Echolalia

Please excuse my ignorance, but why the need for another minor league team?

Wait a minute, you complain that Hudler isn't worth the money he was awarded because he is a product of the system (even though he would still be playing in that system, thus his numbers wouldn't drop drastically like it seems you are implying by going to another team with a less dominant third line). But then after you finish complaining that he was awarded more than he is worth, you bring up Mike Grier's name, an aging veteran who's 1.775M salary was good for 23 points last year (and if you're going to argue that Hudler is a product of the system, then I can just as easily say that Grier was also), as a good alternative for the Wings. That's about half the point-per-game production as Hudler, and at a current depreciating value, while Hudler's numbers have steadily increased throughout his short career. And you want that here for between 1M and 1.5M less than what Hudler will be making (and I can promise you he won't accept anything less than a million)? You complain that many here suffer from Wings fandom, but at least we're still logical in our arguments.

A young player who has yet to hit his prime who put up 57 points playing on the third line doesn't deserve 2.5M?

Again, its not a matter of just 40 vs 42. Take the average healthy nhl player retirement age and put a standard deviation on it. 40 almost certainly fits that deviation (although I haven't crunched the data because I don't have the data). 42 is a different story.

We do that s*** in drop in all the time.

Nah. The person below me wonders what they have to do to keep from getting head and eye aches.

True, but Prospal won't be getting paid $7M+

We need the money for Prospal!!!

Datsyuk Zetterberg Homer Filppulla Franzen Prospal Oh my god. Oh. My. God.

I'm not exactly sure why Hossa and Pronger are being singled out here. Perhaps because Holland lead the way in circumventing the cap it prevented the nhl from targeting the Wings without issuing a warning to the league first or something. Maybe Philly and Chicago are the first teams past some hypothetical and potentially non-existent warning to sign players to suspicious contracts, and that's why they're being singled out. Perhaps the Wings history of older players helped the cause (ie Yzerman, Chelios, Hasek, Hull, Lidstrom, Draper) and allowed the league to think that Zetterberg and Franzen sincerely plan on playing to the fullest extent of their contracts. While its true that there is little difference between 40 and 42, the correct way of approaching this in a statistical way would be to use deviations, and I admit that I haven't crunched the numbers nor do I have a convenient resource to collect the numbers, but perhaps if the NHL is using deviations in this situation (which isn't unlikely) 40 fits into the deviation of a normal retirement age, while 42 is outside of that deviation. This seems a good an explanation as any.

Absolutely. I've wanted to see him in a Wings' jersey for about three years now.

Its funny because a couple months ago when I was thinking about how the Wings could retain everybody I kept thinking "If only Hossa or Hudler or Franzen or somebody agreed to play with another team until the Wings' cap-mess clears up in the upcoming seasons, then agrees to come back after we can move some money around to afford everyone". This is better than I could have imagined, as Hudler won't even be playing against the Wings while he is gone, and he is obliged to play for us at a good price should he return. Call up Comrie or Prospal!

Hey 'Loo, I actually just went to Mackinac Island this weekend. Rented a bike and rode around the island, swam in the Huron, checked out the shops, went to Goodfellows' and a candy shop (no fudge, yes Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream). It was a blast. So to answer your first questions, yes and yes. To answer your second question, I guess I did not ignore it, so no. And to answer 55's question, no, I'm on my floor, but since Wendesday I have been sleeping on an air mattress (although admittedly it is my own). The person below me has had a leech on them.

How's about adding REAL diversity by signing 21-year-old Echolalia, the league's first LGWian. Relatively incompetent at the nhl level, this prospect is sure to bring fans to the seats with his wacky trouble-making demeanor! Scouts expect 0 goals, 0 assists, 4 penalty minutes out of this one-of-a-kind player, best described as one scout puts it "completely lost... shouldn't see icetime from a midget travel team, but you gotta love his style!" You gotta love his style, indeed, as the ladies certainly have taken kindly to his on and off ice antics. In fact, female buyers have taken up 60% of sales at every beer and intramural league he has played in. Now those are stats that don't lie.

I believe the lack of diversity stems more from the lack of affordability of hockey. The majority of minorities (linguistic ha) still populate low-class, low-value areas such as Detroit. Basketball, baseball, and football are all cheaper than hockey by a wide margin.

I don't know why I'm getting my hopes up. Chicago will end up signing him for 12.5M over three years

Seriously. I don't fully understand how the buy-out will affect how much a team has to unload to get him, but what can Holland do to get this guy????

So how bout that health care

Sorry what was that? I was too busy carefully planning my next spontaneous outburst to hear what you were saying. Both or neither

What I would do to get him on our team. I really wanted the Wings to pick him up at the deadline a while back.

Photoshop all the way. GIMP may be the more financially smart of the two, but it really can't hold a flame to photoshop. North CONTEXT IS NOTHING talking or listening

And you said no

Good depth signing, he puts up decent numbers in the AHL.

Grier can come here for cheap, get some solid numbers playing his top hockey on a team that can pad his points and penalty minutes, then be considered a quality gritty veteran out there next year for one last run at some money. By the way, he always seemed to play his best game against the Wings.

Shanahan was a defensive liability and Babcock didn't take too kindly to his refusal to sacrifice offense for the sake of defense approach.