Drake_Marcus

That's why people need to take the things NHL executives tell the media with a grain of salt. Great negotiators treat the media as just another negotiation tool at their disposal.

I know this is an extreme example but let's look at the impact of 4 years of 1st round picks for teams in recent years: Pittsburgh: 2003-- Marc-Andre Fleury (1st overall, lol) 2004-- Evgeni Malkin (2nd overall) 2005-- Sidney Crosby (1st overall) 2006-- KJordan Staal (2nd overall) Washington: 2004-- Ovechkin (1st overall) 2005-- Pokulok (14th overall, bust) 2006-- Backstrom (4th overall) 2007-- Alzner (5th overall, bluechipper) Chicago: (03 was Seabrook at 14th overall) 2004-- Barker (3rd overall) 2005-- Skille (7th overall) 2006-- Toews (3rd overall) 2007-- Kane (1st overall) Edmonton: (this one isn't fair because somehow they got 3 first overalls in a row, but hey it's not too far off of Pitts' situation) 2009-- Paajarvi-Svensson (10th overall) 2010-- Hall (1st overall) 2011-- Nugent-Hopkins (1st overall) 2012-- Yakupov (1st overall) (Edmonton's firsts in 07 and 08 were Gagner and Eberle, so even if you cut out the last two years it's a significant haul)

I'd be surprised if the cap didn't go down with the new CBA. At this point it's a safe bet that the cap floor will drop so I wouldn't be surprised if they rework the cap/revenue formula. That's the key point here. I agree with others that said this contract could be a powderkeg. True BUT imagine the Pens, Caps, Blackhawks, Oilers or other teams if you chopped 4 select years of 1sts out of their line ups. In each of those cases you could completely destroy the tank-to-win models of those franchises by removing those 4 years of 1st rounders.

I didn't even think about that but you're right. I wouldn't touch the C in Philly with a ten foot pole if I were him! Hold on a sec. Weber's definitely worth 4 Detroit 1st rounders if we're talking the past. BUT with Lidstrom gone and our superstars all getting older we can't assume the future will be paved in low 20's draft positions.

Weber's not worth our next four 1st rounders. For all we know those could be four lottery pics.

I lol at Howson. I'm so happy he isn't taking the Wings' offers if these rumours are true. I want nothing to do with overpaying for a habitual underachiever who is being paid top 10 money for the next 6 years to produce at the same freaking level as Franzen. Fuuuuccckkk that. I'd take Nash if the asking price wasn't so so inflated. Keep waiting the Jackets out.... there's a reason why the entire league is declining their absurd price. lol wut? I love when people ignore the fact that Nash gets paid almost twice what Franzen does to produce at the same level. I could give two s***s if people speculate what he'd produce like here. All you can do is evaluate him based on what's he's actually done lately. Hey if Filppula came back to Earth I'd feel real silly, no question. But what if Filppula's year wasn't a fluke? That's the problem. And the other thing is we're getting old and definitely past the prime window for winning a Cup. If the deal was to trade for Ryan 3 years ago you'd have to take it... but with Dats and Z both exiting their primes...

Really? That's hard to swallow because Fil is a good centre and we don't have another young centre to replace him right away. If Dats or Z were 3 years younger I could live with it. Don't underestimate how important it is to have good centres.

Good stuff. Holland re-signs an RFA and people mock it as his 'big splash'. If he let Q go the same people would lament the wasted draft pick we traded for him. Indeed. Holland wants the entire NHL to know loud and clear that he's happy with his defense going into this season and won't overpay for that trade he's been searching for. That being said-- we all know he's kicking the tires on every possible 1st pairing d-man out there. Holland isn't a moron-- I'm sure he's well aware the defense needs a big gun right now and he'll get one if it makes sense for the long-term success of this team. The Wings aren't one above average d-man and forward away from being Cup favourites. If we can't get some improvement from within this team is going to be painfully average. Holland needs to either embrace the suck and get a respectable draft position or make a savvy trade.

Right... because this is the NBA where adding two players to a team that can't even make the playoffs makes that team a championship calibre squad.

Agreed. The big issues I'm guessing will be address are: 1) Lowering the current cap ceiling and floor 2) Addressing the burying of players in the minors or loaning them overseas to effectively circumvent the cap (this is something I imagine the NHLPA isn't happy about) 3) Changes to the way the cap ceiling/floor is calculated from year to year 4) Changes to the way contracts can be structured with respect to the tack-on 1mil years gms like to stick to the end of deals to bring the hit down. One solution could be to simply make the contracts count against the cap if players retire over 35 no matter when they signed the contract.

The companies weren't helpless people held at knifepoint. They made financial choices based on certain projections and those projections didn't prove out. There's nothing more comical than the falicy that big corporations are somehow powerless or victims of anything but their own greed.

Ahh the things hockey agents will say for leverage. This is all about a contract overseas.

Now that the bluster's out of the way I'm interested to see what the real offers on the table will look like.

It all depends-- do you honestly think this team is a few pieces from being a legitimate contender 5 years from now? No. Once Dats an Z are outside that window things look pretty bleak. Time to man up and accept that we might need a better draft position than where we've been for 20 years-- basically starting in the second round. Lottery picks please?

This is how negotiation works in the NHL... you tell everyone you don't need what the other guy has and you're not going to budge... then you pray he believes you and drops his price.

Well Holland's not an idiot. He won't tell the media "HOLY s*** I'M DESPIRATE! I'LL PAY ANY PRICE". He's obviously going to lean towards tank/youthgrowth or find that perfect trade. Kneejerk reactions won't replace Nick Lidstrom.

Can we know once in for all if CentCougar is a sock-puppet account for Richdg? Back when they were posting together, agreeing and 'like'ing eachothers posts it seemed like they'd have the same IP if you catch my drift. Crymson told me out back that 'loose lips sink ships'. He's a pretty scary looking guy so I just nodded my head and slowly backed away.

I'm bestest buddies with a couble of NHL scouts who highly regard the author of the site in question. I'll email them to double check. BRB. Edit: Ok, I'm back now. Yeah man, both my buddies said that Prospectus is legit. I don't know where you heard bad things.

The one person we're all tiptoeing around naming here is pretty clearly only around to troll. The only type of posts he makes are derogitory towards the Wings, Holland and posters here at LGW. That's what really gets my goat. I'm proud of how many great fans from other teams we have on LGW. Just off the top of my head I can think of posters from the Sharks and Preds community who've come here and made very intelligent, constructive posts while dodging the odd attack here or there based on their obvious love of another team. MacAttack used to post regularly from the position of a win-deprived Leafs fan who respects the Wings. For each of our playoff opponents in recent years I'd say we've had good cross-forum posters who I hope will come back for future games day threads. My point is that those of us who are tired of CentCougar aren't taking that position simply because he's a Wild fan. Edit: does anyone know how I can get the spellcheck functionality built into my Firefox browser to work with the new forums? This is the first time I've had this problem with the current FF.

Cougar's welcome to Suter and Parise at 7.5mil x 13 years each. There's a reason why they went to a bottom feeder franchise with zero history of sustained success and that reason is traded for goods and services in the USA (hint: it's also green and rectangular). Successfuly trolling more than half of the boards.

Cougar's a Wild fan speaking out of his ass. Two very good players aren't going to push a team who can't even win a playoff round into Cup contenders.

It's pretty hilarious that you don't even bother pretending to be a Wings fan anymore. I miss the good old days when you lied to our faces about your fandom and Left had to post links to your messages on Wild fanboards. http://www.hockeyprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1347 Your argument is now officially invalid.

I can say without reservation that there's no chance the Wings would have handed Suter or Parise the C the moment they got here. Not even a slim chance. The biggest compliment they'll pay a recently signed or traded for player is an alternate A.

On the other hand: people still pay Hall Gill to play hockey so there's sure to be room for other guys who skate like my grammy. To be fair a lot of the Wings' PP success is owed to Lidstrom's brilliant quarterbacking.

What makes you think Holland hasn't tried to package Franzen for Ryan/Nash or Yandle? Franzen for Nash should be a pretty good staring point for Columbus considering that Franzen produces better points/game than Nash over the last two years and does it with less PP and ice time. Oh, and Franzen makes almost half of what Nash does.