LeftWinger

...exactly, who's to say Lidstrom won't play 20+ seasons? Lids looks to be on his way to his 5th Norris Trophy, barring an injury or NHL politics, he should win it hands down. So, if he does decide to re-sign, you now have to pay him the max, or somewhere close. Now what do you do? LIds, Dats & Zetts accounting for a huge chunk of your salary cap... ...sure I am looking into the future, but the time is going come when you have to face that decision... sooner than you think...

...ok, you give Datsyuk what his agent is asking for, then in 2009, what do you give Zetterberg? You have to pay him at least what Dats is getting, if not more. So, now when it comes down to signing both of them after their NEXT contracts are up, who do you keep? You cannot pay both of them top dollar... ...I choose Zetterberg...

...well I say land both of them and totally trump Nashville's aquistion of Forsberg. The Wings are going to have tons of money next off-season for UFA's, why not land these two guys and re-sign them in the off-season? Unless, of course, they will be looking for Nick Lidstrom type money... ...either way, make the deal, get some rent-a-players. Yeah, sure, it's that easy!!! LOL! ...ok, Wings aquire Bertuzzi, Tkachuk, Guerin, Doan, & Smith... Then they lose them all to Free Agency this summer, Holland has to have open tryouts to fill in all the gaps he traded away in players and prospects!

...a side note, question that is... ...what happened to Adam Hall's value? He was an absolute beast against us when he played for the preds, now he's been traded twice in less than a year, and yet, we've never had any interest? Does anyone have any ideas what may have happened to his value? ...ok, now back to Schneider talk...

...well Nashville is one of the better teams in the league right now. And this day and age of NON-dynasty teams (thanks to the salary cap,) why not waive the NTC to have a good chance at winning the cup, and then sign somewhere else the following season if you aren't really happy there... ...well, who's left that we want, Bert, Doan, Smith, Lapointe?

...well at least we didn't get UNDERbid this time. Usually players that we want are traded for FAR less than what we offered them to another team... ....I agree that is too much for a UFA. Even if they re-sign him, that is a lot of young talent to give up. Good for Philly!

...even though it isn't official, I guess there isn't much power of the Swede influence...

...which, of course, is a good reason Holland who do such... ...hey, if it weren't for the salary cap, Hatcher would still be a Wing. It's not like they WANTED to get rid of him, they had to. If they only have to pay 3.5 for him, then I would say there is a good chance they would do it... ...of, course, Holland is going to do whatever he feels is best for this team. I could see a package including Forsberg and Hatcher. Wasn't there a stilpulation in the buyout rule that the player being bought out couldn't re-sign or be traded back to the buyee within 2 years? Maybe not, but I thought I heard that...

...not really, Datsyuk and Zetterberg were both on the Wings their first professional season, neither of them spent a minute in GRR. Hudler on the other hand... ...nice trade rumors going on, I love this time of year!!! ...hell it ain't our money!!!

...besides, Hudler is this teams Stacy Roest. He'll never be here for the long haul, and when he gets traded he'll fall off the radar like much of the Wings "hot" European prospects. Who is that we traded to get Lang? How is he doing? How about the guy we traded to get Chelios? Or the other one that landed us Schneider? Yeah, I think trading Hudler while he has "potential" is ideal. His only pontential is that he plays here in Detroit and would get his name on a cup by association, not by contributing much. Trade him, package him, do whatever, but just do it while people see his "potential," do it before he is exposed...

...so, forgive my niavity, but WTF is up with Osgood? Is he injured that bad? I haven't been paying too much attention to who was backing up Hasek... ...either way, it looks like the Wings might need to address the goalie situation before the deadline, with Osgood out. I know Holland will not go into the playoffs with MacDonald or Howard backing up Hasek, will he? ...bring on Biron...

...ok, as you all know, I am historically critical of European players. I probably always will be too, but I just have to tell you and yes, put my foot right down my throat, I am beginning to see just how special Henrik is. ...I don't want to say that he is the next Steve Yzerman, but in a lot of ways he reminds of when Yzerman started taking over this team back in the mid 80's. You can just see him dominate the ice, day in and day out. I cannot tell you how amazed I was at his goal last night on the wrap around that turned into a wicked back-hander. What kind of hockey sense does this man have to (in full flight) do what he did. I would say even the Great Wayne Gretzky would have just tried for the wrap-around. But to draw CuJo out like he did, and then pretty much pass the puck to himself and completely "roof" a perfect back-hander!?!?! I was in awe! I would say this is the first time I can actually say that about the Wings this season, and this guy IS the real deal. Say what you want about Crosby and his goal from his knees and his "one for the ages" as Darren Pang so aptly put it. Do you think that Darren was watching ths game last night? If so, this one goal alone, outshines ANY goal I have seen from Crosby. Now, before you Crosby lovers jump all over me, I am not saying that Henrik is better than, or is going to be better than. That remains to be seen. But I think if you put Henrik on a team like Pittsburgh, he just may be leading the league in scoring as well, at least in the top 5. Put Crosby on a pretty evenly spread out team like Detroit, and he probably isn't leading the league. ...this guy is special,I admit it. Now, I don't want to turn this into a trade Datsyuk thread, but when it comes down to which one of these guys you give the bucks to and which one you trade or let go, I think the choice is overwhelmingly obvious we must keep Zetterberg at all cost and for his entire career. I have been a Wings devote fan since Stevie was drafted and I swear to the almighty, I have not seen a player this good in a winged wheel, at this young of age, since. I am a huge Fedorov fan, but Fedorov thrived with a team full of superstars (not taking away from anything Fedorov accomplished here in Detroit.) Zetterberg, on the other hand is pretty much on a team that has 2 superstars and about 5 "great" players, and that may be an exageration, and the rest mediocre at best. ...I am not one to eat crow willingly, but man it is tasting pretty good today!

...not correcting anyone here, but isn't funny how we say words so fast tht they begin to sound like a completely different word? Sort of like when we come to that point in the aplhabet, you know which one, LMNOP. But the correct term is intents and purposes, but it always comes out sounding like intensive. Ok, back to topic... ....Gretzky does suck as a coach/gm and anything else that doesn't include the word "center" in it. I hope that Steve stays behind the scenes, because if he ever took on a Coaching or GM role, I'd hate to see him get fired. As we all know the Coach is the first to go, no matter how bad the team is... ...not to say that he wouldn't make a great coach or gm but they all eventually get fired somewhere down the road. Unless your name is Bowman or Holland...

...that hit is the reason JR is still a value to this league. I wish we had one guy on this team that can hit like that! Nothing dirty, just hard! Maybe a 4th rounder for JR for the remainder of the season? No?

...I do believe it's his greatness along with Lids and Holmstrom that could very well bring Forsberg here to Detroit... ...I do recall in 2002 Olympics, Henrik was the ONLY NON-NHL player on Team Sweden's roster. That speaks wonders of his talents, even back then! Hard to believe he fell so far in the daft... kudos to Holland and staff on that one! (BTW, why all of a sudden is this forum getting spammed with porn site advertisments? Very disturbing...(not porn, I do like that, but disturbing that the spammers have made it to our sacred forum...))

...well, every player wants to get paid, and if I recall, Zets also held out for a little while (not as long as Dats) but settled for a longer and much less lucritive contract. No worries though, his day will come when he is making Lidstrom type money, I just hope he is stil in the Winged wheel when he gets it! ...ona side note, I think there is no question that when Lids retires, Zetts will be the next Captain...

...hey, is you glass half empty too? ... I hear what you're typing, but there is no doubt this kid is our future, not Datsyuk...

...hmmmm, I agree, but you think we would feel that way if it were Claude? LOL!

...if and where Pit moves, they are going to need a player like Crosby to help market the team. The same reason Gretzky was traded to LA instead of Detroit back in 1989. (yes, it was down to LA and Detroit in the Gretzky trade, bu the NHL stepped in and sweetened the pot for Edmonton to trade him to LA.) ...anyhow, on subject. I would welcome Marty back, just for his toughness. The 'star' player they are looking at, just may be Forsberg. If holland is consistant, he will choose the older, more European player over the likes of a yonger, North American player (Doan.) But, maybe Forsberg will work out because of all the Swedes on this team already. Add Forsberg and Lapointe to the mix, and we become a bigger threat to win a Cup, that's for sure. Can't say much about how it will help us out in the future, but, Hollands never really been about that and the UFA's age does drop to 27 this off season, so who knows! I say go for it, why not?!?!? It ain't my money! ...why would we trade for someone we could've drafted? Hey, maybe we'll trade Kindl for him! LOL!

...like I said... Lang/Datsyuk for Biron/Drury & draft pick...

...Rick Hendrick?

...well, whatever helps this team. It's obvious I am not the GM, nor am I saying I would be any good at it. I just think if we're going to trade anyone of the kids, it should be Datsyuk, I think Kronwall is a keeper. Not unless Kindl is that much better... ...I have no problem getting rid of Lang, I imagine that since Montreal is hot after him, Buffalo would love to steal him away...

...plus, consider this, Kronwall has been their number 1 prospect for about 3 years running, I like Biron, I know nothing about Afinogenov, but I would say neither of them is worth your top prospect.. ...ditch this deal, if this is done it could very well top the Adam Oates/Paul MacLean for Bernie Frderko/ Tony McKegney deal...

...well replace Kronwall with Dasyuk and replace Afinogenov with Drury and that sounds alot better... ...Lang, Datsyuk for Biron, Drury & draftpick... ...Kronwall = NO WAY! ...with all due respect to Fischer and God bless him with his health struggle, but Kronwall is leaps and bounds better than Ficsher, he may not be as big, but he hits bigger. Kronwall is the real deal and he needs to stay a Red Wing. If Holland makes this trade, he is a bigger idiot than I thought...

...Biron is my first choice over all goalies available... ...if we have to trade a player off the roster to get him, fine. Hudler for Biron would be great, Hudler is not going to make the team anyhow. All this talk about Draper, maybe with Yzermans retirement Draper will get more ice time and score a little more at center. I think with our 4 centers, Dats, Zetts, Lang and Draper. We have a nice core up the middle. But if it takes a roster player to get Biron here, do it...