toby91_ca

Even if Hossa signed for $5 million and Franzen leaves, I'm not sure they can fit it under the cap without dumping some current players.

Anyone noticing this guy lately?

Sadly, many people fail to see this logic, including some people that vote for awards. He's at +21 now I believe, one of the best for dmen, but you are right, that doesn't mean he is great defensively. My point was that he has improved. I think the thought of him being brutal in his own end, etc., etc. is a bit exaggerated, but he does need work. From what I have seen though, he's improving.

He's getting better and better defensively though and I wouldn't write that part of his game off just yet as he's still extremely young, especially for a d-man.

It's 12:30, which agrees to NHL.com as well

8 different players scored for Dallas last night.

This blog is a couple weeks old now and I'm not sure how to take it. All I got from it is this: Wings will keep Zetterberg, Franzen and Hossa simply because they don't let players they want to keep leave. Not a lot of deep analysis done there.

Since Nick only has 8 through 48 games, I highly doubt he'll get 12 in the remaining 30 or so. Also, he's never scored MORE THAN 20, he's hit 20 once in his entire career (9 years ago). The smart money is on no, but of course, anything can happen. What I will probably guarantee is that they don't break the record Boston set in the 70s (I think it's a record anyway) when they had 11 guys with 20 or more.

I work 14 floors above the cup everyday

The rule is that the contract cannot drop by more than 50% of the lowest salary in the first 2 years of the deal. In Zetterberg's case, I think that number is $7.4 million, so he cannot have a one year drop by more than $3.7 million in any year of his contract. I think the drop from year 9-10 is $3.6 million and then it trails off to $1 million in year 11 and remains there.

I think the technical answer based on the rules of the CBA is "yes" except for the other, not as technically detailed rule that suggests you cannot circumvent the cap, which your scenario would clearly be trying to do. In your scenario, the contract would be concluded to be invalid as there is no way the league would accept an 18 year contract for a 34 year old, knowing full well that there is no intention of the player to play to the age of 52. The reason the Zetterberg contract works is that it is entirely logical that he could be playing until he's 40 and the lower salary in the later years is a reflection of expected drop in play (although that part doesn't really matter).

It actually happens fairlyl often (linesman making calls), just not necessarily under these circumstances. If it was simply a high stick, nothing changes, but since it drew blood (double minor), the linesman is able to make that call.

Nice....

I have 2 problems with the article: 1 - comparison to Crosby's signing a couple years ago - this is absolutely absurd, there is no basis to compare the contracts. Crosby and his agent would have to be complete idiots to sign this type of deal. Firstly, he's not going to sign a 12 year deal that ends up paying him $1 million in the last 2 years of his contract when he's like 31/32. Crosby and Zetterberg are at completely different points in their careers. I think the author needs to stop and do a little more thinking. Secondly, the Pens would have to be stupid as well if they were to sign him to a 20 year contract let's say, that would take him to 40. 2 - the Zetterberg contract is definately creative, but to suggest the Wings are staying ahead of the rest of the NHL by pulling something off like this is inaccurate as well. This has actually started to become the norm type of signing for players in or around Zetterberg's age and stature.

I thought it was because the logo/stitching was in the way on the other side.

I think you got it wrong here. The s*** storm you are referring to that wouldn't have happened is the one that is going on between various threads on this board. The s*** storm from the Detroit Red Wings organization is that Dats and Lids had to sit. If Crosby didn't go and had to sit as well, it wouldn't change a damn thing regarding the Wings' reaction to all this.

Edmonton actually outshot Buffalo last night in their 10-2 defeat.

Well, isn't it clear that those statements are a direct attack at the character of Lidstrom and Datsyuk? I have been out of touch on all this for the most part and maybe I'm missing an interview or something, but I must say that I am not surprised at the outrage some on here may have for him, it seems to get dreamed up all the time. I haven't seen any interview or even read anything, beyond what is written here, but what I would have to imagine the comments relate to is a question about why he's there and the rule in general. He likely responded that he understands the rule (which I do as well, but I think it needs tweaking) that the game is important for exposure of the league and players shouldn't simply skip it and just rest....which lots of players have done "in the past" - this has nothing to do with Lidstrom or Datsyuk. Even if Crosby thought they weren't hurt and just wanted to rest and was upset about it, I would have to imagine he would be smart enough not to make public statements eluding to that at all. The guy has been trained to give interviews since he was 7 or 8 years old. It makes for a boring interview because his statements are normally very conservative, trying to say the right things.......but that there makes me wonder how someone could take what he says and try to put a spin on it and make it out that he is calling out Dats and Lidstrom and has no class because of it. It boggles the mind sometimes. In terms of not being able to play in the all-star game and being able to play 3 days later, not sure what's so magical about that. I did see an article on Monday that suggested he was questionnable for last night's game. If the game was on Monday, I saw a quote that suggested he wouldn't be playing, but he's see how practice goes on Tuesday. He missed time last week and was day to day, that's how day to day injuries go. Also, he didn't skip out on the allstar festivities anyway, so I'm not sure what the point is. It's not that players don't want to get out there and play, it's that they would rather stay at home and rest and not travel to the event. I'm sure any player would have preferred to be out there rather than sitting in the press box watching.

To be honest, I'm not all that surprised. Based on all the other long-term fancy contracts, I figured they'd put something together than ended up falling off to very little money towards the end to bring the cap number down, but he'd still be making $7-8 million in the earlier years. Depends on how you looked at it. If he signed for 4-5 years, the hit would have certainly been a lot higher, but signing for a very long term allows for players to take a less per year amount, which gets the cap hit down. This works for a guy like Zetterberg, who is 28, but it doesn't work for a guys like Crosby and Ovechkin, who are much younger. That said, Ovechkin signed for a very long term contract at a very high amount, but I think his contract only takes him to his early 30's, they certainly wouldn't have signed him to a contract through til his 40's that paid him a yearly average of the same.

Well, he clearly took less because he wanted to win, but he's only on a one year deal. He probably figured that he'd take less this year and then he could recoup in a new deal next year. Either way, for the Wings to keep him, he can't be making the discounted value he makes now, it'd have to be even less.

I wouldn't be suprised if the 9th year of Z's contract paid him $6.7 million, making the drop from year 9-10 of $3.7 million the max it could be (i.e. 50% of $7.4 million - lower of first 2 years). I honestly haven't spent a lot of time looking at this type of thing, but I wonder what the retirement rules are. For example, I wonder what would stop them from adding another 5 years at the end for $1 million each, which would bring the cap hit down considerably and they wouldn't have to pay because he'd retire long before that. I've been working too much lately and have a serious headache, so I'm probably just missing something, but I can't be bothered to look it up right now.

Huh? You hated Malkin because he and Ovechkin didn't get along (presumably) and now that they do (presumably) you are okay with Malkin?

I really, really hope you also think deciding a regular season game with a shootout is stupid, otherwise, I have no idea what you are thinking. I think the ASG is the perfect place to have the shootout. The game in meaningless, just for fun, having the shootout there would be just fine by me. Having the shoout to end a game that actually has meaning is a different story, but I won't start that debate.

Kovalev scored the shootout winner.

You're thinking from the Wings' perspective though. For teams battling Columbus for a playoff spot, the game has a little bit more meaning.