Eklund's Top Free Agents

[Zion 93]

EKLUND'S TOP 30 UFA CENTERS

1. Mats Sundin

2. Daymond Langkow

3. Vinny Prospal

4. Joe Sakic

5. Peter Forsberg

6. Jason Williams

7. Sergei Fedorov

8. Doug Weight

9. Stephane Yelle

10. Martin Straka

11. Brendan Morrison

12. Jeremy Roenick

13. Michael Peca

14. Stu Barnes

15. Chris Kelly

16. Craig Conroy

17. Bryan Smolinski

18. Chris Gratton

19. Yanic Perreault

20. Jimmy Dowd

21. Randy Robitaille

22. Bobby Holik

23. Erik Rasmussen

24. Marty Reasoner

25. Josef Vasicek

26. Niko Kapanen

27. Jaro Hlinka

28. Steven Rucchin

29. Kevyn Adams

30. Glen Metropolit

EKLUND'S TOP 21 UFA LEFT WINGS

1. Kristian Huselius

2. Ryan Malone

3. Andrew Brunette

4. Brendan Shanahan

5. Markus Naslund

6. Sean Avery

7. Ruslan Fedotenko

8. Niklas Hagman

9. Cory Stillman

10. Gary Roberts

11. Matt Cooke

12. Pascal Dupuis

13. Jay Pandolfo

14. Ladislav Nagy

15. Jarkko Ruutu

16. Brad Isbister

17. Jan Hlavac

18. Martin Gelinas

19. Martin Rucinsky

20. Jody Shelley

21. Mike York

EKLUND'S TOP 24 UFA RIGHT WINGS

1. Marian Hossa

2. Brian Rolston

3. Radim Vrbata

4. Pavol Demitra

5. Teemu Selanne

6. Michael Ryder

7. Mark Recchi

8. Antii Miettinen

9. Miro Satan

10. David Vyborny

11. George Laraques

12. Trevor Letowski

13. Owen Nolan

14. Matt Bradley

15. Dallas Drake

16. Martin Lapointe

17. Branko Radivojevic

18. Keith Aucoin

19. Brian Willsie

20. Mike Johnson

21. Arron Asham

22. Shean Donovan

23. Jesse Boulerice

24. Aaron Downey

EKLUND'S TOP 40 UFA DEFENSEMEN

1. Mark Streit

2. Brian Campbell

3. Michal Rozsival

4. Wade Redden

5. John-Michael Liles

6. Rob Blake

7. Ron Hainsey

8. Steve Montador

9. Jeff Finger

10. Mark Eaton

11. Adam Foote

12. Bryan Berard

13. Brad Stuart

14. Mattias Norstrom

15. Jasen Cullimore

16. Paul Mara

17. Bret Hedican

18. Aaron Ward

19. Teppo Numminen

20. Dmitri Kalinin

21. Jason Smith

22. Andreas Lilja

23. Sean Hill

24. Marek Malik

25. Karel Rachunek

26. Aaron Miller

27. Dick Tarnstrom

28. Wade Belak

29. Jim Vandermeer

30. Mike Commodore

31. Brooks Orpik

32. Petteri Nummelin

33. Patrice Brisbois

34. Andrei Zyuzin

35. Nolan Pratt

36. Keith Carney

37. Jaroslav Modry

38. Luke Richardson

39. Glen Wesley

40. David Hale

EKLUND'S TOP 25 UFA GOALIES

1. Cristobal Huet

2. Dan Ellis

3. Jose Theodore

4. Dominik Hasek

5. Ty Conkilin

6. Wade Dublieleiwcz

7. Johan Hedberg

8. Mika Noranen

9. Patrick Lalime

10. Curtis Sanford

11. Olaf Kolzig

12. Brian Boucher

13. Robert Esche

14. Alex Auld

15. Curtis Joseph

16. Johan Holmqvist

17. David Aebischer

18. JS Aubin

19. Jocelyn Thibeault

20. John Grahame

21. Steve Valiquette

22. Scott Clemenson

23. Yann Danis

24. Mike Morrison

25. Wade Flaherty

[BlakChamber 8]

Wonder if Liles would like to come back to Michigan, I wouldn't mind seeing him on the Wings.

[arnoldbuck 0]

Hasek in #4 of the goalies lsit!?!?!

Dont get me wrong, I love Dom. When I play street hockey, I still do this day call myself the Dominator. But Dom is all but done. I understand his talent is up there amongst the best, but at his age and in the setting, the demand for him couldn't be enough to put him at #4.

[Majsheppard 203]

Morrison, Prospal, Langkow, Malone and Rolston are the folks I think the wings may consider targeting.

The Defensemen however are so appealing...

[stud_defenseman 1]

its amazing to see how many terrible goalies there are floating around in this league. Who the hell are half those guys?!?

Oh ya, and Ryan Malone > Kristian Huseless

Edited April 30, 2008 by stud_defenseman

[theman19 47]

i'm not even going to get into how much of an absoutle joke this list is.

[mooose kiiisses 0]

its amazing to see how many terrible goalies there are floating around in this league. Who the hell are half those guys?!?

Oh ya, and Ryan Malone > Kristian Huseless

I know, out of that whole list I only recognize Huet, Ellis, Theodore, Hasek, Conklin, Lalime, Kolzig, Cujo, and Holmqvist off the top of my head.

[stud_defenseman 1]

This is what Detroit needs to do... trade sammy in the offseason to chicago or anaheim (they always pick up our leftovers) for a 3rd round draft pick. Offer Sundin a nice big one-year contract...win the cup. I am still upset that he wouldn't wave his no-trade clause before the trade deadline, IMO I think he would be the perfect player for the Wings. I live near Toronto so I watch a lot of Leaf hockey too, and he is just the type of center we need. Strong on the puck behind the net, hard to knock down, and has an awesome shot. Franzen's first goal of his hattrick, the backhand top shelf, reminded me of many of the goals I have seen Sundin score; in general they have quite a similar dynamic. We can only hope that Franzen turns into that kind of player.

No offence to Sammy by the way, his play is not all that terrible, but to bring in Sundin they would have to free up a roster spot, and a bit of salary. I would not want to take the spot away from one of our younger players who are only getting better. I'm pretty sure Sammy will not get any better at this point.

[stud_defenseman 1]

I know, out of that whole list I only recognize Huet, Ellis, Theodore, Hasek, Conklin, Lalime, Kolzig, Cujo, and Holmqvist off the top of my head.

there are about 5 or 6 that I don't even recognize, and another 5 or 6 whose names I recognize but I could not tell you who the hell they have ever played for.

[WingMachine91 0]

ryan malone pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Yak19 303]

not really high profile guys but i would like Pandolfo or Ruutu, good hard working, checking forwards for the 3rd or 4th line, Mark Streit is really appealing on defence for me.

I like our core group as im sure everyone does but if you do make additions maybe one of those guys

[IceMunkee 15]

This is to Eklund and everyone on LGW that wants Sundin!!!!

HE IS NOT GOING TO LEAVE TORONTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did we learn anything from the deadline.

[Majsheppard 203]

I really could be happy with a dozenof those defensemen.

[puckbags 863]

EKLUND'S TOP 21 UFA LEFT WINGS

1. Kristian Huselius

I wouldn't touch this guy with a ten foot pole, he score 10 goals in 8 games and then dissapears for 20 games!!

[Booster313 138]

Hasek in #4 of the goalies lsit!?!?!

Dont get me wrong, I love Dom. When I play street hockey, I still do this day call myself the Dominator. But Dom is all but done. I understand his talent is up there amongst the best, but at his age and in the setting, the demand for him couldn't be enough to put him at #4.

We can all sit here and speculate that Hasek is done, has nothing left in the tank, can no longer be competitive, and will hang them up this year. The fact of the matter is that only Hasek knows what he has left. And if Hasek believes he can still compete he'll be back somewhere next year. I believe he has too much pride to go out letting people think he played too long. If he hangs them up well then we know that he feels he's done all he can do. Either way he's still one of the greatest of all time, we should be appreciative everytime we get to watch him stop a puck, because when he does decide to hang them up it will be a long time before we ever see a goalie as unorthodox and exciting to watch as the dominator.

[Booster313 138]

EKLUND'S TOP 30 UFA CENTERS

1. Mats Sundin

2. Daymond Langkow

3. Vinny Prospal

4. Joe Sakic

5. Peter Forsberg

6. Jason Williams

7. Sergei Fedorov

8. Doug Weight

9. Stephane Yelle

10. Martin Straka

11. Brendan Morrison

12. Jeremy Roenick

13. Michael Peca

14. Stu Barnes

15. Chris Kelly

16. Craig Conroy

17. Bryan Smolinski

18. Chris Gratton

19. Yanic Perreault

20. Jimmy Dowd

21. Randy Robitaille

22. Bobby Holik

23. Erik Rasmussen

24. Marty Reasoner

25. Josef Vasicek

26. Niko Kapanen

27. Jaro Hlinka

28. Steven Rucchin

29. Kevyn Adams

30. Glen Metropolit

EKLUND'S TOP 21 UFA LEFT WINGS

1. Kristian Huselius

2. Ryan Malone

3. Andrew Brunette

4. Brendan Shanahan

5. Markus Naslund

6. Sean Avery

7. Ruslan Fedotenko

8. Niklas Hagman

9. Cory Stillman

10. Gary Roberts

11. Matt Cooke

12. Pascal Dupuis

13. Jay Pandolfo

14. Ladislav Nagy

15. Jarkko Ruutu

16. Brad Isbister

17. Jan Hlavac

18. Martin Gelinas

19. Martin Rucinsky

20. Jody Shelley

21. Mike York

EKLUND'S TOP 24 UFA RIGHT WINGS

1. Marian Hossa

2. Brian Rolston

3. Radim Vrbata

4. Pavol Demitra

5. Teemu Selanne

6. Michael Ryder

7. Mark Recchi

8. Antii Miettinen

9. Miro Satan

10. David Vyborny

11. George Laraques

12. Trevor Letowski

13. Owen Nolan

14. Matt Bradley

15. Dallas Drake

16. Martin Lapointe

17. Branko Radivojevic

18. Keith Aucoin

19. Brian Willsie

20. Mike Johnson

21. Arron Asham

22. Shean Donovan

23. Jesse Boulerice

24. Aaron Downey

EKLUND'S TOP 40 UFA DEFENSEMEN

1. Mark Streit

2. Brian Campbell

3. Michal Rozsival

4. Wade Redden

5. John-Michael Liles

6. Rob Blake

7. Ron Hainsey

8. Steve Montador

9. Jeff Finger

10. Mark Eaton

11. Adam Foote

12. Bryan Berard

13. Brad Stuart

14. Mattias Norstrom

15. Jasen Cullimore

16. Paul Mara

17. Bret Hedican

18. Aaron Ward

19. Teppo Numminen

20. Dmitri Kalinin

21. Jason Smith

22. Andreas Lilja

23. Sean Hill

24. Marek Malik

25. Karel Rachunek

26. Aaron Miller

27. Dick Tarnstrom

28. Wade Belak

29. Jim Vandermeer

30. Mike Commodore

31. Brooks Orpik

32. Petteri Nummelin

33. Patrice Brisbois

34. Andrei Zyuzin

35. Nolan Pratt

36. Keith Carney

37. Jaroslav Modry

38. Luke Richardson

39. Glen Wesley

40. David Hale

EKLUND'S TOP 25 UFA GOALIES

1. Cristobal Huet

2. Dan Ellis

3. Jose Theodore

4. Dominik Hasek

5. Ty Conkilin

6. Wade Dublieleiwcz

7. Johan Hedberg

8. Mika Noranen

9. Patrick Lalime

10. Curtis Sanford

11. Olaf Kolzig

12. Brian Boucher

13. Robert Esche

14. Alex Auld

15. Curtis Joseph

16. Johan Holmqvist

17. David Aebischer

18. JS Aubin

19. Jocelyn Thibeault

20. John Grahame

21. Steve Valiquette

22. Scott Clemenson

23. Yann Danis

24. Mike Morrison

25. Wade Flaherty

Those are my picks, I am probably one of the only ones, but I think that if Dom wants to come back....and is willing to split time with Ozzie and possibly back him up depending on play....I wouldn't mind seeing the tandem one more time.

Edited April 30, 2008 by Booster313

[nkuehnl 0]

If Naslund signed for a mid amount of money, I wouldn't mind taking a chance on him. Stick him on the 2nd line in a low pressure situation and I think he could regain some of his scoring touch.

Huselius as #1 for LW is a joke. Malone, Avery, Naslund, Brunette should all be ahead of him for various reasons.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

i want shanny or rolston

[stud_defenseman 1]

I would love to have ryan malone, but he is going to command atleast 3.5 a year for 3 or 4 years, im not sure if we can afford that with signing hank and franzen next summer as they will both get significant raises.

[C-TownWing 0]

I would love to have ryan malone, but he is going to command atleast 3.5 a year for 3 or 4 years, im not sure if we can afford that with signing hank and franzen next summer as they will both get significant raises.

I'd pay it for him...he's just beginning to hit his capabilities. I envision him becoming a consistent 30 goal/70 point guy who would add grit to our top 6. We would have two absolutely sick scoring lines, where right now, we have arguably the best line in the league when it's together, a red-hot Mule, but a revolving Sammy/Hudler/Flip/sometimes Cleary door at the wings on that 2nd line.

Stuart's pretty high on the D list and has only improved his stock in these playoffs IMO. People assuming that we'll just be able to grab him back are nuts.

But basically, signing those two would be my ideal offseason.

[WingMachine91 0]

if we can get malone at 3.5 then thats a steal. plus i knkow mule and zetter will need raises, but the cap will probably go up again next year so we will have even more room to play with. i see malone as a shanny type player, just without the wicked shot. we prolly could then break up zdh if need be, but if filpulla matures and progresses even more, a flip franzen and malone line would also be sick. but i think another option would be to trade for jeff carter. the flyers need to get rid of hime for something, because hes just wasting away as their 3rd line center. carter as our second line center would be sickk. carter malone franzen would also dominate. we have plenty of dmen in our system, maybe we can trade one of them

[VM1138 1,921]

Hasek in #4 of the goalies lsit!?!?!

Dont get me wrong, I love Dom. When I play street hockey, I still do this day call myself the Dominator. But Dom is all but done. I understand his talent is up there amongst the best, but at his age and in the setting, the demand for him couldn't be enough to put him at #4.

I'm more surprised that he still lists Forsberg near the top. Don't people realize what a waste Forsberg is?

[dallas27 7]

Those are my picks, I am probably one of the only ones, but I think that if Dom wants to come back....and is willing to split time with Ozzie and possibly back him up depending on play....I wouldn't mind seeing the tandem one more time.

Jimmy Howard needs to be backing up/splitting time with Osgood next season, I don't see how it's an option to let him sit in GR another year. Howard is the future of this team and there is no reason to pay Hasek big money to maybe play half the games with his health and reflexes deteriorating. Hasek was an amazing goalie but it's time to let him go. Osgood has proven that he is still more than capable of handling the load.

Feds and Hossa please.

[Booster313 138]

Jimmy Howard needs to be backing up/splitting time with Osgood next season, I don't see how it's an option to let him sit in GR another year. Howard is the future of this team and there is no reason to pay Hasek big money to maybe play half the games with his health and reflexes deteriorating. Hasek was an amazing goalie but it's time to let him go. Osgood has proven that he is still more than capable of handling the load.Feds and Hossa please.

maybe...I don't know what you consider big money, but I think we could sign Hasek next year for about the same as what we will pay Howard (plus bonuses of course, but if you end up paying them, well then it was a good signing...very true but Osgood, Hasek seems to be working this year.

DISCLAIMER: I don't expect the Wings to sign Hasek next year...all I am saying is if they did it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He would have to sign for less than what Osgood got based on his play this year and would be good insurance for the price. Look at Cujo and Calgary and they have Kipper!

Edited May 1, 2008 by Booster313

[VM1138 1,921]

You know, I wouldn't mind Hasek signing here again. The only problem being that he'd take up space that Howard could play.

Hasek will probably retire though, thus saving us the debate.