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Holmstrom/Zetterberg/Samuelsson Filppula/Datsyuk/Franzen Cleary/Hudler/Grigorenko Maltby/Draper/Kopecky Ellis Lidstrom/Lilja Rafalski/Kronwall Lebda/Chelios Quincey Hasek Osgood

Hudler was more noticeable in creating chances and being in good position than Flip was in that series. Yes, Flip got the puck to Lang...but guess what...Lang doesn't score and it's no better than the many chances Hudler created.

Kevin Weekes is the devil? Well, now we know what happened to Arturs Irbe...he sold his soul for a Cup Finals appearance...

I say this because my wife recently picked up a full time job with Comcast, basically doubling our income. We added a babysitter for about 100 bucks a week, and saved about 100 bucks per month in cable and internet bills (Comcast employees get that stuff free.) Other expenses haven't changed, and I simply can't imagine much else I would choose to go spend money on at this point. Making 450k a year would easily pay for everything in my life and a hefty chunk of savings. It would pay for my kids' education. I have no need for millions upon millions just to satisfy my ego.

Bertuzzi is a downgrade from Selanne. Schneider is a downgrade from Niedermayer. Rafalski is an UPGRADE from Schneider. And based on the way Bert played last year, Grigorenko, Hudler, Filppula are all upgrades over Bertuzzi. So ultimately, with the movement of Bert and Schneids to Anaheim, the Ducks get WEAKER and the Wings get STRONGER. Yet Burke, not Holland, is the one getting credit for a job well done?

Hudler vs the Sharks...looked about as effective as Filppula vs the Sharks. How does that prove your point?

Why? He was a top-four, 20 minutes a night defenseman who played well in the playoffs as a rookie. Why should his name come off?

If I were Crosby (or any upper-echelon player), I would sign a 15 year deal for the league minimum with a no-movement clause. That kind of cash is more than I'll ever need to make in a year. And it would be basically the same amount of cap space everyone else gets, except with one more top player.

Calgary signed Eriksson to a one-year deal going into the lockout, too. They must really like what he brings. I'd take him over Lilja...

Hudler played 647:00 ES and 114:54 PP. He scored 12 at ES and 3 on the PP. Samuelsson played 637:31 ES 159:53 PP. He scored 8 at ES and 6 on the PP. Asham played 729:20 ES and 15:18 PP. He scored 11 at ES and 0 on the PP. So Asham and Samuelsson are basically even in goal scoring. Samuelsson is the better defender, and Asham is the grittier player. How Hudler, who is pretty obviously superior to both in scoring ability, got dragged into this comparison is beyond reason.

Cleary was playing with Lang and Williams when he was hot, too. The fact that proven scorer Lang takes all kinds of heat for his slump last year, but gets no credit for his hot streak, while underachiever Cleary takes no heat for the slump, yet gets a ton of credit for the hot streak, is nuts. Cleary is a good player, but if you think his performance in the regular season was entirely a result of his ability and not largely due to the fact that he was the only option a hot Robert Lang had, you might just be crazy. I would like to see the following lines if we sign nobody else; Holmstrom/Zetterberg/Samuelsson Filppula/Datsyuk/Franzen Cleary/Hudler/Grigorenko Maltby/Draper/Kopecky

Rafalski is cheaper and better than Souray. For that kind of money we needed to replace both Schneider's offense and Markov's defense. Rafalski does that. Souray doesn't even come close. Smyth is not like Yzerman. Yzerman never squabbled with a team that was built around him over 500k like Smyth did in Edmonton. Especially in a cap situation, with an offer that was more than fair. We lost because the power play couldn't score. That's because Anaheim keyed on Nick big time. That's because Schneider and Kronwall were injured and Samuelsson wasn't a serious threat. Rafalski gives us someone younger and better than Schneider to take that spot. Anson Carter is about the last player the Wings need. He's soft, bad defensively, and can't pass. he has a decent shot, but he costs way too much. I would rather have Hudler on the second line than Carter. Hudler has a better shot, is a better passer, and is better defensively. Oh, and Hudler is tougher than Carter. And to top it all off..Hudler costs a few million less. Anyone who seriously expected the Wings to go out and sign Drury or Gomez or Smyth is on crack. The Wings needed to either retain or replace Schneider and Markov. Going with Rafalski/Quincey accomplishes both and only increases payroll by about 500k. "almost" is worth 75 cents?

Markov, Rafalski, and Schneider are all basically the same size. Rafalski is easily the best defenseman of the three. And joining the lineup if we don't sign a gritty depth defenseman will be Kyle Quincey, who is noticeably bigger than the three I mentioned.

Bertuzzi didn't stay because he wanted a longer deal. Holland wasn't willing to commit to more than one year at the kind of money Bertuzzi wanted, because of guys like Lidstrom, Filppula, Cleary, etc. who become free agents next year. Ultimately, that comes down to greed. Bertuzzi has scored 45 goals in 166 games in the last three seasons. That's about 22 goals per 82 game season. He hasn't been a major physical force since the Moore incident, and he has had trouble staying healthy. He was unimpressive with the Wings after Holland acquired him, but Holland was willing to offer him 1 year at 3m, which is really more than he's worth (and more than the Wings could really afford to pay him) based on his declining performances over the past few years. Bertuzzi was upset he wasn't getting a multi-year deal. He went on and on about how much he wanted to stay. Given that, he could easily have said 'Instead of 3m for one year, how about 1.5m for two years?' But instead he chose to be greedy.

Actually "Red Light" was the nickname of former Habs goalie Andre Racicot.

Wings are trading Draper to NYI for Hunter, and then will package Samuelsson and Hudler for Darcy Tucker !!!111ONE!

Rafalski is an upgrade over Schneider defensively. Souray would have been a downgrade defensively. How do you favor Souray's defense?

No, because of the mechanisms in place that decide how the cap number is figured out, that won't happen. There was a lockout because player costs were 75% of revenue. Under the current CBA, player costs cannot exceed 55% of revenue.

Going based on players currently signed, as well as numbers that seem likely for returning players (one year, 3m for Hasek and three years, 850k for Hudler), as well as an additional 3m/3 years for a scoring winger, we'll be looking at Draper, Cleary, Lidstrom, Chelios, Lilja, Hasek, and Osgood as UFA after this season, combining for just over 16m. If we assume the cap does not go up, and that Hasek retires, then we can look forward to something like this: Draper 1.5m/2 Cleary 2m/3 Lidstrom 7.6m/2 Chelios 850k/1 Lilja 1.2m/2 Osgood 900k/2 Howard 900k/3 That totals up to 14.95m. This means that in the summer of 09, we would be looking at Zetterberg, Franzen, Samuelsson, Kopecky, and Chelios as free agents. Based on how the players are likely to perform, contract values should be in the neighborhood of: Zetterberg 7m/5 years Franzen 1.5m/3 Samuelsson 1.5m/2 Kopecky 600k/3 Chelios 850k/1 That totals up to just shy of 12m. The expiring contracts would have a value of around 6m, plus an additional 1m in space left from the previous year. Meaning a gap of around 5m. So yes, the Wings could be in trouble in a couple of years if the cap does not go up. But the cap has increased around 3m per season. If the rate is halved, that will still be a 3m increase by the end of Zetterberg's contract. Given that I have been including a cushion of about 3m in all of these calculations (2m wiggle room and 1.2 of bonus carryover this year) the Wings should be just fine. Likely guys like Lidstrom and Zetterberg will take lesser deals if the Wings need them to.

We need to sign Hasek, Hudler, another second or third line scoring forward, and a depth defenseman. Say Hasek will cost 3m and Hudler will cost around 1m, leaving 4m to add a defenseman and a forward. Assuming we can't sign Bertuzzi, which is starting to look more likely, the best options for one more forward would be Slava Kozlov, Mike Comrie, and Michael York. Other interesting options include Arron Asham, Nils Ekman, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Jeff O'Neill. Signing Jiri Novotny to a two-way deal also might be a good move if he can be had near the minimum. Depending on who we sign from that group, the cost could be anywhere from 2m to 3.5m. If it's on the high end, Lilja moves into the top six, and Quincey takes the 7th spot. If it's on the low end, we can add Vishnevski for about 1.5m.

4 super-talented d-men? Who else does Burke plan on signing? I thought he was happy with Beauchemin in the top 4.

The number you had for Flip was his cap hit for this year, but he wasn't on the roster the whole season. His cap hit is 733k. Everything I've seen for Kopecky has him at 450k.

Well apparently someone offered Rafalski a 5 year, 40m deal.

Adjusted some of your numbers for accuracy, and altered lines. Figure Hasek and Bert at 3m each, and Hudler at 850k. That means we have about 800k to add another defenseman, likely Kyle Quincey's 520k. Expected ice time per game: Lidstrom 27 Rafalski 24 Kronwall 21 Chelios 18 Lebda 15 Lilja 15 This certainly makes our defense more topheavy, but swapping out oneway offensive Schneider and one-way defensive Markov for a top two-way defenseman in Rafalski is a great move.

Orr had his best season at 22 in 1970-71. Orr retired at age 31, his knees shot. Bourque's best year was probably 86-87, when he was 26. Niedermayer's peak has been from 31 to 34, and Lidstrom's peak was from age 28 to 32. Rafalski does seem to be a bit of a late bloomer, and has been having the best couple seasons of his career the past couple years, but part of that is taking on the ice time and responsibility as #1 defenseman in New Jersey. Rafalski will probably decline over the life of his contract, however, he will likely be better at age 38 than Schneider is.