Never_Retire_Steve

What? I hope this wasn't directed at me because I clearly read the OP. You mentioned that he may have an outside chance at a top 3 finish and asked if you were alone in that thought. So unless the nominations are purely Red Wings players I have a very hard time seeing him get nominated for the Selke when he isn't even in the top 3 on the Red Wings team. Don't get me wrong, the Red Wings have some great defensive forwards but him being that far on the depth chart on his own team tells me there is about 0% chance that he will get a Selke nomination.

Thomas > Luongo

Confirmed not pregnant

Wow, so apparently Jagr would like to play here.... The key question is whether or not Holland wants the same thing?

What the f***? Flip isn't even in the top 3 defensively on his own team, how is he supposed to win when he wouldn't even get nominated on his own team

I don't think it would be such a big deal if it wasn't for Lidstroms future being so much in doubt. Having Rafalski and Lidstrom leave within the next two years really hurts us because now we have to replace our top 2 Dmen (this is something that is not easily done). No one will ever replace Lidstrom and it's hard enough to replace your #1 Dman but when you have to replace #1 and #2 things get a lot tougher in the short term. I'm not so sure they are and it's really hard to see the effectiveness of the contracts right now. We will have to wait another 5-10 years to see how they have done. I can already see a couple failures or failures to be in some contracts (DiPietro, maybe Kovalchuk)

Not a good comparison IMO

I think that he could be a decent pick if he's still available in the second round but seems like too high of pick for me

Sounds interesting, but probably not true

Seriously? You don't think a GM bases contracts based on who is signed for how long, by position, age, etc.? Actually I do have some experience in managing hockey (Clearly not NHL but Junior) and ya, you are right. A GM never stops looking at possible scenarios and in some respects they are prepared for things like injuries/retirements/trade requests that affect their personnel but to say that these do not affect the direction of a team is short-sighted. I don't think it's that big of a deal because Raffi wasn't worth his contract but it puts the Wings in a tough position in the short term having to fill that void and reshape their D corps based on his retirement. It's not like it's easy to just ****** up FAs or slot in players from the farm system. It's not like Holland is sitting there thinking... "Thank god Raffi retired, now we can just go sign Shea Weber to replace him!" Who knows, long term this could be a beneficial thing to happen but now having to go out and fill another roster spot is not an ideal situation. Clearly, I should've indicated that when I said "kinda screwed" that I meant it made the offseason decisions tougher not that him retiring hurts the team.

Canucks in 6. Luongo was awesome tonight

Because, as a GM you base a lot of your signings based on your current roster and most good GMs have a game plan with how they piece together a team. Rafalski suddenly retiring definitely throws a wrench into things that forces the Wings into a position that they were not expecting and forces them to change their initial plan. ??????

I would love Wiz on this team, let's do it.

I'm competitive but not sure if that means I'm hard on myself. The person below me wishes they had more friends

I would love to see Jagr back in the NHL, he is a great talent

Could be a good signing for the right place

I just realized that I looked at that roster without Lidstrom being on there *shutter* and I agree with you. I would like to have a stud Dman to replace Lidstrom. Someone who I think would be Bouwmeester, he is fast and young.... I know he hasn't played all that great in Calgary but he is someone who would fill a #1 role here nicely EDIT: just realized he is signed for a few more years in Calgary AND has a NTC so we can't even trade for him Also, his contract sucks...... sigh

We don't need Richards, we already have superstar forwards. Use the money for a superstar Dman instead.

Salo is awesome but it would seem more like a temporary fix rather than a long term solution

What were the reasons for moving either of those guys? It makes zero sense to me why they would move either of them. Both of them are young and very well rounded players. I would love to have either of them on my team unless it is an off ice issue.

Don't we already have a younger, faster Draper on the team?

That game was horrible

Old news, but they suspended the linesman who was accused of taking the puck. Any news on the outcome of that?

I want these super long term deals to end. We're getting kinda screwed by Rafalski and I really am worried what would happen if Dats/Z/or Franzen ever got injured. Also we need some speed and youth on the back end. Lidstrom retiring is really going to suck for this organization and we have to start developing/sign replacements for him

Still think Vancouver wins this when Luongo gets his s*** together