Hossa and Franzen to Stay?//Merged

[Mike 0]

Interesting interview on MLive about the future of the Red Wings.

[Red Crazy 201]

Interesting interview on MLive about the future of the Red Wings.

Thanks for posting, that was a good read! Nice to hear that Hossa is that close to resigning! I still can't see how they keep both (Franzen and Hossa) but thats why Kenny is great!

[Guest MrSandMan]

If by some magical chance we can keep Hossa and Franzen by only losing Sammy and Hudler, I'd be okay with that. But if we have to lose Fil, NO WAY! Not worth it. Hossa is not worth us losing all our depth / role players.

+ plus having the cushion of bringing up Grand Rapids players without losing other players on waivers is underrated. It's nice to mix up the roster when the team isn't performing like they should.

[Casey 145]

Do not want.

Give me Hossa/Franzen with Sammy and Hudler, and I'm happy. Losing three to keep one is a bad move in terms of depth.

Do. Not. WANT.

[steveyzerman 0]

YES. YES. Anything to get rid of Samuellson.

[Mike 0]

YES. YES. Anything to get rid of Samuellson.

I think that Sammy has been playing pretty sub-par so far. He lets a lot of pucks get by him at the blue line during the power play.

[Casey 145]

YES. YES. Anything to get rid of Samuellson.

Then trade him for a bag of pucks, but don't lose that amount of depth for one player.

[Z and D for the C 712]

Franzen at 4 mil is crap. He's so overrated. If his predictions come true and he signs before Hossa I'll be extremely disappointed because that'll mean losing flip to keep hossa and that is no where near worth it. I'll take Hossa/flip before hossa/franzen all day long.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Sure. Lets spend ALL our cap space on the 30+ crowd.

[Datsyerberger 279]

ZDH

Franzen - Leino - Hossa

Cleary - Helm - Kopecky

Abkadoodle - Draper - Maltby

(Meech)

Raffi-Lids

Kronwall - Stuart

Lilja - Big Rig

Lebda

Meech

(Cheli?)

Osgood

Howard

or

ZDH

Leino - Flip/Hudler - Hossa

Cleary - Helm - Kopecky

Abkadoodle - Draper - Maltby

D-men

Goalies

I also want to provide an alternate scenario I've been pondering. Suppose Holmstrom's injuries (knee, lower back, groin? Ow) are too nagging for him after this year and he retires. That certainly changes things a bit.

ZDHossa

Franzen/Hudler - Flip/Hudler - Leino

Cleary - Helm - Kopecky

Abkadoodle - Draper - Maltby

or

ZDCleary

Franzen/Hudler - Flip/Hudler - Hossa

Leino - Helm - Kopecky

Abkadoodle - Draper - Maltby

or

ZDFranzen

Hudler/Leino - Flip/Hudler - Hossa

Cleary - Helm - Kopecky

Abkadoodle - Draper - Maltby

Really, I can't complain about any of those possible scenarios.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Datsyerberger

[Frozen-Man 144]

YES. YES. Anything to get rid of Samuellson.

I think that Sammy has been playing pretty sub-par so far. He lets a lot of pucks get by him at the blue line during the power play.

I don't get all the hate for Sammy this year. He is tied with Franzen in points (I know Franzen has more goals but Sammy still has as many points) and has as many goals as Homer and more assists. I know he has played more games than either Franzen or Homer but that is actually a plus for him because he has been more durable this year. He also gets more than 2:30 minutes less ice time per game than Franzen.

I'm not saying that he is the best player on the team but he is not going to get a huge pay raise like Franzen will and yet he still puts up points for the team and is ok on defense. I'm not saying he is as good as Franzen or anywhere near as good as Homer but I am saying for what the guy gets paid and what he will likely get paid next year he is a good depth guy.

[talex 1]

I am concerned if they sign both. Don't get me wrong, they are both great players...

The way I see it the Wings are pretty much intact from last years SC Win. Noone can speculate what Nick will do, Cheli is going to retire or go elsewhere soon, Draper and Maltby are going to probably be gone in 2 years, Mac will also be gone... none of these guys cost much but added alot of experience and heart to the team. Now there is talk of trading/loosing Huds, Flip, Sammy... all this talk nearly decimates the group that won the cup...

Some may disagree but from my point of view it has been keeping a core of a great supporting cast that has made the wings so successful, I look at the Pens with their 2 super star forwards and I fear this could happen to the wings.

Again don't get me wrong here, signing both may work out, but it may explode in our faces leaving little to no cap room as the heart and core of the team is ripped apart.

Do you focus on keeping the core? Huds/Flip/Sammy/Lebda/Lilja etc and focus on 1 of them and give a GR or 2 guy a shot? Or sign the 2 long term and have a player carosel because of the cap with our young prospects going elsewhere because we cannot afford to keep them?

Replacing Nick will not be easy, Replacing Homer will be impossible... Frankly I like the core of the team (as a team), sure some guys drop off in performance here and there, but as a team they are a tight group that overall plays extremely well together and we are currently 2 pts from the top spot in the west... Frankly I would keep 1 of the 2 and as much of the core as humanly possible to leave some breathing space as some of our heroes over the past 12 years skate gracefully out of the spotlight...

That's just me though...

[Guest MrSandMan]

I don't get all the hate for Sammy this year. He is tied with Franzen in points (I know Franzen has more goals but Sammy still has as many points) and has as many goals as Homer and more assists. I know he has played more games than either Franzen or Homer but that is actually a plus for him because he has been more durable this year. He also gets more than 2:30 minutes less ice time per game than Franzen.

I'm not saying that he is the best player on the team but he is not going to get a huge pay raise like Franzen will and yet he still puts up points for the team and is ok on defense. I'm not saying he is as good as Franzen or anywhere near as good as Homer but I am saying for what the guy gets paid and what he will likely get paid next year he is a good depth guy.

I agree that Sammy is doing well this year. I hope he continues! But he is one of the players on this team that we could afford to lose. After all, we have a bunch of studs in the AHL ready to go.

[Datsyerberger 279]

Let's look a couple years ahead for fun, just speculate a bit. Let's say Homer, Draper, and Maltby have all retired, and Nick resigns cheaper.

ZDHossa

Franzen/Leino/Hudler - Flip/Hudler - Leino/Hudler (Keep 2 of Franzen/Hudler/Flip)

Cleary - Helm - Ritola?

Abdelkader - ? - Kopecky

?

Raffi - Lids

Kronwall - Big Rig

Kindl - Stuart

Meech

(Total speculation on those d-pairs)

Larsson

Howard

McCollum (kicking ass in GR, hopefully)

I'm really not seeing any lack for 2nd line talent in the system, even if we only keep 1 of Franzen/Flip/Hudler, our first line is set, our D is doing well, and the only gaps are 4th line talent, which can easily come from our healthy prospect pool and veteran FAs. Too much chicken-littling around here, imo.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Datsyerberger

[Frozen-Man 144]

I agree that Sammy is doing well this year. I hope he continues! But he is one of the players on this team that we could afford to lose. After all, we have a bunch of studs in the AHL ready to go.

No doubt, I'm not disagreeing that the Wings can afford to lose Sammy, it's just the Sammy sucks lets I can't wait till we get rid of him. I think that there is always the concern with having too much money tied up in too few guys and Sammy is one of those guys that can help fill the depth role without costing too much. I mean you are looking at more than $32.5M locked up next year in 5 guys (and that doesn't include whatever we have to pay Franzen). That is roughly 57% of this years cap (I'm too lazy to figure it out exactly) locked up in 5 guys with the need to sign a lot more with not much money. He is a good veteran player who knows how to play in this system and is on the cheap. The Wings can afford to lose him but he will be missed in terms of depth.

[HenryMalredo 2]

Sammy is good for his price. He's the type of depth player you need in the Cap system. Rather have the Wings dump Maltby and Kopecky.

[DMAC 25 18]

that would be sweet to keep hossa, but it would also suck to lose hudler. who knows whatever happens happens and kenny is doin everything he can do about it b/c we know he would love to keep everyone. but i wouldnt care seeing sammy leave, we have better players

[talex 1]

No doubt, I'm not disagreeing that the Wings can afford to lose Sammy, it's just the Sammy sucks lets I can't wait till we get rid of him. I think that there is always the concern with having too much money tied up in too few guys and Sammy is one of those guys that can help fill the depth role without costing too much. I mean you are looking at more than $32.5M locked up next year in 5 guys (and that doesn't include whatever we have to pay Franzen). That is roughly 57% of this years cap (I'm too lazy to figure it out exactly) locked up in 5 guys with the need to sign a lot more with not much money. He is a good veteran player who knows how to play in this system and is on the cheap. The Wings can afford to lose him but he will be missed in terms of depth.

I agree, I mean what is he making 1.2? I hope they can keep him, maybe he will sign for 1 or a little less, who knows... the depth, experience and chemistry is worth letting a GR guy grow another year.... Sammy is worth every penny because we have him on the cheap for what we get.

[Datsyerberger 279]

I agree, I mean what is he making 1.2? I hope they can keep him, maybe he will sign for 1 or a little less, who knows... the depth, experience and chemistry is worth letting a GR guy grow another year.... Sammy is worth every penny because we have him on the cheap for what we get.

Sammy is worth more than we pay him now as is, and will likely get 2 or so somewhere else. 50 point guy with solid D? yea...

[egroen 384]

I am not happy if they lose Hudler, especially if Filppula could be traded instead.

Hudler is already more offensively potent than Franzen... how much better will he be in a few years and with more ice time?

[Datsyerberger 279]

I am not happy if they lose Hudler, especially if Filppula could be traded instead.

Hudler is already more offensively potent than Franzen... how much better will he be in a few years and with more ice time?

I'm still at the point where I'd rather keep Hossa/Hudler over Franzen/Flip, but I've got this feeling that management sees a future Hank or Dats in Flip's potential, which must be why they're keeping him around at the 3mil contract (And seemingly prefer him over Hudler). If they're right and he develops into such, and we end up getting some picks out of Hudler, then that will be the best scenario down the stretch.

[Mike 0]

I think the Wings could survive without Franzen. Cleary fills in nicely in front of the net and Abdelkader has shown some potential. Also, Leino has looked surprisingly well in front of the net. I would love for the Wings to keep Franzen, but I have a feeling his thoughts on the home town discount are not the same as those of Zetterberg and possibly Hossa. Now that Flip is on the second line, his production has gone up and he is back to his playoff form. Flip needs to stay. If keeping Flip means losing Samuelson and Hudler, then so be it.

[VM1138 1,921]

Franzen at 4 mil is crap. He's so overrated. If his predictions come true and he signs before Hossa I'll be extremely disappointed because that'll mean losing flip to keep hossa and that is no where near worth it. I'll take Hossa/flip before hossa/franzen all day long.

Hossa has more career potential than Flip, and he's there right now and will be for years.

If we lose Flip, too bad. The "depth" is upgraded, not lost.

I really don't want to lose Hudler, but if we can keep Franzen AND Hossa, I guess I could learn to live with it. Actually, now that I think about it, as much as I like Franzen, Cleary does play a similar role. If we HAD to lose Hudler or Franzen, I might be inclined to say keep Hudler, but I seem to change my mind day to day. They're both just so good!

Edited February 11, 2009 by VM1138

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Interesting interview on MLive about the future of the Red Wings.

So the cap just jumped by 5 million?

[Ms_Hockey 0]

I gotta be honest, I'm not happy at all with the idea of losing Hudler & Sammy.

As someone else has already said, why lose Hudler when you could trade Flip? Hudler has shown more to this team in terms of producing than Flip has.

If you would've asked me last season if I'd be okay trading Sammy, I would've said yes. But this season? No way. He's showing an amazing burst of potential. Why trade him away when he's having one of his best seasons in years? Sammy is a bargain for what we pay him.