As some of you know, I've got a pretty cool writing gig at Hockey's Future, covering Anaheim's prospects among a random handful of articles for other teams. And no, my hatred for Corey Perry, does not get in the way of a fair and unbiased look at their prospects.

If you've never been to the message boards over there, you're missing out. They're too busy and chaotic for me to go regularly, but it's good for a once-a-week stop or so. One of the places I always check out is the Trade Proposals and Free Agency board, which allows users to be their GM and submit their own trade proposals for critique. It's got a reputation as being pretty brutal at times, but I think there are a few decently thought out proposals.

So what I do every once and a while is just do a search for anything containing "Detroit" and decide whether or not I like the ideas. Since once again my real-life "job" hasn't provided me with any "work," I've got some time before the game, and I figure with the trade deadline coming up, it would be a good idea to start keeping an ear on the rumor mill. I'll look at individual players at a later date -- for now, rumors are good for discussion... or a laugh.

If you don't know, with the Olympic break this year, the trade deadline falls in a unique spot. There is a roster freeze during the Olympics that unfreezes two days before the deadline. With two weeks for GMs to do nothing but watch hockey and talk to each to other, a lot of people are expecting some serious talk. That'll either lead to the busiest or most disappointing trade deadline ever.

Let's begin.

A frustrated Boston fan thinks that Detroit would send Brian Rafalski out in return for Tim Thomas and Andrew Ference. While it would be nice to free up Rafalski's contract, I do think he is still useful, and moving him in any fashion is something Detroit would regret if Nick Lidstrom retires. Thomas is from Flint, but that's as far as him coming to Detroit makes sense. He's being outplayed statistically by Boston's younger Tuukka Rask, and it doesn't seem as though Detroit gains anything by throwing him into their already questionable goaltending situation. If Detroit ever moves Rafalski, it would be only to clear salary (he has an NTC, by the way), and Thomas' $5 million cap hit doesn't do much for flexibility. Ference is a decent bottom pairing defenseman, but with Andreas Lilja potentially coming back, he seems like he'd be just as quickly a spare part for Detroit.

A Montreal fan likes the idea of Darren Helm straight up for Jaroslav Halak. I don't understand why Montreal fans don't want two good young goalies at the same time, but it does seem likely either Halak or Carey Price will move. For Detroit, adding another young goalie will not come at the price of what looks to be a guaranteed franchise player. This one is a quick no.

In a trade that looks bad, but sounds a little better when you read the poster's reasoning, a NY Rangers fan submits Brad Stuart and Valtteri Filppula (who everyone wants, as you'll see shortly) for Wade Redden, Enver Lisin, Evgeni Grachev, and Ryan McDonagh. The point of this trade from a Rangers standpoint is to get Redden's ridiculous contract off the books, and reward the team who does it with two top prospects (Grachev and McDonagh) and Lisin, who is one of those players who has top notch skill but can't get it together. It's a no for Detroit though, as they still don't clear the necessary cap room to fit Redden's $6.5 million price tag -- a lofty price for what would be a #4 defenseman. We're not Chicago here, Brian Campbell.

Prepare the laugh track: another Montreal fan is demanding Tomas Tatar, Justin Abdelkader, Ville Leino, and a mid-round pick for Carey Price, Paul Mara, and Matt D'Agostini. Yes, it would be nice to add another team's top two prospects for every player on your team that you want to get rid of. Price is clearly the lesser of the two Montreal goaltending projects, giving Detroit nothing but baggage in exchange for getting rid of Tatar. Mara is an overpaid and lesser version of Brad Stuart, and D'Agostini is a struggling sophomore year player. Even Leino has more points than D'Agostini. The presence of the generic "mid-round pick" being thrown in on Detroit's end just cap off this great idea.

Desperate as ever to get rid of their best player, a Leaf fan has a Tomas Kaberle deal for Detroit. Kaberle is by far the subject of the most proposals on Hockey's Future. This one packages him with Niklas Hagman for Valtteri Filppula (spelled wrong throughout the thread), Jonathan Ericsson, and Detroit's 1st round pick in 2010. Leafs fans are desperate to make up the pick that Brian Burke traded for Phil Kessel, so most of their proposals involve getting a 2010 1st back -- though it definitely won't be as high as the one now in Boston's possession. Kaberle doesn't do much for Detroit as they already have three elite puck-moving defensemen. Hagman is a great player -- but Toronto wanted him bad and threw big bucks at him, ensuring his un-tradeability (that's probably a word) for years to come. Detroit keeps a more skilled version of Toronto's skilled Finn, and doesn't give up yet on Ericsson, who, despite struggles, has the tools to be an elite defender. Sorry, Tronna, keep trying, eh?

A Wings fan thinks that Detroit should pursue Florida's Nathan Horton for Filppula (what did I tell you?), either Abdelkader or Jakub Kindl, and a 3rd round pick. This one does require some thought, but I think I'd turn it down. Horton still has the potential to become a big goal scorer, but it's a big gamble for Detroit. Filppula has just as much potential if he could ever learn to finish, and has a two-way game far more advanced than Horton. The loss of a big prospect hurts when Horton for Filppula is nearly a wash, and the 3rd round pick is the HF standard for "this team should throw in one more thing."

A Los Angeles fan, pumped about probably making the playoffs this year, wants to buy at the deadline. Tomas Holmstrom for Trevor Lewis and a 2nd round pick. Doesn't make sense either way. Detroit just doesn't trade Holmstrom, plain and simple. But the Kings have the second-best net-front player in the league already in Ryan Smyth. Lewis has always been pretty vanilla to me, I don't see him making an impact for Detroit. Holmstrom would be way valuable if Detroit ever absolutely had to sell him, and a checking line prospect with a 2nd round pick is too little in return.

Buffalo and Detroit? Filppula (spelled wrong again) for Drew Stafford. I'm not sure how to feel about it. For starters, I don't think Detroit should trade Filppula because I still think he has the ability to be a bigger point producer, and I think his past few games have been a shining example of his speed and creativity. Stafford is more of a natural finisher, but like the Horton deal, Filppula is the clear winner as a two-way player. That kind of versatility is coveted throughout the league, as you can tell by everyone wanting Filppula. I'd say no, but I wouldn't stop being a Wings fan if it happened.

Trades with big rivals aren't generally too popular and none would be worse than Detroit trading Filppula (spelled wrong for the third time) to Chicago for Cam Barker and Andrew Ladd. It's a good video game trade, but both players are underachievers based on where they were drafted. By this point, Barker should be one of the most promising defenders in the league, and Ladd should be a legitimate power forward. 0-for-2. Meanwhile, seeing Filppula in the wrong shade of red six times a year for the next however many years is a nauseating thought.

A Wings' fan (notice how few Wings propositions fans of the team actually come up with) is all about Scandinavia in a trade that sends Detroit's two Finns, Filppula (spelled correctly -- yay Detroit fans) and Ville Leino, or Brett Lebda, who's last name sounds a little Scandinavian, and a 3rd round pick to Carolina for just one Finn, Tuomo Ruutu and Swede Niclas Wallin. I don't think I'd do this trade with just Filppula, but I guess it would be nice to get anything for Leino or Lebda. Still, not enough from Carolina's end -- plus, they're not exactly huge trade partners with the owner squabbles and all that.

Finally, the newest trade out there has Los Angeles trading Jack Johnson for Brad Stuart, Ville Leino, and a 2011 (why?) 3rd round pick. Accepting this one for pure ironic value is very tempting -- Detroit acquired Stuart from Los Angeles for just a 2nd and 4th round pick, and would be getting a former third overall pick, and a free pass to get rid of Leino in return.

Sadly, nothing stands out as overly exciting. But it was fun to take a look at anyway, right? After the game tonight, I'm hoping to sit down and finally figure out exactly what the deal is with Detroit's cap situation -- as in, how much free space they'd have to make a deal. I suck at math though, so I'll probably spend an hour looking into it and have someone here point out in five minutes some major error I made. We'll see.

Comments (10)

KyleKujawa said:

	... Testing the comments, are people still having problems?
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January 29, 2010
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waltdetroit said:

	... testing 123
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January 29, 2010
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Horton said:

	... First, I should be credited with the recent improvement in Lidstrom's game. He must have heard about my plan to unload him for draft picks. I like some of these trade rumors. A good general manager will always trade players on the tail end of their careers for rising stars. Rafalski must go before he become untradeable. Getting Tim Thomas & Ference in return would be a steal for Detroit.
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January 29, 2010
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Keith B said:

... If possible I'd love to dump Rafalski. He's not the same player he was his first year in Detroit and he's just too small to handle most team's #1 forwards. Players like Getzlaf and Penner and Toews just use their weight advantage and just make Rafalski useless. Losing his $5 million a year contract would free up tons of room. Since LA is sick of Jack Johnson or JMFJ as we Michigan fans call him why not move Rafalski to LA who could use another good D for their playoff race and we take JJ and Brayden Schenn. Schenn is drawing comparisons to Mike Richards FYI and was selected 9th overall last year. So LA gets the better move this year we get a potential #1 D who this year would be our #4 (Kronwall moves up with Lidstrom and Stuart stays with JJ) and we get a potential top line center who should be ready to start next year. In the future we could pair JJ and Ericsson giving us an amazing top line in 4 years. I think it's a fair deal. Kyle?

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January 30, 2010
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Keith B said:

	... Sorry, Rafalski's cap is 6 million a year! JJ makes 1.245 million so a 4.75 million savings to flop D. Hmm, sounds good to me. Future D Lineup would include Ericsson, JJ, Brendan Smith, Kindl and Nicastro.
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January 30, 2010
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Baroque said:

	... The Canadiens can just keep their grabby hands off Helm - and so can everyone else. Same with Filppula. He's young yet, and it takes time to put everything together. I remember distinctly a chorus of "Back off, Shamu!" when there was talk of an offer sheet from Vancouver.
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January 30, 2010
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Coffey said:

	... I have some deals to help fix the Wings. Holmstrom and Rafalski for N. Horton and Bryan McCabe. Osgood for Brian Elliot. Lidstrom for Kovalev and a second round pick. Bertuzzi for David Clarkson. Jason Williams for a large box of Wheaties.
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January 30, 2010
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waltdetroit said:

	... Whose picture is on the box of wheaties?
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January 30, 2010
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KyleKujawa said:

... Keith, Rafalski alone isn't worth anything close to Schenn. Like you said, he was just a top pick (5th actually). Los Angeles is doing well, but that's because they were committed to rebuilding their team the right way. Players drafted that early are virtually untouchable for a few years after they're drafted. Certainly not available for an albatross contract and second pairing defenseman. Johnson could probably be had for slightly cheaper, but I'm not sure if Rafalski is enticing for them. And vice versa. I do like Johnson, but he doesn't strike me as someone the Wings would go after. He's still very wild in his own zone, and hasn't really played at the level most people thought he was capable of. LA might be better off holding onto him and seeing if he gets it together in a year or two, because he doesn't hold much value in the trade market anymore. At least not enough to justify getting rid of him this year, when his skill level is so obvious. Coffey, Kovalev isn't Canadian. How on earth could you possibly want him?

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January 30, 2010
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TD Tyler said:

... Very entertaining post. I wouldn't trad Flip for anyone short of Teen Wolf (also a great hockey player; tenacious on the backcheck.) I'm probably the least willing of any Wings fan to unload Rafalski. Yeah that contract looks gross but you raise a good point about Lids possible retirement. That would leave us shakier than I've ever seen/imagined on the blueline. Plus I don't think he sucks like so many trade proposers seem to be incorrect about.

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