vladdy16

All I can say in response to this is no one knows what actions Matt and/or the mods take outside of the parties directly involved. It would be tacky otherwise. I cannot stress often enough how important that report function is. If someone is provoked, they should use it rather than resorting to personal attacks. There is a difference between fans of other teams who come here solely to bash the Wings and fans of other teams who have a differing opinion on the state of the team. Those who come strictly to troll are dealt with swiftly; those who opine something other than the party line are welcome to express their opinion. If you see blatant trolling, please report it. If you simply disagree with them, by all means, discuss it. That's why we're all here!

You post this in every thread, yet you never explain how Holland is going to get someone to take Franzen's contract: 2012-13 $5,250,000 $5,250,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2013-14 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2014-15 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2015-16 $5,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2016-17 $3,500,000 $3,500,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2017-18 $2,000,000 $2,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2018-19 $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 2019-20 $1,000,000 $1,000,000 $0 — $3,954,545 You may be the engineer on the Franzen hate train, but you need to come up with a trade good enough to have someone take on this contract. Just because you want him gone doesn't mean it's feasible or even necessary. *EDIT* I am completely derailing the thread. PM me if you'd like to discuss trading Franzen, or maybe start a thread about it. As to the topic at hand: I think Stevie has done a fantastic job for the Lightening thus far. I questioned his Roloson signing, but it worked out better than I thought it might. All in all, I think this is a really good move for him.

Realistically, what kind of a team can Holland ice these days that will get fans excited? We've been fortunate enough to ice some of the best players to ever grace the NHL, and there was never anywhere to go but down eventually. For those of you fortunate enough to have never seen the Wings struggle before, this is the beginning of a very hard reality. Sorry. We're here for you. Not to say that the Wings are going to be cellar dwellers, but our lofty expectations are going to come down a notch or two. I'm still extremely grateful for the last 20 years and thrilled I got to see it. Can't wait to see it again!

I never said the Wings were in a better position, only that it's easier to keep abreast at this point. Minnie more than doubles their chances of being very competitive this year. I'm just saying better them than aiding and abetting a conference rival or a really good team maybe getting that last missing piece to be a true powerhouse.

How can you be "elite" for half a season? I must have much higher expectations for a definition of "elite" than you do. Maybe they had a good half a season, but hardly elite.

Darn, drat and double darn! Truth is, Suter signing with Minnie is the second best-case scenario for us. A mediocre team got better instead of a real current competitor getting better, or at a minimum, just screwing the Wings. Preds got a little weaker, NJ lost a captain; they're not any better off than we are. If we can't have him, glad it was Minnesota.

Bulls***. This has no more definitive merit than any other uneducated guess in the interwebs.

Oh, yeah. That's why she's annoyed with you. Sure. These guys deserve as much time as they need to make their decisions. It just sucks that there are so many other deals that hinge on their decision.

No, but he makes Maltby look like Shanahan. He's a nasty pest who does questionable things and then can't get off the ice fast enough. This one's more like "To Kill a Predator"

Since chat is full, and the people coming in recently don't have the back story, I will post a blurb in here when necessary to keep people up to speed. Thus far, Suter not seeing anyone; fielding offers through agent today. Wings hope to meet with him tomorrow, but all hinges on if and when he takes meetings. Wings scheduled to visit Parise today at 3:30, but visit cancelled. Parise is not taking meetings today either, apparently. No other important signings to report on.

Pinned thread right up above.

Whether we sign either of them or not, you can't say they're not trying, and that's all we can ask at this point. Honestly, I think our slight decline (for lack of a better word) will work in our favor. There's more ice time and room for these players to be a huge part of the team now, and everyone knows Detroit treats their players well. It just depends really on what these guys are looking for and whether we can give it to them or not.

2.25 per year. Dan Rosen's tweet: Dreger's going to get a lot of retweets today. RT @DarrenDreger: Ryan Smyth agrees to 2 year deal with Oilers. $2.25 per year

I can see Jedi now, doing some finger-limbering exercises and making sure his F5 button is clean and ready for a workout today, our resident Twitterverse knight.

What about the NHL?

Not really. They're used to random noises coming from your cubicle. Matt, that video was awesome covered in awesome with a creamy awesome filling. I have shared that with every person I know. Thanks!

Shockingly enough, ESPN has an article (on hockey!) quoting Fehr as saying the NHLPA expects negotiations to begin soon and that the players won't be bulldozed this time, as they felt they made plenty of concessions last time. (paraphrasing) There are some interesting tidbits of info in here, or so I thought. ESPN article here. Strap yourselves in, folks; it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Of the two, I would prefer Parise as well, but the Wings needs at this point dictate Suter signing is more imperative. I have my fingers crossed.

Even if Holland were willing to trade Franzen, no one is going to take his contract. He's a lifer, barring Brian Burke deciding he likes him.

Scroll to the bottom. In the lower left corner is a "change theme" button. Click on that. If you change to red, you won't be able to see it, but it will still be there if you hover over it.

Yes.

There's so much off topic conversation going on in here my choices are to remove the entire thread or just ask everyone to get back to the topic at hand, please. Any more discussion about fandom should be taken to PMs. Thanks!

Per Dan Rosen, according to Pekka Rinne, there's a very good chance Suter will sign with Nashville; but since Daryl didn't pick up the phone when Rinne called, who knows? I don't know how to copy tweets, but here's a link to Rosen's page.

That was damn funny! I think this is a genius contract on Holland's part. Assuming the best, Helm can do nothing but add huge value to this team. All he needs to do is learn to bury those chances his speed is so good at creating and we're golden.

Can someone please explain to me how the league taking over ownership of bankrupt teams is good for anyone other than the fans of those teams? All the other owners are losing money twice - once through revenue sharing and once through absorbing the day-to-day losses of those teams. If I were an NHL owner, I'd block the league taking over any more teams. Hockey is a business, right? So if I own Best Buy and ABC Warehouse is going bankrupt, why in the world would I agree to pump money into their store and not change the products at all? I can see maybe agreeing to a short-term loan to get them over the hump, but we've owned the Yotes for 3 years, and now there's talk about funding the Devils as well? Whatever happened to capitalism? This is the very definition of socialism, which people apparently don't mind in athletics, but abhor the idea when it comes to human beings.