Heroes of Hockeytown

Bob for '10.

Little known fact: the San Jose Sharks were the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions. Travis Moen wouldn't allow them to lose.

Leino actually said that he preferred playing at the NHL level. The game is faster and his teammates were better and it overall more suited how he likes to play. What's more, and it's been said in this thread, he was most likely bored/disappointed with the AHL because he expected to be playing in the bigs; he was the MVP and 2nd in scoring in the Finnish Elite League so he knows he deserves a shot in the NHL. Granted, nothing guarantees anything, but it's fair to think he's going to have a good season.

This is a much better vidja.

Does not compute.

Of the players you mentioned, only Hossa had any defensive responsibilities at all last season. Helm is going to step in and play the PK, so there's no loss there. Hank and Pavel will be fine.

He got bumped up there once or twice for about two games, then was summarily demoted for not recording a hat trick in each one.

It's fine. Minutes will be redistributed, goals will be recouped from within. The major difference is that, like the rest of the NHL, the Wings are now a two-line team again. Of course, having three legitimate scoring lines was too good to last.

Please. They don't hand out trophies (well, meaningful ones anyways) for the regular season. The playoffs, in format and in intensity level, are a whole different ballgame; having ten or twenty more points doesn't count for anything, nor should it. I assure you, there are about 29 other fanbases that would have loved for their team to have the Red Wings' measure of success over the last decade, because it's not common and it's not easy to do. I feel very fortunate.

I don't know how this guy went from scoring 60 and 70 points to 20.

I'm very certain he was in negotiations with all the players he intended to attempt to re-sign simultaneously. He has to build an entire roster with so much cap space, so if he can't fit Hudler into a certain salary range than he can't assemble a full roster by signing him. Basically all of the players you seem to be upset about (Leino, Helm, Howard) were going to be on the roster regardless of what happened with Jiri. The cap space you allude to with the loss of so many UFAs isn't translating into the same figure as it did previously. Hank and Franzen's new contracts kicked in this year and they are significantly larger than the year before (which is what predicated the Hossa signing in the first place).

This is totally true and probably a prime motivating factor for Hudler... When there's five minutes left to go in a game and you're down by one goal, how can you send Kopecky, Maltby, and Draper over the boards but glue Hudler to the bench? I like Babcock a lot, but I know I'm not alone in acknowledging his complete mismanagement of Jiri Hudler. But for Hudler's dawdling maybe the money he was offered would be going to Sammy instead. I can't really think of a good way it could have put into place that would've kept Hossa around, other than moving one or two players, which just leaves more spots on the roster that need to be filled and no cap space to do it with. Well, I'll miss the little guy. He's a good NHL player and he has tremendous vision. And he scored probably one of the most important but looked-over goals in Wings' history with the game-winner against the Pens last season.

I actually didn't think that through, and between Hank, Pavel, Mule, those three, and Homer, PP time might be harder to come by than I was thinking.

To make a stupid, inadequate analogy: Flip is like a QB handing off to his running back, whereas Hudler is like a QB threading the needle to his receiver through double coverage. The balance between Flip's higher ESTOI and Hudler's higher PPTOI was pretty close last season. Each will see an increase in the others specialty this season, and I'm sure Flip will perform adequately on the PP. He could benefit a lot from increased ESTOI if Babcock decides to keep Hank and Pavel together, which he should. EDIT: Spelling, syntax.

He's alright, but he's not a better passer than Hudler.

Perish the thought. His candidness is certainly a refreshing change of pace, though.

No idea.

May be near? If you do the math it's 38 over 82. And one of the reasons his contract is so small is because it was an Entry Level deal. He's an RFA this season and he's due a raise.

Here's a guy that scored 100 points in the NHL at 38. Outstanding talent, great leader, he'll be missed for sure.

It's maybe putting a little bit of faith into a guy like Leino, but I figure that between him and Flip and hopefully Hudler they'll be able to recoup the 60 goals lost from Hossa and Sammy, or close to it. If Hank gets back into gear and has another 40 goal campaign or Franzen can stay healthy, who knows. For sure, though, they've got to be better on defense. Ozzie will be better, couldn't be much worse than last year but I think he's going to be good, so I anticipate the season will be a little more enjoyable this year. Which doesn't say anything about the playoffs, but that's a long ways from now.

That D corps isn't too great offensively, much worse if they move Kaberle, and their forwards are going to be terrible. They're going to have a hell of a time scoring.

Vladdy, brah.

Their defensive work between the season and the playoffs was night and day. They flipped the switch and pretty much left the regular season where it belonged, mercifully behind them. Even though they didn't win, at least one positive side effect is they ought be more motivated to play well this season. After they were beaten by the Ducks in 07 they had something to prove and to play for and they dominated during the season. I hope we get to see something similar this go around.

They had won the Cup, had nothing to prove, and didn't care at all about the pointless, meaningless regular season is what changed.

Niedermayer isn't even one of the top 5 Dmen in the NHL, behind guys like Lidstrom, Chara, Pronger, Keith, and Markov. Datsyuk has finished within top 5 in scoring the last two seasons and won the Selke in both of them. Zetterberg has scored more playoff goals than any other player since the lockout; he's won the Conn Smythe and shut down so-called elite Sidney Crosby for the better part of 13 head to head playoff games.