Ken Holland about next years roster and williams

[crazy13 0]

Williams signing impact on cap

I don't have the salary number for Jason Williams yet, but it certainly sounds like his signing means that the Red Wings are going to carry 22 players again this season ... and that's a number that vice president and general manager Ken Holland thinks is ideal.

"We'll be a little over the cap heading into training camp," said Holland. "We have the flexibility of a couple of kids who can go up and down to Grand Rapids."

That means Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm. Of those two, Abdelkader is clearly the first to go on the Grand Rapids shuttle based on performance, experience and just plain weariness of waiting for a chance. All those factors favor Helm. Add in that Abdelkader's salary ($850,000 plus $140,000 possible bonuses) is higher than Helm's ($599,444) and Helm isn't going anywhere unless preseason performances change tilt heavily towards Abdelkader.

"I'm a big believer in the American Hockey League," said Holland. "The NHL is a man's league. It's the toughest league in the world. If you're not emotionally and physically ready, you're going to lose your confidence. Some people are ready (for the NHL) at 19 like Sidney Crosby. Some are ready at 21 or 22."

That said, Holland's ideal roster is this ... 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.

The goalies are set with Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard.

With Abdelkader, Helm, Jason Williams and Tuesday's signee, Patrick Eaves, the Red Wings have 13 forwards. Right now, either the Red Wings are keeping Abdlekader and Helm or adding another forward into the mix (either by signing or someone who's already in the system).

Or there's the option of the Wings going away from the 13-7-2 template short term, keeping just 12 forwards (putting Abdelkader in Grand Rapids) and keeping eight defensemen until a deal can be worked out for one blue-liner.

With eight NHL defensemen, everything hinges on Andreas Lilja's health. The big Swede is still experiencing headaches and might not be able to start the season on the active roster. If that's the case, Lilja and his $1.25 million contract will be off the books and on long-term injured reserve.

If Lilja can play, then either Brett Lebda ($650,000) or Derek Meech ($483,333) might be moved.

"If Lilja's healthy, we're not going to carry eight defensemen," said Holland. "We want to go to camp and have competition for jobs. That's going to be sorted out in training camp. If we get good luck with injuries, I believe we've got the potential of having a team that can contend with any team in our division and compete for the West(ern Conference)."

http://redwingscorner.blogspot.com/2009/08...act-on-cap.html

[ShanahanMan 473]

Moron (in this instance).

Edited August 7, 2009 by ShanahanMan

[Echolalia 2,961]

I don't see Meech going anywhere with what little capspace we have. He fills in two spots on the depth chart.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

i thought it was pretty much already decided that abby was playing another season in GR??..and that helm was on the wings. with eaves and williams on the roster, the wings are done signing unless they want maltby to be the 13th fwd (highly unlikely) helm will most likely be 3rd line centre with abby 1st line centre on GR...or wing if the wings want him to develop into a winger, which may not be a bad idea.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

I don't see Meech going anywhere with what little capspace we have. He fills in two spots on the depth chart.

yup...13th fwd, 7th d. whatever needed.

if lilja is healthy, lebda is gonzo. meech has his values. i wonder though if lebda if needed to could play a defensive winger role?? he would be better served on d for another team though.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Moron.

What would you do then?

[mmamolo 287]

It seems that Holland isn't flat out saying that ABdelkader will be sent down to GR because he is tryign to create some competition in camp. It's the same reason why he has said that if Lilja is healthy the Wings will only carry 7 D. That way no Abdelkader competes with Helm, Leino etc and Lebda and Meech compete it out as well. That way everyone earns their spot and it's easier to determine who to keep and where to place players.

At the end of the day we all know if one D gets moved it has to be either Lebda or Meech. Both have such a minimal cap hit it's not much of a difference but Lebda's hit is about 150k more or so.

[titanium2 867]

It seems that Holland isn't flat out saying that ABdelkader will be sent down to GR because he is tryign to create some competition in camp.

Yeah but Abby isn't a moron. He's got to know that the odds are stacked against him pretty heavily simply because he hasn't "paid his dues" as much as Helm.

[mmamolo 287]

Yeah but Abby isn't a moron. He's got to know that the odds are stacked against him pretty heavily simply because he hasn't "paid his dues" as much as Helm.

Yeah, you're definitely right. But camp is the time to make the right impressions on the right ppl. If he has a good showing (similar to Helm's last year where Babcock has a hard time sending him down and knows he's NHL ready) he'll solidify himself as the first forward to be called up (if he hasnt already done that). Plus it will instill that much more confidence in him from the coaches perspective. Plus, at the end of the day he may very well play a guy like Patrick Eaves out of a spot part way through the season. My point is even though it's all but decided Abdelkader will be in GR (as I think he should be) training camp is the time to set the tone of the upcoming season and he should be looking at this camp as a major stepping stone for himself.

[ShanahanMan 473]

What would you do then?

It would start with not signing Jason Williams.

[p_diddy_datsyuk_13 2]

I have been consistently hearing that the Wings' are intent on sending Abdelkader to Grand Rapids for another whole season, and this is from another player in the Wings' system, I will not say who, but the name that is being thrown around is Oulahen. Considering he is responsible defensively, and out of waiver exemptions, it would not suprise me to see the Wings give him and his affordable $0.5M salary a good chance in Detroit, as a 13th forward anyway.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

It would start with not signing Jason Williams.

Enlighted us some more then. What else would you do? Give us specifics. Details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Williams isn't going to make or break the Red Wings season, and I find it hard to take somebody seriously that calls one of the better GMs in the business a moron who has done his fair share of helping get a team 4 championships in 11, 12 years and playoffs for 15 straight years.

If it makes you feel better to call me a Holland slappy or "ZOMG HOW DARE WE QUESTION KEN HOLLAND!!!", knock yourself out.

Edited August 6, 2009 by SouthernWingsFan

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

It seems that Holland isn't flat out saying that ABdelkader will be sent down to GR because he is tryign to create some competition in camp. It's the same reason why he has said that if Lilja is healthy the Wings will only carry 7 D. That way no Abdelkader competes with Helm, Leino etc and Lebda and Meech compete it out as well. That way everyone earns their spot and it's easier to determine who to keep and where to place players.

At the end of the day we all know if one D gets moved it has to be either Lebda or Meech. Both have such a minimal cap hit it's not much of a difference but Lebda's hit is about 150k more or so.

if there was an outside chance that leino didn't win a spot, he would have to be traded. can helm even go back down to GR at this point?

[cjm502 165]

Enlighted us some more then. What else would you do? Give us specifics. Details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Williams isn't going to make or break the Red Wings season, and I find it hard to take somebody seriously that calls one of the better GMs in the business a moron who has done his fair share of helping get a team 4 championships in 11, 12 years and playoffs for 15 straight years.

If it makes you feel better to call me a Holland slappy or "ZOMG HOW DARE WE QUESTION KEN HOLLAND!!!", knock yourself out.

Im right with ya. Who else could we sign for 1.5m that will get around 50 points? Exactly.

[wingsownnhl43 14]

I cant believe this. I swear, everytime we played Chicago or Columbus I would be like they cant be that good if they have a roster spot available for Jason Williams.

Right when we lose my two least favorite Red Wings (Samuelsson, Hudler), we bring someone in I actually hate more than them.

FML

[Guest Crymson]

Moron.

Fickle.

[Guest E_S_A_D]

Wow, what a riveting team we'll have next year. ZzZzZzZzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

[uk_redwing 495]

Im right with ya. Who else could we sign for 1.5m that will get around 50 points? Exactly.

The highest Jason Williams has managed in the last 4 years is 36 points. And 3 points in 24 playoff games.

Guys who could achieve that and more: Pyatt, Comrie, Bertuzzi even Grier. Hell Im pretty sure an enforcer with even the biggest of cement hands could put up 3 points in the playoffs.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

How about we send Williams down to GR? Or maybe make him compete for a roster spot. Why should he be entitled to anything all of a sudden.

Just to think that hard working checkers like Helm and Abby have to compete for a job, while some lazy euro like Williams is given some entitlement on the team. We traded him for Kyle Calder because Calder was thought of as a guy that would actually play hard and battle for pucks.

What does that tell you about Williams?

[ShanahanMan 473]

Im right with ya. Who else could we sign for 1.5m that will get around 50 points? Exactly.

He had 50 points ONCE in his whole career. Good players don't go through THREE teams in 2 seasons. No one wants this guy. Did you guys watch the Wings before 2008? Do you remember how he played with the team? I sure as hell do. I mean, it was because of his lackluster play and s*** attitude that got his ass benched by Babs (which Willaims bitched about to the press later which pissed me off even more). This is also the guy who looked by far the worse player during the Edmonton series in 06.

Have you all forgotten this? It was a godsend that we got rid of this nuisance when we did, and now we're just bringing him back?

Ugh.

Edited August 6, 2009 by ShanahanMan

[gcom007 1,465]

Enlighted us some more then. What else would you do? Give us specifics. Details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason Williams isn't going to make or break the Red Wings season, and I find it hard to take somebody seriously that calls one of the better GMs in the business a moron who has done his fair share of helping get a team 4 championships in 11, 12 years and playoffs for 15 straight years.

If it makes you feel better to call me a Holland slappy or "ZOMG HOW DARE WE QUESTION KEN HOLLAND!!!", knock yourself out.

I don't think Holland's a moron by any means but I don't think he was as prepared for this off-season as he needed to be either. Myself and others said well before July 1st that there's a good chance the Wings will lose all of our main free agents to which most balked and as Holland and Jimmy D. said multiple times, they knew it was possible but they just didn't really expect/anticipate it at all. Personally, I think for once the Wings management was overly-confident and it bit them in the ass. Again, I'm not saying they're morons or they suck as no one's perfect and more often than not they get it right, but I definitely think they dropped a few balls this off-season. I think they might say the same thing in the future as they've already admitted that they just didn't foresee losing Hossa, Samuellson and Hudler.

[skacore 2]

LETS GO RED WINGS!!!!!!! LETS GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!

[ben_usmc 253]

For f*** sake it didn't work out last year, why are we going to just lose another dman because Holland is deciding to turn our bottom half of the roster into s*** :lebda/meech/draper/maltby/WILLIAMS!!!!!!!

[ShanahanMan 473]

For f*** sake it didn't work out last year, why are we going to just lose another dman because Holland is deciding to turn our bottom half of the roster into s*** :lebda/meech/draper/maltby/WILLIAMS!!!!!!!

Hurts to even look at that.

[skacore 2]

Holland really knows how to get fans pumped up for the season ... I think his plan is to keep the Joe completely empty so that our "hockey players" can focus on playing instead of being distracted by loud fans