Wings sign Ruslan Salei

[Green Wing 26]

Happy with this signing. A lot better than some of the names being mentioned like Kraijcek, Schubert etc.

[SweWings 45]

The veteran defenseman needed to anchor the 3rd pairing. Fair enough and not a bad choice really as long as he stays healthy.

[F2B&G 15]

For the price, it's fine. He won't be asked to play Lidstrom or Pronger-type minutes, and he can chip in a few points. The only question is whether or not he stays healthy, and if he does, whether or not he still gets his nose as dirty as he used to.

[DangleDangleBeach 16]

salei plays mean... brings an element to our third pairing and team for that matter that is misssing. ericcson can learn a lot from his toughness / ability to play with a chip on his shoulder. he hits, is a stay at home dmen who makes a player in front of the net pay the price. i would of rather had andy sutton, but salei sure as hell beats lilja / meech / lebda /janik bolstering our blueline. he can drop the gloves if needed too, not the best part of his game but he can whereas lilja is one punch away from being a vegetable... why have a big body with a glass jaw?

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

Salei will also be hungry for a Cup since he was very close to winning one with the 2003 Ducks. Going to Game 7 and losing to the Devils had to be a tough pill to swallow. Salei's value should be even better once the playoffs start. This is Salei's last chance to win a Cup so he will be very motivated. Good job Kenny.

[hillbillywingsfan 794]

Switch Kronwall with Nick and Stuie with Rafalski and I am all on board. Well I am anyway but just think Nick and Raf need different mates next to them.

wouldn't that just move nick and raf to the second line?=)

[newfy 695]

Salei will also be hungry for a Cup since he was very close to winning one with the 2003 Ducks. Going to Game 7 and losing to the Devils had to be a tough pill to swallow. Salei's value should be even better once the playoffs start. This is Salei's last chance to win a Cup so he will be very motivated. Good job Kenny.

It makes sense now. This is his Dallas Drake type signing for this season. Guy who plays somewhat mean but will hopefully be through the roof come playoff time.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Spose one upside for Salei is he's pretty productive in the playoffs for a defensive defenceman.

[Yemack 1]

this is somewhat out of the blue signing.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Yemack

[cjm502 165]

If Babs wanted him over any other guy I guess I do too. Nobody knows his game better than the guy that coached him right? He is definitely a playoff guy also.

Edited August 9, 2010 by cjm502

[h2obury 6]

Not quite sure what to think of this signing but I hope it works out! I guess we won't know until the puck drops.

[Jericho613 74]

I think I'd rather just go with Meech, don't like this signing one bit.

[Frozen-Man 144]

I suppose if Lilja goes for more than 1.2 mil (including bonuses) or so, then you're right, we wouldn't have been able to sign him. But if he (or other younger, more worthwhile defensemen) ends up going for around the same price as Salei, Im gonna be a bit.....annoyed .

This year the bonuses are really important, we don't have the cap space so it is great to be able to sign a player to a lower cap hit and then having the option to roll the bonus over to next year is they need too. So if Lils wanted $1.25M in salary that would be an extra $500K that they have to have in cap space this year which is their big concern. Additionally Lils wanted the top four place which he wasn't going to get.

[WingNut 25 5]

I'd say this fits the bill in terms of what Kenny wanted. Good, cheap signing and it paves the way for them to unload the useless Derek Meech. He should have gotten the boot long ago in favor of Kyle Quincey, a move which continues to look horrible as Quincey develops into a solid offensive D-man who would look outstanding on our 3rd pair.

[HankthaTank 1,100]

wouldn't that just move nick and raf to the second line?=)

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Stuie-Rafalski

[newfy 695]

I think I'd rather just go with Meech, don't like this signing one bit.

If I could give this post 1,000,000 negatives I would.

How can you honestly rather have Meech then an experienced defenseman, who plays mean and crease clears, can mentor Ericcson on the dirty parts of the game and get Ericcson playing mean again, who doesn't have a cup and will motivate our team hopefully like Drake did and has the blessing of the coach to be here?

Give your head a shake man

[jollymania 162]

Curt Fraser will take him in GR if need be lol

[seeinred 1,488]

I really like this signing. I even like the fact that he's been suspended. It's nice to know that you have a defenseman that's capable of playing a little dirty. I'm really, really optimistic about this.

Plus the fact that this is his 2nd tour with Babcock leads me to believe Babs had some influence on this decision. It's even easier to like this signing knowing that the coach wanted this guy again.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Realistically, as long as Kenny wants to stand pat at the deadline, Detroit could even pay both Modo's and Salei's bonuses with this years' cap money. Let's say Abdelkader gets an equal deal to that of Helm (which I feel is slightly overestimating it rather than under) at a Cap-hit of $912,500. That's puts the Wings at a current Cap Payroll of $60,300,377 (or Cap Space of -$900,377). Given both Miller's and Meech's salary are removed (either through waivers or trade) Kenny then has $249,623 in Cap Space remaining for injury call-ups.

Granted its half of what he was looking for but as long as the Wings stay relatively healthy, the call-ups shouldn't take away too much of that cap space. Even if it chews up the entire almost $250k, all of a sudden the Wings have zero carry-over bonuses next year (which wouldn't be the worse thing to begin with give the current state of the team for 2011/2012).

Now, if Kenny really wants to go for broke, he could choose to apply the bonuses to next year's team and literally add a player with a cap hit of roughly $4 million at the deadline to put the team over the top if he feels its necessary.

No matter how you slice it, Kenny's assembled an incredible team with the Cap Space he's had and barring an epic meltdown of Howard, there's no reason to think this season won't be great for Wings fans.

[newfy 695]

Did this guy get suspended for his hit on Modano?

How many suspensions does he have in his career and what for?

[Guest mindfly]

Did this guy get suspended for his hit on Modano?

How many suspensions does he have in his career and what for?

I think the Modano one, 10 games or so, he has also had a minor fine from the nhl.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I'd say this fits the bill in terms of what Kenny wanted. Good, cheap signing and it paves the way for them to unload the useless Derek Meech. He should have gotten the boot long ago in favor of Kyle Quincey, a move which continues to look horrible as Quincey develops into a solid offensive D-man who would look outstanding on our 3rd pair. at this point, the Wings couldn't afford to have on their third pairing anyway.

Fixed it for you.

Hindsight's always 20/20, but had Kenny kept Quincey and let Meech go chances are Q would've played atleast somewhat close to the potential he's shown in LA and COL and he'd be out of the Wings' price range anyway.

[wings1wings1 3]

Cap Geek has the Wings currently with $862k in remaining space because Ritola has a two-way contract that doesn't count unless he makes the roster out of camp (someone correct me if I'm wrong). So were they to waive or trade Meech, the likeliest of scenarios, they'd have 500k to play with, assuming that Ritola clears waivers and goes to GR. And Miller could stay on. If they want Ritola to stay active, they could rotate between him, Miller and Draper for the 12th forward spot (the other two are healthy scratches) and find about $17k in salary to cut (injuries or GR send down) sometime in the course of the season. Kindl would be the extra D man so Meech is unnecessary.

Edited August 9, 2010 by wings1wings1

[Frozen-Man 144]

Fixed it for you.

Hindsight's always 20/20, but had Kenny kept Quincey and let Meech go chances are Q would've played atleast somewhat close to the potential he's shown in LA and COL and he'd be out of the Wings' price range anyway.

I agree or possibly never gotten thrown into the fire with the heavy minutes and responsibility and never become for Detroit what he did for LA/Colorado.

[Johnny Diamonds 25]

There's still enough money to re-sign Abs, but what a logjam on this team right now. A couple players are either getting waived/traded or something. Meech is gone for sure imo, Who else?