Crashnburnluder

Because people thing they positive and negative are used if they agree or not. If they agree you get a plus if they don't agree you get a negative. Even though it's real purpose is to give positives for well thought out posts and te negative go to the pointless trolling, cussing, etc...

I believe some youth league out in California. Pretty cool that all Grimaldi and McCoglan are both to be drafted this year after playing at such a young age together...

Ill take Rocco!! #23 Kinda funny...

I really hope we don't trade for Carle. I enjoy listening to Philly fans complain about him 24/7 but then again they complain about every player.

If we are having smith and kindl in our lineup next season we better be using Money toasted some scoring depth.

Even Franzen...? Do you guys think that after the long term deal we signed him too that we would actually move him. I think he is pretty safe.

Please stop talking about trading for Campbell, I don't want Holland reading and getting any ideas. The Hawks have cap problems and he is one of the reasons why. Why would we ever take away there cap problems by making them ours...?

Yea I understand what your saying. I guess we will see what happens but I think worse case scenario we have to use lidstroms salary to pay for raises and pray that's enough. I'm hoping Smith is ready for a bigger role, but keep in mind I said worse case scenario.

Your not going to get one defenseman to make up for Rafalskis point production but I think if you could swing a defense to put up half as many points plus find away to squeeze in Richards that is a better answer. I think with a retooling of our defensive systems from a new defensive coach plus a defenseman that is capable of playing more of a defensive game then Rafalski could this past season with the addition of richards (If possible is a better option... If richards isnt possible then your stuck with a downgrade of rafalski and upgrade over ericsson so I think also is a good root but I would like to add more bite up front so teams have one more player to worry about it helps out guys like datsyuk, Franzen and Zerterberg but Hudler would probably need to be traded...

I'm confused why everybody still thinks Holland won't make any moves until the 2nd or 3rd wave. Yes, in the past couple years he tends to do that in situations where the cap is tight. He also has found ways to sign big names like Hossa and Rafalski when he has had the money. There is no way possible to only sign 2nd and 3rd wave players and fill up all of our cap room. I believe that Holland will earn his paycheck and bring in a player that can start replacing what were losing. On the other note defensive wise I like Ehrhoff, Bieksa, Markov (if he can stay healthy), and I also like the Weber, Doughty offer sheet of it's for 2 firsts, 2nd and a 3rd. Four 1st's is a lot. I'm really excited for this team to really have a chance to throw some money around I just hope we do it in the right manner. I also would love a Hossa type Richards deal... Sign one defenseman this year to replace rafalski, and sign richards for a cup shot and then sign burns/surer for lids. Richards wants a cup contender not huge dollars that works in our favor... I hope...

Wow... really shocking so does this basically guarantee that we take hefty shots at Ehrhoff and or Bieksa.. or do we go after just one bring in another Salei type player to go alongside kindl and bring in a Richards type caliber player up front, could be big news for a guy like Smith too... potentially earning a spot on the top 4 come TC...

I'm right with you though with the point that we need to spend our cap money... I wrote a long post in the salary cap thread of kinda what I expect to happen but basically if we have a lot of cap room it needs to spent early otherwise in august there won't be players there to spend the extra cap room on. This usage a season where we have 1-2 million in cap space we have a lot mire and I don't want to wait until the trade deadline and hope something works out. I think holland always goes in to FA saying he won't do much but has surprised us before (hossa) hopefully he does it again...

Would you rather him over pay for free agents every year? I know I dont... Find your leaders within the system for hometown rates and loyalty. Only go fishing in FA when needed hence Rafalski. Just look at some of the recent top player FA contracts and they get quite pricey and don't work on in the long run. I'm not trying to call you out but we were one win short of the final four with injuries. We faced a3-0 series defiect not because of what players but instead of how they were playing the first couple of games. Holland always ices a contender and we are damn lucky to have that good of a GM contracts like datsyuk and Zerterberg look better every year as the caps go up.

He always says that haha... Sneaky Holland. I think that if there is a lot of money in cap room he has to do something decently big unless he wants to carry a lot of cap to the trade deadline and hope something pans out...

I know everybody says we won't throw a lot of money because that's usually the Red Wing way.... I'm going to assume though if we have 5 or so million maybe more in cap room come July 1st and depending on our needs we might go after some one. I feel like there won't be anyway to spend 5-7 million in free agency in less you try to bring in a somewhat marque player. We don't have too many main needs we have all of our core basically filled out abs most of our depth is already in place. The guys that usually last until august are usually your millers and eaves and guys like that that are only asking around the million or so mark and we won't be signing 5 1 million dollar players. The wings are lucky enough to have a couple key players long term on great contracts. (Franzen, Zerterberg, and datsyuk) which might help us pay an extra million for a more primere player instead of the table scraps in august. I wouldn't mind the team throwing a little bit of an over payment at a guy like Ehrhoff or bieksa because depending how things go... Lids will likely retire and Rafalski will take a home down discount cause I bet the last thing he wants is to leave Detroit and we will have money next year from lids to find an "okay" replacement (lids is irreplaceable, the goal is to make is as painless as possible). Going in to the off season next year it would be nice to have to only sign one big contract D and not 2.... Sorry for the long post I'm just getting excited for a possibility of a big name... Richards on a 1 year hossa cup run deal haha

I think it will always end up evening it's self out... As the cap goes up, players salaries go up. This is why the long term deals can be huge. Datsyuk at 6.7 couple years ago could easily be around the 8 million with the cap raising every year...

Wow... I love some isles fans thinking they will get a Top 6 forward or a First round pick for Nabokov. The guys trade value dropped a lot from him not wanting to play in Long Island and the World Championships. The only teams that are going to go after him are teams that are really contenders because a team would be afraid to trade for Nabokov just for him to say screw it and retire or ship it back to Russia. The guy hasn't had good numbers and the Islanders are trying to trade him Strictly for his name and contract and I would never give up top prospects, picks or players for a 35 year old goalie, who hasn't proved anything as of late and decided not to report for his last team. Honestly what is he really worth Trade Value wise...? Thoughts?

I could see them keeping Winnipeg in the east but not long term. I also don't think they would move Nashville. Why move a Central timezone team instead of one of the eastern timezone teams...

I think Nashville has a good chance as they would take Atlantas place in the Southeast, and Detroit would pick up a new Division opponent. I hope though that we go east... Come on Bettman take care of the founders of this league... lol

I honestly forgot all about the possibility of Chelios... Good call

I want Vancouvers old Defensive Coach. Ryan Walter, he also ran their PP. Only reason I want him is because I'm buddies with his son. Free Tickets! Crash

Step 1: Fire McCrimmon Step 2: Hire/Promote new defensive coach Step 3: sign Ehrhoff/Bieksa Step 4: Howard plays like he did in playoffs all season... Step 5: Win Jennings for least amount of goals conceded..

Wow it's really happening!!

I agree that Tatar and McCollum are still a little ripe for the NHL but like you stated there money could go elsewhere for the same price range player that isn't really counted on. I do disagree on the buying out Hudler. I think that should only ever be used if there is no other options. I rather trade a player for a late 7th rounder because something is better then nothing... I think Hudler is tradesble and if he isn't a wing next season. That will be the only reason why... Crash

He will be back.... He struggled with it last year because of how well him and the team performed. This season he has another career year and should win the Norris, I say that if he is in the likes of weber and Chara, that I still want him here...