After this season, I really see a face change for the Red Wings, no matter what. The rason is the amount of players that are upcoming free agents.
The first thing to do is explain expiring contracts. The following is a list of the upcoming free agents on the team, with their contracts, not including bonuses:
Datsyuk $3,900,000
Calder $2,950,000
Lang $3,800,000
Bertuzzi $5,269,080
Maltby $1,444,000
Hudler $525,000
Schneider $3,300,000
Chelios $850,000
Markov $2,500,000
Hasek $750,000
Team total without free agents: $24,092,166
Next years cap: $46,000,000 (based on reports all over, so may be incorrect)
Total remaining space: $21,907,834
Total players: 13
From that list, who stays and who goes? I am not Ken Holland, so my opinion means nothing. But in my world I would keep, in order, Datsyuk, Hudler, Markov, Chelios, Calder, and Bertuzzi. The reason I say in order is because salary comes first. The team has to keep Datsyuk if possible. To me, he should get no more than $5,500,000, as he is the best stick handler in the league, but even if he does good this postseason, he lacks continuous effort. However, no matter what he gets, it needs to be more than 3 years to prove to him he is a leader and important player on this team. Hudler is quickly proving to be a top line player. He may need another year, but he is not to far off. I would see if I could get a couple years for $1,500,000 or less, or 1 year at 1,750,000 or less no matter how he does in the playoffs. Markov has the game breaking hits that the Wings have missed since Konstantinov. He needs to stay. I would not give him a raise, however, because he has not stayed healthy for more than a few weeks at a time. If I could get him for $2,000,000 for a couple years, I would. Chelios is a cheap player who seems to get the most out of young defenders. I think the Wings need him to train whomever comes up next year. I would assume he would take less than or equal to this years salary, so $850,000 seems a more than fair price. Calder is a gritty player who takes the focus off the star players, even if he is not always scoring. I would pay him $2,000,000 one year to see if he can regain his scoring touch from Chicago. If so, he would get a big raise next contract. Bertuzzi is a scary name to mention for new contracts because he has been so inconsistent. One shift he seems to 100%, next maybe 50%. If he would stay for half his contract, say $2,750,000, he is a keeper. If not, I guess the dream is over for fans who like him.
What would this look like in terms of salary?
New contracts : $14,600,000
Total remaining space: $7,307,834
Total players: 19
That would leave plenty for a new defender (possibly a Grand Rapids call-up), two new forwards (Hopefully including Igor Grigorenko), and goalie prospect Jimmy Howard.
Obviously I left some guys off the list, but why? The first is Lang. He is an amazing player with great first line talents, but is stuck on a team that he is on a second line. To add to that , he has no chemistry on the team. Maltby is only a shell of the former agitator he once was. When the old NHL left, so did his scare tactics. On a lower end team, such as St. Louis or Chicago he would be a great role player, but here he is slowly becoming a waste. Schneider is a great defender, but to keep everyone under contract, someone has to lose out. His position seems to be taken by Kronwall next season already, based on Kronner’s big contract. Hasek is a great goalie I would love to keep, but Jimmy Howard seems to ready to come to the big leagues. If Osgood were a UFA this season, I would say keep Hasek as a mentor for Jimmy, but since Osgood is under a cheap contract until the end of next year, I cannot find a good enough reason to keep Hasek.
Obviously this leaves A lot of holes in the lineup, and I will not even guess at free agent signings, as that could be 10 pages on its own. The team would look like (* = rookie, who may or may not be used, so treat like a blank space):
OFFENSE:
Line 1: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Line 2: Calder-Hudler-Bertuzzi
Line 3: Franzen-Draper-Samuelsson
Line 4: Kopecky-Filpula-Cleary
Offensive Scratches: Grigorenko*, Ellis*
DEFENSE:
Line 1: Lidstrom-Markov
Line 2: Kronwall-Lebda
Line 3:Chelios-Lilja
Defensive Scratch: Quincey*
GOALTENDERS:
Starter: Osgood
Backup: Howard
That is not too bad of a roster to start with, with the only soft spot being the scratches and possibly goaltending. In a perfect world, I would add a second line center and a second line defender. However, Ellis would make around $500,000, Grigorenko could make up to $850,000, Quincey makes $510,000, and Howard makes $733,000, so about $4,714,834 remains for trades and signings and to cover the current seasons bonuses.
So what does everyone else think? I posted it at this in the Red Wings forum at http://www.thenhlarena.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=redwings&thread=1174870716&page=1 under a slightly different title, and it is in an older thread since it seemed so fitting
