* Tomas Holmstrom ($2.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / * Todd Bertuzzi ($2.000m)
Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Darren Helm ($1.000m) / * Jiri Hudler ($2.750m)
Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($1.000m) / * Patrick Eaves ($1.000m)
* Drew Miller ($0.750m) / * Mattias Ritola ($0.600m)
* Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.900m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m)
Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m)
Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)
Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)
CAP ROOM: $0.012m
Bottom line is if Maltby returns (), we'll have to let go of Ritola. Simple as that. C'mon Kenny, I know loyalty is important, but protecting our assets is even more important. And Ericsson being paired with Lids is more to a look to the future, let him develop alongside the best, and I don't want to see Ericsson and Kindl together.
I don't know where he would fit in though. With Bert and Flip's emergence, he kinda lost his place amongst the team.
If it was up to me, there is no way Huds going to replace either of them on top 6.... unless he somehow improved hell alot more than last time we saw him. If you are a small player in NHL, you better be fast.. and he wasn't. Therefore he is just an expensive power play option again.
Also as a bottom 6, I really like Eaves and Miller or whatever we have right now, plus their cap hits. (unless they ask for significant raise)
There is also a cap issue. We might be able to accommodate him next season but what about the season after that? If Jimmy continues his thing, we gonna need extra room.
I'm not saying Wings shouldn't take him back. I'm just saying if he comes back, he would have to take someone's job... and it won't be easy.
To accommodate Hudler, the Wings won't have a lot of options. They can't sign any new players, only resign current players and hope Lidstrom produces one final miracle and takes a massive pay cut. You never know, he might take much less than we expect and help the Wings out for development (ala Yzerman).
As long as we resign our young depth players and Lidstrom and Homer, we will have a strong core. Hudler will need to perform in a way that reflects his cap hit. Not only in points but improve on his weaknesses. We cannot afford a more expensive Jason Williams.
IMO J Will, Lebda, May and Maltby will not come back. I don't see why Holland would want Maltby when we have younger, injury-free options for his job, let him retire. Draper also has one more year, but if somehow something can be done so he either retires or moves (which will probably never happen) then it should be looked at I think.
The only other option left, is trades. I really think some teams will be looking into acquiring some veteran goaltending like Edmonton did with Khabibulin. If we can tempt anyone for Osgood and some other players, then we might get some good picks or a strong player in return. I am sure Osgood+Cleary+prospects/picks will land us a decent player.
As for Howard getting a pay raise for his next contract, I would not worry. Osgood is gone after his current contract expires. Howard will take a similar cap hit, I think. There is no way he will expect a cap hit like Miller, Luongo and co. (I hope).
I wonder how much of an option that is, though. Would Holland move Cleary and/or Stuart and/or Osgood, even assuming some degree of value? I don't know. I don't think there is a terribly big history of Holland doing that except in the Hasek deal.
Other than that it seems like most of his 'moves' are either signing guys or not re-signing guys.
Hudler returning makes it fairly difficult to bring Bertuzzi back.
FORWARDS
Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Hudler ($2.750m)
* Tomas Holmstrom ($2.000m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Kirk Maltby ($0.883m)
* Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m) / * Darren Helm ($0.750m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.650m)
* Drew Miller ($0.525m) / * Mattias Ritola ($0.511m)
DEFENSEMEN
Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.500m)
Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m)
* Andreas Lilja ($1.500m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m)
Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)
GOALTENDERS
Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
ROSTER: 23; PAYROLL: $56.707m; CAP ROOM: $0.093m BONUSES: $0.000m
That gets everybody back except Bert.
Really, any way you slice it Hudler coming back after just one year puts the Wings in a significant bind.
It makes it difficult but if they want him back and he wants to be flexible with his contract demands, then they could message the cap numbers for other players enough to accommodate him. You would clear up an extra million by not having Ritola and Maltby on that roster and that could be money that goes to him. Bumping Lilja down to 1 million saves an extra $500,000. It would depend on the Lidstrom, Holmstrom and our RFA's deals, but we should have around $1.5 million to offer him again. It would just be a question as to whether or not he would want that and whether or not we want him back.
According to the Boston Globe, the cap could rise to $58 million.
Quote:
A bigger cap size
Estimates have the NHL salary cap, which increased by only $100,000 this season to $56.8 million, moving to about $58 million next season. All somewhat of a red herring, of course, given that the players again are expected to lose somewhere around 10 percent of their earnings via final escrow settlement. That makes the real cap number around $50 million.
I don't know where he would fit in though. With Bert and Flip's emergence, he kinda lost his place amongst the team.
If it was up to me, there is no way Huds going to replace either of them on top 6.... unless he somehow improved hell alot more than last time we saw him. If you are a small player in NHL, you better be fast.. and he wasn't. Therefore he is just an expensive power play option again.
You could just do 2 things:
1. Toss him on Pavel's wing with Johan and keep Holmstrom to a grinding position and first line PP.
2. Throw him with Eaves and Helm, almost turning that line into the all-around line. A speedy centerman, a scoring winger, a grinding winger. Wouldnt hurt, plus this then would also let Hudler come back to the 2nd pp and leave Cleary to just PK. Until he regains his old form, I wouldnt put him on the PP.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ProPAIN
To accommodate Hudler, the Wings won't have a lot of options. They can't sign any new players, only resign current players and hope Lidstrom produces one final miracle and takes a massive pay cut. You never know, he might take much less than we expect and help the Wings out for development (ala Yzerman).
Now is the time for Holland to pull out some discriminating pictures of Draper and get him to retire. Joking aside, its horrible to think at this point that he will be back and guys like Ritola or Miller might be left in the dark for the most part. Something tells me that with Darper having to come back and Ritola having to clear waivers, I could almost see one, if not both of Eaves and Miller juse being odd men out and let go. Hopefully Holland isnt "that loyal".
1. Toss him on Pavel's wing with Johan and keep Holmstrom to a grinding position and first line PP.
2. Throw him with Eaves and Helm, almost turning that line into the all-around line. A speedy centerman, a scoring winger, a grinding winger. Wouldnt hurt, plus this then would also let Hudler come back to the 2nd pp and leave Cleary to just PK. Until he regains his old form, I wouldnt put him on the PP.
Now is the time for Holland to pull out some discriminating pictures of Draper and get him to retire. Joking aside, its horrible to think at this point that he will be back and guys like Ritola or Miller might be left in the dark for the most part. Something tells me that with Darper having to come back and Ritola having to clear waivers, I could almost see one, if not both of Eaves and Miller juse being odd men out and let go. Hopefully Holland isnt "that loyal".
At this point, Either two options dont appeal to me. How can you say for certain it will pan out just fine? I could see Huds replacing Williams but it's already done with Abby. It remains to be seen but what we have right now is pretty good, so why mess with it?
I don't know why Maltby and Drapes are getting no respect around here but I guess I'm alone. I don't think I saw anyone liking Draper and Maltby recently... but I'm not here to talk about them so I'll end it here.
Also, ProP, Howard will not, in any sense, will get Ozzie's money if he continues his ascension. It won't be Luongo's money but in my opinion, it will be significant enough to think about it from now. (Unless Lidstrom retires or plays for dirt cheap)
Getting back on topic, I still think it's an uphill climb for Huds to earn his spot.
1. Toss him on Pavel's wing with Johan and keep Holmstrom to a grinding position and first line PP.
Except Hudler's done very little in his opportunities in the top 6. If Hudler had actually produced in a top 6 role, his return would be a much less fretted-about event.
Quote:
Now is the time for Holland to pull out some discriminating pictures of Draper and get him to retire.
At some point z40's going to have to start paying attention to the CBA rules. Draper's on the books regardless... at least unless he is traded to another team.
This is a great draft and this organization can certainly use a "blue chip" prospect, I say trade Hudler and our 1st rounder to get a better pick and a shot at some of the future stars coming out. Yeah, I know won't happen but it would sure solve the problem.
Omg, please don't resign him, I'd much rather have one more player with size take his spot.
To the guy who said give maltby and draper respect, um at the cost of that respect would you like to see one of our prospects go before we've even seen what he can do up here?
Kenny pushed ozzy out the door a few years back, he should quietly do the same with at least maltby. Williams is def gone next year hated that we signed him anyways.
As if the prospect of the Red Wings welcoming Hudler back with open arms, if the Red Wings re-sign all of their veterans, i.e. Maltby and Draper, over trying to bring new talent in from GR, I will go ballistic. We have some serious talent in G.R. that we could develop on the big team. Tatar could be playing on the Wings right now, and we wouldn't have any need for Hudler.
That's one heck of a discount you've got Nick taking, considering he's still one of the top defenseman in the league and will be on the top pairing.
Assuming he signs a fairly short contract, I can't see them getting the final year's numbers low enough to make that cap hit.
I know he's still elite but for crying out loud, he IS 40 and he's earnt an absolute fortune over the years. Is a shade under $5 MILLION really a slap in the face?
If he's a good as leader as I think he is, he takes a discount at the age of 40.
So you have Maltby coming back and saying good bye to Bert?
It doesn't work the other way, really... at least, not with the cap assumptions I'm making here. Now, if the cap goes up to 58 million could Detroit afford bringing back Bert at 2 instead of Maltby at 883? Perhaps.
This isn't a 'who I think is better' discussion, it's a 'what can the team do under the cap' discussion.
), we'll have to let go of Ritola. Simple as that. C'mon Kenny, I know loyalty is important, but protecting our assets is even more important. And Ericsson being paired with Lids is more to a look to the future, let him develop alongside the best, and I don't want to see Ericsson and Kindl together. 
