potential solution for franzen hossa problem

[WingMachine91 0]

now we all know how difficult it will be for the wings to sign both hossa and franzen. Since franzen will command upwards of 4 million I think we might be better letting him go. I know this has been beat to death but one thing I havnt heard you guys talk about is potentially dustin penner. Now there is strong word out of the oilers camp that he will be bought out this summer and my friend who is also an oilers fan also believes this.

Would he be a good option to replace the big body of franzen for say maybe 3 million? maybe even less. If he is available I saw we let franzen walk and sign penner who has also in the past shown he can score goals, just not worth the current price tag. Sign hossa and let franzen walk and sign penner to a cheaper deal? what are your thoughts on this?

[Carman 387]

I've never been a fan of Penner. I'd rather save the money on defense/goalie if needed, our forward depth will be fine.

[redwingfan19 293]

now we all know how difficult it will be for the wings to sign both hossa and franzen. Since franzen will command upwards of 4 million I think we might be better letting him go. I know this has been beat to death but one thing I havnt heard you guys talk about is potentially dustin penner. Now there is strong word out of the oilers camp that he will be bought out this summer and my friend who is also an oilers fan also believes this.

Would he be a good option to replace the big body of franzen for say maybe 3 million? maybe even less. If he is available I saw we let franzen walk and sign penner who has also in the past shown he can score goals, just not worth the current price tag. Sign hossa and let franzen walk and sign penner to a cheaper deal? what are your thoughts on this?

I would be ok with that, seems the wings have a history of resurrecting guys careers, but it all lies on what the oilers do and what happens wit franzen

[Decoy Jones 0]

With the savings of letting Franzen go, I think I'd rather retain Hudler and as much as it pains me to say this, Sammy. Then just bring up some younger guys.

[Guest mindfly]

How do you know he will command 4? he may take a hometown discount and sign for 3

[Yzerfan1999 81]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY PLAY?

You guys can't stand watching Sammy out there, I guarantee you would hate Penner 100x more. He is lazy, overweight, and all around just not a good player.

[Dabura 12,232]

I was calling for Kenny to sign Penner when he was an RFA with the Ducks. He's disappointed in Edmonton, but I think a change of scenery might help.

Of course, I'd take Franzen over him in a heartbeat (if financially feasible).

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY PLAY?

You guys can't stand watching Sammy out there, I guarantee you would hate Penner 100x more. He is lazy, overweight, and all around just not a good player.

There's a reason there's rumblings of a buyout....its because Penner hasn't been worth a dime of the offer sheet he signed. This is one case where Burke was right about Lowe.

[Dawgs 0]

We can get production similar to Penners for less than a million. Id rather see 4 or 5 of the Wings prospects than him. Abdelkader springs to mind. No thanks, Ill pass.

[Red Crazy 201]

Penner? This must be a joke right? The reason that he is being bought out is because he has been the biggest mistake the Oilers have made in a long time. Just imagine that you are luckey enough to make it into the NHL but you are too lazy to stay in shape and the coach has to call you out about it and on top of this you are making 4m/yr!

No sir, I'll pass on him.

[Duck Guy 86]

There's a reason there's rumblings of a buyout....its because Penner hasn't been worth a dime of the offer sheet he signed. This is one case where Burke was right about Lowe.

I will die a happy man if the oilers buy him out... that would be just tooooooo sweet

[Wingsallwin 0]

I think people think we have to sign both Hossa and Franzen. The reality is that is not what should be done. The salary cap will go down next season, not sure about this part but at least it will not increase by the depression of the economy of all over the world, especially stock value crush down in America right now.

If we think Hossa will sign for 6 million to 6.5 million, Franzen will ask also 4 million. By math, it is 2 million gap. We know have 47cap hit, which allows only more 10 million. I personally do not believe Franzen is worth 4 million. He is a good player, good net presence, but if you the amount of 4 million, at least a player should be consistent. Don't forget Franzen is a late boomer since last season's March and the playoff. Hossa has been the All Star of the NHL for a while and will be. It is a big difference.

One reporter said we better sign Franzen first because we drafted him. I know that and we all love Franzen but there should be an unavoidable situation that we have to throw out one of those two players. If we can sign only one player while we also need to consider about resigning Huds and Leino, who are our future, who are you gonna pick, Frazen or Hossa? I will definately take Hossa.

If we sign both for the future, who is gonna be our goalie? Do you guys want to see hilarious Osgood and Howard rotation goalie system? Better than that, let's get a confident number one goalie. Why do we have to worry about goaltending every season since 01-02? This issue has been sharp for a while but just because Osgood played amazing last season, it does not mean the problem of our goaltending disappeared.

I really hope the Wings keep Hossa, Leino, and Huds. We cannot sign Franzen, Sammy, Chellios, and other FA. It is sad but this is a real situation we have to face during the off season. There is hell no opportunity for us to keep every FA unless the salaray cap is gone. Then, trade either Filppula or Stuart for a goalie. Isn't that sound most likely? I don't know about other people's minds here but that sounds the most fittable Wings system for the next season for me.

[OsGOD 3]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY PLAY?

You guys can't stand watching Sammy out there, I guarantee you would hate Penner 100x more. He is lazy, overweight, and all around just not a good player.

LMAO

touche touche

[Frozen-Man 144]

There's a reason there's rumblings of a buyout....its because Penner hasn't been worth a dime of the offer sheet he signed. This is one case where Burke was right about Lowe.

Gotta agree, this team doesn't need a player (especially not for $3M) that has been scratched this year because he is too lazy to put in the work to live of to his potential and natural ability. People complained here nonstop about Lang not hustling - - this guy has been scratched and demoted to the 4th line at times this year because of his work ethic. No thanks.

[FunkedUp 29]

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GUY PLAY?

You guys can't stand watching Sammy out there, I guarantee you would hate Penner 100x more. He is lazy, overweight, and all around just not a good player.

Yeah, Sammy seems to be the whipping boy around here. The thing is that there are 29 other teams that would love to have him at 1.2 per season.

[StevieY9802 6]

ummmmmm no. Just save the money or put it toward somewhere else. What a bust this guy has been so far.

Edited March 10, 2009 by StevieY9802

[Frozen-Man 144]

Yeah, Sammy seems to be the whipping boy around here. The thing is that there are 29 other teams that would love to have him at 1.2 per season.

QFT

[sureWhyNot 19]

I would probably take a pass on Penner, I seriously do not see the need to bring in another third liner seeing as though we have a plethora of them chomping at the bits in Grand Rapids.

The ideal situation, at least in my opinion, is to sign Hossa, let Franzen walk, re-up Hudler, and take any funds remaining and literally throw it at a goatender.

[South Dakota wings fan 7]

now we all know how difficult it will be for the wings to sign both hossa and franzen. Since franzen will command upwards of 4 million I think we might be better letting him go. I know this has been beat to death but one thing I havnt heard you guys talk about is potentially dustin penner. Now there is strong word out of the oilers camp that he will be bought out this summer and my friend who is also an oilers fan also believes this.

Would he be a good option to replace the big body of franzen for say maybe 3 million? maybe even less. If he is available I saw we let franzen walk and sign penner who has also in the past shown he can score goals, just not worth the current price tag. Sign hossa and let franzen walk and sign penner to a cheaper deal? what are your thoughts on this?

They should use available money to re-sign our own players first. If that cannot be done, maybe a goalie upgrade. Then and only then would I want to see Penner, and only on a one year, $1 million deal.

[Opie 308]

I root for former UMaine guys (and a former Portland Pirate at that) to be in the winged wheel as hard as I can, however this has Grigs written all over, only difference, Penner proved he could hack it one year in the big show.

IF Penner had this kind of year his RFA year he would be on a 2 mil contract at most, absolute and utter max for him would be 2, he would be lucky to see 1 mil.

His work ethic has become deplorable, well I shouldn't say that I don't see him work out (or not work out) everyday, or at all for that matter, but his shape is starting to look a little like mine and let me tell you while round is a shape it is not in shape!

[Shaman 713]

Penner is the last thing we need, hes Lang, if Lang smoked a lot of pot before a game.... Id perfer to keep Hossa, bring up Leino, Helm and Ericcson, and go after a good goalie.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I've never been a fan of Penner. I'd rather save the money on defense/goalie if needed, our forward depth will be fine.

Agreed. The last thing the Red Wings need is more top six goal scorers if they have Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Hossa signed next year. I'd rather spend 4 million+ on a under 30 years old top pairing d-man. Hell, I'd be perfectly fine with dumping Hossa or Rafalski to pay Jay-Bo $7 million for the next 7 years.

Rafalski's defensive play is pretty poor for a $6 million d-man. And Nick isn't going to be around forever. The Wings need a new top d-man that's got defensive skills closer to Lidstrom, regardless of his point production.

How do you know he will command 4? he may take a hometown discount and sign for 3

If Holland gets Franzen to sign for less than $4 million without giving him a huge term then I expect he'll be turning water into wine at the next Wings gala.

[Third Man In 2,091]

Dustin Penner is Miguel Cabrera on skates with none of the power. No.

[swansoccer13 1]

I really hope the Wings keep Hossa, Leino, and Huds. We cannot sign Franzen, Sammy, Chellios, and other FA. It is sad but this is a real situation we have to face during the off season. There is hell no opportunity for us to keep every FA unless the salaray cap is gone. Then, trade either Filppula or Stuart for a goalie. Isn't that sound most likely? I don't know about other people's minds here but that sounds the most fittable Wings system for the next season for me.

Thats what I am hoping for personally..and seeing Ericcson on the blueline

Edited March 10, 2009 by swansoccer13

[eva unit zero 271]

Assuming Hossa signs for about $6m per year, then I would be expecting cap hits for next season of about this for players who are coming back:

Hudler $1.8m

Samuelsson $1.35m

Leino $1m

Kopecky $575k

Beyond that, Johan Franzen does not return due to his salary expectations being beyond what the Wings can afford to pay him, as well

as one of the following two outcomes:

Brad Stuart and his $3.75m cap hit is traded away

These could be the potential lines:

-----------------------------

Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom

Leino/Hudler/Hossa

Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson

Helm/Draper/Kopecky

Maltby

Lidstrom/Rafalski

Kronwall/Lilja

Ericsson/Meech

Lebda

Osgood

Howard

OR

Valtteri Filppula and his $3m cap hit, as well as Brett Lebda and his $650k cap hit are traded away.

These could be the potential lines:

-----------------------------

Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom

Leino/Hudler/Hossa

Cleary/Kopecky/Samuelsson

Helm/Draper/Maltby

Meech

Lidstrom/Rafalski

Kronwall/Stuart

Ericsson/Lilja

Meech

Osgood

Howard

The first option brings better stronger forwards, but weaker defense. The second option brings weaker forwards, but stronger defense. I would rather take the first option as keeping Filppula would be better than keeping Stuart.