Additionally, Zetterberg's regular season totals took quite a dip last year with 3 star forwards in the fold, and he is very capable of rebounding to near 40 goals with increased offensive emphasis, particularly in his prime years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
They have guys playing in the bottom 6 that are ready for top 6 roles.
At the end of the day, the Red Wings only do bad if their star players get injured for a long period of time, much like the Flames.
I find it interesting the confidence that has been expressed on this thread that things will fall into place for the Wings.
This contrasts to the hope that the Flames will be an elite team under similar situations.
- Filppula and Hudler are ready to replace Hossa in the top 6. Are Glencross and Moss any more of a risk in replacing Cammalleri?
- Zetterberg will score more with Hossa gone.... Iginla had an off year goal scoring wise and should score more with this year. Langkow played with a banged up hand for 30 games and fell way below his historical goal scoring output.
- the Wings have players waiting to step up - Helm , Abdelkader and Leino. How far behind are Backlund, Boyd, Nystrom, Greentree?
I guess the point that I am trying to make is that Detroit has lost Hossa and Samuelssen... which I consider a much greater loss than Cammalleri and Bertuzzi . Meanwhile the Flames have made a drastic upgrade with Bouwmeester replacing Aucion.
The Wings were 7 games better than the Flames last year over the regular season. This gap would have been much smaller without the Flames having a perfect storm of injuries.
Right now I don't see that much of a difference in the two organizations going into 2009/10.
I guess the feedback that I found most enlightening is from Patrick - "At the end of the day, the Red Wings only do bad if their star players get injured for a long period of time, much like the Flames". It comes down to conditioning, medical support and a lot of luck on the injury front.
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They will be top five overall and with better regular season goaltending than last year should win their division again. Hossa is no big loss at all for them.
Why will they have better regualr season goaltending?
Conklin is gone and he was far better than Osgood over the regular season. If there are some $500K goalies (what the Wings have allocatted for cap space for that spot) who will be better there are a lot of clubs who are missing the boat.
- Filppula and Hudler are ready to replace Hossa in the top 6. Are Glencross and Moss any more of a risk in replacing Cammalleri?
Hudler's point total would have been 3rd on the Flames behind Iginla and Cammalleri. Filppula was 3rd on the Wings in scoring in the playoffs behind Zetterberg and Franzen when he had to take on a bigger role with Datsyuk's injury. So yes the Flames guys are a bigger risk.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
- the Wings have players waiting to step up - Helm , Abdelkader and Leino. How far behind are Backlund, Boyd, Nystrom, Greentree?
Leino scored 9 points in 13 games last year so he's shown he'll probably score more than any of the Flames. The rest are pretty even... Helm is basically identical to Nystrom... just had a bigger stage to show it on (despite all the talk he got in the playoffs he managed a whole 5 points). You are more on the notch with this point.
Hudler's point total would have been 3rd on the Flames behind Iginla and Cammalleri. Filppula was 3rd on the Wings in scoring in the playoffs behind Zetterberg and Franzen when he had to take on a bigger role with Datsyuk's injury. So yes the Flames guys are a bigger risk.
Leino scored 9 points in 13 games last year so he's shown he'll probably score more than any of the Flames. The rest are pretty even... Helm is basically identical to Nystrom... just had a bigger stage to show it on (despite all the talk he got in the playoffs he managed a whole 5 points). You are more on the notch with this point.
Leino is a RFA. If he is a sure thing (better than Backlund) would a Kessler like offer sheet (1.75) mess up Detroit? At that offer compensation is a 3rd round pick. Would he be a better top 6 option than Bertuzzi? or Boyd?
Detroit has 5.5M left for 5 forwards and a backup goalie. The RFA's are Hudler and Leino. The "current" backup Howard is a .717 cap hit which leaves 4.8M for forwards 9-13.
Last edited by ricardodw; 07-05-2009 at 09:09 AM.
Reason: RFA not UFA
Further to signing Leino and Hulder. Capgeek.com has Detroit with 2.479 cap room plus .483 when Meech is sent down as the 8th D-man. So they have 2.9M to sign RFA's Hudler (1M last year) and Leino (.9M last year) plus a 13th forward.
That would mean that they effectively have 2.4M to sign both Hudler and Leino. I don't think even Sutter could get that done.
There will be some team who gets to pick up Draper or Holstrom and a 2nd or 3rd round pick for a league minimum forward (like Prust or Greentree or Peters).
Draper, Holstrom and Maltby have to be traded as they have signed their last contract at 35+. They can't be bought out or sent to minors, retired to get cap hit taken away.
Can anyone confirm if I am correct in this last statement? It sounds correct to me but I would`t wager heavily on it`s accuracy.
Something that isn't given much consideration, is just how poor the Wings were defensively last year. The difference in the regular season between the Flames and Detroit, was six goals.
Their gaa dropped from 2.18 in 2007/2008 to 2.93 in 2008/2009. There were a few changes to the club. The addition of Hossa was the biggest. Did his addition effect the system? It may well have.
If the Red Wings were a defensive machine, it didn't show in the statistics. How much is from Stanley Cup hangover and how much is from monkeying around with a successful formula remains to be seen.
To me, the question isn't weather they can make up from the loss of Hossa, it is if they can recover from the addition of Hossa.
I think the top shelf teams in the west last year, SJ and Detroit, are due to slip. They could still be the #1&2 teams in the west next year, but the drop off from them to the next tier of teams will be much slimmer or gone altogether. Both teams are getting cut by the cap and detroits vets must be worn from 2 straight cup runs.
I think calgary has as good of shot at the west as anyone.
Now it looks like Hudler might be gone from Detroit. A line of Hossa (40), Hudler (23) and Samuelssen (19) - 62 goals gets replaced with Abdelkader (0), Helm (0) and Leino (5)
I guess Draper and Maltby will rely on their experience as checkers to get their ice time up and bring the GA down.
Something that isn't given much consideration, is just how poor the Wings were defensively last year. The difference in the regular season between the Flames and Detroit, was six goals.
Their gaa dropped from 2.18 in 2007/2008 to 2.93 in 2008/2009. There were a few changes to the club. The addition of Hossa was the biggest. Did his addition effect the system? It may well have.
If the Red Wings were a defensive machine, it didn't show in the statistics. How much is from Stanley Cup hangover and how much is from monkeying around with a successful formula remains to be seen.
To me, the question isn't weather they can make up from the loss of Hossa, it is if they can recover from the addition of Hossa.
Yeah totally agree, Hossa singlehandedly turned rock solid Detroit defense into swiss cheese, I mean he was, what, 3rd in plus minus on the team, second among forwards?! I bet Babcock couldnt wait to get rid of him.
