Quick Hits: I am an Investigatory Journalist

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 6:32 AM CDT in Quick Hits

Per Malik, Holland is now deeply focused on getting a backup goalie. Numerous reports have Conklin pegged as the only free agent possibility. Marty Turco is unlikely to have a homecoming given his horrendous record at Joe Louis Arena (1-10-2 in regular season action, I believe). Re-signing Chris Osgood remains a possibility and all reports say he is in the best shape of his life and is ready for one more go at it. The last possibility is a trade for a backup, likely using Hudler as bait and then signing a top 9 forward to replace him. In all likelihood, though, it looks like Ty Conklin will be a Red Wing once more.
Interesting article regarding front loaded contracts (such as those signed by Brad Richards, Ilya Kovalchuk, and even Henrik Zetterberg) from Greg Wyshnyski. Expect an article soon from us on this subject.
Derek Meech on the frontpage of Yahoo! Sports? Apparently he was the biggest splash the reformed Jets have made so far in free agency.
Surprise! Ian White is looking for a little stability after playing for three teams in one season.
Not that you didn't know, but Brad Richards signed a massive deal with New York. As J.J. has pointed out numerous times, the money is not that bad: it's the fact that it is 9 years long.
Jagr says he turned down more money than the Flyers ridiculous offer of $3.3 million per season. You is talking loco and I like it!
The Sabres signed defenseman Weber to a multiyear deal. Thankfully, not that Weber, though.
Let's end today's with news on Draper. Everyone's favorite faceoff man is on the outside looking in at this point. As I reported in my Red Wings free agency recap, it would seem unlikely that Draper will be returning. He does not wish to sign a two-way deal or play for another team and there simply isn't a spot on the team for him right now. The only way we will see Draper back at this point is if Hudler is traded. Even then, I am not so sure Draper would be our first choice to be the 13th forward. Unless we want to make Helm the permanent center on the third line, likely between Cleary and Abdelkader, I imagine we would try to find help via free agency. If Draper does come back, he will ultimately be playing musical chairs with Cory Emmerton and/or Jan Mursak for press box duties.

Tweet Comment 56 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Jagr turned down more money

and he wore the mullet to block out the brain waves that the moon men were sending to him in the 90s. Thankfully their civilization fell though and he’s now able to get by on a haircut that he enjoys.

What a fantastic liar that man is.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 6:49 AM CDT reply actions 2 recs

well it is possible with Florida trying to get above the cap floor…

by Hornecker on Jul 5, 2011 7:29 AM CDT up reply actions

Well yeah.

He turned down more from a team in Russia to come play in a league where paychecks will actually show up on time

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Jul 5, 2011 10:42 AM CDT up reply actions

Good grief

that picture scared me! Was not expecting that one at all. Looking forward to see what White can do FOR us instead of AGAINST us.

Also a fan of the Rays and Lightning.
There is no offseason.
My icon was drawn by Samara Pearlstein, talented artist/blogger at Roar of the Tigers.

by Tigers&WingsFan on Jul 5, 2011 6:51 AM CDT reply actions

Watched Zoolander on Sunday

Knew I had to throw in a few jokes for today’s Quick Hits. haha

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 7:31 AM CDT up reply actions

Unsure if anyone posted this or not, but Babchuck signed a 2 year, $5 million deal to remain with Calgary. Good deal for both of them, I think.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 7:47 AM CDT reply actions

The NHL should adopt a system

like the NBA has where. Or at least entertain a rule that allows teams to retain the players they draft. I think its called the “Larry Bird Rule” or something which allows teams to sign a player for a lot of money but only a percentage of it goes against the cap. That would allow teams who draft well to keep their talent.

DETROIT RED WINGS – "war were declared"

by Eric @ PRBU on Jul 5, 2011 8:28 AM CDT reply actions

That's not a bad idea

There are tweaks needed to close the loophole of the long, front-loaded contract. I think making the cap hit the average of 66% of the most expensive years might not be a bad idea. The big thing is they need to change the floor from a fixed dollar amount below the cap to a percentage instead, so it does not rise as much as the cap does in any given year (unless this will make it go up even more – I would defer to JJ on that one).

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 9:11 AM CDT up reply actions

JJ and I are actually trying to put together a writeup regarding the situation right now.

I personally like the method suggesting in Wysh’s article yesterday: the lowest season salary can be equal to no less than 50% of the highest season salary. That will stop long term, front loaded contracts right in their tracks, allow the cap to remain easy to calculate, AND grandfather in the current contracts (thereby saving the Wings some headaches with Franzen and Zetterberg)

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 10:44 AM CDT up reply actions

yeah they are called bird rights

but does hockey have a hard cap because if not one would have to be put in for that to work.

by SLAUGHTERHOUSE on Jul 5, 2011 9:31 AM CDT up reply actions

hockey has a hard cap

on both ends, the Upper and Lower Limit.

You wanna tell me that to mah face?!

by uvgt2bkdnme on Jul 5, 2011 11:30 AM CDT up reply actions

ok

im learning slowly but surely….1st year ive been following it

by SLAUGHTERHOUSE on Jul 5, 2011 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions

I believe that the NBA also has a cap on how long contracts can be

The longest contracts I’ve ever heard of in the NBA have only been 6 years. As for the Larry Bird exception, I think that a team can pay a player 20% more than other teams as an incentive to stay with his current team. The whole situation is different in the NBA because of the soft salary cap, luxury tax scale and numerous other cap exceptions. Also, a different team can obtain a players “Bird rights” if they trade for him before he becomes a free agent.

I like the idea of a modified Bird exception for the NHL. Obviously, the contracts allowed under this would need to be more contained than they currently are. The league would need to set a maximum length and also control how much a player’s pay can vary from year to year. I would also like to see a clause put in where a player’s Bird rights would be waived if he was traded, meaning that this exception would only apply to homegrown talent. So basically, this is way too complicated for the NHL to ever actually put in place without making a complete mess of it while Gary Bettman is the commissioner.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Jul 5, 2011 9:33 AM CDT up reply actions

Don't like the Bird rule for the NHL

Aside from the hard/soft cap issues (and a soft cap is a terrible idea – the NBA’s spending is ridiculously out of control and is exactly why they just locked out), the problem is that teams don’t have a problem keeping their home-grown talent because of cap space – the ones who have trouble keeping their own talent are in that predicament because of actual dollars to spend.

Atlanta didn’t lose Kovalchuk because they didn’t have room under the cap for him; they lost him because they didn’t have room in their wallets.

The Hawks are the slight exception here, except the home-growns that they lost are making more money now while Chicago kept their two most important home-grown guys without problem. Plus, Chicago is STILL paying north of $5M for Cristobal Huet to keep his ass in Europe. A Bird Rule would have basically absolved the Hawks of completely mismanaging their long-term cap situation.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 9:44 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

I think that allowing a homegrown talent rule will allow teams to stay competitive

and limit cap circumvention. That way, a team like the wings, can retain Zetterberg without signing him to a 12 year contract (I don’t know what it actually is) and still go out and get free agents.

DETROIT RED WINGS – "war were declared"

by Eric @ PRBU on Jul 5, 2011 9:47 AM CDT up reply actions

A rule specifically designed to circumvent the cap

does not limit cap circumvention, it just rubber-stamps it.

If the richest teams have the means to spend so much more over the cap without losing money, then they should be fixing revenue sharing before they fix the shackles that the GMs put on themselves to prevent the problems they got into going into the last labor dispute.

Remember, that one wasn’t caused by the little teams struggling to make money, it was caused by the large teams crying that all of those ways they had of spending too much money was keeping them from making enough to stay alive.

I’m more concerned with teams being able to stay competitive through being well-run than with their ability to stay competitive through being well-financed. That’s why I like the Wings being cup contenders every year while the Blackhawks went straight from a parade float to an also-ran.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 9:58 AM CDT up reply actions

Exactly

The Jets are now in dire need of contracts to hit the salary floor. They definitely had the cap space to sign him, but simply could not afford him (or the team, apparently)

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 10:46 AM CDT up reply actions

Is anyone else wondering what we are going to do with the 7 mil we have left over?

I keep looking at the roster and am very pleased, I know we’ll get a back up goalie soon, not overly concerned with that, but I keep seeing 22 guys on the roster and 7 mil left over, and am just wondering if we have any other plans left. Seems like we have all the pieces in order.

I'm a Homer

by holmstrom96 on Jul 5, 2011 10:40 AM CDT reply actions

Having some room left for a rental in March isn’t a terrible thing.

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Jul 5, 2011 10:41 AM CDT up reply actions

Trade deadline

Most of the holes have been filled minus a backup goalie, which won’t cost $7M. The Wings should have over $5M in cap space this year to potentially make a deal at the deadline depending on how the season is going. The last couple of years, the Wings have relied on players coming back from injury as their “acquisitions”.

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 10:41 AM CDT up reply actions

sounds like a solid plan. I definitely think we can win with this roster. I’m pretty excited to get the season going now.

I'm a Homer

by holmstrom96 on Jul 5, 2011 11:10 AM CDT up reply actions

We have a few extensions to hand out after next season

Having some cap space left over for those is probably a good idea.

Detroit4Lyfe

by Rob Rogacki on Jul 5, 2011 11:34 AM CDT up reply actions

Yep

Plus if TPH does call it a career (after winning Cup #5 and Norris #8), that frees up a lot of space to go after a marquee FA like Suter.

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 12:16 PM CDT up reply actions

$5.5 mil room for a trade… Also room to start resigning players for next year…

FAs Getting Raises (Actually Salary)
Helm – $1.00 mil – to – $1.600 mil – $0.6 mil increase
Abdlekader – $0.825 mil – to – $1.000 mil – $0.175 mil increase
Stuart – $3.75 mil – to – raise to $4.25 mil – $0.50 mil increase
Kronwall – $3.75 mil – to – raise to $5.50 mil – $1.75 mil increase
- Big Rig makes less than Kronner next year, just has higher cap hit

Good Chance Of Moving Up From GR (Actually Salary)
Tatar – $0.650 mil
Nyquist – $0.8375 mil
Smith – $0.875 mil

by cokolman on Jul 5, 2011 12:16 PM CDT up reply actions

Per Twitter

Ruslan Salei headed to the KHL.

It was never a question that he would not return to the Wings, but I really thought someone would take a chance on him in the NHL.

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 10:40 AM CDT reply actions

Me too

The questions about him wanting to be “closer to family” do raise something of an interesting point. His wife lives in California, but he is from Belarus. Does she move the family to Europe now?

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 10:51 AM CDT up reply actions

*he

And that was my first reaction as well. In fact, I tweeted just that right after seeing your tweet that he was leaving.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions

she**

;]

Anyway, I don’t really care. Salei was one of the worst d-pickups Holland has made in quite some time (though Commodore might give him a run for his money)

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions

**THEY

I don’t even know what we’re correcting anymore.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 12:35 PM CDT up reply actions

I am incredibly surprised we haven’t been forced to use (s)he as the proper pronoun for both men and women yet. Seems like the logical conclusion of the political correctness movement.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 12:41 PM CDT up reply actions

Hahaha

I bet feminists would get upset because it puts the part that makes the word female in a cage.

Misogynists would also get mad because then the word starts as womanly.

Moral of the story: you can’t appease crazy people on both sides.

I probably just should have written the original sentence better in the first place. Ultimately, the decision of where the Salei children grow up should be a joint effort anyway.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions

oh

My only point was that I think it’ll be the wife who makes the decision and not Salei. ;]

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 12:57 PM CDT up reply actions

I disagree completely. He was never a liability while on the ice and provided solid leadership/mentorship for Kindl and Ericsson. Without Salei, I doubt Kindl would be NHL-ready yet. He may not have contributed much, but I would argue Salei was the best defenseman acquisition since Rafalski.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 12:40 PM CDT up reply actions

Salei > Stuart? Really? : (

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions

Stuart came a year or two before Rafalski. ;)

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions

Actually

They started the same season. 07-08. Stuart just came at the deadline while Raffi was a UFA signing.

Just another Wings fan caught between Leafs and Sabres territory.

by traylor1 on Jul 5, 2011 1:32 PM CDT up reply actions

yeah...

Rafalski was signed before Stuart.

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 3:06 PM CDT up reply actions

Yep. You’re both right. I had it backwards.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 3:33 PM CDT up reply actions

I’m not sure I’d say he was never a liability, especially given his playoff performance, but I’m glad the Wings had him this year.

by J.J. from Kansas on Jul 5, 2011 12:55 PM CDT up reply actions

He wasn’t the worst acquisition by Holland ever (Kyle Calder, come on down!), but he wasn’t great this year. He had a good start, then seemed to get progressively worse as the season went on.

He served a purpose last season, but wasn’t part of the plans going forward. Look at it this way: his presence on the team and in the lineup was not the reason the Wings did not win the Cup.

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 12:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Exactly

He didn’t really help us but he never hurt us either. He did his job. He was never a player that made you cringe when he took the ice (freaking Doug Janik) but he never made you happy he was out there, either. What he did with Kindl made him a definite positive in my books, especially since he disappeared right as Kindl emerged. It worked out well for everyone, I thought.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 1:30 PM CDT up reply actions

Ty Conklin has signed with Detroit

Numerous tweets about it.. i don’t know the terms yet tho.

by kylegroombridge on Jul 5, 2011 1:03 PM CDT reply actions

and Garnett Exelby for that matter..

some help for the griffins i guess.

by kylegroombridge on Jul 5, 2011 1:04 PM CDT up reply actions

good

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 1:05 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm ok with it

but I was hoping we’d take at least a look at Ray Emery. Yes, he’s oft injured, but he came back last year and played real solid for the ducks in their playoff run. Though he was at least worth a phone call, really hope that happened.

Datsyuk and Friends.

by Dubie on Jul 5, 2011 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions

I’d prefer Conklin (if true) to Emery. Conks is familiar with the system, the team, and is proven as a reliable backup. Emery played well for the Ducks, but he’s got lingering hip issues and a history of being a less-than-popular player in the dressing room.

Plus, we can bring back “Conk block” every time he makes a save.

Winging It In Motown

@Amerinadian19

by Amerinadian on Jul 5, 2011 1:08 PM CDT up reply actions

While I understand your reasoning

Everything I heard and saw about him last year said he has matured tremendously and his hip felt fine. Like I said, I’m ok with Conks, just hope a call was at least put in.

Datsyuk and Friends.

by Dubie on Jul 5, 2011 1:10 PM CDT up reply actions

Based on his status as a locker room cancer, our backup goaltending need would have to have been far more dire for him to get a look.

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Jul 5, 2011 1:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I wonder...

whether Emery would be satisfied with a backup role?

by Naysayer on Jul 5, 2011 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions

I want him no where near the Wings locker room. He has disrupted locker rooms in Philly, Ottawa, and freaking Russia. If I have to put a hex on the man to keep him away from the Wings, I will.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 3:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Just kick him in the hip

that oughta do it.

Think about how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider! --George Carlin

by J_Stone on Jul 5, 2011 5:19 PM CDT up reply actions

So

Is it only a matter of time before Ozzie is named goaltending coach? Is he not even getting a shot to play this season?

Dancing Datsyuk Decidedly Dazzles Dainty Defensemen

by Robocop on Jul 5, 2011 1:12 PM CDT up reply actions

He may just be an assistant or something..

Jim Bedard isn’t giving up his job that easily

by kylegroombridge on Jul 5, 2011 1:16 PM CDT up reply actions

Anyone have a legitimate source? All I am seeing it a bunch of people tweeting about it, nothing from an actual NHL insider or reporter. Makes me leery about it (though I do not doubt that this is the case)

Exelby report is accurate, per MLive. http://www.mlive.com/griffins/index.ssf/2011/07/red_wings_sign_logan_pyett_gar.html

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Jul 5, 2011 1:35 PM CDT up reply actions