Drake_Marcus

That's about the funniest thing I've ever read. Lidstrom's current offense? Replaceable. Having the hands-down best defensive player in the league logging 30 mins a night? Not replaceable. Lids is still the best shut-down guy out there and has a frigging +18 on the 2nd lowest scoring team in the West and the current 8th seed. Christ. His offense has seriously dipped but his defense hasn't. If you honestly think that defense is replaceable I just don't know what to say other than ask around and watch other teams play hockey. I don't mean to be rude but damn man. Come on. You're acting like Lidstrom's current play is mediocre and ignoring the fact that he's still the defensive anchor of this entire team. Take the greatest pure-defensive talent in the history of the game off a team and act like you can shove another cheap part in his place... wow. Oh, and today's team isn't exactly barking up the Stanley Cup tree. Before you think about shifting around the defense/offense spread look at Wings teams that won cups recently, not the team that's in 8th place.

Eh? I think you'd have to add a prospect who has actual high-end potential in there. Bfyuglien is essentially role-player and Sharp, while good, is just a top six guy not a potentially elite guy. Plus that wouldn't account for the cap room. That being said, I'd love for them to make a stupid deal like that-- there's simply no possible way they could keep him longer than the playoffs so they'd be pissing more depth away (which makes me happy). At least they'd be able to trade that depth in the summer if they had to and they'd get something back other than some fond memories of a cup run they went on and may or may not have succeeded in.

Yeah, I'm mystified too. I mean if they were going to trade him don't make it known both sides want out of the relationship-- that just diminishes the return because everyone knows he has to go. Lombardi should've shut his mouth and moved the kid. I guess the idea is to get him pissed off and make him want to prove him wrong?!? Given Lombardi's track record as a GM (look what the LA managment has done with a constant stream of top 5 draft picks) I'd bet against this management techniques.

A scarecrow constructed of broken composite sticks, shinpad tape and an old Whalers jersey would score more points in 45 NHL games than Lebda.

Jack Johnson responded to the article: Source. That sound like someone who wants to stick around after what was said? Then look at the last sentence-- the spokesman for the team had a chance to do damage control and instead flipped Jack off.

Not really because the Wings need to maintain defensive depth. While I'd love to get rid of Lebda they can't afford to dump a guy of his experience level without bringing a similarly experienced d-man back in. Plus moving a guy like Lebda or Meech now doesn't make a whole lot of sense due to their tiny contracts. That being said, because Miller and Eaves have shown themselves to be so useful I can't see either being waived. It'll have to be some kind of deal with Lebda/Meech or even Leino. The only problem with moving Leino is his trade value is as low as it will ever be. He's worth more to the team as an asset if he stays and gets out of his funk. Abdelkader is the obvious choice to go down. He's the least useful forward aside from Leino/May and it's obvious he needs another year of AHL time to get his offensive grove back. I hope his being used in a grinder role here in the NHL hasn't hurt his long term scoring potential. It's bizarre but Helm has better offensive instincts than Abdelkader right now-- and that speaks to just how serious Abs' confidence must be off. Edit: I realize someone other than Abs and May will have to go eventually, I'm just not sure who should go.

It's more like a "what have you ever done for me at the NHL level".

Yes. Kindl has more value than JJ right now. He's pretty much as highly regarded now as JJ was as a prospect but he hasn't failed to show it at an NHL level. There's no way the Wings would trade Kindl for JJ straight up.

Yeah, but the problem is that money would have to come from money previously allocated to defense. The Wings need scoring, yeah, but not at the expense of defense. Traditionally the Wings have spent around half their budget on defense (in the cap era). Without Lidstrom their defense will cost around 15 million--- wayyyyy too low.

You do realize that JJ's only selling point for another GM is believing in his hype, right? He has no body of work to speak of, only unfulfilled potential and terrible NHL statistics. Right now he's at his low point in terms of trade value over the course of his young career.

Marleau is only leaving the Sharks for a hefty contract-- well above what he's worth. He's also having the best season of his career. He'll never be worth more than he will be this summer. That's the worst time to sign a player. Marleau's stock will only go down over the course of his upcoming contract. And there's nothing the Wings can offer him that the Sharks can't-- they're just as favoured for cups and have an equally strong, dependable record.

And Fedorov was tied with Jagr(?) for the top playoff point per game rating for the entire 90's. Who wants a clutch playoff performer who helped the Wings win 3 cups?

I wouldn't say he's lost that potential. I just think that the longer he fails to show glimpses of it in the NHL the less likely it is to appear later. He's past his free adjustment period (although he's played fewer than 200 games so he's certainly not far outside that free pass period). After about 250 games an NHL defenseman should be really showing his stuff out there. That's just over 3 seasons of NHL play (which is where I got that number from ).

Really? Kindl has the same top end potential as this guy (with more offensive potential and less defensive/physical potential). They're the same age. But Kindl was drafted and developed by the Wings. Why make a lateral move that switches a known for an unknown?

Agreed 100%.

It's hilarious reading stuff like this when many people on this board aren't willing to give Ericsson even one season to get adjusted to the NHL game. Johnson's had more than 150 games to get accustomed to the NHL and he's still struggling. Just imagine how fast he'd become a whipping boy on LGW...

Don't forget that we also have a recent trade history with the Kings and no real rivalry to speak of. I consider the Kings ideal trading partners as far as Western Conference teams go...

I definitely think Ericsson has the long term potential to be as good as Kronwall. He's got the hardest, fastest slapper this team's seen in a long time and he came out of the AHL with excellent defensive and offensive credentials. Give him a few hundred games to get comfortable with the NHL game defensively (which is how long it takes pretty much all d-men to get up to speed defensively) and he'll flourish. He'll also need PP time and a reliable partner-- just like Kronwall did. Right now the Wings are just letting the games played pile up for E and hoping he's able to live up to their expectations. Based on how Big Rig's excelled at every level, I expect his next few seasons will be much better.

The exception that proves the rule?

That dimension of his game hasn't really left. He still doesn't let the other team get in our goalie's face. The physicality in terms of hitting hasn't been as prominent but I'm sure he'll ease into that as he goes along. His style of play is more like Lidstrom's than Kronwall's. His size still features in a Lidstrom type of game because it gives Ericsson ridiculous reach with his stick. I'd love for him to be a big hitter, but it's a bit late in the game to retrain him.

You can't win a shootout against a goalie like Backstrom unless your shooters are scoring like nuts or your goalie is performing at or above Backstrom's level. Considering that the shootout took 8 rounds to end and only 2 of those shooters scored on Howard I'd say he did ok. The real star of that shootout was Filppula. He really delivered in the toughest position possible. Val saved our asses last night.

Really? How's that? Did the guy right after him score? No he didn't. So who's to say that the scoring would've been the same with a different shootout order. Are you ragging on Bertuzzi or Zetterberg for not scoring in the shootout? Or do you just like to blame the failures of the star and superstar players on the rookies making $850,000?

Johnson has been a huge disappointment. He was very, very highly touted coming into the league (after a brilliant WJC) and hasn't lived up to those expectations in the slightest.

Big Rig needs to score again. He needs to get his offensive confidence back. Right now he likely feels like he's not as good as he though he was. That's not what an NHL player should be thinking. Confidence is everything for professional athletes. Look at Leino-- he's a completely different player when he's confident in his abilities (see last season and this year's preseason vs this season). Bertuzzi is the same way too. Once he got a few goals his confidence shot sky high and he's been our most dangerous scorer ever since that two goal game. Of course, the fact that Bertuzzi is our most dangerous scorer tells you exactly why the Wings are among the lowest scoring teams in the league.

Wow. What a chickens*** move. It takes a big man to go after Gaborik.