OT: Hudler to Russia
Looks like a Russian team is offering Hudler a lot more money. Son of a bitch!
http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2009/07/reports_suggest_that_jiri_hudl…
If this is a ploy, it will fail utterly.
On what planet does he really think he can play games with Holland?
Dammit
peace out midget. I didn't like Him or Sammuelsson. The only red wings I was sad to see go this off season were Conks and Kopecky. (I didn't mind Hossa because it was unrealistic to keep him here long-term).
Sadly, Hudler isn't worth more than 2-2.5 million; if he's gone so be it - at least we have talent waiting for a chance to shine in Grand Rapids.
He had the same numbers as Nikolai Zherdev, who made around $3.25 mill.
But you're looking at the Wings which are severely limited by the cap. If you use the example of Hossa (what they were offering towards the cap vs what the Hawks did) they're looking at getting players at ~75-80% of what they could earn which does put Hudler at 2.5 million (compared to Zherdev).
While I like Hudler the realities of the team is that to the Wings he isn't worth more than the 2.5 million range - especially since we've been so good at bringing up young talent.
I have always liked Huds, but at the same time it isn't like he can't be replaced. I'm excited about seeing Helm, Lieno, and Abdelkader with the Wings full time next season though. I think they'll give us that spark that seemed to be lacking at times last season (at least in the first period).
The big question I think we still have is with our backup goalie situation. I just haven't seen Howard play enough to make an opinion of him and it makes me nervous throwing what would essentially be a rookie goalie out there in the most important position. I'll trust Kenny Holland though, he knows more about hockey than me.
was older. He could be a good goalie some day, but I think he's only 19 still.
Helm is on the cusp of making some big contributions. I like him a lot.
depth isn't one of our main concerns.
Unfortunately, it's looking like our two options are:
1. Let Hudler go to Russia
2. Beat the offer from Russia and pay him more than we can afford to.
our talent from grand rapids better be as good as advertised cause we have lost alot
The Wings have lost four forwards so far this offseason if the stories about Hudler are true. On top of that, they lost a very adequate backup goaltender. That means that they don't have enough forwards to fill a four-deep right now, even with rapidly deteriorating guys like Draper and Maltby included. Depth may not have been an issue two months ago, but it certainly is now. I don't think that anyone predicted this. The Wings really need to sign a forward free agent or else they are going to have to:
A. Give significant minutes to at least one or two guys from GR who are unproven or just not very good
B. Give their stars extra minutes, not a desirable outcome given how much injuries were a factor in this last playoff.
Hudler would have to want to go to Russia too. Just because there is money offered it doesn't mean a player will leave. That is why the Red Wings have been able to keep people around at a bargain level is because people want to play here. I feel that Hudler wants to stay in Detroit.