LeftWinger

...but who takes Kopecky's place. It's already been stated that he won't be ready to start the season. Does Helm have a spot or do you sign a center to take his spot?

...has Peca signed anywhere? Do you think he would fit on this team ( I mean an actual roster spot) and if he did, would he be a good guy to put on the #3 or #4 line? Would he take less to come here? He could replace Drake for sure! Is he any good anymore? Is he better than McCarty? ...I guess I am saying, I don't know too much about todays Peca, but if he were to come cheap, could we fit him in?

...$4 million is TOO much for Fedorov, of course with all the OVERPAYMENT going on in the league, at least it is on par... ...I would think that is Fedorov would have came here, it would have had to of been for less than $2 million. That is probably why we didn't hear much of the "Fedorov back to Detroit" rumors... ...would have liked to have him, but NOT, NOT, NOT at that price! ...so who was the "old friend" Holland refered to? Maybe he was refering to a couple of people until Hossa fell into his trap, er... I mean lap! ...man I am so excited! Stuart and Hossa AND Conklin! What an off-season! AND STILL under the Cap for the deadline!

...I would have loved to see the Russian 5 together, in their hey day, with the NEW NHL rules... ...I think that may be the most exciting unit in the league! Although, not many players could catch them to impede them, but man, if they would have had free reign of the ice like in todays game, WOW!

....reply to sidenote: That was back when the rumors were flying around that Vancouver was going to offer Filpulla a contract worth $4 to $4.5 and the discussion went on about getting the draft picks and possibly if Vancouver would draw the lottery and get the #1 pick, that would've been Tavares. But really I don't want Filpulla to go anywhere, but if he was going to sign an offer worth that much, we'd rather have the draft picks...

...I'd go with Z. ...Draper would be a good candidate IF he outlasts Lidstrom, but they may be leaving around the same time, so.... Zetterberg!

...what does a man have to do to get his number retired? #15 all time in wins, 2 Stanley Cups as a starter, 1 as a back-up, 3 total! Lead the league in GAA regular season and playoffs, has a lifetime winning perentage better than Patrick Roy... #2 ALL TIME winningest Detroit Red Wing Goaltender. #1 ALL TIME playoff Red Wings winning goaltender. WTF else has to happen? ...this is the lock AFTER #5 (unless Osgood hangs em up before Nick) #30 WILL HANG FROM THE RAFTERS! WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE DONE BY OSGOOD? ...#5 and #30 for sure, #13 and #40 if they stay and continue their torrid pace...

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?fmid=1992&p...mp;service=page ...Hossa is saying, easy Nick, I'll be on your team next year! ...From now on we'll see this only at practices! YEEHAW, bring on the season! http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?fmid=1811&p...mp;service=page ...can whales catch Hepetitis? http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?fmid=1966&p...mp;service=page ...why isn't Kwame smiling? Is it because he just got booed? Or is he trying to figure out what exactly that is Homer is holding? http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?fmid=1965&p...mp;service=page ...Z's shirt says Money can buy happiness, but it cannot prevent sadness. Hopefully he uses this philosphy when he signs his contract! http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?fmid=1933&p...mp;service=page ...he's looking at 1986 and thinking "G.D. you Steve Smith! This could have been 5 in a row!"

...wonder what Gretzky is thinking right at that moment? Oh, I know.... "f*** Me!"

...it's not gonna matter, because if Osgood is not playing as good and Conklin doesn't repeat his back-up preformance of last year and Howard isn't ready, Holland will aquire Luongo from the Canucks at the deadline. (he may do that anyhow)

He should, Zetterberg will get a little above Datsyuk and if Hossa comes in and is a big of impact player he is expected to be, he may get between Zetterberg and whatever Lidstrom re-signs for.

...oh you can guaratee that Zetts and Franz will be under contract before July 1st of 09' and WELL before any negaotiations with Hossa take place... ...so yeah, when it comes down to it, Holland can say, look at our payroll, this is all I have left, it yours, if you want it...

...keep dreaming. Vancouver can't even get someone to play for them for $10MM per season. Hey, if Filpulla wants the cash, then cool, we'll take your picks and don't cry if by the grace of the hockey gods you get that lottery pick, and we end up with Tavares or similar, that would be a great trade... ...either way we win, we either keep Filpulla or get 3 picks from you...

...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!