberg is a non-factor anymore, every player in the NHL has Datsyuk figured out and Bertuzzi cannot carry this team on his own, Helm has been Kris Draper, Leino has been Miroslav Frycer and Abdelkader has been Kirk Maltby. At what point do you become that BUYING team in order to make the playoffs and give yourself the chance to win the Cup? Even when Franzen returns, he is not gonna turn this team into a contender. Jason Williams won't either, neither will Kronwall. This is an odd place for Holland to be at this point in the season, but I have a feeling if the Wings don;t make a splash at the deadline, they will miss the playoffs. Even after the season, they need to make a huge splash in the UFA market, the kids that everyone thought were ready to be in the NHL, obviously are not who we thought they'd be. Sure they are rookies, but this is their year to prove they belong and other than Helm and Abdelkader, the rest are just wanna-be's. (of course Howard is here to stay, I am not including him in the disappoinments.) So what does Holland do? Stand pat and miss the playoffs? Or is it time to trade some assets for a sniper or two? To me, Zetterberg has been a huge let down after signing his life-time contract. It's gonna be ugly, especially if we miss the playoffs. Does Holland REALLY have what it takes to rebuild this team? We will see, but I believe it's time to trade some future for the now. Of course, who are we gonna trade? Kronwall? Filppula? Leino? Meech? Who would want them? We might have to go back to trading first rounders to teams.....

Exactly. People seem to think that Franzen is gonna be the savior. IT won't be that way. If the Wings haven't solidified a playoff spot by the time Franzen returns, he is gonna do very little to help them into a spot. Trade deadline is upcoming, we must get some scoring. Teams are killing the Euro-twins and that's our only threat. And like I said, they are playing crappy anyhow. Soon, we will become buyers, but not without selling some assets. Who goes? It's time for Holland to prove to us that he is the best GM in the business, time to play lets make a deal, come on Kenny, make your magic happen... or lose it's your choice.

Are we still talking about the NHL or the USA?

Is anyone even surprised by this? Of course the NHL can change the rules in the middle of the game, this goes back to Malkin's instigator in game 2 last season, as soon as the NHL realized that by it's own ruling that Malkin would be forced to serve a 1 game suspension, thus all but handing us another back to back Stanley Cup Championship, the NHL changed the ruling on the ice to NOT instigating. And this once again, the NHL allows to refs ruling to be overturned because this ruling benefits them. My God, that ref' head was so far in the net he almost blasted himself as he came around the net! Nobody can tell me that puck actually crossed the line, he knows it wasn't in, Howard knows it wasn't in, from what we are hearing now, the NHL knows it wasn't in, but went with the other guys (ref & linesmen) opinion that they believed it was in. Forget about the ref who's head was further over the crease than the puck! Maybe we should go to computer chips in the red line and puck to signal goals, nah, then NHL could just trigger the chip to go off whenever they wanted to. This NHL has become a huge farce. If I were Ilitch, I would be hoppin mad and start putting my money elsewhere.

Winner! Sorry, all out of cash, gonna have to have in store credit...

Sorry, but that would be "Red Five Standing By..." This is "Red Seven Red Seven" followed up by "Hot Route Hot Route" (there's a little hint for ya)

Well, not sure if it has been used before, but, referring to our "emergency room" season, how about: CODE: RED ...or maybe after limping through this season and hearing all the negative press about us, how about: WE'RE SEEING RED or just SEEING RED! or OUT FOR BLOOD! or RED SEVEN! RED SEVEN! (a million points to the user who knows this reference!) or RED WINGS 9-1-1 or In The End, We ALL Bleed RED!

We can expect Bettman to take away the rule that says you have to send all angles to Toronto. He will say that you have a choice to take away the best view and the worst view, stating how much he likes the way most schools allow you to take away the best and worst grade to get your GPA. "This practice works very well with todays youth and we should everything we can to involve todays youth in our game." Ya that sounds very Bettman-like... "It's an instigator penalty? It's a automatic game suspension? Well just take away the penalty then, we can't have him suspended then those nasty Red Wings will go up three games to none and repeat as Champions, then my ugly step child will lose again!!!!!"

as was Primeau for Brendan Shanahan.... Get Kovy!

Kovalchuk MUST be a Red Wing and he MUST be one SOON! You let most if not all of the UF/A's go. Maybe offer small contracts to Holmstrom & Bertuzzi. Trade Leino. Of course re-sign Helm, Miller & Abdelkader. That leaves us with this: (not line combos, just a list) Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen Cleary, Draper, Helm Miller, Abdelkader, Filppula Stuart, Kronwall Rafalski, Ericisson Kindl Howard Osgood ...now add Kovalchuk (?Holmstrom, Bertuzzi?(personally I would rather try to get Andrew Ladd) and a player from the farm (Tartar or Emmerton for example) then sign Willie Mitchell and Aaron Ward to UFA contracts. Cap World sucks, but get Kovalchuk here long term. (again this is just a list of players not combos) Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Franzen Cleary, Zetterberg, Ladd Helm, Filppula, Miller Draper, Abdelkader, Holmstrom (Bertuzzi) Emmerton (TarTar) Stuart, Kronwall Rafalski, Ericsson Ward, Mitchell Kindl Osgood, Howard

http://www.hockey-reference.com/draft/NHL_1990_entry.html Laugh at some of the players selected before him in the 1990 draft! Trevor Kidd? Brad May? Too Funny! I guess ya never know! (oh yeah, Keith Primeau!?!?!??!)

Do You Know How I Know You're ***? For Wayne It's ALL About The Butt-Hole Pleasures!

I was there, it was totally brutal to watch. Thank goodness for the Olympia Room and the Pizza Row! oh and for The Post afterwards! Game was sucky. Team looked out of sync, no effort, WAY too many passess, trying to look too pretty. It's been on a decline since Yzerman left. Sure we won in 08, but even in that year, we won a lot of games with great third period efforts after bewing outplayed for the first two. Lets just cross our fingers for the injury bug to end and that we make the playoffs and rekindle some magic! I agree all this falls right on the head and shoulders of Babcock. Anyone know what Larionov and Festisov are doing these days?

I am interested in Kovalchuk, Mitchell & Ward... as UFA's... of course there are a few RFA's that need to be re-signed in Abby, Helm & possibly Drew Miller... Homer should he re-sign, should be around $1MM as should Bertuzzi. Goodbye to Maltby, May, Eaves, Williams, Lilja, LEbda & Meech. Lids is the x-factor here. I say hang em up, but I hope he makes a decision FAST, so Holland doesn't miss out on the likes of Kovalchuk or Mitchell... I still like Ladd as an RFA option... We have $16M cap space. Highly unlikely we score Kovalchuk, but that would be #1 on the wish list.

I hope Kindl plays, we are going tomorrow.

This just goes to show that they are going for all the marbles this year and this year only. Next year, the team will be very different (not unless they can pursuede Campbell to ski-dattle!) Welcome to Detroit Andrew Ladd!

Make a deal NOW......

I am.... I am being very civil compared to then. I can see Holland saying he is gonna wait on Lidstrom and Lids wo't decide until August and there will be no quality F/A's left. I am not calling him names or for him to be fired. I am just pleading with him to have a deal done for LIds so that they can maybe ****** up some help.... I do, on the other hand, want to see a better goaltender here before the playoffs...

Yes to answer the OP's question..... very concerning, must make a deal NOW for a goalie and some scoring and some defensive help. Unless Holland is just content to BARELY make the playoffs and discount this season as a wash... ...just do me a afvor Holland, don't wait until Lidstrom drags his feet and makes a decision sometime in August of next year before you sign some folks! PLEASE! I beg of you! Tell Lidstrom he has to make a decision BEFORE July 1st or you're moving forward! (and please don't sign him for a penny over $4M!!!!!)

This is nowhere NEAR as bad as ricinding an instigator penalty! This goal has no bearing on us winning the Stanley Cup, Malkin should have been suspended, cut and dry, the rule is black and white. It was Malkin's intent to send a message, that is why the ref gave him the instigator, but the NHL felt it more important to steal the Cup away from Detroit. Without Malking in game 3, Wings win, goup 3-0 and win it in 5....The NHL proves time and time again that it rules on its own agenda, not by what is right. It's unfortunate that the Wings are 9 times out of 10 the victims of their agenda, I guess that is what you get for being the BEST NHL team in the world for the past 20 years! It's sad too, because Mike Illitch has generated so much revenue for the NHL, you would think he would eventually get upset with constantly getting screwed...

Wow, I really think Feds was upset, eh? This hurts Feds, this hurts. What's next, does he call this place De-Toilet? Nothing like stabbing yours fans to death!