Drake_Marcus

Kind of the US to spot the French two goals (no need to embarrass them too badly). I didn't catch the game and I don't see highlights on TSN.ca. What were the goals like?

I'd much rather have Ericsson paired with Kronwall and White play the 3rd pairing and on the PP. He's better with more limited mins.

Konopka's face-off percentage is top 6 in the entire league during the regular season and top 2 in the playoffs. He'd instantly be our best face-off option.

Remember the good old days when Franzen was consistently a hard worker? *sigh* Damn it Johan.

Wait a sec... your argument is that while Hudler was tied for the most goals scored on the team in the playoffs, he didn't "show up" as a goal scorer because they were net-front goals (see: playoff goals). So there's three options: 1) In your mind two dirty goals is worth less than two 'sniped' goals 2) You hate Hudler on a fundamental level and have spit on him at every opertunity for his entire career here because he's small and not physical. 3) He banged your Mom and you hate him because of that (which is totally fair, I can finally understand your hate for him if this is true).

Great logic! We should trade everyone in that case since relative performance doesn't matter now and the entire team failed to advance.

Injury is one reason why UFAs sometimes skip this tournament (Hudler, for example). Agents aren't big fans of UFA players going to this tournament unless they have something to prove.

I should be clearer here: this summer isn't "OMG SUTER AND PARISE OR BUST!". It's: "significant roster improvement or bust". Suter and Parise aren't the only players in the league. There are plenty of great forwards and defensemen who can be traded for.

Imaginary Russian-persecution on a Red Wings board is pretty comical. No other team in the league has had more reasons to love Russia than Detroit has over the last 20 years.

He was tied for 1st on the team in playoff goals scored and in playoff powerplay goals... you're a year late bro.

The difference now is that we have stars entering their twilight years and just failed hard in the playoffs. Why should Holland care what people say about the Wings needing to be younger/bigger/tougher in the summers of 06, 07, 08, 09 or even 2010? This summer is obviously very different because the successful playoff runs just didn't happen but everyone is another year older. Holland is aware of these things and must know that a strikeout now is not acceptable unless he's prepared to go straight to rebuild mode. Penner's got a ton of big question marks beside his name with regards to commitment, fitness and compete level.

:rotflmao: Either you live in a world where the last 3 NHL drafts didn't happen or you're on meth. The last two drafts have been very, very good by the Wings. Honestly, you're either or troll or psychologically incapable of grasping reality. Go back and look at the last WJC scoring numbers and check out who was named the tournament's top goaltender. Cross reference that with last year's draft choices by the Wings. While you're at it why not google Hobey Baker and take a look for the names Nyquist and Smith in the list of the top 3 vote getters in the relevant years. Oh, and check out the QMJHL playoff scoring numbers. Hockey's Future has 6 Wings prospects rated 7.5 or higher and 12 listed at 7.0 or higher. 9 of those players are from the last 3 drafts. The worst HF can say is that our prospects with elite skill all have various question marks beside them... well that's exactly what happens when you draft in the bottom third of every round for 20 years. Yet somehow the Wings scouting team has made it work. So either the future is grim and current management is a group of guys who got lucky a bunch of times but are about to roll a bunch of snake eyes or things just might work out. I'm glad that you claim to share your opinion with 'a lot' of league scouts but I think I'll call bulls***. Regardless, if you read all the positive news about Wings prospects and still think the future is grim there are 29 other teams you can cheer for. Judging by the latest NHLPA poll it's clear that Datsyuk is extremely highly though of among players. If it weren't for that we'd probably be in more trouble. It's also a bit worrying that the Devils are still going strong in the post-season but we have to assume that whatever caused Parise to sign his 1 year 'get me out of here' deal is still a factor (disagreement with management?).

You're really struggling with the concept of term. Players are willing to take smaller cap hit contracts that are front-loaded and long term. I'm surprised this is news to you...

The Lidstrom-White experiment didn't turn out so well. I think they'll try someone else with Lids (assuming there's a new acquisition).

Piche was a throwaway just to free the spot up on the team's 50 contract limit. Piche is a career AHL d-man at best.

Let me try my hand at it... FORWARDS Zach Parise ($7.250m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Jiri Hudler ($3.000m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Darren Helm ($1.750m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Danny Cleary ($2.800m) / Zenon Konopka ($0.700m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) Drew Miller ($0.838m) / DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.250m) / Ryan Suter ($7.500m) Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) Ian White ($2.875m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) Joey MacDonald ($0.550m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $68,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $67,408,712; BONUSES: $37,500 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $891,288 Nyquist and Franzen can switch places depending on whether Franzen is playing with an ounce of effort (so I'm assuming they'll play 50/50 on each line). Initial Assumptions: The cap goes up by 4 million (less than Jimmy D thinks it will go up by but still quite a bit) The NHL and NHLPA sign a new CBA that's essentially an extension of the current one with few changes in terms of the salary cap ceiling (a possible amnesty rule would make things very interesting). Assuming there will be a significant change in the cap mechanics makes all of these fantasy threads pointless. Signings: 1) Lidstrom comes back at 4.25million. It's a discount to be sure but he just had a brutal offensive year compared to his past numbers. I think that's a fair number for him to take in light of the next two signings (he'd obviously be taking the number specifically so the Wings can make this splash. 2) Sutter for 5 years at $7.5 million cap hit. This is pretty pricey given the term and how little we know about just how his pairing with Weber influences his numbers. I imagine he might want more term but he'd have to give a better discount. 3) Parise for 5 years at $7.25 million cap hit. Not cheap. I can imagine the hit coming under 7 mil if they offer him 7 to 8 years term. 4) Hudler for 3 years at $3 million cap hit. Again, a discount, but Hudler recently learned that the grass isn't greener on the other side (see: KHL exodus and painful NHL return). The numbers he puts up make this deal good for the Wings because they know he can produce in less than 16mins a game. Hudler might cost a bit more. If he does there's always other options out there. 5) Helm for 5 years at $1.75 million cap hit. He doesn't get a ton of money but it's a fair value and comes with very attractive term. 6) Let Abdelkader walk and sign Konopka to a contract that's near identical to his current one. Konopka has one of the best face-off percentages in the entire league (6th best among centres who played at least 50 games). He's big, tough and a great lockerroom guy by all reports. Why make this signing? Well Abdelkader doesn't provide much in the way of offense or even defense. He can skate/hit, yes, but he's certainly expendable. I can imagine the Wings dropping Miller or Eaves to keep Abs in this situation if only for his value on the forecheck. Still, Konopka's FO% is so damn good (and consistently good over the years) that he would be of great use. It doesn't hurt that he can throw some fists, either. His elite face-off numbers continued into the playoffs this year: 3rd in the league at 70.7% while playing 11mins a game and maintaining a +2 (2nd best among his team's forwards).

It's pretty comical that you think Holland would treat this year's embarrassingly early exit the same way he treated last year's 7-game exit in the 2nd round (where Datsyuk was the playoffs' leading scorer in terms of points per game by a large margin and most of the team performed admirably in terms of offense with the exception of a few injured guys). Last year Lidstrom was a Norris winner who looked like he could keep it going another year and the FA defense market was pathetic. This year it was very apparent that the time to find a Lidstrom successor is here and a guy who can shut down premier forwards and provide Norris-caliber hockey is entering the market as a UFA. In short: anyone who thinks Holland won't go as hard as he can after Sutter and Parise is stupid. I assume by 'more than once' you mean exactly once. Pro tip: if 20 reporters write the same quote down it doesn't count as having been said 20 times by the original speaker.

Man, it must suck to be so incredibly wrong. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2012/05/wed_like_to_get_a_bit_bigger_a.html

With the success of the amensty clause added to the NBA CBA I'm also assuming there will be a push for an amnesty clause. I doubt the NHL equivalent will be as far reaching as the NBA version. NBA teams have no expiration for their amnesty clause-- any player signed before the current CBA came into effect can be amnestied at any time in the future. See: Blackhawks, Chicago. I expect the new CBA will permanently close that loophole and the one allowing teams to loan undesirable contracts out to European teams with no penalty.

Flyers games are a blast to watch this year. They score like crazy and get scored on almost as often. I'm glad the Flyers are still in it just for the entertainment value.

I'd read that but Greg Wyshynski is the most unprofessional blogger I've ever come across. I used to check his blog out before I followed him on twitter. After reading his childish arguments and moronic tweets I just can't stand him.

A) I wrote "obvious troll is obvious" under a direct quote by Heaten. Are you Heaten as well? B) Hudler's not beloved by me. I just don't have a hate-boner for him like half the of the guys around here.. C) I've been posting about prospects early and often around here. I follow players in detail from the moment the Wings draft them (up to and including watching streams of relevant JR, college and AHL games when my workload at school is light enough). Don't even bother picking a prospect fight with me unless it's about someone who isn't property of the Wings.

Nyquist went to the US to play College hockey as soon as he was eligible instead of staying in Sweden. Many WC teams tend to remember those perceived slights to the country's national hockey program. Obviously for NHL stars all is forgiven, but they guys who are on the fringe this kind of thing makes a difference. A guy like Jarnkrok who stayed in Sweden well after the draft are seen in a more positive light comparatively speaking. It's a national hockey program loyalty thing. Which of the three guys isn't suited to the NA style? Tatar and Nyquist have thrived in North America for years and Jarnkrok is a well-rounded player who hasn't had a shot to play NA hockey yet.

I guess backchecking is a team rule? God knows Radulov's violated that rule hundreds of times. His utter disinterest in working hard to help his team is pathetic. He's the king of floaters.

It's funny how some of these young players feel entitled to ice time. If they were as talented as they believed they are they'd earn 1st line mins. He should look at Radulov's play so far this postseason. Playing in Russia apparently hasn't served Radulov well. That article says he's considered the top prospect in the world by the Hockey News. That sheet is crayzay.