Bert44Wingsfan

I second that motion. Love #26!

Lebda. Quincey's proven he's reliable but Lebda's better

I think it's very obvious Holland has been trying to get Hasek signed so he can determine how much money he has left to spend. The problem is Hasek's been screwing around trying to get a contract more fitting for a guy who's been in the league for half as long as he has. I would imagine Holland's patience would be at end if he can't get Dom signed by the end of the week. The reason he signed Rafalski in a knee-jerk reaction is because he believed he needed to get a top name d-man to replace Schneider before the market of d-men dried up. In the case of Bertuzzi, I think Holland felt like at that moment it wasn't a big priority to go get a guy to replace him. I also don't think Holland went into sunday thinking, "I need to go out there and get me a Drury or a Gomez or a Smyth." I'm pretty certain he felt he already had a good balance and was only looking for a few alterations.

I may sound like an idiot here, but is Sheldon Souray still available? I know Karsh and the Gator were talking about how good a fit he'd be in Detroit today on 1270, but maybe he's already taken. I may sound like an idiot here, but is Sheldon Souray still available? I know Karsh and the Gator were talking about how good a fit he'd be in Detroit today on 1270, but maybe he's already taken.

True. Then again... At least Nashville got to the playoffs where Detroit had to battle it out with them to the end of the season to win the Central. That gave kept the Wings on their toes before the Playoffs. I think now you have a situation where they'll get another President's trophy as a result of not playing in the Northwest or Pacific division. And frankly, it's not good for the NHL to have one of its best teams play in such a s***ty division as well.

I love it, hah.

Not like it already did. But with Nashville having lost several guys, if I were to make a prediction I'd say the Central will be a cake walk for the Wings. St. Louis added a plethora of guys including Paul Kariya but it's not going to make a difference. Forget Chicago or Columbus. This is going to be a terrible division with meaningless divisional games the Wings will have to play. What season ticketholder wants to see the Wings play the Blackhawks 8 times? Or anyone else in the division for that matter?

Let's trade pricks. Bertuzzi to Anaheim, okay fine. But sign Guerin a current prick in the NHL, as a replacement. That's what they did with Schneider and Rafalski; they might as well do it with Guerin. Let's be honest, before Bert came to Hockeytown, he was a prick. But when he was on the Wings he was our prick. So let's get somebody else to be our replacement prick.

I'm not going to blame Bertuzzi simply because he had been saying how he wanted a longer contract with the Red Wings but Holland wouldn't offer him anything more than a year. Bertuzzi was looking for three years and Kenny should've compromised at 2. When he wouldn't budge, Bertuzzi took what he could get. If it was the case that he was looking for a contract in the range of 4 million a year, I think Holland made a good non-decision. However to be honest, I don't understand why Holland is letting everyone go -- Schneider, Lang, Calder, and soon to be Markov with the intention of only signing Hasek unless he's waiting to sign another big name.

Just reported on WXYT, Tony Ortiz reported that Pittsburgh is very interested in signing Danny Markov http://thebuzzontheburgh.blogspot.com/

Do you think they'll have enough money left to resign those three guys? Hasek's been holding out for a while, which makes me think he might be a bit expensive. And you know Holland will re-sign him too. The other two -- Bert & Markov, I just don't know. There was a report earlier this week that Holland thought he could only sign 2/4 FAs on the Wings. Schneider's gone, and with Rafalski taking up a lot of cap room, I don't think they can get all three.

With Rafalski signed at $30 million over five years, what will the Red Wings be able to do? Because of how expensive he was, they pretty much eliminated themselves from getting Smyth. I know they had to replace Schneider, and I do think getting Rafalski was a good move, but his price seems a bit steep. Hasek, Bert, and Markov are all unsigned. What should be the next move?

Rafalski signed according to TSN -- 5 yrs/30 million dollars