YoungGuns1340

Honestly, if the Sharks trade Marleau for Hossa, its a good addition for them, but take a look at their scoring. Its pathetic. They only have 2 players with more than 30 points. Big Joe has 68, and Michalek has 40. Thats it. NO ONE on the entire squad has 20 goals. Id be a lot more fearful of the Sharks with Hossa AND Marleau, than just with Hossa. IMO, they can't afford to take a top 6 forward off their roster, but theyre clearly desperate. Hossa is clearly an upgrade over Marleau, but in reality, they needed to ADD another forward, not just upgrade. Not to mention, whose gonna be their #2 center now? Roenick? Pavelski?

Theres a heavy rumor going down that Montreal has traded Ryder and a 1st to Calgary for Tanguay. Per The Score. If thats true, then Im psyched. In my mind Montreal is our biggest competition for Hossa.

Haha. Oh the irony of this post!! I know what you mean. Both have 30 goal seasons to their name, but its just kind of amusing to think about how last year, theres no WAY Detroit would be able to compete with those names. But this year... Marleau: 10G, 18A, 28P, -21 Ryder: 11G, 11A, 22P, -1 Filppula: 16G, 12A, 28P, +17 not to mention... Marleau: 6.3M, UFA in 2 years, 28 years old Ryder: 2.95M, UFA, 26 years old Filppula: 730k, RFA (UFA in 4 years at the earliest), 23 years old

I seem to remember a rumor saying that Waddell would give whichever team wanted to trade for Hossa 48 hours to discuss a contract with him or something like that. I wonder if Flip was informed that there was a possibility he was going to be traded, and as we speak, Holland is discussing with Hossa and his agent whether or not the Wings can accomodate Hossa's salary demands for next year. Oh well, wishful thinking at least!

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/200802...from_Kings.html Modry traded to Philly for a 3rd round pick. Im guessin this either ends speculation that Kaberle is coming, or it means that Jason Smith (as rumored) is on his way out. Either way, Im glad Detroit isnt getting Modry now. Oh, forgot to add this: I dont buy for a second that LA isnt willing to trade him. Looks like Lombardi is trying to drive up Stuart's asking price more than anything. My guess is the LA wants D prospects, and Philly doesn't have any they can afford to give up. Advantage Detroit if you ask me..

Detroit will have absolutely no problem having Hossa on the books next season, as Hanks contract wont kick in til the season after that. 09/10 is what Im more worried about. And hopefully, they can offer Cleary a longer term contract (5 years?) at a cheaper price (2.5?), which in reality is a deal Cleary might take, as thats a lot of security for such an inconsistent player as Cleary. Now, hopefully when/if Detroit re-signs their players, they'll re-sign them all to at least 2 year deals (except Chelios), so they can calculate how much money theyll have booked for 09/10. A look at 08/09 Cap: ~54M Hudler(1.1) - Hank(2.65) - Hossa (7) Cleary(2.5) - Datsyuk(6.7) - Homer (2.25) Kopecky (.5)- Franzen (.94) - Sammy (1.2) Maltby(.88)- Draper(1.5) - Dmac? (.5) Downey (.55) Lidstrom (7.4) - Ericsson (.65) Raffi (6) - Kronner (3) Lebda (.65) - Cheli (.8) Quincey (.65) Osgood (1.4) Howard (.8) Total: ~49.9M 09/10 Estimated cap ~56M Hudler(2.5) - Hank(7) - Hossa (7) Cleary(2.5) - Datsyuk(6.7) - Homer (2.25) Abdelkader?(.6) - Kopecky (.7) - UFA (1.2) Maltby(.88) - Draper(1.5)- Dmac?(.5) Downey (.55) Lidstrom (7.4) - Ericsson (.65) Raffi (6) - Kronner (3) Lebda (.65) - Quincey (.65) UFA/prospect (.65) Osgood (1.4) Howard (.8) Cap: 55.1 - If the Wings can talk Hudler, wholl be an RFA if hes still around, into taking a one year deal at maybe 1.8M for the 09/10 season and wait to see what they can give him after Lidstroms salary comes off the books in 10/11, then we'd be looking at a around 54.5M payroll, which would still give Detroit some space under the cap in 09/10. It is doable.

Holland definitely knows how to roll out the red carpet. He just doesn't do it for the media. There's a reason why new players always rave about their treatment by the Red Wings organization. The Ducks have the inside track on getting Sundin because they have the kind of assets that the Wings dont. Particulary a really high first rounder.

Yeah but who would you rather keep on your team? Flip or Cheechoo? Cheechoo still has a good scoring touch and hes signed for 3M for another 3 years. That contract is still a steal, and will continue to be if he finds his scoring touch again. And it looks like hes starting to come again as of late. Thats why I dont see San Jose trading Cheechoo unless its a sign and trade. San Jose has some pretty big scoring woes this year, and they need BOTH Cheechoo and Hossa if they want to make the big push. Rumor has it San Jose is offering Steve Bernier, and IMO, Flips skill trumps Berniers game as I think Atlanta would be more interested in skill than brawn for their top 6. I can see Flip meshing a lot better with Kovy or Kozlov than Bernier would.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, particularly with the Sundin deal. That pretty much makes Anaheim the only team in the league without any weaknesses. I think if Anaheim lands Sundin first, we need to either land Hossa or only make minor trades that cost us next to nothing, as I cant see Detroit getting past Anaheim if they dont add another big name. Particularly with their PP as it stands because, IMO, no matter when we play Anaheim or who they have, with the amount of penalties they take, we're gonna have to beat them by using our PP advantages.

Haha, ah sorry for calling you out then. I was wondering if you had made a mistake, but you seemed pretty confident with that statement.

Who said Iggy and Lecavalier would be playing on the same line?

Did you seriously just suggest that Lucic can't do any of those things? Hes a great hitter and hes already taken down some heavies in this league, and hes only a rookie! Not to mention hes 19 years old and is on pace for 27 points on a full season averaging less than 11 minutes a game. Thats certainly not bad for a teenager playing for the almighty Bruins..

Hes had to play a bigger role on LA than he did with Calgary. He'd be Detroits #4, which is exactly the position he should be in. And he'd definitely be asked to focus on staying home, clearing the net, and playing the body, so he the motivation would be there. Although I do agree that his "nastiness" is overrated.

I'm with you. With the way people have been suggesting most trade proposals "won't be enough to land X player", you'd almost expect Modry to have landed a lower tier prospect as well. I don't think many GMs are throwing their cards out on the table right now. In fact, I would bet that if Holland and Lombardi have discussed Stuart at all, Holland hasn't suggested hes willing to offer anything more than a pick, as most other GMs probably are too. GMs know its better to start the bidding out low and wait to pull out your blue chips until later in the game. Philly made this move cause they really needed to, and even still they didn't shell out the assets.

You guys wouldnt trade Iggy and Lecavalier for Hank and Datsyuk. Youre talking about the two most complete players in the league here...skilled, scoring, big, physical, fighting, team leading, PKing, good skating forwards.

Yup. I would do all of these deals. But Im not sure I would do all of them together. Why? Wed have barely any centers. So we might have to pass on Lucic for Filppula and keep him as our #2 center. Although I really like Lucic. But just for s***s...yeah Id do all of them.

Yup. If the Wings add a top 6er a cheap bottom sixer, and a top 4 Dman, then itd be like Detroit already having traded for Stuart and Prospal.

Thats great that Babs likes him and all, but if he asks for a number that the Wings dont want to give, then he'll leave. Simple as that. And personally, I think Franzen is going to be looking for a number that the Wings dont want to give. I could see him seeking 2M per season, and IMO hes not worth for 25 points a season and mediocre physicality for his size...and Im sure he knows he can get that on the open market. And if Babs has anything to say, itll be that we should be locking up Flip and Cleary before we overpay for Franzen... And the reason why I say this is because I remember last time his contract was up as an RFA, he was already looking for around 1.2M, and it took Detroit a long time to re-sign him because of that.

I like Quincey much better than Meech. If Meech is playing well, then that makes me happy because it increased his trade value. But IMO, hes behind Quincey and Ericsson, and he plays a much more boring game than both those guys. Not really fast, not big, not particularly skilled. Hes close to a dime a dozen player...

I think your numbers are pretty close. I expect something like 2.6 for Cleary, 1.8 for Flip. 1.4 for Lilja, .8 for Cheli, .8 for Howard, and I think Franzen walks. If the Wings trade for Stuart, I think theyll offer him a contract before Lilja. And if Cheli retires, theyll bring in Ericsson to replace him..

I dont know why people seem to think Hossa is going to get 8M. When Sidney Crosby is only making 8.5 or whatever, Hossa doesnt touch 8M, especially on a longterm contract, and especially when you consider none of Iggy, Heatley, Spezza, or Lecavalier are making 8M. I love Hossa, but hes a top 20 forward, not top 10. I say if he truly does want to go to a contender, then he would accept 7M, probably over 5 years or so. That being said, you have to keep in mind that Zetterbergs contract wont kick in until after next season. The Cap is projected to be about 54M next season, and itll likely go up another 2M after that. So youre looking at nearly 56M by the time Zetterbergs contract kicks in. If Detroit is smart and signs guys like Franzen, Flip, Ericsson, Cleary and Quincey to 2-4 year contracts right now, like they did with the likes of Zetterberg and Lebda, theyd be ahead of the game in 09/10 when wed have Hossa, Lidstrom, Hank, Datsyuk, and Raffi all on the books for big numbers..

Its looking like Stuart more and more everyday, but the decision will be made based on Lidstroms condition. Doubtful its Campbell. Hed be too costly and hed be a sure-fire rental. He wants 6.5M a year, and hed probably get the player, prospect, pick package as a return..

Welcome to the board! A rest might do Nick some good. I think if hes out for a couple weeks, since its never happened before, I think well see some of the best hockey from our players in a long time. If Nicks out, there will be a lot of stepping up..

Alright, Drake. Your turn.

Ahh, fair enough. Smyth probably still isnt 100% either..