Drake_Marcus

On second thought: OMG IT'S JULY 1ST AND WE HAVEN'T SIGNED A STAR! :ranting: :ranting:

There's no way Holland would have made that trade without Burns being signed to an extension. Seto was just signed to a home-town discount contract for 3 years and he's been dealt for a d-man who's got 1 year left on his pre-UFA contract.

I'm really excited about Tomas Jurco. This kid's got lottery pick talent and a first round body. Obviously he has some question marks that made him slip to us but we have to trust that the Wings scouts feel that he can overcome those issues.

I'm sure the Oilers will be all over adding a 6.25 million dollar cap hit for a 35 year old forward who produced 41pts(?) last season. I wouldn't take Smyth from LA even if it was only for future considerations. On top of that LA is trying to compete for a Cup so they'll want to keep a top 6 forward who can produce 41pts around next season. This deal doesn't make a lick of sense.

I have absolutely zero interest in Fleischmann. (And I hope the Wings feel the same way) 5 pts in 22 playoff games is pathetic.

Bieksa isn't at the top of my list but I wouldn't be disappointed with him depending on the price. I agree about Errorhoff. He was a -13 with 12pts in the playoffs this year (I know Henrik Sedin was -11 but that doesn't excuse Ehrhoff) while Bieksa was a +6 with 10pts. On top of that Bieksa had 5 goals compared to Ehrhoff's 2. Ehroff had 50pts in the regular season so he'll demand a big payday. I'd be far more comfortable with Bieksa's solid all-around play then Ehrhoff's risky play. As far as replacing Rafalski on the PP goes the only FA option is Wisniewski or Pitkanen. Pitkanen would be cheaper and probably has a higher upside but he's also a lefty (Wisniewski's right hand shot would be nice on the PP). Counting on Smith to move up to the NHL and play significant minutes is risky. I'd rather hope he blows the Wings away in training camp as well as the preseason but put him in GR if he doesn't make the Wings' top 5. At this point it looks like Smith would benefit from another year of seasoning in GR. Hopefully he has a great summer of strength training and forces Holland to keep him up based on his play in September/October.

This will make recruiting Rafalski's replacement easier... "hey-- wanna play with Lidstrom?".

Woohoo! Well that just made my day.

TSN is reporting that Chicago signed Seabrook to a 29 million dollar extension for 5 years with a cap hit of 5.8 million dollars a year. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=355721 His cap hit this season was 3.5 million dollars. This means that the Blackhawks cap situation will be 2.3 million dollars tighter next year.

Speaking for myself: I don't have a grudge against the Canucks. I was rooting for them up until Thomas started putting on a clinic and Luongo fell apart on the road. At that point I felt like it could be Thomas' last shot at a Cup. With the way he was playing at 37 years old it felt like this was his his year. The Canucks have a really bright future ahead of them, though. They need to get Luongo a full-time sports psychologist, though. Getting to the finals and falling short was something the Wings had to go through in the 90's (when they were swept by the Devils) before the dynastic group of Wings players put it all together.

I hope it's a real arena that can seat at least 18k. Another 15k arena like the one in Winnipeg would be a terrible idea.

This choice would be easier for Ozzy if he'd hit 400 wins last season. Right now I feel like hitting 400 is a small part of what's motivating him to come back for another year.

The type of people who loot and riot are either criminals looking for some quick cash or drunken idiots. Those kinds of people will happily start or join a riot for whatever reason. This isn't about hockey as much as it's about opportune criminals.

Pretty classy move by Feds: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/28174501/detail.html His career with the Wings has been over for ages but Fedorov continues to give back to the people of Detroit.

Fixed it for ya. I believe in the Red Wings philosophy: players are expected to be the epitome of class. The Sedins haven't show much fight this year. They've almost been gutless out there. Dipsy doodling around and diving to draw penalties doesn't win playoff hockey games. Those two need to spend the summer talking to Datsyuk about mixing enough sandpaper into their games.

I'd rather have Ovechkin but there's that pesky salary cap thing to consider.

Kenny won't pay 4 first round picks for Weber. In two years those could potentially be lottery picks. A Leafs fan once told me trading future 1sts can bite you in the ass. If Lidstrom retires this summer I'll be deeply, deeply disappointed. Crushed, really. As a fan it would be very difficult to see a man like him go out with so much gas left in the tank. I could be adding to his legacy for the next couple of seasons. Nick will have 40+ years to rest his weary bones once he retires. I hope he doesn't hang his skates up while he can still be a top calibre player (which based on his play this season and the playoffs it's obvious he still is).

Well at least Vancouver won't have to deal with Luongo's crippling instability for another decade. On the down side I just lied. Enjoy 11 more years of this on again off again goaltending! Is there an anti-Conn Smythe they can award Lu?

Babs and Hitch-- it'll be a cockfight.

Adding 20-30 pounds of lean muscle while maintaining a fitness level required for professional hockey is significantly more difficult than putting on 20-30 pounds of fat at the school cafeteria. Jesus. We don't need that s*** in the NHL. We should be proud of how few NHL players find themselves in legal trouble like that.

On a Red Wings fan forum? Shocking! Edit: lol

Indeed. But that doesn't mean we should stop lauding his acts of charity.

Well according to Icethetics one Coyotes prospective owner promised to rename the Coyotes the Arizona Coyotes. Not terribly exciting but something... Here's what they're saying about Reebok's jersey presales info for Western teams next season: http://www.icethetics.info/blog/2011/5/9/nhl-jerseywatch-2011.html

I'll side step the fact that you've approached this with the grace and tact of a 15 year old with Asperger Syndrome. (And we can ignore the fact that "knowledge" isn't the same thing as the ability to type a word into google and hit enter) And what about on-ice success and management? Tampa Bay lags behind Anaheim there. Does everyone forget the ownership BS that's gone on in TB over the last decade?

The other problem is that the Wings already have 2 forwards on life-time contracts. Adding another life-time forward will only make the future even murkier. At some point Z and Franzen will both be overpaid. That's a sacrifice Holland made to keep them cheap now. It's unreasonable to expect they will retire soon after their play drops below the expectations of their cap hits. 3 forwards on life-time contracts sets the Wings up for tough times in the future. Just remember how people bitched and moaned about Rafalski being a bit overpaid this season. Given his production he was probably only overpaid by 0.5 to 1 million (at the most-- many would argue he was paid a reasonable amount based on where salaries are at right now). Zetterberg will eventually be overpaid by a significantly larger margin. It's highly unlikely a 36 year old Zetterberg will be worth 6 mil. I pray he will be, but few players are at that age (especially players with an injury history like his).