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Well, now that we have a cap number... The Wings have ten forwards, five defensemen, and one goaltender signed for a total cap hit of $39.523m. To this number, we will be adding three forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender for a total cap hit of no more than $16.177m, so that we have the $1m 'wiggle room' Holland likes to have. Players likely to be included in that group: F Valtteri Filppula $1.2m F Darren McCarty $500k D Chris Chelios $800k D Kyle Quincey $550k G Jimmy Howard $850k That totals up to $3.9m, and leaves us with a forward and defense spot and $12.277m. Now we have to consider, of course, that the Wings have four of their top eight forwards coming up for free agency after this season. These four forwards have a total cap hit of $4.807 currently. We'll project a few rates for them as well: F Henrik Zetterberg $7.25m F Jiri Hudler $1.2m F Mikael Samuelsson $1.3m F Johan Franzen $2.75m That totals up to $12.5m, which leaves us with $4.584m to fill out our roster this year on the assumption that the cap doesn't go up at all next year. The existing lineup before the final two players are signed looks something like: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Samuelsson Cleary/Hudler/??? Maltby/Draper/Kopecky McCarty Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/??? Lebda/Meech Chelios Quincey Osgood Howard The forward will be one of two varieties. Either he will be signed for the third line as stated above, or he will be signed for the second line. As a third liner, he will make less than $1.5m. As a second liner, he will make closer to $3m. But the forward signed will be restricted by the defenseman signed; so we'll jump ahead to that spot. The defenseman the Wings would LIKE to sign is Brad Stuart at ~$2.75m. If that happens, it leaves only approximately $1.8m for the forward slot, and means that we likely sign a third liner. If Stuart can't be signed at that rate, the Wings will try to acquire someone of comparable skill for that kind of money or less. Names I see on the UFA chart that might fall into this group: Dmitri Kalinin John-Michael Liles Jason Smith Michal Rosival Certainly not all, if any, of those guys will go at that kind of rate. but if they could, they would be suitable alternatives to Stuart. Failing that, then Andreas Lilja is the guy and will be signed for not more than $1.5m. This, of course, leaves about $3m for the forward slot, meaning that the Wings could sign a second liner. Given the chemistry displayed by the FFS line, though, it is still highly likely that we would see the third line acquisition to play with Hudler and Cleary, albeit possibly a bit more cash would be spent on acquiring a more talented player. Some names I would like to see explored for that slot? Brad Isbister, Josef Vasicek, Jason King, Matt Cooke. All are UFAs I have wanted to see in a Wings uniform. The first three are low-risk players with potentially high yield. Cooke is the only one with any realistic chance of costing upwards of 1.5m for a third line role. As Cooke brings enough skill to play on the second line if need be, and is a very solid defensive type and faceoff specialist, this would be a worthwhile exception to the $1.5m limit. Ideal solution? Stuart and Vasicek are the names I would like to see. Vasicek is a big, talented player with good all-around skills. Very similar to Johan Franzen. He shouldn't cost more than $1m, but he could potentially yield much greater than that.

I can't help but feel targeted by that statement... But my response would simply be that the small market teams are covered by revenue sharing. As far as LA running in the red....after the lockout, the Kings franchise was seeing annual revenues of $100m. In other words...if LA is in the red...then they should be replacing their management, because it would mean that they were paying non-player costs upwards of $50m in a league where player costs were capped at about $50m. Given that player costs are capped at approximately 60% of revenues, that would mean the Kings were horribly mismanaging their expenses. Which ultimately doesn't make me feel that the NHL is at fault for their inability to survive financially, as obviously there are teams with lower revenue streams which are not in the red, and the Kings cannot use their results to justify any kind of excessive spending. In other words... If the Kings are in the red, it's not the fault of anyone but the Kings.

Brian Rolston. Born in Flint. Raised in Ann Arbor.

I'd rather have the six best defensemen in the NHL playing in front of the best two goalies and behind the top 12 forwards; and I want it for a salary that is at the cap floor. But since that isn't going to happen, how about we get a guy capable of playing as the #4 who will accept what we can afford to pay him for that role?

The big question is...if Vancouver signs some top-end players, but isn't a contender in the next couple years...does Luongo lose his reputation as an elite level netminder?

Redden is one of the better defensive defensemen in the league, and one of the best two-way blueliners in the NHL. It wouldn't be Lidstrom/Rafalski...but the defensive disaster would exist regardless of who Jovanovski were paired with, and Redden is probably one of the BEST options for that role that the Coyotes could hope to get.

Franzen is not even worth Cleary's $2.8m. A good two month period doesn't make him a $5m player when he still didn't clear 40 points or 30 goals and has won zero awards. If Franzen again fails to clear 30g and 40 pts, and he gets more than $2.5m for a deal less than four years, he's overpaid.

Zetterberg will not make more than Nick Lidstrom. So Lecavalier has no bearing on Z's deal.

Winning the Cup doesn't make you suddenly better than everyone else. Winning the Cup is, on the other hand, evidence of that status for a particular season. Furthermore...having the least fights is NOT the same as being the worst enforcing team. An enforcer's job is to protect his teammates through fighting if necessary, and generally being a scrappy and intimidating individual. The 'perfect' enforcer would have zero fights, because there would never be a need for him to actually fight as his presence would be enough deterrent. The goal of enforcing is to ensure that a team's top players are healthy when it counts. As the Wings won the Cup and suffered only one notable injury in the postseason, one that was not a result of any kind of cheap shot, then I would argue that the Wings were certainly not the worst enforcing team. Far from it. If the goal of enforcing is quantity of fights, then yes, they are the worst enforcing team. But if that is your goal for 'enforcing' then you can no longer ever argue that the Wings need to have an enforcer because of the deterrent/protection factor, because "protection" has ZERO relation to "quantity" when it comes to fights.

Now to be fair....McGuire's best defenseman was Zarley Zalapski, his best forward was Pat Verbeek, and his goaltender was Sean Burke. Not exactly a star-studded cast of characters.

My rating of Weber as the #5 is based on the fact that other guys play more than him. It is not based on which pairing he is on. Perhaps I should have clarified and instead of sayign Weber was the #5, I should have said that "there are four guys on his team who play more than he does." And as far as his value...Weber could sign a deal with the Wings and he would never see ice time in the top half on the first contract unless there were injuries. Given the kind of cash he would cost and the kind of compensation the Wings would have to give up weighed against what he would be providing to the team...Weber is, as I said before...COMPLETELY NOT WORTH IT.

Nashville's top six defensemen from last season, arranged by number of shifts taken per game (most to least) as well as player age as of right now is as follows: Dan Hamhuis, 25 Ryan Suter, 23 Greg DeVries, 35 Marek Zidlicky, 31 Shea Weber, 23 Greg Zanon, 28 Somehow, that doesn't suggest to me Weber rising up and becoming Nashville's top defenseman in a couple seasons. If you assume that young players will get better, and older players will decline, the best he is likely to do in the next few years is to be the #3 guy. Why? Because Nashville's top two defensemen are JUST AS YOUNG AS WEBER. Also notable is the fact that Weber was fifth among defensemen in PK ice time on the Preds, which suggests that he is not as defensively capable as Suter or Hamhuis, both of whom were PK mainstays for Nashville. I get that Weber is a decent young guy...I just don't understand why people love him so much ahead of Hamhuis or Suter, who are more complete, more skilled defensemen in the same age group. What did Weber do that anointed him as a 'future Norris contender' that Suter didn't do, given that Suter is the #2 defenseman while Weber is the #5, and Suter was drafted ahead of Weber in the same year? I guess what I am complaining about is the unfounded hype for Weber and ONLY Weber. If Weber is going to be a perennial Norris contender...then Nashville has a dynasty in the making because there are two young guys who are more sure bets for the Norris than Shea. EDIT: And btw...Weber's ice time and shifts per game, as well as his breakdown of ES/PP/PK time from last season rank him as no better than the #5 in 06-07, either. I never said Shea Weber was a #5 NHL defenseman; simply the #5 on Nashville. That much is a fact. Compared to Hamhuis and Suter, he is a defensive liability and his own coach doesn't consider him to be as good a player as those two. He has never been Nashville's best defenseman over the course of an entire season; he hasn't even been close. Why people are acting like he's some kind of hockey god because he's a decent young kid just baffles me.

Shea Weber, if he came to Detroit, would have trouble cracking the lineup. Why do I say that, when so many here seem convinced of his impending greatness? Because Shea Weber was Nashville's #5 defenseman this season. Somehow, that statement alone doesn't make me feel that he is worth even ONE first round pick, let alone three.

I should hope the Wings thought that way...and here's why: I registered the name "h_zetterberg_future_superstar" on Yahoo! before Z was drafted. I should hope that if I was able to pick him out as a future star based on seeing a few televised games, that a professional scout like Hakan Andersson who had seen him a few times in person and met and spoken with him, and is the best at what he does, would have been able to make that call.

I'm taking the patient approach with regards to Ryder and his kin. If Ryder wants to win, and is willing to do what it takes to win, he will sign for less than he could potentially get elsewhere with a team that is looking for a Cleary-esque transformation from him. This is the only way he will end up in Detroit, as the Wings cannot afford to pay him the kind of money he might be able to command from a lesser team that is looking to add a first line scoring forward and thinks Ryder is that guy. The only way I won't be happy regarding Ryder is if he signs for peanuts with a contender, and that contender is not Detroit.

Franzen is a Red Wings draftee who is big and strong...that alone is worth like 65 points right?

Because Phoenix needs to have two defensemen making 7m+ who are useless defensively? The best thing Phoenix could do is to acquire a solid defensive stopper type. Mattias Ohlund is a name that comes to mind who might be available; he's a UFA at the end of the season, makes 3.5m, and is the fourth highest paid defenseman on the Canucks. Jason Smith, Brad Stuart, Brooks Orpik, and Mike Commodore are names that would fit very well with what Phoenix needs to be looking for. If I am in charge of the Yotes, my goal this offseason is to come away with two of those five players, or someone comparable.

No. If people were aware of that, you wouldn't get the posts talking about how having Hossa instead of Franzen is a bad thing. Mostly because while Franzen is a good player, Hossa is a Top Notch Forward. If we could sign Hossa, and the only thing that would have to happen to fit under the cap is Franzen would have to go...Holland would be stupid not to make that swap.

Yzerman had arthroscopic surgery on his knee going into the 2002 Olympics, for those of you who have forgotten. Yzerman was back playing in a week. Woods had the same operation within the past year, and did not play for a month. Woods is now undergoing another operation which will be far less invasive than Yzerman's osteotomy. Woods expects to miss at least as much time as Yzerman missed, likely more. Yes, Tiger Woods is a tough golfer. But his playing through his knee injury doesn't even come close to Yzerman. Anyone who suggests that it does has no understanding of the rigors of playing hockey.

Except that instead of 75% of revenue going to player salaries, it's 57%. That's significant.

Last year was Hossa's first playoff better than a point per game. Guess what? Last year was also Hossa's first postseason playing on the first line. Hossa missed 10 games this year. This resulted in his scoring only 29 goals; the first time he has failed to clear 30 goals in since 1999-2000. The last time he failed to reach 29 goals? His rookie year. Hossa is a RIDICULOUS talent. And for those calling him a playoff no-show...Hossa only twice in his CAREER has not finished either first or second on his team in playoff scoring. The first was his second season, when he finished tied for fourth on the Senators in scoring as they were swept by Dominik Hasek's Sabres; Ottawa would only score six goals in the series; as there was one overtime game, that is less than 1.5 goals per game as a team. Hossa was the second line RW. The second was his single playoff appearance with Atlanta, which was again a sweep that saw his team score six goals in a four game sweep. Hossa was, again, the second line RW. So again, FTR, Hossa has been top-two on his team in playoff scoring six of eight seasons he has been to the postseason. Pavel Datsyuk, OTOH, has seen the postseason six times, and has been top-two on his team twice. Yet many posters on this board will call Hossa a playoff no-show (despite the fact that he was Pittsburgh's best forward in the playoffs this year) and will turn around and vehemently defend Pavel's playoff record.

LA is a large market team; so they are not eligible for revenue sharing. However, the Kings' payroll going into the lockout was $56m, and their revenue was close to $80m. So unless they have seen a decline in revenue while the league has increased revenue considerably in the same time frame, the Kings are doing as well or better. Plus, the number of two American teams that are not losing money seems far fetched. Offhand I can think of Detroit, the Rangers, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Colorado as teams that had revenue numbers upwards of $100m going into the lockout; this season player costs were capped at about half that figure. Player costs are also the primary expense of an NHL team. So unless you think that three of those teams saw their revenue stream shrink by 50% or more...the 'two American teams turning a profit' line is complete BS. And you claimed there wasn't an agenda behind it? But there was; Southern Ontario desperately wants Jim Balsillie to get his hands on an NHL team. Ottawa has had a team for about fifteen years, are you really surprised Toronto wants one too?

If it were a 1-year deal, yes, they theoretically could. If it were a multi-year deal that were front-loaded, no; the cap hit for a given season would be the average yearly salary of the deal and not the actual salary. The chances Hossa is willing to sign a one-year deal? Slim.

Revenue sharing covers the gap between team revenues and the salary midpoint if necessary. The only teams it doesn't do this for are large market teams and teams that have failing attendance. Large market teams are not small market teams, and teams with failing attendance now fall into the group of 'might not still be around' had it not been for the lockout.

I wholeheartedly disagree. While yes, the teams with earlier picks do need players more, the only pick that a team should even think about picking a 'draft him right onto the ice' type of player is the first half of the first round. Everything after that should be picked based on long-term results rather than ability to play right away. If a team needs to get NHL-ready players to fill out their roster, they can sign free agents. Draft picks should never, for any team, be used for the purpose of filling the roster. A weak team can afford to draft a prospect who needs to add muscle if it means drafting a guy who in 5 years will be All-World instead of drafting a guy who has filled out well enough, but will never be better than an average second liner in his NHL career. The fact that the Wings' front office understands how to draft players better than most NHL front offices is not because they have more success as a team; they have more success as a team because the front office understands how to draft players better than most NHL front offices.