ShreddedRed

The point of Buffalo making any trades is to lower their salary so this doesn't make any sense for them.

A late bloomer? Sykora's a bit past the "late bloomer" period. If he had a big season at this point it would be called "a good fluke." As far as Pavel being a good set-up man.....he would be, but Sykora has played with better. Jagr...for starters. Kariya, Fedorov, Selanee, Elias, Gomez, Arnott, and I'm sure there are others. I know some of those guys aren't as good as Datsyuk....but they're all pretty good playmakers. Sykora is just an average player who gets a wee bit better when he's on a good line. He'd be a nice addition, but we'd still be signing leftovers if we signed him at this point.

I agree the Code is a waste of a rumor site. They're never right. None of those rumors involving the Wings make any sense. "A team" is interested in ______ isn't really a tip. It's barely even a rumor. Am I the only one who thinks Howard is a typical average goalie? Everyone around here treats him like he's the second coming of Sawchuck to be praised like a sacred buddha. I think he's deffinately the Wings next big disappointment.

I like Calder, but I'd just trade Williams for him straight up. He isn't worth anymore than Williams. You have to keep in mind too that it depends on how Williams's contract situation turns out. I don't know what it is about Chicago's crop of youth that they had come up. The Hawks were supposed to be the next big thing in the West with Bell, Calder, Arnason, Daze, and Ruutuu. But none of their prospects have panned out for them. Arnason never really put up great numbers, and neither has Calder. Bell has always been the exception but even he's been streaky. Ruuttuu and Daze have consistently been on IR. It's tough luck for the Hawks. As of right now they've got a pile of talented young D to be hyped about.....but without any young offense to help them out it probably won't be long before we see their D-men scattered throughout the league as well.

$5mil for an injury prone center? I'd pass. Briere's good and I'd take him because he's good, but at that cost we'd be better off keeping Lang who has the capability of putting up the same kind of numbers for less money and less injury risk. Why is everyone on here so insistent that we trade Lang and Schnieder? I'll admit they're great for trade bait, but if I was going to trade anyone it would be Williams. Lang and Schnieder are two very key players on the team, but most people on here would move them just for the sake of pulling off a trade. I'd love to have Biron, but I think giving up Lang or Schnieder for him would be too much. He could easily be acquired for a average role player and draft picks / prospects.

Why give up Schnieder to acquire a goalie.....to then go and trade a center, Lang, only to acquire a defensemen not as good as Schnieder? Aren't we basically just losing a center, and taking a step back on defense. Souray and Schnieder are about as physical as one another, but Souray isn't nearly as offensive, and he may only be a touch better defensively than Schnieder.....if that. So that little circle you painted doesn't really connect enough to solve any problems other than acquiring a goaltender But then again with all of the goalies out there looking for a starting job....the Wings shouldn't have to give up much to get one. And as much as I hate Belfour....I think it's inevitable....and as long as he's coming at a cheap rate I can at least hope for the best. Signing Carter makes some sense....except he wants a long term contract for too much money. So in that sense he isnt' any better than Lang (other than he's a winger and not a center). I'd rather over pay Lang simply because he puts up better numbers, and his contract is almost up so he won't be tieing up money down the road. Nolan doesn't have a well documented past. He had his days when he was with the Sharks. The fans loved him in San Jose, but the management still moved him. There was a controversy, and there were disagreements between Nolan, the coaching staff, and the management. He hasn't had a decent season since. In between injuries and his recent issues with the Leafs management I can't even recall the last time he played a straight months worth of hockey. I wouldn't be completely opposed to bringing him here if he came at the minumum. We could sign him and hope to get the Nolan from his San Jose days.....and hope he doesn't spend the entire season chillin in the press box.

I like Gagne, but he's a bit over rated. He had a great season playing with Forsberg, but before that he was barely a top 3 winger. He's good and he's young, but there are much better wingers in the league. He just happens to be one of their better wingers. They'd still never trade him for Lang straight up, but perhaps if the deal was sweatened a bit with picks or prospects something like this could happen. Doubtful though.

Rumor or just Hockey McDreamy crap....trading Schnieder for any of those goaltenders is not logical. Salary wise...it doesn't work. Lineup wise it's redundant. Why trade away a major piece of our defense for a goaltender who's going to get shelled because of an inexperienced defense. Schneider is more valuable to the defense and offense of the Wings than half of our forwards. It would be nice to have Giggy or Nabokov, but accepting their bloated salaries at the expense of a defensemen who's actually worth his money is just not logical. Owen Nolan- locker room cancer, Injury prone, way past his prime and about as valuable offensively as any young guy we bring up. Anson Carter- Asking for too much money, and too long of a contract. Decent player, but not a reasonable fix. Jonsson- I have no issues with Detroit bringing him in. He'd be a solid addition. Overall I'm beginning to lean more towards bringing up the young guys, and if possible trading draft picks or expendable players for a goaltender like Biron who's salary is decent and who will be a UFA next season.

Personally I'm not that impressed with Kronwall either, but most players don't spark in the NHL until about their 4th season. I admit he shows potential and has a strong sense of the ice, but he hasn't been an immediate plus like Joni Pitnkanen in Philly. Even though I'm not impressed I still wouldn't trade him until after he's been given a fair shot, and at least a full season to show what he's got. Not every young player has an impact immediately. I remember when Chara was just this big lump on the Islander blueline who couldnt' do much other than check. Now he's one of the top D-men in the league. It's doubtful Kronwall will be a Chara....obviously.....but I think eventually he'll make a name for himself and we'll be glad we kept him.

Yeah, on top of that nothing else in this article has actually happened, and considering Lindros just signed with Dallas.....the rest is probably old news and not going to happen either.

The new CBA is going to increase the amount of draft pick dealings for one main reason. The days of keeping one player for their entire career, or even half of their careers are over. Teams won't be able to afford stars when they're in their prime because of cap issues, and if they do have the money unless the player is extremely loyal to the organization (which is becoming few and far between lately) they're going to bolt for a better team even more so than they do now. When that happens developing young players won't be as beneficial as signing young players in their prime. So the benefit of drafting late picks and developing them only to keep them until they're good enough to deserve that big pay raise only to watch them sign with another club...isn't going to be that great. This kind of thing has always happened but the player movement in the new CBA NHL is going to be much higher and with pay going down and contract lengths getting shorter the chances of draft picks being used for bartering chips is a much more logical payout because it only continues that movement with the flexability the cap demands. It is true that youth is going to be invaluable under the new Cap.....but there's a difference between draft picks when you've got nothing to lose, and youth in their prime when you've got the opportunity to have it. We will all see this next season when Datsyuk "feels it's time to move on."

Actually I was reading some Sabres forums sites and most of their deals were draft pick (singular) and a player like Lilja or Lebda for Biron.

Actually I think they're worth less in the "new NHL" because there's going to be so much more player movement every year. It's going to be easier to sign younger players because of the UFA age limit being lowered, and because salaries will be smaller. On top of that the NHL draft is very unpredictable. Unless you have one of the top 10 picks your 1st pick in the 10th round has about as good a shot at making the NHL as your second round pick. That's in addition to trading away draft picks and then reacquring other draft picks to replace them within a few years time through trades or RFA.

I was looking around on a few random Buffalo Sabres forums and while most of their fans agree they need a defensemen most of them would be willing to ship out Biron for a draft pick. Not even draft "picks." Just a single draft pick. Kind of suprising to me actually. I didn't come across one thread that mentioned Kronwall though. A lot of them also scuffed at the idea of a trade including Lang. Another interesting note is that Biron is a UFA next season which fits in with Kenny Hollands short term contract plans. So if we're the "GM's" here.....we're actually willing to give up way more (Lang, Schnieder, Kronwall, etc) than the Sabres "GM's" would ask for.

I always though Kozlov was over-rated. He always seemed like he had potential that he wasn't using, and he scored plenty when he was on a good line, but on his own he was a bad finisher. But that's besides the point Kozlov for Hasek.....I don't care how clutch Kozlov may have been. There wasn't a goalie in the league more clutch than Hasek. Biron isn't even close to a Hasek....so why would we give up a player like Lang, who's overall numbers are typically higher than Kozlov's.....for a goalie like Biron? If you can get Hasek for draft picks and a player....we should be able to get Biron for just draft picks.

Biron can be acquired for draft picks. There's no need to dish off the usuals....Lang, Schnieder, etc. Giving up anyone on the current Wings roster for Biron is giving away too much because there are plenty of goalie options available where the Wings won't have to give up anyone. We got Hasek, Dominik Hasek!! ....for draft picks and Kozlov. Why would we give up anything more than draft picks for Biron, who isn't close to Hasek. Plus if Holland is smart he'll use the fact that Anahiem, San Jose, and Buffalo are all shopping goaltenders as leverage to get a goaltender for cheap. On top of that apparently he's got Ed Belfour humping his leg begging for a job as well. Buffalo has a great player to offer. Unfortunately their hands are tied by the lack of trading options.

I agree this trade rumor is garbage. I know everyone here has been smashing Afenigenov, but if this same rumor were in a Buffalo forum they'd be irrate about dealing him away for someone like Lang, and I wouldn't doubt they'd say Kronwall is "unproven" "injury prone" or "over-rated." The Sabres are just as high on Afenigenov as we are about our young players. They won't deal him anymore than we'll deal Kronwall. If they're willing to dish out Pyatt for picks there's no chance the Wings would do this deal anyway. They'd be giving up too much considering they can probably get Biron alone for much less.