Drake_Marcus

I think Kovalev is at least redeemable. At least give Babs a shot at breaking his will, ala the horse whisperer but with Russian sub-titles.

Those bastards. Seriously though, I'd never give Guerin a contact (did you watch him play in the playoffs this year?!?) Or pay Fedo that much.

That's exactly how I feel. I'm sad about losing Bert, but really happy about Rafi!

Lilly had to find his place on this team. After he did he played a consistently rough game. I don't foresee him lapsing back into his old style (aka "the turnover machine"). I'm sure he knows what he has to bring to the team to stay on it.

I constantly see Sammy or the Mule up on the first two lines with Cleary back on the checking line. Cleary plays fine in a checking role, but remember how well he played in the post season? I think he's more then earned a top two spot: Cleary-Zetterberg-Holmstrom Filppula-Datsyuk-Grigorenko Maltby-Draper-Franzen Kopecky-Hudler-Samuelsson Huds isn't alien to playing centre, and he's small which apparently makes him a better centre then a winger in the new NHL Cleary and Holmer are great drive to the net, grit players. I'd love to see Dats and Z together, but let's pretend they're starting seperated. Filp and Dats played well together when Z was hurt, so let them keep going, with the Russian prospect given a chance to shine. Sammie had a few good moments in the playoffs, but face it- he's not a top line player. What do you guys think?

Obviously the real issue here is that some people are thinking Detroit has a team so stacked with top 6 players we don't play SAMMY on the top two fricking lines. For s***'s sake here people, if Sammy plays on the top lines Dan fricking Cleary can. I'd LOVE it if our team had so much offensive talent Danny couldn't crack the top two lines, but we're not that full of great offensive players. And whether you like it or not, Cleary's one of them (and one of the best play-off performers we have). So, in summary: I HEART CLEARY.

He's trying to get your blood pressure up Lou. Don't let him.

Agreed- he's an investment at this point. Odds are pretty low that it was a lucky season. I can only really see him getting better. 50 mill and 7 years though? Jesus, they better be dead on correct about his future, or they'll be yet another club with a Yashin-Islanders situation. That's what I see coming out of all these insanely long contracts- waaayyy Yashin situations 5 years down the road. Will all the big names that were signed for huge money over 5-8 years this summer be worth that yearly rate in 4 years? I'll bet we'll see lots of them end up untradeable like Brad Richards is now. If those two are $10 milion players then WTF are Sid and Ovetchkin worth!?!

Fight! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!

No, he didn't f*** up. Stop. Think. Look at the lengths of the contracts being signed. Z is up for UFA in 2 years. You can bet we sign him in the next year for a nice tidy sum over a long-ass contract (as it should be with marquee players like Dats and Z for their draft team). Would I like it if we had signed Smyth? HELL YEAH. But he obviously wanted a long contract which is something the Wings couldn't offer under the cap era. I assure you- Holland didn't "f*** up". He knew exactly what he was doing when he avoided those outrageous prices.

Really? Bad work ethic Damn it. I want that kid to succeed so much. Really I do. Maybe he just needs a coach that actually believes in him? But hell, I'm not one to tell Mike Babcock how to coach!

Hey- you saw the same games as me! And I have a feeling Babs likes Cleary, which means no rude treatment ala-Huds.

Remember kids- Huddles has tons of PURE SKILL. So much that he makes up for his small frame. Show me the top 20 scorers with everyone over 6 feet and I'll admit small guys can't learn to play in the new NHL. But guess what? Small isn't a crippling factor, just a strike against you. Hockey ain't Basketball. Talent and size aren't opposing qualities- one can have the former and not the latter while still being good. Yeah, this roster could never make it to the WCF and within 2 games of the SCF all whilst missing two of their top 3 D-men. Yeah- we need a huge, tough team, like Calgary.

Oh it was good, but unfortunately it was preceded by 9 cheesy ones.

To put it mildly...

I'd agree if that horrible 18 games of hell weren't bookended by an astounding performance in the playoffs (when it actually mattered). Oh, yeah, plus the whole Lang and Willy crap that held him back mid-season. So, even ignoring his lack out output after his amazing start, you'd rather have Sammy in his place on the top two lines? Sammy isn't top six material!

Don't forget that the D-man in question hardly plays top three defense- he's basically a forward who sits farther from the face-off circle.

Well, based on your link alone: Sounds like it's a big NO. Honestly, the Wings don't need to get people just for the sake of it. We do have some prospects who could use the roster space. This seems to be shaping up as a prime season for the Wings to actually allow the young players a chance to get some decent minutes and develop instead of waiting until they're 26 to get a decent roster spot. This trend of not putting young kids not named Feds or Fischer on the roster in any significant way is likely impeading the development of our best prospects. I wonder if someone like Z or Dats would be even better right now had they started playing in the NHL at 18 or 19... Obviousl I know less than 1% of what Holland and the scouts know about hockey, but I'll still wonder about this stuff out loud. Maybe not rushing prospects into the NHL is the best idea 90% of the time and that's partially why the Wings have such sucess drafting low. Hey, what'd I say about puns?

Did you see the playoffs?!? Cleary was an MVP candidate based on the playoffs this year. He was clutch and our most consistent worker as well as a fricking grit-machine.

Well at this point, baring trades, he was our best option, regardless of size. Damn it Atlanta!

Hey! Have some more respect for our former players. Wait, you didn't mean Hull, did you?

So puns are kind of like a sickness for you, eh? Once you think you're punny you just can't stop.

Hells yeah. Get 'er done Kenny Like everyone has said- Penner is money. I'll take him over Bert anyday Agreed. Holland won't lose face on making a RFA move on the f***s, but the Sabres just got pounded by the UFA season, so screwing them harder might not look very nice.

Agreed. Murray was a huge boon to them last season. They'll be a threat based on the moves they've made and the coaching sucess we saw with Murray. Whether that sucess will last 82 games is questionable, however.