Wings sign Drake for 1-year, $550K

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Drake doesn't fight. Ville doesn't fight. Maltby doesn't fight. Draper doesn't fight. Franzen doesn't fight. Chelios doesn't fight. Datsyuk doesn't fight. Lidstrom doesn't fight. Hasek doesn't fight. Cleary doesn't fight.

We get it. None of the Wings that are productive fight. Drake should fit right in to the WINNING formula of players who are physical without fighting.

[norrisnick 1]

We get it. You don't like Dallas. Its all good.

Instead of arguing how good this person would be and how bad this guy is going to be, why don't you just drop the argument until the season starts? Beating people over the head with your hatred of the Drake signing is getting almost as bad as Draperfan's hatred of Bertuzzi.

Why not just shut the board down til the season starts? Or better yet, Matt can fire it up for one 24 hour period after the Wings' season ends so we can go over everyone's statsheet. We wouldn't want anyone to "argue" about anything all season long without knowing what the end outcome will be, right?

[FireCaptain 563]

Uh, yeah, this guy uses ice skates and a stick....

That's all I know about his play for the 07/08 Wings until he hits the ice.

[skacore 2]

This signing is a little odd because we just signed an aged (not aging) energy player who hasn't had much energy the past few seasons. For 550K I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but I just can't see him rejuvenating his game for an 82 game season + playoffs, but that's not even the worst part, the thing that I'm scared about is if Holland looks at this signing and thinks to himself "yep, I found the guy", when there are still a few suitable FA's out there who are in their prime (ASHAM!)

Edited July 11, 2007 by skacore

[Guest DetroitIan]

Wow, Ive been up north for like 4 days. I just came back. And I saw we snagged Drake. THIS IS A GREAT SIGNING. Another great job by Kenny. Dallas is a gritty guy. And knows how to put the puck into the net. Im sure that he will have more success with us than Lang did.

[skacore 2]

Out of sheer boredom I must have looked through atleast 50 St. Louis Blues highlights on NHL.com (the hit section) and didn't find 1 Drake hit

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

Out of sheer boredom I must have looked through atleast 50 St. Louis Blues highlights on NHL.com (the hit section) and didn't find 1 Drake hit

[eva unit zero 271]

Out of sheer boredom I must have looked through atleast 50 St. Louis Blues highlights on NHL.com (the hit section) and didn't find 1 Drake hit

Here ya go.

Drake on Lebda

[OsGOD 3]

You can't find much on the s***ty nhl.com.... so don't feel too bad... as eva gave you some examples they are out thar.

[motorcitykid 42]

Here ya go.

Drake on Lebda

He leaves his feet to run Lebda's head. He blindsides Aubin again up high. And a fight that never was.

[OsGOD 3]

And all of that will get the opponents to keep their heads up when he is on the ice.... so Bravo to Drake!

[bringback91 2]

He leaves his feet to run Lebda's head. He blindsides Aubin again up high. And a fight that never was.

Blindsides Aubin up high?!? I'd bench him if he didn't make that hit. That's textbook and why Mickey always says to keep your head up. That's what a hit is supposed to be, Lebda yeah that was a cheapshot, and as I stated in my first post in this thread a reason why I really couldn't stand the guy much anymore. But he's exactly the type that can help the Wings alot and he was far from one of my most hated or the cheapest players around.

I don't understand some of those who hate the signing. Why so bitter. It wastes virtually no cap space, and if some of you are right he won't even be playing anyway, so what's the big deal? Although he will be playing IMO. He knows what his job will be and he'll do it well. Maybe finally the grind line can get that bite back it used to have.

[Opie 308]

Blindsides Aubin up high?!? I'd bench him if he didn't make that hit. That's textbook and why Mickey always says to keep your head up. That's what a hit is supposed to be, Lebda yeah that was a cheapshot, and as I stated in my first post in this thread a reason why I really couldn't stand the guy much anymore. But he's exactly the type that can help the Wings alot and he was far from one of my most hated or the cheapest players around.

I don't understand some of those who hate the signing. Why so bitter. It wastes virtually no cap space, and if some of you are right he won't even be playing anyway, so what's the big deal? Although he will be playing IMO. He knows what his job will be and he'll do it well. Maybe finally the grind line can get that bite back it used to have.

Amen Reverend Bringback91!!!!!

QFT

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Great, so Drake is a guy that gave up on the team he wore the C for. Very compelling argument...

You can not make an argument that Ville was run out of the league for not manning up to his actions and make some claim that Drake is any better. The only difference between their style of physicality (apart from Ville being quicker and bigger) is that Nieminen grins like a madman when he does it. So unless you're going to argue that Drake hasn't been running people, taking VERY questionable hits, and so forth why is it that he hasn't been forced to man up? Why hasn't he been backing up his physical play? Either he tucks tail and runs like Ville, or he's not as physical anymore. You pick. Because Ville will scrum and facewash with the best of 'em. He just doesn't throw down. Neither does Dallas of late.

Way to twist my words around to suit your argument. Pretty obvious and not particularly clever so you know. How would I know if Drake "gave up" on St.Louis? That's you twisting words around. I'm saying that jumping from a s***ty team to a great team has a tendency to fire players up and no matter how you try to view it, the concept of morale actually exists and that's what i'm getting at. I'm saying playing on a better team with better players could rejuvinate Drake's play and could lead to him contributing more than just the high hits you think are his sole skill.

You can bag on Drake's lack of fighting all you want. Here's 2 things to keep in mind:

Drake has 27 fighting majors in his career. Vile has a whopping 2. Vile fought bruisers like Tomas Malec and Matt Murley. Drake has always backed up his actions when confronted by another player, the Petrovicky fight was evidence of that. He drilled Aubin and Petro came in and Drake didn't run. He manned up and had a decent go with Petro who is not a bad light middleweight scrapper himself.

Drake has fought Ian Laperierre, David Ling, Adam Mair and Steve Ott in recent years. These are guys that can scrap and guys that Niemenen wouldn't dream of dropping the gloves with. This is a no-contest between Vile and Drake.

Vile is bigger, younger, a better skater (although he's busted out of the league so what good is any of that) but as far as toughness goes, Drake would own him. You know it so just fess up already.

It's one thing to think Drake will have no impact. I hope you're wrong and I hope you'll cheer him on. But you're going over the top trying to prove Vile is every bit as tough as Drake or would be as inclined to fight as Drake. Drake has a proven record of laying big hits and sometimes having to answer for those. The instigator rule has probably done something to limit the amount of fights he's had in recent years but the guy averages over 2 fights per season over his career. He's never had more than 4 in any season and never gone a season without at least 1 scrap. He isn't here to be a fighter and as NFM25 stated, there are options out there like Asham that I would've loved more than the Drake signing. But all of that is neither here nor there. Drake is tougher than Vile. Drake will own up to anybody who wants to toss them with him. That's the big difference here. If somebody wants to take an instigator and go, Drake will oblige. All i've seen Vile do is wrestle people to the ground and hide behind linseman. I think I actually only saw him throw bare-knuckle punches once in his career and yeah, it was against one of those uber tough guys Malec or Murley.

Vile is sooooooo tuff. I bet he's just tearing up whatever piece of garbage league he's been banished to. Lot of good all those attributes are doing him in the NHL, huh. Although somehow a dud like Drake is still finding work, and from the Detroit Red Wings of all teams, go figrue.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Here ya go.

Drake on Lebda

That was a solid clean hit on Aubin.

Man it'd be nice if the Wings would drop the gloves and stick up for their teammate after a hit like that, clean or not.

Lebda gets crushed and what does Drake get? a little shove.

[Wings_Fan_In_Exile 3]

That was a solid clean hit on Aubin.

Man it'd be nice if the Wings would drop the gloves and stick up for their teammate after a hit like that, clean or not.

Lebda gets crushed and what does Drake get? a little shove.

No kidding, that vid made me want us to snag Petrovicky too. haha.

[motorcitykid 42]

I don't understand some of those who hate the signing. Why so bitter. It wastes virtually no cap space, and if some of you are right he won't even be playing anyway, so what's the big deal?

What has Holland done so far this off-season to address the needs of this team? That's why. Edited July 11, 2007 by motorcitykid

[Opie 308]

What has Holland done so far this off-season to address the needs of this team? That's why.

Your right, stupid Holland signing a younger better defenseman to replace the 38 year old. When will he overpay a guy like Hartnell and then sign Yashin for 5 mil a year so that in two years Zetterberg walks out the door.

THIS IS NOT 2002 ANYMORE, THERE IS THIS THING CALLED A SALARY CAP!!

[Guest DetroitIan]

No one can really rip this signing. This a low-risk/High-reward deal. We payed 500k to a guy that can help us in an area that we lack greatly. And if is doesnt work out. Then so be it. We're not losing out alot of money.

[bringback91 2]

What has Holland done so far this off-season to address the needs of this team? That's why.

Signed a #2 dman to replace schnieder. Got a tough gritty guy who can come in and lay some hits on some guys. Got a top 5 goaltender in the net. Let two underacheiveing overpaid players walk. (addition by subtraction) Didn't go overboard and sign guys to some ridiculous contracts that may hinder the re signing of Z in two years. Besides the fact last time I checked, it's only July 11th, safe to say there is at least a COUPLE more days left in the offseason, and a nice chunk of change to play with. Not to mention the some of the young guys that are ready to step into bigger roles. My suggestion, relax, enjoy your summer and when the season roles around enjoy the team you've got. Not too long ago there was no Red Wings to watch, didn't that suck worse? Players like Gurein and Bert aren't the answer and there's no point in overpaying for them. Kenny's a pro, he'll handle it.

[Opie 308]

When has Ken Holland led this team astray, when was the last time a Red wings team he was the GM of missed the playoffs?

Relax he knows a hell of a lot more about the needs of this team than we armchair quarterbacks know.

[Guest DetroitIan]

Signed a #2 dman to replace schnieder. Got a tough gritty guy who can come in and lay some hits on some guys. Got a top 5 goaltender in the net. Let two underacheiveing overpaid players walk. (addition by subtraction) Didn't go overboard and sign guys to some ridiculous contracts that may hinder the re signing of Z in two years. Besides the fact last time I checked, it's only July 11th, safe to say there is at least a COUPLE more days left in the offseason, and a nice chunk of change to play with. Not to mention the some of the young guys that are ready to step into bigger roles. My suggestion, relax, enjoy your summer and when the season roles around enjoy the team you've got. Not too long ago there was no Red Wings to watch, didn't that suck worse? Players like Gurein and Bert aren't the answer and there's no point in overpaying for them. Kenny's a pro, he'll handle it.

Agreed. I mean I did want Bert and all. But I wouldnt be able to sleep at night knowing we gave him 4 mill a year. So yeah I got over that. So far Kenny has done quite well actually. Better than I thought it would be at this point a couple weeks ago. I really would like to see one more good signing to help this squad. But IMO. So far so good. And Kenny will sooner or later get the job done. He always does.

[DreamsofHope 2]

Signed a #2 dman to replace schnieder. Got a tough gritty guy who can come in and lay some hits on some guys. Got a top 5 goaltender in the net. Let two underacheiveing overpaid players walk. (addition by subtraction) Didn't go overboard and sign guys to some ridiculous contracts that may hinder the re signing of Z in two years. Besides the fact last time I checked, it's only July 11th, safe to say there is at least a COUPLE more days left in the offseason, and a nice chunk of change to play with. Not to mention the some of the young guys that are ready to step into bigger roles. My suggestion, relax, enjoy your summer and when the season roles around enjoy the team you've got. Not too long ago there was no Red Wings to watch, didn't that suck worse? Players like Gurein and Bert aren't the answer and there's no point in overpaying for them. Kenny's a pro, he'll handle it.

Well said!!!

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Signed a #2 dman to replace schnieder. Got a tough gritty guy who can come in and lay some hits on some guys. Got a top 5 goaltender in the net. Let two underacheiveing overpaid players walk. (addition by subtraction) Didn't go overboard and sign guys to some ridiculous contracts that may hinder the re signing of Z in two years. Besides the fact last time I checked, it's only July 11th, safe to say there is at least a COUPLE more days left in the offseason, and a nice chunk of change to play with. Not to mention the some of the young guys that are ready to step into bigger roles. My suggestion, relax, enjoy your summer and when the season roles around enjoy the team you've got. Not too long ago there was no Red Wings to watch, didn't that suck worse? Players like Gurein and Bert aren't the answer and there's no point in overpaying for them. Kenny's a pro, he'll handle it.

HERE HERE!!!!

Now all we need is Fedorov to be bought out and to pick him up for around $3mil and the Cup is in the bag

Edited July 11, 2007 by Wings_Dynasty

[motorcitykid 42]

Signed a #2 dman to replace schnieder. Got a tough gritty guy who can come in and lay some hits on some guys. Got a top 5 goaltender in the net. Let two underacheiveing overpaid players walk. (addition by subtraction) Didn't go overboard and sign guys to some ridiculous contracts that may hinder the re signing of Z in two years. Besides the fact last time I checked, it's only July 11th, safe to say there is at least a COUPLE more days left in the offseason, and a nice chunk of change to play with. Not to mention the some of the young guys that are ready to step into bigger roles. My suggestion, relax, enjoy your summer and when the season roles around enjoy the team you've got. Not too long ago there was no Red Wings to watch, didn't that suck worse? Players like Gurein and Bert aren't the answer and there's no point in overpaying for them. Kenny's a pro, he'll handle it.

Hasek was already here. Rafalski replaces Mathieu.

Again, what has he done to address the needs here aside from "letting players go"? Or are you one who buys into Holland's yearly "wait until the deadline" crap that fetches us such 'greatness' as Todd Bertuzzi?