The Hudler Re-Defection

(Jiri Hudler, facing east toward Moscow. Not that his Czech self ever had to defect, but whatever.)

Previous to the free agency period, my hunch was that Jiri Hudler was done as a Wing. I thought he'd receive a generous offer sheet from another NHL club that the Wings simply wouldn't be able to match given the constraints of the salary cap.

To my surprise, Hudler then totally cash-blocked himself by agreeing to salary arbitration, which eliminated the possibility of losing him to another NHL team via offer sheet. Since no one really wants to go to the arbitrationist, I assumed that Hudler and the team would reach an agreement by Wednesday (yesterday).

Weirdly, I was right twice, but not in any way I would have anticipated.

Hudler is gone. Check.
Hudler got a deal done by Wednesday. Check.

But he's gone to the perennially competitive Russian squad Moscow Dynamo.

This is a cash grab. Hudler will reportedly earn around $5 million play for Dynamo, and that is tax free, which will probably average out to about three times as much as we would have netted with the Wings, assuming a salary of $2.5 million, minus the U.S.'s relatively negligible (compared to the rest of the industrialized world) income tax.

You can't blame Hudler for taking the money and running all the way to Red Square. Besides, he's only 25 years-old, and the Wings will likely retain his rights should he decide to return to North America. He's either with the Wings, or absent, in NHL-terms.

I, for one, am excited to see what this means for the line-up. Obviously, there is a subtraction in goal scoring, especially on the powerplay. Let's assume that Leino covers Hudler's 23 goals, and Helm cancels out the loss of Samuelsson's 19G. We're still missing 46 due to the departure of Hossa and Kopecky. How are we going to replace those goals?

We're not.

Get used to the idea.

System defense will be the theme of the summer.

Ferraro & Tatar Videos

It has been remarked that NHL fans are, on average, substantially more tech-savvy than the majority of fans of other professional sports leagues. I'm not one of those people, as I have never even had a MySpace or Facebook page.

However, I thought it was super cool that someone from NHL.com showed up in Detroit at strength and conditioning camp this past week to talk to the Wings top two picks, Landon Ferraro and Tomas Tatar.



Even on the limited video, Ferraro looks fast as hell, and Tatar seems to think he's the Slovak second-coming of Pavel Datsyuk, at least in terms of broken English and subsequent humor.

While I'm on the topic of video, here is a Tomas Tatar tribute someone posted on YouTube. Some nice goals from playing in the Slovak league with Zvolen HKm, and some from the World Juniors against better competition.



Hmm. I wonder is some savvy hockey fan put together a Landon Ferraro highlight reel...oh, hell yeah they did. I don't know if this is an amateur fan or a Red Deer video tech that put this together, but I sincerely got excited watching it. Ferraro scores lots of goals, shows some speed, acquits himself nicely in some scraps, and generally displays a shit-ton of exuberance for the game. Turn down the volume if you're at work, but it's totally worth it.



There is also a video out there in which Ferraro takes on Blackhawks prospect Kyle Beach, the former 11th overall pick in last year's draft. Ferraro finishes in second in that scrap, but I'll give the credit for having the stones to go toe-to-toe with a guy who outsizes him by four inches and 42 lbs.

The Finnish/Swedish Exchange Rate

Ville Leino, restricted free agent, signed a two-year deal today worth an average of $800,000 per annum.

Sort of softens the blow of that Samuelsson defection, doesn't it?

Sammy made $1.2 million last season and produced 19-21-40 in 81 regular season games. Now, at two-thirds the cost, we have the former Finnish Elite League MVP stepping into what appears to be a full-time role. While I don't think Leino is going to be a point-per-game player in the immediate future, it seems reasonable to expect that he could score 50 points in his introductory season with the big boys.

* * *

Even better, this has to bring the asking price down for the other RFA of note, Jiri Hudler, right? I mean, Hudler can't legitimately expect to be paid more that Filppula (even though Puck Daddy says he wants between $3 and $4 million; see blogroll on the right). Not in this market, not on this team. Since Hudler has requested salary arbitration, that precludes other teams from making offers for his services. I'm not totally conversant with the arcana of restricted free agency, but I think this means the Wings are the only game in Hudler's town. He either needs to make a deal, risk arbitration, or demand a trade (with not a lot of leverage).

I think this gets done by Wednesday.

Exit Stage West

It was probably overly optimistic, bordering on wishful thinking, to speculate that Mikael Samuelsson would forgo the opportunity to double his salary and remain with the Wings. It is a bummer that he headed west to play for a competitive conference rival.

So we'll see you later, Sammy. Thanks for shooting and scrapping for the last four seasons.

* * *

In related news, Leino gets a little more leverage in RFA negotiations, and his road to the full-time roster gets a little smoother with the departure of Samuelsson.

36 Hours into Free Agency

Hossa's gone. We knew that. But to the Hawks? That kind of came from the blindside. Evidently Dale Tallon thinks he can pull off some Ken Holland-level sorcery next year, when Toews, Kane, and Keith are restricted free agents. (Keep in mind that Ken Holland himself couldn't pull it off this off-season.)

Reader Mike G asks:

When Hossa returns to the Joe, will he be booed?

Well, he was booed in Pittsburgh, even when he went to a non-conference rival for less money. I would imagine the faithful at the Joe are not taking it well that he bolted for a divisional foe who offered more money.

(Yes. He will be booed.)

Kopecky went with Hossa, as predicted here. Thanks for noticing, Dave.

Ty Conklin went to Blues as well. It worked for Manny Legace, for awhile. We're not sold at all on Jimmy Howard as a legit pro back-up, but he's going to get his shot, which is well and just. The smart money is still on Howard getting Joey Mac'ed out of town within the next calendar year.

So, in summary, the Wings lost three free agents to two division rivals. Normally, this would be considered the harbinger of something dire. However, it's pretty exciting to think of a full-year of Helm and Leino. And hey, Mikael Samulelsson and Jiri Hudler are still Wings until they've signed somewhere else.

* * *
Other thoughts from around the league:

Why hasn't anyone signed Francois Beauchemin? He's under 30, and would be a top-four defensemen on nearly every NHL team.

The Kings haven't signed a single free agent. They missed on Hossa, and you would think they'd home in on secondary options like Alex Tanguay.

The Montreal Canadians roster is beginning to resemble to the Lullaby League:

(Scott Gomez, Mike Camallieri, and Brian Gionta)

2010 Olympic Tryouts

Only two Wings were invited to tryout for the US and Canadian Olympic teams: Brian Rafalski for the US, and Dan Cleary for Canada. However, players need not be invited to camp to make the final Olympic roster.

Click here for the rest of the US squad, and here for the Canadian camp roster.

Of course, half of the Swedish Olympic squad wear the Winged Wheel on a full-time basis, raising the question: Do we support our country, or our guys?

I'm probably going to have to stitch together some kind Stars and Stripes/Tre Kronor frankenjersey to make sure the demands of my fandom are satisfied.

The 2009 Draft Review

Here's what the relevant publications had to say about the Red Wings draft class of 2009:

Ansar Khan at MLive
Freep
Detroit News

Given my raging and justifiable skepticism regarding draftees, I don't hold my breath waiting on a bunch kids. I will say this for Landon Ferraro: I always played his dad with Pierre Turgeon and Benoit Hogue on the Islanders squad in the original NHLPA game for Sega Genesis. That team was ranked a 3 out of 10, but they were feisty.

The 1999 Draft

Occasionally, I am consumed with curiosity to the point where I actually do cursory research.

This burst of fake journalism was inspired by draft-related curiosity: How many of these kids actually become NHL regulars?

I decided to take a look at the 1999 NHL draft, mostly because that was my brother's draft year, and he's now about to celebrate his ten year high school reunion.

Here are the players who have suited up for 600 or more regular season games since being drafted. (600 regular season games equates to roughly 3/4 of the possible games a played drafted in 1999 could have potentially played at this point.)

Okay, so I looked at the first two rounds and there were only two players to have skated in 600+ NHL games. So, let's lower our standards (don't we always) down to 500 regular season games.

First round:
Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Taylor Pyatt, Nick Boynton. Patrik Stefan, Tim Connolly, David Tanabe, and Marty Havlat have played in the 400s.

Second round:
Only former MSU forward Adam Hall has played in the 400s.

Third round:
Niklas Hagman, Frantisek Kaberle, Niclas Havelid, and Mike Comrie.

Fourth round:
Ryan Malone at 369 GP leads the three players who have made an NHL roster from this round.

Fifth round:
Only former MSU goalie Ryan Miller tops 200 GP with 244.

Sixth round:
Not one prospect hit triple digits in games played.

Seventh round:
Martin Erat, Henrik Zetterberg, and Radim Vrbata are all in the 400s.

Eighth round:
Radek Martinek of the Isles tops the list at 373 GP.

Ninth round:
Mikko Eloranta at 264 games, anyone?


Wow, what a bummer of a draft. This is why I don't get involved in researching prospects - because they're overwhelmingly suspects.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

In the words of Craig Finn of The Hold Steady, "Let's raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer. I think he might have been our only decent teacher."*

Anyway, the title question, sung long ago by Strummer, is really the crux of free agency when it comes to the Wings. Are free agents willing to stay and take fewer dollars in exchange for a higher likelihood of team success, or are they going to go and pursue individual financial security elsewhere?

So let's take a guess who's putting their real estate up for sale.

Marian Hossa: Go
Let's start with the big dog. According to this website, the Wings have roughly $51 million and change committed for next season already. Assuming the cap remains near $57 million or so, the Wings can't afford to pay Hossa what he made this season, which was assumed to be less than what he could have earned on the open market. I don't Hossa will be willing to leave that much money on the table for a second free-agent season in a row, especially since there is so much more turnover in personnel this summer as compared to last.

I haven't seen anybody talk this up as a rumor on any of the national sites, but wouldn't it be logical for Hossa to land in Vancouver? If the Canucks let the Sedins and Sundin explore the open market, they would have a lot of cap space to add Hossa, in addition to Marian Gaborik, who definitely is rumored to be headed in that direction already. The Canucks would basically be swapping out Swedes for Slovaks, as Pavol Demitra is already there.

Mikael Samuelsson: Stay
I thought Sammy was a goner for sure this summer, but it seems like the Wings might be able to squeeze him in. The Wings front office are big believers in continuity, and keeping another forward experienced in the system would be a real benefit until some of the younger guys are able to step in fully. Besides, he plays the point on the powerplay, he's loyal to Detroit for rescuing him hockey nomadism, and Mike Babcock is solidly in his corner.

Jiri Hudler: Go
Another third-liner, Hudler is a restricted free agent, but some team is sure to sign him to an offer sheet the Wings won't be willing to match. It probably won't be a very good team, but it will an opportunity for Hudler to play at least second-line minutes and demonstrate he's more multi-talented than he he was able to put on display in Detroit.

Tomas Kopecky: Go
Kopecky is really, really cheap but he didn't really impress as the heir apparent to Dallas Drake and Kirk Maltby last year. The Wings might make some desultory attempt to sign him as Justin Abdelkader is scheduled to start the year in Grand Rapids, but he probably doesn't figure in the Wings long-term personnel picture. I wouldn't be surprised if Kopecky lands wherever Hossa ends up, as Kopecky was instrumental in recruiting his Slovak countryman to the Wings.

Darren McCarty: Gone to Grand Rapids
This figures to be just like last year, when the Wings signed everybody else and looked around and offered what they had left to D-Mac. I wouldn't be at all surprised if McCarty spends the seasons between here and retirement in Grand Rapids, acting as some sort mentor/cautionary-tale-in-action. If there is anyone who would have no compunctions with initiating the kids into the lore of the organization, it would have to be D-Mac. I could easily see him playing AHL for a few more years, like old rival Mike Keane.

Ville Leino: Stay
Another restricted free agent, Leino will be back next season. He did make a bit of a ripple by basically saying he would refuse an assignment to Grand Rapids next year. The plan was, I believe, to have Leino on the roster at the beginning of next season (probably replacing Hudler on the third line), but hey, this is the Wings and you've got to earn your spot on the big club like everyone else. I honestly don't think this was in any way some kind of power grab or ultimatum on Leino's part; the guy is going to be 25 when next season starts and he wants to get his NHL show on the road already.

Aaron Downey: Go, regretfully
Downey almost retired at the end of last season, and nothing really changed for the better during the 2008-09 campaign. There comes a time in every man's life when the company has told him to just keep plugging away one more time that he can possibly bear, and he walks. I think this is the season Downey hangs it up, unless he's content with his role in Grand Rapids. Whenever he goes, I'll be sorry to see it. He's been a soldier. And that fight with Cam Janssen last year, holy Jesus...

Chris Chelios: Go
GM Ken Holland already dropped the blade earlier this week, so we know for a fact that Cheli won't be back with the Wings next season. Ericsson made the jump this year, Kindl appears to be NHL-ready, Ledba is cheap and under contract through next year and he's got the wheels Cheli can't match anymore, Lilja is a question mark, etc. It's always stunning when a Hall of Famer is allowed to walk away, but Chelios is going to hand on his feet, as always.

Ty Conklin: Stay
ConkBlock has made every indication he's willing to play salary ball to stay in the D and split time with Osgood while the front office holds their breathe waiting to see if Daniel Larsson and/or Thomas McCollum develop into NHL talents.


Thats' the way I see it. Obviously, I have no idea what Ken Holland, Jim Nill, The Captain, and the Wings brain trust have in mind, and they are all way smarter than me anyway, so I'm interested to see if they've targeted free agents to fill the holes. The brass could do some kind balls-to-the-wall crazy move and acquire Viktor Hedman, knowing that his entry level contract is manageable and Lidstrom will likely be off the books before it expires. The brass could pick up any of these 11 third- and fourth-line talents examined by the Free Press a few days ago.

Look, the Wings front office is a bunch sorcerers and witch doctors so you know something surprising will go down. That's the one prediction I'm absolutely confident I can make.

The 2009 Draft

I remember the 1990 draft like it was yesterday. The Wings failed to make the playoffs, and possessed the third overall pick. I had nothing better to do, so I basically memorized The Hockey News draft preview and prospect issues, and anxiously awaited the results.

Of course, I was 13 years-old at the time.

In the intervening years, I've developed hobbies, careers, and relationships that have kept me from ever achieving the level of nerdcore draft acumen of the summer of 1990. Besides, dudes who read excessive amounts of materials about the physical properties of 18 year-olds, year after year, are really starting to creep me out.

So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to write on more piece today with my predictions for free agency. Then I'm going to drive off to this wedding in (of all the places on God's green Earth) Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Upon my return, I'll probably look at who we've drafted and read about where they're projected to fit into the Wings depth chart in the future. That way, I only have to study up like seven or eight dudes instead of hundreds.

Way less creepy.

Fedorov Heads Home

Sergei Fedorov presumably ended his NHL career by signing a two-year deal with Metallurg of the KHL today. Sergei's younger brother and world-class waste of talent, Fedor, will also play for Metallurg this season, fulfilling a lifelong family ambition of having the brothers on the same squad.

The Hall of Fame debate shall now commence to rage. I maintain that Sergei is a no-brainer Hall of Famer. Three Cups, one Hart, one Lester B. Pearson, and two Selke trophies adorn his trophy case, as well as a host of other accolades from international competition (one Olympic silver, one Olympic bronze, four World gold).

He was the first Russian to score 1,000 points n the NHL, and the inaugural winner of the Kharlamov Award, a sort Russians-only Lester B. Pearson Award voted on by current Russian NHLers.

There is no doubt that Fedorov has been the most successful of the second-wave Russian NHLers. (Pavel Bure could have challenged him, if not for career-ending knee injuries.) As such, I think he is, and should be, a lock for the Hall.

I would have liked to see him stick in the NHL for another season, just so he could score another seventeen goals and put his career NHL total at 500 and slash the throats of any of his doubters, but he felt it was his time to go.

I'm not even going to get into the succubus-level talent he was slaying throughout Europe, Asia, and North America for the past twenty years...

Thanks for the memories, Sergei!

Babcock to Coach All of Canada

A few days ago the Wings former Captain and newly inducted member to the Hall of Fame class of 2009 chose the current Wings coach and only person in NHL history to have four consecutive 50-win seasons in his first four seasons with the franchise to lead the 2010 Canadian Olympic team at the Vancouver games.

Just another day for us Wings fans...


Babcock, who has one Stanley Cup, three Finals appearances, and 282 regular season wins in six seasons as an NHL head coach, will be backed up three experienced NHL head coaches: Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres (438 regular season wins in eleven seasons, longest-serving current coach in the league, one Finals appearance, one Jack Adams Trophy), Ken Hitchcock of the Columbus Blue Jackets (511 wins in parts of thirteen seasons, one Cup in two Finals appearances), and Jacques Lemaire (540 wins over thirteen seasons, one Cup, two Jack Adams trophies, token francophone).

Nice resumes, huh? Though I wish the Jack Adams Trophy voters would stop 'cock-blocking.

Three Former Wings Head to Hall of Fame

Former Wings forwards Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, and Luc Robitaille were announced as members of the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2009. Defenseman Brian Leetch and GM Lou Lamoriello round out the class.

Yzerman. The Captain. What can you say about that guy that hasn't been said already? I can't think of anything, but I'll tell one story anyway. It's 1989, I think. The Wings are doing a media tour in Traverse City (this is years previous to training camp being held up north). I'm at the Grand Traverse Resort, holding a 1985-86 Topps Steve Yzerman hockey card in a sealed plastic case. Yzerman steps out of the conference room into the crowd. He looks out at the crowd. I look at him looking at the crowd, and I decide that I just can't bother the guy. Just didn't seem right.

Lucky Luc. He spent most of his career with LA, but won his one Stanley Cup with the Wings. He's the highest scoring left wing in NHL history, and does a lot of philanthropic work. In the meantime, he does some Hollywood stuff - check out his IMDB page here.

Brett Hull. The Golden Brett. Taken in the same 1984 draft as Robitaille, he became the highest scoring right wing in NHL history. He'll be remembered more for his audacious scoring binges in St. Louis and his foot-in-the-crease Cup winner in Dallas than his tenure in Detroit. Oddly, he also has an IMDB page, but then again so does my cousin TJ, and he's a lawyer.

Remember back when all of these guys won the Cup in 2002? All of the announcers and beat writers were talking about the eight or nine future Hall of Famers on our squad, and it's starting to come true. In addition to these three above, Larionov is already in. That leaves Hasek, Lidstrom, Shanahan, Fedorov, and Chelios.

It's going to be busy few years for Shawn Burr and Red Wings Alumni Association. They've got a lot of party planning ahead. Probably just head to Cheli's...

Chelios

Wings GM Ken Holland says that the team will not offer a contract to uber-veteran defenseman Chris Chelios. Chelios, 47, has been with Detroit for the previous ten seasons, winning two Stanley Cups.

Though his speed is becoming a serious positional liability and he's starting display some of the fragility you could reasonably expect in someone far younger, I'm sorry to see this silverback freak of nature hit the bricks. He's been a good soldier the past couple of seasons, and he was even the Wings nominee for the Masterson Trophy this year.

Chelios is a Hall of Fame lock whenever he becomes eligible, a date that's still up in the air as he's expressed his desire to sign with an Easteran Conference team. And, he's going to have some role with the 2010 US Olympic team at the Vancouver games, a role he'll probably maintain in retirement, whenever that happens.

Chelios probably won't be the first sentimental fave player to leave Detroit this summer.

The Haul from the NHL Awards

I guess their is some small consolation in the NHL Awards show from a couple of night ago. If you can't take home the trophy, take home a grip of the individual honors and nominations.

Leading the way, of course, is Pav.

The shiny thing on the left is the Selke Trophy for best defensive play by a forward. He's one that one twice in a row. The shiny thing on the right is the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded for excellence and sportsmanship. He's taken that one home the last four years.

He's good.

Pav didn't get to take home the Hart Trophy for league MVP, but you can blame that on Ken Holland, as the Wings GM has crafted a team so deep even the absence of someone as talented as Pav probably wouldn't cripple the squad. Ovechkin won, but he wasn't in the Stanley Cup Final, unlike Pav and Geno Malkin.

Zdeno Chara took home the Norris Trophy for best defensemen, which leaves the big Slovak only five behind Nicklas Lidstrom, who was also nominated for the award. Nick also has a Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP on the mantle as well.

He's also good.

I didn't watch the awards show. It's the summer and frankly I have barbecues, roofdecks, pools, beaches, and boats that require my attention. So if I missed some classic Pavisms during his acceptance speeches, let me know.

TSRTS #7 / Stanley Cup Wrap-Up

Yeah, that sucked.

The International Hockeytown Underground assembled at O'Malley's - both the Chicago and East Lansing locations. It was an attempt to coordinate fandom across time zones and therefore multiply the power of drunken pro-Wings furor.

Didn't work out so well.

In hockey, as in almost any moment in human life, we can get caught up in the details. Brad Stuart will have nightmares this off-season due to giveaways that turned into goals. Nik Kronwall will spend a lot of practice shots on the skill of banging in shots off the bottom of the crossbar. Two dozen Red Wings will regard their postseason games with the precision of jewelers, looking for flaws that aren't really there. There will be a lot of second-guessing and a little of self-loathing.

And it won't change a thing. Everyone player knows it, but they'll still spend some of the summer beating themselves up, twisting themselves into knots. I mean, I was an absolutely average hockey player as a youth, but I can remember, with thunderstorm-clarity, ringing a one-timer off the left pipe with :31 on the clock in the state championship, the final game of my midget "career" as an 18 year-old. And to this day I think, "I pulled it. I should have opened up the blade to compensate for the pass being too far in front. I pulled it."

"I pulled it."

I used to feel really stupid about still caring about what amounts to an absolutely trivial detail of my life, but then I realized it was simply a product of loving the game, even if I didn't have any future in the sport. Imagine what it must be like to be on the runner-up squad in the Stanley Cup Final. The Wings love the game, and it deeply entwined with the profound sense of professional pride they bring to they game, and most importantly, their sense of identity. They are hockey players. They are professional hockey players. They are damn good professional hockey players. Some are even great.

But this year they weren't the best.

Acceptance won't come easily to our crew of perfectionists this off-season, but it will come. It will come in in the form of some serious workouts and a good deal of brooding.

I'm looking forward to next year.

* * *

This won't be one of those blogs that anxiously follows the goings-on of the off-season. We'll still take a look at the NHL Awards, the draft, free agency, etc. as they relate to the Red Wings. It won't likely be on time, but hey, we do this because we like hockey and we like to write, not because we think deadlines are awesome.

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