Off Season

[WingsownNHL 0]

my dream for next year. Only thing different besides resigning everyone is Scott Hartnell. The guy is only 24 years old and is a free agent. Hartnell plays a perfect style. He's very physical. He is versatile to play every forward position. I would also try and trade Samuelsson for like a 3rd or 4th round pick to unload his salary to have more room under the cap to maybe go after a goalie or defensemen at the deadline.

Tomas Holmstrom 2.25 Pavel Datsyuk 5 Henrik Zetterberg 2.65

Kyle Calder 2.2 Valtteri Filppula .71 Todd Bertuzzi 5

Scott Hartnell 3.5 Kris Draper 2.128 Johan Franzen .941666

Igor Grigorenko 1 Jiri Hudler .7 Dan Clearly .6625

Mikael Samuelsson 1.2 Tomas Kopecky .75

Nick Lidstrom 7.6 Danny Markov 2.5

Nick Kronwall 3 Brett Lebda .65

Andreas Lilja 1 Chris Chelios .85

Kyle Quincey .5

Chris Osgood .85

Jimmy Howard .75

46.4

Edited March 7, 2007 by WingsownNHL

[WingsownNHL 0]

also two young free agents that i love- Vitaly Vishnevsky, and Cory Sarich. but it would be difficult to sign them with my lineup

[Wingsfan31 0]

The Wings have already started negotiating with Maltby's agent to re-up with him, so I'd count him back in the fold. You can bet Schneider is going to command more than $3 million per season. He's close to setting a career high in assists after seeting career highs in everything last year. Veteran, puck-moving d-men aren't a dime a dozen and I doubt there's any "hometown discount" for the Wings.

There is no way Calder signs for less than $2 million. His arbitration award for last season was based upon his numbers with Chicago last season and he can easily argue that the situation in Philly caused his decline in numbers this season. He already has 5 points in 4 games with the Wings and has shown an ability to forecheck effectively, so the Wings likely won't be the only suitor for him in free agency.

Lang is gone, probably of his own accord, but you can take his salary and give it to Datsyuk right now, that will cover any contract Pavel signs here. The Wings will not go with Howard and Osgood next year, they will get a more consistent guy to split the duties with Howard; Babcock can't stand Osgood's inconsistent play as it is with Dom as the starter.

For the umpteenth time, DRAPER HAS A NO-TRADE CLAUSE. He is not going anywhere. Don't be surprised if Hank starts looking for a renegotiation of his current deal if the Wings give Pavel $5 million-plus. I think the Wings can re-sign Markov for around $2 million as he really hasn't earned the additional $0.5 million he's currently getting.

You can probably pencil Flip and Hudler in at $1 million-plus, there is no way either of those guys will take a token raise after being roster players all season.

I think the real wildcard is Bert. If he regains his form, the Wings go deep and he's an integral part of the offense, he may price himself out of Detroit. He has no reason to give the Wings a discount. The Wings may be better suited to go after a guy like Hartnell to play the 2nd line wing with Calder and use the extra money to pick up a bruising forward and a goaltender. If Scheider leaves, my guess is the WIngs promote either Kindl or Quincey to the parent club and expand Kronwall's role on the special teams.

Basically, IMO, it comes down to Datsyuk and Bert. If the Wings can get them for below-market value, they will have some room to play with in the cap. Otherwise, they will be in a situation similar to this season -- a few million dollars under the cap going into the season with some room to address needs at the trade deadline.

Edit -- The NHL recently said since there is no transfer agreement in place with the Russian Hockey Federation, NHL teams can leave their prospects in Russia indefinitely. Don't be surprised to see Grigorenko in RSL one more season as the Wings can't offer him anywhere close to the money he's making now and he hasn't proven he's 100% healthy.

Edited March 7, 2007 by Wingsfan31

[Guest Crymson]

Osgood will not be the Wings` starter next year. Barring some incredibly strange event, I can tell you that with absolute certainty.

Sign Dats, Bert, Cheli for cheap. Trade Draper for Tucker. Try to pick up another free agent D-man for depth.

Oh goodness, not this drivel again.

Sign Dats for cheap. Sign Bert for cheap. Yeah. Those two are pretty moronic statements. However, "trade Draper for Tucker" almost necessitates deletion of your account.

Osgood--Proven starter who has won it all.

Howard/Liv--Solid young goalie capable of stepping in if needed.

I'd have to disagree with you here, and go with "former proven starter." This season, Osgood has proven that he is no longer of starting-goaltender calibre. All players decline over time--Osgood's sub-.900 save percentage and near-3.00 GAA on a team with one of the best defensive corps in the league proves that Osgood has gone down the road of decline as well.

I think most will agree that your proposed goaltending solution would be an unmitigated disaster. During the goalie hunt this summer, after Osgood was re-signed, he was never even CONSIDERED as the starter--there is a reason for this.

Liv won't be a top notch goalie.

That said...Giguere's best seasons have come on a very good defensive team. Seasons his team has not been as good defensively, his numbers have suffered. Osgood had one of his best seasons on a terrible Blues team, and another good year on a terrible Islanders team. Kiprusoff was horrific in San Jose, and during his time in Calgary they have had one of the league's best defensive teams...so I'm not really sure where you're going with that. Fernandez is the only one you seem to have labeled correctly, and then only because he has never been on a bad defensive team.

One last shot here--Osgood is presently playing a (relatively) horrific season on a wonderful defensive team.