Uh-oh.

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 08/26/09 at 04:00 PM ET

WTF over?
Sucks to be an Oompah Loompah.

Posted by MOWingsfan19 on 08/26/09 at 04:02 PM ET

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is a retaliation more because of the Kirill Kabanov suspension threat levied by the KHL yesterday.  IIHL forces the KHL to abandon suspension talk in order to have Hudler join the team in Moscow.

Posted by Entitynein on 08/26/09 at 04:40 PM ET

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...this is beyond ridiculous at this point.  LET IT GO.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 08/26/09 at 04:46 PM ET

Could the IIHF be sucking up to the NHL for some unknown reason??

The full story has not come out yet.

Posted by Ted from Innisfil, Ontario on 08/26/09 at 04:49 PM ET

My grandma always told me greedy Oompa Loompas always end up on the short end of the stick.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 08/26/09 at 05:04 PM ET

As the link is not working, try this link:

http://communities.canada.com/edmontonjournal/blogs/hockey/archive/2009/08/26/iihf-bars-hudler-from-playing-in-khl.aspx

This is bad for Hudler and the Wings.  I just don’t get it.  Both teams were satisfied with him signing in the KHL.

Posted by VooX from Behind the Bar in the Hasek Club Car on 08/26/09 at 05:13 PM ET

Hudler is dead to me...just let him play.  What does the IIHF have to gain over blocking him? this is soooooooo stupid

Posted by yzer19man from Chicago on 08/26/09 at 05:29 PM ET

Looks like Hudler’s stuck in hockey purgatory. Somewhere between the NHL and the KHL, the IIHF.

The full story has not come out yet.

Agreed.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 08/26/09 at 05:57 PM ET

As if this summer hasn’t been filled with enough drama, we now have to wait for who-knows-how-long to find out what happens to Happy next. The ugly part of this is that he has a valid contract with the Wings. If he gets shut out by the IIHF, he can legitimately ask the Wings to honor that contract. The end result would surely be that Happy gets traded for far less than he’s worth.

Sigh.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 08/26/09 at 06:07 PM ET

The end result would surely be that Happy gets traded for far less than he’s worth.

I could also see the Wings putting some players on waivers, or trying to send them to the minors.  If another team picks them up, we get partial relief on the cap.

This is such a mess for the Wings, who obviously wanted Hudler when he returned from Russia.  Why the IIHF waited so long to announce its decision is beyond me.  They had plenty of time, and would have allowed the Wings a fair chance to restock their lineup with accurate Cap numbers.

Posted by VooX from Behind the Bar in the Hasek Club Car on 08/26/09 at 06:12 PM ET

This would cause some serious problems if Hudler came back to the NHL. Obviously, he’s a better option than Todd Bertuzzi, Jason Williams, or Patrick Eaves. The team already needs to trade Brett Lebda and/or Derek Meech and/or Andreas Lilja, since it looks like Lilja may actually be healthy sooner than later.

If Hudler comes back, the Wings may be forced to:

1. Trade him for well below market value
2. Buy out multiple players, thus hurting their depth
3. Trade Bertuzzi or Williams, but would likely have to also trade a decent draft pick to the team taking the Bertuzzi/Williams contract to “sweeten the pot” (kind of how Toronto let Tampa dump salary on them last year, or how the Devils did a few seasons ago with the Sharks)

Posted by Nathan from Jonny Ericsson's ice cream truck on 08/26/09 at 06:30 PM ET

We are pooched, Nathan.  I am very unhappy at this development, other GMs will have us over a barrel negotiating these trades.

Posted by VooX from Behind the Bar in the Hasek Club Car on 08/26/09 at 07:00 PM ET

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is a retaliation more because of the Kirill Kabanov suspension threat levied by the KHL yesterday. 

Bingo.

This is the IIHF saying ”Enough” and sticking it to the KHL/Medvedev for pushing things too far.

Posted by Primis on 08/26/09 at 07:00 PM ET

I swear I read somewhere that Happy went 0-0-0 in his first two games in Russia.

Maybe they were exhibition or something like that.

If Malik is reading, it could be he posted it.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 08/26/09 at 07:02 PM ET

Is the kid Kabanov coming across the pond?
I read somewhere that he was drafted by Moncton of the “Q”. And wants to come over and play Major JR. this season.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 08/26/09 at 07:38 PM ET

1. Trade him for well below market value
2. Buy out multiple players, thus hurting their depth
3. Trade Bertuzzi or Williams, but would likely have to also trade a decent draft pick to the team taking the Bertuzzi/Williams contract to “sweeten the pot” (kind of how Toronto let Tampa dump salary on them last year, or how the Devils did a few seasons ago with the Sharks)

For what Hudler makes (or, would make), I only see option 1.

Who are you going to buy out?  Williams and Bert?  Great, except that now you’d have one player taking up the cap space of two roster players, meaning that we’d have one fewer player on the roster than we had last year.  Same with trades.  Do you choose Hudler over Cleary, Kronwall or Flip?  Because if not, then you have to trade multiple players to free up enough cap space for one player, again leaving us shorthanded on the roster.  People make a big deal out of how old the Wings are and how many games they’ve played in the past three years, but being forced to play games with possibly 10-11 forwards because we can afford to call anyone up to replace minor injuries, we’d be effed.

The only course of action would be to make some sort of grievance in order to keep him on the “suspended” list.

Having said all that, I don’t expect the end result to be Hudler playing in the NHL.  For my money, he’ll be playing in the KHL this year.

Posted by Garth on 08/26/09 at 10:37 PM ET