Who should we Keep? Release? Sign?

[wingfanatic4alltime 32]

I agree with what a lot of you are saying, i wouldnt mind seeing bert come back for close to the same salary, Williams is the only one that i want gone i never liked him. Maybe its wishful thinking but hopefully we can sign Grier!

[VM1138 1,921]

Get rid of Rafalski at all costs. Trade him for a bag of pucks or something. He's soft and makes terrible decisions with the puck.

Yeah, being one of the best offensive d-men in the league and having a great plus/minus...who needs that.

[TheUltimateWingsFan 1]

Yeah, being one of the best offensive d-men in the league and having a great plus/minus...who needs that.

Have you learned nothing from Paul Coffey? We need defensemen who, you know, can play defense. Rafalski's just a turnover machine in his own zone.

[Guest screwdahawks]

A common theme in both series this year was watching smaller Wing's players battling in the corners with behemoths. Getting rid of Bertuzzi helps that situation how?

I don't recall very many times seeing Bert going into the corners and battling for pucks. I'm not saying we should dump him but he is so NOT physical it's embarrassing (same as Franzen).

[GoOzzieGo 22]

Get rid of Rafalski at all costs. Trade him for a bag of pucks or something. He's soft and makes terrible decisions with the puck.

Like scoring our only goal last night?

[TheUltimateWingsFan 1]

Like scoring our only goal last night?

What a pass he made to Thornton, who served up Marleau for the GAME-WINNNER!!!! I'm surprised he didn't join in the celebration, or at least be awarded an assist. Just an awful awful play.

[GoOzzieGo 22]

What a pass he made to Thornton, who served up Marleau for the GAME-WINNNER!!!! I'm surprised he didn't join in the celebration, or at least be awarded an assist. Just an awful awful play.

Ok, so if Brian is not on the ice....the turnover doesn't get made....Brian's goal isn't made...Annnnnnnd we still lose 1-0.

Blame the loss on him all you want.

[Dominator2005 558]

Why you think that Hudler is going to "fix" top six forwards???

4 years ago, our savior was: Igor Grigorenko.

Couple of years ago, our savior was: Ville Leino.

Now, our savior is: Jiri Hudler.

Imagine in couple of years from now our top 6 forwards:

Dats - Zetterberg - X

Hudler - Flip - Tatar

We should call Detroit The Smurfs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs) and not Red Wings...

Reason why DETROIT DOENS'T NEED HUDLER IS TATAR!!!

Edited May 9, 2010 by Dominator2005

[newfy 695]

Agreed.I say let Bert walk this summer.I'd like to see any of the following here next year:

Brian Sutherby

Shawn Thornton(As mentioned)

Jason Chimera

Brad Winchester

Raffi Torres(As mentioned)

Kyle Chipchura

Brandon Prust

Andrew Ladd

Aaron Voros

David Clarkson

Ethan Moreau

Throw Jared Boll on that list and Armstrong as well. I wouldn't want Ethan Moreau because I think this team needs to try to get a bit more youthful.

I think signing Chipchura would be unreal because he's so young and can still get into his scoring potential that he came into the league with as well as be a really physical guy. I remember he was sick when he captained canada's world junior team. I can't see Jersey letting Clarkson go or else I would take him and Chipchura ffor sure.

I think signing Ladd or Torres for the third line and Chipchura for the 4th would be the best route to go. If we could get our hands on Chipchura Holland would be stupid not too

[TheUltimateWingsFan 1]

Ok, so if Brian is not on the ice....the turnover doesn't get made....Brian's goal isn't made...Annnnnnnd we still lose 1-0.

Blame the loss on him all you want.

I don't blame the loss on him, as there was plenty of blame to go around, but I do blame him for the goal that was the game-winner.

But his sloppy defensive play has been on display for years. He thinks he's being tricky with the puck and can make these cute little plays, but too often the forechecker reads him like a book and it leads to a scoring chance.

[Donaldjr2448 43]

Personally I was real happy with all 3! I thought Bert did exactly what we got him for. We needed someone to put up between 15-20 goals and he did that! I thought the team never really recovered from all the injuries this year. We got put behind the eight ball early and just never recovered. Remember our playoffs started in Early February this year.

I think this team is just fine the way it is, if we can find a steal UFA, then by all means jump on it, but to blow the team up is not the best idea.

I think we were only 12 points behind SJ for 1st overall at seasons end, just imagine if were healthy all year! Just sayin!!

[fixxxer 11]

I think we can all agree that Brad McCrimmon has got to go.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Personally I was real happy with all 3! I thought Bert did exactly what we got him for. We needed someone to put up between 15-20 goals and he did that! I thought the team never really recovered from all the injuries this year. We got put behind the eight ball early and just never recovered. Remember our playoffs started in Early February this year.

I think this team is just fine the way it is, if we can find a steal UFA, then by all means jump on it, but to blow the team up is not the best idea.

I think we were only 12 points behind SJ for 1st overall at seasons end, just imagine if were healthy all year! Just sayin!!

Changing a few players is not the same thing as blowing up a team.

This team is not just fine the way it is. Otherwise, we wouldn't be getting eliminated in the 2nd round. We didn't play well in these playoffs against either Phoenix or San Jose.

Our record in these playoffs was 5-7. That suggests a team that needs some changes.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Changing a few players is not the same thing as blowing up a team.

This team is not just fine the way it is. Otherwise, we wouldn't be getting eliminated in the 2nd round. We didn't play well in these playoffs against either Phoenix or San Jose.

Our record in these playoffs was 5-7. That suggests a team that needs some changes.

Most of the main cogs played well. Hank, Pavel, Nick were all great in the playoffs. Franzen started off a bit slow but somehow managed to lead the playoffs in scoring so okay. Rafalski was himself, I guess we can't expect anything above the brainfarts to go along with the points.

The Wings didn't get anything from their bottom two lines on offense and Jimmy was shaky some of the time. To me that was a big difference, even in the games where they were getting f***ed in the ass by s*** calls and worse luck.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Re-sign Eaves. Goodbye Williams in favor of Happy Hudler.

[Guest mindfly]

IMO detroit can only keep one of Miller/Eaves.. perhaps neither.. IF they are going to be on the team it must be on a 4th line, because they aren't third line players.. Draper has a year left so I take it he will stay on the team as a 4th line, then they have 2 spots for Helm, Miller, Eaves, Abdelakader....they can't keep em all... wings must get a third line that can SCORE and be EFFECTIVE.. not just go out there to try and kill time and dump it and then go change...

Edited May 9, 2010 by mindfly

[RedWings 79]

every sweede D is not Lidstrom.

Look at Eriksson... this guy has absolutely no hands..

we need some great draft picks...

[Guest mjtm77]

Keep bert especily at his salary. Iam thinking Its holmstroms time to go I know he wont but I hate the way he playes 5 on 5 and I feel we could get a better top six forward

[Red Crazy 201]

Bert for the same pay I think can stay. As far as Eaves and Miller I do like them but they can be replaced for some size. I would like to see Lilja, Meech, and Lebda all walk. When Lidstrom retires this team is going to have a huge whole to fill and some think his cap space should be used on forwards. I say we need to spend that money on a top 2 defence man. Rafalski is getting up there and I don't see Kronwall or Stuart being in the top two on this team. Ericsson has shown that he might not even be top six, and as far as his " mean streak" I have watched him slap Perry a few times but that is it. I am sorry but he is big, slow, and not very good at defence, so he can go as well. If Lidstrom takes a pay cut or retires use his money for a d-man. Who, all depends on how much money you have to spend. Ian White would be nice?

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

Well we have 13 million in cap to deal with. Get creative Kenny

[newfy 695]

Bert for the same pay I think can stay. As far as Eaves and Miller I do like them but they can be replaced for some size. I would like to see Lilja, Meech, and Lebda all walk. When Lidstrom retires this team is going to have a huge whole to fill and some think his cap space should be used on forwards. I say we need to spend that money on a top 2 defence man. Rafalski is getting up there and I don't see Kronwall or Stuart being in the top two on this team. Ericsson has shown that he might not even be top six, and as far as his " mean streak" I have watched him slap Perry a few times but that is it. I am sorry but he is big, slow, and not very good at defence, so he can go as well. If Lidstrom takes a pay cut or retires use his money for a d-man. Who, all depends on how much money you have to spend. Ian White would be nice?

When Ericcson is pushed the right way he can be very, very mean. He just needs to show it more consistently. It might be his only way to stick in the league. He's beat up Perry and had a good fight against Clowe earlier this year. The same Clowe that made mince meat out of legit heavy weight enforcer George Parros.

Babcock needs to do to Ericcson what he did to Abdelkader and tell him he needs to punish guys and fight more. If he does this he would be a very solid number 6 defenseman.

Then just add a hard hitter to back up Abdelkader and a 3rd or 2nd line scorer and we're set.

[Guest Heaten]

Part of me wants to present the hasty decision of letting all the UFA's walk (except Lidstrom, of course) and sign some Griffin kids to play in the big league to get some experience.

Re-sign Lidstrom 1-year for $5 to $6 million... Give Mursak, Tatar, Ritola and whoever else has a great training camp some NHL ice time. With the left over cap money, trade for some talent at trade deadline.

That said, good thing I'm not a GM. I get impatient and want to see some kids step up.

[Red Storm 38]

I think we can all agree that Brad McCrimmon has got to go.

Is it that he has to go, or is it were getting soft in the back end. I think its the latter. Someone on the board said Rafalski's got to go; I agree he may add offense at times , but his defensive skills are really starting to lag which was evident in this series. I would not give up on Ericson just yet ,give him another year defensemen take longer to develop. Lila is another defenseman we could do with out he not mobile enough for the speed that now dominates this league; the young Avs. are proof of that ; we need more youth on defense . Another factor up front is with our centers we really got dominated in the faceoff circle that really hurt us against the Sharks. I would like to see more size up front, however big centers are a highly sought after commodity in the league. There is definitely trading material in terms of our forwards: Flip was a real let down in this series; Cleary didn't do much lacked fire; Homer I think its time like Draper and Maltby to go. And Zetterberg was really lack lustre and ineffective in this series. If Montreal were willing to part with Price and throw in Plekanec I would part with Hanks longterm contract.

[Dominator2005 558]

Is it that he has to go, or is it were getting soft in the back end. I think its the latter. Someone on the board said Rafalski's got to go; I agree he may add offense at times , but his defensive skills are really starting to lag which was evident in this series. I would not give up on Ericson just yet ,give him another year defensemen take longer to develop. Lila is another defenseman we could do with out he not mobile enough for the speed that now dominates this league; the young Avs. are proof of that ; we need more youth on defense . Another factor up front is with our centers we really got dominated in the faceoff circle that really hurt us against the Sharks. I would like to see more size up front, however big centers are a highly sought after commodity in the league. There is definitely trading material in terms of our forwards: Flip was a real let down in this series; Cleary didn't do much lacked fire; Homer I think its time like Draper and Maltby to go. And Zetterberg was really lack lustre and ineffective in this series. If Montreal were willing to part with Price and throw in Plekanec I would part with Hanks longterm contract.

WOW...

[Guest mindfly]

Plekanec+Price+1st rounder for Zetterberg... That I would take!

Franchise goaltender that will be awesome in detroit, plekenec awesome set up man although hasn't played in western conference yet but i'm sure he would be great in west, too. + 1st rounder "future top6 forward player"

Edited May 9, 2010 by mindfly