Kp-Wings

As per TSN

Hopefully, it not at all. The best situation would be that Cleary would want to win enough and stay on the team that gave him a chance and revitilized his career that he wouldn't ask for a boatload of money, allowing the Wings to have cap room to sign Zetterberg and address any other needs during free agency. Of course, he may want more money, too much in fact...

Excellent choice Lou. You can still catch him on TV, as he's a studio analyst for the Blues on FSN Midwest. Now why can't the Wings do that with their former tough guys? (although, thinking about, Joey Kocur was an assistant coach here just prior to the lockout...)

You guys need to get real on these Hossa rumors. He isn't going to re-sign here if we got him, unless they threw an Ovechkin-esque money contract at him. Why do you think Ottawa traded him in the first place? The Senators wanted to give him a long term contract to stay on a Cup contender, but he instead told them he would rather test the free agent market and get as much money as he possibly could. And with the recent contracts that were handed out this year (Daniel Briere, I'm looking at you) Hossa is going to have a field day in the bidding wars. Teams will pay high over the actual value of a player for some reason. I question Hossa's determination to win after hearing about that. The money Ottawa was offering him was not exactly low-balling it. He could have gotten a lot of money, and stayed on a team he had a great chance to win a Cup with, and instead declined. Ottawa didn't want to lose him for nothing, so instead signed him to a peliminary deal, and afterwards traded him to Atlanta for Heatley. Besides that, the Wings don't have the talent to give up for him. The talent pool in GR is extremely thin. Our top 3 goal scorers down there are Carl Corazzini, Mark Hartigan, and Mark Cullen. Are you noticing the trend here? All three of them are over 30 journymen who can't crack an NHL roster. Nobody is going to want those guys, since they'll probably be free agents next year anyways. ...and even if the Wings did somehow manage to strum up the talent needed for Hossa, why would you want to give up all that for a playoff rental? As I said before: Hossa isn't going to re-sign here, unless they give him the Grand Cayman Bank in the process. He's made his plans to test the free agent market quite publicly known, and unless he suddenly changes his mind, he's probably going to stick to them.

*throws tomatoes at Ken Holland* I can't believe of all the prospects we have in the organization he traded the one guy that could actually be a power-forward. There are so many other guys he could have traded, who aren't doing crap right now (kinda like what Matthias was doing last year) and could have gotten away with it. Now, it's looking like it was of the worst trades possible. At the time, it looked like nothing, because we needed a player like Bertuzzi. I was in favor of it even. But Bertuzzi was useless here, and then he stiffs us to be with his bed partner Burke in Anaheim, and we lose out on a great prospect in the process. Hopefully this Matthias kid spends his career in Florida or any other team we never play, because I can already see he'll be out to prove the Wings wrong for trading him.

It was nice to see Zetterberg finally score in a shootout. I was dreading it once again, because Babcock has never, at any point, changed his shootout order this year. Datsyuk and Zetterberg, for as great of players as they, aren't all that great in shootouts. ...on a sidenote, I was teased that there would once again be a fight! Apparently, Downey and Alex Burrows were talking, but nothing ever happened again. I guess in a close game situation like that Downey isn't allowed to drop the gloves, or something like that.

Hartnell has never been a big fighter. To me, he's almost like Jordin Tootoo, except he's bigger, can score more goals, and is willing to fight a little bit more. Tootoo, though, is a better fighter. It surprises me that Trotz doesn't allow him to do that, since Tootoo can actually hold his own with some pretty good fighters when he has to. I wonder how Downey would fare against Tootoo, since Ken Daniels always teases me into thinking they'll go at some point when we play Nashville.

Yeah, but their a much improved team this year compared to 2005. Their defense shouldn't be bad when you look at it on paper. Jovanovski, Ballard, Morris, Michalek, Boynton, etc. These guys aren't no name players, and have done well on other teams before. For whatever reason, it's not working for them in Phoenix.

Notice this is the 2nd "goal of the year" to be scored in Glendale/Jobing.com Arena? Something about that building brings out the best in opposing players. *the 1st one I'm referring to, if you don't know, is the Ovechkin goal back in 2005*

Hey, I understand completely. It makes me feel nostalgic for the good old days when they used to be our rivals.

There it is! I was wondering when you'd come in.

Are they going with Logan Koopmans this time around, or calling Cody Rudkowsky back in?

Let's not kid ourselves guys: The Wings marketing still sucks.

Missing last week really hurt my chances. I need a good showing this time around... Friday : Edmonton at Carolina Florida at New Jersey Atlanta at Buffalo Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh Anaheim at Minnesota Los Angeles at Calgary Chicago at Colorado Saturday : NY Rangers at Boston Columbus at Dallas Nashville at St. Louis Pittsburgh at Montreal Philadelphia at NY Islanders Tampa Bay at Ottawa Buffalo at Toronto Florida at Washington Chicago at Phoenix Los Angeles at Vancouver Detroit at San Jose Sunday : Boston at NY Rangers Edmonton at Atlanta Anaheim at Dallas Toronto at New Jersey Ottawa at Philadelphia Columbus at Colorado

In a sense, their also losing Milan Hejduk as well, since he's nothing without those guys.

Why do you all want Dumont anyways? By all indications, he has a bad opinion of either the city of Detroit, or the Red Wings team themselves. He chose Nashville over Detroit, when Detroit offered him more money and a longer-term contract. Sounds kinda strange to me.

Bringing McCarty back would certainly put fans in the seats anyways. I don't think he'd really hurt the team as much as people think. He could be an improvement over Drake, which isn't a bad thing. As long as bringing him in doesn't mean pushing Downey out, and he shows he can still, I'll be in favor of the move. Plus, if he still has it, we might see more fights.

Krog has been around forever, it seems like. I still remember the goal he scored against the Wings, and it still makes me sick... The guy has major talent at the AHL level, but is not an NHL player. There are always guys like him no matter where you go: talented players who light it up in juniors and the minor leagues, yet can never crack an NHL roster. It's just the way things work. I guess he and Babcock go back a little, but don't expect him to be picked up by the Wings anytime soon...

Downey is in! Best news I've heard all day. Go Wings!!!!!

Connolly maybe, because he's still young, but Blake is old and having a sub par season this year. That's why I think the Wings could get him for very little.

This sounds kinda fun. Ok, I'll bite: A: Hudler and Lebda to Pittsburgh for Ryan Malone Reason - Malone adds size, scoring, and grit to the lineup. He'd be great alongside Filppula on the 2nd line. Malone is always in the center for trade talks, so I think we could land him without giving up much. B: Samuelsson, and a 3rd round draft pick to Buffalo for Tim Connolly Reason - Although Connolly has an injury history, I've watched him play over the years and he'd fit in great with the Wings system. He's a good set up assist man, and would be great on a 2nd line with Malone and Filppula, as they'd both score a lot of goals with him on their line. C: Kopecky, and a 4th/5th round draft pick to LA Kings for Rob Blake Reason - Blake is having a terrible season, and I firmly believe we could get him dirt cheap. I think he could turn it around here in Detroit, and he'd give us a great asset on the 2nd PP unit. His physicality and hard shot are elements that would help the Wings during the playoff run. D: Meech, Ellis, and a 7th round draft pick to Boston for Aaron Ward Reason - The Wings need a tough, physical, stay at home shotblocking defenseman, and Ward brings those qualities to the table. Meech is replaceable, with guys like Kindl and Quincey coming into the system, as is Ellis, with guys like Helm and Ritola in the system. The Wings are also being rumored to sign the big name swedish prospects like Brunnstrom, Videll, and Klasen (Brunnstrom in particular is who they should go after, and I have a feeling at least one will sign here either way), so that also makes those guys expendable. E: Waive Lilja Reason - Sorry, but I'm going tired of Lilja's crap. His inconsistant physical play, along with his constant turnovers that end of costing the Wings in some way or another, has gone on long enough. I don't want to see what kind of mulligan he'll pull out of his hat this year to screw us up in yet another playoff series. Now, with the moves made, here are the lines: Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Malone - Filppula - Connolly Cleary - Draper - Maltby Drake - Franzen - Downey Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Blake Ward - Chelios Hasek Osgood Now, I know this seems like a lot, and I know Holland would never make this many trades in a million years at a trade deadline, but a lot of these guys address the needs that the Wings currently have right now. This is all just my opinion, so don't chew my head off for making certain trades. It's all in good fun.

Cool stuff. I didn't know Ken Daniels worked alongside Cherry back in those days. That video reminds me of a time when Grapes actually knew what he was talking about. Hehe, I noticed that as well. I think he was playing for the Wings at the time of that video.

This Brunnstrom guy sounds like the real deal... don't know anything about the other two though. Don't even bring that up. That move absolutely kills me. They could have drafted a big, tough, stay at home defenseman with the potential to put up points and be an all around force, but instead draft yet another completely offensive minded defenseman. They already have Kindl for that role, so what exactly was the point of drafting Smith? Ok, I'm done...

I went to one as well, and it took a huge bite out of my savings. The worst thing about it all is they lost (it was game 2 against Anaheim), so it felt like a real waste.

Well, maybe if he was an old washed up loser that they could get for nothing, then maybe they'd bring him in. But, since he's not, I think we can assume the big trade deadline deal this year will be Fedorov. He fit's every catagory Holland looks for: he's old, soft, european, a former Red Wing, and they can probably get him for dirt cheap. That's basically become the standard around here anymore.