Best of Next Summer's UFA list

[Guest Shoreline]

Whoa whoa whoa, you don't think Turco and Eaves and Marleau and Vermette could be signed for around 5-7 million total? We could easily through Kovy in there as well if we wanted to push it to around 8 million total for all those guys.

It would be silly to sign all of those guys anyways. Way out in left wing.. er.. field.

[Lovin Jiri Fischer 147]

Kovalchuck will never hit free agency. If he can;t be signed, he'll be traded.

Oh good. We can trade Williams for him.

[Yak19 303]

Lidstrom will finish his career here in Hockeytown, i dont see him ever leaving, he will retire a DRW.

Considering Ozzie has 1 more year in him i would like to pick up Nittymaki as a backup, would have loved to have him this year, he was better then Biron and i just really like him.

Holmer most likely retires after this season along with Malts.......

Obviously i would love to have a Kovalchuk or Frolov but adding a couple guys like Lombardi and Higgins wouldn't be to shabby either and it is more realistic.

[imisssergei 0]

Antoine Vermette is stupid fast, he can cause so much havoc with his speed alone it's crazy. He would be awesome, and would probably be someone the Wings could afford. He's Max Afinogenov with defensive ability.

[VM1138 1,921]

Frolov, Frolov, Frolov!

That's really the only person to get excited about on that list, other than Lidstrom and Kovalchuk and guys who won't leave their team anyway.

It's a much bigger "big name" off-season than this one, but I'm not sure they're any more talented, overall.

[mmamolo 287]

Obviously Anaheim is going to want to keep HIller but with Giguere on the books for another year (after this year) at $6M+ it all depends on what Hiller wants. It's been said that Giguere is refusing to waive his no trade clause and with a sick kid I cant see that changing. If Hiller plays really well again this year and solidifies himself as the number 1 in Anaheim and then askes for $4M/yr on a new contract or something hwo can the Ducks devote over $10M for their goaltending, even if it's only for one year? But who knows, I'd probably want to keep him and somehow manage to get Giguere's number off the books.

Personally, I really think Frolov would be a huge addition. I think he would instantly round out our forwards.

[Finnish Wing 110]

Next year: re-sign Lids 1-year deal, sign Hiller multi-year deal. After next year Lids retires, then sign Doughty or Weber.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Any idea, if the cap remains the same, how much room the Wings have next year? This is with Lilja, Holmstrom, Maltby, and Lidstrom's current salaries off the books.

[titanium2 867]

Any idea, if the cap remains the same, how much room the Wings have next year? This is with Lilja, Holmstrom, Maltby, and Lidstrom's current salaries off the books.

I'm not sure if all of their numbers are right but it should give you a good estimate.

http://www.letsgowings.com/salarychart/index.php

EDIT: And the cap is supposed to go down by most reports.

Edited August 12, 2009 by titanium2

[hockey23 79]

Any idea, if the cap remains the same, how much room the Wings have next year? This is with Lilja, Holmstrom, Maltby, and Lidstrom's current salaries off the books.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m)

Ville Leino ($0.800m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m)

Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m)

GOALTENDERS

Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 13; PAYROLL: $40.705m; CAP ROOM: $16.095m BONUSES: $0.000m

$16 mil cap space and need to sign 5 forwards and 3 d. We'd be lucky to sign 3 d with $6 mil leaving $10 mil for 5 forwards. Add Helm and Abby for around $1 mil each, a couple of fourth liners for $2 mi, and that leaves $6 mil to sign a good free agent forward.

[Shaman 713]

I'm not sure if all of their numbers are right but it should give you a good estimate.

http://www.letsgowings.com/salarychart/index.php

EDIT: And the cap is supposed to go down by most reports.

Actually legal revenues if they dont drop by more than 5% would keep the cap at the same level (the NHLPA can add a 5% inflator every year) so unless things get drastically worse in the NHL (and with the FA this summer, i think they wont) the cap may not drop by much if any at all.

[mmamolo 287]

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m)

Ville Leino ($0.800m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m)

Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m)

GOALTENDERS

Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 13; PAYROLL: $40.705m; CAP ROOM: $16.095m BONUSES: $0.000m

$16 mil cap space and need to sign 5 forwards and 3 d. We'd be lucky to sign 3 d with $6 mil leaving $10 mil for 5 forwards. Add Helm and Abby for around $1 mil each, a couple of fourth liners for $2 mi, and that leaves $6 mil to sign a good free agent forward.

Assuming Lidstrom would come back at 5 it'd be tough to get all three D for 6M total. Especially considering it all depends on what happens with Lilja. Personally I wouldnt mind seeing Lidstrom at 5, lilja at a small raise to 1.4 and then a seventh d at .5 for a total of $6.9M for the three missing D. That leaves $9M for the remaining five forwards.

It'd be great if Eaves works out ok and he gets $1M and then both Helm and Abdelkader get $1M each too. That leaves $6m for the remaining 2 forwards.

Assuming you get 500k-$1M player to round out our third/fourth line you then have $5m left to divide up between a potential top 6 forward and soem remaining cap space.

That's how I would probably try and work it out. That is of course assuming Osgood and Howard work out as a good goaltending combination.

Actually, if our goaltending didnt work out and Hudler came back at a cap hit of $2.875M that would leave a little over $3.5M (6-2.875+.7) which includes Howard being off the books if he falters to sign a goalie.

Any combination of this sort works out

Edited August 12, 2009 by mmamolo

[rick zombo 3,739]

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m)

Ville Leino ($0.800m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m)

Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m)

GOALTENDERS

Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 13; PAYROLL: $40.705m; CAP ROOM: $16.095m BONUSES: $0.000m

$16 mil cap space and need to sign 5 forwards and 3 d. We'd be lucky to sign 3 d with $6 mil leaving $10 mil for 5 forwards. Add Helm and Abby for around $1 mil each, a couple of fourth liners for $2 mi, and that leaves $6 mil to sign a good free agent forward.

Actually it would be a 22 man roster. 13 + 7 + 2

That's 6 Forwards - 3 Defensemen to sign.

Forwards:

Helm - 1M

Abby - 0.8M

3 Prospects or UFAs to round out the 11th, 12th, and 13th forwards = 2.5M

Defense:

Lidstrom - 5.5M

6th D - 0.8M

7th D - 0.6M

In my sloppy estimation, that leaves approx. 5M for one top six forward.

[titanium2 867]

Assuming Lidstrom would come back at 5 it'd be tough to get all three D for 6M total. Especially considering it all depends on what happens with Lilja. Personally I wouldnt mind seeing Lidstrom at 5, lilja at a small raise to 1.4 and then a seventh d at .5 for a total of $6.9M for the three missing D.

Isn't Kindl out of minor league options after this year? That means we would have to include his cap hit.

Assuming you get 500k-$1M player to round out our third/fourth line you then have $5m left to divide up between a potential top 6 forward and soem remaining cap space.

Isn't Ritola out of minor league options as well? His cap hit is right around 500k.

[mmamolo 287]

Isn't Kindl out of minor league options after this year? That means we would have to include his cap hit.

Isn't Ritola out of minor league options as well? His cap hit is right around 500k.

I think you're right about Kindl. Im not really sure about Ritola but you may be right as well. Kindl's cap hit is 883k so ya shift 383k around in the D. But yeah whoever you chose to plug into the spots you just have to tinker with some numbers etc. But ya i think you're right

[wingslionstigers 12]

Frolov would be a great addition..

Z-D-Cleary

Franzen - Flip - Frolov

Triple F line looks like goals to me

[BeeRYCE 2]

Ladies and gentleman, Kovalchuk will be the big name at next season's trade deadline.

[numberthirtynine 0]

For forwards, we'll resign Homer or he'll retire. That's obvious. I'd love Marc Savard on this team. He's one of the best passers in the game and we, having Pav, know what it's like to have the best passer. Put him on a line with Franzen and I can guarantee that line would have people creaming themselves. One of the best passers consistently feeding one of the best shooters. I'd kill for that. I'd like Kovalchuk but he'll get 10 mil on the open market if ATL doesn't give it to him first. Jokinen I want no part of. I endured the Calgary wankfest over this guy, and the only consistent thing about him is his laziness. He's too streaky when scoring, but he'll take each and every shift off in his own end. Guy's a bum and is going to make more than he should next year. He's also a locker room *******. Iggy and his overrated leadership abilities sure did a good job ironing him out huh? Psshhhh. Rest are either too old for too much money, too broken or too lazy. Frolov would be nice here though. Hejduk is going to be the sexy pick once we miss out on all the top notch talent next year, I can see it coming a mile away. I wouldn't pay that guy what he'll want. No way in hell.

For D, eh we'll resign Nick or he'll retire. That'as given as gravity. He won't go anywhere else and I'm pretty sure no one is anticipating it either. As for the rest, don't want 'em. Too much of a logjam, too many players as is. Rafalski, contrary to the popular opinion, is a damn fantastic defenseman and ain't taking his 6 mil contract to the second line, so we can just forget about Neidermayer, who has fallen off a slight but defensively anyway. Gonchar doesn't actually play D and while Johnsson is good, we wouldn't have room anyway. This isn't a real hot year for UFA defensemen. I wanted Bouwmeester but that idea got nixed when he went to go teach Dion how to play in Calgary.

Goalies? I can see Ellis in a Wings jersey. He's always wanted to play for us, he comes cheap and is damn good. He's fallen completely under the radar and that can be a result of many things that don't include not being able to play anymore. The kid is damn good. It would all depend on two things. 1) Does Jimmy Howard suck it up so badly we decide we don't want him here and 2) Does Ozzy retire? If he does, and if Lids takes the small paycut many are expecting him to, we may go after Ellis or Hiller. At least I would think we should. The rest are either too expensive and not enough proof they're worth it(Luo/Nabokov) or just aren't Wings calibre for the playoffs. Which is what really matters.

[gcom007 1,465]

For some reason I've always thought that one day we'd eventually employ Paul Kariya. I'm not sure why, but it just seems like something that would happen later on in his career. If the price is right and it likely would be for a number of reasons next year, I could see the Wings signing him for a couple of years. I don't expect any of the younger, bigger names to come here. We've got our core guys. We'll just be looking to accent the lineup.

I'm not sure about D yet. Lids will re-sign this fall most likely and then we'll see how the season progresses if we need to shake things up. If the D gets their act together, most of our available money will go into guys who put the puck in the net. That's where we're hurting the most right now.

If Howard plays well that solves one issue. I've got a feeling that Osgood will sign an extension though once this contract is done. I don't think his game will be too slowed down by age as that nano-second of reflex response time that Hasek needs to flop into position isn't necessary for Osgood who has always been more of a fundamentals/positional goalie. If he can stay elite even if only for the playoffs, there's no point in dumping him at that price. So either way, don't look for more than another million to go to a goalie because it'll likely just be a backup+ as opposed to a 1b/potential-starter.

[numberthirtynine 0]

^That "flopping" into position is for a reason and is used when it's necessary. Almost 20 years and I can count on one hand how many people have figured out why he plays the way he does.

[gcom007 1,465]

^That "flopping" into position is for a reason and is used when it's necessary. Almost 20 years and I can count on one hand how many people have figured out why he plays the way he does.

I'm not knocking or saying one is really better than the other in general. I'm simply pointing out the difference in their styles and how age ultimately limits one more than the other. Losing reflex response time is going to hurt someone like Hasek who's game is far more acrobatic than Osgood's. Osgood will lose a bit of reflex like Hasek and everyone else as he heads into his 40's, but it won't hurt his game as much as it hurt Hasek's.

Hasek was a great goalie for a long time with a unique style and he deserves all the praise he gets, but his last few years were rough to watch in some ways as his body just wasn't able to keep up with what his style required of him to play at an elite level. While the 2006/07 campaign was mostly successful for him, it was obvious to me that he had lost a step and I knew it was only a matter of time before his head started getting in the way to try to compensate which is what ultimately unraveled in 2007/08 when Osgood eventually took over the starter spot. As he said, he probably was physically capable of playing better than he did much of that year and in the playoffs, but what I think ultimately was going on was more mental than physical at that point. If it was just the slight physical loss of reaction speed, that'd be one thing, but that triggers mental issues and ultimately just a breakdown in what has so long been an incredibly intrinsic, habitual process. All things considered, it's tough to rip on the guy when he played as well as he did at what, 43? But he didn't have quite enough to get it done.

Osgood on the other hand is simply not as acrobatic. I know, redundant, I'm just saying, he's a guy who's game is more mental than physical in terms of balance. He reads the plays and keeps things fundamental and positional so he's not dashing side to side too much or diving for anything. People have made ignorant comments about how Osgood has it easy because people just shoot it at his chest but what they typically ignore is that Osgood tends to put himself in a position where all they have to shoot at is his chest. With that type of game, when Osgood hits 40 and starts losing reaction time, it's not going to change the fact that he more often than not won't have to whip a pad or glove out or dive across the crease because typically he just follows the play and makes sure that the only target to shoot at is his chest.

So I don't foresee a decline in his play real soon and barring something drastic, I expect him to have two more great playoffs and I expect him to sign up and most likely start for 2-3 more years after his current contract expires. Especially given the fact that it's looking more likely than not that Howard isn't going to pan out to be a starter. He'll either stay backing up for a couple years or they'll bring someone else in after next season for $1 million or less. McCollum likely won't enter the fold for a couple years I would imagine. I haven't followed his progress real closely but I'd imagine the earliest we'd see him on the big club is a couple years as we like our guys to develop in the minors.

Right now I'm betting on a 2-year contract extension for Osgood after this contract and a 1a/1b thing with McCollum for those 2 years with Osgood starting in the playoffs. 3rd year for Osgood will depend on how things go for him and if McCollum is ready to take over. If he is, Osgood will probably hang them up as opposed to opting for a 3rd year when it'd be really pushing the age thing and there's a kid ready to step in. I'd think he'd be the 1b guy at most and backup in the playoffs.

Long story short though, I think we're set in goal for at least 4 more years.

[LeftWinger 5,152]

It would be nice to havfe Vermette, but it would've also been nice to have Moen and or Malhotra. Of course having all three would have been the best! But, we won't get Vermette either, so no use in getting my hopes up!

[VM1138 1,921]

^That "flopping" into position is for a reason and is used when it's necessary. Almost 20 years and I can count on one hand how many people have figured out why he plays the way he does.

Hasek was probably (in my mind) the most entertaining goalie ever, and probably the second best ever. His flopping drew constant criticism but those critics always tended to ignore this basic fact: It worked. By flopping and looking like he was in a spasm he made some of the most amazing saves in hockey history. The guy is a legend and I, too, will defend his flopping any chance I get. But I agree with the poster you were responding to, I don't think he was criticising Dom.

[mmamolo 287]

It seems like a lot of ppl are already thining Howard won't work out before the kid has even played a game. Obviously, based on my previous posts in this thread, I know that it's possible he won't work out so there's nothing wrong in thinking ahead but I think we need to give the guy a fair shake before we pass judgment. Also, everyone seems to be talking about McCollum as the next big goalie prospect for us. Daniel Larsson had a solid year last year and looks like he'll only improve. Personally I would imagine that McCollum and Larsson will split time this season and we'll see who emerges as the true next goaltending prospect in line for motown.

[titanium2 867]

It seems like a lot of ppl are already thining Howard won't work out before the kid has even played a game. Obviously, based on my previous posts in this thread, I know that it's possible he won't work out so there's nothing wrong in thinking ahead but I think we need to give the guy a fair shake before we pass judgment. Also, everyone seems to be talking about McCollum as the next big goalie prospect for us. Daniel Larsson had a solid year last year and looks like he'll only improve. Personally I would imagine that McCollum and Larsson will split time this season and we'll see who emerges as the true next goaltending prospect in line for motown.

It's just about consistency in prospect development that gives the fans confidence. For instance Abdelkader and Helm for the most part have always taken steps forward in their development and not many, if any at all, steps back. With guys like Jimmy and even Jakub Kindl, they always seem to take steps forward but then then sudden steps back. It doesn't mean that they're worthless. It just causes us to question their mental ability. At the same time the standard of development is different for goaltenders and defensemen. But we see guys like Abdelkader and Helm and we expect the same from everyone else.