Free Agent Names to Look At

[Dabura 12,232]

I was unaware Sarich will be a UFA.

Hartnell, Sarich.

[Stevie Y. 0]

I know I'll take heat for this, but:

Out with Lang and Draper (sorry but Drapes is simply not contributing like we need and we have plenty of leadership)

In with Drury and Gomez.

Datsyuk Filpulla Drury

Zetterberg Holmstrom Franzen

Bertuzzi Gomez Cleary

Now those lines clearly aren't set in stone, as there's a lot of overlapping at positions. But just imagine marching those 9 guys out there.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Draper has a no trade clause and will not be traded ever.

GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEADS PPL

[al48 1]

I know I'll take heat for this, but:

Out with Lang and Draper (sorry but Drapes is simply not contributing like we need and we have plenty of leadership)

In with Drury and Gomez.

Datsyuk Filpulla Drury

Zetterberg Holmstrom Franzen

Bertuzzi Gomez Cleary

Now those lines clearly aren't set in stone, as there's a lot of overlapping at positions. But just imagine marching those 9 guys out there.

So, you're going to have a line with 3 Centers? And where in our budget do we fit in contracts for Bert, Drury, and Gomez? Gomez will get a raise from his $5mil, Drury will definitely get a raise, and Bert will most likely be reduced but still semi expensive.

[Stevie Y. 0]

Right. Because no trade clauses are never worked around, right?

So, you're going to have a line with 3 Centers? And where in our budget do we fit in contracts for Bert, Drury, and Gomez? Gomez will get a raise from his $5mil, Drury will definitely get a raise, and Bert will most likely be reduced but still semi expensive.

Did you completely miss the part where I said those lines are cast and there's overlapping positions? Must've. As far as the money goes, I'll let Ken Holland take care of that.

[Flip-check 6]

Did you completely miss the part where I said those lines are cast and there's overlapping positions? Must've. As far as the money goes, I'll let Ken Holland take care of that.

You'll let him fit a massive square peg into a not so big square hole?

Please be believable before saying, "I haven't thought about it, so I expect Kenny should be able to make it work."

[Stevie Y. 0]

I've given it plenty of thought. I suggested getting rid of two centers, and signing two centers. Square pegs in round holes? If you insist.

And yes, I trust Ken Holland to know more about signing quality, tough, impact players than both you and I, and be creative in managing the associated costs. If you were the GM, I'd have faith in you. As it stands, I'll throw my symbolic weight behind the guy who gets paid to do it.

Edited May 24, 2007 by Stevie Y.

[Bannedforlife 403]

Here's what I'd like to see happen

Smyth - Datsyuk - Bertuzzi

Pyatt - Zetterberg - Holmstrom

Cleary - Draper - Maltby

Franzen - Filppula - Sammuelsson

Hudler

Lidstrom - Kronwall

Sarich - Markov

Lilja - Lebda

Chelios

Ozzie

Howard

[Dabura 12,232]

Hartnell - Datsyuk - Holmstrom

Franzen - Zetterberg - Bertuzzi

Maltby - Draper - Cleary

Pyatt - Filppula - Grigorenko

Lidstrom - Kronwall

Lebda - Sarich

Lilja - Chelios

Hasek

Should the lack of size and snarl down the middle prove problematic, the versatile Hartnell could be placed at the pivot on the second line, flanked by Franzen and Bertuzzi (what a sick line that would be). Hank would, of course, slip back into his familiar role on the first line with Dats and Homer.

[Kp-Wings 3]

I know I'll take heat for this, but:

Out with Lang and Draper (sorry but Drapes is simply not contributing like we need and we have plenty of leadership)

In with Drury and Gomez.

Datsyuk Filpulla Drury

Zetterberg Holmstrom Franzen

Bertuzzi Gomez Cleary

Now those lines clearly aren't set in stone, as there's a lot of overlapping at positions. But just imagine marching those 9 guys out there.

You're dreaming a far beyond tale if you think the Wings would ever part ways with Draper. Honestly, just because you think he's past his prime, doesn't mean Ken Holland does. And as far as I remember, he's the one who calls the shots.

Taylor Pyatt would be an excellent addition. He basically is a less dirty version of Scott Hartnell. He scored over 20 goals last year, and is a physical presence on the ice. I would love to see the Wings sign him.

[Yzerman19 334]

I think we should re-sign shanahan. We need that guy on the powerplay and everywhere else. I thought that was the biggest loss for the wings during the post season.

I also think that Lang going won't be that painful. He didn't show that much during his wings seasons. I'm sorry to say that, especially with all the Lang's fans out there, but I thought that he took ice-time from guys who deserved more than him.

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

Off season speculation is fun

Just messing around here....

So the cap for 07-08 is supposed to be around $48 million.. maybe this kind of scenario could work out?

Datsyuk $6.7

Zetterberg $2.7

Draper $2.12

Holmstrom $2.25

Maltby $1.5(I'm not sure on this, anyone have the actual number??)

Samuelsson $1.2

Bertuzzi $2.5(resign for 2.7 less)

Franzen $0.9

Filppula $.85

Cleary $.675

Hudler $.7(hes an RFA this season, not sure what will happen here)

Kopecky $.5 (actual number TBA, guessing)

Lidstrom $7.6

Schneider $3.3(resign)

Markov $3.0(resign for 500,000 more)

Chelios $.85(resign)

Lilja $1.0

Kronwall $1.5

Lebda $.55

Hasek $2.0(Resign for 1.3 more)

Osgood $.8

(Lang/Calder dropped)

Grand total: $43.195

Of course, I'm assuming that

A) Hasek will resign and ask for more(gave him a generous amount)

B) That Schneider will resign for his same salary as last year(this is a big guess)

C) That Bertuzzi will stay for less than half his current salary

But assuming all these things, it still leaves us with about 3-4 million in spending money to acquire another forward (hopefully a RW)

Two options that might fit in nicely:

Scott Hartnell: RW 6'2'' , 210 lbs, age: 24. Made $1.75 this year. We'll have to give him quite a bit more than that to take him from Nashville, i'm guessing.

in '06-'07 he had 22 goals and 17 assists.

Dainus Zubrus: RW 6'4'' 224 lbs, age:28. Made $1.85 this year. With the cap problems Buffalo is going to have they may not be able to resign him.

in '06-'07 he had 24 Goals and 36 assists.

You might be able to do something like...

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Bertuzzi-Filppula-Zubrus/Hartnell

Cleary-Draper-Maltby

Kopekcy/Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson

...Well, I kinda suck at putting lines toghether but i'm sure you could make some good combos with those players.

Of course, dropping Schnieder and using Lilja/Quincey to fill the void would give you an extra $3.3 to go after the "big name" players like Smyth and Gomez. You could also drop Bertuzzi and gain some spending power. Personally, I hope the wings can keep Schnieder, especially since our PP was a bit weak this year.

With all of that said I think our core of players (minus Lang and *maybe* Calder) is strong enough to put up good numbers this season. Filppula is more than ready to center the second line, or play wing. Still, some more offensive presence would make this team scary.

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

We dont need any free agents.

This team will win the cup next year the way we are.

The only reason we lost is because of a few bad bounces and the NHL hates us and made the refs make bad calls.

So therefore you are ignorant and should be banned.

conspiracey yes yes yes we need to mreplce Lang or put him on the fourth line

[LeftWinger 5,152]

...here we go! Off-season, almost as excitng and disappointing as the regular season can be!!!

...The debate begins! Who WILL we sign, we WON'T we sign, who SHOULD we sign!

I am a little naive, but who are OUR UFA's?

Hasek, Chelios, Bertuzzi, Calder, Schneider. From there I am lost, are there any others?

[<nightwing> 0]

Yeah I see Lang and Schns leaving, but other than that I see the team staying the same. I think we have a great core of guys and I think if we pick up a D-Man and a sniper we'll be even better and it better not be Karyia (he is not a sniper HE SUCKS). Would love to see Ryan Smyth. Smyth would give us 3 guys to go to the net. We'll see. I ahve a good feeling about next season. I hope that Dom hangs is up though I don't think he has it anymore, he just is not as great as he use to be, I know he had a great playoff but I don't think he can last an entire season and I'm sick of walking on eggshells with him. If Jiggy is out there then lets give him a try, you can beat him, sign him. He Loves Babs so we'll see.

YEAH, Jiiggy is also playing for the stanley cup with the Ducks this year, that is a great incentive to leave Anahiem, not!.

[Zeta Power 40 1]

...here we go! Off-season, almost as excitng and disappointing as the regular season can be!!!

...The debate begins! Who WILL we sign, we WON'T we sign, who SHOULD we sign!

I am a little naive, but who are OUR UFA's?

Hasek, Chelios, Bertuzzi, Calder, Schneider. From there I am lost, are there any others?

Lang and Markov are UFA as well.

[akustyk 84]

YEAH, Jiiggy is also playing for the stanley cup with the Ducks this year, that is a great incentive to leave Anahiem, not!.

yes and no. Bryzgalov proved to be as good as Giguere in regular season, and is cheaper. Burke may want to give him a chance to be full time starter. even more if Giguere's agent pulls Don Meehan and starts with some ridiculous price tag that JS isn't even worth. with Burke not beeing overly keen on dealing with greedy players, I can easily see Giguere gone

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

I know I'll take heat for this, but:

Out with Lang and Draper (sorry but Drapes is simply not contributing like we need and we have plenty of leadership)

In with Drury and Gomez.

Datsyuk Filpulla Drury

Zetterberg Holmstrom Franzen

Bertuzzi Gomez Cleary

Now those lines clearly aren't set in stone, as there's a lot of overlapping at positions. But just imagine marching those 9 guys out there.

how is Draper not contributing?

He's a key faceoff guy and is one of our best defensive forwards.

[LEBDA22 0]

i didnt see any mention of toskala. if dom were to call it quits , id go after vesa.he seems to be one of the few goalies that will be out there that has a winning record vs our wings, and hed come at a pretty good price

Edited May 24, 2007 by LEBDA22

[nate_327 0]

We don't need forwards. We need some depth at D.

agreed, we dont need any forwards. we need to think long-term, once Lidstrom retires in 2-4 years or, if not retire, becomes less effective with age, then our defense is completely f***ed. by that time, chelios will be gone, and probably schneider as well, we need to lock up some D.

The only person on our roster who needs to go is Lang. Im sorry, i know there are a lot of lang fans on here, but jesus christ, he's slow, he cant pass, and cant handle the puck, the only thing he can do is shoot. He sucks, get rid of him.

also, what happened to that swedish goalie we signed last year? i forget his name

Edited May 24, 2007 by nate_327

[rick zombo 3,739]

agreed, we dont need any forwards. we need to think long-term, once Lidstrom retires in 2-4 years or, if not retire, becomes less effective with age, then our defense is completely f***ed. by that time, chelios will be gone, and probably schneider as well, we need to lock up some D.

The only person on our roster who needs to go is Lang. Im sorry, i know there are a lot of lang fans on here, but jesus christ, he's slow, he cant pass, and cant handle the puck, the only thing he can do is shoot. He sucks, get rid of him.

also, what happened to that swedish goalie we signed last year? i forget his name

Liv.

Also Detroit needs one forward with size that can play a top 6 role (as in score and play on the PP). Like a healthy Bertuzzi or a Scott Hartnell type player.

Detroit needs a physical defencemen.

Lang and Calder and maybe Bertuzzi need to go.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Liv.

Also Detroit needs one forward with size that can play a top 6 role (as in score and play on the PP). Like a healthy Bertuzzi or a Scott Hartnell type player.

Detroit needs a physical defencemen.

Lang and Calder and maybe Bertuzzi need to go.

Agreed.

If the Wings do sign Bert I'm guessing it's gonna be short term, and at a discount.

I know he was coming off surgery and missed most of the season, but I'm just not sold on his place with the team.

[RedRockit 0]

and finally... hell freezes over on the day Forsberg joins Wings. Jesus Christ, don't even mention it!

*shudder* I second that. I third that. I fourth... well, you get the idea.

It's not at all the 'lanche history, but he became a completely different player post-injury. I lost what sneaking admiration, and lost all respect, that I had ever harbored for him-- and I had qute a bit indeed BITD, to be honest.

how is Draper not contributing?

He's a key faceoff guy and is one of our best defensive forwards.

Argh, don't go there.... look at his post F/O stats.

(no don't, it's FAR TOO painful)

He's got a no-trade clause, he's a Wing for life if he chooses to be. Regardless of his post-play this year, I'm VERY sure his presence on the team is a positive one (I hope I hope I hope).

[rick zombo 3,739]

Agreed.

If the Wings do sign Bert I'm guessing it's gonna be short term, and at a discount.

I know he was coming off surgery and missed most of the season, but I'm just not sold on his place with the team.

He was a decent rental. And gave the Wings all he could IMO.

I'm just sceptical about his health.

I'd like to see a questionmark free line-up next year. And as dirty a reputation that he has, a 25 year old, healthy, Hartnell, who has yet to peak offensively is the perfect replacement for Bertuzzi.

Unlike last summer, I am confident that Holland will make the right moves. This team has a new grtittier identity that management can no longer ignore. Ant FA signings will have to reflect this IMO.

[oilandwingsfan 3]

Souray is too much of a defensive liability. Someone said it before already, the only reason he should be considered is that he's big and will drop the gloves but other than that he's pretty brutal.

Ryan Smyth will be asking for big bucks, but the Wings already have a player like him in Tomas Holmstrom. Holmstrom is way cheaper but plays with the same skill and heart as Smyth.

Chris Drury will be probably be making double his current salary in free agency (according to TSN). When it comes down to Drury and Briere, i'm pretty sure Drury will be the first one signed over Briere. And would you really pay Drury 6.something million bucks??! Honestly he's a great player but that price tag is too high.

If the Wings are going to get a bigger dman then i can see Bertuzzi being let go.