HenryMalredo

Solid defense, goaltending is meh.....Toskala is pretty average, Gustavsson is an unknown, might have one of the most offensively challenged forward units in the league............eh, I doubt they're a playoff team.

Generally, in order to get a player by means of offersheet, it requires an offer that the other team would not match..........aka it would mean the Wings would have to overpay a third liner. Thats just a silly use of an offersheet, and something a GM like Holland wouldn't do.

My point still stands. Holland wouldn't waste an offersheet on someone who's upside is a third-liner.

Holland isn't going to waste his time sending an offer-sheet for an enforcer for Grand Rapids.

Kovalchuck will never hit free agency. If he can;t be signed, he'll be traded.

The problem is, Zherdev became a ufa after teams were no longer looking for players in his pay range. The first tier guys get signed within the first two days, and most of the second-tier guys (like Zherdev) get snapped up quickly afterwards. Zherdev is a player in the $3 - 5 million dollar range on the market, but nobody is looking for (and can't afford) those players anymore.

A team with 3 of the top ten players in the NHL does not re-build

It doesn't matter who has left, and who has come in, the expectations will be for the Cup.

2 guys who can score between 15 - 25 goals = one rookie checker........................seriously?

The big thing was Ballsile taking reservations for tickets in Hamilton while claiming that he would make a good faith effort to keep the Preds in Nashville. Regardless of how much money he has, or how his reputation is as a businessman is, that does not look good. I think Hamilton will get a team a some point (Southern Ontario is the only part of Canada that could support another NHL team), but it will be an expansion team (the owners love expansion fees $$$$$$$$$), and it won't be owned by Ballsile.

The Stars didn't seem to be in any hurry to bring them back.

Osgood will only get in the Hall based on longevity (aka the Mike Gartner way). He is going to retire with great numbers, but he is not better than most of the goalies he will surpass, just as Mike Gartner had scored more goals than better players. The best HHoF comparisons to Ozzie are Fuhr and Smith, two mediocre regular season goalies who weren't exactly workhorses, but Osgood, despite having greatly improved his playoff reputation in the last few years, doesn't have quite the big-game rep as those two. There's quite a few goalies who aren't in the Hall that compare similar or better to Osgood: Vachon, Hextall, Vernon, Barasso. Remember, a lot of HHoF selections are base on perception, so remember how often, rightly or wrongly, Osgood has been listed as Detroit's weak link at the beginning of each season.

Don't blame Hudler. If it weren't for the NHl's meddling, the Wings would have been able to move on by now.

None of the Leafs new-look defense are even close to the skill level of Pronger and Niedermayer. Also, Jason Blake is their best forward.......................he wouldn't be able to crack Anaheim's top-six.

D looks solid. Offense and goaltending are horrible though.

Wings won't have the cap space.

Don't expect Nash or Kovalchuck to hit free agency. Columbus has been improving and Nash seems to like it there....he'll re-up. If the Thrashers don't improve, Kovalchuck will be traded and signed before free agency. Elite young players never hit free agency.

I wish I had a dime for every time somebody suggests that an elite player is going to go to a crappy leafs team, and it didn't happen.

Their D is solid, but goaltending is a average, and their offense is a joke. No elite players and little leadership.

Too bad they're not going to be doing much winning.

Primeau never lived up to expectations.........he was drafted to be a strong scoring center. Though after he left, he managed to carve out a useful career as a solid defensive player.

Hoss is actually signed to a pretty reasonable deal. The only problem is that Toews and Kane will need new contracts soon.

Downey was irrelevant to the Wings winning a cup in 2008. Drake was used more as a tenacious grinder than an enforcer.

Downey and McCarty were rarely used in the 2008 playoffs. Drake was used more as a checker than a fighter during his time with the Wings. The Wings have several players that, while they don't fight, can play a tough game.

Thankfully, that would never happen. The most stable sports teams are the ones that control their own arena. Hockey itself is not very profitable, but concessions, events, concerts, etc., are, and all of that would be going to Bill Davidson instead of Mike Illitch.