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Samuelsson has never been able to score at the NHL level or hold down an NHL job as anything more than a reserve winger. Scoring 30 on this Wings team would not be huge bargaining power as he would still be 4th or 5th on the team in goals and has no productive past to call upon. I think 1.3m sounds like a fair salary for Samuelsson to sign at given those facts. Legace has good numbers, but he has also been injury prone and has shown a tendency to place his own desires ahead of the good of the team. Plus, who is going to go out and sign Legace for more than say 1.75 or 2m? Teams that might be looking for a goalie are Edmonton, Phoenix, St. Louis, Toronto. Edmonton won't offer more than 2 for Legace. Phoenix would probably be able to resign Cujo for 2.5 or less. The Blues have almost 3m tied up in Lalime, they won't put that much down on Legace. Toronto might put more than 2 on Legace, if Belfour retires and they can't get Fernandez for less. And Detroit wouldn't match Toronto's 3m for Legace, given the fact that several other solid goalies will be available.

Tkachuk's cap hit next year is 5m. The cap will be going up 3 or 4 million. The Wings will be making the following "player exchanges" from this season to next; Yzerman for Grigorenko...500k opened up. Mowers for Hudler...150k taken away Forwards: 350k opened up Chelios for Quincey...400k opened up Woolley for Meech...even Rivers out...450k opened up Fischer out...1.4m opened up Defense: 2.25m opened up Total 2.6m opened up, plus say 3.5m increased cap and about 1m in current cap space. 7.1m to spend on giving players raises or signing new guys. Expected salary changes: Williams +750k Samuelsson +750k Shanahan even Lilja +100k Lidstrom -2m Franzen +150k Legace +500k Osgood even Net increase of 250k So there's a total of 6.85 open to spend. Consider that Tkachuk would only take away about 4.5 from that because someone else would be removed. So yeah...the Wings have the cap space to take Tkachuk on next year, the question is could they get it done this year or would it have to wait until the offseason?

How does one show themselves to be an elite player before he actually plays? Darko was considered not just a perfectly valid No.2, but the LIKELY No.2 even before the Pistons made their pick. The problem was not his ability, he played well when he was in the game. He was simply never used by Larry Brown, and Flip Saunders figured that the Pistons won a championship and lost another without using Darko, so he clearly was unneccessary. As for the arguments about Wade or Anthony... Wade would be a backup to Rip and Chauncey, he would not have become the star he is right away. Would you rather have Anthony or Prince? Personally, I would rather have Prince. Meaning Anthony ALSO would have been a backup, and would not have been an instant star. Darko gets drafted by a team that will actually play him, how do you know he doesn't do the same thing? I don't think this will necessarily bite us in the ass..but I certainly expect Darko to put up some pretty nice performances in a place he'll actually be USED.

I'd take Witt, because he would bring an edge to Detroit that Salei won't. My point is that Witt is too high priced for what he would bring. You could spend the league minimum and get the same contributions of toughness, and not much of a different defensive game. Salei might not be the enforcer Witt can be..but he is a MUCH better player. And he's still a pretty tough and gritty player. It's not like he's Dandy or something. I'd have to disagree. I believe Witt is the missing link. Salei isn't soft, but he wouldn't make a huge difference either. Witt is the missing link, huh? So you felt the Wings were primed and in position for the Cup before Fischer went down, then? Because Witt would bring an edge, but he would not make up for Fischer.

What did you do with the Golubvosky? Rip the letters off and replace them, and sell it as a replica? You'd probably have gotten more that way...

I'd take Witt, because he would bring an edge to Detroit that Salei won't. My point is that Witt is too high priced for what he would bring. You could spend the league minimum and get the same contributions of toughness, and not much of a different defensive game. Salei might not be the enforcer Witt can be..but he is a MUCH better player. And he's still a pretty tough and gritty player. It's not like he's Dandy or something.

I must have been reversing their salary figures. Regardless, I would pay 1.8 for Salei. I don't know if I would even pay 1m for Witt.

Osgood=Swiss Cheese. He could not stop a slow moving Beach Ball from the Blueline. He is the definition of LOUSY. Prove me wrong. See previous post: Be a fan of the Wings... not a goalie. He needs to go!!! Yes, the defense carried him to the Cup...but Mike Vernon and Dominik Hasek were HUUUUUGE parts of the victories. Even though Hasek had the top two defensemen in the NHL, and Vernon had two of the top five. Osgood, meanwhile, had a team that replaced the league's best defenseman with a ROOKIE. But, oh, it was OSGOOD who was carried by the defense?

Kindl was drafted last summer. We have until summer 2007 to sign him. At that point, he'll be 20 and will no longer have to be in juniors

There will be two spots open, unless Yzerman sticks around or Mowers is retained. Grigorenko will take one of those spots. The other will likely go to Hudler.

Lilja was a top four defenseman when Kronwall went out. As for your other comments.. Yes..Nicklas Lidstrom made Larry Murphy a good defenseman. Especially considering Lidstrom had never even been top four in Norris voting until he played with Murphy, and Murphy had been top four SEVERAL times by that point. Dandenault..meh. But it shocks me that you would basically compare Murphy and Dandenault, considering they were two TOTALLY different players..Murphy being an offensive whiz who was very positionally sound and underrated defensively, while Dandenault was a lightning bolt who could contribute offensively but was not very good in his own end, as he was a converted winger. As for Lilja, his play has improved since Fischer went down. As for Witt, he's too expensive for what he would actually provide. Both in terms of salary and trade cost. Would be nice to have him, but not at his price. I'll take a guy like Ruslan Salei, who could be picked up cheaper, makes less, and is a better player.

Baseball's system is a joke. When certain teams can spend more than DOUBLE the cap and not feel it while others struggled to spend barely HALF the cap, there is a serious problem with how the cost control is implemented. The NHL's system is far more sound. Having a salary minimum at a reasonable level will prevent teams from dumping the season for revenue sharing because if they have to spend anyway, why not at least try to win? Also, under the NHL's system, only a few teams are even eligible for revenue sharing; the ten largest markets are not, nor is anyone who spends over a certain amount. There are maybe three or four teams that actually qualify for revenue sharing.

Who do you think has been the league's MVP to this point in the season? Why? My vote goes to Ovechkin because he's 8th in points, and one goal out of the lead, yet he is the only player even close to those numbers playing without any talented teammates. In fact, only three other players in the top 25 only have teammates outside the top 50; Nagy, Jokinen, and Rolston. Ovechkin is 38 points ahead of his nearest teammate (Dainus Zubrus, 26 points) Zubrus would be 5th on Phoenix and Florida and 7th on Minnesota. Ovechkin's margin of 38 points would be second on any of those teams. The next closest margin between any leader and second place for a team is Jokinen-Horton at 23 points.

Lidstrom had an off year in 03-04.... But only by HIS standards...seeing as he still was much better than McCabe and just about every other player in the league.

Jagr should be an option, I totally forgot him. Thornton is in the poll because he's among the league leaders and totally turned the Sharks around when they made that trade.

Come on lets not get carried away now...McCabe is definitely better than Schneider. No to this trade. The only established defensemen i can think of right now that id trade Lidstrom for is Zdeno Chara. McCabe is not better than Schneider. Schneider is just as physical, if not moreso, and is MUCH better positionally and defensively. McCabe's offense has a lot to do with being the go to guy on the PP. Schneider is also the highest scoring defenseman who is not on his team's top PP unit.

Lidstrom is one of the league's top defensemen offensively. Lidstrom is one of the league's top defensemen defensively. Lidstrom is not a devastating hitter, but uses his body very well when it comes to separating opponents fro mthe puck. Lidstrom's positional play is unmatched, and he rarely ever makes mistakes. McCabe is one of the league's top defensemen offensively. McCabe is a defensive liability that makes Lilja look good in his own end. McCabe is a solid physical player, but often gets out of position to make a hit. McCabe is mistake prone, especially in his own end. Lidstrom is going to win the Norris. McCabe is not even going to be a finalist.

Eriksson was a top four defenseman on a Cup-winning Wings team, and has been number one in a couple places. Bykov has never been a top four NHLer. Roest has been one of the top players in the Swiss league, and in the 04-05 season he outplayed Joe Thornton and Rick Nash.

I took the unpopular road and picked yes. I think it's necessary because most teams around the league have attendance that fluctuates wildly depending on their success. Look at places like Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. These teams have had solid attendance the past couple years, but through the 90s all three had major attendance and revenue problems. Only the rare teams (Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, NYR to name a couple) get strong attendance even when the team is not doing well. Most teams get mediocre attendance when not doing well, and sometimes even when they are doing well. There are teams like the Devils that don't get attendance because there are two more established, longstanding teams in their market. Or teams like Nashville, Tampa Bay, Florida, etc. that are fairly recent expansions into previously untapped markets, and are only just now after several years building rivalries and getting consistent attendance. I think Wings fans in general are spoiled by the view of the team having sold out every game for a decade, having been among the top two in attendance every year but once in the past 20 years, and having had a team that has been highly successful for 15 years. Most teams have not enjoyed that kind of success nor that kind of consistent attendance. Just cutting a team out if it can't afford to play is not realistic. If you were to take all the markets that didn't profit, in that case we'd only have ten teams in the NHL right now.