BUHdactyl

I can't believe there are 10 pages in this thread.  He is a dud, and he wouldn't be worth 6.8 or whatever million per, even as UFA.  I would not condone signing him at that hit, let alone giving up assets in a trade.

Our defense leaves much to be desired, but lets be serious for a second...  BOUWMEESTER?  Why him and why now?  Could've had Jeff Finger.

Subban for Fil/Tatar had half of us crying, so why even consider J-Bo?

I'm a bit over the whole 'in Holland we trust' thing, but if our defense truly is bad enough to dump Filppula or Franzen for a turd like J-Bo I would hope that Holland would do something to at least stop the bleeding until the trade deadline.  I would also hope that it would be a solution a bit more clever than this.  Bouwmeester is lose/lose and there's no way around it...  Crap I'd rather gamble on Colaiacovo.

He's just so damn cool...

Alright, so I've been thinking about this, because much like the majority of fans on here I've been anxiously awaiting some exciting news.  If you take a step back and look at what we've already got to work with, it's really not as bad as some are making it out to be.  Perhaps after a few boring off-seasons we were all just itching for some big splash - something exciting, not necessarily because we needed it, but because we'd kinda earned it.

There's no denying the fact that we are weaker on D than we were last year.  Suter or no Suter, this was inevitable - Lidstrom alone makes this so.  Stuart, as much as some liked to bash him, was great and will be missed.  This only adds another large hole in our defense.  We could use one more depth defenseman especially given the departure of both Exelby and Janik.  Now that they are gone, if there is an injury, which there almost always is, we really have nobody to call up.  As sickening as it is to even say it - someone as crappy as Lebda would suffice as his only purpose would be 'bandage.'  Luckily we still have a few viable options via free agency, not to mention the fact that we have WAY too many forwards and will likely trade a few for something.  If that something isn't picks, it should be a depth defenceman.

I see a lot of complaining regarding Quincey and Smith.  Yes, Q was not what we'd expected after the trade deadline, but keep in mind he was really good in Colorado and we were all a bit sour over losing him.  He is better than he showed, and perhaps it was merely the adjustment from one team to another.  I would expect an impressive effort from him this season and I feel that our first round pick was most certainly not wasted.  Smith - what can be said about the kid?  He is our best prospect, and our prospect pool is pretty damn decent.  Rated as high as 4th was it?  If teams like Philly can just throw their underripe prospects into the roster and see results, I would expect good things.  I already liked what I saw last year and I, like many, didn't want to see him sent back down.  Did these two fill the gaps left by both Lidstrom and Stuart?  Of course not.  Will they keep our team competitive?  Bet your ass they will.

As far as forwards go...  well, we may not have acquired any flashy free agents, but our team has improved.  We lost Hudler - Jiri Hudler.  With the exception of Eva and maybe two other people, he will not be missed very much.  He wasn't as bad as we made him out to be, but there's the whole KHL thing, and oh yeah he's the smallest guy on the team.  Sammy will not only replace the offence Hudler took with him, but will bring size and grit.  Judging by about half of the rosters I see from various posters, it seems most of us have forgotten about the acquisition of Damien Brunner.  He was the winger version of Schultz, and nobody really gave two craps when we learned of his interest in Detroit.  He is a gamble, but then again so is Alex Semin.  He could very well out score Hudler, and although unlikely, score more goals than Parise, who was signed for like 6 million more than Brunner.  We don't know how well his game will translate into the NHL, but the potential is there, and that, to me, is as exciting a signing as any.  We also have Jordin Tootoo.  Tootoo may have inadvertently caused the death of miscellaneous computer hardware by signing here, but he will also cause death to those who f*** with our young guys, which is my next point.

We need to give our young prospects a shot in the NHL.  There's a reason why most of you wouldn't want Nyquist included in a trade;  He is the real deal.  I don't understand how we can discourage trading them for proven players such as Nash or Ryan, yet be perfectly content with letting them rot in the AHL while we sign DOAN or whoever else.  Doan is great, but he is old and he is not ours.  For every Mueller, Prust or Doan we sign, a prospect loses his wings.  For another season at least...  Babcock guaranteed Brunner a spot.  Tootoo is not sitting out at that salary, and neither will Samuelsson.  We already have too many forwards, so as far as Doan and Semin go, we really don't need them.  Nyquist is ready for the NHL and he will only become as great as he has been projected to be if we give him the chance.  

Our team may not be stacked, but it will make the playoffs.  We lost out on the Thunder Buddy sweepstakes, but we landed Brunner.  This will be an exciting season and it could be full of pleasant surprises which will benefit our team in the long run.  All we need is more depth on the back end and Holland will address this.  The sky is not falling.

P.A. Parenteau

Stuart was in LA before he was a wing... If he plans to leave anyway maybe a deal could be worked that includes him for Brown?  As much as I want to keep Stuart for the rest of this season/playoffs at least we'd be getting something for him.

When Z got his hat trick I went to the one by Great Lakes Crossing and they looked at me like I was some kind of psycho.  "What's a hat trick?"

No lie - they had to call the manager over and she said she didn't know anything about the offer.  I had to argue just to get them, and as she handed them over she told me they wouldn't be doing it anymore.  f*** Arbys.

Hudler is not our problem.

What an ass.

I like the idea but the final product is pretty weak.  Gives me a headache.

News flash people:  Asham isn't a great fighter.  If your argument is that he would add a dimension that Abdelkader and crew cannot you are sorely mistaken.  It does help to have a guy who will drop the gloves if necessary, and that's why we have Bertuzzi, Salei, Ericsson, Eaves, Cleary, Abdelkader (for sure) and Stuart.  The only person out of that whole bunch who Asham would likely destroy is Eaves, because ASHAM ISN'T THAT GREAT.  Our 4th liners make more than him for a reason.

Having a one-dimensional enforcer on the team was embarrassing... signing an old, small, gritty player who readily fights is in no way improving our team when we could give Abdelkader more ice time.  Fighting isn't something that we should expect every time a certain player is dressed.  It's something that we should expect when necessary.  Knee-on-knee, check from behind, dirty hit, whatever... then someone should stick up for their teammates but with 5 min a night how often will he be out there when something goes down?  What should we do wait until later in the game and let our BEAST ARRON ASHAM off his leash?  Be real he's no Kocur... he's a solid hockey player with no purpose on our team so let it be... it's over with and our team kicks ass already.  I cannot believe how some people still find an excuse to ***** when their team is so stacked.

I check here everyday hoping to see something interesting load up rather than 'Red Wings Making Play for Modano.'  I wouldn't mind having him, but right now I just really want to know who is playing for team this season and who isn't.  Either way our Wings will be a force, but when the only thing to be excited about this off season (besides our epic draft) was Flip's brother, who may never play for us, and the return of Hudler... well what can I say?  I understand that Kenny is the whip and he will keep us solid for years to come, and I also understand that an exciting off season is not necessarily a good one, but I must admit that I'm a bit jealous of all the excitement other fans are experiencing around the league.

I guess I should be thankful that Stevie is making some waves in Tampa because without that it would be even worse.

Ah s***, whatever... the more I think about it the more I like it.  Modano needs to sign here for 1 year and give us hockey fans a crazy ride.  I've ripped on him a lot recently, but I did see his last game in Dallas and if he can bring it like that for even just half the time he hits the ice we will surely dominate.  This might sound really crazy (and please don't let this derail the thread), but I REALLY want to see Bertuzzi lift the cup and we only have two more shots at it.  Say what you will about the guy but in my opinion he deserves a cup after all he's done for the sport and all the s*** he went through for the Moore accident.  If Modano can help our team and my homie Bertuzzi out, I'm all for it - sign him TODAY.

...or August 5th.  Haha these next couple weeks are going to be brutal.

Your posts are being minus'd because by not wanting to sign Modano you basically admit you don't realize how important depth is because Modano would be an incredible depth signing. Without Modano our bottom 6 is average, with Modano it's one of the best in the league. Combine that with one of the better top sixes in the league and you're looking at making a really deep run in the playoffs. Like I said before, we won in 08 because of our depth. We were out in the second round this year because we had none.

If you are concerned with depth we have a gaping hole in our defense that needs attention and I'm not sold on Smith just yet.  If you just want a Modano jersey with a funny number on the back keep clicking the minuses on posts that suggest anything other than Modano is God.  

Losing prospects (Ritola), young players (Miller), or much needed NHL ice time (Abdelkader) to sign a washed-up NHL legend for ONE season is not a depth move.  He was just offered a contract by the team he watched as a kid...  I don't know about you, but if I still had passion for the game I wouldn't hesitate, let alone drag my toes for what seems like an eternity to make that decision.  The fact that he hasn't signed a contract yet makes me question whether or not he still has the hunger.  Dallas dropped him like a bag of s***, and for them to do that to their legendary player - their Yzerman, is pretty unsettling.  Don't get me wrong, I like the guy and I'm sure he's got something left in the tank but I'm not comfortable with Abdelkader wasting another year in the AHL or Ritola being waived just to find out exactly what that something is.

I was on the Modano bandwagon at first but his whole thing has become a terrible joke and I'm over it.  There's no denying he was a force back in the day, but I think most of us are giving 2010 Modano just a little too much credit.

Boner death for 99% of LGW.

It would be foolish not to sign him if he were willing to play for league minimum.  Cheechoo hasn't been so great lately but all joking aside, he has lots of potential.  Does not matter if he played on a line with 'X,' or was surrounded by 'Y' and 'Z' in his glory years in San Jose.  We're the Detroit Red Wings and we've been home to the best 'Y's' and 'Z's' to ever play the game.

If an environment like ours (yes, ours - not Ottawa's) could spark that potential for dirt cheap it would be the steal of the season.  Not only that but his broke-ass, joke-ass would owe us for saving his career and he'd likely re-sign for a very grateful, very reasonable cap hit.  We lack rightys anyway i say give him a crack at NHL hockey on a real team.

On another note WTF is this retarded crap I'm watching right now?