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So in other words, you would prefer that the Wings have practically no cap space available? Plus, if Lebda and Meech are both outside the top 6, one of them will likely be traded. Lebda is the better pick to trade because Meech is just as good or better, more versatile, and cheaper. If they trade Lebda, they can keep Hudler over Samuelsson. Would you rather have Hudler, or Samuelsson and Lebda (as a 7th defenseman)? Remember, Kindl is available to come up if injuries happen on defense. He was ahead of Quincey on the Grand Rapids depth chart before Quincey was let go, and we all know how well Quincey (who I said we should have kept over Lebda) is doing.

Which is why when I laid down my award winners in the pre-playoff awards thread while Minny still had a chance, I said for the Hart: "Backstrom (If Minnesota makes the playoffs) or Ovechkin (if Minnesota misses)"

Backstrom was the most valuable goalie, not Mason.

This is where I always complain. Zetterberg IMHO is the best defensive forward in the league, but will not get credit for it unless he puts up scoring numbers similar to what Dats does. The more defense you play against the better players will usually reduce the offensive numbers you play. Datsyuk plays excellent defense, but Zetterberg is the team's primary defensive center and should be the one with two consecutive Selkes. If Datsyuk played more like Ovechkin or Malkin, he'd be the Ross winner, but wouldn't even be considered for the Selke.

Well, as the league has in the past approved Balsillie as a potential owner... This could help fast track expansion to 32 teams, which would be a better number than 30; (4 divisions of 8 teams, or 8 divisions of 4) Expansion could potentially include the Hamilton Blackberries and perhaps a team in Portland/Seattle, Winnipeg, Kansas City, Houston, or maybe even get an NHL team in Toronto or Denver because I hear those are pretty good hockey markets too. Also, as part of the same offseason as the expansion, perhaps one of the Eastern teams (Such as Atlanta or Florida that has been consistenly doing poorly both on the ice and financially could see a move to a Western market like one of those mentioned above that might be better for its financial situation and result in better long-term results on-ice as it would be able to provide a better product by actually spending money on players instead of just reaching the cap floor. So perhaps imagine divisions as such; we'll assume Atlanta moves as it's in worse financial shape with worse on-ice history than Florida: CENTRAL: Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Houston, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis PACIFIC: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, San Jose, Vancouver NORTHEAST: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Toronto SOUTHEAST: Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington Also, I would have the top-four teams from each division make the playoffs and have a division playoff, then the division winners be seeded 1-4 based on regular season finish (for example, the Southeast division winner wouldn't always play the Northeast division winner) Or, if you prefer the 8-division setup: -Chicago, Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville -Colorado, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis -Anaheim, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose -Calgary, Edmonton, Portland, Vancouver -Boston, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto -Buffalo, Detroit, Hamilton, Pittsburgh -New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia -Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Washington

Technically, the Pearson is for the best player, not the MVP. Read the description. The Hart is for the MVP, yet the media often votes as if it were for the best player. If the Hart were voted by the media for the actual MVP...Yzerman would have won at least three times during the late 80s and early 90s. I don't know if Gretzky has ever actually deserved the Hart, regardless of whether he was the best player in the league. His supporting cast was a bunch of great players, so it's hard to say he was the most valuable player when his team is a bunch of Hall of Famers in their primes.

We'd have to have two of the top 5 out injured for Lebda to be getting significant minutes like you stated; Lilja is above him on the depth charts and should be back for the season opener. That's an injury everyone has forgotten when mentioning injured players like Raffi, Lids, Draper, and Dats; the Wings' best shot blocker and one of their better PKers and defensive defensemen missed the entire postseason. But tell me...which of these options do you prefer: Forwards: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hossa, Franzen, Hudler, Cleary, Holmstrom, Leino, Helm, Kopecky, Draper, Maltby Defensemen: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Ericsson, Lilja, Lebda, Meech Goaltenders: Osgood, Howard OR Forwards: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Hudler, Cleary, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, Leino, Helm, Kopecky, Draper, Maltby Defensemen: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericsson, Lilja, Lebda, Meech Goaltenders: Osgood, Howard OR Forwards: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Hudler, Filppula, Cleary, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, Leino, Helm, Kopecky, Draper, Maltby Defensemen: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Ericsson, Lilja, Lebda, Meech Goaltenders: Osgood, Howard Go ahead. Pick your preferred roster. Which is better for the team? I know my opinion. And it's not the one that keeps Stuart.

Stuart does have an NTC, but you missed something. Stuart, not Filppula, is the highest paid replaceable player on the Red Wings. And if they have to trade ONE player, he is the #1 option to consider because Ericsson has proven he can play top-four minutes, and Lilja, Meech, and Lebda all are decent #5-6 defensemen. Trading Stuart provides enough cap space for raises for Hudler, Samuelsson, Leino, and Kopecky if you don't keep Hossa, plus some extra space. Trading Stuart plus either Filppula or Cleary allows for Hossa to be retained, at the likely cost of Samuelsson as UFA but no other significant roster players. Giving up Hudler and Samuelsson doesn't provide enough cap room and opens up too many forward spots. It simply won't happen, regardless of whoever speculates what. They might both be gone, but so will a defenseman. That defenseman hopefully will be Brad Stuart, and might be Andreas Lilja...but unfortunately might also be Niklas Kronwall. But the best way to retain the current roster as closely as possible is to trade Stuart and either Filppula or Cleary. Lose Conklin, Samuelsson, Chelios to UFA, bring up Helm, Howard, Leino (resigned), Ericsson, resign Hudler, Kopecky, Hossa. Lilja can even play in the top four if you don't trust Ericsson.

Chicago can pretty much afford him if they don't resign Khabibulin. That covers most of Heatley's contract. Huet, not Khabibulin, was Chicago's starter most of last year, and TBH outplayed Khabi against the Wings. I'd take Ozzie at $6m over either Huet or Khabi, but Huet is better than Khabibulin.

Assuming the following happens: Jiri Hudler signs for $1.8m. Ville Leino signs for $1m. Tomas Kopecky signs for $575k Brett Lebda is traded for picks and/or prospects. Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, Chris Chelios, and Ty Conklin are let go as UFAs. Jimmy Howard, Leino, Darren Helm, and Jonathan Ericsson are promoted to the NHL roster. This would provide the Wings with about $500k in cap space, and a 21-man roster with 12 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders. The #7 defenseman would be Derek Meech, who doubles as the #13 forward. The defense is Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Nik Kronwall, Brad Stuart, Ericsson, Andreas Lilja, and Meech. The regular lineup might be one of the following lineups: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Cleary/Hudler/Franzen Leino/Filppula/Kopecky Maltby/Draper/Helm Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Cleary Hudler/Filppula/Franzen Leino/Helm/Holmstrom Maltby/Draper/Kopecky Filppula/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen Leino/Helm/Cleary Maltby/Draper/Kopecky Those are not bad lineups. Of course, if Hossa signs at the $6m cap hit I have been projecting, then it's basically Marian Hossa and Brett Lebda vs. Valtteri Filppula and Brad Stuart. Other realistic options to clear enough space for Hossa and maintain the 12-7-2 with Meech performing double-duty, or more players are: Trade Cleary (NTC) and Stuart (NTC). This also, due to the extra $200k from trading Cleary instead of Filppula, would allow for trading Lebda and promoting Kindl.

I understood Draper, Cleary, Stuart, and a couple others having NTC...but I have never heard anything about Flip having an NTC. In fact, he is one of the few players the Wings could even consider trading in this situation that has a contract over $1.5m and as far as I knew did NOT have a NTC. Speaking of which, trading Filppula (assuming I am correct about NTC status) makes more sense than dumping Hudler. Hudler's contract won't be as much as Filppula's, and Hudler fits perfectly on a line of Franzen/Hudler/Hossa. Filppula fits well in place of Hudler, but not as well because Franzen and Hossa are both very good defensively and are better shooters than playmakers; Franzen can't pass worth crap. Putting Hudler, who is a good skater with decent speed, the second best playmaker on the Wings right now and above-average defensively, between those two guys is a better option than Filppula, who is a good skater with good speed, very good defensively and a decent playmaker. Flip is a good fit, but Hudler is better. Also, it's unlikely anyone puts an offer sheet to Hudler worth more than $2m or at most $2.5m. Detroit will probably be able to keep him for less than $2m. Filppula being traded is a better return than any compensation Detroit would get for Hudler at that salary level. Assuming Hudler signs for $1.8m, Hossa returns at $6m, and Filppula is traded, and Helm is promoted to take Filppula's open roster spot...that's about $15k lower cap hit than last year for those three. The only necessary NTC move is concerning Brad Stuart, and whether he'll waive his NTC so we can get rid of him. I would rather trade Cleary than Filppula as they are similar players at similar costs (but one is much younger), but that again requires NTC being waived.

Yeah, we need to pick up Brodeur. He's a guy who can score in the playoffs.

So which players better than Hudler and Samuelsson are going to come in and play for Hudler and Samuelsson's current contracts, or a small amount more? The Wings currently have signed for next season 9 forward, 8 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders if you include Howard as the backup. This leaves about $3.229m in cap space if you assume the cap stays the same. The Wings would need to sign three forwards for less than that, if nobody is dumped. Kopecky likely can be kept for about $575k. This leaves about $2.65 in cap space to sign two forwards. Figure Hudler and Samuelsson can be kept for that number. Which two forwards would you suggest can be kept for those kind of contracts who are better than Hudler and Samuelsson? I can't think of anyone who would take less than $2.65 ON THEIR OWN who is better than either Huds or Sammy, let alone two forwards who can be kept for that amount.

Hossa has been criticized all playoff about not scoring goals. Yet he was one of Detroit's top defensive forwards all playoff, set up linemates for many excellent scoring opportunities, and created his own scoring opportunities many times. Just because he didn't score doesn't mean he wasn't playing well. No, he wasn't playing as well as he did in the regular season. But neither was Pavel Datsyuk, who many here would gladly get on their knees for regardless of his playoff performance. Hossa was no less effective overall in the playoffs than Datsyuk, yet Datsyuk gets no criticism and Hossa is assaulted with full force. And Datsyuk is a Hart finalist who was expected to do much more than Hossa going into the playoffs. Holmstrom, as you mentioned, was pretty terrible. And is another forward who does not receive much criticm yet should catch much more.

Among defensemen healthy enough to play in the playoffs for the Wings, the one who fits the description put forth here of a "playoff-type defenseman" the most is Brad Stuart. If we had six Brad Stuarts playing for us on defense, I somehow doubt we'd have made the final, as he was our worst defenseman throughout the playoffs, and by far the worst player on the ice in Game 7 as his poor decisions were responsible for both of Pittsburgh's goals.

Hossa was easily Pittsburgh's best player in the postseason last year. Especially in the finals.

So I was debating how, other than biased opinions and potentially padded stats, the Smythe winner could be predicted. And I came up with this little gem. It's sort of a "Smythe calculator" of sorts. For each series played, the team's top five players for that series are selected. Players are awarded points in this fashion: 1st-10, 2nd-8, 3rd-6, 4th-4, 5th-2. Multiply the number of points by the round the series was played in (the best player for the team in round two gets 20 points) and you have your Smythe calculator. The highest potential score is 100, which means being the best in all rounds. Also, the Cup winning team would get some amount of bonus points I have yet to determine because I haven't compared my Smythe calculator to past results yet. So we'll leave that out for now. The Red Wings' point ranking, entering the series, of: Osgood 56 Franzen 38 Lidstrom 34 Zetterberg 32 Cleary 8 Datsyuk 8 Filppula 6 These rankings are after three rounds. Based on the first six games of the finals, assuming nothing changes the current "top-five" in game 7, the final result would be: Osgood 88 Zetterberg 72 Lidstrom 58 Franzen 46 Cleary 24 Datsyuk 8 Filppula 6 And Osgood would be the Smythe winner, as Malkin is the only Pens player who has been good enough to compare to how important Osgood has been (92 points for Malkin, currently 62 for Crosby unless something impressive happens in Game 7) and wins if the Pens win the Cup.

Hossa has outplayed on the defensive side: Holmstrom, Franzen, Draper, Maltby, Hudler, Samuelsson, Kopecky, Leino, Abdelkader Hossa has a better points-per-game ratio than: Cleary, Hudler, Samuelsson, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Helm, Abdelkader, Leino, Maltby, Kopecky, Draper So the only forwards who have outplayed Hossa going both ways are: Zetterberg, Filppula Zetterberg is the league's best defensive forward and an amazing offensive talent as well. A large portion of Filppula's offense has come from scoring opportunities Hossa has created, and his defense has only been marginally better. Hossa may not be scoring like he did in the regular season, but he has been extremely good defensively; better than he was in the regular season. Hossa has been one of the team's four or five best forwards this playoff run overall.

Ozzie knows that winning the Cup and playing a dominant game on Friday, which would guarantee his Smythe, silences most of the doubters regarding him and the HOF. That will be a big factor in the result in Game 7, and Detroit will win by a few goals. As I have said in other threads, though...look for Hudler to explode; at least 3 points. 96%.

Osgood has to pretty much do everything he can to hand game 7 over to the Pens, like give up 5 goals to Malkin on 8 total shots after the Wings' 3rd and 4th lines score 6 goals. Then Conklin holds them off and the Wings win, and Malkin gets the CS.

Hudler, Osgood, and Zetterberg will be the three stars. Hudler will score three or more points. Osgood gets the Smythe.

The question was who would you take in their primes. Fedorov's strength was part of what made him such a dominant player; players could hit him and they would bounce off. He was unbelievably strong on the puck. You can't say "Well give Dats Fedorov's body." unless you want to say "Give Fedorov whatever disadvantage he has in the comparison." And Fedorov still does confound people with his skating and puckhandling, although he has lost a step in terms of speed. You probably didn't watch many of Washington's games in the playoffs, but he was arguably their best player many nights and looked ten years younger.

Holland has already basically said Chelios won't be back, regardless of if he wants to keep playing. Also, Abdelkader only makes $740k. But it will be Howard as the backup, not Conklin as Conklin will likely take a deal for somewhere between $1.75m to $2.5m to play 1A starter if not #1 outright for another team. And Kopecky would be retained on the 12-man roster of regular forwards ahead of Downey, so that's $575, meaning after all that you would have $2.098m for raises and the like on your 22-man roster, rather than $1.78m. You would also have 13 forwards and 7 defensemen, rather than 12 forwards and 8 defensemen.

Ritola is signed to a cap hit of $511,667 for next season. Push that 250k or so over to Sammy because Sammy isn't coming back with no raise.

Fedorov. By a WIDE margin. There is not a single player in the league right now who is anywhere NEAR an in-his-prime Fedorov. The stats also don't tell the whole story; remember that Fedorov was playing in the dead puck era against 20 trap teams, with the two-line pass. An in-his-prime Fedorov playing in today's NHL? 50-60 goals, 120-130 points a year and the Selke. It would be scary.