Heaton

You need to break it down on a player by player basis. Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Hossa will all get around 20 minutes each. Franzen, Holmstrom, Cleary and Filppula will all get around 15-17 minutes each. Samuelsson, Hudler and Draper will probably get around 12-14 minutes each because they don't play on the PP and aren't 1st unit PP guys or don't play on the PP with reduced PP time in Draper. Helm, Maltby, Downey, McCarty ect... who is ever left will get 6-10 minutes each.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...five_years.html "We'll have to make a decision based on the 23-man roster, the salary cap and age,'' Holland said. "We'll have to be prepared to trade some players. I would expect there would be interest in some of our players.''

I hate Gary Thorne and love him at the same time. The "Off the floor! On the board!!" is still one of the best calls ever.

He's had help, not elite level help but help nonetheless. Conroy, Langkow, Phaneuf, Huselius, Tanguay and now Cammalleri ect... This isn't like Rick Nash in Columbus or what Kovalchuk has now in Atlanta. If Iginla had Datsyuk to play with he would probably score a few more goals, but I'm not sure if his overall game would be better than what it is now.

Based on what though?

Datsyuk signed his contract when the cap was at 39m, if he signed one this summer he'd be getting paid more.

Eh, it's a spur of the moment thing, can't expect it to be perfect.

I think Zetterberg will set the new benchmark for when Lidstrom retires. I could see him making 7.6 or so, but not much more in a long term deal.

This thread has run it's course.

Rodney is the new Tigers closer. Either way, the Tigers are still screwed.

There were like 7 total fights in the playoffs. I can't remember the exact number but during the Wings/Avs rivalry there was something like 5 total fights in the playoffs throughout all the years.

Some irrelevant game against an irrelevant team. I guarantee no one on the Wings remember that game, nor do the Flyers, it was meaningless.

Sure they cared, but it wasn't because anyone said anything, this wasn't a "We will show them!" type of move, they felt it would add an element that they wanted and Holland has shown he doesn't want to abandon that by offering contracts to both Downey and McCarty. You realize he did that right? Oh the Flyers game 2 years ago? How'd they do that season? In fact, remember all of those Stanley Cups the Broad Street Bullies won?

That's your perception, not anyone inside the game. Every team in the league respects and fears the Wings, both phsyically and mentally. If the team the Wings are playing against are more concerned with the fight card than the score board, they'll never win anything. And why do you think the Wings organization gives a s*** what other teams think? How insecure do you think they are?

You don't think Franzen giving guys concussions and Kronwall breaking guys noses is sending a message physically? Next time Jackman is out there with Franzen you bet your ass he'll move the puck a little quicker. Look, I get what you're saying and it holds water but guys like Kronwall, Stuart, Franzen and whoever else aren't going to stop delivering checks because Matt Walker or Derek Boogaard are in the lineup or in the ice. They also aren't going to stop because Downey isn't in or someone challenges them to a fight. You don't get to the NHL being a physical player and then all of a sudden stop because a Matt Walker tries to fight you. You say the Wings toughness is directly linked to Aaron Downey, the toughness was already there, Downey was just a player who was brought in to fight exclusively and add an element we didn't have every night. The Wings are a tough, physical team without Downey, but you're right, with him in the non-fighters know that he'll tell the other team to go with him instead.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/boxscore?gid=2007122619 Not sure how it's a knock on Downey. You're saying he should've responded to Walker responding to Jackman? Then what, does Brewer respond for Downey responding to Walker? When does it end? It doesn't happen like you envision it.

Then he broke the code since Downey was playing that game.

I'm not sure you understand the situation during that hit. Downey doesn't play with Franzen, how will Downey or Mac or both being dressed help that situation if they're not even on the ice? Is there some hockey code I don't know about where Walker would've politely waited for Downey or McCarty's next shift to take our his frustration? Franzen was in no danger during that altercation.

And? Walker dusting the dirt off of Franzen's back didn't exactly change anything. Jackman had the concussion.

Because no one will challenge them. You honestly think that if McCarty or Downey is scratched and Kronwall lays out say, Corey Perry that Carlyle is going to send out Parros to go after Kronwall? That's not what happens.

Kinda hard to keep responding to you when you say things like this. For someone asking other people if they watch hockey or understand history you sure as hell don't know Stuart or Kronwall's history. This isn't the first year they've been physical players, that's who they are, having Downey in our lineup or Parros in theirs isn't going to change how they play.

Haha, wow. I'm sure Kronwall, Stuart and all of our other guys of their ilk are going to be hearing footsteps all next season when McCarty isn't in the lineup.

Actually 3 and one of them was against Langkow who isn't even a fighter. The funny thing is, if the LA Kings were successful at all I bet Brown would fight even less.

Drake had maybe 3 big hits in the entire regular season, the goal of a player like Drake isn't to always run the defender through the boards it's to consistently hit the other player to wear them down. That's exactly what Helm did in the playoffs and Kopecky did during the regular season. Drake had more fights last year than he did in any other single season in his career. He knew it was his last year and he was going to leave everything on the ice, I'm sure he also wanted to make a statement about how much he wanted to win. We cannot expect anyone coming in to duplicate that unless that's how they always play. We all know Drake was brought in for the playoffs, that's it, if the fans on this board took a vote halfway through the year whether or not he'd be playing I'd bet the majority would want him in the pressbox, but he showed his worth in the playoffs. That is something Kopecky has never had the chance to do because of injuries. I'm expecting a Drake type to be added at the deadline, some hungry veteran who wants to win.

I think you're really underestimating what a full year of Stuart will do as well. He hits just as hard as anyone on the team and will fight if necessary even though he doesn't do it that often. Going back a while ago about big hitters who will have to answer the bell eventually, look at a guy like Dustin Brown, he had well over 300 hits this year and had 1 fight. In fact he's had more than 700 hits in his young career and has like 7 fights total and usually they're not even full blown fights. The problem in this thread is the timing, it's July 26th, we have half a dozen plays that still need to get signed and people are growing impatient that our dime a dozen 4th liners aren't signed yet? Where the hell are McCarty and Downey going to go? They've been offered contracts, nothing else Holland can do.