This isn’t even a question. Holland wants to win Cups. He’ll take his chances on losing Hossa or Franzen (won’t lose both) without getting anything in return.

I get Ken Campbell’s point, but I also get the feeling that he wrote this asinine blog post simply to get people like me up in arms (congrats, it worked). I don’t think Campbell’s as stupid as this post implies he is.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 01/29/09 at 09:48 AM ET

Holmstrom stays - it would cost more than his salary to replace his peskiness.

And doesn’t Dan Cleary have a no-trade in his contract, at least for part of it?  He wanted to give the Red Wings a salary break to stay, but he wanted to make sure that the break was so the Wings could sign a decent team, not so he would be a more attractive trade option.  I seem to remember a lot of talk about how Holland wouldn’t have given him a no-trade if he wasn’t confident he was mature enough as a player to handle it and not play differently than if he didn’t have a no-trade.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/29/09 at 09:56 AM ET

This is the right question, with the wrong focus.

Of course the Wings are goign to be Sellers at some point.  They simply have ot, or they risk losing young players—IIRC Ericsson is a FA after this season.

Not Hossa or Franzen though.  More like Lilja, Lebda, or Meech, and possibly Samuelsson.  I would expect that is prelim talks with Hossa go well, the WIngs might try to clear some cap space at the deadline and see if what the cap does in the offseason.

Posted by Primis on 01/29/09 at 10:16 AM ET

I doubt Holland would move Lilja.  Lilja has been very consistent this year and has improved his play a lot over the last two seasons.  Samuelsson has also played an important role this year.  I see Lebda, Kopecky, and possibly Filppula as possible players who could be moved.

Posted by drimo from Cincinnati, OH on 01/29/09 at 10:38 AM ET

I see Lebda, Kopecky, and possibly Filppula as possible players who could be moved.

We wouldn’t give Flip up in order to get Hossa at the last deadline…so who would we suddenly be willing to trade him for now?

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 01/29/09 at 11:06 AM ET

I can’t see them moving anyone but possibly their lower-priced players.  Like maybe a Samuelson or Kopecky among the forwards and possibly Ledba on the back end.  Everything I’ve read says that they’ve got 4 or 5 NHL ready Griffins (Leino, Helm at forward and Ericsson, Meech on the D, maybe Howard or Larsson in goal) who they are going to have to make room for soon.  I can see them trying to move Lilja or Lebda, and not re-signing Chelly in order to give Meech and Ericsson some REAL roster time, and possibly moving a forward to bring in Helm and/or Leino onto the fourth line.  Although, with Maltby, Draper and Holmstrom all having contracts expiring after next year, they could hold back Helm or Leino and just drop them into the roster replacing one of those guys.

Posted by Garth on 01/29/09 at 12:09 PM ET

We wouldn’t give Flip up in order to get Hossa at the last deadline…so who would we suddenly be willing to trade him for now?

Yeah, it would be a stretch to argue getting rid of him.  I take that back!  I was on the fence about saying that anyway.

Posted by drimo from Cincinnati, OH on 01/29/09 at 12:17 PM ET

We wouldn’t give Flip up in order to get Hossa at the last deadline…so who would we suddenly be willing to trade him for now?

I disagree, Animal.  We weren’t going to give Flip up for Hossa the rental player…that move made no sense. It makes an awful lot more sense now though if it means Hossa’s looking to settle down in Detroit.

I’m not as warm to the idea of moving Wally as I was a few days ago, but I still think it deserves consideration.

Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 01/29/09 at 01:25 PM ET

I’m not very keen on trading Wally either, and here’s why.

Say Hossa bolts, doesn’t want to, but can’t make the numbers make sense.  Someone tosses Sammy (size, speed, howitzer? they’ll overlook his accuracy) 2.5 mill.  We can’t make that work.  But we resign Franzen, and Hudler.  Realistically this scenario is the same with any two of the three aforementioned players.

In either of those cases, isn’t Wally a top 6 forward? 

Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Franzen.  Those are your top 4 guys, no doubt.  Then, you’ve got Cleary, Filpulla, Hudler.  I like the Oompa, but I don’t like him playing much more than he is right now.  He’s tiny.  Zetterberg is small, but he looks like Lindros compared to Happy.  Small players tend to play great fresh, and disappear when overplayed (minutes-wise).  There are always exceptions, of course, but I don’t know yet if Hudler is one of them.

I also think that, should Hossa not resign, you have to give some serious thought to Filpulla centering the second line again (Franzen-Fil-Cleary, maybe) and re-uniting the Circus.  Z and Datsyuk need/deserve someone with sublime skills to skate with and right now I only see four players on the team that fit that mold- Franzen, Hossa and them.

Posted by shanetx on 01/29/09 at 02:54 PM ET

As a further note:  You lower Hudler and Holmstrom’s minutes by skating Filpulla with their lines at even strength to balance out more power play time for the other two.

Posted by shanetx on 01/29/09 at 02:56 PM ET