Drake_Marcus

If Hudler signs for 3 million they can fit him under the cap by signing a $575k (max) grinder for the 12 forward spot, keeping Meech as a spare part for injury purposes and trading Lilja. It'd only leave ~275k in cap room for LTIR call-ups, so the Wings might decide to drop someone else and replace them with someone cheaper. For the grinder forward I'd give Oulahan a shot in the preseason since he'd come dirt cheap and is a pk specialist.

Alexander Semin-- Come on down! You've won a brand new CARRRRRR!!!!

So no cars with names that sound like chewing tobacco? Bummer

In my opinion there's no way B happens. Letting Hudler leave to the KHL was different when it allowed the Wings to keep his rights, but letting such a valuable asset go for free (B) would be a foolish move at this point. The choice between A and C is down to how much the arbitration decision goes for. Now that the KHL doesn't plan to allow an illegal defection I'd say Hudler's attitude has probably changed a bit. If Holland makes it clear to him that they can't afford to lose his rights for nothing and they'll have to trade him to whatever club offers the best return if the arbiter awards him a deal too large... well I think Hudler will be more interested in settling for that 5 year deal. If we can get him signed for 5 years at 3 million per that's a steal. He's trending up and already passed the 55 point plateau. Hudler will break 60, likely 65 next season. who knows where he'll be offensively in 5 years.

If I had to guess I'd say it'll be the standard SEL rink. There might even be a European car sitting in the corner on either end too Why does that same car show up at all the international games, can't another car company get that spot?

Thanks for the vote of confidence Yeah, I'd say we're either keeping him or getting a great return for him. His arbitration value won't be above market value (based on what his agent's asking), he's 25 and has trended upwards every single year of his career and he's already hit 23g 57pts. While he's not elite defensively he's not a liability (people saying he's terrible defensive are just spewing hyperbole or at best confused into thinking Zetterberg and Datsyuk are the norm defensively). He's small, but so are a bunch of players in the NHL. This news from the KHL is great for Wings fans. We're not going to lose an asset without some return.

Because offer sheets are almost never used. 90% of the clubs in the NHL don't use them because the system right now is a gentleman's agreement not to dip your finger in another's pudding. Edmonton, for example, has opened themselves up to the world now. If they manage to draft a player worth stealing on an offer sheet you can bet people will take a run at them because they did it to everyone else. This isn't the NBA where offer sheets are considered normal business practice. In the NHL you're kicking the side of a hornet's nest by signing a player to an offer sheet.

Yup. That's how it goes. It should be noted that teams practically never walk away from the contract offer, they just sign the contract and trade the player. There's pretty much no reason to walk away from it when you could trade the player for some sort of asset.

Not true. Oh, I mean NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, people seem to be mixing arbitration contracts up with offer sheet signings. This.

In what universe is that true? There is no rule saying that. Teams are 100% allowed to trade a player they sign to an arbitrated agreement. They can trade the player at any time after signing. Also, how is the 5 year 15M contract "still to much for our cap space situation" if Holland offered it? He could obviously make it work or he wouldn't have done it. It can't be too much for the situation if he's deemed it an appropriate response for the club to take... he's not going to offer something he doesn't feel is beneficial to the team.

Huh? First of all, the Wings gave out intelligent 12 year deals and orignated the current style of doing so, so don't bring those long signing pretenders in Chicago into the discussion. (and the 150 year Islanders contract doesn't count because it wasn't done in this structure, under the cap or with any thought put into it other than "let's mess some s*** up") Look at Zetterberg and Franzen's playoff stats this year and last year. Both signed for significantly below market value. How'd they do it? Our GM is the best in the league and just invented a new method of signing players in the cap world. How? Holland pisses excellence. Your 'one trade' scenario is ridiculous because it's literally the solution to every single possible cap issue of this nature. That's like saying "You're saying I'll starve if I move into the middle of the Sahara? One food drop from a UN airplane and I'll easily eat for six weeks".

lollerskates

Oh I agree about Zubov- he was unlucky enough to have a career that directly coincided with Lidstrom's years in the NHL. Otherwise he'd have at least 1 Norris by now. When I said Markov was a turn-over machine, I literally meant a turn-over machine. He lead the league in turn-overs this season. Pronger is definitely flawed, but he's definitely better defensively than any of the Russian D-men. Yeah he's not elite as a passer or puck handler, but his slapshot is deadly on the PP. He's similar to Chara in that sense (actually in nearly every respect).

They could... but Thornton or Marleau would have to go the other way at least from a salary cap standpoint. I do know this- the Wings are in great shape to steal Grier given the cap situation in SJ.

You're 3 weeks late on preaching that one

Like his entire team bar Avery?

What? Why would you sign two league min forwards and a 3 million dollar player to fill two spots? Current roster + 3 million dollar player + $575,000 UFA forward - Lilja = $278,132 cap space. Meech is still there to play 13 forward/7th d-man. I've got the spread sheet right in front of me... it all works out. Sign a league minimum forward and there's even more cap space available to make space for LTIR replacements. Ideally you'd want enough space there to allow another cheap player to move up from GR in the event of two players being injured but not injured enough to warrant LTIR. In that case you'd need to squeeze another 200k out of somewhere. One option is to reduce the incoming salary of the new top six player by 200k. Not too big of a deal since Holland is adept at getting players to take slightly less in exchange for term and 200k on a 3 mil contract is light work for him in that sense. Still, a 3 million dollar player IS possible, as shown above. Like I said, capgeek doesn't mean s***. Just crunch the numbers yourself and it's more fun anyway.

First of all, your neck gets a paycheck? Nice. I wish my neck had earning power Second, yeah, you're right. I'm sure the champagne doesn't taste any less sweet to them

Russia's team >> USA's team There's too many rediculous offensive threats on the Russian squad to assume they'll all be shut down effectively. Ovi, Malkin, Kovalchuck, Datsyuk, Semin... they have a top 5 that were all dominant last season. Yeah, we've got a great team in Canada, but I doubt we should fear Russia less because they're less physical. The US team is full of young pups with no experience and old wolves with no legs left.

He is, but he still plays for Russia in international tournaments. I saw him play in the World Championships in Quebec last year with my own eyes.

Yeah, you're talking about the World Juniors Ovi. (I'm assuming you're not talking about the one where he set a new scoring record for the tournament) 2009 Ovi enjoys physical play. Watch some tape dude, he loves hitting and getting hit only riles him up. This isn't Crosby we're talking about- Ovi likes playing physical.

Oh they'd have to give someone like Kadri and at least one future 1st. They could also add Pogge? Who knows The Leafs are just the team that came to mind-- not that I'd touch Thornton if I were Burke.

If they're smart they'll deal Thornton to the Leafs for a package of prospects and picks. Not sure if Burke will bite given Thornton's utter inability to lead or play like a man in the postseason.

Markov is a joke defensively. He's a turn-over machine. Gonchar's gotten better defensively, but he's still not Norris worthy. I've got a ton of repsect for Zubov though. I just don't see how any of those three can be compared to Pronger or Neidermayer.

As long as Ericsson beats Perry like a rented mule again I'll be happy with the game.