WhiteLightning91

So what are the odds he is in Tampa Bay by the end of the week??? ...The sad thing is that it could actually happen...

I should have clarified that his cap hit would be no more than $2M each of those 3 years. That's a typo on my part.

From the spreadsheet I have on my computer we are under the cap by $4.026667M. With 20 roster players under contract for next season, that leaves us with 3 open spots, which I assume will go to Filppula, Quincey, and Chelios. One of Downey or McCarty will be on a two-way deal so they will not count on the roster unless they are called up and clear waivers. I say give Filppula no more than $2M over at least 3 years. Potential doesn't mean squat unless your oozing with can't miss talent. Chelios recieves $850K and Quincey gets $750K.

Interesting update on Malone... But I thought it was every players dream to don the Maple Leaf??

No. When the red line was taken out, they did away with that system. It was pretty much orchestrated to perfection by Barry Smith anyway.

...And we're supposed to clear teams out of our crease how? Ericsson and Quincey do not have the experience or knowledge to become the next Phaneuf in their first season. At least Stuart brings a physical dimension of some sort to our blueline. Him and Kronwall have been a very solid 2nd pairing these playoffs. Kronwall and Stuart have a combined +/- of 13, behing Lidstrom-Rafalski at 15 and Lebda/Lilja-Chelios a total of 4. That's exactly where they should be. But this all probably worthless to even type since you obviously are strongly against Stuart being on this team.

I'm missing the reasoning behind getting rid of Kopecky. He had his best year so far and is doing exactly what the coaches want from him; crash the net, bang some heads, and create scoring opportunities. When he was out there with Drake, I thought he was playing his best hockey of his career. And for those who say we need more physical presence, getting rid of our leading hitters, Lilja and Kopecky, sounds like a swell idea... Lilja can walk if he wants anything more than $1.5M. Some of you keep saying "Lebda can walk." Well, no he can't. He is under contract I believe through 2010-11. I could see him being moved though. He makes pennies and is a good defenseman for today's NHL, he is just a redundancy on our defense. And what is with all the poopooing of Quincey??? I see the majority of posters are picking Meech and Ericsson over him. Now I can understand Ericsson because of his size and Babcock's liking of him, but Meech over Quincey? Meech is just a taller but slower version of Lebda; not something we are in need of. Quincey actually has a mean streak and is a gifted skater. I see him developing into Stuart v2.0. Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Filppula - Franzen - Cleary Maltby - Draper - McCarty Hudler - Helm - Kopecky (Leino - Hartigan - Downey) Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Chelios - Quincey (Meech - Ericsson) Osgood Howard (Larsson) Italics = Playing in Grand Rapids Pavel Datsyuk 6.7 Daniel Cleary 2.8 Valterri Filppula* 2.75 Henrik Zetterberg 2.65 Tomas Holmstrom 2.25 Ville Leino* 1.7 Kris Draper 1.583 Jiri Hudler 1.015 Johan Franzen 0.941667 Kirk Maltby 0.883333 Darren Helm 0.597667 Darren McCarty* 0.55 Aaron Downey* 0.55 Tomas Kopecky 0.5 Nicklas Lidstrom 7.45 Brian Rafalski 6 Brad Stuart* 3.5 Niklas Kronwall 3 Chris Chelios* 1.2 Jonathan Ericsson* 0.65 Kyle Quincey* 0.65 Derek Meech 0.483 Chris Osgood 1.416667 Jimmy Howard* 1 Cap Number 50.820334 * = Projected Salary

Quincey is way more valuable than a 4th or 5th rounder that may or may not pan out. Meech and Lebda should be moved before Quincey.

Seems pretty evident Leino will not be going back to Finland.

But Brian Burke is the Jesus of NHL GM's still, right??? (Yes, I am sick of hearing how great Burke is.)

I was under te impression he had no problem playing in GR if he didn't make the Red Wings right off the bat.

Larsson will not be in Detroit unless he just completely outperforms Howard by a large margin. He will start in GR more than likely. Howard has been groomed as the next goalie on this team for the last couple years. He is going to be given every opportunity to be the next goalie in Detroit.

If he was so good at coaching, he would already be a coach in at least a minor league system.

Game 1 is Thursday

Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Filppula - Franzen - Rolston Maltby - Draper - Cleary Hudler - Kopecky - McCarty (Abdelkader - Helm - Downey) The defense is too hard to tell until we figure out what Stuart, Lilja, and Chelios' plans are. Bring in Rolston at 2 years, no more than $4M per, and I bet he can easily pot 30 goals in our system, maybe 40 playing on the #1 PP. McCarty and Downey shoudl be signed for the same amount as they are receiving now. Filppula should be re-signed for no more than $2.5M, and even at that amount it better be for a contract around 5 years. As for Brunnstrom, love to bring him in. I just don't feel he is going to have as big of an impact as the media is building him up to have. Osgood and Howard next year for the goalie tandem.

I actually thought the announcers (especially Mr. Boston) were going to blow a load on the telestrator last night with how much they were praising and salivating over Detroit's puck-posession skillz. Yes, they did mention the injuries every other sentence in every game of this series, but the same thing would happen if the Wing's had 5 of their top 6 forwards out as well. Not really a bias to me. Just pointing out the obvious.

Are we even watching the same series??? I think yu've got this one mixed up with his days in SJ.

YOU GOT GOLD!

So I wonder if this game will have any sort of effect on Brunnstrom's decision??? He's gotta be creaming his pants over the puck-possesion clinic going he's witnissing in Denver.

Can VS. talk about a different series other than the Rangers and Penguins for one game??? I'm so tired of hearing about this series. Talk about wayyy over-analyzed.

The last NHL player to score a shorthanded goal in back-to-back games was Brett Hull back in 2002. My question is, why the hell did Scotty have Brett on the PK??? Doesn't really matter, it worked out well

Try $2.8M. I'd shoot Holland if he gave Cleary $4M. That would mean Franzen is worth $6M and Z is worth $9M!

Maybe over in Europe they don't have the "center red line" rule for goalies?

Anyone else notice Hannan at the end of the game? It looked like he hurt his foot again when him and Filppula went down behind the Avs net in the final seconds of the game. I noticed he couldn't put any weight on it during the last shift. I was reading the post-game quotes and here's a couple beauties from Floppa: Yea, Floppa. You barely touched him. Because teeth just pop out on their own all the time.

I remember reading that Smyth was limping after the game but didn't think much of it. Must be pretty bad considering the Dives really need to win tonight.