Bannedforlife

I guess you could say he's the 6.7 million dollar man...

That's not a bad lineup... Where the hell is all of our cap money going?

I expect to see the exact same team as this year, plus Hudler, Ritola, and Kindl, minus Maltby, Lebda, and Meech. Except that everyone will now be one year older

Word. Let's revisit this thread after the Hawks get done with him...

I believe that all men should be brand loyal to at least one product. For me, it's Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I've been drinking it since high school (go figure) and has gotten me through some tough times in my life. I love all beer, but if there's a Sierra Nevada in the house, it's got my name on it.

Kirk Maltby

2 years ago Lidstrom was worth about 8.5-9m on the open market, but he signed here for less. Just sayin'

This is what I would love to see next year. Obviously, Hudler will be in for Williams, Abdelkader in for Maltby. Retain Bertuzzi, Holmstrom, Miller, Eaves and Ritola. But instead of trying to roll 3 scoring lines just to fit Holmstrom on the top line, keep him on in a reduced role/salary as a power play specialist. Johan Franzen ($3.955m) - Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) - Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) - Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) - Todd Bertuzzi ($1.500m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) - Justin Abdelkader ($1.000m) - Drew Miller ($0.600m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) - Darren Helm ($0.750m) - Patrick Eaves ($0.650m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) Mattias Ritola ($0.511m) As for defense, I want to see Lidstrom and Lilja stay AND sign Volchenkov. Trade Ericsson, bring up Kindl, and mixup the pairings so that each has an offense threat and a stay at home type. Our entire top 6 would be so deep and balanced that it would allow the minutes to be spread more evenly, reducing fatigue over the course of the year. Another benefit would be that it would allow Volchenkov a full year to adjust to the Detroit system before Lidstrom retires, at which time Kindl could move into the top six and perhaps Smith would be ready to make the jump up as the 7th defenseman. Nicklas Lidstrom ($3.750m) - Anton Volchenkov ($3.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) - Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Andreas Lilja ($1.000m) - Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) - Chris Osgood ($1.417m) ROSTER: 23; PAYROLL: $57.774m; CAP ROOM: $0.026m

Made my day!!!

Ive heard that the cap is going up by $1.1 million. Also, didnt Ray Farraro say in an interview that he was under the impression Lidstrom was coming back and at a significant pay decrease? Both of those things would help. I'd be less surprised to see Angelina Jolie play for Detroit than Ilya Kovalchuk, but its fun to think about.

You mean sloppy seconds?

This wasn't very creative or funny. How long did it take you to come up with that?

I'm sorry, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm not taking anything away from Lidstrom, he's clearly one of the greats, but there are 7 other teams in the playoffs who don't have a Hall of Famer as their number one defenseman, and they seem to be getting along fine. Dan Boyle? Sammy Salo? Sergei Gimpchar? I can't even name Montreal's number 1, is it Spacek? The point is you don't have to have a generational talent on your team in order to compete, and there are other players in this league who can play a little bit of defense. We even happen to have a couple on our team right already. Is it going to suck to not see one of our favorites play anymore? Yea, but I'd be surprised to see us miss the playoffs completely the year after Nick hangs them up. Flame on

Is that true? He was named after Captain Kirk!

Or he could just sign a full one year, two million dollar contract and play third pairing minutes during the regular season. If the goal is to help the team financially and allow him to get some well deserved rest after 18 NHL seasons, there are ways of accomplishing it without deceit.

I caught Sportcenter's top 10 at number 6 and I thought for sure this would be in the top 3. Basketball and baseball

Does Crosby still live with Mario? That's just straight up weird.

I'm the brains, you're the looks, and CHARLIE'S THE WILD CARD!

I'd love to see him get yanked the first game of the playoffs. Who is Pens backup?

Is this better for you Mindfly?

lol

Cookie! Classic Avery

Wow, what bold predictions.

I do a final shave the morning the playoffs start and then go all out until the playoffs end for the Wings, win or lose. NO TRIMMING ALLOWED!

Max Talbot anyone?