DSM

It really doesn't bother me as much as it does to some on here. The Wings needed a Dman, and that was the going rate for a guy that on paper was top4 material. There's never any guarantee that a player you bring in is going to play up to expectations.

Sure this team needs to make some changes, but I'm sorry Stafford isn't the guy. He's on pace for 6 goals in an 82 game season and is a team worst -8 for Buffalo. The guy would make no difference here.

Watch what would happen if Holland gave up a 1st rounder for Stafford and he still struggled on the Wings: Kyle Quincey 2.0 The guy would get bagged on harder than Samuelsson and Brett Lebda combined...

His style of play would certainly be valuable against the Eastern Conference next season. That being said, Smith would likely have to be included in the deal along with good picks or Tatar/Nyquist. Not worth it.

This is all just generated media hype. Just like Corey Perry trade rumors. If you have brain cells, you should know that Corey Perry isn't going anywhere. With Anaheim's position in the standings, I doubt the thought of trading Perry has even crossed Murray's mind. It's all media generated speculation. They did the same thing last season with Parise and Suter, and neither player went anywhere. In the media's eyes, it works like this: [star Player] + [impending UFA Status] = [OMG POSSIBLE TRADE, QUICK WRITE IT ON PIERRE MCGUIRE'S CUE CARDS] This whole Datsyuk to Russia thing is the same way... [Tells Russian Media it Would Be Nice to Retire in Russia] + [Contract up in 2014] = [OMG KHL IN 2014] Until I hear something more substantial, I just brush it off as media fodder.

Now the Red Wings have an excuse to get grittier and tougher... Does anyone think this whole "wildcard" thing is stupid? Why not make it where the top 4 teams in each division face each other, and then the division winners decide the finals. Having 4 more teams make the playoffs is going to mean less deadline sellers, which equates to much more overpayment in trades. If you thought a 1st for Quincey/Guastad was robbery, you haven't seen anything yet...

Worked great for Dustin Penner and LA...

For that reason, they probably wouldn't deal him to the Wings until the off season.

Doesn't help that when the Wings go East they will be seeing more teams that play that way on a regular basis...

Some said the same thing about Quincey at last years deadline...

What "old guy" is overpayed? Just about every old guy on the team makes what they would have gotten on the open market when they were signed to the deals they have. I'm really curious to know who you are reffering to.

If he misses the rest of the season hurt, they won't be able to buy him out. The NHLPA protects the players against that. If he thinks he's done after this season, they will put him on LTIR for next season like Philly does with Pronger, and Boston has been doing with Savard.

2 way street. Exhibit A: Ian White, Kent Huskins Exhibit B: Jakub Kindl, Brian Lashoff

Completely unrealistic. Absolutely no way that Anaheim would take Miller or Filppula in a deal for Perry. I doubt Anaheim is going to trade him anyway... And besides why would they trade him to a team that they may potentially face in the opening round of the playoffs? Anaheim was lucky to get Getzlaf under contract for under $9mil, it now leaves Perry as the best forward heading to UFA this summer. He will likely see offers for over $9mil a season... Also (for the 1,000,000th time), I doubt Holland will use any amnesty buyouts.

That won't work. Perry will probably get offers of $9mil+ on the open market this summer. If he gets dealt before the deadline (which is highly unlikely), the team that he goes to has absolutely zero guarantee that he well re-sign with them. He'd be nuts not to hit the open market this summer.

Did you really suggest a "sign and trade" with Filppula? You know that never happens with potential UFA's right? C'mon now this isn't NHL13. The only realistic possibility is Stafford if the price is right. Hornqvist and Dubinsky's respective clubs are battling with the Wings for playoffs position in the west, I doubt they would trade with each other. Toronto has solid footing in the playoff picture right now, I doubt they would move Kulemin unless it was in a deal for a better player. He wouldn't be an upgrade over Filppula. Also, none of them are producing at your suggested 20+ goal a year clip this season.

I can see Howard taking a little bit of a home town discount, but I doubt he'll let himself get rooked. I'd be very surprised if he gets less than $4mil a season from Holland. Otherwise he's a goner and the Wings can try to go through next season will Gustavsson and your choice between: Dan Ellis, Jose Theodore, Nikolai Khabibulin Peter Budaj, Evgeni Nabokov, Chris Mason, Mathieu Garon or Joey MacDonald (among others) if they can't lure Smith or Backstrom from their respective clubs...

IF they move Perry before the deadline, I doubt it would be to Detroit, a team they could potentially face in the opening round of the playoffs. IF they trade him before the deadline, they will probably send him East. I doubt he is going to move though...

I think they usually prefer not to because they are in the same division. When they put Fedorov on the market back around the '08 deadline, they wanted a big payment from the Wings when Holland came calling. They ending up selling him to Washington just for a kid they drafted 46th overall in the previous draft.

He seems to be struggling this season, though. It would be a risk to bring him and his $4mil a season cap hit in when Detroit needs cap space to resign key players this offseason. Plus, if Holland gives up assetts for him and he comes here and STILL struggles, he'd get bagged on here harder than Quincey and Samuelsson COMBINED.

That's been my thinking, and I'm sure Jimmy's agent is very aware. Howard, Backstrom and Mike Smith are the only real quality starting goalies that will potentially be hitting the market. Hiller and maybe Miller may also be available via an expensive trade. Teams like Toronto, Washington, Florida, Tampa Bay, The Islanders and maybe others will probably be looking for an upgrade in net after this season and will overpay if they have to. The Wings are going to have to compete with this. I say he gets 4.5-5 per season for 3/4 years. You also can't use Mrazek's potential as a factor for the contract length. I'm sure Mrazek is in the teams future plans, but I doubt the plan is to throw him in the fire when they think he is ready for the NHL and Howards contract is up. He'll start by working in tandem with a starting capable netminder, and you can bet that will be Howard. Much like Howard did with Osgood.

Wrong. If Buffalo is heading for a rebuild, why would they send away a UFA dman for a UFA forward? That doesn't help their rebuild effort AT ALL. Plus, getting rid of Filppula would make the Wings offense worse. If Holland's trying to make the team better to get to the playoffs why would he get rid of Filppula?

I doubt Columbus would do business with the Wings either, seeing that if they both keep at the same pace they'll be competing for the last couple spots in the West.

McCollum actually has some value to the Red Wings. If Howard/Gustavsson get hurt, McCollum can ride the pine in the NHL so that Mrazek can keep playing for the Griffins. I doubt Carolina would pay a 7th for McCollum. The Wings would probably have to GIVE Carolina a 7th to take McCollum.

Right now, the trade front is pretty quiet, but it's been speculated that talks are probably going to heat up come mid March. By that team, there will be more teams willing to sell because they are either way out of the playoff race. There's also been speculation that there won't be a lot of players moving that are under contract for next season, due to the cap going down. I figured we could use this thread to talk about the impending UFA's for teams that are heading in the direction of "deadline seller" that may be attractive to the Red Wings. Assuming of course, that the Red Wings will be "deadline buyers"... WESTERN CONFERENCE In the West, it's looking like Columbus, Colorado and Calgary are heading towards being sellers. Edmonton, Minnesota, Phoenix and San Jose are all currently out of a playoff spot, but are all within two points of the 8th spot team. Columbus' UFA's: F Vinny Prospal (38), F Mark Letestu (28) and D Adrian Aucoin (39) Although Prospal probably wouldn't be at the top of their list, he may not be a bad playoff rental. He can still produce and would be on pace to pot 25-26 goals in an 82 game season this year. The only knocks are his age, the fact that he has missed significant time the past few seasons with knee problems and is more of a playmaker than a scorer that Holland would be looking for. Obviously he'd have to want to come to the Wings, since he has a No Movement Clause. Letestu is smallish and doesn't really offer anything the Red Wings need, although he would be on pace to score 24-25 goals in an 82 game season this year. Aucoin is a veteran dman with some size, but he's old and I doubt he would be an upgrade over any of the Wings Dmen. Colorado's UFA's: F Milan Hejduk (37), F Chuck Kobasew (30), F Patrick Bordeleau (26) and Ryan O'Byrne (28) The only guy I can see Holland having any interest in would be O'Byrne. He's a big Dman that can play a shutdown game, but there will also be better options available. I'm sure Hejduk won't want to leave Colorado. Kobasew, a 3rd line winger, and Bordeleau, an enforcer aren't what Holland will be looking for. Calgary's UFA's: F Jarome Iginla (35), F Roman Cervenka (27), F Blake Comeau (27), F Steve Begin (34) and D Anton Babchuk (28) Obviously Iginla is going to be on every playoff teams wishlist, but would he want come to the Wings and what would it cost? Most are speculating that if he waives his NTC, he'll want to go to a team with a good shot at going deep like Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago or Anaheim. I can see Holland going after Babchuck. He wouldn't be my first choice, but he is the kind of dman that Holland likes to get. Has some offensive skills and a good shot from the point. However, just like Iginla, he has a NTC. I doubt the Wings would have interest in: Comeau, who hasn't been able to produce since leaving the Islanders; Begin, who is a veteran agitator; or Cervenka, who is unproven at the NHL level and has already been a healthy scratch a couple of times this season. Edmonton's UFA's: F Ryan Jones (28), F Lennart Petrell (28), D Ryan Whitney (30), D Ladislav Smid (27), D Andy Sutton (37), D Mark Fistric (26), G Nikolai Khabibulin (40) I can see Holland having interest in Smid and Fistric. Both are relatively young and big shutdown type dman that could slot in on the Wings blue line. Maybe a very small interest in Sutton too. Sutton is even bigger and more physical, but is obviously much older and has net yet played this season due to knee surgery. If the Red Wings continue having issues with Gustavssons groin, I could see Holland kicking the tires on Khabibulin as a veteran insurance policy. He may be old, but he has been putting up stellar numbers for the less than stellar Oilers this season. He did get put on IR today (2/27), but no reports yet on why. It's already been reported that Holland has no interest in Whitney, who because of injuries has become a shadow of the good dman the Wings faced in the 2008 SCF. Also, probably no interest in Jones or Petrell, who are 3rd/4th line guys for the Oilers. EASTERN CONFERENCE It looks like in the East that Buffalo, Washington and Florida are heading towards being sellers. The Islanders, Jets, Rangers and Flyers are all out of a playoff spot but are within two points of the 8th spot. Buffalo's UFA's: F Jochen Hecht (35), F John Scott (30), D Robyn Regehr (32), D Jordan Leopold (32) and D Alexander Sulzer (28) I can see Holland going after Regehr and Leopold. Regehr plays a more physical shutdown game, and Leopold is more of a puck mover. Both would make the Wings D better. Regehr however, has a NMC and would have to want to come to the Wings. Doubt Holland would have interest in: Hecht, an injury prone forward who has lost his offensive game; Scott, a giant enforcer; or Sulzer, a dman who has never cracked any of his teams top 6. Washington's UFA's: F Mike Ribeiro (33), F Joey Crabb (29), F Matt Hendricks (31), F Wojtek Wolski (27), F Eric Fehr (27), D Roman Hamrlik (39), D Tom Poti (35) and D Jack Hillen (27) I can see Holland having interest in Ribeiro if Washington shops him, but he isn't really the scorer that the team wants. Even though he has been absolutely riddled with injuries, I can see Holland inquiring about Poti as well. When healthy the guy is a decent top 4 dman. He may have interest if Fehr too, who can score goals and has some size. I doubt there will be interest in: Crabb and Hendricks, who are both 3rd/4th line energy guys; Wolski, a soft skilled player who can't produce and is probably KHL bound; Hamrlik, who has been a healthy scratch for all but 4 games this season and is most likely playing his last NHL season; and Hillen, who was a top 4 guy with the Islanders, but hasn't been able to produce since leaving the Island. Florida's UFA's: F Stephen Weiss (29), F Alexei Kovalev (40), F Jerred Smithson (34), D Tyson Strachan (28) and G Jose Theodore (36) Obviously Holland will be interested in Weiss, but much like Iginla, would he waive his NTC to come to the Wings? I have a strange feeling Holland would kick the tires on Kovalev.... On the bright side, he would probably come very cheap and still has some skill. But, he's 40... I can also see Holland kicking the tires on Theodore as a veteran insurance policy if Gustavsson is still struggling with his groin. Theodore whould have to want to move though, as he has a NTC as well. I doubt Holland would have interest in: Smithson, a 3rd/4th line forward; or Strachan, a physical #6/7 dman. NY Islanders UFA's: F Marty Reasoner (36), F Brad Boyes (30), F Colin McDonald (28), F Keith Aucoin (34), F Eric Boulton (36), D Mark Streit (35), D Lubomir Visnosvsky (36), D Radek Martinek (36), G Evgeni Nabokov (37) I'm sure Holland will have interest in Streit, as he is one of the best Dmen heading for UFA status this summer. He is a top pairing guy on a lot of teams. However, there's been speculation that he wants to stay on the Island and that they have been negotiating an extension. Visnovsky on the other hand, will most likely be available and would also be on Hollands shopping list. They guy is a top 4 dman. Holland could also have interest in Boyes, who is coming off an underwhelming season in Buffalo, but has been producing for the Islanders. Adding Boyes would give the Wings another forward with some finishing ability. Much like Khabibulin and Theodore, there could be interest from Holland in Nabokov if they feel that they need a veteran insurance policy in goal for some reason. Doubt there would be interest in: Reasoner, an aging 4th line guy; McDonald & Aucoin, who before this season were AHL journeymen; Boulton, a veteran enforcer; or Martinek, a soft oft-injured veteran dman. Any thoughts?