Red Wings

[Malto Marko]

My point here is he was abrasive in all of his contractual negotiations and to villianize the Wings for not giving him a big hug and say everything is OK now is a bit disingenuous.

[froot loops]

The Wings were abrasive and they were petty. It showed Tuesday night, watching the telecast you wouldn't know they were honoring Fedorov. It was rinky dink. But again this is further proof of how they won the PR battle, you've bought into their side in totality.

pANDs

Tom brought up a great point about the restricted free agency, they gave a low ball contract offer and told him they weren't budging and to go find a better offer. He found a better offer and he was the villain and is to this day. They never pulled that nonsense with Lidstrom and Yzerman.

[froot loops]

For the record, giving Fedorov a big hug and raising his number is the right thing to do. Classy organizations don't hold those type of grudges. It's not a real hard concept, Fedorov was classy on Tuesday, the Ilitch family came across as juvenile. It's been reported that 91 will never be raised as long as Mike Ilitch is alive, if that's true, that is a shame, petulant behavior is unfortunate.

[jaadam4]

I'm not saying the Wings nor Mr. I have always done everything right through the years.. but for the life of me I can't think of another professional sports team that has been this loyal to its players. Mr. I bought them a plane while other orgs were flying public airlines. He's been loyal to a fault in sticking to their word (see DAN F'ING CLEARY!!). They mortgaged future picks during deadline deals to continually restock to win now (and they did) and also changed NHL scouting throughout Europe. Mr. I turned the Dead Wings into a powerhouse.

And you're right, they never low balled Stevie Y, Lids or any of the other FA since we're part of the reason the salary cap is now in place with all of the free spending. I can't think of a single reason as to why an owner would go to such great lengths to change the entire landscape of Detroit professional hockey to play some childish bullshit games against ONE player. One player that they helped defect from shit hole Russia (at the time) and made a superstar.

If Mr. I thinks Fedorov doesn't deserve it then I'm sorry but he's earned the right in my book.

[froot loops]

Mr. I has been wrong plenty of times. He was an abomination for the first 10 years as owner of the Tigers. He was petty with Scherzer. He's wrong with Fedorov, they didn't even descend from the owners box to present him with his framed Sergei Fedorov hall of fame poster Tuesday.

And please with this help defect, he walked out of a Seattle hotel. This wasn't some James Bond stuff.

[jaadam4]

Mr. I has been wrong plenty of times. He was an abomination for the first 10 years as owner of the Tigers. He was petty with Scherzer. He's wrong with Fedorov, they didn't even descend from the owners box to present him with his framed Sergei Fedorov hall of fame poster Tuesday.

I never mentioned anything about the Tigers, I thought we were talking about the Wings..It is funny how you skipped from the shitty years of owning the Tigers to us letting Scherzer go. There was a lot of winning and free spending in between that you forgot about. They were never going to pay Max that kind of money with the already bloated payroll. At the end of those deals we'd have to commit suicide to get out of them. Look at how Verlanders deal now looks.

but again.. back to the Wings. Why would Mike Ilitich do everything in his power to build the Wings up to try to nickel and dime one of his best players. It doesn't add up

[froot loops]

They were trying to PR battle instead of trying to sign the guy.

The Scherzer thing is totally pertinent, it was the same type thing. He rightly turned down that offer and Mr. I was petulant about it to the point they never really upped the offer when it was clear the market rate was much higher. It was said Mr. I was insulted. They grossly underestimated the market and blamed the player. Nobody is saying they should have given him the contract the Nationals did but that 144 million dollar deal was low.

II'm not sure why they nicked and dined Sergei but they did, especially when he was a restricted free agent.

[jaadam4]

You're acting like the Tigers have this small market team's payroll. We're in the top 5 in all of baseball. I saw it as they tried getting Max at a home town discount and failed only to realize they couldn't afford him. The writing was on the wall, well that and you do know who Max's agent is right? Our payroll is bloated bro. Are we supposed to be paying 2 pitchers well into they're mid 30's 20-30 mil a year? That's retarded.

Getting back to hockey since this is the Wings thread, Feds left to play in Anaheim for less money. Ilitich won't retire his number for whatever reason. Fedorov is my all time favorite player behind Stevie Y but he did something to piss the old man off. Seeing those Cups being raised were because of Ilitich. He enabled our organization to do whatever it took to win and he deserves to do what he wants with the number. Maybe its just possible that he knows something you don't.

[chemiclord]

Fedorov only left for less money if you believe that the deal they shoved in front of him after practice with no representation present was a deal offered in good faith.

I do not. They made that offer knowing fully well that Fedorov wasn't going to sign anything without his agent looking it over first.

From that point on, the offers made were increasingly lower. That was NOT an accident. The Wings knew there was no way they'd be able to keep Fedorov at the price tag they were willing to pay. That 5/50 "offer" was a deliberate ploy to turn the narrative in their favor, and it worked. Fans bought it hook, line, and sinker.

[Malto Marko]

Mr. I has been wrong plenty of times. He was an abomination for the first 10 years as owner of the Tigers. He was petty with Scherzer. He's wrong with Fedorov, they didn't even descend from the owners box to present him with his framed Sergei Fedorov hall of fame poster Tuesday.

And please with this help defect, he walked out of a Seattle hotel. This wasn't some James Bond stuff.

They were trying to PR battle instead of trying to sign the guy.

The Scherzer thing is totally pertinent, it was the same type thing. He rightly turned down that offer and Mr. I was petulant about it to the point they never really upped the offer when it was clear the market rate was much higher. It was said Mr. I was insulted. They grossly underestimated the market and blamed the player. Nobody is saying they should have given him the contract the Nationals did but that 144 million dollar deal was low.

II'm not sure why they nicked and dined Sergei but they did, especially when he was a restricted free agent.

At Schurzers age, I did not see the 144 Million offer as low, particularly after what they were experiencing with Verlander.

[jaadam4]

We're starting to regurgitate the same arguments over and over which is counterproductive. My point is that there's two sides to every story.

As Lions fans we've suffered for lifetimes and are the laughingstock of the NFL and have been for generations. Mr. I took a similar joke of a team and transformed them into one of the best in the NHL. He built a winning culture and a team that's won 4 Stanley Cups, has made the playoffs for 24 straight years, won countless division / conference championships and presidents trophies.

If he thinks that strongly about a players number hanging in the rafters then i'd side with him. Players come and go but he's built a legacy and I'm certain he has more first hand knowledge about how things really went down vice reading things in the news paper or online.

[jaadam4]

At Schurzers age, I did not see the 144 Million offer as low, particularly after what they were experiencing with Verlander.

I saw it as low for what the market was going to be but I agree.. these baseball contracts for aging pitchers are insane. In the short term we lost a HUGE piece but in the long term we gained flexibility because at the end of that deal he'll be unmovable.

[jaadam4]

Speaking of the wings, they just agreed to a 7 year deal with Abdelkader. I like him and all but I'm not seeing where he's worth that type of contract. He's a good big but imo he is the recipient from playing with Zetterberg and Dats.

I understand having a long length of contract brings the yearly number down but 7 years?

[chemiclord]

We're starting to regurgitate the same arguments over and over which is counterproductive. My point is that there's two sides to every story.

As Lions fans we've suffered for lifetimes and are the laughingstock of the NFL and have been for generations. Mr. I took a similar joke of a team and transformed them into one of the best in the NHL. He built a winning culture and a team that's won 4 Stanley Cups, has made the playoffs for 24 straight years, won countless division / conference championships and presidents trophies.

If he thinks that strongly about a players number hanging in the rafters then i'd side with him. Players come and go but he's built a legacy and I'm certain he has more first hand knowledge about how things really went down vice reading things in the news paper or online.

Sure there is. And I readily acknowledge that Fedorov could have very easily been dickish during both negotiation periods and Illitch decided "Enough. You want to give me a hard time? Fine. Leave."

But that was THIRTEEN YEARS AGO. If you look at the names currently up there (and by Howe's own admission HIS departure was ALSO rather spiteful and cantankerous), there's no reason #91 shouldn't be up there, and the only reason it's not is pretty fucking petty.

Illitch (you would think) should be above that sort of childishness.

[Malto Marko]

It is true that Howe did not like the Harkness family and he had some disparaging remarks after he retired then resurrected his career.