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I think he meant Jeremy Williams, who is already slotted for GR but had a very solid season last year.

There's still enough cap space if Hudler chooses to play in Detroit, and no official decision has been made. While it's most likely that Hudler is going to end up in Moscow, he's still probably more likely than Bertuzzi.

Four potential line situations based on which personnel actually end up on the roster: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Leino Cleary/Helm/Eaves Maltby/Draper/Abdelkader McGrath/Oulahen Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Leino Cleary/McGrath/Eaves Maltby/Draper/Helm Oulahen Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Leino Cleary/Helm/Eaves Maltby/Draper/Oulahen McGrath Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Hudler Cleary/Eaves/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm With Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Stuart Ericsson/Delmore Meech Osgood Howard Leaves the Wings about $1.54m in cap space with the first option, $2.28 with the second and third, and $550k with the fourth.

Hudler was one of the few Wings who DID crash the net. Hudler was one of the hardest and most feisty players. No, he wasn't one of the best defensive forwards on the team. Guess what? Neither is Helm. Helm's only major assets over Hudler are speed and hitting. A lot of people are acting like Helm is going to score at LEAST 15 goals this season. That is an insane projection, unless he spends the entire season with Dats and Z...at which point he might score about 15. Now Sammy? He didn't really crash the net...but he had one of the best wrist shots on the team and a great slapper. As long as he got in a good spot in the high slot, he was pretty dangerous. The only players who bear as little danger offensively as Helm to the opposition are Draper, Maltby, and Oulahen. And that is regardless of who we sign, if we sign anybody or bring up Abdelkader/McGrath/Oulahen and fill out the third line with Abby and/or McGrath. So if Helm is a 15+ goal scorer, the Wings are going to score a MINIMUM of 275 goals

Look it up. I said (paraphrase) "If Medvedev follows his word and the KHL treat arbitration like a contract and do not register Hudler's contract unless the Wings walk away" then there is no way Hudler can play in the KHL unless the Wings do walk away, as then the KHL would register Hudler's deal before any other NHL team could sign him. As that situation never occurred (the KHL registered his contract before the hearing) then what I said was based on a fictional situation. Analogy: We both state we are entering chocolate cakes in a cake-baking competition. I talk trash from moment one that mine will beat yours. At the last moment, you decide to bake a spice cake instead, and finish first while I take second prize. Was I wrong? No; you had no chocolate cake for me to beat. You entered a spice cake which did not follow the situation I was referring to, which was two chocolate cakes. Does that clarify it? You don't appear to understand that certain things must occur in an if:then timeline for the latter things to follow as stated. I provided a possible if:then timeline where the ifs did not complete as I posted. And therefore, I was not wrong about Hudler.

Balsillie has gone about the process of relocating teams he didn't even own twice now. That on it's own is a huge negative. But the fact is, he has been very open about the fact that he wants to purchase a team with the sole purpose of moving it to Hamilton. Now, if he wants to move a team he has purchased, that's one thing...but there should be some attempt to make the team successful in its current location before he is allowed to just uproot a team. Not to mention the fact that yes, Hamilton will draw primarily from Buffalo; but that fact doesn't make dropping a team in there any less dangerous. Putting a team in Hamilton could potentially tear away a significant portion of the Sabres' fan base. Why doesn't Balsillie just buy the Sabres?

That would be a great signing, as well, assuming Lilja were LTIR. Preferably also Lebda traded for pick(s)/prospect(s) and Delmore called up to compete with Meech, assuming Delmore is signed for $500k. Better than any of the other suggestions (Prospal, Sykora, Williams, Bertuzzi) because Zherdev would provide the same kind of offense that Hudler did or perhaps more given improvement over an additional year and perhaps motivation from playing for the Wings and with Datsyuk. Beyond that, give the 12th spot to Oulahen or McGrath. Almost certainly one of these four lineups to start the season: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Zherdev Cleary/Helm/Leino Maltby/Draper/Oulahen Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Zherdev Cleary/McGrath/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm Franzen/Zetterberg/Cleary Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Zherdev McGrath/Filppula/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm Franzen/Zetterberg/Cleary Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Zherdev Helm/Filppula/Leino Maltby/Draper/Oulahen Further noticeable; if Lilja is on LTIR and the Wings carry Lids/Raffi/Stuie/Kronner/Ericssson/Lebs/Meech as their seven D, with Abs in GR and Oulahen or McGrath as the 12th, then Hudler's $2.875 cap hit leaves the Wings with $400k open. Meaning that, to remain under the cap, Lilja has to miss 17 games before he can be activated, assuming the Wings trade Lebda before the season and carry no spares. To remain under the cap, Lilja has to miss 30 games if Meech is dealt before opening night and the Wings carry no spares. The third option is, if Lilja is healthy by opening night, for the Wings try to deal Brad Stuart for a defenseman with a $2m-$2.5m cap hit who plays a decent two-way game and is in his mid 20s, and preferably has a right-handed shot. Perhaps something involving Stuart, Lebda, a mid-round pick or mid-level forward prospect would get us Matt Niskanen? Niskanen vs Stuart is probably a pretty fair deal on the ice, but dropping ~$3.5m off the cap hit and quite a few years of age is probably worth a third pair defenseman and a mid-level prospect given the likely future improvement Niskanen would help with the D alongside Ericsson and Kronwall in the post-Lidstrom era. And he's an offensively skilled blueliner with a right-handed shot.

Can you tell I've always been a Schumi fan, even since his days with Benetton? I always liked Ferrari as well, and rooted for them behind him...so naturally it was a perfect match when Schumacher moved to Ferrari.

I have to say Yzerman. For this simple reason. If I look at the top centers of all-time, I am looking at perhaps Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Esposito, and Beliveau. If I look at the top five defensemen of all-time, I am looking at perhaps Orr, Bourque, Lidstrom, Shore, and Kelly. These lists might be slightly different if I were to put some extended time and thought into it, but the point is this: Lidstrom, like most of the others listed, spent more time than not dominating his position on great teams. Also, the trio of Gretzky/Lemieux/Yzerman is the only situation where players listed here spent extended time competing directly. Yzerman, unlike any of the other players listed, spent his prime on a team where his presence or absence directly determined the fate of the team. When it came to other forwards on the team, Yzerman was stuck playing with a collection of primarily third and fourth liners while Gretzky's Oilers saw first liners ending up on the third line. Lemieux's Penguins spent some years with few other offensively talented forwards, but Lemieux almost never saw time without talented teammates. Imagine what kind of team the Wings would have had if Detroit had a skilled second line center, and solid scoring wingers on the top two lines? Yzerman might have scored closer to 80+ goals and 200 points if he were playing with linemates who actually possessed some level of talent more than your average third liner. Lidstrom was a great defenseman, but it's hard to say that he ever carried the team in the way Yzerman had to simply because the team had so many great players and the team was never in that situation where he would have had to. Yzerman was more valuable to the franchise overall, Lidstrom was more important to the Cup wins in particular.

How can I have been wrong when the situation I laid out never occurred? I said if the head of the KHL followed through with his statement about not registering Hudler's contract unless the Wings rejected Hudler's arbitration award, then Hudler would be a Wing in 09-10. Tell me how I was wrong. Please, GST, I beg you to rant and rave about how I was wrong and how Chris Neil in a Wings jersey for $2m would prove it. Now, I will remind you, that Hudler's KHL contract was registered before Holland ever knew what Hudler's award was, and therefore before he could ever accept or reject it. So how was I wrong if what I said would occur was based on a potential situation that did not occur?

I'll start with the six best Canadian forwards, four best Canadian defensemen, and two best Canadian goalies: 1. Ryan Getzlaf 2. Sidney Crosby 3. Jarome Iginla 4. Joe Thornton 5. Mike Richards 6. Jeff Carter 1. Duncan Keith 2. Scott Niedermayer 3. Shea Weber 4. Dan Boyle 1. Martin Brodeur 2. Roberto Luongo And now, the ten best Canadian players, overall: 1. Martin Brodeur 2. Ryan Getzlaf 3. Sidney Crosby 4. Jarome Iginla 5. Duncan Keith 6. Joe Thornton 7. Roberto Luongo 8. Mike Richards 9. Scott Niedermayer 10. Chris Osgood

Jimmy Carson, Marc Potvin, and Gary Shuchuk for Paul Coffey, Sylvain Courturier and Jim Hiller Basically Carson for Coffey...the Wings kinda shoved a handgun in the Kings' mouths there.

If he goes to the KHL and the Wings accept the contract award, then Hudler cannot play in the Olympics or Worlds. That is correct.

While I have very much respect for Alain Prost, I have to go with Senna, because In the two days leading up to his death, due to a serious accident involving Rubens Barichello and a fatal crash involving Roland Ratzenberger, he was extremely instrumental in improving awareness of safety protocol in Formula One. Ironic that he would suffer a fatal accident the very same race weekend, in a race he started from the pole. Brent Gretzky or Keith Gretzky?

Current signed players expected to be on the 2009-10 roster: F: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Dan Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Ville Leino, Darren Helm D: Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Brett Lebda, Derek Meech G: Chris Osgood, Jimmy Howard *-Andreas Lilja is expected to be on LTIR and therefore is not included. This leaves $3,779,345 in available cap space to sign a minimum of two forwards. Under the assumption that one of those forwards will be Ryan Oulahen or Evan McGrath, and assuming both are signed for $500k, that means that Detroit has $3,279,345 to sign a minimum of one forward. Furthermore, under the assumption that Andy Delmore was signed for $500k, Brett Lebda could be dealt for picks and/or prospects and replaced on the roster by Delmore, increasing the available cap space to $3,429,345. As there is a very good chance Hudler's arbitration award will be sub-3.4m, this means that Detroit could likely fit Hudler under the cap with only a minor move (Lebda trade) that does not involve giving up any players of any significance.

Michael Schumacher, back in the cockpit...will it be reminiscent of old times? Will Schumacher pick up 70 championship points filling in for Massa? Can Schumacher/Raikkonen take 1-2 the rest of the season and possibly throw Ferrari back on top of the Constructors' standings with 166 points? This could potentially be very interesting.

Chest, because you can see it coming. Also, the back has these things called vertebrae protruding that REALLY cause a lot of pain if they get hit certain ways and can cause serious damage. Michael Schumacher or Mikka Hakkinen?

And we'll hopefully know tomorrow or Friday what's gonna happen with finality.

Lilja on LTIR, trade Lebda, Meech and Delmore compete daily for the 6/7 spots? If/when Lilja comes back Delmore goes to GR. That sounds like a plan to me.

What KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN quotes Holland as saying is that he expects Hudler to still defect after the arbitration. If the KHL and IIHF follow through with what they have said and Hudler CANNOT play in the KHL if the Wings accept the award, Hudler will be playing in the NHL or nowhere because he will not have an IIHF transfer card and will not be able to play in any of the Euro leagues, and his KHL contract will not be registered by the league management. Of course, this is pending on the KHL and IIHF following through with what they have said; and all I have quoted earlier is what they said. If they follow through, Hudler is in the NHL this coming season.

In 2007-08, Curtis Joseph posted very similar stats to Kiprusoff while both were Flames. Joseph's stats were significantly worse this year with the Leafs, while Leaf starter Martin Gerber posted better numbers than Kiprusoff. In the season with Phoenix before Joseph moved to Calgary, he also posted worse numbers than in Calgary. In 2006-07 Joseph went 18-31-2 for the Yotes while Mikael Tellqvist went 11-11-3. So it could be argued that Kiprusoff's numbers would have also been much worse on Toronto or Phoenix than they were with the Flames. To further that argument; let's suggest that Kiprusoff's shots per game increased by the same rate from 2007-08 to 06-07 and 08-09 that Joseph's did. This being 2.5 to 06-07 and 0.1 to 08-09. Assuming he posted the same save percentage, he would have faced 101 more shots in 06-07 and 42 fewer shots this past season, resulting in the following GAAs, respectively: 2.58 and 2.78 instead of 2.46 and 2.84. With regards to McElhinney...he's an AHL goaltender who is trying to break into the NHL. His stats are comparable to Jimmy Howard's at both level's, and Howard has yet to prove himself at the NHL level either. Using McElhinney as an argument for why Kiprusoff's stats shouldn't be used as an example is not a good argument; the best you can get with that is a counterpoint saying that Kiprusoff himself is not an NHL goaltender yet, simply a prospect with a high talent level who is in his 30s, a la Hasek in 91-92.

Read. Medvedev on KHL not registering contract if Wings agree to it. KHL is IIHF member league and has agreed to IIHF no-poaching policy. IIHF must sign ITC for Hudler to play in KHL. Does that help clarify things?

Answer this question: Is Osgood an elite goaltender? Now answer this question: Is Kiprusoff an elite goaltender? Based on what has been said in this thread and on this board, the second question would get more "Yes" answers than the first. Do you agree with that assessment? So why does Osgood have better stats, especially in the postseason? I can bring up other goaltenders if you prefer, I just thought Osgood was a good comparison since he gets a lot of the "He's just a mediocre goaltender" crap and he has had a couple of incredible postseason runs in the past two years. Also of note regarding Kipper's wins numbers; Kiprusoff has 37 more wins and 35 more losses in regular season and playoff combined; meaning Osgood could have played the 70+ games difference and gone .500 and had as many wins as Kiprusoff over the past three seasons, and that includes the fact that Osgood has 23 more playoff wins and both goalies have 12 playoff losses. If Kiprusoff still played the way he did in 2006-07 in the regular season and the playoffs, I would consider him an elite goaltender or at the very least close to it. But he has not been on that level in two years. Perhaps he has shown that level occasionally...but Osgood showed that level occasionally during the regular season. It didn't get him Vezina votes, did it?

Hudler probably would have been awarded around $3.5 had he just sat around and waited for the hearing. I would not be surprised if his award will be closer to $3m because of his signing with the KHL. Also, the KHL has said that, pending the outcome of the arbitration tomorrow, they will not register Hudler's contract if the Wings agree to the contract awarded tomorrow. The IIHF has stated they will not issue a transfer card, which would be required for Hudler to play in the KHL, to Hudler if the Wings accept the contract. So assuming all of that information has been reported accurately, then if the Wings accept the contract awarded to Hudler tomorrow, the question pretty much is about how Holland clears cap space, not what league Hudler is playing in this coming season.

Let's compare something real quick then: Kiprusoff's stats 2009 playoffs: 2-4, 3.52, .884 Kiprusoff's stats 2008 playoffs: 2-4, 3.21, .908 Kiprusoff's stats 2007 playoffs: 2-4, 2.81, .929 Kiprusoff's stats 2009 season: 45-24-5, 2.84, .903 Kiprusoff's stats 2008 season: 39-26-10, 2.69, .906 Kiprusoff's stats 2007 season: 40-24-9, 2.46, .917 Osgood's stats 2009 playoffs: 15-8, 2.01, .926 Osgood's stats 2008 playoffs: 14-4, 1.55, .930 Osgood's stats 2007 playoffs: Did not play (Hasek was starter) Osgood's stats 2009 season: 26-9-8, 3.09, .887 Osgood's stats 2008 season: 27-9-4, 2.09, .914 Osgood's stats 2007 season: 11-3-6, 2.36, .907 So, since you have suggested that a save percentage of .908 is actually higher than elite and that the cutoff for elite is even lower than .908...then Osgood is elite, right? Since he posted such ridiculous postseason numbers? Not to mention he has cleared .910 8 times in 15 seasons, .907 10 times, and .903 11 times. That's an elite career, right?