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Why are people bothering to talk about this? Holland has demonstrated he will not sign big free agents. Other than Rafalski he has not signed one FA that wasn't a cheap-bargain player. All of our money will go to resigning our own players, including even frickin Lilja. Holland will not change his M.O.

You mean crap like Brad Stuart- the guy we just traded 2nd and 4th rounders for?

The Wings lost when they sat on over $5 million in cap space in the off season when a number of helpful players could have been signed without trading any assets. Deadline deals rarely help much.

This signing was so predictable its sad. I have no problem with adding Drake, but I hate the fact that we are likely done adding anyone and will just sit on $5 million in cap room for some miracle trade at the deadline. Its just like Greg Johnson last year. Come on Kenny take a freakin chance for once and sign someone who can actually score.

We won't sign any of these guys. Holland is not going to anyone of significance at this point. He wants to sit on his $5 million in cap space so we can trade for $20 million in players at the deadline. Blech....

Ummm- how exactly are we "sitting pretty"?

Totally agree. We don't need to sign another center. Promote from within and use the money to resign our big FA's like Dats, Bert and Calder.

That looks pretty damn good roster to me. Is Hudler a good enough center to lead the 2nd line though? I've seen his goal scoring abiility but I just don't know much about his ability to play center.

Tha's my preferred lineup though I suspect that Babcock will go with Sammy over Hudler.

I hiope Kenny allows a little more roster turnover this off season. Even if we win the cup there is no reason in my mind to bring back Maltby or Lang when there are younger and cheaper players who can develop and potentially perform as well (i.e. Franzen, Flip, Hudler, and hopefully Griggs). I also wouldn't mind seeing Sammy and Lilja in another unifrom, but I think they both still have a year left on their deals. As for players like Calder, Bertuzzi, Schneider and Datsyuk, it would be nice to have all of them back, FOR THE RIGHT PRICE. What that price is will depend on their play-off performances and the market. Its up to Kenny to determine whether to risk signing them now or wait till after the season. I can see it going both ways, but after watching Sammy and Lilja get locked up too soon I wouldn't mind waiting till after the play-offs to make deals with these guys.

Well let's not give Kenny too much credit on this one. First we don't know what he was going to have to give up to get Nolan. And, more importantly, he could have just signed Nolan this off season and not given up anything.

According to the papers, Nolan would have been brought here IN ADDITION to Bert and Calder. That would have been great depending on what we were going to give up for him. I've always liked Nolan and thought that Holland should have signed him in the off season. Too bad he didn't.

Uh oh I hope that "thigh" isn't a code word for "groin"

Agreed- this team still has a startling lack of players who will play physical and stick up for teammates. Eventually that could be a big problem. Nowhere was this more evident than the game last night in Chicago (which I attended). Once the game was out of reach the Hawks started pounding the Wings and the Wings players wanted no part of it. Even the Hawks post-game guys commented on how the Wings just shied away from the physicality. Other teams know there is no penality for running our skill players which leaves them exposed. Holland had all off season to address this but all he did was resign garbage like Williams, Sammy and Lilja. He should get credit for making good trades at the dealine, but he shouldn't get a complete pass for the off-season either.

Kudos to Kenny! He finally did what Joe Dumars has shown he is willing to do- admit his mistakes! He never should have signed Williams in the first place and instead used the money to get a gritty free agent winger this off season. But he riectified the problem by dealing Williams for a useful player, created cap room for next year, and made a worthy gamble in trading for Bertuzzi. Of course we will see how it all pans out, but Kenny earned his pay this week.

You mean you actually have to trade assets to get assets? What a shock. Maybe Holland should have thought about this back in the summer when he had the cap space to sign players that he's now looking to trade for.

Apparently common sense and an understanding of the english language eludes your grasp. Spending $2 million on a player who actually plays for you does not count as losing anything. You are getting the services of the player. Not signing the player when you had the chance, and then sending a player and pick for that same player 4 months later means you are giving up assets you would not have had to lose had you just signed the player in the first place.

Hudler for Bertuzzi is a no-brainer ASSUMING we have a lot of confidence he will be healthy enough to be effective. Otherwise, I wouldn't give up anything other than a conditional pick that favors us: (i.e. 4th rd pick that becomes a 1st or 2nd if he plays a certain percentage of games this season and maybe another 3rd rd pick if he resigns.)

I assume you are being facetious, but if Kenny simply had not resigned Williams and Lilja he could have used that $2.5 million to get exactly that type of player this off season. Now he's boxed himself in the position of having to give up real prospects and picks for the same players he could have signed as free agents.

Resigning Pavel makes the most sense assuming its not much more $5 million per year. No reason to trade him now that he and Z are so hot. However, he is not worth blowing up our cap. If he demands $7 million I say we spend our money elsewhere.

Williams is garbage and never should have been resigned. That money should have gone towards signing someone useful like Nolan, Guerin, etc. Cleary is a nice, inexpensive depth player who should stick around.

Funny that you bemoan people who come on here and state their opinion when you are the biggest blowhard on this forum. Remember, if people didn't come on here and ***** you wouldn't be able pound your chest and lord over the complainers.

You are right, I don't know just like you don't know that Guerin wouldn't rather play for one of the best teams in the league and potentially more $ than play with the Blues. I'm guessing my scenario is more plausable.

I don't get it. We could have signed Guerin or Nolan this off season and not given up anything. Instead Holland signed Greg F'ing Johnson and resigned Lilja. Now will we have to trade picks and/or prospects to get them? That is why the whole wait until the trade deadline stategy could turn out to be a disaster.

Well if Hollland was such a great GM he would have signed Guerin this off-season for $2 million and lost nothing rather than having to give up prospects and picks to get him now.