YoungGuns1340

The comparison stands. Lets not stand around and pretend that Holland hasn't made any mistakes in adjudging young talent.

Filppula sees nearly 16 minutes of ice time a game, and less than 2 of those minutes are on the PK. He sees more even strength time than Cleary, Sammy, Hudler, and Homer, yet his statistics pale in comparison to everyone except Sammy, which isn't saying much. Statistically, Homer, Hudler, and Cleary average a point every 22-23 minutes at even strength. Filppula, on the other hand, averages a point at even strength every 30 minutes played.

That depends. You do understand that Filppulas contract is VERY likely to affect the re-signings of Hudler, Franzen, and Hank, right. Think of it this way: Filppula and Hossa combined make about 10M. Do you know what the likely raises for Hank, Hudler, and Franzen are likely to total? About 10M. And this is with a cap that is more likely than not to be lower than this year. So it becomes a quesiton of not what happens if Filppula turns into a guy worth 6M (VERY unlikely) and we lose him, but which guy that could potentially be worth 6M do we lose? Franzen, Hudler or Filppula. Frankly, I'd go with the two that we already know are worth the money they *might* be paid.

Yes, it was a mistake. I said it before he signed Flip, when he signed Flip, and I'm still saying it now. At the time Flip was holding out, Holland had 3 great options which he chose to neglect: 1. He could've left him exposed to a RFA sheet longer than he did. At the time, Vancouver was rumored to be interesting in "stealing" Filppula for 2.5M. On the one hand, if you don't match, you get a pick. On the other, you get Filppula for 500k cheaper and likely shorter term. Its a win-win situation. 2. He could've signed Filppula for something like Steen got. Those two guys are incredibly similar, and Steen got 1.7 for 2 years. That would've been perfect for Flip. 3. If neither of the above options worked, Filppula could've been taken to arbitration. In that case, theres no way he would've gotten 3M, as the RFA contracts being signed last year comparable to Flips were very reasonable, and the Wings could've taken the arbiters decision for a 1 year contract or a 2 year contract. I'm not bashing Holland here. He's the best GM in the league, but I think he got a little cocky with this move and thought he'd show everyone yet again how good he is at signing players to underpaying contracts a la Kronwall and Zetterberg. It was an ill-advised signing knowing that the global economy was headed for downfall which was likely and still is likely to affect the cap and with the big re-signings of Hank and Franzen upcoming. And before you compare Flips contract to Kronwalls, there are a few of things to think about. First of all, defenseman take longer to develop than forwards do, and secondly, Kronwall's development was derailed a bit by his injuries. Not to mention there being only 6 Dmen and twice as many forwards makes it that much more crucial that you lock up your top 4 dmen long term. Finally, like others have said, the signing of Fippula in it of itself was not a bad one. But the terms were. Flip has shown hustle, and hes shown defensive capability, but his offensive flair has been inconsistent and short-lived. Flip was and is good for a great play every once and a while - his set up tonight showed that - but its easy to see, as it has been since day one of his joining the Wings, that his offensive composure and his vision are extremely lacking. Hes a hard worker, hes solid defensively, and a great skater, but more often than not, he makes the wrong decision in the offensive zone. And as many players in this league have shown, theres only so much experience can do to bring that out in a player. This whole situation brings to mind a time when Pat Quinn called Alexander Steen "our Henrik Zetterberg." Things didn't exactly go as planned there either.

Are you playing around or did you seriously miss the part where he emphasized that he meant "lately"?

The sooner you trade Flip, the better. A guy like Filppula has the potential to be very valuable to quite a few teams. And as of now, teams are likely going to look at Flip's numbers, then look at the Wings depth and figure he could be much more valuable to their team than he is to the Wings. And I think Detroit's reputation for developing players precedes them. In the past few years, teams who have landed the Wings young players have gotten great value. Think Matthias and Quincey.

I do not envy Holland's job right now. This has to be his toughest season yet.

Yup. Thats the short and long of it. Tack on 5M to Hanks salary AND our cap number and you basically have our potential cap number - 60+ M. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, not only do I think you have to let go off Hossa AND Sammy, but Holland might be well-advised to shop Filppula as well.

The apprehension in his voice spelled out doom and gloom for the cap. Every NHL team in this league has a few capologists on staff, and they're all predicting a drop in the cap ceiling. Its going to be no different with Zetterberg than it is with Hossa - until the Wings and the NHL have a better handle on the cap projections, no team with big contracts to hand out and little cap space is going to be handing out anything.

So this is what you're envisioning? Hossa (7.5) - Datsyuk (6.7) - Homer (2.25) Hank (7.5) - Filppula (3) - Cleary (2.85) Maltby (.88) - Helm (.6) - Leino (.9) Kopecky (.6) - Draper (1.58) - Downey (.5) Mac (.5) Lidstrom (7.4) - Raffi (6) Stuart (3.75) - Kronwall (3) Lilja (1.2) - Lebda (.65) Meech (.5) Ozzie (1.4) Howard (.75) To: 60.01M 1) Our shaky goaltending just got shakier 2) Our depth just got more shallow 3) We're over the cap by about 5M - theres no way with this economy that the cap doesn't drop a bit. Are people expecting Hank and Hossa to sign for a collective 10M or something? What am I missing that makes people think we can afford re-signing Hank AND Hossa?

Yeah I agree. He threw a good hit, was really strong in his own end, and was able to make some good stops at the blueline on the PP - exactly what he hasn't been doing so far this year. Good game all around

Ehh who cares. The All Star Game has become a bit of a joke.

Because re-signing Hossa directly affects re-signing Hudler, and possibly Sammy, but I see him leaving anyways. If you want to have a cute little discussion about which is the better player, theres no point. Hossa wins that discussion handily. But its easy to see that 7.5 is a reasonable estimate for re-signing Hossa. Ironically, 3M for Hudler, and 4.5 for Franzen are reasonable estimates respectively as well. Guess what that equates to? Hossa's salary.

I guess you also missed the part where Holland said "you can't build a team with too many high-end players." And its absolutely ridiculous to lose Hudler and Franzen in favor of Hossa. Ask Ottawa and Tampa what happens when you go with a trio of first liners while sacrificing depth.

What was the deal with Filppula? I missed the "should-be" call. What'd he do? ...and I think Kopecky heard me in the 2nd period when I said he was having a good game for once!

Kopecky and Filppula! Whodathunkit?

Look past the stats (which are below a PPG anyways). Its obvious that Hossa doesn't have great chemistry with anyone in particular on this team. Thats a huge reason why the lines this year have been anything but set. At any rate, nice job at the debate. I guess "not being a great fit" automatically means "horrible fit."

Holland basically spells it out. You can only keep "two of them comforatbly" meaning Hossa, Hank, and the Mule. If you ask me, Franzen AND Hudler are basically going to cost the same as Hossa. No brainer.

Hossa hasn't been very great the past 7 or 8 games or so either. I really don't think Hossa is a great fit for this team, either. As for Hank, I don't really care that hes not putting up the points - bodes well for contract negotiations - but he just doesn't look himself. His passes in particular have really fallen off. I wouldn't be surprised if the idea of a new contract is weighing heavily on him. Hank seems like a pretty pensive guy. Wouldn't be surprised if hes thinking a lot about the terms of his contract. Its a bigger deal than just signing a piece of paper.

To be fair, Datsyuk is really the only playmaker on the team. Hudlers inching that way, but Hossa, Hank and Franzen is a bunch of finishers with no playmaker. Then you have Hudler and Datsyuk on the same time. Babs just needs to admit that he was SO wrong thinking that Filppula was the better of the two between Hudler and Flip, and give Hudler his due - a permanent spot on the 2nd line.

Jesus Boston is on pace for another victory. They're just sick. Kessel with 23 goals. I think losing a ball made him even faster.

Hank and Hossa together is becoming pretty futile.

We're playing exceptionally well. Its refreshing. Not only do we have the lead, but the intensity and physicality is there.

No kidding. Hudler just keeps on getting better. The little guy looks like the next Steve Sullivan.

Its sad, but every time Hank gets the puck lately, I dont expect anything to happen.