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Hudler was the best player on the ice playing on a line with two of the league's ten best forwards and often with the best defenseman as well. He has been the Wings' best forward for the game at least as often as any of Datsyuk, Hossa, Franzen, or Zetterberg have and he has been his line's best forward more often than any of those four. To make the common LGW argument that Hudler can't handle a first or second line role while the other four are star players is just ridiculous. Hudler is performing noticeably better than any of the four I mentioned, or Filppula, were/age at his age. I still think Babcock should follow my offseason suggestion of Hudler centering Hossa and Cleary on the second line. That line has more scoring, playmaking, and defensive talent than most first lines AND allows us to use DZH as the top line. Alternatively....put Cleary with Dats and Homer and use Huds with Z and Hossa. Franzen/Flip/Samuelsson as the third line has proven chemistry and was the second line when used previously, so it allows for more even line rolling.

After looking at it, I expect the Wings to lose Hossa, Chelios, Conklin,and possibly Maltby, Lebda or Lilja in the offseason. They will probably go with a 22-man roster for the majority of next year due to the cap, with Meech serving as the spare forward and defenseman again. Larsson holds the edge to get the backup duty over Howard due to having performed better and due to a lower cap number, but Howard's age may see him on the NHL roster as Larsson can stay in the AHL for a couple more years while it's basically do or die time for Howard in the Wings' organization. Ericsson replaces Chelios, and Helm and Leino will get looked at for forward positions, starting with the opening left by Hossa. If they have enough cap space, Leino will be on the roster. If they have enough roster space and cap space, both players will be in the NHL, with Meech only needing to play forward when the Wings have many injuries. Next season is the only season when cap space is tight with regards to keeping Hossa; so if Hossa would take another one-year deal for cheap to stick around, we can keep him. Otherwise, it's highly unlikely. Past next year, the cap space becomes much more easily available as Lidstrom and Holmstrom will begin to cost less per season, and Draper and Maltby will likely be replaced within a few years by cheaper alternatives such as Helm and Abdelkader.

Dany Sabourin's gear for last year, complete with waffleboard:

Detroit typically lets high-end prospects play out eligiblity in the CHL rather than rushing them into the NHL or AHL, unless they would be a huge upgrade for what the team at that level has; see Steve Yzerman and Chris Osgood for two different examples of this process. Yzerman came into the league and was the top player on the team right away. Osgood played three years in the CHL, followed by a year in the AHL, and then came into the NHL and snatched up the starting position from then All-Star goaltender Tim Cheveldae, forcing the team to explore trade options later in the season.

I wonder how much of it has to do with Hossa; and the fact that Hossa is on Dats' line and not Hank's.

Hudler has been by far the most clutch Wing in shootouts. I would pick him over Dats, Z, or Hossa for the SO based on track record this season.

You're pretty stupid. I generally avoid making comments like that...but you are dumb.

Hudler/Zetterberg/Cleary anyone?

Rafalski's no-trade clause. That said, the biggest option for keeping Hossa and Franzen without some kind of discount is trading Filppula. Which isn't going to happen.

Trade Lebda or Lilja for a pick, replace him with Meech or Chelios. Then, if we need to call up a goaltender, call up Larsson; he's apparently playing better, and he's also cheaper than Howard or Lebda. If not, still trade Lebda/Lilja because it clears up cap space and gets us a decent pick by trading an easily replaceable player.

That stick certainly looks above the crossbar where it's contacting the puck. Unfortunately the screen cap is such low res that I can't be sure; but based on those two images it's no goal.

The statistically most significant All-Star team who won't have their numbers retired are: C: Adam Oates (best argument is 499 points in Boston; too much of a carpetbagger IMHO) LW: Brendan Shanahan (His best argument is Detroit, and he doesn't get that.) RW: Mark Recchi (He's close in Pittsburgh and Philly, but didn't spend enough time in either place to really earn the honor.) D: Paul Coffey (After leaving Edmonton, he never seemed to stay put for more than a couple seasons.) D: Phil Housley (Didn't play long enough anywhere to earn to honor, Buffalo being the closest chance he had) G: Ed Belfour (Being traded to SJ only a few years into his career and in his prime earned him this unless Joseph wins 36+)

What I don't get is why the only suggestion that ever comes up is "knock down the Joe and expand Cobo into that space" when you could seriously renovate Cobo or replace it without having to really touch the Joe.

Reality about Hudler: Hudler is considerably outperforming Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Filppula's performances at the same age as only Datsyuk comes close offensively, but Dats was considerably behind the other three defensively at the time. Hudler is a step behind Flip and Z defensively as a 25-year-old, but is still better than average defensively. Hudler is well on pace to become a serious all-star in the league without having to get paid like one, and with the attitude he has shown, it doesn't seem like he'll demand too much cash. Hopefully he keeps up the pace and can be a star without needing the giant paycheck.

So no three-star consideration for Hudler, who scored the tying goal and set up the winning goal? Odd.

He actually read a post before replying! Wow!

I think Samuelsson will sign between $1.5m and $2m. I think he could command between $3-$4 as a UFA given the fact that about the only thing he can't do well is take faceoffs, but he will sign with the Wings before the end of the season.

Are you even reading the posts you are replying to?

I think you are ignorant given that the entire post you replied to was about how Holland was NOT going to pay Samuelsson that much but someone might.

Franzen is not comparable to Filppula because Flip's contract was signed largely with potential in mind; he will be overpaid for the first couple seasons if you go by cap hit and underpaid towards the end is the idea. Franzen is much older, so he should be signing a deal based on what his output is NOW, now what it will be in three years, because he is at the age when most players will have a few years of consistent play and then start to tail off. Flip can't really be used as an example for Franzen's contract.

Or perhaps Holland can't officially sign him to an extension until Jan 1st?

Here's a list of players who "can't" be traded this season because of organization loyalty, the "sign & trade" issue about trading a player in the first year of a UFA contract, or a no-trade clause Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Hossa, Cleary, Maltby, Draper, McCarty, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Lilja, Chelios, Osgood, Conklin This leaves, among roster players, the following "tradeables" as well as picks and anyone else in the organization. Hudler, Filppula, Franzen, Samuelsson, Kopecky, Lebda, Meech Lebda is completely expendable and will probably be gone before his contract is up. Meech is an upgrade over Lebda, but figure after 09-10 Lebda and Chelios are gone, they will be replaced by Ericsson and Kindl, who will compete with Meech for the 5th and 6th spots on the blueline. Meech's ability to play forward well allows him to keep that 7th spot. As a forward, if Meech replaced Maltby, and it were Meech/Draper/Kopecky, the Wings could still argue for the best fourth line in the NHL. The Wings currently are close to the cap for this season, and the cap is rumored to be lowering to about $55m. This is with Hossa, Zetterberg, Franzen, Hudler, Samuelsson, Kopecky, Chelios, and Conklin all without contracts for next season. Taking the $6m from Hossa's current figure that remains after the cap is lowered to the rumored amount, that leaves enough to raise Zetterberg by $4m, Hudler by $1m, Franzen by $1m. If Conklin is replaced by Larsson, Chelios either retires or signs for the league minimum 500k, and Kopecky signs a two year deal for $550, this leaves about $300k for Samuelsson's raise, or $1.5m for Sammy's replacement, if the Wings are to have as much or more cap space next year as they do this year. If Chelios retires, the Wings will try to get Sammy to take less than 1.1, as this would clear enough cap space for Ericsson to be the replacement with no other moves. Regardless... Lebda is the most expendable player on the 'tradeable' list and he won't be bringing back much but cap space. Samuelsson is a top six forward who doesn't ask for nearly that kind of salary and will do whatever the coach asks. One of the best bargains in the league. If Chelios, plus Malts and/or retire and Lebda is traded for picks in the offseason, that would improve the Wings going forward.

The Sharls have two OTLs and two shootout wins (four extra points, total). For those of you making a big deal about this record. Also for those of you making a big deal about this record... So what? Big deal. The Wings set the record for wins, and didn't make the Cup finals. They were on pace to, had they played a full 84 game schedule the previous season, win 58 games, which would have made them the only team in history to win 120 regular season games over the span of two seasons, which AVERAGES to the previous record.

Ok...let's take a look here... Lebda is a healthy scratch on a full Wings roster. Kopecky is a fourth liner. Filppula is the third line center. As far as talent level, Lebda is a third pairing defenseman, Kopecky is a third line checking forward with decent two-way skill, and Filppula is a second line two-way forward who has good faceoff skills. All are in their mid-20s. Assuming you meant trading all three of those players together, do you really think the Wings have a player in Grand Rapids right now capable of filling in for Filppula? I don't. Let's take a look at this trade. The Wings have 13 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 2 goalies. They cut down to 11-7-2 giving up Filppula/Kopecky/Lebda, and would be getting a goalie back, pushing them to 11-7-3. Call up two forwards from Grand Rapids, we'll say Helm and Leino, and the Wings might look like this: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Leino/Samuelsson Maltby/Draper/Helm McCarty Lidstrom/Stuart Kronwall/Rafalski Lilja/Chelios Meech ??? Osgood Conklin What goalie do you suggest we can get for Filppula, Kopecky, and Lebda that would be guaranteed to make such an amazing difference over the goaltending performance provided by Osgood or Conklin that they would be worth giving up two solid young all-around forwards who contribute well to our team. I can't think of one goalie in the league worth trading Filppula alone for in the Wings' situation, let alone MORE than Filppula. Toskala, Bryzgalov, and Smith? None of those guys are any better than Osgood or Conklin. So why would we trade a good young center to get one of them? It would be like trading Datsyuk in the offseason so we could sign a couple #2-type defensemen for about $3m each. The Wings trading for a goaltender, in general, simply doesn't make sense. It won't happen.

Now we just need Babs to follow the rest of my preseason advice. Cleary/Hudler/Hossa and Franzen/Filppula/Samuelsson as the second and third lines, with Maltby/Draper/Kopecky rounding out as the fourth line.