therock48880

Watched the whole season. Watched them play well in the regular season and get worn down by physical teams in the playoffs. The response to that so far has been to make them a softer team. Sorry if I don't see the reason to be optimistic.

Size, toughness, soft hands, good scoring touch, mean streak, someone to stand up for teammates. Is that enough?

I totally disagree. What they HAVE to do now is sign one, possibly two soft European forwards. Then, they could get rid of the hockey skates and get them all a nice new set of figure skates. It's too bad I can't stand the Ducks because I like the way they play. I can only wish that the Wings were a team like that. Oh well, let's be happy with another run at the President's trophy and a first or second round loss in the playoffs. I was pissed yesterday with the signing due to the fact that it would keep the wings from signing some needed toughness up front. Now, I've gone over the edge.

Good Point. Still 25-30 million dollars in 4 players is scary. Even if the cap goes up to 60 million in 2 years that leaves 30-35 million for 16 more players. We're going to end up seeing 4 great players and a bunch of scrubs. Don't get me wrong, I like Rafalski. He's a great addition. But in a couple years I think they will have their hands tied. Right. All front-loading contracts does is give teams a one or two year way of going over the cap and enticing players with a big up-front salary. On the back end of it, though, you'll have a guy making 2 million but his cap hit will be 6 million. I'm personally not a big fan of the front loaded contract.

And there's hardly any money left to get those pieces. Hopefully Bertuzzi will take a small base contract heavy with incentives and come back completely healthy next year. But with how tentative he was at times in the playoffs, that's a big IF.

Ask Tampa Bay about that. Their big contracts eat up so much of their cap that they can't do anything else. Don't get me wrong, I like Rafalski. I just worry about being able to sign anyone else and being able to resign Lidstrom and Zetterberg in a couple years. To put it another way, in two years four players will be taking up 25-30 million per year. That would be 50% of the cap this year. I assume it will go up in the next couple years but with tv ratings the way they were this year................

The problem is 13-14 million tied up in two defensemen. That really cuts into what they can do with the rest of the team.

I don't know but I DO know that having 13.6 million dollars per year tied up in two defensemen makes it hard for the wings to address other needs. To be honest, I'd rather have had Schneider for 2 years than Rafalski for 5. Lidstrom and Zetterberg will need to be resigned within the next two years and the Wings have a ton of talented young d-men that will probably be ready in a couple years. In terms of forwards, it appears that the best option left with the money that's left is Bertuzzi. Hopefully with a full summer to heal and rehab he can be consistently physical again.

This is exactly my concern. As it stands right now, the softest team in the league last year just got softer. They need a big, physical d-man that can knock someone off the puck. But they also need some big, physical forwards and there isn't enough money to get all of that. I like Rafalski as a player, I'm just not convinced that he's the type of player they need and I don't like the five year contract.

That's exactly right. They aren't saying they won't try to get a physical defensemen. They're saying they will sign Schneider first. People are making it sound like they will sign Schneider and that will be it. I doubt it. What they REALLY need is a huge, stay at home d-man that can knock people off the puck. How many times did an opponenet get the puck in the Wing's zone and keep it there because no one could knock a player off the puck and take it away? Markov wasn't that player. A guy like that would be fairly cheap on the open market. Simple fact is, we're a Schneider away from the Wings being in the Stanley Cup Finals and being up 2-0 on the Sens.

Each round has gotten progressively worse. And yet they'll call a cheap interference penalty on Datsyuk with a minute and a half left in a one goal game. That play was SO frustrating. Was it a penalty? Yes. Had it been allowed the entire game? Yes. If Ottawa doesn't show SOMETHING they're going to get swept and then we'll all be wondering "What if"

I'd be happy with a probert or a kocur reincarnation. I'd prefer not to have a goon like Worrell. He sucks and can't skate. I'd just like to see them get bigger and have opposing teams quit taking liberties against them. How many times was Hasek run and nothing was ever done about it. That needs to change, imo.

I disagree. How many times has Giguere been run in these playoffs? Not very often. Why? Because there WILL be payback if they do. Big players beat little ones in the playoffs. It's that simple. It happens every single year.

The Wings didn't show they were tougher in the playoffs. They showed more grit and determination but that didn't stop anyone from taking runs at them. Remember the Calgary meltdown? Would that have happened if there was a legitimate enforcer on the ice? Doubt it. San Jose had a similar time when they had a meltdown when they were getting blown out. And then then the Ducks took numerous runs at Hasek, and slammed Homer's head into the boards. The Wings were impressive with their desire this postseason, but the simple fact remains they are too small to get a Cup. There's no sense having a guy on the end of the bench playing 5-8 minutes per game and contributing nothing. That player may as well be someone that puts fear into the other team. And this talk of Bertuzzi being an enforcer is ridiculous. 1. he's a free agent and 2. he isn't much of a fighter. I disagree. The last thing the Wings need is for a valuable, everyday player like Franzen breaking his hand hitting someone's helmet. A big guy on the end of the bench making the league minimum would be ideal.

In terms of low risk/high reward signings, I think Bertuzzi could fit into that category. The market value for him will be low due to his injuries last year. They might be able to sign him to a low base, high incentive deal kinda like what they did with Dom last year. IF his back holds up, he could be a bargain.

Nice mature name-calling there at the top. Here's Dom's save % the past 8 games: .926 .926 .958 1.000 .969 .879 1.000 .818 Maybe you struggled with Math, but tha'ts hardly 50% of the time. Last night's game was horrible, I'm not denying that but for you to be on here making things up without being able to validate any of it is a waste of everyone's time.

I would have to be classified as "all you guys" since I've been a Wing's fan for life. I never once said or insinuated that socal hockey fans know nothing about hockey. To the contrary, Puckloo says hockey fans in San Jose and Anaheim are quite loyal and logical and I have no reason to doubt anything she says. It seems to me like your goal on this site is to come and start arguments. You might find a few takers for your arguing but you'd probably have more luck at another website. A great one for arguing is calgarypuck.com.

I completely agree here. I almost started this exact same thread yesterday but decided not to. I was reading a thread about the pronger suspension and people were ripping duckette (sp) even though he was agreeing that pronger should be suspended. I personally, enjoy reading posts from other perspectives. I don't always agree with them but as long as they're respectful, everyone's entitled to their opinions.

More than likely he'll play when the series shifts to Detroit. The Wings will have the last line change and won't have to worry about Hudler being stuck out on the ice against giants. Having said that, if Kopecky can shake the rust and quit taking penalties, he may just stay in the lineup. Now, if you want Hudler to replace someone in the lineup, I can think of one person in particular and his last name starts with an L and it rhymes with "sang". Hudler is a natural center despite playing wing most of his short nhl career. I realize Babcock won't bench Lang, but it's just an idle thought that has been in my mind recently.

I had the exact same feeling and I'll take it a step further. I had the feeling that no matter what they did, they weren't going to score. That's a nice feeling, isn't it? That's the feeling that's been missing for several years (probably since 2002). That wasn't meant to be a shot at any of the other previous goalies or to start any type of flame war. When the Wings needed shots stopped, Dom stopped them. Yes, he let in some bad goals early in the first period, but he slammed the door when needed. One goal in the last six periods. I'll take that.

Hasek. A shutout right now would be fantastic.

You bring up a point that's been bugging me. Calder has played a total of 9 minutes the last 7 periods combined. I admire him for playing through his injury but maybe it's time to get a healthy body in there that can offer more consistent minutes. Hudler is an option but against these gigantic forwards he may be a liability. Kopecky is an option and Ellis would be also. At this point, I wonder if Calder isn't hurting the team more than he is helping them.

That's what I was thinking. This series hasn't been half as physical and then when you factor in the screwed up scheduling in the first round, how on earth could someone say the wings are exhausted? p.s. Where's this big, physical Sharks team we've been hearing about? Yes, they came in and won one and yes they could win the series but I think the pre-series talk about how physical they are was overrated. Calgary was MUCH more physical. Any word on Homer?

The bad part is, I don't HATE San Jose. I couldn't stand looking at the goons from Calgary but I have nothing bad to say about SJ. Hopefully it'll be a good, clean, hard fought series..............with Hasek making Nabokov look like a backup.

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