Aussie_Wing

Agreed Kira.

My link There will also be some free agents atending, including Dean and Jake Chelios.

Probably from never seeing him play.

Unfortunately I agree. And I don't want to hear any spin from Holland about how he didn't perform well enough in training camp to keep him. Say we sign Modano, they've already made their minds up, nothing Rttola does in camp will matter. Spot on Heaten. I've been saying this about Ritola for some time now, he's virtually a Filppula clone with a little less upside. I'm a big fan and will hate seeing him lost for nothing.

Fair enough mate. But let me tell you, if you think I look crazy now, wait until we re-sign Draper and potentially risk losing MURSAK!!!

Not even to that of a 3rd pairing defenceman which we currently need? Okay...

While Mursak will eventually move onto a scoring line, he could start off on the 3rd or even 4th, because he's got those bottom pairing qualities. I'd love to see Mursak - Helm - Eaves. The wheels on that line...

Just funny stats to be leading if you're offensive defenceman that wouldn't help address the Wings 3RD pairing needs...

One of my favourites, welcome back! I'm thinking around $750-800k.

Despite leading (or coming close to) the Avs in shot blocks, hits, and although not always a true reflection, ice time?

Agree with this. Would've preferred Holmstrom on a 1 year deal, but the 2nd year brought down the cap figure to a VERY reasonable sum. As for Bertuzzi, decent value, but again in a perfect world he gets a 1 year deal.

Oh okay, last time I checked I thought we had enough leadership, without feeling the need to bring in more just to have a good ol' heart to heart with Abby and co.

You mean if he wasn't nearly 40 and susceptible to injuries?

Again... That we don't already have?!

According to whom? Who thought rookies would replace all that offence. As for the rest of your post, you make it sound as though without Modano and inserting an Abdelkader to that 3rd line centre role we'd be lucky to make the playoffs. Forgettiing that this years version has Hudler (+60 points) and is likely to be a whole lot healthier.

How about taking a gamble and finding out, especially given we're about to take a gamble on whether Modano still resembles a somewhat decent hockey player.

Hang on, so let me get this straight. Sign Modano= amazing depth? The Wings had it right a month ago when they were saying how Abdelkader was going to really step it up this season. Hank - Dats - Homer Franzen - Flip - Bert Huds - Abby - Cleary Eaves - Helm - Miller Draper, Ritola. Looks like decent depth to me. But I guess adding this current beast Modano means success, and a whole lot of it. I'm sorry but possible success in 2010/11 has nothing to do with Mike Modano.

Haven't we got enough, I mean really? Lidstrom, Draper, Holmstrom, Osgood? Chuck in Rafalski too. And guys like Mursak, Tatar, Nyquist, the guys of our future, they wont be around when Modano is, rendering your whole point irrelevant.

Who is saying anything about his numbers? Can he play in the NHL? Yes, without question. Could he be a tremendous bottom pairing guy for us that would shore up our defence? Heck yes. As for your unrelated spiel about our recent success, how is that in any way attributed to our obsession with the squeezing out any NHL left in the oldies? We won mainly in part due to Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom, they haven't got anything to do with your point.

Yes, those two games (all of 10 minutes TOC) in 2007/08 when he played on the 4th line with Mark Hartigan. Managed an assist too. And this year, was very impressive in his 5 game stint when we were banged up. Finished up getting PP time because his play was so promising. And I assume you made a mistake and meant AHL numbers? As I said, you'd know, right?

Maybe because Miller has a teeny tiny bit more upside than Modano.

You'd know.

A top pairing defenceman (in Colorado) and a current 3rd pairing defenceman in Detroit and going forward, a 2nd pairing on this team. Holland doesn't like the look of our depth on defence, well imagine a 3rd pairing of Quincey and Ericsson and having Kindl as our 7th. Brilliant. So keeping Chelios was a mistake, whether you like to admit it or not. He was a mentor fine, but get him on the associate coaches staff to perform that role. On the ice he waa regularly a healthy scratch. I do agree with most of this, but how about giving Ritola a full season to accurately measure if he's got solid 3rd line NHL potential before throwing him under a bus for 12 months of Modano? I hope you're right, I hope we trade Miller, keep Ritola as a 13/14th forward, but I'm not sure. The Wings brass loves these golden oldies, guys who have achieved so much and want that last little bit more. How successful has it been? In recent years for Chelios at the expense of Quincey, and even the most biased Wings fans could see it wasn't worth it. We're about to repeat it, this time Modano for Ritola.

Well said!

In a perfect world, you keep all 3 and don't sign Modano. In a less perfect world, you (unfortunately) sign Modano, trade Miller and keep Eaves and Ritola.