Next Season: Who will be on the roster?

[RedWingsFan13 0]

Hossa is NOT worth 7.5 mil

keep hossa if he signs for 5 or less

I think Helm needs to come up full time, in fact i think he needs to be on the Z and Dats line. a kinda of a flip flop from when they would feed hull, helm could feed them, he is strong along the boards has great speed and i know he has scoring potential.

Helm is easily better then Huds, hes bigger, more physical and faster. so bye bye huds hello helm

Homer just took too many crosschecks to the back and i think he has become very injury prone in his growing age. keep him around as a 3ed or 4th liner but get him off the 1st line already, we have scrappy youth that could do wonders with and experienced duo like Z and Dats.

Sammy my man, Goodbye. you are a weak stick handler, make horrid decisions with the puck and i loath you on the power play.

Once again Keep hossa if he takes 5 or less but no more than 5... not even 5.1. with hossa out you free up a lot of cap space to get some good players. i rather have 2 guys who score 25 goals each rather than 1 hossa who scores 40.... think about it.

[dat's sick 1,002]

Just send Stuart on the first flight to whatever team wants him. We don't need anything in return.

I'm not sure I can forgive him.

Hossa I think had a decent game tonight. Too bad decent isn't really enough. What happened to regular season Hossa? He was nowhere to be found in the playoffs.

I would not be sad if he's not on the team next year. I'd take him for 4 mil, maybe 5. But not more. If this year shows us anything it's that it doesn't matter how many big guns you have, if there's not chemistry and if the pieces don't fit, it doesn't help.

There's a reason the Hudler-Filppula-Samuelsson line gave us energy in the 3rd. They have chemistry. Same as Datsyuk and Zetterberg does (I'm amazed they didn't score in the last 2 games).

[Yzerman191 37]

I think this playoff run sort of seals the deal for me that bringing Hossa back would be a bad idea. Not because I blame the loss solely on him (win as a team, lose as a team), but because he had every reason to play hard and he just didn't. Additionally, I don't think he really meshed well with the team. Datsyuk and Hossa probably had the best chemistry, but I think Zetterberg and Datsyuk should stay together to maximize both of their outputs.

Now that the playoffs are over, and we have all the facts (except the cap, which is a big deal), we've got around 9M to resign two forwards (three for depth purposes, probably) and a back up goaltender. We're pretty set on defense as long as Lilja can come back next Fall.

I'm guessing Kopecky will be resigned (due to Babcock's man love of him). Leino will almost certainly be resigned and see some time with the big club. I'd like to see Hudler back, but not for a contract like Flip's. Also, if Sammy could be resigned for around 1M, I'd be all for seeing him return.

I think the 'Wings really should consider looking outside of the club for some replacements of players this year. The lack of heart was pretty apparent, and I think some new blood would do a lot of good. We've got a lot of new blood coming up (Helm, Ericcson, Leino, etc.), but I think some veteran presence would really help.

[vangvace 12]

Aaaaannnndddd.... less than three weeks till free agency.

[Hockeytown_Ryan 122]

who gives a s***.. obviously we cant get it done!!!

Look at this roster.. on paper Noone compares....

I think the vets have lost their competitive edge and the young guys have no idea what it takes

give it 5 years we will be back.. after Crosby wins the next 5 cups right Ask Bettman he's got it all planned out

[South Dakota wings fan 7]

the big question is if Lilja is truly suffering from Post concussion syndrom does he f*** the Wings by pulling a Derian Hatcher and sitting out all season so he can collect the rest of his 1.5 million dollar contract.

If he's truly injured and can't play, his 1.2 million wouldn't count against the cap because he would go on LT IR.

[WingZNut13 99]

I don't know who else agrees.....

I wanna see Abby in the lineup next year. I think he could bring a huge force to the front line and improve our fore-check

[South Dakota wings fan 7]

hopefully not hossa/draper/maltby/homer

The problem with players like Drapes, Maltby, and/or Homer potentially retiring like some are calling for, is that I think they are all over 35. Depending on when they signed their contracts, the could still count against the salary cap, thus defeating the purpose.

[flip 5]

Get rid of Hudler, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, Maltby, and Draper.

I'd love to get rid of Osgood too.

[FedorovMan91 1]

The big issue can be Osgood at this moment. Osgood has had a great playoff performance but that cannot directly mention he will play great in the next regular season. I really want to get going our two rookie goalies: Larsson and Howard and see how well they can perform.

I think Kenny has to keep the Wings from getting older. The best thing we can do for the next season is that keeping the main core: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Ericsson, Cleary, Kronwall, and Filppula for sure. These guys will stay here.

Then, the puzzle is left. Hossa, Hudler, Conklin, Samuelsson, Draper, Maltby, Kopecky, Stuart, and Chellios.

To start

Chellios- should be gone, too old to play

Samuelsson- not much against him but he is the worst puck controller, he is gone

Hudler- great first half of the season but since, not much. Question mark

Stuart- Horrible regular season, horrible last game. Chance to stay, we will see

Draper- Except for the faceoff, liability

Maltby- One of my favorite Wings but he has to retire, too sloppy play in the RS

Hossa- good regular season but in the playoff, disappeared. If he can take less than 5 million, stay, more than 5, no way

Conklin- I do not know

Edited June 13, 2009 by FedorovMan91

[TC48226 0]

Sorry to say it, but it's time for Maltby, Draper and Homer to retire. Get the rookies going.

I couldn't agree more.

This series was not won on the first line or second line. Yes, Franzen, Hossa, and Datsyuk were cold. Malkin and Crosby didn't exactly light the place up, either. The first two lines essentially cancelled each other out.

Pittsburgh won on the the third and fourth lines. Their energy guys forechecked deep in our end and caused turnovers, leading to goals. (E.g. the first goal in game 7.) When we were in the Pittsburgh end, their energy guys harassed us at the point and caused turnovers, leading to odd man rushes. (E.g. the second goal in game 7 and God knows how many others.)

Where were our grinders? Maltby, Draper, and Homer are past it. Homer went 18 playoff games without a goal. If you want a grind line, put some young guys in who have the energy to grind. Notably, when we had Abdelkader in, he got two goals and we won two games. Whether its Abs or someone else, we need a young Maltby and young Draper and young McCarty. If Babcock made one coaching mistake in this series, he put too much faith in experience and not enough in hungry youth. If he had stuck with Abs and Leino, who knows?

I like Hossa. He led the team in goals. Despite a bad year this year, he's a proven playoff performer -- see his stats for Pittsburgh last year. If this were the pre-cap era, I'd say re-sign him, no questions asked. Even with the cap, I'd still prefer to see him stay. That said, if we need the money to get more role players, I can't say I'm completely opposed to letting him go.

Edited June 13, 2009 by TC48226