eva unit zero

Ericsson was picked earlier in the thread as a future 75+ point defenseman. Let's put this into perspective: Currently, only Nick Lidstrom is on that kind of pace this season. Scott Niedermayer's 69 points in 79 games led in 06-07. Only Lidstrom cleared 75 in 05-06, with McCabe at the proper pace (68pts in 73GP) Sergei Gonchar's 58 in 71 led all defensemen in 03-04, with Bryan Berard's 47 in 58 (66 in 82) as the best ppg among top 30 d. Al MacInnis' 68 in 80 led all defense scorers in 02-03. Gonchar and Lidstrom tied for the lead with 59 points in 01-02. Leetch's 79 points in 82 games led defense in 00-01, and Pronger (47 in 51) was the only other regular with pace for 75+ points. So ultimately, it has happened twice in the past six seasons, and could happen again this year. Let me get this straight..Ericsson will regularly do what Lidstrom has only done once to date? Does that make Ericsson the best defenseman ever?

I'll give you the list of how Wings and Canucks' top six defensemen stack up based on their play this season: Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Ohlund Chelios Edler Mitchell Salo Lebda Lilja Krajicek In bold are Wings defensemen currently injured. Underlined are Nucks defensemen you mentioned as injured. See the difference?

There are five goaltenders who have played as much as Osgood and have comparable numbers. Thomas, Luongo, Bryzgalov, Brodeur, and Giguere. Which of those goalies do you suggest is available and can fit in the Wings' cap space without harming the team more than any supposed advantage over Ozzie would help? Thomas is the only two on that list with a cap hit below 4m for next season. If he plays this well next season, he'll be looking at that kind of money when his contract expires in the summer of 09, and Boston can give it to him as that is when Fernandez comes off the books. So nobody? Gotcha.

Now to be fair, Detroit has more All-Star caliber defensemen injured right now than Vancouver has had on their roster in the past ten years. So don't hold it against me if I feel you don't quite fathom the level of injuries affecting the Wings right now.

Cleary makes no sense for Atlanta. He's a UFA after the season. Atlanta wants a roster player or two who can help now AND in the future, and for the Thrashers, that's not Cleary. Also, he in no way deserves $3.9m. Playes making close to 3.9m: Kozlov, Brind'Amour, Whitney. These are all veterans who have been around longer than Cleary and have been putting up solid offensive numbers for the entire length of Cleary's career. Cleary's career high is 20 goals and 40 points. All of those guys have hit 30 goals and 70 points several times. Cleary should get between $2m and $2.5m. If he goes out looking for more, he can have it from some other team.

A 2-way deal does not have any bearing on whether you have to clear waivers.

I've been calling for Salei since the late 90s. Very solid defensively, and very aggressive physically. EXACTLY what we should be picking up.

It's worth noting that Meech was named third star against Vancouver. He was therefore named the best Wings' player in the game. As I said at the beginning of the season; Meech is a more skilled defenseman than Lebda and would supplant him or Lilja by next season.

That was a pretty solid draft if all five of those guys end up as NHL regulars. Of course, the Wings have only had four drafts from 1983-2002 which did not yield at least two NHL regulars; 1987, 1988, 1999, and 2001. Those drafts yielded Yves Racine, Sheldon Kennedy, Henrik Zetterberg, and Dmitry Bykov, respectively. The 2001 draft still has the potential of yielding another regular (Grigorenko and/or Jamtin) and drafts after 2003 are too recent to grade in this respect. But man, you know you had a bad draft if Sheldon Kennedy is the only NHL-caliber player you got.

Lebda is NOT a great defenseman. He is a bottom-pairing defenseman despite his wheels. If Lebda were as good offensively and defensively as some on here claim he is, he would be a Norris candidate. He's not, and he never will be. He's a decent third-pairing defenseman and that's likely all he will ever be.

Back in the day, Alexei Yashin was making $10m per season. The NHL's average salary was $41m, and the players' share of revenue was 75%. The NHL's total revenue was about $1.64b. Yashin made approximately 0.6% of league revenues personally. The minimum revenue for the NHL to have a $10m man under the current CBA is $2.63b. That 0.6% figure? Yeah, that would be over $16m. To further illustrate, the maximum player salary is 20% of his team's cap figure, which is in turn 1/30th of the players' revenue, which is again in turn a maximum of 57% of league revenue. So on the late-90s figure of $1.64b, the maximum player salary using the current CBA would have been about $6.25m..which wasn't even close to the top salaries in the league. Nobody is reaching Yashin-like money in the respect that the league makes TONS more money now.

Yeah, we should keep Lebda instead of Filppula or Hudler... NOT!

It's saves like that which highlight the reason Brodeur is possibly the best ever. The reason is even referenced in the clip. Because he has taken the positive traits of the standard butterfly style and incorporated them into a hybrid style which gives him better reaction speed on high shots coming at him, because he's rarely down in a full butterfly.

Except that those teams with the assets and motivation to outbid Holland may not have the cap space to SIGN Hossa. That means having 7m available cap space for next season at the very least, let alone any future situations. We'll make that 6 and assume any team acquiring Hossa is giving up about 6m less than Atlanta would be in terms of future salary. Hossa wants to win, so we'll only consider teams in the top four teams in their conference. Hossa wants to sign long-term, so we'll only consider teams which have 6m in cap space for next season. Detroit has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Dallas has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Minnesota has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Anaheim does NOT have enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Ottawa has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. New Jersey has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Montreal has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. Pittsburgh has enough cap space, and is top four in their conference. So far, the only team ruled out is Anaheim. Now, let's look at assets. Atlanta wants a young forward who is a roster player, plus likely another offensively capable forward who is not a pending UFA, and a 2nd or 3rd round pick probably. Also excluded will be players who have signed extensions that begin next season, as well as each team's top two forwards in current salary. Who has this to give? Detroit has Filppula, Hudler, Holmstrom, and Samuelsson. New Jersey has Parise, Zajac, Zubrus, and Langenbrunner. Minnesota has Bouchard, Koivu and Parrish. Pittsburgh has Staal, Armstrong and Sykora. Dallas has Jokinen and Modano. Ottawa has Vermette and Alfredsson. Montreal has Latendresse, Higgins and Plekanec. Let's now exclude players who are unlikely to be traded by their current team for reasons such as leadership, defense, or sentimentality. We will then exclude all teams which do not still have the requisite pieces. Detroit has Filppula, Hudler, and Samuelsson. New Jersey has Parise, Zajac, and Zubrus. Minnesota has Bouchard and Koivu. Pittsburgh has Armstrong and Sykora. Montreal has Higgins and Plekanec. Now the potential packages are coming into focus. We'll whittle this group down to two players, requiring at least one offensively capable player and one solid young forward. If a young forward is projected as a team's first liner for years, and another is available, the better player will be excluded. Otherwise, the best young player will be used. Detroit has Filppula and Samuelsson. New Jersey has Zajac and Zubrus. Minnesota has Bouchard and Koivu. Pittsburgh has Armstrong and Sykora. Montreal has Higgins and Plekanec. The team doesn't matter for the pick as all of these teams will be late picks in the round in some order. These packages are all fairly equal in terms of overall combination of offense, defense, and potential. Detroit is the team that can most easily part with the listed package. That would suggest Detroit would then be the most willing to part with the stated package the soonest. Which makes Detroit the frontrunner for Hossa.

Fedorov wanted a five year deal. Money was NOT the issue. Quit being ignorant and realize that just because he left, doesn't mean he was being greedy. Unless you're prepared to lump as of yet unscathed Shanahan, Schneider, and others into that group.

Hossa is affordable long term. Even in your scenario. Because in your scenario, the Wings went about 750k over the cap based on Hossa at 8m. Hossa would not be making more than Nick (7.45m) because nobody on the Wings will. So that brings them closer. Then factor in that if you have to choose between keeping Hossa or keeping Cleary, and you can only afford one, you keep Hossa. If Cleary wants to stay, and the Wings can't afford him at 2.5m, he takes less. Realistically he shouldn't get more than Homer's 2.25, so I don't see the problem fitting him in if a trade is available. The only question is whether Atlanta's asking price is doable.

The gear I wear stops pucks extremely well. I'm 5-10, and weight 150 lbs, and I have gear that is pretty tight and still protects me from impact. Hell, if I put on a goalie's trapper and blocker, I could probably play goal in my current gear without fear of injury. Leg pads should be limited to 2 inches above the knee in height, and ten inches in width. The blocker should be limited to six inches in width, and only allowed to extend four inches above the wrist.

Giguere's GAA the season that picture was taken was either 2.73 or 3.21, just for reference. He's a decent goalie positionally, but his poor reflexes and lateral movement are very much taken out of the picture by oversized equipment and good defense. Without the pads, he's a backup at best.

No he didn't. Hudler is a skilled player who belongs in thel ineup every day but because of his size (and nothing regarding how he plays) he has been given less ice time than his play has proven worthy of. Ellis is not one of Detroit's top twelve forwards, and therefore belongs in the press box or Grand Rapids.

Hossa has historically been a better playoff performer than Datsyuk...he's bigger and stronger, and uses his size more in respect to physical defenders. Hossa has 13-23-36 in 55 games. Datsyuk has 11-20-31 in 60 games. And this is including his 16 points in 18 games that proved he's a playoff performer..yet only ties Hossa's best performance of 16 points in 18 games. Hmm. If I had to choose between Hossa and Datsyuk for a playoff run, I take Hossa. Hopefully, I can have both...

If I'm Toronto...I ******* JUMP at that deal. Blue chip power forward prospect, top four two-way defenseman, and another top five pick in a draft with basically seven top-end players...and all I am giving up is an aging center who is about to hit UFA, a second/third line forward with decent skill but no top-end upside, and a 2nd rounder? I have to think that either Sundin won't waive his NTC for Anaheim, or this report is bogus...because Fletcher would be a moron not to JUMP on that....and Fletcher isn't a moron.

Assuming it to be true, this is likely the same as the Downey waiver process earlier in the season. Waived so that we have the option of clearing a spot instantly. Kronwall, Cleary, Hasek, and Rafalski are on IR-Quincey, Ericsson, Hartigan, and Howard are up to replace them. Ellis is waived so that the Wings can quickly clear a spot after all of those guys return if need be. Which suggests to me that they are close to making a deal that would bring back more roster players than would be going out.

Mr.Dreger, what's your address, so I can mail some totally harmless white powder to you?

I think you mean lurking...

Hudler is a skilled forward, Meech is a decent defenseman. Oh, and there's a first. If Sundin really has demanded he go to Detroit, that's about the package I would expect to see as the return. His trade value is probably higher, but we'd be looking at Fletcher retooling and he wants to get as many firsts as possible. With that deal he gets a top-six scoring forward and a first rounder, plus a depth defenseman. And the salaries are low, which really helps with the mess JFJ put them in. Ultimately, a Sundin trade might be more about Tucker/Kaberle/Kubina/McCabe than Sundin or whoever he's traded for.