Aussie_Wing

There's a reason why he's being shopped. Most overrated player in the league.

And I have very high hopes for Stephen Johnston.

This I don't get. Filppula's goal scoring might have been down last season but he set a career high in points. So how exactly is Filppula going to rebound? I'm really looking forward to what next seasons team can do, it should be a bit more youth orientated and I agree with what one posted said, Hudler and Filppula playing on the 2nd line all season would do wonders for both IMO.

Hmmm not sure what to make of these signings to be honest. Did Dumars jump the gun? We blew up the team for this? I don't mind Gordon but he takes way too many shots, doesn't play defence, he's like a younger, poor mans Iverson. Is that what we need? Villanueva, I'm really not sure how I feel on that one. I probably haven't seen enough of him to make an accurate judgement. I would've preferred to make a big splash in next years free agency as there are a lot better and bigger names set to become available then.

Well you've got a point actually.

Why do we have to turn on all the guys that leave Detroit? I, for one, will miss you Kopecky. We have greater propects waiting in the wings so it doesn't make this much of a loss but I appreciate everything you did for the organisation. Good luck with the Hawks.

Didn't he just re-sign, 2 years 4.4 mil per?

Ah yes, he will. He did in the playoffs, all the more reason to suggest he will during the regular season. Compare the ice-time of the two in the playoffs, clearly Babcock values Helm over Draper at the respective stage of their careers.

Correct, it would be the last thing we need. And what's even more ridiculous is the thought of having Draper centre the 3rd line over Helm.

That I agree with. If he strings his best patches together more often then he could definitely be worth 1.2 per season. However it wasn't worth the Wings trying to match that number, we realistically had about 750k at the max. I now see why he said he was hoping for significantly more.

I honestly thought it was a joke thread when I saw the title. Then I start reading and realise that it's not. I'll miss you Kopes.

This I am disappointed at. I know we had no choice, Howard had to be the back-up this year, but Conklin was so solid for us last season. Sad to see him go.

What a ridiculous post, on so many levels. Sammy isn't even re-signing let alone coming back for 10 years.

I sometimes wonder whether people understand the idea of the salary cap.

I really don't see this as an overpayment. Good deal for the Canucks.

Ummm where is this money coming from? If we could afford to sign a Camalleri type player, we could afford to re-sign Hossa.

Agreed, and I think our organisation does too. I can't see us signing this guy, we would go for a guy like Ellis before Orr.

To the OP's question, no we won't. Once Hudler and Leino are signed, we will have virtually no money left, even without Hossa and Samuelsson. We're only going to sign a cheap as chips 4th line forward.

I think the Flames are finally moving past the 1st round next season...

I think the chances of Abdelkader being a Wing next season increase with each day. We really need a cheap 4th liner/13th forward.

Realistically, something a little like this: Pavel Datsyuk ($6.7m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.1m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($2.2m) Daniel Cleary ($2.8m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.0m) / Johan Franzen ($4.0m) Jiri Hudler ($2.0m) / Darren Helm ($0.6m) / Ville Leino ($1.0m) Kirk Maltby ($0.9m) / Kris Draper ($1.6m) / Darren McCarty ($0.5m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($7.5m) / Brian Rafalaski ($6.0m) Brad Stuart ($3.8m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.0m) Andreas Lilja ($1.2m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.9m) Brett Lebda ($0.7m) Chris Osgood ($1.4m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.7m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 21; PAYROLL: $56.5m; CAP ROOM: $0.3m I like it, except for that 4th line. I'd personally prefer Abdelkader up, but I guess if he gets 20 minutes a night with the Griffins he'll be better off.

This team is going to look hugely unrecognisable in 2 years, which is a good thing. We’ve got so much cap space and with all the soon to be UFA’s, we’ll be in a very nice position. We really need a good coach though, our last two haven't been flash.

I guess Holland and Babcock overrate him too.

Fine, we re-sign Hossa. Sorry to break it to you but Flip still aint going nowhere.

So Holland decides ice-time now too?