Kp-Wings

Boy oh boy oh boy. That Ken Holland is sure dropping the ball this year. First we lose Darryl Bootland, now Matt Hussey? Come on Kenny! Start manding those phones!!!!!!1

It's clearly fake. The Flyers can't win a Stanley Cup. Although, I'd be even more suspicious if that was a picture of a Maple Leafs player holding the Cup. Now that, would clearly be fake.

Phoenix or Columbus. Most likely Phoenix though.

Ok. Thanks for telling me.

Funnily enough, Chicago had the best offer. The only reason they didn't get him was of the 5 million which, surprise surprise, came at Wirtz' cheapness.

The Wings have 6 defenseman who are guerenteed a spot. Contrary to what many believe, Quincey will probably not be starting the season with the Wings, since he is still eligible for GR without clearing waivers. And that, makes all the difference.

Try telling that to the blowhards who believe Fedorov is the only reason Detroit was ever a good team. You know who you are.

Come on now. Calder and Bertuzzi played only half a season here. Not even that. They were both non-existant in the playoffs for us, and had nothing to do with making it to the Western Conference Final. Datsyuk and Hasek were both two of the main reasons for that, and their still both here. Lang scored a clutch goal against San Jose to extend things, but other than that, he was arguably one of the worst and underachieving players on the Wings. His laziness will not be missed. In short, I think you're wrong about the Wings taking any step backwards. What happens in the central this year will be because the other teams took steps forwards. I fully expect St. Louis to be the only other team in the division to be any good at all. Kariya is a major upgrade over Guerin. The Blues have plenty of other young prospects still also. None of the other teams in the division will be much of a factor, in my opinion. Chicago is under the curse of Bill Wirtz. Columbus did not make a single big signing at all during free agency, and have no real star players (No, Rick Nash is not a star player). Nashville sold off half of their team for nothing. I do expect St. Louis to give a good run at it. It should respark the Wings - Blues rivalry, and hopefully, kill the forced rivalry with Nashville.

How this the TD Banknorth Garden a bad arena?

If we signed Markov to a 4 million dollar contract, we would have no room for any moves at the deadline. We'd have to move quite a few main players off the roster to do anything.

You did? The old one was awful, and was never updated. This one does look nice at least. By the way, this is old news.

Would you have prefered that Holland sell the farm like many other teams did? Also note that, like Younguns said, these teams who sold the farms for these guys all flopped out in either the first or second round. The teams that took a lower risk actually made it further. I want big name players to come here, but not at the expense of virtually the entire teams future. Look what Atlanta did. They shaved away about 5-6 draft picks, 2 young players, and 2 veteran players for Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhitnik. And look where it got them. A 4 game sweep from the Rags. It doesn't always pay to throw away everything for a big name at the current time, like in Atlanta's case. In that sequence of trades, they threw away a potential all-star defenseman in Braydon Coburn, and that also includes the other picks and prospects. That's giving up a lot for such little results, considering they were swept.

How in the hell does Buffalo completely dominate the list like that? Jason Pominville and Daniel Briere? Are you kidding me? Those guys aren't even that popular. Like I said, this past season, Buffalo and Pittsburgh are the two offical bandwagon teams of the NHL. That's why I'm not surprised that they will be playing each other in the outdoor game this season.

Exactly. There are plenty of guys on the free agent market still that can fight and still play the game, and yet, Holland doesn't want to sign them. I don't see why he is so afraid of having a fighter on the team. There are plenty of good ones still left out there. I guess the whole Norton fiasco scared him away from ever having someone who fights on this team again. Like Lou said, it won't matter on the Wings. They have no forwards who will go out there and actually stand up for anyone. Unless Holland totally pulls a rabbit out of his hat, like signing Arron Asham or Adam Hall, Kopecky will be fairly useless on this team, like I predict.

Good articles Dave. I read you're letter to Craig Leipold a little while ago. I'm curious to know if you actually sent it, and if he ever responded.

Well, you sold me. Lazer beams.

A 1st round pick is not a deal breaker. Other than this year, and 2005, the Wings have used their first round pick in quite a while. It's hard to make any decent trades when you're dealing with people like the St. Louis Blues management (Pleau and Davidson). They found GM's that were stupid enough to shell out at least 4 draft picks and 2 good players for over-the-hill guys like Tkachuk and Guerin. There aren't a lot of sensible GM's out there. They all want 2 AHL franchises for these crap bag players (Tkachuk), and unfourtantly, there are GM's stupid and desperate enough to do that.

In a perfect world, Lebda and Kronwall could land Darcy Tucker. In a perfect world.

Umm, what? Jimmy isn't admitting a mistake. This offseason is/was a double-edged sword. All the decent top 6 forwards wanted the New York State Bank as a base salary, and then some (if anyone is too dense to catch the analogy I'm making, it means their overpaid). Anybody who would actually come for a cheap contract either sucks or has injury problems. It was screwed up either way. No mistake made. While I definitly wanted Ryan Smyth on the Wings, it just wasn't practical to sign him. Damn salary cap.

Kronwall is no replacement for Markov. If he is expected to fill his ice time, than we're in trouble. I'd be very surprised to see him actually stay healthy for a full season.

Lindros hasn't had a conussion in nearly 3 or 4 years. His latest injuries have been his wrist (Toronto), and his groin (Dallas).

If he takes what he made last year, I'm very happy with this. If he takes more money (like the 4 million he's asking for), I will not be happy.

Right you are, Lou. My honest opinion of Kopecky? The guy plays like a girl. He's 6'3, yet doesn't hit or fight at all. Considering he didn't put up any points when he played (ok, 1 point in 26 games), I see no reason for him to be in the lineup. Mark Hartigan will make a better 13th forward than Kopecky.

Lapointe doesn't disgress me as tough anymore. He didn't fair well in any of his fights last year. I think maybe he did win one, if I can remember properly. I know what you mean with David Koci, who is absolutly insane. Will he make the roster though? I highly doubt it. Unless Denis Savard wants a full time enforcer in the lineup. I didn't include Seabrook because I've never seen him fight. Koci I didn't include because I don't think he'll make the team. We'll wait and see I guess.

There is a rumor on MLive of the Wings reportadly going after Brent Sopel on defense. Just a rumor though, so don't count on it yet though. Although I've given on the flaws of Jeff O'Neill in the past, as I look at it, he could be a decent signing for the Wings, for the right price that is. He still scored 20 goals and a crappy Leafs team, and is a former 40 goal scorer. I mean, what's the harm in it if he lowers his price and signs a cheap contract? Note that it still is a big "if", but still. I think he would work out here, with the exception of his fear of flying. Something would have to be done about that, but I really don't know what at this point. Also: here's the link on MLive if anyone hasn't seen it yet. http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2007/07/ts...st_suggest.html