NeverForgetMac25

Actually Heaton, I meant to also ask why you see Sammy's PP ice time going down as well? I still think Babs will want Sammy on the second PP pairing with Kronwall. So, IMO the addition of Hossa doesn't really affect Sammy's PP time because I assume Mikael will be on the blue line. To top it off, would the first and second PP units look like this anyway: 1st: Hossa-Dats-Holmstrom, Lids-Raf 2nd: Franzen-Z-Hudler, Kronwall-Sammy Or if Babs wanted to keep the first unit from last year intact: 1st: Z-D-H, L-R 2nd: Franzen-Hudler-Hossa, Kronwall-Sammy Either scenario, I don't see it affecting Hudler's 2nd unit PP time. Thoughts?

See bolded point below:

I would assume you meant "PK", due to age and Hossa taking some of his time?

Gotcha.

How on earth did the Wings overpay for Filppula last season? His only made $850,000 (with a $733,000 cap hit) and put up 36 points. This year, his cap hit is more than quadruple what it was last season, and unless he scores 4-times as many points, how can you say we overpaid for him last year, but not this year? Note: I *do not* think this contract is an overpayment for Filppula. Just questioning this single point.

Well played, but my point was that while Kronner showed potential, at the time he got his new contract he hadn't shown that he was worth it at the time. Now it looks like a steal, same as Filppula's could look by as early as the conclusion of this coming season.

Not according to the majority of LGW, he wasn't.

So was signing Kronwall to his current deal. Look at the gem that's turning out to be. TBH, it looks like slight overpayment for this season, but this could turn out to be an absolute steal as soon as next season, and with any luck this year.

yeah, I think he's ready but he isn't going to be on the Wings this year, especially after today's announement. The Filppula cap hit puts the Wings $610,000 from the Cap limit (including Ericsson's Cap hit). He'll stay down another year, because he can and the Wings need him to now more than ever. This gives the Wings $1.51 million to play with in the event of injury and to add Downey or Mac.

Keeping Ericsson down one more season will give the Wings another $900,000 in cap room to go along with $610,000 they currently have (now including Filppula's cap hit). That means Kenny has a mere $1.51 million left to spend on 1-2 more forwards. Also, this assumes Cheli will not be on the Wings next season and that Lebda and Lilja will be. If anyone goes down, Meech can come up and if I'm doing this correctly his cap hit would be around $2,650 per day he's on the roster. That being said, I just don't see Kenny moving Lilja even though it seems to be the popular belief here. UFA sign and trade isn't a good idea for any team, and the Wings organization has shown more class than that. Lilja may be moved next year to accommodate Hossa, but I don't see it happening this year.

5 Lidstrom, Nicklas (Cap Hit) 7.450 28 Rafalski, Brian (Cap Hit) 6.000 23 Stuart, Brad (Cap Hit) 3.750 55 Kronwall, Niklas (Cap Hit) 3.000 3 Lilja, Andreas (Cap Hit) 1.250, 08/09: 1.250, 09/10: 1.250, 10/11: UFA 52 Ericsson, Jonathan (Cap Hit) 0.900 --- 08/09: 0.550, 09/10: 0.900, 10/11: 1.250 11/12: UFA 22 Lebda, Brett (Cap Hit) 0.650 --- 08/09: 0.650, 09/10: 0.850, 10/11: UFA 14 Meech, Derek (Cap Hit) 0.000 --- 08/09: 0.475, 09/10: 0.500, 10/11: RFA

I was making a joke about Chelios before, but now its hard to see him with the Wings next year. I think they'll use that money to sign Downey and/or Mac to two-way contracts. That being said, unless something changes there will be no significant deadline deal this season.

Perhaps, but keep in mind this puts the Wings $610,000 below the cap. Plenty of room for Cheli's league minimum contract. This deal has the potential to turn into an absolute steal in 2 years.

I'm fine with that deal, especially given the ridiculous contracts given out this offseason.

The funny part is that Eklund claims this as an e5, and I think his rating system said that rating *always* comes true. We'll see.

Ack, C'mon BRTD. I already explained this a couple times in this thread. The *sole* point of my argument was not the amount of seats available or the cost for that matter, rather its that the economy is not the *only* reason people aren't showing up to Wings games. Nothing more. I'm sick of that argument when people label it the sole cause, because the truth of the matter is that its a few different factors, with the economy being the least of the reasons.

That's true. The fact that the fans of Toronto keep coming back to see the sh*t product MLSE continues to put on the ice definitely makes them a real "hockeytown".

I still think one of the biggest factors is that the Wings have become a victim of their own success. People expect them to be the number 1 team in the league, and when you essentially hold that level of play for the past 15 years, it starts to lose its luster to the casual fan. Couple that with the economy, maybe the fact that the fans of Detroit don't relate as well to a heavily European cast, as well as the fact that the Tigers and Pistons have more recently become successful after many poor seasons than the Wings have (seriously, its been well over 15 years since the Wings weren't one of the top teams in the league) and I think your answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Yeah, I think the one the OP was talking about is a close-up with him in his Red Team Russia jersey (or perhaps the Home Washington jersey). IIRC, I'm fairly confident it was his Team Russia jersey.

The Bolded point is dead-on!

Actually, if were gonna get technical its 3.24*8 = 25.92 or rounded up to 26. Plus, the expense of the high-end seats in Ford Field (including the amount of Box seats) I'm sure outweigh those of JLA. Besides, you're missing the point. Once again, this isn't *solely* an economy issue. That's the whole point of my posts.

Gotcha, I thought you were stating that point for the first time rather than agreeing with me after I said it.

Yeah, I'm sure *thats* the only reason. What about the amount of seats at Ford Field as compared to that of JLA. Ford Field can support 65,000 fans per football game where as JLA can only fit 20,066. Now all of a sudden the difference in seats sold per season doesn't look as big as 41 games vs. 8 would suggest.

Perhaps, but the other side of it is that Detroit is so defensively responsible they don't give away many chances where a great save is needed, thus making his one strong suit null and void. Now, you've got a well-known juicy rebounder with a defense that doesn't give away good chances, so teams will focus on shooting and driving the net. That could be a recipe for disaster as well.

I completely agree. That obviously has nothing to do with the economy being poor in Detroit (or Michigan as a whole for that matter). That was my point. My point when joining this debate had nothing to do with which was more popular between Football and Hockey, rather my point was that the economy isn't whats keeping people from JLA. See Below: I don't mean this to come off wrong, but you gotta read the entire conversation before just posting a reply to one of my posts that was completely geared toward one statement only. My first initial post in this thread (see above) shows that I lead off with what you said.