Drake_Marcus

Sutton is some kind of man-truck hybrid who hits people so hard they forget math. Who wouldn't welcome that to Hockeytown!?!

Cleveland Barons!

Getting both of the top two picks is such a cop out. Just make a decision and stand by it.

To be fair Mickey is an old man now and complaining about how things have gone down hill since the old days is what men do in retirement. Anyone else laugh whenever a composite stick breaks because they know what's coming from Mickey? Regardless, Mickey's still awesome.

Yeah, based on last season it's clear he can still contribute... which is pretty impressive for a goalie his age. Good luck Dom!

Here's what I came up with using Cap Geek... AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Drew Miller ($0.750m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.750m) Mattias Ritola ($0.517m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) * Andreas Lilja ($1.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion) ROSTER: 22; CAP: $58.8m; PAYROLL: $56.355m; CAP ROOM: $2.445m BONUSES: $0.000m That's the most realistic thing I foresee. Helm, Miller and Eaves should make something in the ballpark of $750,000 each. Abdelkader doesn't deserve a raise-- $850,000 is right for what he provides and his age/experience. Note that Bertuzzi isn't there. If you add another forward (Bertuzzi) you have to drop a forward-- there's no reason to carry 14 forwards when half of them are interchangeable parts. To be honest, I wish Abdelkader had another year of AHL eligibility to fall back on... I thought he did but I think his being an RFA changes that.

After a few weeks he's only gone after two guys (that we know of). I don't like the emerging pattern.

If anything this opens the door for Lilja even more. Lebda is gone. Meech will get a qualifying offer and depending on Lilja's situation could be moved. I'm very uncertain about an Ericsson-Kindl pairing without a backup like Lilja just in case Ericsson doesn't take the next step forward or Kindl struggles as badly as many suspect he will (myself included, although I think he has the potential to be a good player long term).

You mean the exact thing I already said? My issue is with people who have the Stevie Yzerman of today confused with the Steve Yzerman of 5 years ago... I really don't see how your sarcasm applies to me. I'm the one saying that Stevie is thinking of Tampa first. The Wings don't owe Tampa GM Yzerman anything. If he's going to play hardball and try to poach from the Wings they shouldn't treat him any different than any other hostile executive. My whole point was that these tactics are hostile business tactics-- there's no possible way to deny it. I hope Holland gives no quarter. And for the record I'm assuming scouts and capologists have contracts since Holland, Nill and the rest of the upper management is signed to fixed term contracts.

Are they currently under contract to the Wings for next season? If they're contractually obliged to work for the Wings why the hell would you paint this like he's being cool? He has no right to try and raid the organization now that he's in charge of TB especially because he has inside information and relationships with the Wings employees-- the NHL has specific rules against doing that and it's also a ****** move. Recruiting employees under contract to another organization is an aggressive move no matter how you want to paint it. If he wants to "try to get people to work for him who he is familiar with" he can wait until they're not contractually obliged to work for another team or he can do this and look like a ******. Let me make one thing clear-- being a legend who's beloved by the Wings fans and ownership does not give Steve Yzerman any more right to try to poach employees than Brian Burke has. In fact, he owes Holland the professional courtesy of not using the knowledge he gained of the Wings organization while employed in Detroit to try and steal employees. Edit: Are Wings fans going to give Yzerman a free pass to make aggressive managerial moves aimed at Detroit just because he used to play here? That's retarded. When he's working as the GM of Tampa he has zero concern for Detroit. Don't think that he would hold off making a move the hurts us if it helps his team because he wouldn't. He knows who he is employed for. Yzerman the GM wears a Lightning jersey.

$1,875,000 is a bargain for 25 goals. I love it. Although things could get hairy next year if he ends up being like Draper (a spare part in the last year of his contract).

Really? Because they're Red Wings employees and he's trying to get them to defect to his team. That's raiding the organization. It's been, what, a week? Two? And he's already gone after two Wings employees. How many Wings employees will he have gone after a year from now? The very least he could do is keep his hand out of our cookie jar. Period.

Given Holmstrom's age and injury history I'd say the fact that this is a multi-year extension means the cap hit is noticeably lower than his single year hit was. Otherwise it's hard to justify giving a 37 year old with a history of injuries a 2 year contract.

Chicago is a team full of Prongers as far as Wings fans should be concerned. Wishing they'd win a Cup is like cheering for the Avalanche!

Care to expand on this?

I try.

Man, you must not be a hockey fan then. With a brick?

Don does. You know that look he gives him when he disagrees... you know his ass is chapped.

He's just digging his grave at this point. Eventually his snide behaviour will get him pushed into a different position (CFO?).

I hope not! Moved to who? Look at his contract and his scoring history from this season back... He's a declining asset with a constant price.

While I agree that people have been low balling here it doesn't mean you can equate the 2nd overall pick with those players above in terms of trade value. Picks are not sure things no matter how highly regarded the prospect or how high the pick is. That uncertainty makes it easier to get that pick vs an established player who's proven not to be a bust.

Seriously? A 3rd liner, project defenseman with upside (but who isn't exactly young) and the 21st pick for the 2nd pick? Boston would laugh in our face. Filppula or Hudler would have to be the starting point.

Given Pronger's status as a school yard bully, I think the key saying is: "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

I'd love to see Tatar make it but he's only 19 so he'll have to force his way onto the team in the preseason first... Holland won't give him much wiggle room to play with because he has so much time left to grow in GR.

I'd rather have Asham but Boogaard is friends with Datsyuk so who knows...