YoungGuns1340

Are you serious? No call there? Wow. Yeah, Emrick. That wouldve been a ridiculous call if the refs had made it for the Wings, as all calls for the Wings are.

Actually, hes been very inconsistent in mediocre fashion on defense. Offense has been great, but hes being paid for a complete game.

Great time to take a penalty, Ralf.

Man...Lidstrom?

WOW. Apparently Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup.

Lidstrom looks so slow this year. He looked so half-hearted skating over to cover Crosby.

Versus: Basically, we hope Pittsburgh gets two points out of this game

Haha. OH OSGOOD MADE A PAD SAVE ON CROSBY I HOPE CHRIS HONORS THAT PAD FOR HAVING TOUCHED A PUCK THAT CROSBY SHOT!!!!

I cant believe how bad we are at clearing the zone..

Because...i chose to focus on the refs? again, with the micromanaging. Again, as a side note, the Wings need to shake their heads.

Who said I was talking about the Datsyuk mistake? This thread never ceases to amaze me in its need for micromanaging... I was talking about the 5 on 3. I acknowledged the refs. How does talking about the refs have ANYTHING to do with Datsyuks mistake? Yeah...

HAHA Datsyuk owned Crosby. Like taking candy from a baby.

How was that not a hook on Hossa?

Oh I'm sorry. Did Datsyuks whiff cause a near 2 minute PK? I mustve missed that.

Hudler with a 3 point night! He has 12 freaking points in 14 games.

HHHHHAAAAAA HAAAAAAAA

ehh typical Pens game. Refs have to tilt the ice once the Pens are getting shelled.

Seriously guys...

He was also a candiate before that and put up double the type of offensive stats that Kronwall has.

Not in a million years. You don't win Hart trophies playing with the likes of Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom on your squad.

If Kronwall is ever going to be considered for the hall of fame, he better damn well get on it. January marks his 28th birthday and hes done nothing of consequence thus far that would warrant even a sniff at the HHOF.

Cleary IS another option and, in my eyes, I don't see why either player should be untouchable. Obviously, Cleary has the NTC and he did have more clout in contract negotiations considering he was a UFA and not an RFA, while also having come off an awesome playoff season where many people considered him Detroits best player. I'd be more inclined to ship him off first, but he is a better fit for the Wings in my eyes than Filppula is. Don't get me wrong - I think Filppula is a phenomenal player - I just don't see where he fits on this team. Hes too good and too expensive to be stuck in a third line center role, and hes not good enough offensively to be in a 2nd line scoring role. Also, everything Filpppula offers is ALWAYS going to be superfluous - skill, skating, defensive ability, supplementary scoring. We have all of that in spades in a scenario where we are trying to re-sign Hossa. Cleary is more versatile than Flip - his game doesn't suffer whether hes on the 2nd or 3rd line - and hes also a gritty guy whos willing to tango every once in a while. I'm not saying hes better than Filppula, just that hes different, and in the way that hes different, hes a better fit for the Wings.

If the difference between Franzen and Hossa is 4M on average vs 8M on average, you have to consider what you could do with that 4M extra in terms of depth. Its not simply Franzen vs Hossa, its Franzen + extra money (cap space), flexibility, depth vs Hossa. Honestly, if I'm Holland, and I'm trying to re-sign Hossa, the first corner I'm looking to cut besides letting the obvious dead weight go via their contracts ending (Sammy, Mac, Downey, Cheli, etc.) is Valterri Filppula. Say what you want about Filppula, but if we re-sign Hossa long-term, then you can be sure that Datsyuk is your 1st center, and Zetterberg is your 2nd. A $3M third-line center at that point is unnecessary with Darren Helm available. Besides Helm being some 2.5M cheaper, hes also just as fast, just as good defensively, and has enough offensive talent to produce a little secondary offense in a third line role. The only other spot for Filppula on this team is in a 2nd line winger role, and the difference between a would-be long-term contract for Franzen as our 2nd line scorer and a 3M Filppula as our 2nd line scorer is not enough difference IMO to justify keeping Filppula over Franzen. You could feasibly re-sign Franzen for what Filppula (3M) and Samuelsson (1.2) collectively make on the long-term. Say, 4.2M over 6 years for Franzen. Not to mention, you could gain something of value in trading Filppula - a pick/prospect package. Theres also the option of trading Hudler and replacing him with Leino, keeping Hudler and re-signing him low-cost via arbitration or otherwise, or trading Hudler AND Filppula - either separately or together - to add a low-cost forward like Jiri Hudler ca. '08-09 and a pick or prospect or other package.

The thing is, neither did Quincey in Detroit. This is just the typical "they put me on waivers so now I'm going to play lights out to prove them all wrong." Quincey is overperforming right now. Lebda is underperforming right now. He was a member of a cup winner and now thinks he has a free pass. When Lebda was a call-up, he too was playing lights out. People were wondering how the hell Lebda hadn't earned a spot earlier. But that has faded every year since Lebda's spot has become secure. Also, Quincey knew his future with Detroit was - at best - a #6 on this squad. How are we to know thats not the reason he performed as he did? Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe Quincey solidified his fate on purpose? Has anyone stopped to consider that Quincey wasn't EVER going to perform as well with the Wings as he is with another, weaker squad because, after all, whats the point of being the best damn #6 Dman there is if theres no opportunity for upward mobility? Its no lie that at least for the next 4 years Kronwall, Rafalski, Stuart, and Lidstrom - later to be replaced by Ericsson - will be our top 4. If thats the kind of time/slot Quincey wanted, even he had to know it wasn't going to be with Detroit. As for "the waiver thing" being a bad idea, the Wings had no choice. They obviously tried to shop him, and because every team knew Detroit was in a crunch, they weren't going to give up picks for him - again, the only thing they knew the Wings would accept in return would be picks by nature of their financial situation. And GMs think the world of picks these days, as we know.

I agree, but are you suprised? Its boring when a high profile player re-signs with his current team for a reasonable contract. People either want to see 1) the team get screwed into paying a boatload of money for said player 2) the high profile player walking for nothing at the deadline or 3) The media favorite - Zetterberg traded at the deadline to the Toronto Canadien Shark-Preying Penguins for anything ranging from a 2nd round pick and Mike Sillinger to an impossible package of Syndey Crosby, Joe Thornton, Roberto Luongo and the coveted 2nd rounder in an 8-way deal.