Well....
The Predators made a good move.  They can afford this high price because they have a much deeper group of young players in their system.  Floppa is a dominant hockey player, if he is not hurt.

The other reason they can afford Floppa is that the Red Wings (and others) subsidize them financially.

With Floppa and Kariya, Nashville now has a world-class DIVING team.

Holland did the right thing by not paying this much for a 3-month rental player.  Unlike the Preds, the Wings could not afford it, for the long-term good of the club.

Bertuzzi would be a good fit for the Wings.  The guy, who nearly killed another player a few years ago, would - in 1 acquisition - make other teams respect the Wings’ “toughness”.  He is also a big, skilled, goal scorer.  I have 2 concerns:  Will his back allow him to play soon?  and, more importantly, is he now a “head case”?

Posted by w2j2 from Alpena, Michigan on 02/16/07 at 08:22 AM ET

The scary part about this deadline, not just with Forsberg, is that the asking prices are insane.

You can’t trade away a first round pick any more for something that is fragile. Nashville is no doubt the favorite to win the Cup now, but if they don’t do it this year, they will have lost essentially 3 first round picks for nothing (because even a 3 or 4 round playoff, even if they win, will not save this team from its fate of moving).

It would have been nice for the Wings to get Forsberg, but realistically, it would’ve been the worst thing they could’ve done for the team. They are not as deep as Nashville as a whole organization because they dealt so many first round picks while Bubba was stockpiling them. Certainly, that was the right thing to do—it brought three Cups—but now it is time to reset.

Trading for Forsberg would’ve taken a first rounder, one of the coveted d-men they have in waiting, and probably a roster player, right? That would be worth it if the Wings were sure of a couple things: 1) Forsberg would resign for at least 3 years, and 2) Forsberg would play 60+ games each of those three seasons at relatively full-strength.

Neither of those things can be counted on, to say the least.

If the Wings make a trade for Bill Guerin, I think they have a good chance at resigning him to a 2 year deal. He would look real good banging home passes from Z (or Pavs if his agent comes to his senses), and standing up for him when he gets mugged. I would be all for giving up a first round pick for Guerin on the condition that the Wings know he will resign.

Posted by Nathan on 02/16/07 at 09:24 AM ET

I was very surprised that Foppa went to Bubba but what is done is done.  Yeah when Baizley signed Karyia and Selanne it worked out so well for the Diques.  NOT!  It will be interesting to see how the addition of Foppa affects the Preds.

Posted by hockeychic on 02/16/07 at 11:21 AM ET

I was afraid of Floppa’s health - much like I fear the sound of tearing tissue paper in our goal… So from that standpoint, the silver lining is I’m not going to have to worry about giving up an entire line for a (broken-down?) rental.
I couldn’t agree more with Nathan’s assessment: the asking prices are completely crazy.  I think teams see the Wings coming too, which doesn’t help.
As for Holland, I’ll resist rushing to judgment… until the 28th.

Posted by Hoser from The Downer Peninsula on 02/16/07 at 11:39 AM ET

Ok, realistically, we now have to face Flopp’s 5x in the race to win the division.  That’s bad.  Our cup will probably go thru Nashville in the playoffs, so that’s bad, too.  This was a heavy kick to the gut.

It sounds like people are willing to lose the cup this year to have a good team the next couple years.  I’m not sure I agree with that philosophy.  If you have a chance, you have to go for it 100%, you can’t save up so you can win some regular season games next year.  I think Nashville made the right move.

The best silver lining I could see coming out of this:  It would be great to have a gritty, hard fought, genuine knock-down-drag-out race to the playoffs with Nashville, and then have a monster series against them with one of the original bastards you love to hate from the ol’ diques rivalry.  That could be amazing.  To accomplish this we’re going to need a villian on Nashville (I’d nominate Hartnell, but Fisch already knocked his block off) and an unsung hero to step up for Detroit and bash heads (currently accepting resumes). 

Red Wings just ran out of superstar options.  Kenny needs to somehow land both Guerin and Tkachunk.  I don’t have time to see if we could do this, I assume it would be prevented by the cap. 

I’m going to go get drunk now.

Posted by 58Miles2Joe from Toledo, OH on 02/16/07 at 02:47 PM ET

The reason I was unwilling to spend that much on Forsberg is because I feel that the Wings need to address something that Forsberg cannot. They need a guy that shoots the puck—shoots it hard—and goes to the net. Forsberg, for all his toughness, immense skill, and determination, is another playmaker on a team that already has playmakers.

There is no doubt that Peter Forsberg makes any team vastly better (when healthy), and there is no such thing as too much of a good thing. But I look at it this way—you can have 7 or 8 people that are excellent engineers, but without the construction crew, you’re not going to get much done. You’re bottlenecked by your big flaw.

I agree with Babcock’s assessment that the team doesn’t have to get “grittier.” What they have to do is get a scorer. Zetterberg is all they have in that department, and frankly, he’s not a pure scorer. Pavs, Lang, and even Williams and Flip have lots of potential assists on their sticks, but they don’t have anyone to realize that potential. Forsberg would help, but not to a degree that I believe would win them a Cup this year. So why sacrifice what you’re building for the future, especially considering that Holland (and maybe more accurately, Hakan Andersson) has done an amazing job rescuing this organization from what seemed a sure period of no youth talent whatsoever? They spent their future before, and it paid off. They pulled a Houdini, and have amazingly built an okay bunch of young players and prospects. They need to continue that over the next couple of years. We are talking about the difference between the Wings continuing successfully, and playing for multiple Cups again in a few years, or having them usher the Dead Wings (Reprise) era in for us.

Posted by Nathan on 02/16/07 at 05:24 PM ET

I am going to wait and see how this Forsberg thing works out for the Preds.  Glad the wings passed on him.  Don’t think he will have an impact on Nashville unless they plan on picking up Sakic before the 28th, and he may be a negative on the team chemistry.  Been wrong before, and keep forgetting that Forsberg won’t turn 34 until after this year’s playoffs.  Just glad he is not a Wing.

The smart teams will be looking for Defense and Netminding before the deadline.  If Holland were to pick up Joseph or Legace before the deadline, you will see Hasek get healthy overnight.

Pretty interesting how it only took 55 games for Pronger to turn the Anaheim Ducks into the St Louis Blues.

Posted by Gramps from Hockeytown on 02/16/07 at 05:35 PM ET

wow...I never thought of Pronger as being a problem.  He sure played well for Edmonton.

Posted by w2j2 from Alpena, Michigan on 02/16/07 at 07:55 PM ET

Pronger played great in the playoffs for Edmonton, but he had a relative crappy season leading up to the playoffs.  I really don’t know if he is a problem, I just remember him injuring himself trying to cheap shot Yzerman, and never much cared for him since.  He sure displayed a definite lack of character, the way he handled himself leaving the oilers.

Posted by Gramps from Hockeytown on 02/16/07 at 08:16 PM ET

J.D. is asking for a high prospect and a first round pick for either Guerin or Tkachuk. That doesn’t mean he’ll get it, of course, but I’m betting he will considering what the Flyers got for Forsberg.

Holland doesn’t have the goods to go after both, not without moving roster players--something J.D. apparently is not interested in.

Nor should he go for both, IMO, even if it was possible.

In a perfect world—having the assets/circumstances to pull it off—if looking to the Blues for a combo meal (shameless bust on Tkachuk), I’d go with Guerin and Mayers.

Posted by O-Joe on 02/17/07 at 02:22 PM ET

Were are you?  Your commentary is missed!

Posted by Matt from Royal Oak, MI on 02/21/07 at 10:06 AM ET

If a blogger falls in the forest and no one is around… does he make any noise?

Posted by HOckeyinhd on 02/22/07 at 08:02 PM ET

A2Y is the Robert Lang (Enigma) of Red Wings blogs. Flashes of greatness, made only more frustrating by long cold streaks.

Posted by Borat on 02/25/07 at 07:30 PM ET

At this rate maybe he’s more like the Jiri Hudler of Bloggers: some visible upside but never quite enough IT to know for sure…

Posted by Hockeyinhd on 02/25/07 at 07:37 PM ET