317 replies to this topic

[Green Wing]

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

[SweWings]

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]

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]

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?

[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]

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]

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]

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

[Yemack]

this is somewhat out of the blue signing.

Edited by Yemack, 09 August 2010 - 02:16 PM.

[cjm502]

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 by cjm502, 09 August 2010 - 02:17 PM.

[h2obury]

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]

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

[Frozen-Man]

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 [url="both a larger payday than the reported 1-year, $1 million offer the Wings gave him (per Greg Brady) and a guaranteed spot on a team's "top four." "]top four plac[/url]e which he wasn't going to get.

[WingNut 25]

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]

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

Lidstrom-Kronwall
Stuie-Rafalski

[newfy]

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]

Curt Fraser will take him in GR if need be lol

[seeinred]

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]

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]

Did this guy get suspended for his hit on Modano?

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