LIDDYGIBBY5

I was at capgeek.com today and saw Kotalik as a UFA. I think he would be great at $2 to $2.5 M. I guess I didn't realize how big he was. I think it could be a good fit if Hudler is gone.

Hopefully this is just a media "leak" used as leverage in contract negotiations. I don't think he would have filed for arbitration if he didn't want to play in Detroit.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

www.capgeek.com FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk $6,700,000 Henrik Zetterberg $6,083,333 Johan Franzen $3,954,545 Valtteri Filppula $3,000,000 Daniel Cleary $2,800,000 Tomas Holmstrom $2,250,000 * Jiri Hudler $2,200,000 Kris Draper $1,583,333 * Ville Leino $975,000 Kirk Maltby $883,333 Justin Abdelkader $850,000 Darren Helm $599,444 * Aaron Downey $500,000 DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom $7,450,000 Brian Rafalaski $6,000,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Niklas Kronwall $3,000,000 Jonathan Ericsson $900,000 Brett Lebda $650,000 Derek Meech $483,333 GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood $1,416,666 Jimmy Howard $716,666 CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (including bonuses) ROSTER SIZE 22 SALARY CAP $56,800,000 PAYROLL $56,745,653 BONUS MONEY (ESTIMATED) (0.2% of cap) $110,000

I would rather keep Lilja. He has trade value, that is why I think he will be shipped out. Plus, it is all about the salary cap. The Wings won't get as much relief by trading both Meech and Lebda as they do in moving ole' Lilja.

People get down on him because that is what people do around here. Unless every player puts up superstar numbers, they are terrible. Do you remember when 65% of the posts on Datsyuk were about how bad he was? Holmstrom has never been a complete player. His defense is questionable, you add his injuries from the style of game he plays and people get down on him even more.

I don't expect him to play for the Wings. If he is healthy, I expect him to be the Defenseman that Holland was talking about trading. If he still has headaches and isn't cleared to play, he won't be in the lineup and his salary won't count against the cap.

I know it is fun to project lines, but every Wings fan knows that when it comes to Mike Babcock and line combos, nothing is set. There will be so many different lines just through the first 20 games. That being said...... Datsyuk Hank Holmstrom Hudler Val Franzen Leino Helm Cleary Maltby Draper Abby Downey Lids Rafi Kronwall Stuart Ericson Lebda Meech Osgood Howard

I have trouble seeing Meech being traded this season for one reason. He is cheap as hell. You don't trade away a player with one of the lowest cap hits in the league when you have cap issues to make room. The cap space that he would open up wouldn't be enough to do anything with.

From my limited information about contract negotiating for professional athletes, (since I lack the talent of of the kids that shovel off the ice during stoppages) NTC are usually asked for by the player and not offered by the franchise. Players aren't all about waiving them to get away from teams that are perennial contenders. If the Wings could get Stuart's salary off of the books, signing Hossa would be relatively easy. I don't think that he will take a trade just to be a nice guy and help out what would be his former team to move his family across the continent again.

If it is true, that is a good number.

I agree on Lilja to an extent. We really missed him in the playoffs though. If Kolosov can kill penalties and block shots like Lilja, I'm all for it. I think that Lilja will play to start the season, but he could still be on LTIR and not count against the cap fo a while.

This isn't the year to trad Meech. He is exactly what this team needs this year. Someone to fill out the roster as a forward of defenseman for CHEAP. Next year it would be a different story when there is more cap room.

Here is the best I can do. No Hossa, no Sammy, no Happy. FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk $6,700,000 Henrik Zetterberg $6,083,333 Johan Franzen $3,954,545 Valtteri Filppula $3,000,000 Daniel Cleary $2,800,000 Tomas Holmstrom $2,250,000 Kris Draper $1,583,333 Ville Leino $1,000,000 Vernon Fiddler $950,000 Kirk Maltby $883,333 Tomas Kopecky $650,000 Darren Helm $599,444 Aaron Downey $500,000 DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom $7,450,000 Brian Rafalaski $6,000,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Niklas Kronwall $3,000,000 Andreas Lilja $1,250,000 Jonathan Ericsson $900,000 Brett Lebda $650,000 Derek Meech $483,333 GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood $1,416,666 Jimmy Howard $716,666 CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (including bonuses) ROSTER SIZE 23 SALARY CAP $56,800,000 PAYROLL $56,570,653 CAP ROOM $229,347 CAP ROOM PER OPEN SPOT $0

I've seen a lot of crazy stuff on this site, but come on! Here is another idea, why do so many people not understand a NTC. People throw out the idea of trades daily that involve players with a NTC and get ridiculed. You would think that others would learn. I guess not.

It is going to be nearly impossible to keep Hossa, Sammy, and Hudler with out moving salary. I'm not talking all of them, I'm talking any of them. Let alone add Sundin.

] There are a lot of people here who hate him. I agree with you. He is a great team player. He has gotten so much better on defense and has started to throw his weight around more. Mike Babcock knows more about him than any person who posts here. If the coach is big on him it is for a damn good reason. I would hate to see him go, he would be missed on the fourth line.

He isn't going to be expected to bring more than 5-7 mins a night, at most 20 times in a season unless there are major injuries. I'm ok with that.

This is not realistic. Only 21 players? What do you do if there is an injury? A player's salary still counts unless you put them on IR which requires them to miss at least two weeks if I'm not mistaken. So Zetterberg gets the flu and would usually only be out one game but he has to miss 6 or we play with only 11 forwards.

You are right, cap hit is different from salary. The numbers I used were from capgeek.com. The numbers they used were cap hit. Some of these guys were in the minors. Now it is time for them to step up into the NHL. The numbers used are the cap hit that they would bring. The Wings can't sign Hossa with a cap hit of $4M, as the salary cap stands now without shedding some salary so they can fill out their roster.

Bottom 6 guys is what we need. We have top six guys and a salary cap issue. We need players to fill out lines 3 and 4 for cheap. I'm not saying that Mark Bell is necessarily the guy, but salaries at these numbers are what is needed.

You are right, they don't have to, but what do you do if there is an injury on a game day? How do you get a replacement in. Unless you put a player on the IR list, there salary still counts. If you put them on IR they can't come back for more than two weeks regardless of health. Not a good plan considering the number of injuries that a team sustains in a year. Not to mention, your roster is already over the speculated cap number of $57M. There is no guarantee that the cap will even be that high. And, you have already assumed that Lilja won't be playing next year. If he does play, now we have to fit in another $1.25M. I just don't see how it works.

FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk $6,700,000 Henrik Zetterberg $6,083,333 Johan Franzen $3,954,545 Valtteri Filppula $3,000,000 Daniel Cleary $2,800,000 Tomas Holmstrom $2,250,000 Kris Draper $1,583,333 Ville Leino $1,100,000 Kirk Maltby $883,333 Justin Abdelkader $850,000 Tomas Kopecky $650,000 Darren Helm $599,444 Aaron Downey $500,000 DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom $7,450,000 Brian Rafalaski $6,000,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Niklas Kronwall $3,000,000 Andreas Lilja $1,250,000 Jonathan Ericsson $900,000 Brett Lebda $650,000 Derek Meech $483,333 GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood $1,416,666 Jimmy Howard $716,666 ROSTER SIZE 23 SALARY CAP $57,000,000 PAYROLL $56,570,653 BONUS MONEY (ESTIMATED) (0.2% of cap) $110,000 CAP ROOM $429,347 This is the best I can come up with. I was a little optimistic and move the cap up to $57M. I'm not quite sure how to add a MIN of $4M to get Hossa it w/o losing a key piece!!

You are 100% correct. It doesn't happen with out losing Kronwall, or Stuart, or Filpula. It would also take losing another player as well as one of the others. Plus we would have to say goodbye to FA'nd Hudler and Sammy. Some of those losses would have to be for nothing because of NTC's. We are talking waiver wire situations in certain cases.

Small problem here, it wouldn't fit under the salary cap. I know that cap sneaks up on a lot of people who post here.