StevieY9802

I'll watch both. I always watch at least the thanksgiving game. Lions done by 4:30 or so a few hours off for food and then the Wings. Nothing wrong with that.

I would say defense wins championships but hes not known for his defense. He'll be an ok addition but is it just a desperate move?

Cap hit is 1.1 mil. And hes a 3rd or 4th line guy. Nice addition for the short term. Good leadership, physical and nice to see him back where he started. Welcome back Dallas.

After see Datsyuk signing on long term and how good it is to be here why would you want to leave? He is the future and why would you want to leave playing with Dats when they kick butt together. They are a better version of Kariya and Selanne when they were in their primes, as far as chemistry on the ice, imo. They are a duo you don't want to play against.

Very nice argument. I agree with pretty much everything. And to the person who said a bunch of teams were talking to Vanek.... yeah no kidding. I am sure teams always talk to RFA's they just don't do anything usually because they know that it usually won't work out for them. It was dumb by the oilers when they knew the Sabres were gonna gonna match it and they did it anyways. Lowe said its juvenile for Buf to say they will do the same to the Oilers I think its juvenile for him to do what he did. Its like a child testing his parents to see if they will actually do what they say. I have lost respect for Lowe as a GM. It did nothing for his team and he knew he wasn't going to get it. I would have tried it if I wasn't sure if they were going to match it but when you know they are then why do it? What does that get you? Exactly what he got.... nothing. And to say Vanek wasn't the target then why do it? I find that stupid. We are going to drive up the price of someone we don't want and then go after someone else? ok. I could see if you made that public saying we are going to do it and then don't just to show people that you are getting serious but what happens if they don't match it and that wasn't the guy you wanted? You pay 7mil for a guy you really didn't want? yeah ok. I know Vanek would stil be a good player there but come on.

You are totally right. Adam Hall is the key signing baby! 17 points in 72 games last season they should sign him right up. But Hasek with 38 wins, 2.05 GAA and .913 Save % during the season and 1.78 gaa and .923 save % in the playoffs is over paid at $2mil.

ok I got ya. but at the same time his cap # is still going to be $6-7 million for the next 7 years. Out of pocket yes he could be a great deal at the end of his contract. but I still think it kinda sucks that Lowe did this. All this does is drive up prices of the RFA's now. Like some GM's around the league weren't being dumb enough signing 69 pt scorers to $7mil deals.

What do you mean $4m a year? Even without the signing bonuses hes averages out at 6mil a year. So does anyone know since hes getting 5mil bonus one year and a 3mil another is his cap number 7.1 since thats his average of 50mil of 7 years or is it different?

Good for them. Hurts that its 7mil for 7 years but you have to take it and you've lost so much you can't hope you get a player like him back sometime with those 4 picks. Hope he keeps scoring 40 goals a year.

If they trade him it would be closer to the deadline. This may be a pivitol year for him as a Wing, imo. I think he can be good and I don't think he's reached his potential. Everyone points out he didn't play in the 3rd round and they played Kopecky, but I firmly believe that is because of Hudler's size or lack there of and the Ducks size. Hudler needs to find a way to make his small size work for him. Like Holland said they want him to be quicker and that would help. Again if he's traded its later the season imo.

Just thinking so this guy is getting $500k less than Lidstrom is getting. Datsyuk's contract keeps looking better and better.

It's Kevin Lowe getting desperate in my mind. You've got probably the two most desperate teams right now and that doesn't make for a good combo. The Oilers were dumb to sign him to this because he hasn't proven he's worth it yet. Great he had 40 goal season and I think 25 in 06 but its only been 2 years. How many guys have we seen start off hot and turn into average players. This will be interesting.

And even if the Wings would have signed him I don't really like the idea of giving up 4 first rounders is a good idea in this cap era?

I tried looking myself. That thing is not easy to read at all.

I agree. And I was just thinking. Depending on the "veteran" forward they pick up between now and the start of the season they could have a lot of money for deals to be done throughout the year. Out of everyone we lost Lang might actually be the biggest loss. Think about it. They basically replaced Schneider. Calder and Bert weren't here most of the regular season. Williams was inconsistent. So most of the parts that were here for the regular season are still here. They'll be fine.

yeah its a terrible offseason. They got back the goalie who had a great season, they replaced the offensive defenseman who was missed it the playoffs with someone who was younger, they didn't over spend on the likes of Bertuzzi at 4mil(wasn't worth it sorry guys), Kariya wasn't what the team needed and sure wouldn't be worth it at 6mil, or how about Zubrus or Yashin? People bitched about Lang being lazy how about the biggest under-achiever in Yashin? Guerin at $4.5mil with the great playoff he had would have been totally worth it. Damn people are never happy. Last year no one thought they would do anything in the playoffs and then they lose in round 3 and thats not good enough. People got spoiled in 01-03. The last two offseasons they have done even less in my mind and how did they do in those two seasons? Where are the people who thought the Blue Jackets would be challenging the Wings in the central in 06? They were really close to that central division championship in 06 too. Only 40 points behind the Wings.

If you read any article out there they say the problem was the bonuses. They knew what they were going to spend on Hasek and probably weren't going to go over that 2.5-3mil range. So that leaves about 5-6mil to spend on a forward. Tell me one guy who was signed for that price or less that they should have signed? They wern't going to spend more than $3mil on Bert. Kariya worth 6mil? I can't think of one guy out there that was worth the money he got. Holland went a little high on Rafalski but that was because of losing Schneider and I think we all saw how they missed him in the playoffs. From Mlive: "Just to make one thing clear, in response to that first reader's comment below, this deal had no affect on the Wings' strategy or ability to sign anyone else. They had agreed for some time that Hasek would get a base salary in the $2- to $2.5 million range, and they were able to budget accordingly. The bonus structure was holding up the deal, according to general manager Ken Holland, and that has to affect on the 2007-08 cap, that money goes against the following season's cap."

yeah I don't get all these long term deals for some of these guys. I mean Rafalski seemed like he wanted to end his career here, and 5 years is ok for that. But 6 years for Zubrus? whatever.

But would you pay him the $4mil a year he got when you only have 8mil or so to spend? Thats why I don't feel bad about it. The team has to make choices and this was the right one because it would hard to get everyone signed.

I agree with pretty much everything you just said. I guess just why do you think it is a setback? I look at losing a guy like Dats after the year he and the team had as a setback. Not a guy that never really got 100% and really didn't contribute as a setback. He would have helped but I just don't look at it as a setback, especially with the salary he got. If the Wings had more cap room or his back wasn't iffy I would have done it. But that's half of the money they have left to spend. I guess we just see the word setback in different ways. $4mil base price i why he didn't give it to him. The team has 8mil to spend on probably 2 forwards, sign Meech and Hudler along with Hasek. Half that money to one of 4-5 players wasn't going to happen.

Why? Because he's not going to spend more than a certain amount on the 42 year old goalie? yeah kenny pay to the max on Hasek to get him signed! and why didn't you sign Bertuzzi to a 2 year deal at $4mil per so I could come in here and complain about how you overpaid for him?!?!?! Give me a break. If he spent 4mil on Hasek just to get him signed and then spend whatever on some forwards and didn't have any room to add players people would be in here complaining then.

How so though? It's a serious question. I mean he played in what 8 games with the Wings and they still won the west. And he wasn't lighting it up and they could have still beaten the Ducks.

yeah I'll be watching that too. Philly and NYR are the teams I will keep an eye on. I just don't understand. The Wings paid what was market for Rafalski and 6mil won't hur them too bad and 5 years isn't a crazy length. 6-8 is.

And you can't blame Holland on Hatcher hurting his knee, or Hatcher for that matter. That was just really bad luck. There is always that risk that someone could get hurt. No one saw Fischer's heart problem or Greg Johnson's either. I worry about Kronwall too. But if he's healthy, and well if everybody's healthy, the Wings are better on D this coming year than they were in the playoffs, imo. I do too. I don't know why people are getting so upset about this. I would have liked to see him back but not at that price. The Wings, and Holland, have proven most of the people in here wrong the last 2 years. After the lockout no one though Dats and Hank would be signed and the other signings like Sammy and Lilja would work but they did. And even hockey writers were counting the Wings out the last 2 years. I remember one person, a fan and actually a few fans in here not a writer, saying the Blue Jackets were going to challenge the Wings for the central back in 05-06. how did that work out? People start worrying way too quickly.

That's what I was thinking. There's gotta be someone else if Dom doesn't come back. If you are doing a trade, try to grab Bryzgolov. He's better than Raycroft imo. But I hope it doesn't come to that.