Zetts

I'd agree that Hudler is gifted offensively, as the numbers show. But at the same time this kind of skews the numbers. I don't believe for a second if Hudler had seen Z's ice time he would have produced to the level you have projected. There is a reason he plays so little and against lower-tier players. Also, as has been mentioned in the past, points don't go up linearly with ice time. If your point is simply that he's elite offensively though, I would tend to somewhat agree. I do hope the Wings retain him. And for Holmstrom, I agree that he's being treated unfairly. He was pretty brutal for parts of last year, but I don't think he just magically lost his touch. I think that he'll be back, healthy and better. I think that last season might have been a hint that he's almost done though.

nevermind

I wasn't aware that popularity made salary cap issues go away. If you're not worried, maybe it's because you're not actually aware of your team's contractual obligations. And the fact that the salary cap is expected to go DOWN next year. I don't see how the fact that another team gave out a stupid contract helps the Blackhawks with cap issues either. Good luck.

I'd agree if there wasn't a salary cap. But we don't exactly have a pile of options right now. I'm sure we'll be fine. There's really no other way to look at it...besides negativity. I don't see this being an exciting off season for us.

...so instead you give Hossa a 12 year deal. Am I the only one that finds that logic a little faulty?

Meh. I wouldn't complain, but I don't think he's really what we need. Maybe if Sammy leaves. We always seem to enjoy having that one right handed forward playing the point on the pp who really shouldn't be. Edit: This is more than a little unlikely though. I seem to recall him being somewhat bitter when he left.

It's a shame, he was a great goalie. If we were in any sort of reasonable cap situation I'd pay that for him in a heartbeat. But we're not, so there was no way to justify paying that much for a backup. Best of luck to him. Edit: The strangest part of this is that now the Blues will lose in the finals. Who'd have thought they'd make it that far? Seriously though, 3 times in 4 years? I feel for the guy.

I was unclear on the Free Press article. I'd seen it too, but it seemed to me to be referring to playoff injuries not needing surgery, whereas his elbow is more a maintenance thing than an "injury". But I'm guessing Holland would have said something then if there was a surgery that would happen. Thanks for the answers - I really don't know much about tendinitis.

He is out of position sometimes yes. I was saying his positioning is good when he plays well though - not all the time. The other thing that Lebda does have is that he's more physical. Not regularly, but he does have some nice hits. Three that come to mind are him laying out Brad Winchester when he was with the Oilers, the hit on Clutterbuck, and the admittedly low hit on Langkow in the playoffs. I guess this really just comes down to a matter of opinion though.

Because if I disagree with you, I must not know what I'm talking about? No, I've seen Meech play and I've never been even slightly impressed. On his best nights you don't notice him. Usually that would be good enough, but that seems to be the best he's capable of playing...and it's rare. When Lebda plays well you do in fact notice him though. Both his speed and positioning. I'll give you that Lebda hasn't improved a pile since he came to the Wings, but I'd still take him over Meech any day. And to me, the 200k difference in salaries isn't enough to justify keeping Meech over Lebda. And Lebda has on occasion played forward as well.

I really disagree with that. Did you watch Lebda in these playoffs? He was great. I've never seen Meech even close to that level. I think Lebda is a fair bit faster than Meech too.

This is actually very funny. If there's one thing in the world that I hate more than Pronger and Crosby...it's the Edmonton Oilers.

You're ridiculous. Yes, Hossa did choke more than them. You don't seem to understand the concept of roles. Admittedly, Holmstrom and Hudler have a similar type of role, but not in the same capacity. That's why they weren't paid the big amount, and that's why they didn't see as much prime ice time with the same players. And no, Hossa doesn't owe us squat. That's why I'll be perfectly happy when he LEAVES. Get off your high horse. People don't have to mindlessly support Hossa to be a fan. It's called an opinion. There was no reason to attack him.

What are they? They would fall under several categories. The first three that come to mind are: players that weren't paid 7.4 million, players that didn't get truckloads of prime icetime and players that didn't lead us in goal scoring in the regular season. Edit: One more, thanks to Nero. Players that aren't going to cause the Wings huge cap problems this upcoming year with a big new contract.

Oh dear lord. Please let that post be a joke.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...en_red_win.html It's at the bottom of the article.

Agreed. I just hope we can all be as mature as we were when Sergei Fedorov left.

I dislike Hossa a fair bit myself, but re the bold part...are you serious? Only 2 million? I'd like to know what type of job you have that 2 million per year is meaningless.

Exactly. The Wings don't do things to hurt their team - they're always successful. And the family thing gives me a huge sense of pride to be a Wings fan. I love Mac and it's great that he'll be back (assuming that he hopefully does accept the offer). Besides, he'll probably rarely play with the Wings next year. It isn't like he'll be our 12th forward. Glad to have him back for the GR kids too.

They're still negotiating, Sammy may well not leave. An article from today: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?...e=lebrun_pierre

Meh, Kopecky was ok, I never hated him like it seems a lot of people did. Still, I have no issues with seeing him go. Maybe we can get someone a little more physical for the fourth line a la Dallas Drake. For the people saying we don't have an option because of cap space...we still have to sign someone for that roster spot, and I can't imagine Kopecky was asking for a whole pile of money. If he is asking for a lot (i.e. over 900 000ish), then he's clearly crazy. And what's league minimum, 450 000? I doubt you're getting someone too good at that price either. Maybe this would open up a spot for Downey to play a few games. If they manage to resign him. And as a somewhat unrelated note, I love the idea in this article that Holland may trade the rights to Hossa.

...not really. The guys that dropped down could have been on their list. But moving down from 29 to 32 is only 3 spots. They said there's 5 guys. Therefore moving down only 3 spots they're still guaranteed to get one of the guys that they wanted.

The Wings didn't have issues with the other guys, nor are they thinking some one specific guy will be left. They have several players that they like which they seem indifferent between. http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2009/06/re...ne_in_firs.html

To add to that, Dreger says that Lecavalier is golfing all day, with his phone off. Since I believe he has an NTC, it's impossible to trade him today, regardless of the offer, since he can't be contacted. Edit: My bad, NTC not in effect yet.

Of all of the arguments I thought I'd hear, the loss of toughness certainly wasn't one of them. You're right though, it was nice seeing Sammy get pissed off. He's a pretty big guy, I actually would have loved to see him fight at least once or twice. Oh well. But everyone is talking like Sammy leaving is a done deal. What are the chances that this actually means he's leaving anyways? I mean, as has been mentioned, it's tough to sell your house, particularly one which (I would presume) is in the upper price range. He could just be putting it on the market as a precaution, he doesn't have to actually go through with selling it.