Andy Pred 48

So if we do lose Matty, Dani and Bert along with Langs $ we have just gained about $12m in cap space. We bring up Kindl and Quincey at roughly $1.2m to replace the D and Grigorenko coming in at $.8 to take over Berts spot. This leaves us $10m to bring in a replacement for Lang ? This saving could get us a top centre and also maybe a top 3 D man too. I'll agree we may not get an offensively gifted player as Schneider but it should get us a good player. Say $6-7m for the centre and $3-4m for the defenceman, or maybe this is Kenny's way of getting some new guys in.

So Kenny is meeting up with Doms, Todds and Mattys agents. What is the possable outcome of these meetings and what do the players actually want. I think its clear to see that Hasek will be back to have one more shot at Stanley at a slightly improved contract. So how about Bert? No way does Kenny entertain him on his Panthers deal, how high is Holland willing to go or more importantly how much does Bert what to stay and how much of a cut in $ is he willing to take to stay with the Wings. This will be very interesting, a happy meadium would be $3m-$3.5, could see Bert stay a Wing. Schneider is another kettle of fish thou. Mat is happy in Detroit, is having his best years in the twighlight of his career and I would say wants to stay. But with the Flyers handing Timmonen the keys to the safe, just may have opened Mathieu's eyes a little. This will be his last big pay day, so will he ask Kenny for more than he is willing to pay and test the market or does he stay pat and remain in a winning programme with a shot at the Cup again next year? We'll all find out soon enough but what happens if we lose all 3 to UFA? I believe we could survive such a blow and we must have plans a foot to cope with that happening. Odds; Dom to stay 90% for at a slight improved contract. Bert to stay 65% for $3m Matt to stay 60% for $4m.

Not as good as he was but I wouldn't say he was useless KP, make your point by all means but keep it real eh.

Could we rape the Preds for Legwand and bring the boy home! Any offers.........?

Well, Sergei is slowly getting closer and closer to Detroit !

I think with the firing of Ireland and the Wings seemingly wanting a bigger input into the team, we'll be seeing more prospects in GR than normal. May even be that they may want to send down guys who aren't performing and bringing up guys instead of letting the senior guys just coast about. Doubt it but it sure would give them a kick up the ass.

I got a feeling that both of these could end up in GR next year, if they accept the try-out invite this year.

Although bought out by the Isle's does anyone think that Yashin can still be an NHL force? Would he be an upgrade on Lang? He's younger and slightly bigger with a better offensive output, or would we be just swapping like for like? I would like us to go after a winger rather than another centre, but with the cap issue's the likes of Ryan Smyth may be out of our price range, whereas we could possably get Yashin at a cut of his previous sallary, may even get him in for less than we are paying Lang? That's if we aren't re-signing Lang of course!

I would love to see a Morozov Datsyuk Grigorenko line, it would be fun to watch and would cause some serious damage in the points column. Don't think it will happen, but yeah I'd do a straight swap Morozov for Lang, may even get Alexi in for a bit less than Langs contract.

Would we still be discussing this pointless topic if Hudler had bombed in the regular season? No, all of us would have said unlucky kid, time to move on you got your chance. But because we all saw what he can do with his limited ice time, I get the feeling that alot on this forum are willing the guy on, to go out and improve his skating and make it hard for Babs to release him. Lets get real on here folks, Rex has got some great hands and like has been said, he knows where that net is and the truth of the matter is, the Wings got knocked out of the Cup because of the lack of goals. Yes, our play was verygood but Giggy was hot and our forwards as a whole couldn't get it done. Would Rex have made any difference? Well we shall never know but with the Ice time Babs gave Kopecky was it worth bringing him in over Rex, No I don't believe it was. Had Hudler gotten the chances that fell to some of his team mates we may be sitting here discussing another topic. The size thing is a poor excuse to use, the Wings drafted him and new what they were getting. For me I couldn't care if he was 5'6" 160lb, if he was scoring 25+ goals a year, which given the chance and time he would do. For me 15 goals in his first full season with his limited time wasn't a bad return, for what was on mainly 4th line duties. The other side of the coin is, why have a 6'5" 230lb forward who can't score over someone who's smaller but can?

Would any of the Michigan boys be of any interest to us? There are currently 8 that I can think of who are attached to other sides, but who would be a good fit for the Wings? Jeff Finger 6'1" 205lb Houghton Tim Gleason 6' 217lb Clawson Andy Greene 5'11" 195lb Trenton Matt Greene 6'3" 223lb Grand Ledge Brian Rafalski 5'10" 195lb Dearborn Erik Reitz 6'1" 210lb Detroit Andy Roach 5'11" 181lb Mattawan James Wisniewski 6' 207lb Canton.

Samsonov was good when he had big Joe on his line. If we had the 3-3.5m to spare on a Russian for Dats I would go after Morozov instaed. I just think that a line of Dats Morozov and Grigs could do some major damage next year.

Maybe the Sens will ice McGratton in game 5 with his job to take out the Ducks #25. Don't know why Pronger has to revert to his cheap ass plays as the guy is good enough without them.

I was just getting some of you guys to think about what you post on here. It seem's to me if the player isn't North American then he's a pansy, or has no grit, just thought I would turn it around for a change!! One player who didn't get picked up last year who would have done a good job for us come the playoff's is a Euro so I didn't bother to say anything. But the guy I would have had here was Vaclav Varada, but I would have been shot down by the softeuro brigade. Well I suppose the Euro players will just have to carry the team into the playoffs as usual with their superior skills, then hopefully we'll trade for some good old N/A Grit to win us the cup again!

Why would we want 2 overated players like Hartnell and Torres, I thought the idea was to get some added toughness to the roster! Not a couple of soft, turtling North Americans who had 4 fighting majors between them last year! I'd sooner bring in Big Snake for entertainment value, at least he would stick up for his teammates and be cheap!!

Forwards: With Kopecky and Hudler out of option's last year both did enough in camp to earn a spot on merit. Maybe Jiri got in on the medical problem with Johnson, but he didn't let anyone down with his play. Going for Norton looked a good idea at the start of the season, but with the play of Filpulla when called up made it imposible for Babs to send the young Finn back down so Big Brad took the greyhound to Van Andel, where, give him his due he did rather better than expected. Langfeld got a rather longer run in the side than anyone expected, more due to injuries than his offensive flair, but he did what was asked, just think if he could put on another 10-15lb in muscle the guy could be a good 4th line chq fwd. Ellis, Hussey and Bootland all got the call and played more than a handful of games each, again none let anyone down but I don't feel any off them took the eye either. Defence: Meech and Quincey were the only guys who got the call and saw any ice. Although the call up of the young Ericsson at the end gave me food for thought. I would say that Meech is similar to Lebda and although younger than Brett, he lacks the offensive tools and skating ability of Lebda. Quincey came in at the sharp end off the season and did well. In fact he didn't do his chances of cutting the roster next year anyharm at all. I think it all depends on who the Wings sign from their UFA list, will depend on wether we see Kyle playing more next year. So looking at the Griffins this season, I don't think we have as much talent to choose from as we did last year, but there are several guys who can step in and do a job for a few games. More role players and less flair I would say. Looking at the roster their isn't much size in the fowards department which is the area the Wings will be looking at improving. So will the Wings look more towards FA's or have we any guy/s from our prospect's in the jnr leagues who could be a surprise in camp and make the move up. My take on it. Wings re-sign SCHNEIDER, then Quincey come's up to replace Markov. Kindl goes to GR's. Wings let Schneider go and sign Markov, Kindl comes up Quincey stays in GR as 1st call up. Can't see any Griffs forwards getting on the Wings roster, but keep an eye on the kid Mursak!

With another 4 months off to get healthy, I believe Bert could come back to somewhere near his best. He's still only 32, so he still has plenty to give. Ideal guy to put on Dats wing. The question is how much are the wings willing to give and how much Bert wants! Maybe a 2 year deal for $4.5m would be a fair deal for both sides, gives Bert some sercurity and the Wings a potential top player at a reasonable price in this cap era. If Bert can get back his game and health then he could up his price in 2009

Mursak .. future star player 1st or 2nd line Kindl.... Lids natural replacement. Will be a very good player for us. Emmerton..could be the one to build team around after Dats and Z ? Ericsson.. Physical big D we are lacking. 5/6 D Helm & Abdelkader future chk duo. Grigorenko... this guy was on a line with Kovalchuk and Dats for Russia, he has all the tools to do well, lost some speed but I don't think it will be that much of a hinderance. If he makes it and can settle, we will benefit. Flip will be a solid 2nd line C. Huds, I have a soft spot for Rex, I think he was hard done by in the p/o but that is history. Would love him to have more of a say next year but I just think Babs has a hang up about him for some reason. Could be a 25-30 goal scorer, but will he be traded away? I hope not. Flip and Huds on a line with Grigs? This could be very entertaining indeed. Skill, flair, grit and goals the new 'JIV'e line? Ya never know eh!

I don't think he is eligable to play for the Griffs next year cause of his age, thats why I said about him being a dark horse for the Wings. I called it last year about Flip, that he would be a Wing before Xmas. I have the same feeling about Jan. If he can add a few pounds who knows

Well Babs gave Caledr less than 13 mins in 3 games, he then sits hime for Kopecky overt Hudler reason's being bigger body to go against the Ducks. 3 games in and Kops has seen his time halved each game getting just 2.53 last night! what I can't get my head round is the fact that Rex was getting just under 10mins a game even in his 3 games v the so called big Sharks. I just think we have a game winner warming the bench when he should be out there. Lets face it, Kops 1 goal in his 30 career games sure ain't gunna worry the Ducks D for sure. Hudler poses another problem for them altogether, if he gets a chances he's more likely to hit the net than Kopecy or Calder on current form. I don't really know, maybe Calder will get the nod and be the force he was at the end of the regular, lets hope and pray that one of them is a game winner come tuesday night.

would be good to sign Colton Yellow Horn as well. They would make for 2 interesting uniforms. "Goal scored at 11.23 by YellowHorn assited by BigSnake" Mind you Colton is probably to small at 5'7"!!!

Might work for us, don't shoot on Giggy in the 1st, get him bored and frozen stiff, then blitz him in the 2nd and catch him cold.ermm? Get 3 up and then hang on in the 3rd.

I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you see Grigs play. He is more of a North American type player than a European one. He gets down in the corners throws out some big hits and has great hands too. Once he settle's into the different way of life he will do just fine.

If ever a teams name was "On the Cup" then it has to be the Ducks this year. I just can't see what more the Wings can do to beat these guys, besides scoring more than they do! Lady luck sure is singing their tune in this series. In all honesty they have been the better team I would say in 1 out of the 5 games so far. Bounces can kill you in this game and but for some not going the Wings way we could be thru 4-1 instead of starring down the barrel. Yes you can point to lack of goals, but that is at home. Having come back from Anaheim with 8 goals in the bag we didn't deserve to split that 1-1, but thats what happened and we came home with the series tied at 2's. We have overcome Kipper and a hot Nabakov to get this far and now we have to overcome the GiguereMan. We saw what we are capable off in game 3 and that was with Pronger on their D, we need more of the same in game 6 get it done and hopefully bring it back home for game 7. Like I said the luck hasn't been too kind to us in this series so far, lets hope we get some pretty soon. If we can pull off a win on the Pond I will be over the moon, and I just know the guys will finish it off back at the Joe. Whatever happens we have had a great year, not bad for a team that was written off before the season started eh?

made a noticeable impression on the Grand Rapids Griffins during his short stint in the American Hockey League. After completing his season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, the 19-year-old winger joined the Griffins for the playoffs, appearing in all seven games as they lost to the Manitoba Moose in the first round. He picked up two assists  both in one game  and had a plus-3. “He was excellent for us,†Griffins general manager Bob McNamara said. “We wanted to add some energy and we were surprised with his strength, his speed and his ability to make plays with the puck. He backed off a lot of seasoned defensemen with his puckhandling and speed.†“Size wasn’t a factor,†McNamara said, when asked of one of the biggest concerns surrounding Mursak’s NHL future. “He never got outmuscled for the puck and he made really good plays with the puck.†Ref Emmerton only playing in 2 Griffs games; As for Emmerton, he dressed just twice after collecting 66 points in 40 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He missed nine weeks with a broken ankle and didn’t return to action until late March. McNamara said the ankle wasn’t a problem for Emmerton and that he played less than Mursak because Mursak offered more offensively. “He was fine, there was nothing negative with Cory,†McNamara said. “He just wasn’t as dynamic as Mursak  Mursak showed more offensive flare out there and that’s what we needed  and that’s why Mursak played more.†Is Jan a dark horse for a roster spot next year? Reports look good.