YoungGuns1340

Awesome lines. Its about time Hudler got his ass on the 2nd line, and Babcock couldn't have put him with a better pair. Hudler sees the ice so well in the offensive zone, that I have no reservations about him being to handle any tricky passes that Hank might dish out, and Franzen is there for the screen. Datsyuk with Hossa was predictable. All-Star playmaker gets an All-Star natural winger. And of course, Holmstrom there for the screen as well. Also a great shut-down line with the Selke winner and Hossa to match-up against any teams top line if need be. And the third line. Again, perfect. Filppula is right where he should be. Chris Drury Lite. We're too stacked to have Flip anywhere else and it would behoove him (yes, I said behoove) to be centering his own line. Not to mention he's with other forwards of similar playing style and offensive capabilities. He'll likely be a late bloomer offensively, so Babs might as well ease him into that aspect of the game while we have the depth to play the waiting game. The fourth line can clean up fine, as usual.

Thats all Meszaros is worth right now.

Murray didn't really lowball him. Talk on the Sens was that Meszaros was crap this season. And he's definitely not worth 5M per, especially when Vlasic, who is better than Meszaros, just signed for 4 years at 3.1M. By of course offer sheets have to be overpaying by nature.

Anaheim wasn't comparable to Calgary last season. They were comparable to Calgary two seasons ago where their main game was pushed by a physical edge coupled where even Scott Niedermayer was playing as fiesty a role as ever. This past seasons Anaheim team allowed that to go by the wayside and their offense itself was a messy patchwork quilt of band-aids.

No need for the hypothetical. 100+ points as an 18/19 year old is Crosby on a crappy team. But a debate with you is clearly devoid of any unbiased factual evidence from your side. So I'll let you wallow in your ironic self-righteous idiocy where you claim a duo that had a combined 126 points as rookies have proved their mettle more than a duo which averaged 94 points a piece as rookies.

Doesn't stop Hawks fans from trash talking. Sometimes I wonder if half the Hawks fans that run their mouth were around the last time the Wings won the cup, let alone the Hawks.

If you don't know about Fedotenko being a huge downgrade from Malone, then you shouldn't be in this discussion. I suppose if you wanted to except the fact that Malone is bigger, more physical, more tenacious, better defensively, and a better goal scorer, then yeah, its not a huge downgrade. But then again, looking at it that way would be retarded. As Dabs said, unequivocal downgrade. Also, "picking up Hossa's slack" means accounting for 20+ playoff points and being worlds better defensively. 50 playoff points in one season and becoming a solid defensive forward isn't going to happen ever nowadays, let alone in one season of improvement. And I'm not sure where you're going with your comment about Detroit being better on paper. Detroit is better on the ice as well.

How can you compare Kane and Toews in a regular season Red Wings slack-off match against the Hawks to Malkin and Crosby in the playoffs against a determined Red Wings squad vying for the ultimate prize? Its one thing to like Kane and Toews over Malkin and Crosby - I sure as hell do. But its another entirely to let your bias get in the way of intelligent hockey debate. And if you're calling Malkin Mr. Invisible, I hope you were calling Datsyuk the same thing every season prior to this past one when his playoff performances were enough to earn him the choker labels.

I disagree. Comparing Detroit and last seasons Anaheim team to Calgary is apples to oranges. If theres any team in the NHL that would suit Bertuzzi, its likely Calgary. They don't rely on speedy skating or puck possession. Theyre one of the few teams that has really been able to maintain relative success in the new NHL without dramatically adapting their game from their clutch-and-grab ways. And with Keenan behind the bench, that only helps. If you look at their roster, the only guy that really falls under the label of "skilled" is Cammy, and even Cammalleri is a scrappy little guy, much like Conroy. And thats how their likely going to approach this season. Not with speed, skill, puck possession, but by boxing out, brute strenght, bull-in-a-china shop type attitude. And when his linemates aren't flying through the neutral zone or making 4 or 5 tape to tape passes to head up the rush, its going to be a lot easier for Bertuzzi to fit into the system. Now, thats not to say he's going to go back to his old ways. The new NHL itself is enough to plague a guy like Bert, and the baggage only exacerbates that issue, but what I wouldn't be surprised to see is a 25 goal, 50+ point campaign with the Flames that could lead him back to respectability where offense is concerned.

Wait a minute. So you're telling me that despite adding Marian Hossa we still have to actually play 82 games + 4 rounds of playoff hockey? You mean Gary Bettman isn't going to make an appearance at the home-opener in October and hand Nick Lidstrom the cup, saying "Here. Hold on to this for another year."??? Wow. This changes everything. I was sure that we were going to encounter zero adversity en route to another cup.

I always thought Atlanta would be a good option for Lilja. They're low on NHL worth defenseman, and had the 4th worst penalty kill in the NHL last year. Liljas salary is a fine fit for Atlanta - nothing big but helps them reach the floor - and Atlanta has a bit of a Swedish thing going on with Enstrom and Havelid on the backend. But specifically his PK skills would undoubtedly pique Atlantas interest. Havelid and Enstrom holding down your PK is adequate reason enough why they had a 5 worst PK last year.

This could be more of an opportunity than anything. The Wings can sign Chelios, and if guys like Ericsson and Quincey really prove their worth, Chelios could find himself fairly low on the food chain, and something like this would likely facilitate a mid-season trade between Chicago and Detroit. Especially since Chicago's young captain has less than a seasons worth of experience in the NHL, ZERO playoff experience, and very little veteran presence on the roster to speak of that can help him out.

Tavares seems like a pretty cool dude too..

Then you pull a Blake Wheeler...

Personally, the only thing I'm bitter about is the way the officiating went awry after Game 4 when it was apparent that the Red Wings were going to defeat the Pittsburgh Crosbies. In games 5 and 6 there were 7 jerseys out there skating for Pittsburgh.

So all Wings fans should be arrogant ****** bags who can't spell cynical?

I have no problem with him leaving. It may set a bad precedent, but you don't want to make players play for your team (or your league) when they don't want to. Isn't good for the lockerroom, isn't good for the league. My issue is with his comment about the NHL "robbing" Russia, especially coming from a guy who opted to play juniors in Canada, let alone play in the NHL voluntarily. I do, however, hope the league looks into some sort of compensation for this loss. Even if Nashville is a "rival" of ours, its still not fair. And if this happened to the Wings with Filppula or Hudler, I'd be pissed. I'd like to see Nashville get a 1st round pick as compensation for losing Radulov, who at 21 was already a good NHL talent. And hes worth more than Blake Wheeler, whom Phoenix got a 2nd round pick as compensation for "losing".

I don't know whos post you're referring to, but I whole-heartedly agree.

Stopping robbing us? Robbing is taking something forcefully that does not belong to you. The NHL is not robbing Europe. No one is pointing a gone to their heads telling them to come over here. Thats the equivalent of saying Detroit robbed Pittsburgh of Hossa. Simply put, if you want to keep your best players, then give them the best competition. So far, the KHL and others haven't done that. ..and if you ask me, its just sour grapes from Radulov. He probably wants to live the superstar life with the big money and tons of girls but can't do that in the NHL when hes ass-ugly and not a big-time point producer (yet). But I have nothing against his choice. Whatever floats his boat.

A Dman or two will be traded..

Is Downey getting any bonuses? The bonus cushion is non-existent this year. You used to be able to go over the cap with potential player bonuses that might be earned that season, and simply tack them on to the following season. But this year you can't, so any potential bonuses are technically considered part of a players full payment, and thus have to be included under the cap, regardless of whether or not the player reaches those bonuses. Thats why a rookie like Stamkos is going to take 3-4M of your cap space, as opposed to 875k or so. And yes, Kopeckys full cap hit should count.

That makes a lot more sense...

McCabe is not looking for an immediate chance at a cup. How do I know this? Because the only team hes been willing to waive his NTC for over the past year has been the Islanders. McCabe isn't the greatest of competitors, so I wouldn't be surprised if relative anonymity, nice weather, and a good shot at big minutes are what looks attractive to McCabe right now. Also, folks are underestimating McCabe a bit. Sure, two years ago his contract was bloated and his play was subpar, but he came back with a much better season this year, is still a force when it comes to providing offense (especially on the PP), and his contract is pretty much market value nowadays all the while providing a decent physical edge and some leadership qualities. Finally, there is no freaking way that J-Bo is going to be traded straight up for McCabe, and so far I haven't seen anything that says the trade on the table is for that kind of swap. If J-Bo is involved, it will include the likes of Antropov and a 1st rounder coming along with McCabe, or it'll be a three-way deal. The fact that J-Bo doesn't want to stay in Florida is not going to hurt Florida at this point - they have an entire season to work out a trade for him. Theres already way too much league-wide interest for J-Bo to get traded for McCabe only, who is someone else's unwanted goods. Also, get off Florida management. The Jokinen deal wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be and the guy who traded Luongo for Bert had a blink-and-youll-miss-it tenure with the Cats.

Why is there even a topic about Maltby? It doesn't really matter how subpar his play is. He'll still be a Red Wing. Even if it means hes pulling 13th forward duty (and don't get your hopes up cause that won't be happening this season.) For all intents and purposes, Maltby has a virtual no-trade clause, as hes nearly a lifetime Red Wing and has a reasonable contract. And its because of Holland's handling of situations like these that the Red Wings are able to retain players, ask players to take paycuts, and attract free agents who in most cases have more lucrative offers on the table. Detroit is an organization founded on class and loyalty, and essentially throwing Maltby away would reflect incredibly poorly on this club. The damage it would do to Detroit's image to waive or trade Maltby would be more sizeable than Maltby playing 10-13th forward minutes for the Wings.