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LeftWinger

Ok, Jiri Hudler

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Lebda had a solid reg season, and didn't look too bad IMO throughout the playoffs...Lilja's physical presence, and shot blocking was sorely missed.

I like both Kronwall/Stuart, but these 2 were pretty guilty of coughing up the puck at some of the worst times, and had noticable defensive lapses this past spring.

I wasn't saying Kronwall and Stuart played well, just saying their position as our #2 pairing is pretty much set. The point is expendibility, which is synonymous with Ledba for sure, and Lilja wouldn't have made much of a difference. He basically lost his spot to Ericsson, who is better and younger. Yeah, I thought Kronwall and Stuart both played pretty poorly at times, but they are not in danger of losing their playing time to Lilja, Lebda, or Meech... that's for sure. I could see Ericsson sliding up a spot if they continue to struggle, but that's about it. So, at least one D-man should go... Meech is versatile (can double as a forward if needed) and young/cheap. That leaves Lilja or Lebda.. and Lilja makes more $$. Bye bye to one of them and there is at least enough cap for a half decent 4th liner who drops the gloves on occasion.

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I wasn't saying Kronwall and Stuart played well, just saying their position as our #2 pairing is pretty much set. The point is expendibility, which is synonymous with Ledba for sure, and Lilja wouldn't have made much of a difference. He basically lost his spot to Ericsson, who is better and younger. Yeah, I thought Kronwall and Stuart both played pretty poorly at times, but they are not in danger of losing their playing time to Lilja, Lebda, or Meech... that's for sure. I could see Ericsson sliding up a spot if they continue to struggle, but that's about it. So, at least one D-man should go... Meech is versatile (can double as a forward if needed) and young/cheap. That leaves Lilja or Lebda.. and Lilja makes more $$. Bye bye to one of them and there is at least enough cap for a half decent 4th liner who drops the gloves on occasion.

Re: The bolded

I'm not saying you're wrong concerning Ericsson being younger and/or better, but to say that Lilja lost his spot to Big Rig is ludicrous. You do remember that Lils sustained a head injury that kept him from playing? And that he's still suffering headaches from said injury and don't know when he's going to be healthy enough to play next season. It's not like Lilja was playing poorly and Ericsson was brought in to replace him.

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Re: The bolded

I'm not saying you're wrong concerning Ericsson being younger and/or better, but to say that Lilja lost his spot to Big Rig is ludicrous. You do remember that Lils sustained a head injury that kept him from playing? And that he's still suffering headaches from said injury and don't know when he's going to be healthy enough to play next season. It's not like Lilja was playing poorly and Ericsson was brought in to replace him.

I meant that in the long term I believe he has lost his spot to Ericsson. If he is cleared to play either Lebda or Lilja will be without a spot. Period. We won't be dressing 7 defencemen and Ericsson isn't going back down.

To F. Michael... No way would I recommend making Meech a regular.. Never claimed to, and never claimed he was better than Lilja or Lebda.. just cheaper/young/ and more versatile.. So, if we're getting rid of pieces to aquire new ones, there's really no point in getting rid of him because you won't get a decent pick for him, and you won't free up much cap space either. Better to use him as a here and there callup when a forward or Dman is out.

Edited by RedWings Gone Wild

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I meant that in the long term I believe he has lost his spot to Ericsson. If he is cleared to play either Lebda or Lilja will be without a spot. Period. We won't be dressing 7 defencemen and Ericsson isn't going back down.

Ahhh, that makes a lot more sense within your arguement. Thanks for clarifying :thumbup:

I'd still rather have a healthy Lilja than Lebda or Meech. I think he's pretty underrated and that he and Ericsson would make an awesome Pain Train/Big Rig third pairing next season.

Of course that all hinges on whether Lils will be healthy enough to play next season, or again. :unsure:

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I'll be succinct as possible:

1. Keep Hudler if for no other reason than the guys in the locker room love him and he comes to work every day with a smile.

2. Bye bye Meech, but for the love of God, this time get something in return. Remember Quincey??? That still chafes.

3. If we had to get rid of either Lilja or Lebda, I'd take Lebda. Between the two I think he's better. He's played well and remained calm with the puck unlike Lils. Lils is a great shot blocker, but how many times can he go to the bank until he's overdrawn? I'd rather keep both if we can though. I just have a feeling Lils could get better...

~ Z

Edited by WingsCaptain

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A problem with this discussion is that there are too many people that want to replace a skill type guy with a grinder-type guy.

Teams are about balance, and the spot that Jiri currently holds is one for a skill guy. The spots that are being held that are for grinder type guys are being held by Cleary, Franzen, Maltby, Draper, Helm, Holmstrom, Abdelkader et al.

The issue that I see here is that a goodly number of our grinder positions guys maybe should have retired a little while ago. While they are character guys, they don't really fulfill the role that they take up the spot for.

I have serious respect for Drapes and Maltby (I have both of their jerseys, in fact), but they are taking up space (especially Maltby) that needs to be filled by a checking, hitting, maybe even fighting enrrgy guy.

Folks, quit screaming for Hudler to be replaced by a grinder or two. Instead, focus on the spots that are being held by guys that may have outlived their usefulness in their current role.

Sorry to try and make sense here. You may now return to your illogical rants.

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I'll be succinct as possible:

1. Keep Hudler if for no other reason than the guys in the locker room love him and he comes to work every day with a smile.

2. Bye bye Meech, but for the love of God, this time get something in return. Remember Quincey??? That still chafes.

3. If we had to get rid of either Lilja or Lebda, I'd take Lebda. Between the two I think he's better. He's played well and remained calm with the puck unlike Lils. Lils is a great shot blocker, but how many times can he go to the bank until he's overdrawn? I'd rather keep both if we can though. I just have a feeling Lils could get better...

~ Z

1. Lebda's offensive-first style is due to his lack of defensive acumen and the fact his speed is pretty much the only skill he has that is not a liability. The Wings have several defensemen who are much more talented offensively. Lilja is the Wings' best shot blocker and one of the Wings' best defensive defensemen. Lilja is also as capable puck mover as Lilja is, despite being only an average skater.

2. Lebda's only skills that aren't horrible are his impressive skating and his average puckhandling. Meech is not only younger and cheaper, but brings the same thing and has been consistently improving while Lebda's level of play and his skill has been fairly stagnant in the Wings' system. Meech is also more versatile. Keeping Meech as a spare is better than keeping Lebda as a spare.

3. If the Wings wanted their #6 defenseman to be an offensively skilled defenseman with good skating skills who needed to improve his defensive game, Lebda would be gone and Kindl would be on the roster.

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Hudler hopefully will be resigned and will replace a big name scorer on the 2nd line who we lost as a free agent. He is not a grinder, he is a goal scorer/playmaker. He belongs on the top 2 lines with good players around him.

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I say we pay him just to stop sticking his tongue out in the goalie's face. Gawd that just creeps me out.

LMAO.... Good call! An extra $0.5Mil for that!

Edited by HudlerFanatic

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It would be hard to find a free agent for around the same cap number that could put up Hudler's offensive numbers. But if you signed a player or players who could help kill penalties on a team who had the worst penalty killing percentage you might not need to score 5 goals a game to win.

Just saying,

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I'll be succinct as possible:

1. Keep Hudler if for no other reason than the guys in the locker room love him and he comes to work every day with a smile.

2. Bye bye Meech, but for the love of God, this time get something in return. Remember Quincey??? That still chafes.

3. If we had to get rid of either Lilja or Lebda, I'd take Lebda. Between the two I think he's better. He's played well and remained calm with the puck unlike Lils. Lils is a great shot blocker, but how many times can he go to the bank until he's overdrawn? I'd rather keep both if we can though. I just have a feeling Lils could get better...

~ Z

1. Lock up Hudler for 3 years at $2.2 and see what happens.

He's wants to stay and it would be a shame if he becomes the consistant 20-30 goal scorer somewhere else.

2. Keep Meech (see below)

3. I think Lilja starts in the minors because of his concussion. If there's still no word that he's symptom free, it's going to be the safest and best thing for both parties. It's not really a demotion but more of a precaution.

After a couple of months, Meech would have played enough to keep or showcase and also, by my calculations, you can also give a few bubble boys from the minors a chance to play. Whoever plays the best out of training camp. That includes McCarty, Downie, McGrath, Oulahen, and a few others that have played a couple years in the minor system.

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That or find guys who aren't afraid to swim in the deep end of the pool (aka the other end of the ice where the opposing goalie is at) - maybe we can get a few of those "ugly" goals that tend to win big games in the playoffs.

Anyone remember the series clinching goal from the 1st round? The details are a bit hazy...

A bit more to roll around in the ol' noggin.

hudler.jpg

Hudler has never ever been afraid of the opposing crease.

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Anyone remember the series clinching goal from the 1st round? The details are a bit hazy...

A bit more to roll around in the ol' noggin.

hudler.jpg

Hudler has never ever been afraid of the opposing crease.

Yeah, and he sucked after the first 2 rounds. Hudler isn't consistent enough to be praised as to anything.

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To be fair, that was during a power play.

And? Where was Hudler for the only goal the Wings scored in game 6 of the Final?

It wasn't long ago that Babcock praised Hudler for going to the net routinely. I believe he listed Homer, Franzen, and Cleary as the only Wings that go to the hard areas in front more than Hudler.

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Hudler will file for arbitration thus locking himself to the Wings. I doubt it will go to an arbitrator. Filppula did the same thing and then the Wings signed him before the hearing. I said it back in January that Huds would file for arbitration just like Filppula to show the team he wants to stay.

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Guest mindfly

Can anyone explain why other teams cant put offer sheets to him if he file for arbitration? :S

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Can anyone explain why other teams cant put offer sheets to him if he file for arbitration? :S

Because the rules say so. Basically arbitration is saying, I want to sign with the team, the team wants to sign me, we can't come to an agreement. So they bring in a neutral 3rd party to come up with a number for them.

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Most likely give the kids from GR (Helm/Abdelkader) a chance to play on a reg basis, and have Leino/Cleary in Hudlers slot on the 2nd pp unit.

I'm sure we'll manage.

That sounds like a real good plan to me. I want Hudler to stay a Wing for as long as possible but I'd really like to see Abdelkader be up this season and not start the season with the Griffins again. If the Wings didn't go after any free agents this off-season (besides the ones on our team) it would not bother me at all. I would like to hear something Official soon about the Wings Re-Signing someone but this is still early July and we have a couple more months before our training camp rosters need to be a complete as they are going to.

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Hudler will file for arbitration thus locking himself to the Wings. I doubt it will go to an arbitrator. Filppula did the same thing and then the Wings signed him before the hearing. I said it back in January that Huds would file for arbitration just like Filppula to show the team he wants to stay.

The big disparity between the two scenarios is that the Wings don't have the money to pay his potential reward. A lot of people thought they paid Flip more than the arbiter would have rewarded him. They will be trying to do the opposite this time around.

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"From MLIVE: Restricted free agent Jiri Hudler plans on filing for arbitration before the weekend. At that point, the Wings can choose whether the arbitrator should decide on a one-year or two-year deal. Hudler, 25, who made $1.15 million last season, will see his salary increase anywhere from the $2.5 million the Wings are offering to possibly an award in the $3.5-million to $4-million range. If the Wings don't like the arbitrator's number, they can trade Hudler."

$2.5 Million for Hudler? No. $3.5+ Million for Hudler? PLEASE GOD NO. We already have one Filppula.

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