StevieY9802

And they won the west without him. I would have like to see him here but 4mil as a base for 2 years is high. He might come back 100% healthy and be good, like 70 pt range, but you don't know and thats why the Wings wanted a 1 year deal. But they will find somebody. Everyone gets on Ken Holland but he'll get something done, he has the last few years and if they would have signed Bert to that salary or even the 3mil enough people would be in here bitching anyways. He's never gonna win with fans unless he got Crosby somehow. Also why does everyone think Z's contract expires next year? I've that a bunch of times over the last few days from people. Wings have him until 09. He signed a 4 year deal the summer of 05.

If Dom wasn't 42 I would say this is possible. I just don't see why he would go to a non-playoff team, from last season, for 2 years. If he was leaving I would expect it to be a better team than the Kings. But as others have said not surprised other teams are trying, if this is true.

And San Jose. The Wings went to the WCF's. It worked and there is never a guarantee. Once again he wasn't worth 4mil. Holland didn't expect him just to sign. He had a price he didn't want to go over and he didn't. And that's bad because??

Are you serious you hate Holland because he didn't give Bert $4mil a year? You've got to be kidding. The Wings will find somebody to put in there or maybe they will wait for the season to get going. People were sitting in here saying they shouldn't go over 3mil for him and then he leaves for 4mil and they are pissed at Holland? Wow some people are stupid. He's not worth that kind of guaranteed money.

He's not worth 4mil a year when they only have 8 or so to spend. Sucks to see him go and sucks that its the Ducks. But it seems that Selanne is probably gone I would think.

Actually, he will be 34 in august. And he would retire because of all the things you mentioned. He would be going out on top and had done everything. They do have a good chance of repeating but what if they don't and they lose in the first round his last 2 years of his contract or he gets hurt or any of that? It would nice to leave on top. There is no luxury tax. I don't know where they are in cap space.

The only way the Sabres blew it was being right at the cap last year. But they didn't know Briere was going to have a 95 point season and get 6.5 a year from somebody. I would have thought they would have kept Drury but 7mil is a lot of money. Regier rebuilt this team after Peca and Hasek and all those guys left. They will be ok but it sucks when you are a cup contender one minute and just another team fighting for the playoffs the next. Sorry Sabres fans. I know I'd be pissed if it was me.

I didn't read that anywhere. What I read was that Holland gave him an offer right before noon "in the fours" and they said no. He was a big loss in the playoffs but the Wings have replaced him with Rafalski. Like I said he seemed like he wanted to stay before but money, and back in cali, is what made him leave. If they wouldn't have replaced him it would sting more but I have no problem with him leaving. The last week or so I felt like he wasn't coming back.

I like the signings. Sykora will help. Hes not the player he was back in his NJ days but will be helpful. And Sydor I thought would have retired a Dallas Star but a good addition there. Good in his own end and on the PP. Like Opie said nice to see this team go from nothing to something the rigtht way.

The only reason they do it is so if they have to buy them out its much easier on them. It doesn't really hurt that much in the end. It all evens out. When Briere is only getting paid 2mil in the last year of his deal the Flyers won't sit there and think well we could have that 4.5 to spend because they'll know that this year theres 3.5mil that they are ok on. Its for buying out purposes only. It doesn't bother me one way or another. Once again I like this signing. I'm sure they are taking into account Zetterberg's contract in 2 years. Its not like people in here are the only ones who have thought about it. I'm sure the Wings have a plan. I like the signing cause it helps now and over the course of the contract. Lidstrom and Chelios aren't gonna be here by the end of that contract so having a veteran like him there will be helpful imo.

Good signing by Boston they needed a goalie. TB is still in need of one probably also. Anyone else still in need of one?

Not a surprise with Schneider signing.

I feel bad for them. My boss is a Sabres fan and shes not gonna be happy tomorrow. But I didn't know until after the playoffs that the Sabres were right at the cap last year pretty much. You have to watch out for those things these days.

Yeah. Its only been one day and the Wings didn't need to go sign a whole bunch of guys. The needed a d-man with Schneider leaving... they got one. they need probably 2 forwards and a goalie and it sounds like Dom doesn't want to go anywhere and it even sounds like Bert wants to stay they just need to find something that works for both parties. Its far from over.

How crappy would that be for Shanny?? Everyone saying that he was pushing for Gomez. "Well we got him but we also go Drury so we have to say see ya later Shanny."

That probably crosses off another team from the Smyth list. Nice signing. Mats needed some help offensively. MacK... 5 years is low for the signings today. Be glad it's not 7-8.

Holy S**T!! How can they afford that? Did they have that much cap space? Now I don't think this by any means give them the ECF's because we've seen what this team has done in the past when signing all the big names, but wow. As for Gomez he's not worth that kind of money. But on the market after seeing Briere getting 6.5 Gomez being at 7mil per thats about right sadly. If this ends up being true those are two huge signings.

I just got home from a vacation and was happy to see this signing. Good move imo because you lose Schneider and in less than 2 hours you have Rafalski signed. He is not as physical as Schneider but Kronwall will be back, and hope he stays healthy, so that helps there. The Wings improved I think. Kinda bugs me about Schneider. He first said he wanted to stay but in the end money I think won out. Not like going to the Ducks is a step up especially if #27 is gone. Money and being back in Cali I think were the big things. He isn't worth $5.6 mil a year at his agem. Ralaski helps short-term and longer term. Been a crazy afternoon in the NHL. Should be an interesting few days I would think too.

Salaray wise it wasn't. Thornton ended up getting over 6 mil a year. Player for player I agree. And the Wings would have had to wait until the next year for Zetterberg.

I didn't say anything about those rumors though. I was talking about the Thornton and Khabibulin rumors. The Wings only had roughly 8 mil or so to spend when those rumors were going around and Datsyuk and Zetterberg weren't signed yet. The Lang one I believed could happen because there was talk of him in the summer of 02 when he signed with the Caps. A front loaded contract really doesn't do much. It helps with your paying him because you pay him less as time goes on obviously but the cap # is the average of the contract. Thats the only thing I am worried about. In two years with the contract you came up with thats 6.7 for Dats, roughly the same for Hank and 5.5 for Smyth. 19 mil for 3 players? Now if Lidstrom retires in 2 years they can pull it off but who knows if that happens.

I don't see how people can really have any idea right now. Other than saying he has heard that X team is interested in him thats really all. No one knows what team is going to be offering what kind of money. I would expect Holland to make a call and see what the price is but I don't know if it would go past that. I could be wrong though.

I don't expect it anymore and if anyone around here seriously does then they need to wake up. If you want to wish wish all you want but don't think that all these big names will come here. It was fun from summers 01-03 when we knew the Wings were going to grab a big name. Actually it would only have been 02 and 03 when we expected it because I know I sure didn't see Dom, Luc and Hull all coming here in the summer of 01. Anyways, like I said I would rather see the 6mil that would be spent on Smyth go towards other guys. And two years from now a big contract like that could really hinder the team from trying to stay competitive. The Thornton and Nikolai Khabibulin rumors were really dumb because they were both from the summer of 05 and the Wings didn't have money for either one of those guys and people still thought it would somehow happen. Can't wait till Sunday though and see the madness league-wide unfold.

I agree. I think they could use that money to put a better team out there then going out and getting Smyth. I remember those rumors too. They were all stupid.

And the fact they wouldn't sign both Bertuzzi and Smyth.

they have anywhere from 11-13 mil to spend Holland said. Their number is around 34 mil after bonuses and such. so if they spent 13mil that would put them just about 47mil which leaves 3 mil for injuires and trade deadline stuff.