Panthers sign Belfour
Psycho Eddie is no longer an option for the Detroit Red Wings, which is excellent news in my opinion. Belfour signed a one year deal with the Florida Panthers for $1.25 million, which was a lot higher than the Wings had even considered with Eddie recovering from back surgery.
“We had some interest in Belfour,” Holland said. “Money was always a concern. His lower back was a risk. If we really had wanted to sign him bad enough, we would have moved. If I’d had brought him in, he’d have been intriguing — but he’s intriguing until the back goes.”
So as we had previously thought, Holland will be looking for a number one goaltender via trade whether it’s before the start of the season or before the trade deadline (similar to the Oilers acquiring Roloson).
Wings close to signing a top 4 defenseman
In the middle of the Eddie to Florida article in the Detroit Free Press, this little tidbit was thrown in.
The Wings, meanwhile, are close to signing a top-four defenseman. Holland wouldn’t reveal a name, but it is someone who can play 20 minutes a night, indicating a shake-up to the rotation that finished last season’s playoffs. Since the newcomer wouldn’t bump Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall or Mathieu Schneider, presumably Brett Lebda, Andreas Lilja and Chris Chelios would rotate as the odd man out.
The Wings are also in the market for a forward to help amend the loss of Brendan Shanahan. In the past few days Holland has made offers to restricted free agent forwards Johan Franzen and Jason Williams, the latter of whom has an arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday if no deal is reached before then.
Possibilities for this top four defenseman would include Brian Leetch, Sean Hill, and Danny Markov. For Holland to acknowledge that he’s almost close to signing this guy, it means that this deal is going to happen.
The Wings are also hoping to reach a deal with Williams before he goes to arbitration because that certainly is an unpleasant experience for both sides and with the way things are going, he could garner a high salary depending on the arbitrator.
Contest winner
I have emailed all of the contest participants informing them of the result and now that I’ve heard back from the winner, I’m happy to announce that Chad will be receiving a brand new SI Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman issue in the mail in the next few days. Thank you to all the entries. A couple of the entrants actually wrote mini-essays so I thought I’d post them here.
Jim:
I first discovered Steve Yzerman when I was watching the Canadiens/Kings Stanley Cup finals in 93. It was my first exposure to hockey (Dallas didn’t have a team yet). During one of the intermissions, they had about a 1 minute clip on Yzerman, highlighting his past couple of great statistical seasons. After they finished showing highlights and describing the kind of player and leader he was, I was enthralled.. I thought “now there’s a player I can identify with”. From that moment on, I’ve been a hockey fanatic and Red Wings faithful.
Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I was playing an exhibition game at the American Airlines Center and blew out my ACL on a meaningless play and check. Like my idol, I couldn’t hang it up if I could still skate.. my team was in the midst of our best season yet, the playoffs were a little over a month away, and I was a key center, Alternate Captain and leader on our team. So I let the swelling go down, strapped on a neoprene sleeve and a full brace every game, wrapped it all in tape, and took to the ice. Once or twice a game, the knee would slip or get hit out of alignment and I’d pick myself up off the ice and hobble to the bench, laying behind it and the other players until the pain subsided. It was painful, real painful. I know how Stevie must have felt, although his injury was a bit different. Battling to get back up on a blown out knee each game, I always visualized Yzerman and what he had done, and it got me through. My memories of his on-ice perseverance literally carried me during those 2 1/2 months of pain. But upon scoring the game-winning, series and Cup-clinching goal in our playoff run, I knew I had done one thing right. I’d appropriately honored the #19 I wore on my back. Stevie’s been a big part of my life since that fateful day back in 93. I’m gonna miss him.
Olah:
I think the one that most opitimizes the type of warrior leader Yzerman is came in the 2002 playoffs, in Game 3, in over-time. Set the scene:
It’s after midnight. Carolina Vs Detroit. Stanley Cup Finals. The series is tied at 1 game a piece. The score is tied, 2-2. It’s over-time, baby!! There are shots ringing off the posts; a quarter of an inch and the Wings are victorious. Hasek is making saves like his life depends on it. Urbe is making saves like he’s 2 feet taller than he really is. Then, there’s Yzerman. Skating on one leg and still working like a lion to win it for the team, to be the hero that he always is. Personafying the very definitions of leadership, guts, heroism, and sacrifice. He’s simply just being himself. Doing what he knows what to do. Just playing and being himself. There it is. Yzerman gets a pass and has an open net. Before his knee buckles underneath him, Urbe makes a supernatural slide and blocks Yzerman’s sure thing empty net goal.
Yzerman falls down. Does a back-wards summersault. Looks up at the sky. Swears. And, smiles as he hobbles up on one leg. That smile is my favorite moment. It’s like, who else could smile at a moment like that?!? You have basically only one leg. You’ve played more than one game in a row with the amount of periods on the clock. You just got a sure-thing goal robbed from you. And, you just… SMILE!!! Then, you just get back up on your one leg, hobble-skate away and just go back to work.
That’s my favorite moment. That smile. Yzerman in a gesture. That will stick out in my head forever, anytime I think about him and his career. The SMILE.
As most Wings fans have realized, the offseason has been pretty slow for us. Posts will start to pick up when the news does. Until that happens, I will be working on transferring this blog to my domain, behindthejersey.com. I am currently waiting for my (hopefully) future host to approve the order and I will be working very hard to get it up and running in the next couple of weeks.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve used my dad’s company’s server but it was one of his non-important ones so it went down a lot and would take forever to get back up. Now, I’m hoping no problems with the new hosts and I’ll be using Wordpress (no more Blogger) and hopefully add some more interactive features. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or drop me an email!
7/20 Notes
Anyways in today’s stage (#17), Landis brokeaway early to win the stage get in the top 3 (after falling to 11th place yesterday). He’s now only 30 seconds behind the guy in the yellow jersey. I’m rooting for Landis now that the Discovery team is sucking it up because he will be having a hip replacement right after the Tour. I can’t imagine the pain he is fighting right now while racing.
I’m trying to come up with a hockey analogy to help you guys understand how amazing this is. It would be like winning all of the first three rounds of the playoffs either 4-0 or 3-1 and being the expected winner of the Stanley Cup finals. Then, that team loses the first 3 games only to come back and win it all. Granted, Landis hasn’t won it yet, but yesterday they were all writing him off and today he could very well win it all. Quite impressive if you ask me…
7/18 Notes
Some random notes…
SI Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman
Sports Illustrated has made 300,000 copies of a special commemorative edition honoring Steve Yzerman and released them today (Thursday). These copies will be made available in Michigan, Ontario, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This $6.99 feature is 84 pages long and includes:
Stevie’s Wonder Years: In his 22 seasons in Detroit, Yzerman was the consummate franchise player. Captain Kid: Five years into his career, Yzerman was firmly established as the leader of a surprising Detroit team. A Career In Pictures: Snapshots from No. 19’s exceptional 22-season run. Wild Ride: Between 1997 and 2002, the Red Wings won three Stanley Cups and Yzerman led Canada to an Olympic gold medal. The Captain By The Numbers: How valuable was Stevie Y. to the Wings? Let’s count the ways. Out Of The Darkness: Yzerman arrived in Detroit as a shy, 18-year-old center and left as the hero of Hockeytown. The Last Word: From kid to captain, former teammate Dave Lewis describes how Yzerman learned to become the unquestioned leader of the Red Wings.
Assuming that this edition is similar to the one for Lance Armstrong last summer, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. You can get it at Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Target, Walgreen’s, 7-Eleven, Meijer, Wal-Mart, and Kroger.
Can’t seem to get a hold of a copy? You can always order the cover from Sports Illustrated online for $19.95 and even get it framed (for $69.95)!
Wings sign Belfour?
According to a LGW forum member, he/she saw this statement on the TSN ticker: “Red Wings sign G Ed Belfour to 2 year deal worth 1.5m a season.” However, the TSN website does not have anything up yet regarding this supposed signing. Plus this person is pretty new to the board and no one else has been able to confirm this so take it as you will…10 minutes after the post was made, the thread has been deleted. So hopefully this is just one big crazy rumor…
My reaction if this is true…
Wow. I wasn’t so crazy about a one year deal worth about $500,000 plus incentives. But 2 years for $1.5!? What happens if he gets injured (high probability) or decides to retire and we’re stuck with paying that second year. Boy for wanting to keep short term contracts, Holland is doing wonderfully.
Well, I have to head out so I’ll have more news/reactions when I return. Hopefully the TSN ticker is just a rumor. Gulp.
Cleary & Lebda re-sign with Detroit
GM Ken Holland has re-signed two Wings in the past couple of days.
On Monday, forward Dan Cleary agreed to another two years worth $1.325 million with the Wings.
“Dan’s a gritty player and we value what he brings to the team,” general manager Ken Holland said.
Yesterday, defenseman Brett Lebda signed a contract for four years at $2.6 million. He’s being paid $550,000 in the first two years, $650,000 in the third year, and $850,000 in the final year of the contract. The salary average, $650,000, will go against the cap each of the four years.
With these signings, Holland has decided to go with the same six defenseman as in the 2006 playoffs. I like the Lebda signing, but I just hate that Lilja is returning. Holland is supposedly looking for a physical defenseman to replace the presence of Jiri Fischer, who suffered a scary heart moment back in November. Kenny has been talking to the agent of former Predator Danny Markov.
“Brett was impressive in the time he spent with us last season,” general manager Ken Holland said in a statement.
Coach Mike Babcock raved about Lebda’s ability to skate with the puck, pass and play smart at both ends. Babcock showed his confidence in Lebda during the playoffs, playing him in all six games against the Oilers.
“Brett possesses the skills I think will help contribute to the success of this organization,” Holland said.
Ken Holland on AM 1270
Rough quotes of what GM Ken Holland had to say on AM 1270 at 5pm (Monday).
- You’re not going to be able to find a Brendan Shanahan on the open market…Looking for someone to score half those goals.
- Lots of players going into arbitration…look at teams with budget problems.
- Made some offers…but weren’t prepared to do what some of the contracts required.
- Want to make sure they have cap room next year when they have to re-sign Kronwall and Datsyuk.
- To go out and sign anyone for a deal more than one year, unless we really liked them, would be unwise. Want to be patient.
- We can be patient on defense with Schneider, Lidstrom, Cheli, and Kronwall. Be patient to find the right players and have financial flexibility.
- If you put Jimmy Howard in the playoffs and he let’s in some bad goals and lose, it’ll be tough on the young goaltender (with pressures and expectations). At the 60 game mark, we could bring him up if he’s ready.
- We’ve struggled back and forth to both situations (Belfour and Hasek). Talked to Dom this morning and he says his groin is good. Both are very good goaltenders. It’s a very close call. I don’t know if you can be right or wrong in either situation until it all plays out.
- If we bring back Dom, he wants to know he’s the No. 1 guy. They don’t want to be in a competition. If they don’t play good, they understand someone will take their job.
- We haven’t agreed to terms to anybody right now.
- I don’t think we’re going to bring in a high profile big name guy. Long term deals…we’re not comfortable with.
- Happy with Samuelsson and Lilja’s play, which is why we could offer a longer term contract.
- I think Jiri Hudler is very close to being ready to play. If all of a sudden, he’s good at training camp we’ll find a place on our roster. We want to sign him…we’re intrigued. Great hands, great hockey sense, great vision. We want to give Hudler and Kopecky a chance at training camp since they’d have to clear waivers.
- Most of the action was took by non-playoff teams who were looking to overhaul their team. We have a good nucleus…it doesn’t make any sense to me to go spend a lot on a seventh forward. We didn’t want to tie up that kind of money in those kind of players.
- I would never say never… I like Manny… Unfortunately we lost out in the 1st round and I decided, after talking to everyone, we wanted to make a change in goal. And Osgood was prepared to come back at a backup position. I’m stunned, like you guys, that he hasn’t gotten an offer.
- He’d like to talk to players about contract extensions to see who’s going to stay and who’s going to test the open market next summer. I’m going to slowly work the younger players.
Sounds like Willy will be coming back if they can agree to terms (whether before or during arbitration) as Kenny said he’d be one of the Top 6 forwards. Does that scare anyone else?
Steve did tell Holland the day before July 1st so that didn’t affect Holland’s timing.
Unfortuntately, that interview did not help lift my confidence in Kenny. The most important point I got out of that interview was that it seems Kenny is terrified of long term deals and isn’t willing to lock up salary in certain players because he wants financial flexibility…
My world is going upside down…
I don’t know what to say anymore. The Detroit sports scene as I knew it is turning completely upside down.
- Both the Wings and Pistons are #1 heading into the playoffs. Both teams fail to make it to the finals. The Pistons do make it to the third round while the Wings can’t even win one round.
- The front page of The Detroit Free Press this morning? “The Return of Tiger Town.” Yep, the Detroit Tigers are one of the best teams in the MLB at this point.
- Captain Steve Yzerman retires on July 3, 2006. On the same day, the face of the Detroit Pistons decides he’s going to go to Chicago for more money. Ironically, my only Wings jersey (that’s not framed) is Yzerman’s and my only Pistons jersey is Wallace’s.
- Six days later Shanny signs with the New York Rangers. Mitch Albom has a really nice column piece on Shanny, you can read the Monday Edition article here.
“Friends of mine have been telling me the last few days, `You know, you will always be identified as a Red Wing,’ ” Shanahan said. “I know that. I’m proud of all we did there.”“Steve is like a born son of Detroit,” Shanahan said, laughing. “I was like the kid they adopted when I was 12 years old. It was great. I have no complaints. Detroit made me feel so special. They were like, `We’ll pretend you didn’t play those nine seasons before you got here.’ “
- Oh, and sure the Central Division was pretty weak last season. But is it me, or do all the teams in our division (aside from Columbus) seem to be improving? I mean, even the Blackhawks!
- On the same day as Shanny’s signing, the local Detroit TV stations report that we will be signing Ed Belfour tomorrow. That’s right, our first “big” move of the off-season (actually our first move, period) will be signing Psycho Eddie.
It’s safe to say that this is not what I expected this off-season. Even with the salary cap. I will always love the Wings and I will always be a big fan of the team, but I really hate to put an end to this era.
Now I’m not losing it like some people on the forums who believe we’ll be the worse team in the league, etc. I do think we won’t do as well in the regular season (at this point), but as long as we make the playoffs I don’t care. The President’s Trophy obviously doesn’t do well for us. I am, however, concerned about our lack of action this off-season whether it was by trades or signings. I’m just praying that Holland has something up his sleeves…
Oh, here are some fan reactions to the news about Belfour:
- My dad’s reaction after I told him, “It’s better than having a sharp stick in the eye. And you can quote me on that.”
- David: “I think I might paint the walls with puke now…”
- Hockeytown Red Wings (LGW): “I can’t wait for the first goalie fight of the year.”
- To which Happy Pancake responded, “Is this Holland’s gritty signing?”
- Reilly: “Low risk, high reward signing. If he plays great and is healthy, awesome. If he sucks and/or gets injured, they have cap room to add another goalie down the stretch. Look alive people.”
- Every time you hear a goal horn, an Eagle loses its Wings.