OT - Modano Will Sign With Red Wings
http://www.freep.com/article/20100802/SPORTS05/100802064/1319/Mike-Moda…
According to the Free Press*, the Detroit Red Wings will announce the signing of Mike Modano Thursday. This adds third line depth with Jiri Hudler and the Red Wings become a very serious threat (more so than before) in the West. I really like their chances and my desire for hockey season just went up ten fold.
*Yeah the freep sucks, but they are the only outlet with the story at the moment so I am linking it.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:33 PM ^
Awesome news. Now if we can just get another solid D man.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:43 PM ^
needs to perform better; specifically on offense. The kid has skills and he's sizeable, but I feel like Lidstrom and Rafalski are the only two D guys who take accurate potshots at the net...and Stuart doing his best impression of a forward at the end of the playoffs last year doesn't count.
Wonder when JMFJ's contract expires...oh, pipe dreams.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:45 PM ^
Jack's contract is up at the end of this year, but no doubt LA will try to sign him and Doughty long term....that being said I would love to see him in the Winged Wheel.
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^
about how he was a bad player out of Michigan, and how Red is a bad coach who produces poor talent, I would definitely abandon that place at first chance, if I were him. However, money talks a hell of a lot louder than their dumbass GM
immortalized himself in my heart when he basically told Dean Lombardi in public to fuck himself.
Lombardi probably didn't react because he realizes he need JMFJ more than JMFJ needs him.
which is why, despite Lombardi's comments, I think he'll offer Jack a contract because he can't afford to just let him walk...
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 PM ^
I almost forgot that Hudler was coming back.
Despite questions I had regarding the resigning of Bert (I still don't get this move), I think this team is potentially looking very solid for next year.
Don't forget about the addition of the other Hudler. That move is potentially interesting.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Other Hudler? Is that a nickname, or does he have a brother like Filppula?
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
The other Hudler you may be thinking of actually isn't a Hudler nor is he Czech...it was Ilari Filppula who was signed by Ken Holland...Val's brother.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
Wow. Nevermind my previous post. I literally have no idea what I was thinking. I definitely had a moment of utter brain confusion there. I knew it was Filppula's brother who signed, yet somehow that just didn't register in my mind when I typed that. I'll gladly take the idiot of the day award for that one...
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:04 AM ^
Modano will be a great addition here. Not only will he strengthen the 3rd line, he will also bring another good slapshot for the 2nd power play unit, and he's another highly skilled forward that can socre some of those damn shootout goals.
(or abby whatever nickname you choose to use. I went to high school with him and graduated a year behind him and at Mona Shores High School he was called Abs)
Has Justin Abdelkader been re-signed yet? does anyone know this info yet?
Edit: Nevermind. i looked it up on the "new" website that shall not be named and found out he was not because they were waiting for word on modano. with modano there Justin will be more likely to sign a longer term deal since he will be fighting for minutes for 4th line compared to signing a one year deal hoping to have a great season (which seemed more likely with more minutes without modano on the team) and thus having more power in negotiations next year. Hopefully we can keep the hometown hero (atleast i hope so)
best American-born hockey player joining the best American franchise, excellent
Actually that already happened, Chelios joined the wings in '99... 3 cups, 3 Norris trophies, 1 NCAA title and 3 time USA olympic captain.
That brings up a good debate -- I still think Modano is the best American born player of all-time with Chelios right behind him.
I really think Modano is the best, he is the all-time scoring leader among American players. Chelios had a great career as well, both were captains, but overall I feel that Modano is the better player.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^
I really think it is a 1a and 1b sort of thing.
I would give the slight edge to Chelios overall. I know that Modano is the scoring leader among Americans, but is it a lot easier to score goals from a forward position than from a Defensemen's position (or so I like to tell myself to explain my lack of rec league goals).
this is a horrible decision, there are only 23 roster spots in the NHL, and now we have 16 offensive players, that is over 5 lines of offensive players, if somebody gets hurt we can call them up from the griffins, not guarantee them millions of dollars. I understand he is from MI and WAS a great player, but to only have 6 defense on the rosters is stupid. hope somebody agrees with me
Nobody agrees with you.
Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall, Ericsson, Kindl, Meech and Brendan Smith is now in grand rapids...I think thats a pretty solid top 8 with 4 young guys...
Kindl and Smith aren't ready yet, so it's probably not a good idea to include them in that list. While they are in the top eight in terms of over all system depth, they aren't in the top eight in terms of guys who will see NHL ice time this year. That's where the concern comes in that there should have been some focus on acquiring another defenseman this offseason. If you include Kindl and Smith on that list, and look to the future, yes it's a great list, but in terms of the talent available for this year, there is a hole to fill.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
Smith certainly isn't ready...he will most likely look to take Rafalski's spot when he retires...Kindl on the other hand has had 33 points in back to back season's in the ahl and he is now working with a new one way contract. I expect him to start the year as the 6th defenseman and have him and Meech possibly split time. That being said, I'm not concerned with not having a 6th defenseman...I think our forwards are great and in the playoffs Babcock ran 5 defenseman most of the time anyways.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^
The issue isn't the playoffs. You can play with a shortened bench once you get there. But between injuries and fatigue, I think its important to always have 7 capable NHL calibur defensemen. We all know how ugly the injury bug can be...
assuming your point is valid(6 defensemen bit), I am not sure anyone can logically agree that the Red Wings would be better off with the acquisition of a defensemen. i feel that the series of injuries to our defensemen has been an issue the past few seasons. then again, i dont know shit about hockey or any other sport save tennis.
Teams typically only have three defensive pairings, anyway, man.
I think I've said this before on this board and I'll say it again: Never doubt Ken Holland.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:29 AM ^
I'm not sure where you are getting your numbers. Capgeek shows the Wings with 11 forwards under contract. Modano is 12, Abdelkader and Helm will be 13 and 14. I think they will try to carry 14 F, 7D and 2G this year.
They have about $3.7MM in cap space before the Modano, Helm and Abdelkader deals. It's going to be tight again.
i like the move by the wings
I'm very excited to see what big Mike can bring to the table this season with the Wings! I'm really excited for that puck to drop even more now!
You aren't going to find to many 40 year olds in football or baseball, can we expect a 40 y.o. to still be effective in hockey or should we consider Mike 'over the hill'? Nick is the same age as Mike and he was contemplating retirement, what can we truly expect from Mike? I'm not a knowledgeable hockey dude, so I'm trying to see this move for what it truly is versus the obvious 'star power' aspect of signing him.
but...on the Wings he won't be asked to carry the whole load, he needs to play a solid 10-12 mins a game and maybe some work on the penalty kill or power play. He is a guy that can help in the locker room and on the ice. He can still contribute in a positive manner and I look forward to seeing him this season.
http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nhl/news/story?id=5432900
Not much new from the freep link, but it should be on SC later today.
This adds third line depth with Jiri Hudler and the Red Wings become a very serious threat (more so than before) in the West
This is sure to be an unpopular opinion here, but the only thing good about this deal for the Red Wings is for sentimental reasons. Adding Modano literally does nothing in determining whether the Red Wings are "a very serious threat" in the West, let alone in the Central. I'll be happy to come back here and admit that I'm wrong if I am, but I will be shocked if Modano comes anywhere near playing 60 games or scoring 30 points. I like this deal for sentimental reasons, but beyond that, not so much.
Why would you be shocked if Mo came anywhere near playing 60 games or scoring 30 points? In terms of GP, OK, he's 40, but 3 years ago he played 82 and 2 years ago he played 80. He did miss 23 games last year, but 9 were due to an appendectomy, and that obviously won't happen again. Even with that one-time "injury", he still played 59, so I'm not seeing why him playing anywhere near 60 would shock you.
As for scoring 30, his production has declined from 57 three years ago to 46 two years ago to 30 last year. If you graph it, it's alarming, but his production has actually been pretty consistent if you consider his time on the ice. He averaged 0.036 points per minute three years ago, 0.031 two years ago, and 0.036 last year. His diminished production is just a factor of playing fewer minutes (just over 19 MPG three years ago, just over 18 two years ago, and just over 14 last year) and playing fewer games last year.
Like everybody, I like Mike (not to mention this will give me more opportunities to pull out my story about Mike being the last player cut from a junior team that a friend of mine from high school made), but like you, I'm not sure it's necessarily a really significant signing. As a third line center, Mike's great, but third line centers aren't generally catalysts for Stanley Cups. However, I think 70+ games, 13 minutes per game, 30+ points is a pretty reasonable expectation. Obviously, anybody can get injured, but I don't see anything that makes me think Mike has become really fragile as a result of turning 40.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:09 AM ^
Yeah, I see where you are coming from. My thoughts about his performance and production don't have anything to do with age, actually, but rather with the amount of playing time that he'll actually get. Your points-per-minute evaluation should bear this out, as he's likely to play less minutes per game in Detroit than he was in Dallas over the last couple of years. As for the games played, age does factor in a little bit there, but not so much in terms of "fragility". I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that any player will miss a few games due to injury during any season and I don't think Modano is any more predisposed to injury than he was when he was younger. However, it should be expected that there will be a few games throughout the season where he is a healthy scratch (most likely one game of a back-to-back) with the intention of preserving him for the playoffs. It's just a gut feeling, but I would be surprised if he misses less than 20 games, for whatever reason, this year. Just my opinion, though.
I love adding Modano for a little more third line fire power. I only hope his body can hold up through the grueling NHL season. I can't wait for hockey to start.
August 3rd, 2010 at 10:05 AM ^
how else is this caption possibly true?
Dallas' Mike Modano eyes the scoreboard during game against Anaheim in Dallas on April 8, 2010. (MCT)
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 PM ^
about Modano coming back to Michigan to play for his hometown team. He will most likely center our third line- which is fine by me. There is no pressure on him at all- he can just come in, play a season, win a cup :), and retire.
Here's a link from a real Detroit newspaper/
http://detnews.com/article/20100803/SPORTS0103/8030409/Mike-Modano--rea…