Drake_Marcus

Here comes the panic and doomsaying.  We can't possibly succeed as a team now that we missed out on two free agents.  

(Thank you Holland for not handcuffing the team with two 13 year contracts that didn't come with a discount in exchange for the absurd term)

7.8 cap hit for rick nash + losing jarnkrok,smith,filppula and a 1st .... NO THANKSSSSS

Yeah, he's grossly overpaid for his production.  It's pretty comical that Crosby only gets paid 900k more than a guy who hasn't potted 80pts even once in is NHL career.  

This has "Ville Leino" written all over it...

An NHL player aquired for zero costs in assets?  Oh the humanity!

Let's say the Pens sign Suter and Parise each to multi-year $7,000,000 cap hit deals and don't re-sign any of their current RFAs or UFAs.  Here's what their roster would look like:

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
James Neal ($5.000m) / Evgeni Malkin ($8.700m) / Zach Parise ($7.000m)
Chris Kunitz ($3.725m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Pascal Dupuis ($1.500m)
Matt Cooke ($1.800m) / Brandon Sutter ($2.067m) / Tyler Kennedy ($2.000m)
Dustin Jeffrey ($0.575m) / Craig Adams ($0.675m) / Joe Vitale ($0.550m)
DEFENSEMEN
Paul Martin ($5.000m) / Brooks Orpik ($3.750m)
Kris Letang ($3.500m) / Deryk Engelland ($0.567m)
Ben Lovejoy ($0.525m) / Ryan Suter ($7.000m)
GOALTENDERS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.000m)
Tomas Vokoun ($2.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,633,333; BONUSES: $0
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $666,667

(the lines are automatically generated, I know the roster looks wonky in that order)
Notice that they only have room for one minimum salary player to be the 13th forward or 7th dman.

Pretty tight, eh?  That's a very dangerous proposition given that we have no clue what the real salary cap will be in October.  The 70mil number is just a place holder until a new CBA is signed.  I'm pretty confident GMs around the league are smart enough to leave more wiggle room than 670K.

Even if the Pens find someone to take Martin's salary off their books they still need to leave room to re-sign Letang in two years when he's due for a significant raise.  Loosing Martin would leave half their defense as cheap fillers making nearly the league minimum (not a solid plan going forward).

I can see the Pens taking a run at Parise or Suter, but they'd be fools to sign both at this point.  Etiher way, they'd be sacrificing a ton of depth to make a very top-heavy roster.

For the sake of comparison, here's the Wings roster with Parise and Suter signed to identical 7mil deals:

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Parise ($7.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m)
Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Danny Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m)
Drew Miller ($0.838m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m)
Jan Mursak ($0.550m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ryan Suter ($7.000m)
Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m)
Ian White ($2.875m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
Joey MacDonald ($0.550m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,167,045; BONUSES: $37,500
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $10,132,955

The big difference here is the Wings roster is much more balanced and has a ton of room for the cap to come down (there's no way in hell the cap next season will be lower than it was this season).

So to free up cash to take runs at the two top free agents of the 2012 offseason the Penguins traded dumped their top signing from the 2010 offseason (Michalek signed a 5 year deal with the Pens on July 1st, 2010 only to be dumped on his ass back with the team he ran away from two years ago) and are rumoured to be shopping their other top offseason aquistion from that same offseason (Martin signed a 5 year deal with the Pens on July 1st, 2010).

What does that say to free agents who want to sign with Pitts?  Michalek and Martin were the top defensive UFAs two years ago and now they're being tossed aside for the next hot thing with 3 years remaining on their respective deals...  Players definitely notice that sort of behaviour.

This isn't a rumor; it is infact true. Here is another link to verify it: http://www.cbssports...t-for-no-2-pick

What a hefty price to move up two spots in the draft. If I was an Islanders fan and Howson accepted this, I think I would want Snow to be beheaded. That is just absurd. I don't see Snow's logic in jumping two spots... Defensive heavy draft... There was tons of talent.

Multiple unnamed sources =/= confirmation!

Will Ken Holland's legacy be judged on how and what he does this off season? He has never in his time as a GM of the Red Wings had to replace one of the best defenseman to ever play the game, to find a replacement for Brad Stuart, this all after losing Brian Rafalski a great puck moving defenseman just a year ago. When you combine his holes on defense with needing to reload the offense as well this will be a huge off season for the Wings and for Ken Holland. Gone are the pre cap days of simply buying the best team the owner can afford. I think Kenny is a great GM but this could be what he's remembered for. Thoughts?

Holland had to deal with the retirement of the team's most legendary captain (Yzerman) at the very start of the cap era.  He managed to put a Cup winner together just two years after Yzerman's retirement.  Does that count as adversity?

One trade I'd love to see tonight: Pierre McGuire to any other sport.

Overpayment.  Flip 66 pts, Ryan 57.  I wouldn't trade Flip 1 for 1 with Ryan at this point.  He's been consistently improving and has become Z's Wingman and is doing quite well.  And on top of that, Flip's work ethic, hustle and defensive side of the game is more valuable than Ryan's.  if Huds walks like he should then this Brunner character could be the 3rd addition to that line.

I'd rather pay less and try to get Van Riemsdyk from the Flyers with a deal that doesn't include Flip.  Tatar is trade bait as far as most of us are concerned, so use him and another prospect and pick....this is all assuming Parise goes elsewhere or back to Jersey.

It's pretty comical how many people think unproven players and rookies can walk into Hudler's spot and put 25+25 up.  

The guy the Wings really need to jump on is Yandle.  Spector's Hockey is reporting that Yandle is on the trading block right now.  That kid can flat out play (offensively and defensively).  He's a young defenseman who could win a Norris one day.

...which is exactly why i did not reply to him.  he tells me to go back to NHL13 and completely misses the valid point i made in which the Wings have won the most cups in the last 22 years.  I hope Granlund goes to the KHL and Coyle requests a trade.  Or i guess the Wild's prospects futures are pretty certain.

The Wild are the hottest thing in the league right now.  If Edmonton is teaching us anything right now it's that having a handful of elite young prospects will turn your franchise right around!

http://www.quanthock..._AverageAge.php

http://www.hockeysfu...ring-2012-1-10/

Anything else YOU want to make up? Good morning, good afternoon and good night.

How's the reading bro?  You're replying to someone who mentions how not re-signing Holmstrom will impact the average age of the Wings roster and using the 11-12 roster with Stuart, Holmstrom and Lidstrom to make your argument... as if any of those three would be part of the average age Flashy's talking about.

Now that Staal has rejected a 10 year deal from the Pens, things get interesting. Nash isn't the only high end player possibly on the trading block. Bobby Ryan's name has floated around too. It would be interesting to see how the individual value of the players pans out now that there are multiple options for teams to trade for.

What do you think it would take for each of these guys (considering we trade for 1):

Nash (6 seasons $7.8mill)

Ryan (3 seasons $5.1mill)

Staal (1 season $4mill)

I'd say our top trading asset would be Filppula. Then others include Franzen, Abdelkader, Picks, Prospects. So if we miss out on Semin and Parise who would you prefer, and let's hear what your proposal would be?

I have zero interest in Nash's bloated contract.  He's signed way too long for that cap hit.  Add to that the fact that he's never scored 80pts and only topped 70pts once in his career and I can't justify adding him as one of the top 10 highest paid forwards in the league.

No one will want Abdelkader-- he's unsigned and unproductive offensively.  Sure he hits and plays a gritty game but guys like that are a dime a dozen.

I'd be happy to get Staal or Ryan, although Staal would be a foolish choice unless you could garuntee he would sign an extension.

Best thing about this guy - he shoots right handed.

I dunno, I think the best part is he's a no risk signing.  The Wings don't have to give up assets to aquire him or promise him a roster spot (two-way contract).

Interesting read, as much as I love such traditions I still think it should be decided by the players.

I'm sure the management's choice for captain will be in line with that of the players.  Management isn't so out of touch that they don't know how the players feel about the locker room leadership.