DSM

Amnesty buyouts DO still require Unconditional Waivers. Trust me, I got into a huge debate about it with a commenter on Mlive who tried to ask Ansar Khan about it via twitter... If you go to the NHLPA's website there is a PDF somewhere that explains the new CBA. It explains that the "Compliance buyouts" work the exact same way as a normal buyout. The only difference is that what the team is still paying the player won't count against the cap. Everything else is exactly the same.

I have to disagree with the notion that he is overpayed. If he would've hit the open market, I'll bet other teams would've offered 1 million MORE than Holland gave him.

I doubt that. If Buffalo goes into selling mode, they will no longer be worried about icing a competitive team. They'll be more worried about getting assets for the future in return. If they're worried about not having enough Dmen, they'll have the team recieving Regehr throw in a depth guy, look for a team unloading an extra player (a la Commodore last season), try and pluck somebody from waivers, or give some young guys a chance in order to ice a full team.

I was just looking out for Mike I.'s checkbook...

I would actually rather have them start in GR. None of them are really holding the same fanfare that Schultz had last year, and Schultz has been less than stellar for Edmonton this season...TSN said that Sustr has recieved 20-25 NHL offers already, and they are probably all for the same amount. It'll probably depend on where he wants to play ultimately.

On a side note... I just went to TSN's NHL page and saw the picture of Iginla. The first thing my eyes saw was the word "motion" in the headline "Wheels in Motion". For a split second, my brain told me that I was seeing the word "Motown" and I almost jumped sky high out of my chair...

The problem I see, is how much would it cost to extend him. The guy has made $7mil a season since the 05/06 season. He could get around that OR possibly more on the open market. With the cap space the Wings have for next season they would have to let Filppula, White, Miller and Cleary walk, and would barely have room to resign Howard, Brunner, Andersson, Kindl and Smith. They also wouldn't have any room to play in the UFA market. If Detroit is one of the teams he wants to go to, Holland would have to atleast see what it would take to get him here.

Ok. I'm not defending the move or anything, but you asked why... Would have rather heard "Cuz he didn't offer enough for Suter and Phoenix wouldn't take Jan Mursak for Yandle!"? I'm not going to defend the guys durability, but he didn't miss any huge extended period while he was in St. Louis for 4 seasons. When healthy, the guy is a decent #4/5 guy that fits the Wings style well and came at an affordable price when teams were way overpaying for available UFA Dmen.

Pass. If they Wings want him, they can sign him to a two-way deal this summer after Toronto uses and an amnesty buyout on him.

I'm wondering if all of this is just generated media crap because Perry is now off of the market (that he was never on in the first place...). I'm also puzzled as to why the Wings and 'Nucks would be on his list. Don't get my wrong, I'd love to see him in Red/White, but if he gets to choose where he can go why pick a team that is in a dogfight for a lower playoff spot? Come to think of it... Maybe Iginla is thinking long term? Most of the teams that have a good shot at the cup this season, like Boston, Chicago, Anaheim and Pittsburgh, probably won't have the necessary cap space to re-sign Iginla at the end of the season. Boston, Chicago and Anaheim especially... Maybe Iginla doesn't really want to be a rental, and wants to be traded to a team that he can re-sign with. Who really knows at this point... He could always pull a Keith Tkachuk or Doug Weight type rental as well. Back in 06/07, the Blues went into selling mode and traded Tkachuk to Atlanta and got a roster player along with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick. At the end of the season, they re-acquired his rights from Atlanta for a conditional pick and resigned him 2 days before UFA started. The conditional pick turned into a 4th rounder for Atlanta... In the previous season, they sent Doug Weight to Carolina along with an overaged Euro prospect for 2 roster players, a different overaged Euro prospect, one 1st and two 4th rd. picks. Weight helped Carolina win the Cup, and then re-signed with the Blues on the second day of free agency. Feaster is so in love with keeping Iginla, this could be an entirely realistic possibility. A team could dump prospects and picks for Iginla as a rental and then he resigns with Calgary in the offseason...

Can't blame the guy really... He's probably just trying to get bought out so he can make some tax-free big bucks in the KHL.

Because they only had 5 proven NHL defensemen (Kronwall, Ericsson, White, Quincey and Kindl) and Smith on the roster. Babcock and Co. had stated that they thought Lashoff was ready to get a cup of coffee with the big club as an occasional call-up for this season if needed. However, I doubt they anticipated that he would be so effective at the NHL level, or that Kindl would elevate his game like he has. Back to the original topic... Tough loss for Detroit, their defense has looked real solid lately and Smith and Quincey have played very well together. Save for the first couple of games, I think Quincey has been a good dman for this team. Not nearly as mistake prone as Kronwall and Ericsson have been...

What have Eaves and Emmerton done to deserve losing their spots? I agree with this. If he can add a little more bulk and use his speed to develop more of a 2-way game, he could be a real versatile player for this team.

I also doubt that Vancouver would want to do business with a team that they are battling with for playoff positioning. Also, swapping firsts would be dumb since they are right next to each other in the standings. In breaking your trade down, all Vancouver really gets is a proven top 6 center as a playoff rental who has no guarantee of staying with the team, and an almost NHL ready prospect who's NHL potential is still an unknown. Detroit on the other hand, gets a proven and affordable top 6 forward who is guaranteed to be with the team for the next 4 seasons.

That's an interesting outlook, but I think Chicago could look at other options. -They could buy out or try to move the contracts of Steve Montador and Rostislav Olesz, who are both buried in the minors and will take up $4.075mil of cap space if they are buried next season. They they could move Michael Frolik, who's production in Chicago hasn't really lived up to his $2.3mil cap hit. He does still have value to teams that have space though, as he has been a pretty good bottom 6 and PK guy for Chicago. That alone would give them almost $6.5mil more space while still retaining Hossa, and they can still resign their RFA's and have some flexibility to retain some of their UFA's. The rest of the roster could be filled with cheap UFA's or young guys.

The biggest factor would be cost. Maybe Miller is better than Howard, but the bottom line is that they are both good starting goaltenders. The difference for the Wings is that in order to add Miller, they would have to give up some part of the Wings future. With Howard, he's already here along with the assets they hold.

Sure they would make the team better, but that isn't what I said. I don't think adding (Hornqvist, Stafford, Okposo, Kulemin, etc) at the expense of subtracting good picks and/or prospects gives this team any better chance of pushing Anaheim, Chicago or even LA out of the way in the playoffs. For what they cost, none would really make the team that much better down the road either and we'd all be at square one still bitching about how Holland coughs up all of the teams 1st rounders.

Can't see the Islanders parting with one of their up and coming young forwards. Plus, they won't have any issues with their "cap limits" in the near future. Most of their good young guys are under contract long term and will have the same cap hit for atleast the next 3 years, and they'll have big space opening up with Visnovsky and his $5.6mil cap hit leaving soon and the impending amnesty buyout of DiPietro. The problem with acquiring the players that you are recommending is that they will be expensive. For the cost, none of them are really going to take this team to the next level. Also, the only UFA's that have resigned probably wouldn't have moved anyway. Even though speculation was being fabricated, the likelyhood that Anaheim, which is one of the best teams in the league, would trade Perry or Getzlaf was extremely minimal. The only other UFA that has resigned is Timonen. That one may be questionable for Philly, but at the time they were still pretty close to a playoff spot in the East.

Seriously. Although all of the proposed NHL13 trades consisting of Filppula and your choice of (Cleary, White, Miller, Emmerton, Abdelkader, Quincey, Kindl, Franzen, Samuelsson, sign/trade Lebda) were getting pretty entertaining... I agree on Ryan. If Bob Murray finds himself in a cap crunch, he has a lot of option before he has to trade away Ryan. Namely: -Let Lydman and/or Koivu walk -Trade Hiller and/or Bryan Allen Actually depending on how Fasth finishes the season, Hiller could be the easiest to move. Florida, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg might be looking for a 'tender this summer, and the UFA market really won't be providing any quality starters.

Not surprising at all. I think this signing speaks volumes for the credibility of "trade speculation". Just yesterday, a whole bunch of trade sites were talking about how Perry was "getting homesick" and wanted to be closer to Ontario. The next day he re-signs... It was probably a load of bull Krupp, like a lot of other "trade speculation". That being said, I doubt anyone should get their hopes up about Bobby Ryan being moved. He's not going anywhere...

Right now, I'd much rather have Franzen than Stafford. In a new age of overpayment in trades and signings, young player and draft picks are important as building from within is your cheapest option. Why waste them on a move that "could blow up"? On your second point... Abdelkader has one less goal than Stafford this season....

Not sure where you looked, but Emmerton is still under contract for next season... If Holland wants to go after Perry, Iginla, Jagr or Morrow, he can do it when they become UFA's. Even as rental's, they will all be expensive at the deadline and there's no guarantee that they would re-sign with the Wings, which unless they won the Cup would be a complete waste.

I hope it's just minor. Hopefully he never turns out like Pascal Leclaire... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKCA6LG-RGE

Really... I agree. I think being a center, and being able to kill penalties has made him a little more valuable.

Feaster might do some questionalble things here and there, but I doubt he's stupid enough to waste a first round pick on a player that is an impending UFA when his team is probably not going to make the playoffs. This team is still in position to make the playoffs, why would Holland dump off depth by trading away Miller, White or Emmerton? None of them would even fetch anything in return. Not very smart. Besides, White and Miller are going to be UFA's this summer.