Drake_Marcus

The team is forced to either sign the player at that price or release them. Edit: The team can also trade the player if they sign them and they can't afford to keep them under the cap (you can be over the cap in the summer).

Tardiff still has one more season in GR left. I believe they can only have 260 professional games under their belt in the AHL (fewer for goalies). Once that happens they either come up to the NHL or they have to pass through waivers.

Ok, I messed up my numbers before by not accounting for the CBA mandated raises for RFAs. Notes: --> Hudler signs a 3 year deal at $2,45,000 per (you'll see why I didn't do 2.5 mil at the end) --> Ryan Oulahen signs a 2 year deal for $574,750 per (the minimum raise for an RFA, note he's out of minors options) --> Lilja is healthy and Lebda gets traded Zetterberg Datsyuk Cleary Franzen Filppula Hudler Leino Helm Holmstrom Maltby Draper Oulahen Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Stuart Ericsson Lilja Meech Osgood Howard Cap space remaining: $78,382 (now you know why I couldn't give Hudler 2.5 mil on the dot) If you switch Lebda in for Lilja the cap space balloons to $678,382. For people who don't know Oulahen here are some facts I've assembled for you: -->24 years old and out of minors options (and thus will go on waivers if he isn't in Detroit at the start of the season). --> He's 6'0 and 190 lbs, shoots left and plays centre. --> PK specialist, in GR is used in a shut-down role against the opposition's top players. --> A fast skater, great speed and acceleration, --> Excellent on face-offs --> Considered a character guy with great leadership skills --> Assistant captain in GR this year, spent 2nd half as the captain in GR. --> Dislocated his hip on March 27th, ending his season and really hurting the PK situation for the team in the playoffs. --> 08-09 Numbers: 19g 12a 31pts +7 in 73 games. --> Not very gritty or useful in terms of checking (although that can be emphasized by Babs)

Yeah, I forgot that Leino has to get a raise according to the CBA, so I'll have to redo the numbers with that raise in mind. I'll post that in a few mins.

23g 57pts playing on the third line.

Well I guess he's prepared to have 5 rookies on the roster (which is fine with me- this is the reality of the cap for the Wings right now, plus they can send some of them down to the AHL and replace them with veteran players they make a trade for). Here's what I think the roster will look like then: -->Leino signs a 2 year deal at $900,000 per year. -->Holland convinces Hudler to take $2,250,000 a year for 3 years (or less, he might only get him to accept a one year deal with the promise that Hudler will get more money once Lidstrom's and Holmstrom's salaries drop). -->Lebda is traded or, if Lilja is on LTIR all season Lebda takes his place on the roster. This scenario only leaves $138,132 in cap space. If he's happy switching Lilja for Lebda that cap space opens up to $738,132. I'd like to figure out some way of making it possible to get Hudler signed to the identical deal as Filppula, but that'd require dropping Lilja for Lebda and would leave virtually zero cap room for short-term injury replacements. Here's the roster we'd see under that scenario: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Hudler Leino-Helm-Holmstrom Maltby-Draper-Abdelkader Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Ericsson-Lilja Meech Osgood Howard Edit: Ryan Oulahen is out of minor league options as well and his cap hit is only $522,500. That saves more than $200,000 compared to Abdelkader, and gives us a more capable penalty killer and shut-down guy.

Good bye shin-pad assassin, you will be missed.

Moen would be a great add, he'd definitely make the Wings harder to play against. Bertuzzi could be a decent pick up if we could get him for less than 1.5 million.

He's not even close to being ready.

Hey man. The wound's still fresh for some of us. No need to salt it.

Damn, well you're good This list will almost certainly expand before the 6th.

This roster is labeled 'provisional' for a reason. Not a single free agent invite. The Wings are keen doing what they did last year and inviting some undrafted kids (Nill calls it 'bonus picks').

Yeah, you'll have no problem unloading Campbell's bloated, ridiculous contract. And it'll be no problem in the year the cap contracts for the first time. Same goes for Huet. You'll probably have to either buy out Huet's contract or pray he has the best year of his career this season. Wow. You really have no clue what Toews and Kane are worth, do you? Being an RFA doesn't mean you get paid whatever the hell the team feels like paying you. If anyone's going to get an offer sheet it's a player like Toews or Kane. This coming season will be the Penguin's first with a full price Malkin, Crosby, Staal and Fleury. They've yet to feel the crunch. That's not even remotely true. Chicago is far from being the best team in the league and has no history of winning at all. They're a great, young upcoming club. That hardly makes them a player's best opportunity to win. Chicago isn't some magical mecha of advertising and endoresment. They can get those anywhere. Do you think Reebok gives a s*** if Kane's playing in Chicago or New York? Hell no. And I'm sure every city has a local dentist or optometrist looking for a hockey star to do a commercial for them. This coming year is Detroit's first where their stars are being paid their fair price. Zetterberg and Franzen were the deals of the decade the past two postseasons. Now they're getting their fare share. This year is your chance to get a shot at the cup while paying Toews, Kane and Keith peanuts. Next year you have to pony up. That's what happens when you get the privilege of drafting lottery picks for a decade- they end up costing you a lot from RFA age on.

Yeah, sorry dude. I just can't understand how Tallon decided that the youth movement, now that it was showing very clear benefits, no longer required his attention. I mean why should he worry about how he's going to sign his top two forwards and number one d-man next season under a shrinking cap? Cool stuff is available now! Tallon must have serious ADD.

Subtext: We'll worry about how the shrinking cap affects the impending RFA status of our top 3 players next summer.

s***. All the scorers are gone now. That makes an offer sheet to Hudler more likely.

True, but I imagine it's tough to attract FA to Columbus.

Really? Have you ever noticed that there is almost never a connection between the big FA winners in the summer and the top playoff teams the following year? The Rangers have been throwing money at UFAs for years, what's changed about their Cup chances? Not much.

Ahh, but you need to stay healthy to score goals. On the plus side, when he's on LTIR the Rangers can bring kids up from one of their feeder teams.

2 mill a season coming off Neil's worst season so far? No thanks.

Not necessarily. Also remember that the Wings have a d-man to trade off, so they can pick up a grinder that way too.

Huh? You think Hossa puts them over the top? They were dominated by the Wings in the WCF and they just lost their good goalie.

If there's one thing we can infer about humans in different income brackets, it's that an executives and grocery baggers both feel like a 20% pay increase is a big deal. It's human nature.

Filppula and Hudler are definitely going to be better players this season than they were in 07-08. It's the opposite of the Draper/Maltby situation. Yeah Drapes and Malts are ready for the glue factory, but they weren't exactly critical pieces of the 07-08 championship (aside from Draper's faceoff skill). I'm surprised you find Leino highly questionable when he was playing at 0.7ppg during his call-up this season. 25 year old players are expected to get better, not regress. Leino is a former MVP and was amazing in the AHL playoffs. He lead the AHL in scoring for two rounds, with 13 points in the first 6 games. Leino's ready to step up. I know you're obsessed with Hudler's size making him a 'liability at times in the playoffs', but he's consistently remained in the top 6 Wings in scoring both in the regular season AND the playoffs. His size sucks, but he doesn't need to be huge to be effective. Hudler is a critical part of our second PP, especially when Dats and Z are together on the 1st PP. The only forwards on this team with better hands than Hudler are Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Once again, Hudler's 25 years old and already hit 57pts and 23 goals. As great as Helm is, people need to understand that he's not our savior when it comes to scoring. His playoff numbers, where he was at his very best, average up to 14 goals and 3 assists. That's 17 points. Those 14 goals look great, but are highly unlikely over an 82 game season considering how short Helm's scoring stretch was and the fact that he'll be facing his first full NHL season. Helm really impressed, but his role won't be as a top 6 forward. If he can put 10 goals and 5 assists up in his rookie season we can be very happy with that... that's a excellent rookie season for an energy forward. If we're lucky he might surprise us all and replace Sammy's production. Now that Hossa's gone the Wings need Hudler's 23 goals and 57 points to stay in Detroit. If Leino has a 57 pt rookie season he'll be a Calder candidate, so we can't count on that. Face it man, you'll have to either settle for Hudler or find the Wings a 6'2" 60 point guy who'll sign for less (good luck).