RockyMountainWingGal

I like Sammy, and for all the accurate ridiculing of him being a logo hunter, he still scored a LOT of clutch goals for us.  That being said, he doesn't really do anything Hudler doesn't already do, and Hudler is younger and on the upswing.  I'd rather keep Hudler.  Also, Sammy doesn't add anything the Wings need, except for he's a right hander, isn't he?  

I think it's a smoke screen, or else the media is just jumping to conclusions, thinking Holland is just picking up old Wings.

He would be fine as a PO rental. Plus I disagree - Sammy is better in the PO lineup than Hudler, bigger stronger. There is no upswing to Hudler - we have already seen all that he can (and can't) do. He is a decent 3-4 line role player - and too expensive of one at that.

only delusional homers want osgood back.

get a clue.

There's a difference between being OK with Osgood "passing the torch" as Holland put it tastefully, and "get lost".

Care to give back those Cups? I don't, but I wouldn't mind moving on either. Ozzie and Drapes rightfully want a chance to sign and make the team. Holland has the tough decision of passing on two valuable and nostalgic parts of the Wings franchise and success for the last 15 years. He's paid to make the right decision.

These two guys deserve a round of applause if they're on their way out, not a "good riddance". Some Wings fans make me sad.

Keep in mind that Rafalski was 12th in the league in scoring and played only 63 games.  Look at his place at the end of the season in total points over the last 5 seasons.

10-11 - 12th
09-10 - 21st
08-09 - 5th
07-08 - 7th
06-07 - 12th

People can knock is defensive game, but he is a point producing machine.  I see the same upswing from Brendan Smith as he has the same skillset just in a bigger body.

On a sidenote, I am pretty disgusted with some of the comments here.  The "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out" comments in specific.  He helped bring a Stanley Cup to Detroit.  He took a hometown discount to come play here.  A little respect would be in order.

I'm with ya. Not as much appreciation for Raffy as you would think. He was a great replacement for Schneider - an upgrade. Nick and Raffy rocked together in 2008 and brought home the Cup. He may be on his last leg(s) as an elite player - yet still elite. There isn't a comparable replacement - ESP not one that can come in and be Cup-competent immediately. The 6 mill now is part of the price the Wings paid to go on the 2 long Cup runs. If he really does retire, shows you what kind of class the guy has - he could eek it out and just spend alot time on IR collecting $, but he'd rather not saddle the team - wish all players were like that. Thanks Raffy, you were fun to watch and we were glad to have you as a Red Wing for a few years at least.

Hossa was also injured. He was playing through a shoulder injury which required him to have surgery and ultimately miss the first eight weeks of the following seasons. Or did you miss that part? He took a lot of flak for not scoring. It's difficult to shoot when one of your shoulders is wrecked. Maybe Datsyuk should have been taking faceoffs against the Sharks, and then we could all rail on him for losing 80% and then later find out he was injured?

Remember that guy named Steve Yzerman? How did he look in 2002 skating on one knee? Or how did Datsyuk just look playing with a wrist injury? I don't give a #$%& about Hossa's shoulder - the guy was AWOL for most of the playoffs and certainly against the Pens when it counted the most. He didn't show up for the most important game of his career. Screw Hossa - he bailed so he could ride his way to a cup with the Hawks. Nuff said. Need to focus on future wings not past failures.

Please stop trying to compare Hudler to Franzen. Yes Franzen has his own problems right now, but you're comparing apples and oranges. Hudler never was or will be on the level that Franzen is capable of (whether Franzen ever gets back there or not). Hudler at his very best was a decent 3rd line player in 2008. He never was, is, or will be a top 2 line player on the Wings. I'm not sure why you are so loyal to this guy - he bolted for Russia once, and he's not a Homer or Draper where after 15 years and 4 Cups you can make a case for some extra loyalty late in the game. Hudler needs to move on from the Wings - best for both parties.

If the Wings would have taken 2009, there'd be NO question as to whether or not the signing was a good one.  But since Rafalski's injury was a big part of them NOT winning in 2009 and his play over the last 2 years has been noticibly weak in the playoffs, I think it's a valid question to ask if that 30 million could have brought us more with other players.

Raffy didn't play in the Duck's series and we won that one (barely) in 7 games (he may have come back the last game or 2?) - he played in the WCF and SCFs. I fail to see how his injury hurt the Wing's chances of winning the Cup then. Pavel's injury (and perhaps Nicks) was far more devastating. (or just revert to Hossa not showing up).

It's tough to say - I think he played a big part in the Wings having a successful regular season (1 seed) and phenomenal Cup run in 2008. Maybe we don't win if another D-man is signed and doesn't quite work out. He, like several other Wings now, seems to be injury prone in the last years of his contract. Let's see what we are sayin about Franzen in 10 years.  

Hudler is NOT a top 6 forward folks. Replay game 7 if you have any doubt about that. The guy was a healthy scratch for half of the playoff games this year (and many of the regular season games) - for a good reason. I think I'm going with Babs on this one.....

Jiri Hudler never came back from Russia. You said it well, he worked up from GR, played well despite his size and then the summer of 2009. Waited it out, handcuffing the Wings in free agency, left, and came back supposed to be a difference maker and failed miserably. Last night was possibly his worst game yet even when you don't mention the clumsy blind-siding of an actually effective player in Dan Cleary. He was called upon to take on big minutes, especially with the extra man and between him and Rafalski, managed to render all Red Wings powerplays worthless.

I agree with the firing squad comment. Either way, give me Miller, Eaves, or Draper any day, and I have no idea why we couldn't have played Modano. Still baffles me, but that's Babcock's issue. Trade or waive Hudler, at least with Filppula's contract we get solid defensive skill, more hustle, and equal/greater offensive capability.

Good assessment.

IMO Hudler is past the point of being able to help the Wings anymore. He was brutal out there last night (not even counting the Cleary mishap). He's lost on the PP, his shots don't go in (does he even have a point in the postseason?), he has always been undersized, he's made noticable defensive gafs - was on ice for several of the sharks goals the last few games I think. He appeared especially useless against the Sharks this series.

Try sending him down to GR and with any luck someone will pick him up off of waivers. Even giving someone else a shot from GR would be better than wasting a roster spot on him next year.

...but....but Franzen is the next Fedorov....

I agree, Hossa should've been the choice. We'll see what happens in the playoffs, because everyone here says he is gonna light it up! Maybe that is what he is waiting on.  Who cares about giving the fans their money's worth in the regular season. Why don't they just play the regular season without any fans in the arena, because who cares that they spents $500 for tix, parking, concessions, etc... to go see their team play 100% and give them their money's worth. I now have two players I cannot stand, Hudler and Franzen.  As far as I am concerned if they play their last game in a Wings jersey this season, I couldn't be happier.


Whew! and I thought I was the only one that saw it! That switch flipped right about 9 minutes into the first period.

I still hope for a better showing come playoffs, if they're gonna flip it, they better start this week!

No show Hossa cost the Wings a Stanley Cup in 2009. Easy to rethink now, but Franzen is not the reason the Wings are in a slump, and Hossa is not the reason the Hawks won a Cup....hindsight.

Team just doesn't look good - hasn't really had that special feel all season. On the upside, even with a less than stellar year, we are still one of the better teams in the NHL. Just so happens under Bettboy's dream - there are no truly great teams, just a bunch of mediocre ones...

Go Wing regardless - have cheered for them under much more dire circumstances - not goint to stop now.

What a pathetic, piss poor effort!!!!! Personally I think RR is done, but there's a lot of people who disagree with that. I'm on the fence on what I would do. What needs to happen is early next week Michigan needs to say RR is staying no matter what to help his recruiting OR they need to fire him. If they did fire him I would want a solid plan with Harbaugh in place. He will come. I just don't want a Les Miles 2 mess.

RR will go - utter disaster of an experiment. Well at least we spared the rest of the Big Ten from trying that one out. Nothing good about his program right now. Loyd Carr is sounding awful good right about now - too bad too many UM fans ran him out of town. 10-2 and losing to USC (who were cheating at the time) in the Rose Bowl doesn't sound so bad eh?  
Shouldv'e held onto him for a few more years and actually found the right replacement.
Ah well, future should be interesting.

Congrats Sparty - been what 20 years since a Big Ten Title? Shouldn't be any more ties after next year either. 3-way tie is dumb.

You cry me a river and learn hockey. He isnt making excuses, all players who play their hardest end up injured by the end of playoffs. No one is making excuses injures are legit. So stop searching for reasons to hate hossa even though he owned your ass and the rest of the league by winning the cup.

Hossa had never owned anyone's ass. That's why he was with 4 clubs in just over 2 years.

I don't need to search for reasons to dislike him - he's provided enough. Moving from team to team to cherry pick a Stanley Cup. I'm a Red Wings fan and he was a big part of costing us one - Red Wings trump any positive feelings i ever had for Hossa.

Enough anyways. He's gone thankfully and Chicago will be looking for a way to trade him in a few years...

Hossa Played With Bad Knee In SCF
Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

06/12/10 at 03:54 PM ET | Comments (0)


via Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago,

Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa said Saturday that he played the Stanley Cup finals with a sprained MCL in his right knee, suffered in Game 1 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Hossa dealt with the lingering effects of shoulder surgery all season and also had a banged-up back in the finals.

Cry me a river. This guy's got more excuses than a politician in Washington.  

Who's not banged up in the SCF? I don't hear other guys complaining about it - they still do their job - bruises, bone chips and all.

I just don't get why Wings fans still defend this guy. We are minus one Cup alot to do with him. Glad he's not on our team - good riddance.

Fraud?  How's that?  He was often the best player on the ice.  I'd say he was pushing the wagon, not riding on it.

He had 3 goals all POs in 22 games. One in the finals, which is an improvement over last year.   He was all zeros across the board the last three games - which, imo, just re-emphasizes that he is not a clutch player. And don't spit out he does all the little things - he is paid to score. He's not a 4th line grinder. But whatever, some people seem to think it was OK that he floated around for 7 games of the finals last year with the Wings, and just dandy that he finally won. He rode along with three contending teams - and the odds finally paid off. IMO he was a HUGE part of costing the Wings a Cup so don't expect me to cheer for him - ever.

Hossa might be a nice guy and all - but after his no-show act in the finals three years in a row - can't say he deserves to win it. You can bank he'll be invisible now for the next 11 years as well....

Then again there are probably alot of guys that are much bigger dicks that have their name on their - I can think of a few. Might make a good off season topic...

Still one of the best shut down defenseman in the league. And this was from non Red Wings color homer glasses players in the NHL. Man oh man people the guy wasn't going to take less money than Raffi. Give it up.

Nor was Holland going to pay him any less than Raffy. The Wings treat their players well - especially one like Nick who has been with the organization for almost 2 decades. He was one of the players that deferred salary to get Hull in 02. He also could have gotten more after the lockout - and the players association was actually POd he didn't take the max.

I think it is fair that Nick not make less than Rafalski. He took a cut - not a real steep on, but the guy played all 82 freaking games last year. People that point to Stevie's last few years forget he was out a good part of those seasons and was really only in for the playoffs.

Good deal for Nick and the Wings. I shiver when I imagine the Wings without him - now I can postpone that agony for at least another year....