YoungGuns1340

Yeah. Because you either need an intimidating guy off the ice, or you need a guy who can respond AND play 4th line minutes on the ice. There is all of ONE player in the entire league who could play 80 games a year and pull 4th line minuts while being a heavyweight on this deep Detroit squad. And hes signed to a 3 year contract already. So, as such, you either go with the best of the best to sit it out, or you go with a MW or even a semi-enforcing agitator who can play 80 games and take care of the Tuckers, Tootoos, Averys, etc.

Typical post from someone who can't come up with an argument. I propose a name like Carcillo - a guy who can actually be a regular 4th liner - and you come back and make a comment about him being a MW. Who cares if hes a MW when he'd actually be dressed and in the lineup instead of sitting on the bench for 40+ games?

When the Wings are up 5-0 and Janssen and King are roaming, Datsyuk, Hossa, and Zetterberg won't be on the ice. And who knows if Downey will even be in the lineup.

You could try quoting my entire post for starters, instead of quoting me mid-sentence. Logical statements too complex to get across to you? Actually Downey has more of a reputation for THIS more than anything

Who cares if hes a heavyweight or not? I doubt the Wings are more concerned about a guy like Janssen who wont even be playing the Wings if the Blues really want to win, then they are about Torres, Tootoo, etc.

So you're calling him the best GM in the league? Thats awfully nice of you. Theres a reason why you're a poster and Hollands a GM. Because hes smart and judging from your idiotic suggestions...you're...not so much.

No its not. The difference between the two is offense and defense. Filppula is lacking in offense and Hudler is lacking in defense. Two stupid penalty calls in the playoffs doesnt mean he takes a lot of penalties. Filppula took more than him in the regular season, and the penalty called on Hudler in game 6 was a pathetic call that 10 times out of 10 is never called unless Pittsburgh needs a boost to get to a potential cup-winning game. And high-sticks happen.

The MLive article is around here somewhere, but Holland directly says in the article that Lilja is an insurance policy, and that they'll look to move him if the young kids perform well enough to get the spot over Lilja. Thats VERY likely. Which is why a Lilja (1.25M) for Neil (1.1M) deal would make sense. Although GMR would likely stop being a wings fan...

Hey. I love Downey too. All I'm saying is this team upgraded its skill with Hossa, so I would like to see an upgrade in the physicality of a guy or two. As if being the reigning Stanley Cup Champs with an almost fully skilled roster wasn't enough, adding Hossa only pisses the rest of the league off more. If Downey is what Kenny comes back with, I'll take it. But I'd like to see them exhaust the possibilities of something a little more fierce or a little more regular (and not in the metamucil sense). Or both.

Exactly. And what they're looking at are bottom-pair Dman with reasonable contracts.

Again, its all about reputation. If youre going to have a guy that plays full time, he better be able to. In other words, a lot better than Downey. And if youre going to have a healthy scratch or somebody wasting away in the minors, he better be a guy that instills fear in players on paper alone. And by that I mean, if the Wings had a name like Carcillo or Barch or Brashear on the roster, but was a healthy scratch, another teams agitator is still going to be well aware of the fact that if he does something of consequence, he'll have to answer to the Red Wings enforcer the next time they meet.

Its possible that Neil might be on his way out of Ottawa...

I was thinking more along the lines of trading Andreas "insurance policy" Lilja...

So we can only sign players from free agency? My bad. I forgot there was a restriction against trading players, especially when you have a crowded roster.

Rivet played better in San Jose than he did anywhere else. I would've turned around and traded Lukowich instead.

Dan Boyle has a bad +/- because he sucks at defense.

So are we going to ice our 5th and 6th NHL lines in Grand Rapids? Why on earth would we spend more money elsewhere when this team can barely fit its own players on the roster?

God forbid we put a guy who actually could produce 60 points on the 2nd line.

What does 2 million have to do with anything? If Flip gets signed to an offer-sheet, it'll be way above 2M. Read within the context, AW.

Kevin Lowe is my new hero. Fact is, hes got Dustin Penner at a pretty standard market price right now and made some good moves for his club. Burke wants to talk about inflating numbers? Bertuzzi? Schneider? This guy is an idiot..

Why do people think that Hollands motive in replacing Drake was to add an old dog to the roster? When Holland said he wanted to replace Drake, he was speaking to those players who can motivate a group with their presence alone. The fact that we just signed a superstar who wants the cup so bad he turned away some 70 million dollars to sign with us gives Detroit its motivating factor.

Do you know how many enforcers in this league are bigger, tougher and better fighters than Downey is? Franzen is 6'3, 220 and loaded with muscle too. Do you see folks being scared of his fists? No. Its all about reputation. And Downey is not a guy whos name on paper makes you think twice.

The Wings need to forget about DMac and Downey and look bigger than that. With 9 scoring forwards, only 3 grinding forwards - none of whom are an intimidating presence - and nothing of note on the back-end outside of Lilja, who again isnt anything scary, they need a full-time figher on their team. With a stacked, skilled offenisve squad, teams are going to be taking every chance to take out one of our skilled guys. Playing guys like Walker, Torres, Weber, Tootoo, etc 6 times a year, they could really see some injury trouble. Holland already said he thinks the Wings will have targets on their backs as the defending champs. Now its only going to get worse as they're only more skilled and more of a threat to win the league again.

If Vancouver wants to be sure Detroit doesnt match, they'd have to offer at least 3.5-4M. And Im guessing itd really have to be 4M Heres the compensation: More than $2,615,625 to $3,923,437 -- first-round and third-round picks. More than $3,923,437 to $5,231,249 -- first-round, second-round and third-round picks. I could see Vancouver offering a 3.9M deal, just to keep it to two draft picks. And honestly, I would let Filppula go for that. Hes not worth 3.9M (thats what Datsyuk was making when he scored 87 points). He wont ever be an offensive stud and the Wings have defensive forwards coming out their ears. Plus I dont see how Filppula could increase his PP minutes. He was 8th in PP time among forwards, and Hossa coming should only push him down to 9th as Sammy will likely stay on the point and Hudler is WAY more valuable on the PP than Filppula is. I wouldnt be surprised to see Vancouver tender the offer if they lose out on Sundin, and if thats the case, its likely that Vancouver wont make the playoffs. Losing Nazzy and Morrison and replacing them with Bernier and Filppula makes them younger, but only a hair or two stronger offensively. If that.

No. But freeing up a possible 3M in cap space would make it a hell of a lot easier for the Wings to retain Franzen, and possibly even Hossa. With Franzen, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg all likely here for another 7 years at least, Im hardly worried about a Filppula loss. Especially if a Vancouver 1st rounder is involved. That could be a top 14 pick.