Scott Stevens

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS
Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m)
Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Zach Parise ($5.750m)
Jiri Hudler ($3.000m) / Darren Helm ($1.500m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.250m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m)
/ Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Tomas Tatar ($0.840m)

DEFENSEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.500m) / Matt Carle ($4.750m)
Niklas Kronwall ($5.000m) / Ian White ($2.875m)
Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)
/ Brendan Smith ($0.875m)

GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Thomas McCollum ($0.816m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,236,210; BONUSES: $247,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $63,790


Everybody Pray for This.

It's too early to tell.  I've been a HUGE Ericsson hater, but from what I've seen in the first four games he's been marginally better.

I'm doubtful I'll think he's earning what we're paying him, but I want to at least give him a chance.

Ken Holland is always right (exception Jason Williams), so I have no doubt that I will be proven wrong.

Ughhh.  I don't think so.  Hakan Andersson and Scotty Bowman are responsible for the Wings turnaround.  Ken Holland is a pawn in the game.  

For every Shanahan and Hull, there has been a Kruup and Hatcher out of Holland.

Holland is an ok GM in my opinion, but I wouldn't consider him anything else but o.k.

Importing the Russians and Swedes when that became vogue was Andersson's work.  Getting the team to play defense was Bowman's work.  All Holland had to do was bring in/ship out a few pieces when Bowman told him what he needed.

"Dumb" depends on the situation. Trading him right now for anything other than a better top-6 forward wouldn't make much sense, sure. But after another 30-ish games if we need to open a roster spot for Mursak, who knows. Maybe Hudler will have 40 points and look like an all-star, maybe he'll have 10 and be a healthy scratch half the time.

We don't yet know how Hudler will perform. We don't know how guys like Emmerton, Brunnstrom, Miller, Eaves, etc. will perform. We don't know what our team needs will be, or if we'll need to open a roster spot. Speculating that Hudler might be a good trade candidate in 2 1/2 months is no more "dumb" than speculating that he'll still be a top-6 forward at that point.

You've written a lot of words here, but really haven't said much.

It has nothing to do with Filppula. I just can't stand people who somehow take pride in being a douchebag and having people hate them. Both in real life or on the internet. Clear indicator of personal issues.

But yeah, let's talk about Filppula. Great start for him so far and will likely get better. Pretty much the most impressive Wing thus far, shift in shift out. He's creating a ton of scoring chances and showing some slick moves. Has anyone noticed, though, that sometimes Franzen is taking the faceoffs when he's out with Flip and Hudler? I'd like to know what's behind that. Especially being that he's 60%+ in faceoffs and Franzen is in the 30s.

Can you two get a room and make up already?  Damn.  

Babcock LOVES Filppula, so neither of you guys is doing any good slamming or defending him right now.  The FACT is that Flips is going to play and get points because Babs knows Flips is solid.  Just let him do his thing.

Got it. If the rookie 4th liner is playing well, we trade a top-six forward for a draft pick.

That makes sense to me. Everyone else on board?

This made me laugh!!

When Helm nets 2 pk break-aways in a row, let's get rid of Z for a 2nd rounder.

Are you confident with Hudler?  We only have seen 3.66 % of the regular season.

Oh yah.  Hudler is back.  Franzen is still working his way back.  He's doing pretty good, but he has a lot more to prove this year than Hudler does.

Franzen was scoring a point per game throughout the playoffs otherwise and was drawing great reviews from every analyst. And then, yes, he basically won a vital game by himself as well. As for "not being himself" in the rest of the games, LOL... if ANY player was regularly like Franzen was in game four, then that player's team would never lose. Franzen's game four against the Sharks in 2010 was one of the best playoff games ever played by any player. If you're expecting that out of him or anyone, then you're going to be disappointed. But you don't expect that; you're just saying all of this to cover for the fact that you made a baseless statement.  

You're trying toooooo hard.

Let's just see if Franzen can get back to his old self.  We need it.  Hudler is back to his old self.  Now we gotta get Franzen back.

We didn't discuss it at all. You spent several posts trying to cover for the fact that your "Franzen's 2010 playoffs were MISERABLE!" comment was utter nonsense. I'm not sure if you really want people to believe that you feel Franzen no-showed the playoffs that year. They would likely not think very well of you, given that he was one of the best playoff performers of any team in that offseason.

Franzen killed it in ONE game in 2010 and wasn't the same in all the rest.  He hasn't played like himself the last 2 playoff seasons.  The Sharks have something to do with this, because they are good.  But he has to pick it up this year.  Everyone knows this.

Your attempt to change the subject here is very transparent.

We already discussed his no-show the last 2 years against the Sharks.  What else do you want me to rehash?

Uhhh.... what?



That point makes no sense. He "showed up" in a huge way in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and all that prevented a repeat least season was an injury to his ankle.

Crysmon,

The people in the other Hudler thread are saying Franzen is a floater.  Do you agree with that?

He was injured for one playoff season. I guess Zetterberg being injured in the 2007 playoffs meant he sucks in your eyes, huh? Or maybe Datsyuk in 2009, eh?

You're trying too hard, and it's for a bad cause. Just admit that you made a baseless claim and let's be done with it.

Crysmon,

You're gripping because you know we need a big body on that top line with Z, and if Franzen can't provide that, then we really don't have much hope in the playoffs.  Just take a deep breath and rethink this one.  You'll see that the point I'm trying to make is that Franzen is key to our success and has to show up.

2nd on Ericsson.  100 mph shot and no pp time?  Come on Babs.

Knuckle Sandwich!

As it stands we have around $28.5M in cap space next year (using this year's cap number) with Nick, Kronwall, Stuart, Commodore, Bert, Homer, Hudler, Abby, Helm, and Conklin to re-sign or replace. $10M or so to re-sign Kronwall and Stuart, $4M for Helm and Abby, $3M for Hudler, add Smith and backup goalie for $1.5 and that leaves $10M. You are not going to add two top-6 forwards and either Nick or top-4 d-man for that.

Lidstrom - 5.5 mil
Kronwall - 5.5 mil
Stuart - SIONARA
Commodore - SIONARA
Bertuzzi - SIONARA
Holmstrom - SIONARA
Hudler - SIONARA
Abdelkader - 1.5 mil
Helm - 2 mil
Conklin - 1 mil

Franzen - Zetterberg - Boyes
Cleary - Datsyuk - Grabovski
Mursak - Filppula - Tatar
Abdelkader - Helm - Eaves

Miller - Emmerton

Lidstrom - White
Kronwall - Kindl
Smith - Ericsson

Janik

Howard
Conklin

Well he isnt exactly a third liner.  

Wrong.  He's a third liner until someone else gets hurt.  That's where everyone goes wrong on here.  Everyone WANTS him to be a 1st line winger and score 90 points a season.  I got news for you and everyone else = HE IS NOT GOING TO DO THAT WITH FILPPULA AND ABDELKADER AND 10 MINUTES OF ICE TIME.

I wont act like a huge Hudler hater because I'm not, I would rather see him traded for something we need because others can fill his role.

And I'm not a Hudler lover.  I think he does well for his size and speed, and puts up decent numbers for the spot he plays and the ice time he's given.  I would rather see him traded for something better, as well.  Who wouldn't?  If you can convince Holland that we need more tough guys (Perry) and less soft Euros (Holmstrom, Hudler, Tatar), you will have my vote of confidence.

I think the people who defend Hudler say he only plays third line which isnt true,  hes with Datsyuk right now and had time with him last season as well as PP time. He also does play on the lower lines a bit as well. Hes the definition of a tweener really.

And he scores when they put him with Datsyuk.  That's the COLD HARD TRUTH that everybody on here likes to overlook.  Hudler is a producer when he plays with Z/D.

Those other guys you mentioned aren't even comparable to Hudler. Franzen has the playoff resume, and the ability to take over games that not many players have. Hes the best goal scorer on the team, a good defensive player with a big body that he does throw the occasional hit with.

http://www.nhl.com/i...id=nhl-keymatch

Ok, so Franzen scores .72 points per game (based on last year) on one of the top 2 lines.  This is the most over-rated guy on the Wings.  He has easily replaced Holmstrom as the guy Red Wings fans most easily confuse as a dominant sniper and feared player.  He's hurt ALL THE TIME and doesn't play with any grit.  He had a couple good playoff runs that have stoked his reputation.  That is coming to an end, though.  Again, instead of being a massive guy who crushes people, creates havoc in front of the net, and bangs home rebounds in the goalie crease, he's a perimeter Euro who benefits from playing with one of the best players in the world = Zetterberg.  Franzen has a good heavy shot.  That's about it.

Cleary almost had 30 goals in 60 something games last year, thats earning your contract in my eyes, and hes a PKer and defensive player.

http://www.nhl.com/i...-keymatch<br />
Cleary scores .67 points per game (based on last year) on one of the top 2 lines.  I like Cleary.  He plays hard, has speed, and keeps his defensive responsibility in check.

Bert has the ability to be a physical guy and has had solid production, even he is decent defensively and was being matched against Rick Nash last year.

http://www.nhl.com/i...-keymatch<br />
Bert scores .56 points per game (based on last year) on one of the top 2 lines.  Bert is NOT a physical guy and does not play great defense.  At one point in time, that was true.  He is old and slow now, though.  Let's be honest.


And then there's the other top 2 lines winger = Tomas Holmstrom.

http://www.nhl.com/i...id=nhl-keymatch

He's gone after this year, so let's just leave him out of this for now.  .51 points per game, for arguments sake though.

If Hudler tears up, all the power to him but even if hes scoring 60ish points a year (which is around his cieling i think) I still would love to see him traded because this team doesn't need a guy as one dimensional as he is and could use a guy with other attributes in his place.

I agree with you that the Red Wings don't need another soft Euro.  But I don't agree that they need to trade Hudler to get an upgrade.  

If Hudler is tearing up I would love to see him used to get Shane Doan, I feel like that trade could be similar to when they acquired Shanny in the day and just gave them that toughness they needed up front to not only outscore teams but bully them as well.

ME TOO!!!  Hudler for Doan ALL DAY!!!

The higher his trade value gets this season, the better but I think he can be traded for something to put htis team over the top and become a championship squad again.

The higher his trade value gets, the less a team should want to trade him, right?  Would you trade Darren Helm next because he only scores 25 points a season?  Hell no, right?