… from Motown Wings, anyway. He’ll still be on Twitter (@chollis) and hosting TOV, so it’s not a complete loss to the Wings-o-sphere, but it’s still a hit. We’ll miss your long-form work, Chris—good luck with higher-priority stuff like real life and all that!
(0)Aaron Downey will get a shot at getting back in the organization with a camp tryout in September despite being idle for a year. Since he has zero chance of making the Wings, he’ll effectively be trying out for the Griffins.
I was a huge fan of Downey when he was in Detroit because he seemed like a really good lockerroom presence. In Grand Rapids, however, he was somewhat problematic. If he can cut down on those kinds of incidents and bring the kind of positivity he brought to the Wings, he’d be a good addition to a young Griffins team from a policing standpoint.
But first he has to manage a bigger if: making the team.
(0)Update (10:21 PM): Note this doesn’t mean you have to have the $28 in hand right now. The money is not due until a future date to be announced. - Matt
If you’re planning to attend H2H2 on March 11, 2011, by yourself or in a group, let Jen MacCrostie know via email or Twitter (jennyquarx at gmail, DM @jennyquarx). She needs to know how many of the $28 tickets we need soon so the team’s ticket folks (specifically the awesome Ryan Michaels) can set aside the seats. We’ll be in the end the Wings shoot in twice, higher up again (it’s about the communal experience, not proximity to the ice, k?).
It seems more and more that the Wings are looking at scoring another rejuvenation project here. And of course it’s worked in the past and could again. I just … can’t get on board with it this time. The more I read about Mike Modano at this stage in his career, the less I feel the optimistic view that he will be an impact player on the third line is correct.
I suppose the assessment of his will to play jives well with his decision to make extra sure by taking time. All sarcasm aside, by all means, take the time to be sure, Mike.
But if he argues himself into playing and then loses focus later in the season, it’d be a hit in the lockerroom. Certainly the Wings could overcome that, but it seems like it could possibly be more hassle than it’s worth.
If we could somehow slide his career timeline back three years, I’d be all for it. But since that’s impossible, we’re looking at a guy who increasingly reads like a player who has lost most of what made him valuable.
Modano could very well become another successful rejuvenation on the Wings’ part and change direction from the trajectory he’s been on for a couple years, but that’s an assumption with no backing evidence. You can’t use previous examples because each one is different.
Though you can also say the situation in Detroit will be different than in Dallas, so maybe Modano will react differently. I tend to think the other way is more likely given the pressure of a more demanding coach and a more demanding atmosphere, but perhaps that’s overly pessimistic (contrast that with my overt optimism on Abdelkader, I suppose).
This might be the clincher for me: just say for sake of argument that Modano signs and turns out to be a dud. The Wings take him off the third line and either move Abdelkader up or Filppula down by breaking up the Eurotwins. And they have a dud, probably unhappy (because he’ll either be scratched or fourth-lining it), veteran eating up cap space and a lockerroom stall. Maybe he manages to remain a good, if frustrated, teammate. Maybe not.
On the other hand, Abdelkader duds as third line center. The Wings move him to the fourth line and drop Fil down. You have three lines with three solid centers doing solid work or better. And … you don’t have an unhappy veteran possibly weighing down the lockerroom.
The possible price for Modano failure to be a positive on the third line seems heavy to me. The possible price for failure on Abdelkader’s part in the same spot seems much less so.
The payoff for Modano could be reasonable, assuming he’s not locked into that trajectory above. But so could the payoff for a Justin Abdelkader set loose to break out. And that route seems to me to carry less risk.
When the situation’s framed that way, what do you think?
Update (23. Jul, 8:00 AM): Crater From SoCal comments:
They were passing this new set of pads around at Monkey Sports here in SoCal when Jimmy was doing a press signing for Vauhn.
So they’re probably just promotional. Too bad. - Matt
Update (1:54 PM): Er, links to George’s tweets fixed. Sorry about that. – Matt
Update (1:46 PM): @georgemalik has rained on the parade a bit. - Matt
Via @OneSmugPug and his boss, “a goalie junkie.” If true, I think those will look pretty sweet with the Red-and-White.
(2)As in, sure, why not take it, Mike? The Wings have nothing better to do than wait for you to gauge your interest in playing again earlier than a mere month ahead of training camp. It’s not like they have players who are actually slated to be part of the future waiting on you. So sure, yeah, take advantage of this rarest of moments: where the Wings have their priorities so far out of whack that they’re risking their future hold on guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm for your flakey ass.
I tell you, Mike, I’m going to love it if we get one year out of you and only one more year of Helm and Abdelkader. Love. It.
(11)Kulfan doesn’t think Modano puts that much weight on Detroit as a homecoming and suspects he won’t sign with the Wings. I definitely see Kulfan’s argument: it’s been a long time since Detroit was Modano’s home. So the homecoming aspect may not be as much a draw as potentially winning would be. But he can get potential winning in San Jose and have a happier wife doing it.
Or he can get his homecoming in Minnesota, as George suggests.
(0)Congrats to Paul on five years of blogging today. Thanks for everything you’ve brought to the ‘sphere, Paul. Here’s to another 5, eh?
(0)Kukla has the tweets. I guess we can all relax until August 1st, when Mike might get around to informing everyone of his decision. And two years? If it’s taking him this much time to spool himself up to play again, will he really make it another two years?
(0)Update (12:06 PM): McCosky has more, including comments from Ken Holland. - Matt
Update (11:20 AM): Khan confirms. - Matt
I haven’t seen it confirmed elsewhere, but assuming it’s true, that leaves $3,257,955 or so in real cap space* for signings. Meech is probable trade fodder, but could survive as a Wing if the Wings end up needing someone with moderately more experience than Smith, Ericsson and Kindl on the bottom pairing. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen.
*The ceiling they can be at when the pre-season ends. They can go as much as $5.9 million over that until then.
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