Aaron Downey and Darren McCarty will not be offered contracts

[VM1138 1,921]

No real surprise with McCarty. The Downey move makes me think that the Wings might be going after a fighter/gritty type guy that can drop the gloves.

I think so, too. Otherwise there's no reason to lose both.

[rage 24]

I thought that D-Mac had already been offered a 2-way deal. Im pretty sure it was M-Live a while back.

Yeah, it was on Mlive. I am very surprised by this.

[Barrie 900]

Or the beginning. Hes going to make an awesome color guy.

Agreed.

[xBrave_Heartx 0]

Sad to hear that Aaron wont be re-signed, Dont really care that much about Mac, He was pretty much done before he started. It was a good heart warming story though.

But if the rumor about Neil/Orr is true, Then consider me a happy camper. OMFG, Could you imagine Neil and Orr? instead of one or the other? If it was Neil and Orr i think i would scream in happiness for the coming years.

I'll settle for Orr though for sure.

I think Downs might head back to Dallas if Modano can pull some strings. Or back to the farm and enjoy a retiremenet. Mac i hope he keeps playing, no matter if its on another NHL team or being a veteran teaching the kids a little something in the A.

[WorkingOvertime 536]

Hopefully GR will offer DMac a contract. While I don't think he belongs on the Wings, I would love to have him as a player/coach/mentor to the guys on GR.

[puertoricanWingsfan 5]

Happy trails DMac... I loved you while you were here.

[Cern 0]

The ones on the top 2 lines are fine with me. The ones after that, especially when they try to sneak them into the 4th line, suck at playing any kind of physical hockey. That's what 3rd and 4th lines are for. Not prima donnas, but gritty players.

With Hossa, Kopecky, and perhaps Samuelsson gone, that leaves room for guys like Helm and Abdelkader - the gaps are hardly being filled by 'soft' players in the first place, let alone if someone like Orr is picked up.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Cern

[Pucks 66]

Great news. Both players were completely useless.

[XxGoWingsxX 0]

Yeah because me not wanting an enforcer = me being ok with nonchalant efforts. Nice fail there. The Wings made it all the way to Game #7 of the SCF without a legitimate enforcer. So, as I said earlier, not a ton of money should be used to obtain a player of this type. And to say that a player on a professional hockey team, no matter if he is an enforcer, doesn't have to be able to skate with some apparent skill is laughable. Downey was a horrendous skater and looked like he was going to fall with every stride he took. Just because the 4th line is out on the ice does not mean the Wings should abandon their puck possession style of play.

I don't disagree with you at all but we had 2 games to close it out for the cup and couldn't. One of my main theories why is that we were pretty banged up. We could def use a drake type grit player to help out in this area. as of now other teams aren't afraid to take liberties on our top guys because they have no fear of revenge. Put a guy on the ice to stick up for our soft euro forwards and we prob suffer fewer injuries down the stretch. Perfect example - pavs comes back with hurt foot and orpik i think decides to slash his foot. If we had that physical gritty guy they might think twice about this because they'd be too busy watching their back to think about doing something like this. Just a thought.

[Guest micah]

Just because the 4th line is out on the ice does not mean the Wings should abandon their puck possession style of play.

Actually, it does. The Wings' 4th line has never really been built with puck possesion in mind. For the last few years it's been a parking place for specialists like Draper and Maltby that are nice to have around but not good enough to play in most even strength scenerios. Neither Draper nor Maltby are puck possesion players.

I would love colton Orr, but I'd rather have Downey than Neil. I don't want players that are useful racking up 5 minute majors on a regular basis. Get a tough guy, give him 6 30 sec shifts per game durruing the reg season, and I'm a happy guy.

[Doc Holiday 0]

Actually, it does. The Wings' 4th line has never really been built with puck possesion in mind. For the last few years it's been a parking place for specialists like Draper and Maltby that are nice to have around but not good enough to play in most even strength scenerios. Neither Draper nor Maltby are puck possesion players.

I would love colton Orr, but I'd rather have Downey than Neil. I don't want players that are useful racking up 5 minute majors on a regular basis. Get a tough guy, give him 6 30 sec shifts per game durruing the reg season, and I'm a happy guy.

The difference is that Maltby and Draper are essentially useless now. Draper has faceoff skills, but that's pretty much the only plus they have combined.

Next year there will be a chance to put stronger pluggers back in.

It also saddens me to see Downey gone.

[AtomicPunk 296]

Damn. I thought Downey was God.

And I agree Malts is pretty well cooked. Drapes I think still has something in the tank and some skills to offer.

[Frozen-Man 144]

The ones on the top 2 lines are fine with me. The ones after that, especially when they try to sneak them into the 4th line, suck at playing any kind of physical hockey. That's what 3rd and 4th lines are for. Not prima donnas, but gritty players.

I agree about needing physicality on the bottom lines, I don't however, think that the guys that we had on the bottom lines this year are in any way fairly called prima donnas, they were just put onto lines and in positions that are not the type or style that they play.

Good luck finding one.

People need to get over the fact that there are no Bob Probert like players amongst today's enforcers.

QFT - they are such a rare breed that they are priced out of a team like Detroit's range unless they give up pieces that they they won't give up making it unlikely that they will get one of the few guys even similar to Probert.

Actually, it does. The Wings' 4th line has never really been built with puck possesion in mind. For the last few years it's been a parking place for specialists like Draper and Maltby that are nice to have around but not good enough to play in most even strength scenerios. Neither Draper nor Maltby are puck possesion players.

I would love colton Orr, but I'd rather have Downey than Neil. I don't want players that are useful racking up 5 minute majors on a regular basis. Get a tough guy, give him 6 30 sec shifts per game durruing the reg season, and I'm a happy guy.

Absolutely correct. Our fourth line has had lots of specialists who don't seem to make a good cohesive unit, however getting a guy who racks up a lot of fighting majors is not what this team needs they need a guy who isn't a liability and can drop them when needed and punish on the fore check the rest of the time.

[Dominator2005 558]

Colton Orr is coming to Detroit?!

[OsGOD 3]

Sucks for Downey... D-mac should take Malts with him and add him to his band.... anything to get him off the roster!

[xBrave_Heartx 0]

"Sorry Boys..I'm wrong....He has a huge offer from someone else......More than what Detroit wants to spend...and there offer really good! They tried"

^^ thats the word on Orr..My guess is that Burke gave him like a 3 year 900k offer or something.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

That's too bad, it's definately Burke though, easy guy to know.

[Guest micah]

Sucks for Downey... D-mac should take Malts with him and add him to his band.... anything to get him off the roster!

I'd rather see Maltby play with the Wings until he's 60 then hear another Grinder song, ever.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

We went from being the softest team in the NHL, to now the softest Hockey NHLPA Orginization. Good thing our 'grit' won us the Stanley Cup this year, errr wait.

Bring on Chris Neil, or this is going to be a long season.

[Mors 201]

Orr to Toronto for 4 years @ $1 million per year...damn

[Dimaline312000 51]

As much as I'd like to keep them both, I think the money would be better spent on someone else. Best of luck to Mac and Downs.

[Pretty Irish Girl 0]

This Sucks! I was hoping that Aaron would be offered a contract. What are the chances of him getting picked up by another NHL team ?

[AtomicPunk 296]

Considering he couldn't really even be a standout at the AHL level, probably not good. But hey, maybe Florida or Phoenix or some other hockey wasteland might sign him.

[Guest Shoreline]

Mac is like Cheli, too old. Love Mac, but he won't help this team more than other players that the Wings can get. Downey, well, few things to say besides, "duh". Wings didn't need him last season and wouldn't need him this season either. Glad Kenny Holland wasn't and still isn't wanking to an enforcer-loving pipe dream some here are. Getting any player who can fight must mean they play the Wings skill/grind game first and foremost, regardless of salary.

[soonboomer 31]

We went from being the softest team in the NHL, to now the softest Hockey NHLPA Orginization. Good thing our 'grit' won us the Stanley Cup this year, errr wait.

Bring on Chris Neil, or this is going to be a long season.

Yea, if only we had the grit this year that we had in '08.........Man was that team way different than this one!!