egroen

Heh... if only Holland had listened to E_S_A_D and played Downey all season long, the Wings would not be toiling with such an awful record.

I think it is commendable of him. If Holland had told them, they would feel an obligation to scramble to get there, despite their injuries and plans, or felt guilty for the game they were suspended for. Holland did not want them going, wanted them to rest and recuperate, felt the last minute loophole was BS, and took the responsibility unto himself, without placing it in his players' hands. Good for him.

I find that ironic as well.

Emery's agent said: "As far as I understand, Emery wasn't happy with the way he played in the first period. In addition, he was very sweaty and didn't want to wear a cap. He said about it to that guy three times, who then looked at him in a rough way. As a consequence, my client pushed him away". Who wouldn't react in the same way? I would have slit that bastard's throat...

Good points -- Filppula is not a bad player and he is not on a bad contract (though I do not think Younguns was stating that, but some are). He will be valuable to the Wings in the future if he stays. In my opinion, he is expendable if it means we can keep guys like Hossa, Franzen and Hudler... but he'll be one of those guys I hope does really well (like Slava Kozlov), as opposed to someone like Lang or Williams, who I couldn't muster too many feelings over.

To take another look at DiPietro's contract -- yes, it turned out to be a mistake. But it would still be the same mistake if he was signed to even higher dollars at a shorter term, if not worse, which was the other option. When a player goes on LTIR, you are allowed to exceed the cap by the same amount, so no worries there... and Zetterberg has already proven to be far more durable than DiPietro, despite missing a few games here and there due to his back. If either player retires, well that money comes off the books, so no worries there. The big worry is that because of injuries they become a shadow of themselves, but are still playing at a level to hold a job in the NHL. At least with these long term contracts, you have less of a cap hit for them than you would normally would have. That is the risk, but in ths case, I feel the positives highly outweigh that risk.

Take heart in that this is a league currently without a healthy TV contract, little sponsorship with revenues comprised of close to 70% directly from ticket sales (that is upsurdly high for a NA major sport) and despite that, the cap has gone up 40% in 4 years. Even with a few level or even down years in revenues, I see the cap being at least $80 million in ten years, which is not even an average of 4% annual growth. Zetterberg's contract will not be nearly as painful as it might be now (if say, we were paying Draper $6 million).

Crosby's and Bettman's comments over the All Star weekend really threw Lidstrom and Datsyuk under the bus.... and as a result just about every sports' journalist out there picked up what they set in motion and proceeded to paint them both as spoiled brats who care nothing about the game, its history or its fans. The fact they were actually injured, were planning on complying with the rule if it was enforced, and their manager was not even aware of the "loophole" until 36 hours before they were required to be there, was never mentioned. Instead, they were "vacationing", while Crosby was there for the fans. Yeah, that pissed me off. The fact that the loopholes was implemented at the last minute, upon verifying Crosby could make it, without regard for whether two other extremely classy stars would be able to take advantage of it or not, reeks of favortism... and that bothers me. The idea that an injury is "proven" by someone being able to hop on a flight, go from event to event, schmooze with corporate sponsors and attend the festivities of the All Star Game, while someone who stays at home to recieve treatment and rest is "suspect" and deserves to be suspended, is preposterous. Whether Datsyuk or Lidstrom would have taken advantage of the Crosby Clause or not, if given more notice, is not the point. Whether they would have played in the game or not, is not the point. The fact that these suspension will have a very minor impact in terms of points and standings, is not the point. These are two great representatives for the NHL who not only were not excused from a stupid rule that obviously did not need to be enforced, or even given decent respect and had their notice to sit out a game sent quietly, but they were used publicly by Bettman to "send a message" and put Crosby on a pedestal and as a result had their names dragged through the mud by media all throughout North America. Yes, that all upset me. It puts a very bad taste in my mouth in regard to Bettman and Crosby. And frankly, I am getting a little sick of people like GS&T contantly feeling the need lecture those who feel the same way and are expressing it (on a Red Wings forum, no less).

The rule had been in place for 11 months, and Holland gets notice of the "loophole" two whole days before his players are required to be there? Sorry, it does not change my opinion on this matter one bit.... this article bumps the time-line by a whole 36 hours. Shoreline, When was it enforced last year and for whom?

Signing both seems pretty out of the question to me.

He's right, you have to have signed a multi-year contract after the age of 35. One of these days I'll just need to save parts that keep coming up again, but I have not done so yet...

Sometimes it is amazing to me how the Wings can win a single game at all with so many worhtless, slack-jaw yokels on the team.

I only wish Holland had thought to offer him $6M for 5 years! In your case there, his salary could only drop from $7.5M to $3.75M and then to $1M. You have to be careful because the NHL can step in over any case of "trying to circumvent the cap" - and levy fines, suspensions and cap penalties if that proves to be the case. At this point, $1 million to a 37 year-old Hossa would seem awfully fishy.

Yeah, I'm all giddy from this signing - just opens up so many more possibilities than I thought the Wings would have. Proof is in the pudding -- We need to go to the source to find the truth ourselves -- IE. EAT YOUR PUDDING!!!

Prove it!

The consensus on the going rate on Filppula seems to be a 2nd round pick and a mid-tier prospect: http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=600285 "Unproven"? I could have sworn he was playing in the NHL.... unlike the vast majority of drafted players.

This.

It was also during the clutch & grab era, when those guys were much more effective.

Cleary has a no-trade clause

Like the word: "Crosby"?

He's a shoe-in for the Masterton.

I can tell you one thing: No one's going to try putting a hat on him without his permission in the future. *******.

LOL... I'm actually picturing Holland sitting down at a table in front of Hossa: "Marian, let me tell you a story about a young man I think you might be able to identify with. Sean Avery.... "

Alrighty then... http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/spo...1b8f2c6&p=1 Bettman made up an exception to the rule (that you must PLAY in the game) that just happened to favor a certain someone whose name rhymes with Bidney Gosby. He could have just as easily made an "exception" for anyone able to send over an autographd picture of themselves with the Cup. Granted, that would have been a lot of hoops for Crosby to jump through at the last second, but fair is fair.

... And the locker room!