eva unit zero

I said that was the highest deal my "format" would lead to, and was probably overpayment. I also said Holland wouldn't make it. Learn. To. Read.

Woo, it's 1988 all over again! I know I've always considered Heatley overrated. Think about who he's played with in his career. He started off playing with Kovalchuk, then it was Alfredsson and Spezza, then Thornton and Marleau. I'd like to see what he does in Minnesota without help. Oops... he has Mikko Koivu. Maybe we can see what Koivu can do with Heatley and Setoguchi, compared to what Thornton did. Hell... imagine if a guy like Hudler or Cleary spent their entire career with these kinds of players? Huds made the Wings at 19; what if he had been put with Dats and/or Z as a regular line all season? Jiri Fischer is a great example... he was developing slower than expected, and was moved to a pairing with Chelios. Chelios helped him a great deal after that, both in terms of chemistry on the ice as well as teaching him and helping him develop. Fischer, not Lidstrom, would probably be the core of our defense right now if he were still playing.

It would have to involve at least one of Kindl or Smith and probably also one of Kronwall, Stuart, or Ericsson. At least one first-round pick would be involved. Possibly two. Probably a forward as well. LA is pretty solid up front, and only has 5 defensemen signed on their active roster right now. So perhaps a deal like this: Ericsson, Smith, Tatar, 1st pick. The highest you can go under this format, of course, is: Filppula, Kronwall, Smith, two 1sts. Realistically, the second deal is overpayment and Holland definitely wouldn't make it. The first deal Holland might make. Don't know what LA thinks of Ericsson or what other teams would be offering, or if Doughty is even available... but that's a realistic trade. He's not worth much more than that, if at all.

Tim Connolly.

Janik is a career minor leaguer who has had a couple of opportunities on bad teams. Exelby has spent almost his entire career in the NHL, and much of that time spent as a top-four defenseman. Janik has never risen above the #7 role, and has only played as many games in the NHL as he has due to injuries to Luke Richardson (2006-07) and Dan Boyle (2007-08). While I did not see Exelby play last season, I would venture to say that his play level hasn't changed significantly. That alone places him well above Janik. While Janik is serviceable, a 2007-2010 Exelby is very solid. So if he's in that form, or better, there's no question as to who the better player is. Exelby at that level is better than Ericsson or Commodore; so we can hope he's at that level and was signed, and it means Ericsson was traded for Yandle or another improvement on D. Hell, maybe the Jets would take Ericsson and a pick for Bogo if he won't sign there. Ericsson fits their mold of "converted forward" so all they need is an Enstrom-style to play with him, and Ericsson can be the second-pair's Byfuglien.

He's a solid, gritty defenseman. Good in the defensive zone and can handle the puck. Maybe this move is being made because another defenseman or two (One of more of Kindl/Ericsson/Stuart?) are being traded? A package for Yandle, perhaps? Or maybe it's just a signing to replace Derek Meech.

Hudler's a natural center too. Let's put him between Franzen and Cleary or Bertuzzi and see how it works. As for the "paying for potential" part... Tim Connolly is only three years older. Connolly is a proven commodity. Will Leino be providing 5 points for every 6 games over the first three years of his contract, and also be a reliable defensive center? I somehow don't see that happening; mainly due to Leino's defensive failings. So Leino will need to score more. But if they figure him to be around 70 points... that's 5 points every 6 games, which is what Connolly scored. Granted, Connolly had his health issues and was only playing 60 games (50 points) so that means Leino is expected to stay healthy, which he hasn't had any trouble doing so far. So, it's a matter of Leino staying healthy and scoring enough points above 50 per season to offset the difference between him and Connolly; liability vs reliability. How many points is that worth in a season. 10? 20? 30? That's how you can tell whether Buffalo improved at center. I would say they didn't.

No... Leino sucked ass here. Last year Hudler had a couple months of poor play to fit in with a couple months of very good play and a couple years of very good play. Hudler having less value than Leino is absolutely silly; the ONLY thing Leino has that Hudler doesn't is better size.

Ah yes, two-way players like Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, and Franzen. The epitome of offense combined with defense. So quit complaining about people bringing up Datsyuk's '09 playoff run and calling him a ghost. The stats show that he wasn't putting in the effort. Hudler had trouble scoring for about 30 games, but he was working as hard as anyone from about game 15 on and was creating scoring chances, playing well in the corners and backchecking hard. Yet he gets bagged on about effort and defense based on his nationality, or his play several years ago.

Huds was scratched for lack of production. Not for lack of effort.

In 2008-09 he had 23 goals and 34 assists. Sure, a higher assists to goal ratio last year. But a big difference is that he started the season in a slump with other slumping players, and then when he served in more of a playmaker role, with his peak alongside Datsyuk and Cleary (both scoring more goals than assists during that period). So he spent most of his season as a playmaker. I'll place a call to Switzerland and get Stacy Roest on the first flight over. Haven't seen many harder working Canadian players, and a guy with his speed and tenacity would match up very well with Helm.

So... they save $250k from Tim Connolly. Who has been scoring consistently at a near-PPG level in Buffalo for years. And is reliable defensively. In five full seasons played since the lockout, Connolly has averaged 60 games played, 14 goals, 36 assists, and 50 points. Sure, he's had some injury issues. But even with that, he's been as productive per-season over those five seasons as Leino's one good season. Makes you wonder why they would get rid of a proven first-line NHL center in Connolly to pick up Leino, who has had one good season on the wing of a top-end center, and try and cram him into the center role which he hasn't played since juniors. And for the record, Ehrhoff's contract is great unless the cap shrinks considerably; they get a high-end defenseman on the cheap, and can deal him later to a needy team if they have to.

I think you're thinking of the Filppula groupies. Given the fact that over the almost 30 years I have been watching hockey, most of my favorite players have been traded or waived at least once; including Adam Oates, Steve Chiasson, Dallas Drake, Chris Osgood, and others.

I understand the hate, but this is something people don't seem to understand. Hudler may have had a subpar first half, but he was paid like a bottom-half second liner and that's where his overall season performance placed him. Holmstrom and Bertuzzi are cheap because of injury and age, and questions about what they might provide in the future. Cleary makes basically the same as Hudler. Filppula makes more and signed his contract before he was a second liner, while Hudler had just scored 57 points when he signed his.

Kronwall/Ericsson Lidstrom/White Kindl/Stuart Commodore

There was a report that said Holland was offering Hudler at the draft. Now it's "we're set at forward." Doesn't that sound more like he was trying to get good picks for Hudler than just get rid of Hudler?

This is pretty close to the lineup I've been posting, aside from the swap of Helm/Abs and Cleary/Franzen. One thing; If I have those bottom six, and put Cleary and Helm together, the third man is either Eaves or Mursak. So that would be: Filppula/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen Cleary/Helm/Eaves Mursak/Abdelkader/Bertuzzi My lines have been: Filppula/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Hudler/Zetterberg/Cleary Franzen/Abdelkader/Bertuzzi Mursak/Helm/Eaves

Nah, sign Richards to a $7m deal, and ship Flip, Huds, Ericsson, and a 1st to Tampa for Stamkos. Sign Stamkos to a $7m deal. Re-sign Eaves at $1.5m and Osgood at the league minimum ($525k). The lines can look like this: Stamkos/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Zetterberg/Bertuzzi Abdelkader/Richards/Cleary Mursak/Helm/Eaves Emmerton Now that's a forward lineup. Perhaps even swap Emmerton and Abby if you like as that would give it more speed and scoring presence. So as this stands, the Wings would have about $4.6m in remaining cap space to sign a defenseman, and the following defense otherwise: Kronwall/Smith Lidstrom/??? Kindl/Stuart Janik Pairs are set assuming Kaberle to be the signing. Ready for the season with a roster like this?

It's almost certain to be for four years. It was mentioned in an article or interview recently that Holland and Ericsson were working on 2 year and 4 year terms, with the money around $2m. Changing that to over $3m for three years just whacks it too much. Four years would be $2,437,500 per season, which is right where the reported numbers were at.

Holland is more likely to pick up Weber or Suter at the end of February 2012 than at the end of June 2012.

I don't think that's the question that was being asked. However, McKenzie is incorrect as there is a $13m signing bonus spread over two seasons, and the maximum signing bonus is 10% of the player's salary in the specific year it is paid. Meaning that the most it could possibly be is $4m, and the most it could be based on those $2m and $3m figures for the first two seasons would make it a total of $500k signing bonus. Not $13m.

I wouldn't mind seeing it get thrown out, and Holland pulling Ehrhoff out of Buffalo.

Pitkanen. As for Ehrhoff's deal, my thought is this: I wouldn't have liked Holland signing another 10-year deal in general, but Ehrhoff's cap hit is well below his market value if it's the reported $40m over 10 years. That would have been an excellent deal for the Wings' current situation; Ehrhoff plays his prime out under value, and then retires before the end of his deal. It would also have left enough cap space to still go after other higher-end free agents.

Bob McKenzie believes a lot of things.