Sat. Hotstove: Rob Blake to the Wings?

[Louisville 112]

horton's interesting.

Nathan Horton would be beautiful, but you guys are either high or dreaming if you think Florida will trade him for a deal that doesn't include Fippula, Cleary, Franzen, Kindl, Picks, and or even a Datsyuk.

Mike Keenan isn't running things anymore, sorry.

[imisssergei 0]

am i retarded ?? watch your mouth kid ...... why the hell would we need MORE puck moving defencemen ?? what we need is someone who can pound guys in front of the net and be physical , havelid doesnt fit that description and you said hes got ONE more year on his deal thats why i said forget about him hes not worth 2.7 million , neither are blake or foote but there contract ends at the end of the year

havelid is not the kind of player we need in my opinion , and you can hate my opinions and disagree with me but im pretty sure holland wont trade for a player whos got more years on his deal past this season

I don't hate your opinons, I always get a good laugh from your posts. That is, when I can make sense out of them.

Look at the Wings d corp. Point out one guy who plays the role that Blake/Foote plays. You can't because there isn't. The closest thing the Wings have to a guy like that is Cheli, and he doesn't really do that much. The Wings are a puck possesion team. In order for that to work, you must have puck moving defensemen.

In case you've forgotten, the Wings have tried bringing in a big, physical dman before. They don't fit in with the Wings. Remember Uwe? Remember Hatcher?

[Yzerfan1999 81]

I am all for standing pat at the deadline. At most a 2nd liner with some secondary scoring would be nice, but I would hate to see the Wings give up their young guys or more prospects for another rental.

[Rice 42]

In case you've forgotten, the Wings have tried bringing in a big, physical dman before. They don't fit in with the Wings. Remember Uwe? Remember Hatcher?

Remember Danny Markov? Not that big, but he was physical. He was a great shut-down guy and that's what the Wings are lacking.

Look at last night. Lidstrom takes a penalty in the waning minutes of the game and the "shutdown" PK pairing the Wings had out there was Lilja-Chelios. Chelios was having a bad night already and Lilja is Lilja. I'd love a bona-fide defensive defenseman in that role like Foote.

[arnoldbuck 0]

I know its been said in the previous 4 pages ... but my 2 cents ... as much as I liked Blake in the past ... he is not the answer the wings need. We are as strong defensively as any team gets. Sure his 52 inch ass could deliver a few more punishing hip checks than we usually dish out ... but I think the one area we need to improve towards a cup is up front. What will end up happening, i dont know ... but I can imagine.

[ruarc' 2]

championships are won with defense.

sticking with the "if it's not broke don't fix it" idea, our offense ranks amongst the upper echelon does it not? i'm all about stockpiling talent, however, i think it will be much more difficult to do with offensive players this year. look at the names being thrown around, toronto's going to ask for a kings ransom if they're willing to deal sundin. in this salary cap era, you've gotta build from within and i'm not willing to risk what would be needed to get that type of deal done. or anyone for that matter! i'm all about standing pat, but if holland wants to go after someone to improve the team please let it be something we could seriously use. ala; blake, foote, big bad ass defensemen. again, not necessary... i'm perfectly happy with this team as it is.

[arnoldbuck 0]

if we are going to poach some players off the kings "again" we should go after cammalleri, frolov or even.....kopitar.

i know...more expensive, but lose sammy,lillja, or even franzen, and i would be ok with that.

my wish list from available "out right now" teams....

anze kopitar.....to much to give up

mike cammalleri...might be do-able

mats sundin....strictly a rental

michael ryder...could be had cheap, would flourish on our high speed offence

darcy tucker....tough guy that can score? team falling apart? wants to drink from cup?

vaclav prospal....tampa needs a way out of their cap issues, and failing team

nathan horton....sean averys less dick-ish cousin, but scores

stephan weiss...long term potential here...can be slick with the puck

patrick sharp- never happen....aggresive, fast, scores, rival team. nuf said.

what i am kinda curious of is ... is/would Mats be strictly a rental. I know and have seen his reports about how he loves Toronto. But if he were to go to Detroit ... or any other city for that matter ... he might want to stay. After seeing years of s*** toronto decisions, a management team not willing to do what it takes to win, he might like the change somewhere else. Just say, He arrives in Detroit, the city gives him the welcome, the team gives him the welcome, and the atmosphere gives him the drive. We win. And he think ... "he, this place might be a good place to stay."

I know with Mats, a ton of teams will be in the hunt and it really will be highest bidder. (unless Mats has a say in where he wants to go) But some strong conditional picks might help. you know the 'if he re-signs' things. Just a thought.

I love this time of season!!!

[Booster313 138]

I say no to Blake, unless he comes really...really C-H-E-A-P

[ruarc' 2]

mats would certanly be interesting. and, in my ultra biased opinion, there's no doubt the wings are the class of the league. the organization oozes with it for chr... however, he's 38, there's talk of retirement after this season. then again, say he decides he does wanna stick around for a couple more years, what's he going to cost us? will we be able to wiggle both him and z into the teams plans. chances are it's goin to be one or the other, i vote z. definetely understand where you're coming from, i just hate the idea of prospects and picks. especially this years first, looks like a very strong group.

[daniel1 32]

After watching the Ottawa game I loathe to think about other teams taking advantage of the Lebda/Chelios pairing; one of them has looked 46 in the past few games while the other has been consistently caught up ice and taking the man as well as a figure skater would. I would like to see Foote come over here before Blake because Foote is nastier and may even stick around for another year till Ericsson or Kindl are ready. Foote would make our second AND third pairing stronger by bumping Lilja down to play with Cheli. I'm actually hoping that they call Quincey up and that he plays so well that he bumps Cheli into the press box. I would feel better with Quincey/Lilja as the 3rd pairing.

[stormboy 47]

merh. i'm not excited about it but it wouldn't bother me, i guess.

[Nev 1,085]

Sammy and his $2M odd? Try $1.2M. Sammys only problem is that peoples expectations of him are too high. Hes provides exactly what youd expect from a sub 1.5 million dollar player. Sometimes more. And Im not even a fan.

Tuckers contract is an albatross, and hes only had one season to warrant that contract, which is Torontos specialty - ignoring the typical play of a player, and then paying for a career year apparently without knowing how to negotiate much.

If he can get healthy again, Id take a chance on landing Torres. Hes actually capable of 20 goals year to year if hes healthy while brining a devestatingly physical game..

My bad, I though he was nearer the $2M mark.

Couldn't agree more with Torres though, ever since the EDM series I've wanted this guy in a Wings uni........he's only got 5 goals this season so don't know if we could get him a little cheaper? Anyone know what his contract is? Can't find any details other than 3 yrs. He is *exactly* the kind of player the Wings roster needs ****FOR THE PLAYOFFS****

Forget Sundin or Hossa, we have enough goals in our lineup. We need more toughness come playoff time.

EDIT: Just found, Torres is in the 1st yr of a 3 yr $6.75M deal.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Nev

[Reds4Life 51]

What about Kalinin? Hes 6' 3", 206 pounds guy, UFA next season..If Buffalo don't make playoffs, we might have a chance.

[Dabura 12,232]

Foote would be sick.

[eva unit zero 271]

Foote would be sick.

Foote is not that good anymore. Plus, the key you guys are all forgetting:

For a physical defenseman to succeed in Detroit's system, he must possess two things: Skating/positional play and puck skills. The last four really physical defensemen the Wings have had? Danny Markov, Jiri Fischer, Chris Chelios, and Niklas Kronwall. Besides Chelios, who is always in proper position, the others are good skaters, and all four have solid puck skills. Other physical defensemen who have been less than successful on Detroit's blue line recently:

Derian Hatcher, Uwe Krupp, Ulf Samuelsson, Maxim Kuznetsov

All of those guys are missing one or both of the categories I outlined above.

Both Foote and Blake are closer to the second category than the first.

[Salviaman 104]

Why not get Schneider back from the ducks?

[Louisville 112]

Foote is not that good anymore. Plus, the key you guys are all forgetting:

For a physical defenseman to succeed in Detroit's system, he must possess two things: Skating/positional play and puck skills. The last four really physical defensemen the Wings have had? Danny Markov, Jiri Fischer, Chris Chelios, and Niklas Kronwall. Besides Chelios, who is always in proper position, the others are good skaters, and all four have solid puck skills. Other physical defensemen who have been less than successful on Detroit's blue line recently:

Derian Hatcher, Uwe Krupp, Ulf Samuelsson, Maxim Kuznetsov

All of those guys are missing one or both of the categories I outlined above.

Both Foote and Blake are closer to the second category than the first.

I loved Danny Markov, but I wouldn't say he had solid puck skills or above average skating.

[The Noodle 39 14]

Bleh! No Foote or Blake!

Makes no sense having him here. He also resembles a bird like Foote.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

any new info on big fish's return, get him and markov back and all of a sudden we have a hugely physical d

lids-raf

kron-markov

cheli-fish

[redwashington2000 42]

Darius Kasparaitis is the ONE

[eva unit zero 271]

I loved Danny Markov, but I wouldn't say he had solid puck skills or above average skating.

Markov is an above average skater. He's no Lebda or Niedermayer, but he is also a much better skater than a guy like Luc Robitaille.

As far as his puck skills, he's not the best offensive defenseman, but he can play the puck possession game, which is something guys like Hatcher and Kuznetsov failed at.

[erok 0]

Tucker is the last sort of guy we need... smallish guy who'd start stuff that absolutely no one on our roster could finish.

Tucker?Are you kidding??? That guy is a pretty-boy who belongs in Toronto. I just wish we played Toronto more so we could crush him more often... haha

[erok 0]

I know we have thousands of members here but it seems may people are quick to discount our Wings. In this thread (and others), people are quick to put down players like Lebda in hopes of scoring someone else like Blake. I seem to remember when Markov left many people were quick to put him down... and now some want him back? I doubt these are the same people flip-flopping but jeez.... are our Wings so bad that we need to knock em down as soon as the opportunity comes?

[imisssergei 0]

Fixed it

In all seriousness; does Markov have an exit clause in his contract with the Russian team he's playing for? Not that we need him, but IMO he might make a nice replacement for Lilja @ the deadline.

He is playing in Russia. That is the out clause. There is no transfer agreement between Russia and the NHL, therefore no out clause is necessary.

Markov isn't an overly physical guy. I'd put him in the same category as Kronwall. An above average skater, good puck handleing skills, and slightly above average physical play. You can't put him in the same physical play category as Foote, Blake, Stevens, ect.

[eva unit zero 271]

He is playing in Russia. That is the out clause. There is no transfer agreement between Russia and the NHL, therefore no out clause is necessary.

Markov isn't an overly physical guy. I'd put him in the same category as Kronwall. An above average skater, good puck handleing skills, and slightly above average physical play. You can't put him in the same physical play category as Foote, Blake, Stevens, ect.

Foote and Blake are less physical than Lilja now...and Markov is much more physical than Lilja.