b.shanafan14

I have faith that Datsyuk will change his attitude, if not in the long-term, at least immediately in his first few seasons, which is what we need: scoring until the defense gets fixed. Skeptical about Semin, but with Pavel, anything is pasha-ble (get it?)

Pitt only offered $4.5 m x 4 years? We could, and should beat that. Do it, Kenny. Not a huge fan of Semin, but I do believe Datsyuk could change things around. And with the state of our D right now, we're going to need all the offense we can get. Not to mention its better to add than trade assets for different.

Love this! He should be great!

Is it too late to beg Lidstrom to come back?

This is getting sadder and sadder. People are laughing now about overpaying players (and $5.5m/year for Carle is definitely one), but I would have rather overpaid with our more than ample cap-space, than trading away multiple key pieces to get a single high-end player in return. Holland is i a position of weakness and desperation at the moment, probably getting ready to sell the shirt off his back for a decent defenseman and/or high-end forward. I hope he does something, but I hope he doesn't dump half our forward roster and high-end prospects to get a single talent.

Doan is worlds better than Hudler. Period. Hudler benefited from his linemates perhaps more than anyone. He was slow, small, useless in the corners, and defensively ineffective. Good personality from all accounts, well-liked in the locker room, but nowhere near the character, down-in-the-trenches leader Doan is. If you're going to compare production, that's fine, but Doan does more to make his own goals than Hudler has or ever will. Doan is a huge physical prescence along the boards, and drives the net. Doan gives you Zetterberg determination, Helm forechecking and tenacity, and Hudler's production, with a much better skillset.

In this market, I think its going to take an uncomfortable amount of term to get Semin at $5m/season. In which case, I would be very... annoyed. How many half-time scorers can you have signed for 8+ years?

Red Bird II

That's mine concern as well. The Wings need goals, but they can't have anymore floaters. Its been a grind on Datsyuk and Zetterberg these last few years being the only ones on their line that go to the hard areas, despite big bodies like Franzen and Bertuzzi. Filppula has helped a lot, but that's three small players doing yeoman's, and Fil hasn't learned to finish. Wings need more players like Parise, who make their own goals.

Everything is pointless speculation at this point. Minnesota media says Minnesota, Pittsburgh media says Pittsburgh. Drawing this whole thing out. Any news is better than no news, but I feel like there is little fact and plenty supposition.

How frustrating...

Honestly ? I'd trade Franzen and something else for Ryan, but two legit top-six forwards and a 1st for Bobby Ryan? Just because he is younger and a bit better goal-scorer than Mule? Ryan > Franzen, Ryan > Filppula (for now at least), but Ryan is not worth both and a first. Not by a long shot...

I know Rick Nash is a rare talent, I think he has loads of untapped production potential if you put him with better players. With the Wings, he could be a beast. BUT do we really like that idea of giving up a player like Filppula who is a pretty rare two-way talent in his own right, as well as other roster players and great prospects we've groomed ourselves, AND 1st round picks? Columbus has already said it would take a bombshell of a deal for them to trade to the Wings. Its bad enough overpaying in free agency, I wonder how much of the current and future team we'll have to mortgage for this one player? He may be worth it, he may not be. I guess I'm torn...

Well put. I admit, I think Samuelsson is an overpayment, and Tootoo kind of makes me noxious, but overall, we haven't missed out on the big fish yet, and some good depth signings. In the end, however, it all hinges on the big fish. The concern now is that these were not depth signings, but "instead of", "plan B", or "tweek" signings which Kenny has been doing the last few years. Get Suter and one good scoring forward and I'll be content. Do that, and it could very well be the best off-season in a decade. Time will tell (and hopefully not too much time).

Agree, but apparently it also says great over 700 games is better than less great over 1500 games. Shanahan and Bure played in the same era, with Shanahan being a dominant goal-scorer, changing his game to add defense, playing more physical, dropping the gloves (more than 600g/2000pim), and having more team success (not to mention what he did for the sport off the ice during the lockout), and Bure being a dominant offensive player in his time in the league. I've thought Bure, and perhaps even Oates have deserved to be in for a while now. What's very odd is that after two years of what might be considered softer classes (2010, only Dino; 2011, former pass-overs Howe and Gilmour) where the two didn't get in, they wait for a very strong class to get them ahead of what the majority of people thought would be a lock in Shanahan. The voting committee has made statements in the past, I wonder with Shanny being in the position he is today, if we didn't see one with his snub? Its not that the players inducted didn't deserve it, but in my (quite biased) opinion, none but Sakic deserved it more than Shanahan.

This is pretty shocking to me as well. We shouldn't get too high on anyone who is yet unproven in North America. Brunner is the scoring champ in the Swiss league. The Swiss league, IMO, is significantly inferior to both the Swedish and Finnish Elite Leagues. Why is that relavent? Remember Fabian Brunnstrom and Ville Leino? Until Brunner proves he is in fact an elite talent that can transition to the North American game, this is akin to saying "Great, we have Brunnstrom, who needs Parise!" I'm glad we signed essentially have him signed, but let's not count our chickens, folks. The Wings need significant offensive help, more so than ever considering there will be a good deal of growing pains on the backend, no matter who we get (and for me, Suter is a must). We have the money, lets spend it, and I'd rather overpay Parise than inevitably overpay Semin, or worse, get no one but Brunner and a few past-their-primes and hear how much management likes what we got.

Interesting trade. Both teams win, in my opinion. Jordan Staal turned down a long-term offer from the Penguins, which isn't too strange. What they reportedly offered him is a little bit odd. Reportedly, the Penguins were up to 10 years, $60-million. Even though the cap continues to climb, the guy has some impressive tools, and is only 23, would you be willing to pay him that to play for the Wings? Its so hard to tell. On the Penguins he was always going to play third banana to the kid and Malkin, but the Pens were willing to pay that much for him in the third slot. Perhaps on a team like the Canes he'll blossom into a beast, but only time will tell.

Great to see what the Kings are doing these playoffs and Dustin Brown has been a beast, but this diving stuff makes me sick. Hate watching the 'Nucks do it, hate watching the Sharks do it, and I hate watching Franzen do it, but there is nothing worse than a player like Brown who plays a good, big-body game and has to spoil it all by flopping like a carp. Its shameful and he has been doing it for a long time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbIJLP_ML_o

This. Not sure how the Rangers and Kings will match up, but it should be interesting. Playoffs (especially in today's parity conditions) are never as clear as the OP suggested. The team at the top does not automatically make them better than both the teams they defeated AND the teams their opponents defeated prior. Match-ups are everything. Think rock-paper-scissors: Nashville beat the Wings, and Pheonix beat the Preds, but I truly believe given the history and the way they matched up, the Wings would have beaten the Coyotes. And as far as the Kings dismantling the 'Yotes: the Kings had a great roster all season, and it continued to get better, they were just under-achieving big time. Pheonix on the other hand probably has no business being in the Conference Final. Full marks for beating Chicago and Nashville, but you don't have to go far to see a similar team: 2008 Dallas Stars. Went through Anaheim and San Jose I believe before being completely outclassed by the Wings. Its cool to see the Kings doing what they are doing, but its just as likely they lose in the Cup finals and go the way of Philly for the next few years (not to mention ex-Flyers make up half the Top 6 ).

The league is as healthy as it has ever been. Revenue is up. Ratings are up. What they can possibly find to squabble over is beyond me. No one is willing to risk another lockout. This time it would absolutely KILL the league. Negotiations will go relatively smoothly, no lockout.

Kings are kicking ass. Love this. This year's Blues fan is just about as bad as previous year's Blackhawks and Penguins bandwagoners. Some real s*** talkers. Can't wait until they get swept...

Johan Franzen: Red Wings need to 'have more fun, get some joy back' next season Just wanted to call everyone's attention to this article real quick. Talking exclusively to Franzen about how the season ended, this little gem was the headliner Fixed it to be closer to the truth. Its like he is projecting his own problems onto the team in general. The article had a few decent points but for the most part the same tired "disappointed" crap. Just thought it was interesting that Franzen basically projected his own lack of interest, confidence, and ability to sell out for his club on everyone. Obviously he isn't the only problem, but he is a big chunk of it. "Boring" regular season excuse has apparently been replaced with "needs more fun" regular season and playoff excuse?

Yeah, can't wait until 40-year-old Franzen leads the Wings to the 2020 Stanley Cup...

I think he was a disappointment overall. He had a few pretty brilliant defensive plays in one or two of the playoff games, but other than that, made some glaring mistakes which ended up costing the Wings. The Wings probably thought they were getting a bit better than Quincey provided, but they'll likely extend a qualifying offer instead of lose him for nothing (again). Unfortunately, his stock is too low to tempt other offer sheets given the compensation. I'm predicting he is back, hopefully on a short-term, for around Ericsson's hit.

Rinne was coughing up rebounds left, right, and center in the first round, and same in the second. The difference is the 'Yotes forwards are willing/able to get bodies to the low slot to bang a few home, where as the Wings forwards would/could not. Getting some garbage loosens things up and gets the goaltender cheating, usually making it easier to score on the first shot. Wings had WAY too many perimeter shots definitely, but when I look back at all the juicy garbage Rinne was knocking down that the Preds were able to clear without a problem, its clear that the issue was us, not them. There weren't any pretty goals scored, but the Wings didn't get enough of the ugly ones. The Dogs are.