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king_malice

Willie Mitchell

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Guest VAL FILPPULA

Not a chance. We simply do not have the cap and he probably wouldn't take whatever we could scrounge together. That is just the reality of the situation.

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Guest VAL FILPPULA

I've been thinking about this all day and it actually seems like it would be plausible. Currently, the Red Wings have 3.77 million in cap space. They will have 2.5 million in cap space after Modano signs his 1.25 million contract. Most likely, Helm and Abdelkader will get anywhere from 600k to 900k. Lets say they both sign for 750k, that means that there would be 1 mil left in cap space (Holland said he wanted to have 500k just in case). However, if Miller, Meech, and Ritola are dealt, that would free up 1.5 mil which would give us 2.5 mil to try and get Mitchell.

Now, I must say that I do not think Willie Mitchell would sign a deal for that price, Holland would not offer a deal for what we would have to do to make it happen, and I would not support that deal. However, it is plausible.

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I love this idea, and I'm the anti goon cadre but Mitchell is the kind of grit even I like, he hits, he plays the hard minutes, and he does it with skill and he can even score a few points while doing it. That and it would give Big E a good stay at home defender to play with not Brett 'HEYIMAFORWARD' Lebda.

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http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/08/st_james_dan_cleary_endorses_r.html

The Wings have 22 players under contract for $58 million, leaving them $1.4 million below the salary cap, though they can exceed that by 10% during the off-season. A chunk of that will go to re-signing Justin Abdelkader, and they'd like to add a veteran defenseman. Holland has been in contact with the agent for defenseman Willie Mitchell, but said right now, "we're looking through the market place to see if there's a good fit." Holland said he has not had any recent conversations with defenseman Andreas Lilja's camp.

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I wouldn't have nothing against it if it didn't mean sitting Ericsson or Kindl in the press box. Those guys need ice time because they both still have much potential. They're good enough to play on our 3rd pairing at the moment. Let's spend our money elsewhere. We still need to sign Abdelkader.

Edited by Finnish Wing

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Guest mindfly

I wouldn't have nothing against it if it didn't mean sitting Ericsson or Kindl in the press box. Those guys need ice time because they both still have much potential. They're good enough to play on our 3rd pairing at the moment. Let's spend our money elsewhere. We still need to sign Abdelkader.

imo one of the 3rd pair defensemen needs to have the ability to clear the crease and be physical, neither of these two does that, you might say ericsson could do it but he never has thus far...

1st pair are most of the time just too good in their positions and smartness and hold the puck most of the time

Stuart does the physical stuff for the 2nd pair

The third pair will have a big but soft sophomore and a mega rookie turnover machine... not the way you want it.

Edited by mindfly

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imo one of the 3rd pair defensemen needs to have the ability to clear the crease and be physical, neither of these two does that, you might say ericsson could do it but he never has thus far...

1st pair are most of the time just too good in their positions and smartness and hold the puck most of the time

Stuart does the physical stuff for the 2nd pair

The third pair will have a big but soft sophomore and a mega rookie turnover machine... not the way you want it.

We have options. If we want to give 3rd pairing more ice time we can always put Stuart there with Kindl and and put Ericsson with Kronwall for example. Or Rafalski with Ericsson etc. Somehow I feel like this is coming down to the toughness debate again. Lidstrom is the best defensive defenseman in the world, but that isn't because he's tough. You can still win the Cup even if you don't have "Lilja" or "Mitchell" there clearing the crease and dropping the gloves occasionally.

Sitting Ericsson or Kindl just to add a little more veteran presence and toughness to the 3rd pairing would be stupid. Kindl could be a solid top4 d-man after one year already if he gets enough NHL experience. Ericsson has all the tools as well starting from his size to the way he sees the ice. He just needs more balance to his game and that comes through experience.

Edited by Finnish Wing

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Guest best poster in LGW history

mitchell's not going to leave vancouver to take less $ and come be the 5th dman in detroit.

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As it's been discussed before - Kindl isn't exactly turning heads in GR...Yes he is improving - yet he's not exactly the guy many of us want to see paired with an already inexperienced Ericsson.

I'd much rather see a guy back there that has several years of NHL experience alongside Ericsson.

As said already. We dont have to pair Kindl and Ericsson together.

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Ericsson-Rafalski

Stuart-Kindl

Lidstrom-Ericsson

Stuart-Rafalski

Kronwall-Kindl

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Kindl

Stuart-Ericsson

etc. etc. etc.

There are numerous options.

Edited by Finnish Wing

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Is Vancouver making any serious offers?

I don't know alot about his current status with the Canucks, but going to a team like Detroit at his age just might be his best chance at getting his name on the Cup.

To be honest - I'm not expecting to see Willie suit up in a Red Wings jersey come opening night.

Ya never know, it obvious he wants more money than teams (even his own) are willing to give. So its getting to the point where its gonna be, sign somewhere for half of what he made last year or or sign nowhere for 100% less than what he made last year. There are teams that are out there that can afford to pay with $3.5 or more, but again he is obviously being picky where he wants to play (which is good for our chances.) Too bad there really isn't enough cash to offer him under the cap and Abby still needs to be signed...

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Guest mindfly

And Kindl - one of our top prospects - would sit on the press box. YAYY! Talk about being shortsighted.

Ken Holland and Jim Neil had much higher hopes of this guy, has stood still in his developement curve for 2-3 years now if you read about him during the season, almost no improvement anywhere in his game. Kronwall became Defenseman of the year putting up like 60pts and dominated in the AHL, i'm sure they thought the same about Kindl, being a big and good sized 19th overall pick.

Vancouver is atm over the cap and have like 8 defensemen signed on one-way contracts, some will have to move if they are gonna add Mitchell.

Edited by mindfly

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Ken Holland and Jim Neil had much higher hopes of this guy, has stood still in his developement curve for 2-3 years now if you read about him during the season, almost no improvement anywhere in his game. Kronwall became Defenseman of the year putting up like 60pts and dominated in the AHL, i'm sure they thought the same about Kindl, being a big and good sized 19th overall pick.

Vancouver is atm over the cap and have like 8 defensemen signed on one-way contracts, some will have to move if they are gonna add Mitchell.

Other than getting into better shape, you could say the same thing about Howard until last season.

Also, Babcock has specualted that Kindl is the kind of player that plays better with better players around him.

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http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/08/the_sporting_news_willie_mitch.html

The Sporting News: Willie Mitchell's considering Red Wings offer

Fantastic news from the Sporting News's Craig Custance about unrestricted free agent defenseman Willie Mitchell. Mitchell's agent, Mike Liut, is also Mike Modano's agent, and as such, he and Red Wings GM Ken Holland have talked about the possibility of Mitchell joining the Wings:

August 6, The Sporting News: "The Red Wings, they’re one of the teams,” Liut told Sporting News. “Everybody is interested in the Red Wings.”

A deal for Mitchell would likely mean the Red Wings would have to make an additional move or two to create space under the salary cap. According to CapGeek.com, the Red Wings have $1.6 million in cap space. Mitchell made $3.5 million last year.

“As we go here, it’s got to add up to $59.5 (million),” Red Wings GM Ken Holland told Sporting News. “Yeah, we’ve got decisions to make but we think they’re good decisions to make.”

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Same agent as Modano? Oh that is wonderful news, come on Willie, make the right choice! This would turn from a decent off season to an awesome one. Re-signing Bert, Homer, Helm, Abby and Eaves. Then signing Modano and Mitchell? Ahhhh would be brilliant :D

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Guest mindfly

Same agent as Modano? Oh that is wonderful news, come on Willie, make the right choice! This would turn from a decent off season to an awesome one. Re-signing Bert, Homer, Helm, Abby and Eaves. Then signing Modano and Mitchell? Ahhhh would be brilliant :D

Don't forget little rex is back :hehe:

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And Kindl - one of our top prospects - would sit on the press box. YAYY! Talk about being shortsighted.

Exactly, and if Kindl or Ericsson end up not doing so well we can carry Janik as our 7th.

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