LeftWinger

...hey Kevin, I hate to misinform you, but Burke was given a Stanley Cup. Pronger should have been suspened for the entire playoffs after his hit on Holmstrom and THEN his hit on the guy from Ottawa (sorry, name escapes me.) There is no way that he sould have only served one game after the hit on Holmstrom, THEN he onlt served ONE game after the next hit, which was more intentional then the Holmstrom hit! AND THEN the stomp this past season, OMG! I cannot wait for Burke and Pronger ro split up and see if he still defends Pronger after he elbows and stomps on his star players... ...Hey Burkie, it genetics, Kevin Lowe is just smarter than you. He has no choice but to make you look stupid!

yeah, lets stop being nostalgic, lets not bring back old players, but lets give McFarty a contract cause he;s is just so unfortunate, his story is so sad and he is so loved for his history with the team. Yeah, he'w worth signing again, lets not get nostalgic, but McCarty pretty much sucked 11 years ago and he sucks even worse now! I'd resign Ferard Gallant for nostalgia before I offered coke-head a contract... ...objection, hearsay, sustained... ...sorry, before I offered the suspected abuser a contract. Anyone know is Probert can still skate? Hell, lets give him a 2 way contract!

...me neither, but if he signs a contract for $4MM, would you match? ...this is all silly, this is all speculation, he'll prolly tell Vancouver to shove it! If Hossa can take a discount to come here for a year, Filpulla will take a discount too! Who would want to leave this team? Stuart took a huge discount as well! Heck when you have the best player in the world taking $3MM dollars a year less than the league max to play here, then who else wouldn't? (BTW I am speaking of Lidstrom ) ...in comparison, how much did Brian Campbell just sign for? In comparison, how much would Lidstrom get on the open market, exactly... ...Flip's going nowhere!

...that is fine, sign Filpulla to $4mm and we'll take your #14 pick if you barely miss the playoffs or a higher one if you REALLY miss the playoffs... ...oh and your 2nd and 3rd rounder as well... ...Filpulla for 3 high draft picks WELL worth it! And the chance, the CHANCE, even a sniff of a top 5 pick and it'll be MORE than WELL worth the loss of Filpulla... Take him, sure we'll miss his potential, but we've lost top talent before and who's to say his potential will be as good without the Wings (a lot of our top prospects were like that.) How's that guy doing in Washington, the guy we traded for Lang? I can't even remember his name...

...yeah, Shanahan left for more money, Fedorov left for the same money. Who's the greedy one? Anyhow, if we are looking for a mid-level UFA to replace Drake, even though I don't we have the roster room for him, but Marty Lapointe should be the replacement for Drake. Now, don't tell me I am getting nostalgic, I am not, but looking over the leftover UFA's and comparing the ones that may cost too much (er... I mean want too much) and those that may only cost between 1-2 million. Lapointe is a leader, he would probably equal Drake's offensive output (prolly get more points) and he would scrap with anyone to protect his teammates plus he's only won 2 Cups, he's gotta be hungry! ...seriously though, if they are gonna give Waste McCarty a contract then there is no room for anymore forwards, but truely they should give Lapointe a call and see what he wants or what he'll take... ...if you do recall the ORIGINAL grind line was Maltby Draper and Lapointe, then Kocur stepped in, THEN McCarty stepped in, so if you want REAL nostalgia, get Marty back here... ...besides, Lapointe is heaps better than McCarty...

...could you imagine the prospects we would've had if Holland had NOT matched that insane Carolina contract that Fedorov signed? Geesh, how many first rounders would we have gotten? Wait do signing bonuses count? Because I believe his salary was only $2mm. Hmmmm.... I guess we wouldn't have had that many if that is the case! But, if you go by actually salary earned for tht season, he took home something like $74 million (I think we'd still be drafting Carolina's first rounders today if that is what they'd go by! )

...ya ya, we know, we know, but hey, anything is possible! Even if they missed the playoffs again we'd get a pick in the top 14 of the draft AND our own at 30... (assuming the Cup stays here) ...then we'd have #44 and #60 then #74 and #90, That is assuming Vancouver is the last team to NOT make the playoffs. With 6 picks in the first three rounds plus our other 4 picks after I am sure Holland would find someone who would replace Filpulla! ...just think if Vancouver finished in the bottom 10 and lets say got the #6 pick overall, the offers for that pick alone would be worth losing Filpulla over...

...if Rolston had it to do all over again, do you think he would take that hometown discount contract offer now that we've signed Hossa? ...reminds me of 2001 off season when JR signed with Philly, he said both Detroit and Philly offered the same exact contracts, but felt Philly had the better chance to win a Cup. He later said if he knew that Detroit was gonna get Hasek, he would have chosen the other path, oops... ...players, so quick to jump the gun!

...the reason why I give Datsyuk the nod, in Bure's time teammates were allowed to run interference on opposing checkers, in todays game the whistle would blow and Bure wouldn't even of gotten a shot on goal... ...I am not taking anything away from Bure, but if you watch in the video, there is a lot of "picks" being run to allow Bure to get free. Datsyuk has to create his own openings to get through...

...it'll never happen! That is why if Detroit drew that pick somehow, they would have offers up the ying-yang for Tavares or the #1 or if Kenny wanted to keep Tavares, he would have to trade Zetterberg or Datsyuk! Imagine the offers for them? Of course with the cap, they'd have to offer them picks I suppose because anyone who would be worth trading the #1 for probably already makes league maximum! ...any news on Sakic? Is he retiring?

...yeah, it's a dream, but for the end of the season, they wouldn't have to pay him $7MM. But hey, what are the odds Detroit will get the #1 pick anyhow? Exactly! ...speaking of which, it would be a Kenny Holland move to NOT take Tavares #1 and take Hedman instead!

...this is what's gonna happen, I am looking into my crystal ball... ...Vancouver signs Filpulla to a $4MM offer sheet, Detroit doesn't match and receives Vancouver's 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks for 2009. Fast forward to March 2009, Vancouver is a bottom feeder, it is looking more and more like they are gonna be in the lottery with a good amount of balls to represent the Tavares draft. Trade deadline, Detroit owns Vancover's #1 pick, they trade that pick & Jimmy Howard to Vancouver for Roberto Luongo. Detroit in turn wins back to back Championships, Vancouver doesn't get the #1 pick, but they still have Filpulla at $4MM and Jimmy Howard... Oh, they do get a great pick in the draft by the way and we get our #1, plus 2 #2's and 2 #3's for Kenny and company to find more low round talent!!!! Yee Haw!!! ...now that's a scenario worth letting Filpulla go!

...that is exactly what I mentioned in another thread. Don't think the Wings woiuld actually take Tavares, but trade the pick. Could you imagine the compesation or offers we'd get for that #1 or Tavares if we did end up selecting him? WHOA! ...then again, would we have room for Tavares? Could we compensate him after his rookie campaign? I still like the possibilties of the offers that EVERY team in the NHL would give us! ...if Val did sign a $4MM offer sheet, what exactly would the compensation be draft pick-wise?

...looks like he will be off to Russia because I don't know of any team that'll give him $4MM... ...wonder if Holland contacted him at all? I bet if he did and when he heard $4MM Holland hung the phone up hysterical! I can see Holland offer about $1.5 at the most. He is not worth $4MM anymore, especially here in Detroit... ...hurts me to say this, but if Feds wants $4MM then it was nice knowing ya!

...anyone know what happened to Fedorov? If anything?

...I really didn't want to start a new topic for this, so I figured I'd put it here since Pittsburgh could use this guy to help replace SOME of the offense they lost... Sergei Fedorov. ...BUT, what happened to Sergei Fedorov? I don't recall hearing him sign anywhere. Is he that washed up? Maybe Pit could add him for a little offense. Although I am extremely happy with what Holland has done, a little part of me still missess Fedorov in the Winged Wheel. Honestly I hope Pit DOESN'T sign him, or Colorado or St. Louis or Chicago or anyone that would possibly gives us fits this season. Dunno, kinda wish we had a spot for him. Oh well!

...get it done Kenny! ...J/K!

...ugh! Why do you all have McCarty man love? Get over him, he's washed up, he's done, he's useless! Get over the cinderella story for pete's sake! It's not like he was any help at all in gettign us the Cup! Aaron Downey is by far the better person to fill the 13th forward position, he proved that last year and got snubbed in the playoffs. Luckily he played enough regular season games to get his on the Cup and what about McCarty? He comes in, plays a few games in the regular season, gives away a lot of pucks in the playoffs, ices it when he's not giving it away, then gets HIS name on the Cup! For What? Dude, sign McCarty to the Rapids contract, Downey is the far better player and fighter right now...

...phuk McCarty, he's washed up! Sit Sammy for McCarty? Downey will see more time than McCarty, they shouldn't even waste the league minimum on McCarty... ...Helm inplace of Kopecky, since he won't be ready to start the season...

...not necessarily, Tampa did draft Stamkos, who is just as good as Crosby coming out of juniors, and is expexted to be just as good in the NHL, so maybe you can double Malone's stats because he will no doubt be playing with either Stamkos or Vinny or St. Louis... ...personally I'd rather have Malone than Satan or Fedotenko or both. But, we'll see, they definately filled some holes, but I think they are trying to use square pegs...

...again, who wants to play in Edmonton? Sundin $10 million, Hossa $9 million and Jagr $7 million. A lot of money offered, yet noone seems to be very interested. Why doesn't Edmonton move to Kansas City?

...not unless Jagr gives them a discount...

...ok, bottom line. Yo have to look at ALL the other teams tht offered him money. I don't know the exact teams (I am sure all 30 teams had a pitch) but of all the serious ones, the one that everyone is talking about is Edmonton. Now, sure it is VERY VERY hard to repeat as champion, especially in the NHL, and Hossa had to know that even signing in Detroit, his odds were low to win because of the "repeat factor." Yet, like I said look at the other teams that gave him a serious contract offer, of those, which team had the best chance of winning, none. Pittsburgh is dismantled, I don't care what the pens fans say, you cannot gid rid of your role players and heart guys and expect to return to glory. Pittsburgh will rue the day they let Malone go. Anyhow, of all the teams giving him an offer, Detroit (even with the "repeat factor") has the best shot at winnig a championship in 2009, period. So he chose here. Even if they don't, he is gonna score 50 or more goals playing with Zetterberg or Datsyuk, he is gonna get 100 points, he may even lead the team in scoring and possibly challenge for the Rocket Richard trophy (barring injury.) In turn, this is only going to INCREASE his value for 2009 UFA season. If we are lucky enough to repeat and he puts a Stanley Cup on his resume, he will get top dollar from anywhere he may sign (which could be back in Pit.) Unless he ops to sign a long term, less wage deal here AFTER we sign Zetterberg and Franzen. But, something tells me he's here for a year and gone, oh well, I'll take an ALL season long rental, it's better than getting him in March and losing him in July, right Pit? :rotflmao: ...also wanted to include that in the world of Hockey, players know players, there was something about Pittsburgh that Hossa didn't like, of course he's gonna say all the right PR stuff, but what was it about Pittsburgh and or more specifically, playing with Zetterberg/Datsyuk over playing with Crosby/Malkin? Was it the coaching staff? We all know how Therian is, blame the refs for his own ineptness. Was is the fact mentioned above, that Pitt got rid too many players? Couldn't be the goaltender situation right? Isn't Chris Osgood the worst goalie to ever win the Cup? He is according to most analysts. Of course him leading the NHL regular season and playoffs in GAA proves that! Maybe is was the defense, you cannot name a team in the world that has a better top 4 than Detroit. Dunno, maybe, like the article says, it's the nightlife that appealed to him, the Gambling, the boozing it up, the grand prix, the boat races or maybe it's the boat show at the Novi Expo (or whatever it's called now.) Anyhow, something, we'll never know, was the deciding factor. Maybe, just maybe, Hank and Pav are REALLY that much better than Sid and Geno. Afterall, Hossa seen all 4 close up, he seen the professionalism of Hank and Pav compared to the whining and crying of Crosby and the fact that Malkin "was just too tired." Hossa was the ONLY player not complaining about the refs, as a matter of fact, when asked of the "non calls" he asnwered "...if they are impeding our forwards, then they are doing it legally..." Maybe he didn't want to spend the next 7 years with crying babies, maybe he wants to see how it is to play for and with porfessionals who can admit when they are wrong and don't blame their ineptness on something other than themseves... ...maybe, just maybe, Detroit is better place to play than Pittsburgh...

...uh, don't forget to add Conklin and...oh yeah, Hossa to that list! ...Pittsburgh will NOT make it to the finals next year. Expect Jersey to give them fits as well as a revamped Tampa Bay...

...Vladdy was built for that either...