haroldsnepsts

[barnesbrothers] I'm a little disappoionted we didn't sign Bert, but more than that I am growing more and more frustrated with Holland's inability to get some size and toughness back on the team. It's always going to be expensive to bring in a player like that unless you've developed him through the draft, but at some point you've got to bite the bullet. Some people seem to think the Wings have always been a finesse team and that's how they won the Cups. Not so. In terms of size/toughness over the years we've lost McCarty, Lapointe, Ward, Fischer, Shanahan, hell even Dandenault would drop the gloves sometimes, all the way back to Fetisov and Konstantinov. The Wings could play the skill game, but they also didn't take sh*t from anybody. I don't want goons, but the Wings need to get back team toughness and size. They showed a lot of heart and grit this last playoffs, way more than I expected from this lineup. But they still need some big tough bodies to help out. [/barnesbrothers]

I'm stunned you could translate that. The pirate thing was pretty funny at first, but honestly now I don't even read the posts because they take too much effort to make sense of.

can that possibly be right?

Turns out Bertuzzi signed for $4 mill per year. Holland wasn't sitting on his hands, but he wasn't smoking crack either. That's why Bert's not a Wing right now.

Holy crap. There's no way NIedermayer can come back now. Elbows=6.75 mill Haircut=6.25 mill (if he doesn't retire) Stay Puft Marshmallow Man=6 mill Schneider=5.5 and now Bert at 4 mill?

The thing I'm disappointed we lost in the Bert deal is the potential he had. To become a power forward once again. Huge. Physical. Can score. Will fight. Everything the Wings need. The reality is there's a fair chance that's not what he'd be. And honestly, there's a part of me that's glad he's no longer a Wing because of the Moore incident.

Standard answer #342 Just because the Wings aren't making deals doesn't mean Holland is sitting on his hands. Both sides have to actually agree for a deal to happen. Just because Bert signed with Anaheim doesn' mean Kenny was thinking "Ah what the hell, let Anaheim have him." and didn't bother to try and get Bert to play in Detroit. Making a deal happen in the real world in the NHL is a little more complicated than pulling it off on a Playstation.

I absolutely agree that the Wings need size. They really haven't addressed it through drafting or signings. I'm just not sure Zubrus is the guy. But honestly I haven't seen him play enough to know if he's the second coming of Lang.

I love how every offseason people start saying how the Wings will be lucky to make the playoffs, or won't make it anywhere in the playoffs because of one certain deal... Bertuzzi was not the solution to all our problems.

someone else mentioned getting Zubrus for our 2nd line. Does this player description sound eerily familiar?

I don't really know his FO% offhand, but you may be right. I kind of remember him not being very good this playoffs. He was good the last few seasons though, and in general I think he's a solid faceoff guy. Either way, he's gone and it was definitely time. It just turns to piling on here. He wasn't the greatest player by any stretch of the imagination, but people here make it sound like we'd be better off putting anyone from the Griffins in his place, and it's just not true.

As much as I liked what Bert brings on paper, I've always said that I don't think he'll be the player he once was. Now I'm really hoping he becomes a giant crapfest in Anaheim.

How the hell can Anaheim afford all this?

Yeah, but you're not the coach. And Babcock put Lang out there for 10-15 minutes a game. care to explain why if he sucks so bad? If it's so clear how awful he is and he doesn't do anything like score or win faceoffs? Why did Babs have him out there? EDIT: I was never claiming Lang was this tremendous player. Just that he's not as bad as everyone here makes him out to be. He's just the latest in a long string of whipping boys here at LGW.

Lang's become the lastest whipping boy is all. He's gone now, but there'll be another one. And not so much playmaking, but Lang is good on faceoffs and he does score goals. If he was that terrible, then I guess Babcock must be a moron for playing him at all, especially in the playoffs. he should've just benched him if he's such a liability, right? I mean, it only makes sense. I wonder why Babcock didn't? Since everyone knows he totally sucks? Odd that he'd give 10-15 minutes of ice time to such a crappy player.

I don't think Schneider's age specifically was a problem, but when you've got Lidstrom, Schneider, and Chelios on your blueline, age is a factor. Plus Schneider's had a fair number of injuries over the years. It's a likely bet that will get worse with age. Still, he was a very good player for Detroit. Rafalski is just younger and offers a lot of the same qualities, and hopefully will flourish here.

Good luck Langer. He never really meshed with this team, especially with Babcock, but got a lot more grief than he deserved once the other whipping boys were dealt to other teams.

I'm thinking it must be what NNick was getting at. He didn't sign the papers yet, but will need to make it official one way or another before the season starts.

Interesting. I wonder how much Bert is looking for?

From everything I've heard, it sounds like the problem is less about the money and more about the term. The Wings don't want to sign him long-term, but he wants a longer deal. I can understand both sides. hopefully Bert will come around.

Really? then why did no one post those rumors here or in the rumor forum? Eklund is only correct when he "breaks" the story less than an hour before TSN.

I haven't seen him play much, but he kinda sounds like a younger version of Robert Lang. And since we just let Langer go... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?i...amp;hubname=nhl

I don't get it though, because he's under contract to play for the Ducks next season, doesn't he have to retire or else they're obligated to pay his salary and do something with him regarding the lineup?

Anyone know how much do they have to spend now to make the cap minimum?