eva unit zero

Maybe he thought they needed his playoff experience...guy has a couple rings and he's also a decent two-way, somewhat physical defenseman.

Don't be so sure.

Regarding Ritola, now that the season's over... His season of 42 points in 66 games is comparable to Kopecky's career AHL points-per-game. Both players played multiple forward positions and in all situations. Ritola began his season at the age of 21; Kopecky spent much of his "21" season injured, so let's compare to the season when Kopecky began at 20. Kopecky played in all situations, and scored 17 goals and 38 points in 70 games. Both players are known as physical forwards. How exactly is a comparison of Ritola to Kopecky inaccurate? Maybe if he suddenly regresses in his development and never makes an NHL roster it would be inaccurate. As far as Axelsson...he has a lot of the same negatives that were applied to Hudler, only to a much greater degree. He weighs less than Hudler despite being seven inches taller. He's 22 and is being asked by Wings brass to improve his weaknesses if he wants a shot at training camp. Hudler played his first NHL game at age 19, and was asked by Wings brass to improve his skating, strength, and defense and has become a much more versatile player; Hudler was considered the most offensively talented center in his draft but his size/strength and defensive questions caused him to drop to #58. If he were the skater he is now, and his defensive skill compared to his offensive skill was the same then as it is now, Huds would've probably gone in the top five or ten overall. Axelsson simply needs to follow the Hudler model, or for that matter the Datsyuk model, as that's the same description of how Datsyuk went from a decent prospect to a superstar; by working his ass off on what he's not good at.

When every analyst is only pointing out 2006, though? That's a bit annoying. Especially when many improvements have been made to the team, and we don't have the choking sandbag (language censored) of a goalie that we did have.

Looking forward to see this: In about six to ten years.

If Ozzie has a playoff performance like he normally does and the Wings take it home, he BETTER win Conn Smythe...after finishing a close second twice he deserves to win the thing.

Bettman says that the situation in Pittsburgh is an example of what could (and we should hope does) happen with franchises like Tampa Bay, the Islanders, and Phoenix. A team in a well-populated area managed to develop a good, young team and solid fan base over the course of a few years. He's not saying "Pittsburgh is awesome, Detroit sucks" or whatever you guys are hearing.

Proof Bill Clement calling Ken Hitchcock the best coach in the league was WRONG. Why? Shouldn't the Columbus forwards be studying the Detroit defensemen and goaltenders, and the Columbus defensemen and goaltenders be studying the Detroit forwards?

I'm almost rooting for Kopecky to re-sign a two-year deal the morning of Game 1, and then win the Conn Smythe. The only problem is that crow would become an endangered species if that happened.

Maltby will retire to coach the Oilers.

Since 1985-86, the Cup has been won by the team ranked: 1st overall: 7 times 2nd overall: 1 time 3rd overall: 4 times 4th overall: 3 times 5th overall: 2 times 6th overall: 2 times 7th overall: 2 times 8th overall: 1 time So based on that history, the odds of winning are: San Jose Sharks: 31.8% Detroit Red Wings: 18.2% Washington Capitals: 13.6% New Jersey Devils: 9.1% Chicago Blackhawks: 9.1% Vancouver Canucks: 9.1% Boston Bruins: 4.5% Pittsburgh Penguins: 4.5% Using the same numbers, the odds of each conference champion are: WEST San Jose: 46.7% Detroit: 26.7% Chicago: 13.3% Vancouver: 13.3% EAST Washington: 42.9% New Jersey: 28.6% Boston: 14.3% Pittsburgh: 14.3% So based on overall standings of the past 22 seasons' Cup winners, the most likely finals result will be San Jose defeating Washington.

Shush, all the Ozzie bashers don't want to hear it. Especially if he gets a shutout or two in the series.

Here's what the Wings currently have under contract for next season: F Datsyuk, $6,700,000 F Zetterberg, $6,083,333 F Franzen $3,950,000 (NTC) F Filppula $3,000,000 F Cleary $2,800,000 (NTC) F Holmstrom $2,250,000 F Draper $1,583,333 (NTC) F Maltby $883,333 F Hossa UFA F Samuelsson UFA F Kopecky UFA F Hudler RFA D Lidstrom $7,450,000 D Rafalski $6,000,000 (NTC) D Stuart $3,750,000 (NTC) D Kronwall $3,000,000 D Lilja $1,250,000 D Ericsson $900,000 D Lebda $650,000 D Meech $483,333 D Chelios UFA G Osgood $1,416,667 G Conklin UFA TOTAL $52,149,999 Cap Space $4,550,001 The Wings have eight forwards, eight defensemen, and one goaltender signed for a total of seventeen players. The very minimum they could add to the roster is four forwards and one goaltenders, as they need to have a total of twelve forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders to have a complete roster. The rumor, as put out by his agent, is that Hossa will sign long-term with Detroit for a cap hit of about $6m. So we will go based on that figure. Estimated cap hit for skaters who may be retained: F Hossa $6m F Hudler $1.8m F Samuelsson $1.35m F Kopecky $575k D Chelios $500k The Wings also have a minor league forward who may be on the roster full-time next season who is currently an RFA. His estimated cost to re-sign would be: F Leino $1m Other minor leaguers who may be on the NHL roster: F Helm $599,444 F Abdelkader $740,000 G Howard $716,667 Assuming the Wings sign Hossa and move Howard up, that puts them $2,166,666 over the cap still needing to sign three forwards minimum. Kopecky is young, versatile, has potential, has displayed chemistry with much of the roster and would be signing for near league minimum, so he would likely be retained. That's 2,741,666 over the cap with only ten forwards. At this point, we have to consider who needs to be removed. The player who costs the most for what he brings is probably Brad Stuart. But he has a no-trade clause. We will start by assuming we can move Stuart and his salary for pick(s) and/or prospect(s). We're now down to 10/7/2 and we are 1,008,334 under the cap. We need to add two forwards to the roster. We will add Helm and his $599,444 salary to the roster, pushing us to $408,890 under the cap with 11/7/2. The next two players in terms of cost to value are both forwards. Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula. Flip is much more tradeable, as he has higher value, as well as the fact that Cleary has a NTC. Trading Cleary would be better for the team, but is less likely; but we will start with that situation. 10/7/2 and 3,208,890 below the cap. Add Hudler at $1.8m and Leino at $1m for the $2.8m Cleary made, bringing the cap space back to $408,890 with a 12/7/2 roster with one defenseman capable of playing forward if necessary. The Wings lose Samuelsson, Chelios, and Conklin, but retain almost the entire roster. Trading Filppula instead of Cleary increases the cap space by $200k, but Filppula/Cleary is the only roster difference. If the cap is increased by 5%, then skip trading Cleary or Flip, and have Flip center the third line of what I posted earlier, Kopy play LW on #4, and Malts as the spare. If Stuart refuses to be traded, the Wings have one more defenseman and are more than $3m over the cap. The easy solution to that is to instead trade Kronwall for picks/prospects, as well as trade/waive Lebda and sign Chelios. Granted, this puts them much closer to the cap, but still under it. The worst-case scenario in trades is that they must trade both Filppula and Kronwall due to NTC issues. The Wings would be able to swap Lebda for prospects or picks, replacing him with Chelios in this case. EDIT: Lines as follows Stuart and Cleary traded: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Leino/Filppula/Kopecky Maltby/Draper/Helm Meech Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Lilja/Lebda Meech Osgood Stuart and Filppula traded: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Kopecky/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm Meech Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Lilja/Lebda Meech Osgood Kronwall and Filppula traded, Lebda traded/waived: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Kopecky/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm Meech Lidstrom/Rafalski Stuart/Ericsson Lilja/Chelios Meech Osgood Howard

You say that like they scored 5 or 6 center ice goals. Remember that shutout Ozzie had against Dallas to win the series when the Wings were being outplayed in the last game? People always seem to forget that part of it.

With ZDH together, assuming we sign Hossa, the second line should be Franzen/Hudler/Hossa. Our second-best playmaking forward with two of our three best goal scorers; tell me how Hudler is a poor choice to center Franzen and Hossa?

I would like to see them use these lines: 5-man Even Strength: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson Helm/Draper/Kopecky Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Stuart/Chelios 4-man Even Strength: Datsyuk/Hossa Zetterberg/Filppula Franzen/Hudler Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Stuart/Chelios 5-man Power Play: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom/Lidstrom/Rafalski Franzen/Hudler/Hossa/Kronwall/Samuelsson 4-man Power Play: Datsyuk/Hossa/Lidstrom/Rafalski Franzen/Hudler/Kronwall/Zetterberg 4-man Penalty Kill: Zetterberg/Cleary Franzen/Filppula Helm/Draper Lidstrom/Kronwall Stuart/Chelios 3-man Penalty Kill: Zetterberg Cleary Filppula Lidstrom/Kronwall Stuart/Chelios

Sad way to go for the guy, especially considering that he started his career in 1976 as a top pitcher, and from 1976 to 1980 consistently was a star pitcher, but also wrecked his knee in training camp in 1977. After healing from that injury, and changing his motion to accomodate his injury, he spent seven years trying to make a comeback, pitching his final game on October 1st, 1980 for the Tigers. He would get his release the next summer and would eventually sign with the Red Sox, never actually playing for Boston. A doctor eventually diagnosed him with a torn rotator cuff, which was torn nearly all the way through, ending his comeback attempts.

Kopecky sat for Chelios, who is FROM CHICAGO. You would sit for Chelios too. At the time, Maltby was higher on the depth chart than Kopecky...since then Kopecky has outplayed Maltby CONSIDERABLY and appears to now be ahead of Maltby on the depth chart.

Find me a better player than Kopecky for under the $575 he'll be signing for.

You think ANY of the goalies you suggested will outperform Osgood in the postseason? Khabibulin is the only possibility, and he is coming off a $7m contract...so the $3m range is a bit unlikely. The others are either proven chokers, career backups whose only "strong seasons" were behind great defenses, goalies coming off $3.5m+ contracts, and goalies-of-the-future who expect to resign in their current location. Give me an example of how any of them is an upgrade over Osgood and would cost the Wings about $3m. Seriously. Oh, and the blowing leads thing? That was the defense. Unless you think Osgood was telling the defense how to play when Conklin was in net, because it happened then too.

With the extra 5%, it would be an extra $2.835m in cap space. What I would do with my 21-man roster, assuming that happened, is bring up Abdelkader ($740k) to play the left side on the fourth line, with Maltby as the spare forward. I would sign Chelios at league minimum $500k, and trade Lebda for a pick. Chelios and Meech split time on the 3rd pair. Kindl, Pyett, and Kolosov all could be called up in case of injury. 22-man roster. Adds $590k to the roster, which could conceivably be done without the 5% increase (allowing only ~$10,000 in cap space) but should not be. The Lebda/Chelios swap could be done without bringing up Abdelkader to no harm, still using Meech as the spare forward. But Meech is one of the most versatile, as well as the cheapest player on the roster...there is no way he leaves the roster first given those facts as he is not the worst player on it.

That one time a couple years back Lidstrom turned it over right in front of the net while Legace was on his side, man that proves he's no good defensively! Try paying attention to more than just one or two plays. Hudler is above-average defensively. No, not compared to guys like Z, Dats, Flip, Cleary, and Draper. But compared to other guys at his age and with his offensive skill, he's very good defensively. Compared to other guys with his offensive skill REGARDLESS of age, he's still pretty good defensively. I remember at least one stupid play for every player on the roster. Does that mean they all suck?

Hudler isn't a Selke candidate, but he's actually developed into a pretty strong defensive player. He's also developed into a pretty quick skater as well. The thing about Hudler some people haven't noticed because they pay attention to what was the negatives a couple years ago and not what the negatives are NOW is that Hudler has actually worked very hard on improving his deficiencies. Try watching a few games. Oh, and Hudler basically gets grinder-type ice now and scores better at even strength than a lot of first liners. Give him real linemates (such as the Franzen/Hudler/Hossa line I've been suggesting for months) and he could put up crazy numbers. Datsyuk is the only better playmaker on the team among forwards, and Hudler's a pretty good shooter too.

Ok, so which goalie do you suggest we sign or trade for? Keep in mind that in order to sign Hossa, the Wings already will have to cut loose players from the current roster just to remove the cap cost. What goalie are you suggesting the Wings get who will perform better than Osgood in the playoffs, and do you really think all the changes to the roster you would have to make to get that goaltender would allow the team in front of him to be as good? For example...you could change the Wings and trade for Roberto Luongo or another 'elite' goalie...but the kind of gutting you would have to do to the Wings to open up cap space for his contract would do at least as much damage to the team as the difference between that goalie's playoff performance and Osgood's. Isn't it better to have a cheap, reliable veteran in net who will show up and play as needed in the postseason without the salary of a superstar, allowing more money to be spent to have skill and depth on defense and offense? Last season says yes.

Assuming we are signing Hossa at a $6m cap hit: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Kopecky/Leino Maltby/Draper/Helm Meech Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Lilja/Lebda Meech Osgood Howard