chrisdetroit

It's also a guy that is coming off his worst regular season in 6 years. He doesn't get a free pass in my book. I agree though 4 games means nothing and he should be on the 2nd line with Flip and Franzen. ZDH has great chemistry and part of the problem is that the chemistry isn't there with the current lines.

You missed the point. It's not what I am on, it's what the GM's of teams like Edmonton and Vacnouver are on. Z is undoubtably one of the best players in the game (certainly in the top 5) and he's in the prime of his career. If you don't think that somebody would offer him $10 mil a year, then you haven't been following the free agent frenzy every year.

So much for being objective...

I think that that is a very real possibility especially if Nick lets Holland know that he is done after this contract. At that point Nick's $7.45 mil goes away and they can pay Z more.

8 Mil IS a discount. I am sure that there are several teams that would pay him the league maximum which is 20% of the salary cap or about $11 mil +. If Vancouver is willing to drop $10 mil a year on a 38 year old Sundin, don't you think that they would offer Z at least that much? There are discounts and then there are discounts. Dats signed his contract a couple of years ago, since then values have risen. If Dats were on the open market today he would go for at LEAST $8mil.

Not likely. If they are willing to pay Hossa 7.45 mil, they aren't going to ask Z to take 6.7 mil. Hank will go somewhere in the neighborhood of $8mil and that will be with Lidstrom's blessing. Mule will go for about $4-5 mil depending on what he does this season. Rex will get 2-3 again depending on what he does this year. Sammy about the same, Kopy $1.5 and Hossa will be the odd man out. Cheli, DMac and Conklin will not be back. The only way this doesn't happen is if the Salary Cap soars or (God forbid) there is a significant injury to somebody.

If Matthias were still here he would be playing in GR. We already have 2 great prospects that are NHL ready or nearly so in Leino and Helm. So did it hurt to lose Matthias. Sure, but is it a disaster, hardly. Kenny rolled the dice with Bert and this time he lost but the risk was not a big one and the loss isn't huge

Let's think this through people. Say we don't re-sign Cheli. Then we keep Quincy. He's our #7 or #8 with Meech. How much playing time does he get? And next year Ericsson makes the team. Then what? If both Meech and Ericsson are better than Quincy why would we keep him? To ride the pine? We've got too many good young D-men regardless of the Cheli situation. Kenny knew that there wasn't room enough for them all and let lesser one go. And before you say it - no none of the 3 are better than Ledba or Lilja at this point in their careers. Granted they are young and improving but right now, no.

Watching the Wings raise the banner is better than sex so this is no contest.

I agree. Last year when everybody was going gaga over the Penguins, he was one of the few that correctly predicted that they had zero chance against the Wings. I remember his column started out "Crosby will Win the Cup" - But not this year.

Fedorov did just the opposite

The Lions were 4-0 in preseason.....

Z could go to alot of different teams and get the league maximum which is 20% of 56mil or 11mil +. Do you really think that he is going to take a $4 mil+ hometown discount? And Hossa is going to take a pay CUT on top of the cut that he took to come to Detroit? Wishful thinking. Z will get $8 mil, Franzen will go for $4mil, Rex for $3, Sammy for $2.5, Kopy for $1.5 and Hossa will take his Stanley Cup Ring and go somewhere else.

No way that they are going to pay Z less than Hossa. Z will get at least as much as Nick. Probably 8

So now it's about who is considered more physical. Fine, let's discuss this. You seem to think that Dats is more Physical than Z but that he isn't given the credit. Ok. Let's see what this is based on. Well.... You must have a list where they are ranked right? That's what I thought

How did you come up with that gem? The guy that they have as #2 is Russian.

Wait a minute. Where's OMG Hossa. Oh, there he is at #14. Didn't they consult LGW on this... (sarcasm)

We signed him as a free agent in the summer. He blew out his knee early in the season and missed most of the year. Then we bought him out the year after the lock-out.

Burke is an idiot but I can understand him waving Schneider... sort of.. Schneids is 39 years old and makes 5.75 mil a year and has had injury problems the last few yeas. I know he had a good year last year but I'd think twice about paying that kind of money for him plus giving up something to get him. I doubt the Burke had many offers for Schneids. And Anaheim will die without Selanne. They finished near the bottom of the league in scoring last year. Obviously a good GM (or even a decent GM) could have worked out some kind of deal but he obviously wasn't dealing from a position of strength. 14 UFA's and 2 RFA's next year...hehehehehe... This is GREAT!

Well said. Hossa is similar to Pavel and Hank and we already have 2 superstars in that role. As far as Big Strong power forwards that play around the net we only have Homer and he is 36. We need Franzen more than we need Hossa. I'm sure all the OMG Hossa fans are going to flame out now that I said that but that's my opinion. And just for the record, I'm not an idiot a homer even if I have a different opinion than the OMG Hossa fans.

Thank you. I hate it when people start hurling insults because somebody doesn't agree with them. I guess their moma didn't teach them any manners.

You are ignoring the fact that both Mule and Rex may be willing to take a discount to stay in Detroit. But as I said earlier, this all comes down to how they play this year - Rex, Mule, Sammy, and your boy Hossa. To form an opinion now before we see how it plays out, you'd have to be an id.... well, you get the picture. I'm taking a wait and see attitude

perfect sense. I agree

Agreed. Hossa vs Mule straight up with no salary cap, of course you pick Hossa but Hossa at 7 or 8 mil versus Mule at 3 or 4 mil and the obvious salary cap issues makes it a completely different decision. I can't see Holland giving up Mule and Hudler and possibly a Sammy to keep Hossa when we already have 2 guys that play similar roles in Z and Pavs. Franzen is destined to fill Homer's role in a couple of years when he retires. I don't think that he is going anywhere. Here's hoping for a monster salary cap increase.

Hudler if he has a great year is maybe 2 mil. That's almost double his contract. As I said before Franzen is 3 mill maybe 3.5. 3.5 + 2 = 5.3. Hossa is 7.5 minimum. So you are NOT talking about Franzen and Hudler versus Hossa. You are talking about Franzen + Hudler + Sammy versus Hossa. After we get part way through the season, Kenny will have to decided if Hossa is so great that he is better than Franzen, Hudler and Sammy COMBINED. I wouldn't bet on it though.