egroen

Apparently Holland has already given Eaves and Miller "take it or leave it" contracts and has yet to hear back from their agents.

Well thought-out. I think a big-time trade is unlikely, given Holland's conservative nature since the lockout, but he really does have a lot of assets at his disposal if he comes across a real chance to significantly improve this team. It's certainly more likely to happen this year than most. Near impossible to predict a specific scenario, that's for sure.

Training camp tryout is as far as I would go. I honestly think this guy would get trashed on more than Hudler from Red Wings fans. Certainly would prefer Mursak and Eaves over him and possibly even Emmerton/ Miller/Draper. Similar offensive scoring to Hudler's worst year and even less hustle does not exactly excite me. Oh, and just to state the obvious - Florida does not even want him as an RFA. Florida. RFA. Not every player is Eaves and able to make big turnaround.

Terror-dome

Jovonavski would be a nice upgrade for Salei, but I hope Holland does not expect him to fill a larger role.

He was 4 in '97, the last year of the R5

He's bigger than Filatov and was taken 29 picks later. But yeah, despite his skills Jurco could definitely be a bust... I just like that a lot of mock drafts had Jurco going to Detroit at 24, yet the Wings got him at 35, with another 2nd round pick to boot.

Collection of Jurco YouTube clips: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/juniorhockey/blog/buzzing_the_net/post/Jurco-s-skill-puts-him-at-the-top-of-the-class?urn=juniorhockey-272723

From the draft wrap-up by Khan on Mlive, it sounds like the Wings scouts had already met with him numerous times, and are confident he will come over - as early as next year.

http://mobile.mlive.com/advdetroit/db_96962/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=do91MDDp&src=cat Khan's article Lot of teams wanted the 35th pick. Wings thrilled about Jurco. Tried to add even more 2nd rounders. Confident Marchenko will come over.

Really like this draft class. I love that Holland has the balls and luxury of not having to look for the more "NHL-ready" players and instead drafts players who have the talent to potentially be real impact players, not just pluggers. And Holland will bring Marchenko into the US in a suitcase, voluntarily or not.

Dmitri Bykov.

Good draft to pick up 2 extra 2nds, IMO.

Wings fans have really only seen the best of Talbot - it would be like the Pens clamoring for Ericcson, based on his 09 playoffs. Not too excited about Talbot but wouldn't be terribly upset if he landed on a bottom line for Detroit. I just think he is going to cash in on his Cup win and get overpaid and overplayed by some franchise like Florida, looking for proven winners.

Yeah, I'm almost hoping Larrson is Howard's backup - he just seems really talented to me, and cocky goalies are not exactly the worst thing. Ideally he would be the starter in GR for one more year though.

It would be hilarious if Lidstrom went to free agency one of these years, just to see what ridiculous amounts would get tossed his way (but still signed with the Wings regardless, of course).. I think the "why didn't he give us a discount?" crowd would be pretty shocked by the results.

Wings can literally dangle the opportunity to play on a line with Nicklas Lidstrom - that's a nice bargaining chip.

Modano would have worked out fine if not for the freak injury thing; he was obviously starting to get in a groove and meshing with the Wings. But as good as Modano was, Jagr was much better - everything erodes over time, but Jagr's skills have a lot further to go downhill. Lidstrom would be much more diplomatic if he was just being kind - "Well, the decision is of course up to Holland, but Jagr is obviously a great talent." - something like that. It honestly sounds like Nick would be excited to have him on the team.

Cap space is for sissies. I'm pining for Wiz, Brewer, Laich and Jagr.

I'm really rooting for Laich, Jagr, Wiz and Brewer. Seems like everything Detroit needs as a priority is right there. All 4 would make me a very happy boy, but even two will go a long way, IMO.

Quick! Someone post a lineup with Doughty before he gets signed or taken to arbitration too!

You seem to have no concern for the actual motivations, implications and fallout of the event, so I'm fine just disagreeing. It's ironic the NHL actually learned from this clusterf*ck and quietly allowed Zetterberg to not play in this Year's ASG.

Jagr took an obvious cash grab with Washington and played a few blah seasons there - outside of that I can't really think of anything negative about his character, his competitiveness or his locker room presence. Jagr and Hasek, IMO, take a lot of undeserved flak. Wings need to win now, while Dats and Zets are still in their primes and Lids is still great. Jagr may not be the answer, but if they have the cap space to grab a potential game changer like him, even for just one year, I am more than ok with losing someone like Emmerton, who might pan out as a bottom line forward.

Read through the original thread in its entirety here:

The way the '09 ASG debacle went down was sickening to me - both the NHL's bias towards Crosby and their willingness to make a last minute exception to the rules for him (the rule stated you had to *play*) and by their almost gleeful scapegoating of two of the most classy players in the NHL and subsequent suspensions of them. Bettman and Campbell originally tried to present it as the 'exception' was there all along and Crosby was a big hero for jumping on a plane at the last minute to play grab-ass with corporate sponsors - that this somehow proved he was really injured, while Lidstrom and Datsyuk were obviously faking their injuries and refused to attend because they don't give a crap about the fans. Lidstrom and Datsyuk were both thrown under the bus and led to a lot of articles in papers condemning their character while lauding Crosby, including a memorable article by Theo Fleury calling Lids and Dats "spoiled brats". I also recall a smirking Crosby interview where he went on to say he was really injured, but that 'others' might not be. The NHL capitulated with and bent the rules specifically for one player (they made sure he could be there and hop on a plane for it) before offering the same exception to other players as an afterthought, irregardless of their situations. It's blatant favoritism to one player while abhorrent in allowing someone like Lidstrom, one of the classiest players of all-time and whom had never missed a single NHL function in his career to have his character assassinated by the media, largely because of their attempt to present the brand new 'Crosby Clause' as being there all along.