Andy Pred 48

When we have the verdict from Hudlers hearing, due soon, Kenny will sign a UFA before the camp starts I'm sure. Will more than likely be a veteran guy who could drop straight in, do a job for us with not to much learning curve time of the systems. This is possably why Williams has been offered a deal. I think the other forward that the front office state that they need will be earnt during the camp by a tryout UFA or one of the Griffin boys. Theres no sense in Kenny signing anyone for more than a year, cause at the end of next season is when the Wings will be big players in the UFA market. My feeling is Williams to cover for Hudlers spot and either Ryno/Axelsson for Kopecky.

I feel that the Wings are aftrer one forward to come in for this year, as they'll be big players in the market next year and are probably looking at that. Maybe a cheap 3rd liner is what they are after, Leino could possably do a job on the 2nd line this year. There are some still out there in NA, like Grier Bertuzzi, but I doubt if they'll take less than $1m. The other option is to look farther a field like they did to land Leino last summer. The leading scorer in Sweden was 30yr old RW Per Age Skroder. He led the charts in goals and points. He has decent size to, 5'11" & 203LB seems he's pretty solidly built. As well as putting points up for MoDo he has been in the top 2 PIMs the past 3 years for them to. Ah I here you saying, a player who scores and drops the mits!!! Could the Wings entice him over for a year at a budget deal? Is his skating up to the standard needed? Would the chance to play with Lids, Z, Hommer and the Mule for a year be to good to turn down? In Ville and Flips homeland 6'4" 207LB forward Jussi Makkonen led the SM-Liiga in goals. The 24 year old had 27 in 57 games and was just over a point a game for the season. Not overlly physical and doesn't make the penalty box often. This was his breakout year as before that he hadn't done better than 20points for any season. Maybe a one off year for him, the overall points leader was Leino's former team mate in Jokerit Kim Hirschovits. He was drafted by NYR in '02 and the L shooting centre is 6'1" & 183Lb, same as Leino! He has posted a point per game on ave the past 3 years, and has 166pims in that period. If it were possable I would get in Skroder on a one year oneway contract for say $750K. At his age he'll have the exp of what is required of him, he obviously has the tools to contribute on the score board as well. This is the road the Wings front office will take I feel, not necessary who I suggest but someone to just stop gap for a season as we could have the potential of over $16m in cap space come the end of the 09-10 season. Then we just maybe players in the market. Players who are Ufa's next year include, Jokinen, Svatos, Stempniak,Kesler,Modin,Lombardi Frolov and a certain Mr Kovalchuk who's stalling on re-signing with the Thrashers.

I recall one of the veteran's saying of Bowman, that "for 364 days a year we hated him, on the 365th day we collected our rings" enough said really.

I think I'm right in saying that Ville is eligible for the rookie prize next season but has Big Rig played too many games to qualify for the trophy? Its a pity if he has as I feel he would be in serious contention for it. I would like to see him paired with Lids on the 2nd unit all year, as I feel he would learn greatly from the Capt. In the playoffs last year Kronner and Brad played the most mins, could we elevate these to the top pairing and how would Raffi react being on the 3rd with hopefully Lilja. I feel that these 3 pairings could in effect eat up equal amounts of ice time and in theory make a better all round defensive corps, and as such all 3 could go out against any opposing top line. This could also prolong Lids career by another year or 2. Judging by our blueline depth we have in the minors too, we seem set here for a good few years. I like the reports I'm hearing about Smith, Nicastro and the guy who has come from nowhere, Lashoff. Also these boys are big bodies and great skaters. With Kindl about a year away, also falling into the same catergory as the others it all bodes well for the Wings. With the rough diamond Kolosov entering his 2nd season with the Griffins we could see him make more strides towards the bigs. He has been a rock for Belarus at Int level as a stay at home D and just may be Lilja's replacement in the near future, his 1st season in the AHL was steady if unspectacular so I expect to see him be a little more comfortable this year and make more of an impression.

The funny thing is, that Huds could really be doing the Wings a favour by easing the cap situation we find ourself in. If he gets a raise to say $2.5m+ then Kenny and Co have got allsorts of maths to work out. By going to the KHL for 2 years he helps out. He may even have sorted out coming back after his KHL stint for the agreed abitration fee. I don't know how all these things work, if you ask me we could do without all these agents in all sports! We have a big problem over here with the soccer players, the agents get 10% of a sale fee so the more players they can move the better off they are £ wise, not sure if it works like that in the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL but it causes alot of unrest over here. If they make Huds stay will he really be in it 100%? Sooner him be where he really wants to be than have a unhappy camper in the locker room. Arbitration set for the 30th, so we'll have to wait till then unless Kenny can get something sorted before then.

I see that the camp started today, anyone got a list of the 14 invitee's attending with our 18 prospects?

Goaltenders: 36 Jordan Pearce G 38 Thomas McCollum G Defensemen: 2 Brandon Gentile D, Michigan State University 41 Travis Ehrhardt D, Portland WHL, Manitoba AHL 44 Evan Case D, Ferris State 45 Chad Langlais D, Michigan 49 Brian Lashoff D 50 Brendan Smith D 56 Bryan Rufenach D 57 Max Nicastro D 54 Gleason Fournier D 58 Sebastien Piche 60 Nick Jensen D Forwards: 4 Kyle Verbeek, F, Lincoln USHL 15 Anthony Ciarulo, F, Michigan 17 Derek Roehl, F, Western Michigan 32 Andy Miele, F, Miami University 39 Vince Stratte, F, no commitment 47 Mitchell Callahan F 48 Mike Connolly F, Minnesota-Duluth 53 Unnamed 59 Nick Oslund F 61 Landon Ferraro F 62 Brent Raedeke F 63 Jesper Samuelsson F 64 Gustav Nyquist F 65 Julien Cayer F 66 Travis Novak F, St. Cloud State 67 Tomas Tatar F 68 Andrej Nestrasil F 70 Ray Kaunisto, Northern Michigan University 71 Stephen Johnston F 72 Unnamed

Of course there is a dark horse out there, has sick skills just a ? about his attitude, Dick Axelsson. Maybe working with his fellow countrymen will show him whats needed to be a NHLer. I know the Wings don't like rushing their prospect's so the likelihood of Ferraro or Tatar getting a chance is slim, but I just wish that they would take a chance on one and give them 3rd line mins all season, I mean just think what they could learn playing with the pros at such an early age. This is why I suggested Pare earlier, he had great numbers in the jnrs. 298 points in 217 games and his first year in the AHL was great leading the Griffs in +- with a +23 and 24+24 in his 63 reg season games was good enough for 3rd on the team. He#'s just turned 22, maybe a season too soon for him, but would like to see him get a shot. Wishful thinking, but Landon Ferraro is a speed demon, put him out with the speedster Helm and the not to shabby Abby on the 3rd line, will give most other 3rd lines out there nightmares.

Id like to see what Pare could do playing with better players. I also think Tardif could provide some grit to the fourth line, not a heavyweight but he does drop the gloves.

So it looks like Hossa is on his way and by the looks of it Kopecky is off as well. Kenny has offered Samuelsson a contract, but my take is that he'll get an better offer elsewhere. Add to that the fact that Hudler will get an offersheet that Kenny won't be able to match and the Wings could end up losing a 1/3 of their forward line roster before mid summer. Are we deep enough to cope with this potential loss? The defence is set and in all likeliness at least one of these guys could get traded. So we could see one of the biggest roster changes Detroit has had for a long while. We have 9 forwards signed which include a potential 4th line of Maltby Helm and Draper so we could need a whole new 3rd line. At present , for eg: Zetterberg Datsyuk Holmstrom, Franzen Filppula Cleary could be the top 2 lines. So who can come in? Leino looks set to be on the team, but do we bring up guys or open up the spots at trg camp for invitees? This could be a very interesting few days, or has Kenny got a cunning plan up his sleeve?

So just Rex left, (at the moment) I'm happy that it looks like Abby will get his chance. Still not 100% about Homer being on one of the top 2 lines thou. Id have Leino with Z and Pav, Flip Mule and Cleary on the 2nd Helm Huds and Abby on 3rd leaving Draps Malts and Homer on the 4th as well as Homer on the 1st PP unit.

With that magic wand you use so well, somehow get Mike Komisarek and Chris Neil on the Wings roster for next year. I know it'll mean losing some guys and the cost issue will be real tight against the cap, hell you could have 3 top pairing D's!! and Lilja as the 7th. pipedream I know but would be great. Each pair could handle 20mins, Lids and Big E, Raffi and Komi and Kronner and Brad, that would be awesome as a 3rd pair wrecking machine!!

To try and make some space to play with in the cap era, would the front office ever contemplate trading the likes of Homer, Drapes or Malts? I say this purely as an option to get some cap leeway. At the end of the day both Malts and Homer are 36 and Drapes is 38, so to me their better days are behind them. Homer has had good stats the past couple of years but has also been prone to injury. Maybe his net front pest days are catching up with him. His 77 pts and a +27 is great, but he has missed 52 games in that period too. Both Malts and Drapes seem to be in decline in their play. Kris has got 34pts but is a - 15 the past 2 seasons and Kirk is a -17 with 21pts. The 3 of them have a cap hit of $4.7m combined. I don't think for one minute that the front office will trade any of them, but if it were down to you would you pull the trigger? We seem to have players ready to step in and also bring the ave age down a few years! Helm for Draper Abdelkader for Maltby Homer is a different proposition. Leino is ready but not as a direct replacement for Tomas. Ville could play 3rd or even 2nd line, and I think that Homer will be 3rd line next season. A 4th line of Kopecky Helm and Abdelkader could work, size speed and a scoring threat.

All the talk of Hossa leaving last years beaten finalist to join the Wings, only for the roles to be reversed this year and leave him as a bridesmaid again. With him struggling to score against his old team mates and such, makes me think fete will play a part in all this. Hoss gets his goal against the Pens in the Mellon in OT!! Game winner and Cup winner in one swift wrist shot. Now that would be the fairytale ending.

I think the series v the Ducks has given the Wings the wake up call they needed. The Hawks can't match what the Ducks thru at us and if they try the end to end gungho style then I can only see one winner in this series.

the boys just gotta keep going they way they are. They have run into another!!! hot netminder who has got the Ducks a 2-1 lead almost on his own. The Ducks can't live with us and are relying heavily on Hiller. If he does it again on Thurs then they deserve to win the series, cause it will mean we haven't worked him out yet. The Wings boast the deepest firepower in the NHL and its going to click sooner rather than later. We had 46 attempts at Hillers net and only scored 1, Thursday we could have say 26 and score 5 goals on him. Lets hope for it. I liked the way the boys were pi##ed at the end and showed some emotion not common for this team. I think that that could be the momentum swing for us. With any luck the Ducks have just woken the beast!

Homer is great on the PP, but the guy should be back where he started when its 5on5. The 4th line with Draps and Helm, bring up Leino for the 2nd or 1st line and sit Kopecky and Maltby.

Now before I get carried away here, I just gotta say that this kid didn't get drafted by us. But somehow our scouts have picked him out of the field of also rans and it looks like he is grabbing the chance with both hands. Still only 18, and still growing (6'3" & 208LB) he looks like he is gunna be a big plus for the org. Having played 6 reg and 8 playoff games for the Griffs he has amassed a creditable 2+8 for 10 points. Could he become the next Lebda? ie make the roster as a non draft player.

The big plus for me is knowing we have another stud on the blueline. Ericsson just looks the part. If only Lils could get healthy and hopefully Raffa is ready to go tues. Having a pair like Lilja and Ericsson as your 3rd line D would be great. Don't know what the deal is with Draps, but adding his speed to Helms on the 4th line is gunna be a big plus to. ? is who is Babs going to sit out off the present 4th line? I think we played a good game, not our best by a long chalk but with better shot selection we should have won this 2nd game. Still, both teams have got to win another 3 to go any further. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we can nick the 3rd and put the pressure back on the Ducks.

the bit that made me laugh is the look on Perrys face when the Lino said, Ok u wanna go, and let go of his grip on him and he had no where to hide. Priceless!!

After game report; The Griffins' 4-1 win -- which gave them a 3-2 series lead -- ended with three fights in the final 18.7 seconds of play. The battles started when Grand Rapids' Aaron Downey tangled with Hamilton's Greg Stewart with 18.7 seconds remaining and the outcome of the game all but decided. The Bulldogs called timeout after they were awarded a power play, but shortly after the puck dropped in the Griffins zone, Grand Rapids' Sergei Kolosov had his first fight of the year, with Hamilton's Ryan White. Then, with 2.3 seconds left in the game, the Griffins' Jason Jozsa had his first fight, with the Bulldogs' Brock Trotter. The final horn finally was allowed to sound, and Grand Rapids coach Curt Fraser was encouraged by the toughness his team exhibited at the end. "I mean, these guys that have never been in a scrap were sticking their nose where they shouldn't and it was really fun to watch," Fraser said. " It was real, old-time hockey at the end and our guys stood tall. It was great." Just love coach Fraser's take on it.

I noticed that after the Wings scored their 3rd goal in game#4, the camera panned to the crowd and a Wings fan had a Jersey with #85 Nagy on the back!! About 1:30min into the game highlights. Does this guy no some top secret info? Hoogs u just beat me to it>

Coming back from 0-3 with 12 mins left in the 3rd will have given the Dogs great momentum for the next game. The boys have to dig really deep, they have the skill to do it. The vets have to come into their own now and steady the ship. Maybe Howie can put on a clinic and steal one for us, he's due one. Keep going boys, 3 game series now.

its gunna be a long night folks!

come on boys