What kind or Shape for Next Years FA market?

[Hank Dats 'N Homer 81]

I know this is a whole year away, but seeing as we arent going to make a splash in the FA pool this year, i started looking into next seasons FA.

There are alot of people on here talking about how bad of shape Chicago is in after next season because they have Toews and Kane to resign and wont have the cap room. I went to go see what our cap space would be next year to see what kind of shape we were in and it looks like we arent in the best of shape either. If we are just going to be barely under the cap if we resign Hudler this year, and the cap goes down next year again like its suppose to, we only have a few contracts coming off the books.

Heres the lst of our FA for next year

Lidstrom, Nicklas 40 DET D UFA 7.450

Holmstrom, Tomas 37 DET L UFA 2.250

Lilja, Andreas 34 DET D UFA 1.250

Maltby, Kirk 37 DET L UFA 0.883

Abdelkader, Justin 23 DET L RFA 0.850

Lebda, Brett 28 DET D UFA 0.850

Helm, Darren 23 DET C RFA 0.598

Meech, Derek 26 DET D RFA 0.500

Realisticly i see us letting Homer go if his game continues to go into the crapper like it did this year, and they will probably let maltby go because of age, but that only clears up about 3 million in cap space. We will probably use that 3 million to match any offers that Abdelkader and Helm get thrown at them. more than likely Lilja, lebda or meech will be off the books after training camp this year with the talks of us trading a defensemen. I would prefer to lose either lebda or meech seeing as they are pretty replaceable, Lilja has some skill on the PK and blocks shots and at 1.2 million hes pretty affordable. So if we lose lebda and meech we will prob have to use some of the money they free up to keep Lilja. I just dont see where we are going to get some money from to sign some guys next year like everyone is talking about. The only person that could give us some cap space is Lidstrom. Hes making 7.5 this year, i dont know if hes going to come back at the age of 41 and if he doesnt, than that leaves us with a bit of money, but realistically i see him still wanting to play atleast one more year and with his skills, he should be able to with no problem. Question is, does he take a paycut? Is he worth 7.5 at 41 years old? Yes, but thats really the only spot i see the wings making some money back to try and sign some free agents next year. As of right now, the FA list looks pretty plentiful for next year, a few good goalies available and lots of big scoreres. Id love for us to make a big splash next year, but where are we ganna get the money from?

If my numbers are wrong, or i messed up somewhere i apologize. Im not really a big numbers guy and i dont know a whole lot about contracts and cap issues and such, but with the research i did, this is what i came up with.

With all that said here is the list of potential FA next summer

http://nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?team=...e&type=none

Who would everyone want and how would we be able to afford them?

[xtrememachine1 795]

I like the look of next year's free agent class. I like the fact that we have a lot of money available to us next year too.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

If Lidstrom takes a cut, which I could see him doing. Get Maltby+Homers combined 3mil cap hit gone, and re-up Helm and Abby, and then we have some room to work with.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Detroit # 1 Fan

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

Meech will probably be traded if Lilja can play this year. Holland already said that one defenseman will be traded between training camp and the start of the season. Lidstrom will most likely take less money than what he is making now. If Lilja can't play, then we won't have to resign him either.

[dat's sick 1,002]

There's a chance Lidstrom retires. I would be sad to see that happen, but that would pretty much clear most, if not all, of our cap issues. At the very least I see him taking a big discount for a 1-year extension.

Homer, Draper and Maltby I don't see playing beyond next year. I wouldn't be extremely surprised if Homer announced his retirement during this summer even.

Unless the salary cap goes down by a significant amount we should be fine.

[Hank Dats 'N Homer 81]

There's a chance Lidstrom retires. I would be sad to see that happen, but that would pretty much clear most, if not all, of our cap issues. At the very least I see him taking a big discount for a 1-year extension.

Homer, Draper and Maltby I don't see playing beyond next year. I wouldn't be extremely surprised if Homer announced his retirement during this summer even.

Unless the salary cap goes down by a significant amount we should be fine.

The only reason i worry is because the only room that will be made in our cap is if Lids takes a cut or retires. The money htat we gain from homer draper and malts will go to resigning Abby and Helm. I cant see us having a whole lot of money to work with. What kind of pay cut do you guys see Lids taking? The only reason i ask is because i see how much some of these FA are going for this off season. I mean a 32 and 22 goal scorere both made 6.1 a year in this FA market. We wont even have a number close to that next offseason if my numbers are correct. How much money does everyone think we are going to have? Maybe i am not calculating it correctly in my head.

[e_prime 1,936]

I'm really interested in what is going to happen with Lilja and his health status.

This is one of the biggest question marks for the Wings this off season.

If he never fights again, I'm fine with that... (cuz we all know how well that works for him )

I just want him to back for his size, checking, solid defense, and to ability to lie down and block shots like a champ.

(Something we're sorely missing.)

Just my opinions:

1. Lids will take a paycut to open up some space, if he decides to return.

2. Malts and Holmstrom will be done after this upcoming season

3. Lebda will be traded after camp.

4. We will hold onto Meech. He will probably be dealt at the trade deadline or next years draft.

5. Helm and Abdelkader will re:up at reasonable numbers.

[UKWING 8]

helm is unlikely to put up huge numbers this year and so should not command too high of a salary and abdelkader is likely to play in grand rapids and so is unlikely to warrant much of a raise. it should only cost about $1-1.5m extra to re-sign the 2 of them. so the wings should have a few million spare.

and if lidstrom retires then they will have a lot of room to work with and could make a push for kovalchuk or nash etc.

but if he decides to play another year then the need to have a lot of cap room diminishes as we will still have the best d-man in the league.

Edited July 2, 2009 by UKWING

[redwingcapt 52]

Lidstrom will be back. i play hockey and go to school with his son. im quite good friends with the Lidstrom family, and look forward to seeing a paycut next year from him, dont be suprised if he takes about about 2 mill. his family is already taken care of and they have enough money to last lifetimes.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

The Wings will sign Nash and Kovalchuk, and never lose another game.

[egroen 384]

Lord help us if Lidstrom retires...

I could see Lidstrom going to $4.5m, and with Maltby and Holmstrom retiring you have $5-6m to play with next year -- depending on whether the cap goes down or not.

Helm and Abdelkader raises will barely eat into that -- so $4-5m to play with! Nice!

[dat's sick 1,002]

The only reason i worry is because the only room that will be made in our cap is if Lids takes a cut or retires. The money htat we gain from homer draper and malts will go to resigning Abby and Helm. I cant see us having a whole lot of money to work with. What kind of pay cut do you guys see Lids taking? The only reason i ask is because i see how much some of these FA are going for this off season. I mean a 32 and 22 goal scorere both made 6.1 a year in this FA market. We wont even have a number close to that next offseason if my numbers are correct. How much money does everyone think we are going to have? Maybe i am not calculating it correctly in my head.

Like UKWING said, Helm and especially Abby will in all likelihood be very cheap to re-sign. If Homer retires the salary we clear up with that should more than cover it.

I could see Lids taking atleast 2 mil less than he makes now. If the cap goes down a lot I could see him being awesome and taking an even bigger discount to "save the team".

But if he runs into injury trouble this season again I wouldn't be surprised if he retires. He strikes me as a guy that doesn't want to play until his body is destroyed and he's embarrassing himself out there.

[Hank Dats 'N Homer 81]

I would love to get a guy like Nash of Kovy, i just dont know how realistic it is with our avaialable cahs for next season. If Lidstrom stays, that significantly cuts our chances of signing a big name guy like them. But like someone said, if Lids stays, we do get to keep the best Dman and in the league so we arent really losers in that category. However, we might still have some cap space even if he stays and takes a paycut. What about a guy like savard or Olli Jokinen both making less than nash and Kovy. I would really love to have Savard and his passing ability. Put him on a line with Dats and Zetterberg and Z scores 60 goals with Dats and Savard continually setting him up haha. Any names on the list catching anyones eyes?

[PROBIE4PREZ 58]

s*** any puck moving d-man available? If Lids retire thats a enourmous hole

[talex 1]

Nash in a winged wheel would be an awesome site indeed, I would forget about Hossa all together.

[numberthirtynine 0]

Lidstrom, Nicklas 40 DET D UFA 7.450

Holmstrom, Tomas 37 DET L UFA 2.250

Lilja, Andreas 34 DET D UFA 1.250

Maltby, Kirk 37 DET L UFA 0.883

Abdelkader, Justin 23 DET L RFA 0.850

Lebda, Brett 28 DET D UFA 0.850

Helm, Darren 23 DET C RFA 0.598

Meech, Derek 26 DET D RFA 0.500

Hmmmm...

I think next season will be big for Lidstrom as far as his retirement goes. If he stays healthy and pain free he could sign a two year deal worth around 5.5 million. I could see him digging that. Esp if we're in the hunt to sign the future #1 defenseman, though I'm not sure who that would be.

Holmstrom, again, this upcoming season will be big. I think he gets resigned either way, but his performance will be a big contributor to whether or not he signs at something like 2 mil or a 1-2 year deal worth 1-1.5. His health though could force him out. He's possibly the best goalie screening slapshot taking madman to ever stand in front of a crease. Would anyone be shocked if his health forced him to retire next season?

Lilja I can't even guess. It's so up in the air.

Maltby is gone. If we resign him, we're high. Even at vet minimum he's just taking a roster spot from a young forward waiting to come up. There's 800k gone right there.

Darth Kader is obviously resigned. Hopefully we get him inked to a deal before he kicks into RFA mode.

Lebda, eh, it'll depend if we feel we need a 6th defenseman. If someone gets hurt or doesn't pan out or we have a mass exodus on D with a bunch of retirements he could stay but beyond that, eh. He's valuable to a team who needs a lightning fast blue liner who can pass relatively well for their team. He's not bad at under a million. Other teams would give him 2 mil I bet.

If Helm doesn't get resigned, bodies all over Michigan will be falling from tall buildings. This guy has earned whatever he needs.

Meech, bah, don't even care.

We could be saving upwards of 5 mil if some guys take pay cuts or leave. That will almost sure go into the sock under the mattress to sign Helm and Kader. Anyone else is a bonus. I suspect our next huge signing will be when Lidstrom goes.

I just wish we could've gotten Bouwmeester. It's the only way I'd be happy with Lids replacement. Or happy enough. Why Calgary Jay?! They'll indoctrinate you into the goonery cult.

[BlakKy 58]

Nash in a winged wheel would be an awesome site indeed, I would forget about Hossa all together.

The bad news is that Columbus just had it's first taste of the playoffs and won't let it's franchise player go unless they are sitting somewhere around last place at the deadline.. even then they might chose to hang on.

Kovalchuk sounds more realistic.

[Dimaline312000 51]

If the NHL can make some serious money this coming season. Than I think the Cap will go up for everyone but with the fix that some teams have been in this season, I don' see this happening. I would love to see the Cap go up a little bit for 10/11 but the economy is going to have a huge amount to everything to do with that. Even it is only goes up $1 or $2 Mill that would really help teams like us out.

I think the Wings will still be ok down the road becasue I expect next off-season to come with a couple to a few retirments and that could open up our cap space a little bit.

[dallas27 7]

Surely Kovalchuk doesn't want to play in Atlanta for the rest of his career

[dat's sick 1,002]

As for looking at next year's free agents outside of the Wings already, don't bother. Most of the interesting players will be locked up long before they ever reach free agency.

Nash for example.

[xBrave_Heartx 0]

Nick will take a pay cut.

Homer will retire or be forced out

Andreas will be gone.

Kirk will retire or be forced to take a major paycut

Justin will get a decent 1.2m contract

Lebda will re-sign for about hte same or move on.

Helm will get a decent 1.2m contract

Meech will re-sign for minimum, or will move on.

Overall i dont foresee any problems.

Edited July 2, 2009 by xBrave_Heartx

[HenryMalredo 2]

Don't expect Nash or Kovalchuck to hit free agency. Columbus has been improving and Nash seems to like it there....he'll re-up. If the Thrashers don't improve, Kovalchuck will be traded and signed before free agency. Elite young players never hit free agency.

[numberthirtynine 0]

Nick will take a pay cut.

Homer will retire or be forced out

Andreas will be gone.

Kirk will retire or be forced to take a major paycut

Justin will get a decent 1.2m contract

Lebda will re-sign for about hte same or move on.

Helm will get a decent 1.2m contract

Meech will re-sign for minimum, or will move on.

Overall i dont foresee any problems.

I don't see us forcing out Homer. Not our style. We haven't forced out Malts and he's been worse than Homer for a long time.

[Hank Dats 'N Homer 81]

Don't expect Nash or Kovalchuck to hit free agency. Columbus has been improving and Nash seems to like it there....he'll re-up. If the Thrashers don't improve, Kovalchuck will be traded and signed before free agency. Elite young players never hit free agency.

I read this today

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283509

Doesnt sound like negotiations are going very well. I think colombus would be stupid to not give him whatever he wants, but from that article it seems like they are worlds apart. Yeah they have a whole year to work something out, so its still likely he will be locked up, and there is no indication that Nash would come to Detroit or even want to leave Colombus but it sounds like he wants to get paid. If colombus doesnt pony up the money you can expect him to move on. I would say the same for Kovie. I cannot see him in a Thrashers jersey after next season, the guy cannont be content with playing there.

[numberthirtynine 0]

I can guarantee you Kovulchuk's not content playing there. His choice of words, his body language, all the smoke we see that we're assured isn't coming from a fire. Let's just use our gut instincts here. The man wants out of Atlanta and he said everything but "get me out" last couple trade deadlines. If this guy came to Detroit he'd be even more of a perfect fit than Hossa.

I've always said he was a bit of a "score when we'er eliminated from playoff contention" guy but you know, I won't fault a guy for not scoring in ATL. They're awful offensively and he's not getting a hint of help anywhere.

He'd be great here but man when Lids goes we need to get a great Dman and not another forward.

And I don't want Nash here. The man is an overrated puck hog who has that mentality that we've just recently dealt with that maks him think he has to make every play on his own.