YoungGuns1340

Never mind. Read it wrong. Not a bad cap hit.

Jay isnt anywhere near as dominant offensively as Niedermayer or Pronger, and Phaneuf is worlds below Pronger and Neidermayer in the defensive department. Then theres the whole experience factor. The only comparison between Anaheim and Calgary's defense is the hype and the contracts.

Haha, and he wanted to play for a contender?

Sullivan would qualify for an incentive-laden contract, if Im not mistaken.

Yeah he does. It would suck if he retired without a cup.

I'm apathetic towards Hossa. Great player, but I never thought he fit in well with the Wings. The reason why I think it would be stupid to sign him at all is because of the depth it would've cost us.

Had the qualities that Drake had? For under 1M? Asham, Hordichuk, Boll, Downie, Winchester, Tootoo, Clutterbuck, Kennedy, Thornton, Rypien, Peverley, Clarkson....to name a few.

Its really hard to debate with you without degrading your intelligence, if you have any. Let me spell it out for you: Hudler at 2.5, Leino re-signing at the same salary, and trading Lebda, leaves us with 650k to sign a 12th forward, leaving Meech as the 7th and 13th. Happy cupcake? And I dont have man love for Hudler. I wouldnt mind seeing him traded. Just not at the moronic price you suggest.

Where did you come from? Yes, it is blowing up the team to keep Hossa. Sweet jesus am I glad Holland had the sense not to budge from a $4M offer from Hossa. If half of the folks on here were running the show, Hossa would be signed long-term at 6M per - just so we could keep him - and we'd be pulling a Calgary by playing with a 15-16 man roster.

When its the idiocy of accepting a 2nd round pick for Jiri Hudler, yes, I tend to act like a jackass out of annoyance. First of all, a team getting a 57 point player for 2.5M at the ripe age of 25 years old is a steal of a contract as it is. Go take a look around the league and see how many guys that score over 55 points are making less than 2.5M and aren't on entry deals. The fact that a GM could sign Hudler for 2.5M AND only pay a 2nd round pick for it would be an embarrassment to the Holland regime. And just for reference, Jamal Mayers got a 2nd round pick. Chris Gratton got a 2nd round pick. Brian Sutherby got a 2nd round pick. Jim Vandermeer got a 2nd round pick. Hudler has several times over the value that those guys do. And I agree that Lebda's salary is great, but if it thats the cost of Hudler at 2.5M, so be it. Also, if Lilja is unable to play, then he qualifies for LTIR, which means the Wings can exceed the cap by 1.25M until he comes back, so they'd have plenty of time to make mid-season changes if thats the case. FYI, the Flyers kept Briere (or was it Gagne?) on LTIR so they could clear some space before he came back. Its doable.

I'm not acting like anything other than happy that we aren't blowing up our team to retain a guy that "slumped" for 20 out of 23 games when he signed with this team for the sole purpose of winning a cup.

Lebda. And this is if Hudler makes 2.5M. But you're jumping into the middle of the debate here, and thats if Hudler is offered 2.5M on an offer-sheet, that the Wings wouldn't match to bring. I'm not opposed to trading Hudler, just not at the retarded asking price of a 2nd pick.

Thats where Lebdas 650k comes in and we sign a 4th liner to minimum wage a la Dallas Drake. I thought that would've been obvious, but apparently not.

So is actually admitting that Hossa sucked in the Finals, apparently.

Lebda. Meech is the 7th forward/13th forward, and we're cap compliant with Leino at 875k and Hudler at 2.5M (on a supposed matched offersheet).

Why would we dump Zetterberg? Thats the beauty of Hossa leaving. We could sign THREE Talbots and still have cap space left over! Seriously, take the Hossa hard on over to the Pens forum before I start sounding like Jake.

We're full of them? Really? You do realize that if Hudler leaves, we've lost THREE finesse players in Samuelsson, Hossa, and Hudler, right? Retaining 1/3 hardly inflates this team with finesse over grit.

Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that whole part where the Wings can't trade anyone off their roster, ever. What a shocking idea. Surely Ken Holland would never think of it.

What do the Wings history of draft picks have to do with anything? I'd ask you to look at the history of Ken Holland. Hes not dumb enough to let Hudler go for a 2nd round pick.

If Hudler is being so difficult that a deal can't be reached by arbitration - which usually comes in August - then Holland would be more prone to trade him for a reasonable return. Hes not going to get sniped away at the cost of a 2nd round pick.

Actually, what we could afford is a couple - make that 4 - Max Talbot's. You know - the guy that outscored Hossa in the finals.

Abdelkader won't be on the team. Thats already been addressed by the Wings management. And they can't afford an unpolished rookie at 850k anyways.

Draft picks? Its a 2nd round pick. Whoop-Dee-Doo. You're a moron if you think Holland would let Hudler walk away for a 2nd round pick, and not do something to make up the cap space, which would be a breeze. Hes already acknowledged that hes trading a Dman anyways, so that frees up at least 500k. And at any rate, you still haven't addressed the arbitration issue. You take a player to arbitration, hes protected from offer sheets, and can negotiate with him up until his trial. Welcome to hockey.

You're quickly proving yourself to be one of the most ignorant posters on the board.

You took the words right out of my, er, post.