RedWingAbner

Yes, thank God that our team doesn't blindly listen to outlandish nationalist fans whose bias towards their home country supersedes their ability to judge a player. Babcock does see these things, hence, Filppula is a 3rd liner.

Gcom also made a point....we kept Filppula at $3M so that we could *hope* he reached his potential.....rather than keeping Hossa, who has hit that potential, at $5M. I am not saying that I am a huge Hossa fan......but think of it....why keep a $3M 3rd liner when you had a happy top liner willing to stick around? Hossa sucked in the playoffs, but man, it sure was nice getting to them, no? And considering he played with a massive shoulder injury.....yikes. Wings made a mistake.

Agree. At least once a game, Flip f**ks up a great scoring chance. Be it shooting wide of an empty net or suddenly forgetting that scoring involves moving (see last night's game....3rd period.....if you Flip lovers miss it visually, just listen for Ken Daniels saying "Filppula can't finish it" as he stares at the puck between his legs). It's just comical. Either he's a center who is great defensively, in which case we are too deep for him, or a Winger (now) with "potential." We can't score goals as a team....but keep our $500,000 per goal man.

Or is it that they really have no other choice for him/the team? I'm sure, as Babcock has stated he prefers, that they would like Datsyuk to be 1 center, Zetterberg to be another. Which one is 1, which is 2, I don't know. But where does that leave Flip? He's a #3-- higher than Helm, lower than the other two. Regarding the other post-- I read what you wrote first, but I figured you meant that Z-F-Franzen would be the top line. I think Z has more chemistry with Datsyuk.

The only problem with those lines is you have a 3rd line center playing on the 2nd line. When the Wings were wracked with injuries and we had Filppula back, it didn't inspire much confidence to have him there then, either. I know that he had like a 7 game point streak or whatever, but come on guys, give it up.

Why would we do this to Franzen....do we want to infect his game? He's working well on the Datsyuk line.

Cheechoo is a 50-goal scorer. Gary Leeman is available for the right price, too. It's not about what they've done, it's about what they are doing. Absolutely agree with you. If they aren't producing, the Wings need to grab someone who will. (Not necessarily meaning they get rid of them, just someone to score).

Yes, but don't just give him away. Milk the potential angle and get something solid from another team. Don't let them watch footage from last night vs. San Jose.

Yes, you have to make dollar-for-dollar moves.....or.....make multiple moves to make your 9th-place, cap-max team a little bit better. Going into next season, what is he gonna do---- say "we can't do anything, we're at the cap" or make moves to improve the situation? I am going to lean toward the latter. Holland has grown complacent lately-- if we aren't bringing back a reclamation project (Bertuzzi, Williams-- and I am pleased with Bertuzzi's play) it's just sit back and do the bare minimum. At some point, you have to look at it and say, "well, I like these players....but it isn't working out. I might actually have to make a significant player trade." When was the last time the Red Wings did that? Stuart was picked up for draft picks...in 2008. When was the last time a decent contributor was dealt for a decent contributor? Would that be Jason Williams for Kyle Calder (and I know its a strech to call Calder a decent contributor).....but good God. Make a move, Holland.

Too bad Ken Holland sat back again. To me, this is just taking the easy way out instead of getting creative and improving the team.

No double shifting-- just bump him up and fill his spot on the 3rd line with someone else.

Actually, Williams looked pretty good last night-- for his relatively small cap hit, I'd keep him around. Maybe the abundance of scouts had more to do with San Jose playing than Detroit? It would be intriguing if the Wings were planning something big.....but they'd have to move a salary. Is anyone just a *bit* curious to see what Darren Helm could do on the 2nd line with Bertuzzi and Cleary?

Worst Ever? Not even close. Horrible now, but not worst ever. It's interesting that you choose "retarded." Now, I'm not really that PC, but Lewis Black made a funny observation about that last night-- maybe it's the new "n" word. As in, it can only be used by people of that group. As a Rafalski apologist, feel free to use it.

Not at all. Most of the contracts are quite reasonable. Rafalski and Filppula, yes.

I don't hate Flip.

Hopefully Brendan Smith will be a stud in the NHL, too. I just hope we don't get another $3M "potential" contract (not referring to Kronwall, who is worth it).

Exactly. Put Lebda with Lidstrom during the prime years and we'd be talking about how Lebda's 50 point seasons were awesome, but we wish he'd be better defensively. Brian Rafalski=Brett Lebda. At least Lebda makes absolutely nothing. I'd keep Lebda over Rafalski, and I HATE Brett Lebda as a hockey player.

He was overpaid then too. What discount did he take? He got $30M over 5 years during the salary cap era. He was a knee-jerk reaction to Schneider leaving; most people realize now why New Jersey let him go.

How much would a defenseman earn if he put up 60 points with Nick Lidstrom....and didn't have the physical presence of a goldfish....and understood what "fronting" someone in your own end meant.....and wasn't remarkably lazy when clearing pucks/playing the powerplay? Brian Rafalski is the most overpaid player on this team, bar none.

Val Filppula..... Nah. The Mule.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/player/_...type/3/count/41 According to that, he was ranked 46th....just behind Brent Seabrook.

And also.....thank you for referencing Igor Larionov. Good times, good times. Remember when HE was the 3rd center behind Yzerman and Fedorov? Man, we were spoiled.

Yes it is, because it's an opinion. He was all right, but it's not a definitive fact that he was spectacular....that's immeasurable.

As Kenan Thompson (as Charles Barkley) said to Michael Phelps on SNL: "Agreed!"

I agree that it's possible. Hell...what did Joe Thornton have, 7 points his rookie year? I just don't see Filppula doing it or ever going much over 40 points. Just because any player did it doesn't mean that it's a lock. Hell, Flip could score 40 goals next year. Doubtful, but possible. It comes down to the fact that you like him and see him as a top-flight talent, I see him as a 3rd liner, and we are looking at the same player.