Off-Season moves

[eva unit zero 271]

Hes a top-10 heavyweight

No.

his puck skills aren't a reliability.

If Downey doesnt come back I'll cry for days...

Why? Certainly not because it diminishes our chances of winning the Cup...because we all saw how necessary Downey was to our Cup run. Or did you forget that already? Maybe you were crying too much about him not being in the lineup and how it meant we wouldn't be able to win the Cup?

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Darren Helm impressed the hell outa me in the post season play. Although only recieving 4 pts in the post season, he rapidly caught my attention. Does anyone else think that he was one of the fastest wings out there on the ice? That and the 18 games he played in the playoffs, he was only in the box once for a minor penalty. Theres no doubt in my mind that this kid is going to be the next draper. This kid made Grig's look terrible... proves to all that hype has no power over skill

At times Helm looked like a veteran who was playing for his last chance to win a Cup. He was flying around out there playing with tremendous tenacity on every shift.

I can't believe they waited so long to give him a chance. He should have been a regular all year, especially with the injuries we had at forward. Hopefully he'll get better defensively, which he will learn from the other centers on the team. Then he can become a force on the 3rd and 4th lines.

I never said anything along those lines. My anti-Hudler comments have been generic.

Downey is NOT a dime a dozen guy. Hes a top-10 heavyweight and a funny adorable guy at the same time, has incredible discipline and for a enforcer his puck skills arnt a reliability.

If Downey doesnt come back I'll cry for days...

I like Downey, but he's not even close to being a top 10 heavyweight.

[Skiing - Puck 0]

I never said anything along those lines. My anti-Hudler comments have been generic.

Downey is NOT a dime a dozen guy. Hes a top-10 heavyweight and a funny adorable guy at the same time, has incredible discipline and for a enforcer his puck skills arnt a reliability.

If Downey doesnt come back I'll cry for days...

I love Downey, hes a great guy, he's disiplined and a good fighter and enforcer but he is NOT a top ten heavy by any means.

To be honest as much as it annoys me I do not think he will be wearing the winged weel next season. I honestly see McCarty being signed instead of Downey, not in addition to.

In all fairness McCarty can't handle the role of the enforcer any more, his pugilistic skills are not what they once were, it would be better in my opinion to have him an a Dallas Drake type role and have Downey there to handle the majority of the enforcing

Edited June 7, 2008 by Skiing - Puck

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I love Downey, hes a great guy, he's disiplined and a good fighter and enforcer but he is NOT a top ten heavy by any means.

Exactly. He does, however, make a good point about us needing a top 10 heavyweight, especially with the possibility of Lilja not returning for next year.

Edited June 7, 2008 by GMRwings1983

[uk_redwing 495]

My bad, I meant liability...im tired...my excuse

[uk_redwing 495]

I like Downey, but he's not even close to being a top 10 heavyweight.

I disagree.

This year his fight card was 10 fights, 6 wins, 4 draws. This included the domination of other top-10 heavyweight George Parros. There was not one fight where he looked bad or close to losing.

If hes not top-10, then hes top-20 easy.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Stands? Gutter? I dont know/care.

Having a few good games in the playoffs doesnt make up for a dreadful regular season for me... plus Ive never liked him Taking up Downeys spot on the 4th line and doin f*** all with it. 1 point in 18 games was it at some stage?

He was more of an offensive threat than fillpula.

[eva unit zero 271]

There are four UFA names I would REALLY like explored in the offseason as depth acquisitions:

F Jason King

G Brent Krahn

F Josef Vasicek

G Alex Auld

All three guys have plenty of skill but for whatever reason haven't been able to put it together. Sort of like a Dan Cleary type of signing. Signing a guy because he's got decent raw skills but hasn't been able to put everything together consistently, but when he has he's been a very good player.

King reminds me a great deal of Cleary. Versatile winger with scoring talent who needs to be grabbed and molded by a coach like babcock. We all think of Cleary as a hard working, defensive stalwart. When he came to Detroit on a tryout, he was neither and had to become that to justify his presence on the roster.

Vasicek is a big kid who has plenty of talent; his mental situation is the only question. He was a beast in the 2002 playoffs, for example. Not giving him a look would be irresponsible.

Krahn was supposed to be the next superstar goalie coming out of juniors; worst case scenario is that he doesn't play well enough to justify his presence above Howard, and he's sent to Grand Rapids and serves as an experienced partner in a tandem with Larsson or he is waived and another team takes him on what ifs. Best case scenario is that he gets his head on straight and lives up to even a fraction of his potential, allowing us to save Howard one more year and then have a 'good problem' when we have two skilled young netminders who are NHL ready and we trade one of them for picks or prospects.

Auld is a similar story to Krahn, except he played well enough for the Bruins they may want to keep him as backup to Thomas, while they try and dump off Manny Fernandez. Maybe even buy him out.

[SFwingsfan 23]

Hey kid you want a job next year? (Helm and Babcock during the photo session today at JLA)

Edited June 7, 2008 by SFwingsfan

[therock48880 14]

For the love of god please do not re-sign Hasek. Its time to move on, and give Howard a chance! I am also assuming Drake would like to retire on top, so i will not be putting him in the lineup. I do hope that Helm and Abdelkader both make the lineup next year. I also wouldn't mind signing Rolston, but it isn't a priority or anything like that.

Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom

Franzen - Filppula - Rolston

Cleary - Draper - Sammy

Hudler - Helm - Abdelkader/ Maltby

Lidstrom - Rafalski

Kronwall - Stuart

Ericcson - Lebda

Healthy Scrathes:

Kopecky Meech

McCarty Quincey

Leino

If Kopecky's healthy, he won't be a scratch. Babcock loves his size and he was playing extremely well when he got hurt.

[Dr. Scrappers 0]

Very nice analysis B.B.

Keep in mind that the salary cap considers average yearly salaries over the life of the contract. You were doing your calculations using the year-by-year figures. So you've overestimated the salaries of guys like Draper and Osgood. Some other guys' numbers need tweaking too.

I love the idea of bringing in Sundin or possibly even Naslund. Of course it would have to be a one-year deal - like you projected - since starting in 2009-10 we'll start having cap issues as Zetterberg and Franzen's will be getting their big raises. But I think that would be a great motivation for all the Swede's that lead our team to win a Cup for a Swedish legend of sorts. It might be the perfect situation for Sundin too, sign a one-year deal, get that Stanley Cup that's been hanging over his head taken care of, and then return to the Leafs to peacefully finish out his career.

And despite the positive stats in these playoffs I still think our second-line scoring isn't a big enough threat. Yeah it could be with a step forward next year from Filppula and Cleary. But a Sundin addition would be a slam-dunk.

Rolston could be an intriguing option too, but we can't necessarily just add some chump like Nolan thinking that will motivate the team to rally to win the guy a Cup. These players aren't stupid, they're gonna know if you're bringing in a guy mainly to motivate everybody else with no specific help to the team. Yeah Nolan could probably fill a Drake role nicely, but that's gonna cost a competent friend like Downey his spot on the team and that could be enough to offset the motivational factor. In our situation it's gotta be somebody the team is excited about adding - maybe Nolan could be exciting enough but I doubt it.

Edited June 8, 2008 by Dr. Scrappers

[yzefan 2]

I love the idea of bringing in Sundin or possibly even Naslund.

If we bring anymore swed's we are going to have to paint the red wings symbol blue and yellow!!!! No i really do believe that Sundin would be an amazing choice to bring in , IF and thats a big if, you can get him for 4-5 mil. Rumors have it he is looking for a lot more.

[Cern 0]

If we bring anymore swed's we are going to have to paint the red wings symbol blue and yellow!!!! No i really do believe that Sundin would be an amazing choice to bring in , IF and thats a big if, you can get him for 4-5 mil. Rumors have it he is looking for a lot more.

Wouldn't hurt to test the waters, though. Who knows, he might be willing to take a discount for being in a serious cup-contending team.

[Skiing - Puck 0]

Exactly. He does, however, make a good point about us needing a top 10 heavyweight, especially with the possibility of Lilja not returning for next year.

There are rumors that Ottawa has no intrest in re-signing McGrattan who is a current RFA meaning that he is soon going to become an UFA.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

There are rumors that Ottawa has no intrest in re-signing McGrattan who is a current RFA meaning that he is soon going to become an UFA.

I'd kill to have McGrattan in Detroit.

Yeah, I know he's not going to help us in the playoffs, but what does that matter. The regular seasons have become boring and jaded for me, so why not spice things up a bit and draw some more fans to games in the regular season? We know we'll be in the playoffs anyway.

Once the playoffs come, he can be a healthy scratch for someone else just like Downey was. That worked fine this year from what I can remember.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Stands? Gutter? I dont know/care.

Having a few good games in the playoffs doesnt make up for a dreadful regular season for me... plus Ive never liked him Taking up Downeys spot on the 4th line and doin f*** all with it. 1 point in 18 games was it at some stage?

HAHAHAHAHA! Yeah- who wants a 40pt 4th line player? I mean s***- the rest of our bottom 6 put up way more than that.

Oh yeah- I forgot. That's utter bs. Hudler was

I know he's small and streaky in his goal scoring but he's been able to put up a 25 pt then a 42 pt season in his first two years all while playing on the bottom two lines.

Hudler was tied for third place with Cleary in forward scoring this year while only having 13:10 average time on ice. He also had an explosive month at the start of the season where he was second only to Z in team scoring.

Oh and Hudler was 4th overall in Red Wings playoff pts this year. All while playing 4th line minutes.

So, I guess, maybe you should try to be less wrong when you post incoherent hatred for a key member of this team. If Hudler's line wasn't constantly pressuring the opposition's 4th line the Wings would've had a much, much tougher go of it. If Hudler wasn't cradling the puck while gaining entry to the zone on the 2nd pp our 2nd pp unit wouldn't have been as effective.

Or, in summery, my response to your post is thus:

FAIL.

[B.B. 0]

Very nice analysis B.B.

Keep in mind that the salary cap considers average yearly salaries over the life of the contract. You were doing your calculations using the year-by-year figures. So you've overestimated the salaries of guys like Draper and Osgood. Some other guys' numbers need tweaking too.

-Yeah, that is a good point. I forgot about that. That will give us even more money next year than I had originally calculated. Even better. lol.

A lot of people have brought up Owen Nolan, and I do believe he would be an interesting acquisition. Holland had tried to acquire him at the deadline last year, so he clearly has an interest in him. But, I would say that signing another 3rd or 4th line player should not be a priority. The injury to Franzen reduced us to a one-line team at times against Dallas. We cannot forget that, and I doubt Holland has. Adding Sundin gives us that much needed depth, and a point-a-game scorer on our second line. We would be set as far as top 6 forwards go, and with Draper, Cleary, Sammy, Helm, Hudler, Kopecky, Maltby and McCarty, we are also set on the 3rd and 4th lines. I just think adding Sundin (assuming he turns out to be available) is the best possible move our team could make this off season. He gives us size, strength, a solid two-way game, leadership, experience, and so on...