Climbing the financial ladder a bit, a contract between $1.3-million and $2.6-million would still only cost a second-round pick and still represent a nice raise that might lure one of these free agents:...Valtteri Filppula, C, Detroit

I think the Wings would match any offer up to and including $3.5M. It’s more than they would like to pay, but they’re not letting him go for that price. In fact, I doubt Flip would leave for $3.5M (especially to a non-contender) if the Wings offered him $3.0M. He has one Cup and he knows there are more in his future if he stays.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/26/08 at 07:02 PM ET

matching an offer for Filppula is not going to be worth it in the long run. Everyone is banking on him turning into the next Zetterberg, but that, most likely, will not happen.

The Wings are better off letting him go, taking the compensation, and landing players who can score dividends 7-10 years down the road. They are so loaded on prospects, that they can easily afford to let Filppula go and become a top 6 forward in another organization.

Do we really need another soft forward, like Samuelsson, filling one of our top six spots? I say one is enough; in fact, one (Sam or Flipper) is more than necessary.

Posted by JAMESinMI on 06/26/08 at 08:27 PM ET

Soft forward? Like Sammy? WTF

Fil is going to be awesome and he’ll have time to develop into his full potential; that is a high ceiling. If Kenny and Babs, and everyone else, said he was hands off during the trade deadline when many teams were asking about him, that means a lot.

Sammy is a lot of things: inconsistent, mildly neurotic, William Tell, but soft is not one of them. He can grind well, has a surprising mean streak and is willing to protect his teammates; he did all of those things during the playoffs.

Fil and Sammy have entirely different roles as well. Fil is expected to be an all around center and playmaker who can chip in some goals; he’s the straight man. Sammy is designed to score, and if his awesome shots actually hit the net he would score a lot more.

Posted by Osrt on 06/26/08 at 09:56 PM ET

I don’t think anyone is expecting him to turn into the next Zetterberg.

They are expecting him to be a solid two-way center - and it’s a little early to write him off anyway after one season where he played pretty well, including in the playoffs with a sprained knee that prevented him from practicing.  His entire career trajectory can’t be predicted on the basis of what he’s done last year - he’s just a kid yet.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 06/26/08 at 10:56 PM ET

Osrt is correct. Neither Flip or Sammy is a “soft” player. They’ve shown they’re not at all afraid to go into the corners and battle for pucks, although that’s not Flip’s main job. In the playoffs, both of them proved they’re willing to pay a price to win.

As for scoring, Flip had more goals this year (his second full season) than Pavel had in his second season (19 vs. 12). And his 11 points (5 goals & 6 assists) in the playoffs were just one less than Pavel had in his first three playoffs combined.

Filppula isn’t the “second coming” of Pavel, but it looks like he is ready to have a breakout season. That’s more likely to happen if he and Mule have an upgrade over Sammy on wing with them this year. Any one of Malone, Naslund, Ryder or Rolston would do nicely.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 06/26/08 at 11:40 PM ET