Next year: who stays and who comes in

[jaymcfly 0]

there is a fair amount up in the air for the wings next year with some big FAs possibly leaving, a good piece of cap to throw around, and some prime FAs on the market. to start i think everyone will agree that calder and lang wont be back and that hudler and chelios will be. that leaves schneider, markov, bert, and hasek as the wings big FAs. personally i would mind having them all back but obviously the cap and retirement are issues. hasek if he comes back should get at least a slight raise over the 1.2 million he made last season maybe to around 2. berts gotta take a cut whether he stays or not. id love to have him back at around 3.5 million. markov is going to command a raise from the 2.5 million he made last year but anything more than 3 is an overshot with the eligible FA dmen available. schneider is big component of our success over the last couple years (especially on the pp although a lot of his stats are inflated due to favorable circumstances, mainly lidstrom) and i think he could get more than 3.3 million on the FA market but from the wings perspective i wouldnt pay him any more. there are other younger options out there and we have to give kronwall the chance to earn his check with more icetime (if he can stay healthy). even if we retain all of them assuming we can do so at the above estimates how ever inaccurate they may be and the cap rises to around 46-48 million, there will still be some room under the cap for pick ups.

on to FAs. there are some great players available this year and the wings certainly have some options when it comes to retaining and new signings. taking possible contract demands into account, the forwards i wouldnt mind seeing on the wings next year are: hartnell, smyth, pyatt, blake, and handzus. i know drury and briere are out there but i think the price is going to be much too high. obviously smyth will be high as well but if the wings dont retain bert then smyth is the best option and may be regardless of bert. for dmen, i like sarich, preissing, stuart, vaananen, and hannan. a lot of this depends on who they end up retaining. if schneider leaves we'll need a little more offensive dman like stuart and if markov leaves we'll need a more defensive dman like hannan or sarich.

overall, i think the wings are in a great position going into next year and we will be a main team of interest to the majority of free agents. who do yall want to stay and for how much and what new players do you want to see in a winged wheel?

[Guest ZDH]

Well I am expecting pretty much status quo for the Wings this summer. The whole "if it aint broke why fix it" theory...

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom

Cleary/Filppula/Bertuzzi

Maltby/Draper/Franzen

Samuelsson/Hudler/Grigorenko

Kopecky

Lidstrom/Markov

Schneider/Kronwall

Lebda/Chelios

Lilja

Hasek/Osgood

So yeah Lang and Calder are gone. Bert, Schneider, Markov, Chelly and Dom are all re-signed. Hopefully Kenny can get them all back.

I expect the Wings to come in around $2 mil under a $48 mil Cap to leave some room at the trade deadline and/or for injuries.

Now if I had my way I'd at least see if we can get Smyth for less than his market value. But I do expect Bert back because he will be much cheaper. I hope his back can stay healthy and he can put up some big numbers for us.

Schneider will have to take alot less to stay with us and I am not so sure we will be able to compete with other team's offers. But I will hope he is back because I think we really need him on the team.

I also hope Grigorenko can have an impact this season like Flip did last season. He will get his chance. Maybe Quincey makes the team as the #8 dman but I'd sooner see him play each night in Grand Rapids. I know he's paid his dues.

Maybe we let Markov go and Quincey gets his shot. I like Markov though and hope we can re-sign him.

I think PLAN A is to remain status quo for the most part. If Schneider leaves then we will likely sign an UFA dman but not an expensive one. If Hasek retires then we will need a starting goalie.

There are many possibilities. If we take a pass on Bert we will likely get another winger.

All that being said I expect pretty much the same team back next season only better than ever! GO WINGS!

Edited May 30, 2007 by ZDH

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

For me the key to everything that the Wings do is Schnieder and what he's looking for . The guy's been a pretty good player for us the past few season and will probably be asking for a raise. As for Bert I would be surprised if he didn't take a paycut to stay a Wing . For me Markov is a keeper he does a good job as a solid D- man and would probably be looking for around 3 or 3.5 mil. I can't see much of a problem signing up Cheli or Rex. Hopefully Dom will stay and play at least one more great season.

[Guest ZDH]

^ Pretty much agree however I'd be shocked if Holland is able to re-sign both Schneider, & Markov...Somewhere Isles GM Snow is lurking in the shadows near Joe Louis Arena ready to kidnap poor Mathieu, & will hold him hostage with bundles of Wang's hard earned $$$ - more or less forcing him to sign a 25 year $7.6 million per year deal guaranteed

In all honesty I see Schneider re-signing, but Markov is a different story.

If it comes down to it where we have to choose between Schneider and Markov then it has to be Schneider, I think. Quincey is ready for the NHL and while he can't replace what Markov brings, he will only get better the more he plays. So if we do lose Danny, I suppose Lilja gets to be re-united with Nick.

Lidstrom/Lilja

Schneider/Kronwall

Lebda/Chelios

Quincey

Or maybe we lose both Schneider and Markov and Mo Cheese gets a spot. Who knows.

Lidstrom/Lilja

Lebda/Kronwall

Quincey/Chelios

Mo Cheese

Kindl will likely play in Grand Rapids unless he has an amazing camp. Ericsson is likely another year away and Meech does not excite me very much. We'll see...

[jaymcfly 0]

If it comes down to it where we have to choose between Schneider and Markov then it has to be Schneider, I think. Quincey is ready for the NHL and while he can't replace what Markov brings, he will only get better the more he plays. So if we do lose Danny, I suppose Lilja gets to be re-united with Nick.

Lidstrom/Lilja

Schneider/Kronwall

Lebda/Chelios

Quincey

Or maybe we lose both Schneider and Markov and Mo Cheese gets a spot. Who knows.

Lidstrom/Lilja

Lebda/Kronwall

Quincey/Chelios

Mo Cheese

Kindl will likely play in Grand Rapids unless he has an amazing camp. Ericsson is likely another year away and Meech does not excite me very much. We'll see...

if for some reason we lose both schneider and markov, i cant see the wings standing pat with lebda and quincey as full timers. that leaves little room for injury (kronwall) and i think quincey could use another year. i think we'd pick up somebody if we lose both of them and there are plenty are available loaner dmen if they plan to move up quincey next year.

[Guest ZDH]

if for some reason we lose both schneider and markov, i cant see the wings standing pat with lebda and quincey as full timers. that leaves little room for injury (kronwall) and i think quincey could use another year. i think we'd pick up somebody if we lose both of them and there are plenty are available loaner dmen if they plan to move up quincey next year.

Yeah I would expect Holland to replace Schneider and Markov with at least 1 UFA dman if we did lose both. Maybe even 2 UFA dmen. I don't know who exactly they would be but Holland would address that issue for sure.

I just don't want to see Kenny allowing our UFA's to hold him hostage like Shanny did last summer. He waited for Shanny to make up his damn mind, decide to go to the NYR and then we had very few options left to replace him with.

I'd say come July 1st, whichever of our UFA's are not signed, we forget about them and assume they are not coming back. Players are signed very fast come July 1st and we can't get caught watching the paint dry.

We lucked out last summer getting Markov and Hasek. I don't feel confident we will be so lucky this time if we play Russian Roulette with our UFA's.

Edited May 30, 2007 by ZDH

[Guest ZDH]

This is 1 area that concerns me over Hasek; he claims to wanting a few weeks to discuss his future with his family which I'm alright with, but does that mean he'll pull a Brett Favre? He'll let Holland know sometime after the 4th of July when both Giggy, & Abby have signed with other teams?

That does concern me. Hopefully before July 1st Hasek will have informed Holland of his intentions.

I'm one of Hasek's biggest fans but I am a Red Wings fan first. If Hasek takes his sweet time and needs more time to think about wanting to be a Red Wing come July 1st, then we have to assume he aint coming back. I mean, what is the pen heavy? You have a month to think about your future. No dicking around Kenny boy. Look what Shanny did. We can't have that.

[Vladinator 0]

Schneider's overal minutes can be replaced by spreading them out between the youngsters. All we need is to replace his presence on the powerplay, which can be done for a lot cheaper than what Schneider will get...

For all of the talk about how key the guy is to us, we are under .500 in playoff games that he played in since coming to the wings...not saying it is all his fault by any means....

I think that for the money, the Wings can do a lot better. Our powerplay is focused far too much on setting up the point shot. With Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, & others out there on the forward lines, we need to start working on getting it down low more often rather than relying on the point shot.

[Guest ZDH]

Schneider's overal minutes can be replaced by spreading them out between the youngsters. All we need is to replace his presence on the powerplay, which can be done for a lot cheaper than what Schneider will get...

For all of the talk about how key the guy is to us, we are under .500 in playoff games that he played in since coming to the wings...not saying it is all his fault by any means....

I think that for the money, the Wings can do a lot better. Our powerplay is focused far too much on setting up the point shot. With Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi, & others out there on the forward lines, we need to start working on getting it down low more often rather than relying on the point shot.

I don't know. I'm not saying losing Schneider would cripple us. I mean after all we did win 3 Cups before we got #23 in '03. However, I saw the way the Ducks took away Lidstrom's big bomb from the point and our PP was rendered useless. If #23 is out there with Nick, they like to pass it back and forth and create the mismatch.

The theory is always there about spreading the minutes but it aint that simple. Look at Edmonton after losing Pronger. Lowe said "we will spread out the minutes and we'll be fine." They didn't even make the playoffs. This is only an example. Of course the Wings will make the playoffs next year with our w/o Schneider...

I just don't think we value #23 as much as we should. Today's game, scoring goals is much harder than it ever was. PP's are huge. Creating offense is huge. Schneider is great not only with his cannon of a shot but also in the transition game, setting up his winger and hitting them with crisp and accurate passes and hitting them in stride. Making that great 1st pass to get the puck out of the zone. Ok so he gives the puck away too much sometimes. I never said he was perfect.

But my main disagreement with your post is that #23 can be replaced with anything we have in guys like Quincey. Perhaps someday Kindl is that player as he seems to have many of the same tools as #23 does. But he is not ready yet to be an NHLer. And even if he were, not ready to be a 20+ min man each night.

Edited May 30, 2007 by ZDH

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

I don't know. I'm not saying losing Schneider would cripple us. I mean after all we did win 3 Cups before we got #23 in '03. However, I saw the way the Ducks took away Lidstrom's big bomb from the point and our PP was rendered useless. If #23 is out there with Nick, they like to pass it back and forth and create the mismatch.

The theory is always there about spreading the minutes but it aint that simple. Look at Edmonton after losing Pronger. Lowe said "we will spread out the minutes and we'll be fine." They didn't even make the playoffs. This is only an example. Of course the Wings will make the playoffs next year with our w/o Schneider...

I just don't think we value #23 as much as we should. Today's game, scoring goals is much harder than it ever was. PP's are huge. Creating offense is huge. Schneider is great not only with his cannon of a shot but also in the transition game, setting up his winger and hitting them with crisp and accurate passes and hitting them in stride. Making that great 1st pass to get the puck out of the zone. Ok so he gives the puck away too much sometimes. I never said he was perfect.

But my main disagreement with your post is that #23 can be replaced with anything we have in guys like Quincey. Perhaps someday Kindl is that player as he seems to have many of the same tools as #23 does. But he is not ready yet to be an NHLer. And even if he were, not ready to be a 20+ min man each night.

At time's during the season I was thinking . How much would the Wings miss him if Schnieder were to leave???

As you said the Duck knew if they shut down Lids they take away a big part of the Wings offence. And it probably wasn't until the Playoff's that I realised that if Schnieder did leave it would weaken the defence's offence bigtime .

We can't afford to lose him.

[jaymcfly 0]

we can lose schneider and be fine, we would need to pick up someone else though we cant just spread the minutes, our young dman arent ready for those minutes and without another dman injuries become a real concern, he is great player and i would love to have him back but its not do or die especially with the available FAs, certainly he is best current fit but we could bring in someone else and spread the offensive reponsibility among the new guy and lebda

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

we can lose schneider and be fine, we would need to pick up someone else though we cant just spread the minutes, our young dman arent ready for those minutes and without another dman injuries become a real concern, he is great player and i would love to have him back but its not do or die especially with the available FAs, certainly he is best current fit but we could bring in someone else and spread the offensive reponsibility among the new guy and lebda

I know that Schnieder will probably get a wage rise, but to replace him the Wings will have to spend some funny money . remember last season 's UFA Defencemen and what they got?? The Wings can't afford to pay that kind of money.

[jaymcfly 0]

I know that Schnieder will probably get a wage rise, but to replace him the Wings will have to spend some funny money . remember last season 's UFA Defencemen and what they got?? The Wings can't afford to pay that kind of money.

i think GMs have learned from last years bad dman signings and this year they will be a little bit more conservative, like i said at the start i think schneider probably deserves a raise and could get a higher contract on the market but i dont think the wings can offer too much more than the 3.3 he gets now, if we let schneider go holland wouldnt be looking to make a major acquisition anyway so we wouldnt be shelling out too much money

[Guest Shoreline]

If for some reason the Wings can't get Schneider back, I'd be more than happy to see them gun for Sheldon Souray. He's slightly slower and a little less defensively responsible, but he has the same rocket shot and amazing offensive skill, plus he has a temper the Wings need. He's also 30, which isn't too old.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Shoreline

[FinWing 26]

If for some reason the Wings can't get Schneider back, I'd be more than happy to see them gun for Sheldon Souray. He's slightly slower and a little less defensively responsible, but he has the same rocket shot and amazing offensive skill, plus he has a temper the Wings need. He's also 30, which isn't too old.

Be that as it may, but for the money he's gonna want no thanks.

[Guest Shoreline]

Be that as it may, but for the money he's gonna want no thanks.

His value went down when the Habs chose Andrei Markov.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Shoreline

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

i think GMs have learned from last years bad dman signings and this year they will be a little bit more conservative, like i said at the start i think schneider probably deserves a raise and could get a higher contract on the market but i dont think the wings can offer too much more than the 3.3 he gets now, if we let schneider go holland wouldnt be looking to make a major acquisition anyway so we wouldnt be shelling out too much money

It would probably take a major acquisition to replace Schnieds. the only person on the Wings roster who has the short term potential to replace him on the PP and provide offence like him is Kronwall and 1.) he hasn't fullfilled his potential yet to merit replacing Schnieds on the .PP? and 2.) Can the Wings rely on him staying healthy enough to merit playing on the PP?.

[jaymcfly 0]

His value went down when the Habs chose Andrei Markov.

he's still going to be asking upwards of 4 million for sure which is too much

[RedRum #1 0]

If it were up to me, I'd re-sign Markov and if Schneider goes, he goes. Let's not get comfortable here just because we reached the WC finals. This is still and older team at key spots, and IMO we need to get younger and stronger on the back-end. To be honest, I have a hard time believing this team can win a Cup with their D-corps consisting of a 38, 38 and 46 year old. The elite teams in the West are getting bigger and stronger, and our back-end keeps getting older. Not a good combination.

[FinWing 26]

His value went down when the Habs chose Andrei Markov.

And how's that? He'll get what he want or close to that if he's to test the open market.

[puckloo39 5,686]

I'm one of Hasek's biggest fans but I am a Red Wings fan first. If Hasek takes his sweet time and needs more time to think about wanting to be a Red Wing come July 1st, then we have to assume he aint coming back. I mean, what is the pen heavy? You have a month to think about your future. No dicking around Kenny boy. Look what Shanny did. We can't have that.

I really think Dom is just waiting to say what he's doing until the Finals are over and the Cup is awarded. he knows whatever he says will be front page, headline news. Maybe he just doesn't want to take away the thunder from the NHL's showcase -- which probably no one is watching except Sens fans, Ducks fans and the rest of us die-hards.

Dom should have legitimate concerns about whether he's the right guy for Detroit. It's certainly not a question of his desire to play or whether the Wings want him back -- that's pretty obvious in both cases. Hasek's probably weighing realistic aspects of this decision, like his age and what his family wants to do. Hockey is his life. Even Dom has know that it's not all there is -- although to someone like Dom, the ultimate competitor, he may need to be reminded of that fact.

I think it's a little premature to be wondering if Dom is playing games with this decision. He said 2-3 weeks. He probably meant it and I doubt he will say anything prior to when he stated he would.

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

If it were up to me, I'd re-sign Markov and if Schneider goes, he goes. Let's not get comfortable here just because we reached the WC finals. This is still and older team at key spots, and IMO we need to get younger and stronger on the back-end. To be honest, I have a hard time believing this team can win a Cup with their D-corps consisting of a 38, 38 and 46 year old. The elite teams in the West are getting bigger and stronger, and our back-end keeps getting older. Not a good combination.

I know what your saying , but if the Wings lose Schnieder and go for youth to replace him it could effect their competitiveness . I think it would be better if they signed him up for another 2 years and then slowly but surely groom Kindl to come into the Wings team.

[jaymcfly 0]

It would probably take a major acquisition to replace Schnieds. the only person on the Wings roster who has the short term potential to replace him on the PP and provide offence like him is Kronwall and 1.) he hasn't fullfilled his potential yet to merit replacing Schnieds on the .PP? and 2.) Can the Wings rely on him staying healthy enough to merit playing on the PP?.

obviously it cant be a one for one replacement, kronwall and lebda and then whoever is brought in would have to share the offensive weight, schneider does a lot for this team and he is certainly an integral part of the pp but if he leaves its not the end of the world, there are some younger dman available that could share the weight or timonen stuart preissing and hamrlik are all available this summer, any of them could run the point

[Guest Shoreline]

And how's that? He'll get what he want or close to that if he's to test the open market.

Because the team that he was with showed a lack of faith in his ability (not like the Habs have a deep roster back there) to play defense. Many will look to his +/- as a telltale sign that perhaps, while his ability offensively is still there (given the points/goals), particularly on the power play, his defensive play hasn't been on par as for what's expected.

Quite honestly I think it would've been in the Habs best interest to keep Souray, but if they let him walk (which looks like the case) the Wings can get far less from him than he'd demand.

Seems as plausible as the Wings signing both Markov and Schneider -- which is.. not incredibly, but not all that unrealistic, either.

[FinWing 26]

Because the team that he was with showed a lack of faith in his ability (not like the Habs have a deep roster back there) to play defense. Many will look to his +/- as a telltale sign that perhaps, while his ability offensively is still there (given the points/goals), particularly on the power play, his defensive play hasn't been on par as for what's expected.

Quite honestly I think it would've been in the Habs best interest to keep Souray, but if they let him walk (which looks like the case) the Wings can get far less from him than he'd demand.

Seems as plausible as the Wings signing both Markov and Schneider -- which is.. not incredibly, but not all that unrealistic, either.

Don't you think Andrei Markov is a big reason why Souray is gonna walk? Markov makes $5.75 million a year so they probably can't pay Souray the same amount and thus he won't stay. I don't think there's any way Souray will be a FA bargain, there are always a bunch of teams who'll overpay. Schneider would in all likelihood be cheaper.