Heroes of Hockeytown

I hope you can see this, because I'm facepalming as hard as I can.

If they do the right thing and put him on the wall and set him up for one-timers he could be good. Virtually all the goals he scored on the PP in his tenure with Detroit were when he snuck down off the point for just such a play.

My bet is absolutely nothing comes of it. At worst a slap on the wrist, but I predict they'll be able to retain the rights to all their RFAs.

He did, during the Finals, but he was joking.

Did you still feel that way after Game 6 against the Sharks? Let's not forget his stupid, harmless wrister through a crowd that Nabokov kicked out to Pavel for the GWG in Game 2!

How could it ever survive without a right-handed shooter? Williams incoming.

Should be good alongside the Sedin freaks. So long, Sammy.

Running your mouth or giving a face wash doesn't qualify as a cheapshot.

With all due respect to Steve, his skills had been deteriorating rapidly since that Cup win; he barely played at all the next year. The Wings had guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg stepping into the top roles to ease the transition. Nick, on the other hand, is still the Wings' top defenseman. And there's no one in the system that's going to be able to so effectively replace him as Hank and Pavel did for Steve (and Fedorov, if you like).

At the very least, Mason was thoroughly outdueled by Ozzie this season.

The Wings will sign Nash and Kovalchuk, and never lose another game.

It strikes me as totally unfeasible that Chicago's GM would have offered Hossa this deal and not been aware of the upcoming cap crunch, or that he was and accepted it anyways. I'm not familiar with the Hawks' cap situation at all so I can't comment, but there must be a workaround or else he wouldn't have pulled the trigger.

Pretty undeniable, I think. He scored 40 goals, and yet a lot of them were from weird angles, long range wristers that had a tendency to fool goalies, or solo efforts. If he could have developed a rapport with Datsyuk they would have been absolutely dynamite, but it didn't work very well. So he goes from having great chemistry with Crosby, one of the best passers in the league, to a second line center in Flip.

They weren't willing to offer the injury-prone Havlat twelve years worth of opportunities to spend on IR. On a strict player-vs-player comparison, Hossa was a no-brainer. How that all fits into the cap remains to be seen.

I feel similar, and that the Pens were the worst possible match up for him (and, by extension, the Wings); he was totally spooked and was never able to get his feet on the ground, which he was having a hard enough time doing beforehand.

Injury is a pretty solid mitigating circumstance, and the fact that he played exceptionally well in the previous two postseasons goes a long way to endearing yourself to a fanbase. The primary issue is that Datsyuk is already signed for another fifty years, so it never really mattered how well or poorly he did, nothing could be done about.

All things being equal, Hossa is a fair bit better than Havlat. Nevermind factoring in the health. But they're going to be filling the exact same role. I wouldn't anticipate him trending too far away from Havlat's 77 points. Huet is going to have to step up and play well, because having poor goaltending isn't going to make up for moderately improving a top line forward. Madden for Pahlsson is a lateral move, so I'm not concerned with that.

Considering he coached teams to the Finals 34 years apart, I think he's got a good handle on the evolving game. He was the GM of the Wings from 1994 to 1997, orchestrating the Shanny trade among other moves that made the foundation of the Red Wings dynasty that Kenny Holland then inherited. Before that, he was in the front office of the Pittsburgh Penguins, eventually stepping into the GM's role when Bob Johnson died, where they won their back to back titles.

I'm not really too crazy about the regular season. Hank had a so-so season but was the Wings best skater in the playoffs; I'll take his 73 points and Conn Smythe worthy performance over, say, Joe Thornton's 86 points but playoff disappearing act. After his first three playoff runs where he wasn't very good (understandable and most young players go through it), Hossa has been a good player in the playoffs and wasn't nearly as bad as he's made out to be this season, but Kenny had to pick one, and judging by the only straight up comparison we'll ever get Franzen was the right choice from where I'm sitting. I agree, the Finals were, unfortunately, his weakest round. He was incredible against the Ducks and also very good against the BJs and Hawks, and through three rounds he performed better in than Hossa.

He was good, but Datsyuk was the one doing all the carrying. He scored a game-winner in Game 1, you might recall, and another later in the Game 3 loss, but he wasn't spectacular. Hossa is a better skater and defensive forward than Franzen for sure (although Franzen isn't bad by any means, and started his career as a checking forward), but when you get down to the brass tacks you've got to score. Franzen has made a name for himself by scoring tons of goals in the playoffs at huge times. Even if Hossa were to come up huge and score like he did with the Pens, that would only put him equal to where Franzen is already. I don't think Hossa is or was as bad as a lot of people say, but he wasn't as good as Franzen this season.

Professional anchor Campbell is totally unmovable, but Huet seems like a guy that could be dealt without too much trouble providing that there's a team that needs a goalie and has the cap space, so long as the Hawks sweeten the pot with picks/prospects to bribe a team into eating the big contract. The only thing then is I don't know who'd stop pucks for the Hawks, but it seems like a better plan than losing one of Toews or Kane.

With Homer the way he is it's true that the Wings may be at their weakest since 2008, which still means a Cup-worthy roster. The top six isn't in any trouble at all, in my opinion. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Flip, Hudler, Cleary are all good to great players, and an enviable top six compared to most teams around the league. Granted, that's probably not how the top two lines will shake out with all the mixing and matching that goes on, but those are probably our best six forwards. If Sammy goes and the Wings have to scrounge together a bottom six of Homer, Draper, Maltby, Helm, Leino, and minimum wage jobber, that's where our concern should lie. The Wings will lose their less-than-conventional ability to ice three bonafide scoring lines.

I think it was less Scotty's maneuverings and more Hossa wanting to have his buddy come along for the ride.

Hudler and Flip will be a year better, Leino and Helm are on board. Abdelkader will be the first guy up in case of injuries and will definitely be up for the playoffs. Hossa is gone, perhaps Sammy; Homer's effectiveness is questionable. Maltby and Draper have not been very good for several seasons, so that's doesn't divert from the status quo. It's not really that different from a year ago or two years ago. In my mind the biggest bother is Homer's decline versus losing Hossa.

A lot of money is coming off the books in the next couple years; there will be more star wingers for the Wings to compete for in the future. Kenny's hands were tied by the cap this season, and trading multiple players to acquire one would have been counter productive. I've got nothing against Hossa. He's well within his rights to sign anywhere he chooses.