Red Wings

[The Cat]

• Nicklas Lidstrom#5.
• Steve Yzerman#19.
• Sid Abel#12.
• Terry Sawchuk#1.
• Alex Delvecchio#10.
• Ted Lindsay#7.
• Gordie Howe#9.

Exaggerate much?


Seems to me only Howe left and that was to be able to play with his son not dissing the owner and turning down a very generous contract.



His number will not be retired as long as Mr. I is alive and I can't say I blame him.

I may be wrong Mark, but as I recall, Howe retired. He came out of retirement when the WHA came calling with the idea of playing with Mark and Marty.

[froot loops]

I dunno.

I can see Mr. I's point.

It's not like they tried to lowball him.

Yes they did, they gave him a take or or leave it offer in November without his agent present and every offer after that was lower. Both sides were responsible for that mess.

It was 13 years ago, they need to get over it. It is pure pettiness. Even if he did leave under bad circumstances, you get over it. That is what class organizations do.

[froot loops]

When Gordie Howe left the Wings, it was messy. He publicly said the Red Wings gave him the mushroom treatment.

[jaadam4]

Yes they did, they gave him a take or or leave it offer in November without his agent present and every offer after that was lower. Both sides were responsible for that mess.

It was 13 years ago, they need to get over it. It is pure pettiness. Even if he did leave under bad circumstances, you get over it. That is what class organizations do.

Which time are you talking about? Remember he signed an offer sheet with Carolina as well but it was restricted

[jaadam4]

When Gordie Howe left the Wings, it was messy. He publicly said the Red Wings gave him the mushroom treatment.

They probably did. This is a different organization when Feds was trying to leave us. Mr. I took care of his players but he still wanted to leave to get out of Stevie Y's shadow.

He f'ed up and should have stayed. Leave the jersey out of the rafters for another 5 years then we'll talk about it. He cost us another cup IMO.

[froot loops]

Which time are you talking about? Remember he signed an offer sheet with Carolina as well but it was restricted

I'm talking about the year he left. They cornered him in an office after a November practice with a take it or leave it offer. His agent wasn't there and he did want to sign it without talking to him. The next two offers the Wings gave were smaller each time. That's not taking care of him.

[Malto Marko]

Well, if that is how in fact it went down, then that is total bullshit.

If I were Federov, I would have said send it to my Agent.

......and I would have been on the phone to my Agent right then telling him to expect a contract proposal.

[froot loops]

That's the way it was reported at the time. There was animosity on both ends, the Wings successfully won the PR battle because history says he left the Wings.

[chemiclord]

For the record, I was not speaking of Illitch's reasons. There was a lot of bad blood there and I don't believe Fedorov was entirely innocent either.

I was referring to the dumb ass fan rationales to protest the idea that #91 belongs in that group.

[chemiclord]

Basically, the Wings have had an unwritten policy of not involving other teams in contract negotiations. It's for a similar reason why they don't try to negotiate with RFA's from other teams. It's not "how we do things here."

Fedorov effectively did that twice, and the second time was enough for Illitch. I get THAT much.

Now, with that said, it's also true that Illitch effectively low balled Fedorov in both circumstances, which was why Sergei sought a "fair market value" for his services. He didn't talk to Carolina or Anaheim because he wanted the first ticket out of Detroit. He talked to them because he looked at Detroit's initial offers and said, "that doesn't look right."

In both circumstances, it turned out Fedorov was right, and that the market value for his services was a LOT higher than the initial offers the Red Wings made. So, my question becomes why the Red Wings tried to play it that way in the first place?

[The King]

Ovechkin had 15 shots last night. Hell of a performance by Mrazek!

[jaadam4]

Now, with that said, it's also true that Illitch effectively low balled Fedorov in both circumstances, which was why Sergei sought a "fair market value" for his services. He didn't talk to Carolina or Anaheim because he wanted the first ticket out of Detroit. He talked to them because he looked at Detroit's initial offers and said, "that doesn't look right."

In both circumstances, it turned out Fedorov was right, and that the market value for his services was a LOT higher than the initial offers the Red Wings made. So, my question becomes why the Red Wings tried to play it that way in the first place?

What are you talking about Brian Williams?

The Carolina situation was messy but the Wings effectively just matched the offer and made him the highest paid player in hockey..

Then the Wings offered Fedorov 5 years @ 50 million followed by a 4 years @ 40 million during that next FA period. Fedorov ended up signing for 5 years @ 40 million basically adding a year but making less money per.

Fedorov wanted out of Detroit but it wasn't because Mr. I low balled him. That's ludicrous since we were shelling out money left and right for players in the non capped years.

[Malto Marko]

What are you talking about Brian Williams?

The Carolina situation was messy but the Wings effectively just matched the offer and made him the highest paid player in hockey..

Then the Wings offered Fedorov 5 years @ 50 million followed by a 4 years @ 40 million during that next FA period. Fedorov ended up signing for 5 years @ 40 million basically adding a year but making less money per.

Fedorov wanted out of Detroit but it wasn't because Mr. I low balled him. That's ludicrous since we were shelling out money left and right for players in the non capped years.

That is pretty much the way I remember it and I remember Mr. I was furious he turned down the 5/50.

No way they would bring the paperwork to him after practice and say sign this now or it comes off the table (unless, this was Chris Illitich's first dabble in representing the Wings)

Sergi was dragging his feet and making excuses because he did not want to get something done, he wanted to test FA.

Sounds like Suh took a page from his book but, Suh won.

......oh, and did Jaadam mention the contract the Wings matched before that he signed with Carolina dictated that he got $26 Mil of it paid up front if they got to the Stanley Cup Finals then he bitched at the end when his base salary was well below his production but he got paid for most of the contract in the first year?

[jaadam4]

That is pretty much the way I remember it and I remember Mr. I was furious he turned down the 5/50.

This! That's why the next offer was 4 years @ 40 mil

[chemiclord]

That is pretty much the way I remember it and I remember Mr. I was furious he turned down the 5/50.

No way they would bring the paperwork to him after practice and say sign this now or it comes off the table (unless, this was Chris Illitich's first dabble in representing the Wings)

Well, you can say "no way"... but to hear sources tell it, that was most certainly how it went. Now in the spirit of fairness, that happened after the second time Fedorov kinda broke the cardinal rule of Red Wings contract negotiation, so Illitch and Holland were rather pissed.

And you also have to remember that the first offer that reaches the public is RARELY the first numbers bounced between the two parties, it just the first official offer. From what I had been told, the first forays into each negotiation period were "insulting."

(Now whether that means "insulting" to what Sergei wanted or "insulting" as in significantly below market value is anyone's guess, but the fact that Fedorov started fielding offers from other teams in each cases suggests the latter to me. But hey, I could be wrong and Sergei was just trying to play multiple sides to squeeze out every last dollar.)

Regardless, contract disputes hardly kept Howe's number off the ceiling. Keeping #91 off the ceiling at this point is just raw pettiness.