superstarsingh

35-40 seems to be a reasonable expectation for a healthy Franzen although he can be a threat to enter the 40-50 range in the coming years if he and the team stay healthy. This chemistry with Datsyuk is quite exciting and with that new found chemistry we have a great setup man and a solid goal scorer so yeah, 50 goals could happen for Franzen but a lot has to go right.

I will go with Joakim Andersson! I have an undefined liking for him. He was a third rounder I believe. He won't be "big" though so my honest answer is Lashoff. He was not even drafted and I have been impressed with what I have seen in the World Juniors from him. He seems like a good top 4 guy which is great for a dude who was undrafted.

I think he will play one of the upcoming games against the Oilers, likely Friday. There is an outside chance that he starts against the Pens (Eastern opponent) but even that does not seem too realistic.

Hopefully this works without hurting the third line. Flip and Zetterberg can we effective together I think so it should be interesting to see how this experiment works out.

I'm 21 but I've been told age is just a number . I wish I was able to see hockey in the 80s especially since I was born in Edmonton with a father who worshiped and still does worship the Oilers. I was born in 1988, the same year that Stevie and Probie tore it up together and I wish I could have seen that. It's cool that you have grown with the team and watched them go from the bottom to the top. Exactly, we need some. Probie, Dino, Malts, Kocur and McCarty. All guys that have been almost every list in this thread because as you said, they are hard not to like.

Yikes, that is where we differ. I feel a lot of this wanting to have retained Hossa lies in the fact that he signed with the Blackhawks.

Haha. I went Wings and then girls. It might have been strange a 5 year old watching Baywatch...

Its all relative. I was 4, 5 and 6 in the 92, 93 and 94 playoffs and it was in those years where I became a fiend of the Red Wings. I remember liking Dino and Probie because of their abrasive styles of play. Some of my first hockey memories were found in these three years.

So the Wings would sign Hossa to another one year deal and trade Flip away to keep Hossa for one more year?

He had 57 points in his limited role given to him by Babs. I don't want to use the KHL as a comparison and neither do you so scratch that. If we disregard this potential given his deserved ice time, he still put up 57 points last year. He would be great right now on Zetterberg's line and he would help the second PP unit. Bottom line is that he is capable of putting points up in the NHL and at a cap hit of 2.85 million, it is a steal.

Hudler never received the ice time that he deserved and even so, he still produced. He is a PP specialist which the Red Wings need as the second unit is not clicking. I will stand and say I am one of the people who are in love with Hulder (along with EZBAKETHAGANGSTA and eva). If he is given top six ice time, boom, 60 points minimum. I wonder if his ice time in the KHL has something to do with his production.

Right on. I was not sure what you meant when you had he and Ericsson separated by a slash. I thought you meant they would sort of be in a rotation. I agree, he should be weaned into the lineup given what we have seen with E.

Atta boy. Hudler is the best player we could get in terms of value and cap hit. If Frolov was to become a Wing, he would make money he does not deserve and would become a whipping boy on he forums quickly. I could see it already: "Frolov is lazy and he sucks." mmamolo, will Kindl be used as a 7th dman in his debut season? I'm not sure but I doubt that would be the case.

The grouping that is more spread out. Cleary is suited for playoff hockey and you need role players like him in order to win and Flip has played well in the past two runs. Sure Cleary and Flip can be "replaced" but I would rather have the two of them than Hossa. Hossa is a great player and I have no bias against him, I just know that he was not needed to win.

He is underutilized. I don't think it would be easy to find a replacement for Flip. He is very solid both ways. Would it be better to have a scoring winger than Flip? Well obviously but the reality is that the Wings have 3 centremen that belong in the top two lines which leaves Flip on the third line. ZDH should be together as well as Franzen, Flip and Williams/Bert/Cleary. That is what I believe. Cleary is good for 20 goals and 40 points (past three seasons). He has played 54 games this year and has 29 points. He usually plays 70-77 games a season so I will not factor in the 12 games he missed due to injury (even though it could have affected him upon returning to he lineup). With 16 games left, he is one pace to hit his numbers or at least come close. The Wings do not expect Cleary to be a 50 point player but I am sure you know that.

And it makes sense to you guys to have Zetterberg, Franzen, Datsyuk, Hossa or Flip locked in for a minimum of five years? So who is the Brad Richards of that group? Hell, who is the Dan Boyle?

Hossa was never necessary in the first place. They won without him and lost with him. Is it his fault? Absolutely not. But I think that the loss of Samuelsson and Huds trumps the loss of Hossa. I understand this retirement argument but say Hossa retires at the age of 38/39, Flip would be 31/32 then and producing more than he is now. His numbers will never match Hossa's but he can produce on this team. When they won the cup it was ZDH and Franzen-Flip-Hudler/Cleary/Sammy. Flip is a second line centre and when he is able to play in that slot he is productive proof of that is the Cup run in 08. There are far more Flip haters than lovers here.

Lets implant Hossa's current contract and remove Flip. Think about that. Hinders the future. It was mentioned above that the choice was between Franzen and Hossa and come playoff time, we will be grateful that Holland chose Franzen. Sorry that I am not an expert on expressions. You don't see me asking you why you don't start all of your sentences with capitals.

This. As well. You cannot replace Samuelsson and Hudler with Williams and Bertuzzi because they are not puck possession players. These are two players (on different lines) that are not suited for the style of hockey played in Detroit. f*** Hossa. His loss has nothing to do with this team's poor play. He was an irrelevant signing in the first place. Injuries? Yeah, to a certain extent. It is a bit difficult to blame it solely on injuries. The "banged up Red Wings" blew SEVERAL leads prior to the Olympics so obviously they could get the lead, they just could not hold it, injuries is not a viable excuse in that regard. Holland said that this team would have to tighten up defensively to address the loss of Hudler, Sammy and Hossa's goals, instead the exact opposite happened. Let's look at out two superstars. Zetterberg and Datsyuk have both been subpar this season and I refuse to blame that on injuries alone. Datsyuk is waking up and he will be fine in the playoffs. If Zetterberg follows suit (I am sure he will) the team will be fine.

How could you not understand? What are you, new? While it would have been great to have Hossa locked up for the future it is not realistic in the cap era. The Wings are not the Lightning of a few years ago and would not lock so much money up in Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen and Hossa (That is without factoring in Lids making over 7 mil and Rafalski at 6 mil). Five years from now, Hossa's production will have dropped and Filppula will be in the prime of his career and he will not even be 31 which Hossa is right now. In a non cap world, yes, Hossa over Flip but in the cap world, no. Personally I could careless about Hossa, he was unecessary last year and the team is well capable of winning without him (2008). Any Wings fan can tell you that Holland is not down with making rash decisions that will hinder the team in the future.

What about Maxim Kuznetsov?

I have always said that Flip is a poor man's Zetterberg. He does a lot of what Hank can do on a much lesser level. I am not saying he will or can be the next Zetterberg because that is not the case. For you to say that Flip's defense is "suspect" is unfair. The best part of Flip's game, to me, is his defense. There is still a bit of room for him to improve offensively but he is almost fully developed. He is a second line centreman and he gets paid like one, the problem is that he does not always play in the second line centre slot because those spots are occupied by Zetterberg and Datsyuk. There is only so much ice time to go around. I agree, his stats can be better than they are and I feel they will be in the future. Every year until this year, his point production has increased. If he had have been healthy all year he would have built upon the 40 he put up last season. A lot of players get inflated on these boards because of pure homerism which is bound to happen. Flip in a line: A very solid two way player that is CAPABLE of putting up 60 points. Zettie reminded me that Flip is a lot like Datsyuk was when he was younger, very reluctant to shoot the puck. Babs has encouraged him to shoot more and he started to this season and it was working out well. Moving forward, hopefully him shooting more has a positive impact like it did on Datsyuk.

I guess I forgot Jamie Macoun and his moustache.

Mursak has the potential to be another one of Detroit's diamonds in the rough. Its great that he has a good work ethic because at his size, he will have to be a workhorse to succeed (to a certain extent). I wish him the best and look forward to seeing him in Detroit in the next few years.

Howard has been nothing short of excellent in his first season. That alone to me, is enough. He is playing very well in his first season. That aside, he gave the team a chance to win almost every night which was huge when the team was banged up.