Comments on: CP: J.R. wants to play in Canada - for cheap

By: Gabriel P

Gabriel P — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 22:19:00 +0000

I think you’re all overlooking one terrifying aspect of the whole JR in a Winged Wheel concept. Do any of you want the Joe desecrated by that horrible on-ice dance he does?

Great player, will really enjoy him as a commentator someday, but please God, make him stop with the dancing.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:57:00 +0000

JR is legendary for being full of hot air. The guy is a complete flake and the TSN article contains all of the big talk JR has always been notorious for spewing. If Cups were awarded for how well someone talks about what they are going to do than Roenick would have won multiple Cups. There is the Olympic talk Jes mentions but Roenick also criticized the fans for the hard salary cap that was put into place. Then he “earned” his $5 million salary last year by being more or less invisible.

Roenick is a complete tool. I will take a pass on him ever wearing a Red Wings jersey.

By: Matt Saler

Matt Saler — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:59:00 +0000

Jes,

All the more reason to be thankful you reminded me about it.

Brian,

You’re right, he does have a bad bargaining position. He can’t even throw around money any more. Still, those guys aren’t exactly new acquisitions and it shouldn’t be that hard to convince them to stick around…

By: Brian List

Brian List — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:53:00 +0000

The one thing I’ll give Holland is that he has an awfully tough end of the bargaining table. I mean, why would anyone want to sign here? There’s no ring for the President’s Trophy, and Holland really has to be able to argue why the Wings are going to go deep in the playoffs next year. I for one would not sign with the Wings, looking from outside the fan perspective. It’s got to be a tough sell to be asking Lidstrom to take less money to play for a first round tanker.

By: Jes Gőlbez

Jes Gőlbez — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:51:00 +0000

I had forgotten JR’s attitude about the Olympics when he wasn’t on the team.

D00D, how could you ever forget that? JR was openly bleating about cheering for Canada if he wasn’t selected to play for Team USA.

By: Matt Saler

Matt Saler — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:36:00 +0000

Yeah, Babcock sure is creating a bit of a conflict in fans minds, between those who aren’t ready to see the veterans gone and those who want youth to come in because that’s where the team’s best chances for success lay.

Even if it’s not Friday, Holland should have gotten at least a couple of those guys signed by now. I’m not overly impressed, I have to say. If nothing happens this weekend, I’ll be even less so. Not really any excuse.

By: Brian List

Brian List — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:25:00 +0000

yeah, by the way, today isn’t Friday…it’s Thursday. Jumping the gun a bit over here, eh. You can tell who’s at work right now…

By: Brian List

Brian List — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:21:00 +0000

You bring up a good point about Babcock. It’s really an unknown what buttons he’s pushing in the background and how he’s influencing Holland. The sense is that he would not approve of a JR signing, or even Yzerman returning.

Soo…topic of Wings re-signing our guys…It’s Friday and Holland said he’d try to have Ozzie, Lidstrom, and Shanny re-signed by today (or Saturday at latest). And Yzerman is supposed to give us word any day now.

I’m thinking Shanny’s going to be back. He made $2.28 M last season, and should get a one year offer for around $2.5M. His 40 goals are great and all, but he is 37 yrs old so I doubt any team out there is going to throw much cash at him. You think he’d jump ship if offered, say, $3M from somewhere else?

Ozzie should be back for sure. As for Lidstrom, hopefully he signs for around $8M.

I’d like to see Holland get something done during this weekend. I hate the feeling that the Wings are going to miss out on all the trade / free agent options by being distracted with Lidstrom, Yzerman, whatever. All’s we’ve done is re-sign Chelios and Franzen basically. Not very impressive.

Should be an active weekend for deals…

By: Matt Saler

Matt Saler — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:11:00 +0000

Yeah, they have other things they need to do first, of course. Roenick wouldn’t be a priority signing but they’d probably have room for him, if they get the other things they need, especially given the paycut he seems willing to take.

I was reading Jes Golbez’s response to the same story and he made some good points. I had forgotten JR’s attitude about the Olympics when he wasn’t on the team. Also, the way he was talking in the CP story, it sounds like he’s expecting to step in and be a team’s top player, when in reality, he’d have to take a lesser role.

Jes also says JR seems to need a tough coach, which he’d certainly get in Babcock. But, given Babcock’s comments about older players, I doubt he’d even want him.

By: Brian List

Brian List — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:00:00 +0000

Oh, I read it as “I’m looking for the $2.5-million to $3-million deals”, so either TSN had it misprinted when I read it (which happens time to time with them) or I just read it wrong. Probably the latter.

But the general point I was trying to get at is why sign or even consider him when we don’t have a starting goaltender yet, haven’t signed the young, speedy forward we’ve needed the past two playoffs, and haven’t even re-signed Shanny, Lidstrom yet…and our payroll is going to be limited by the fact that we haven’t moved Datsyuk and Lidstrom is reportedly not giving the Wings much leeway.

Yeah, I agree he’d cost less than a Torres or Briere, but even at his market value (I’m guessing $1.5M) I wouldn’t take him. Maybe at a Chelios type bargain I would…

I know Brier is unavailable. I said “Go after a Torres or Brier type guy with that money.”