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Originally Posted by cwolfson Superstarov, you seem pretty up on the Wings. If they didn't sign Balfour, and ended up going with Osgood, Liv and/or Howard (doesn't seem likely), what sort of prospects are Liv and Howard? Liv backstopped the Swedish gold medal team, so he must have some talent, as well as some big time experience, plus a connection to the Wings Swedish contingent. Could he be a rookie sleeper for the Wings? |
Well... he
WAS on the Swedish olympic team... but as far as I know he wasn't in a jersey at game time. He was the 3rd goalie, with 2 NHL goaltenders ahead of him, Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) and Mikael Tellqvist (Toronto). Both of those guys had pretty good seasons, and Tellqvist is part of the reason Belfour is unemployed.
If they weren't to sign Belfour, I would be suprised if they didn't make another move. Regardless of how deep the Wings are in the organization, they seem to have real problems trusting goalies that they've groomed. The last goalie they drafted who played significant minutes for the Wings was Osgood.
We've got 5 goalies in the depth chart that have proven to be or have been rumored to be NHL calibre: Osgood, Howard, MacDonald, Liv, and MacIntyre. I've heard grumblings of the last 4 being ready to contibute, but have also heard the Wings already making excuses as to why none of them will see much ice time this year.
Apparently from what I've read today, Belfour has began looking at other teams now, as negotiations between he and the Wings have stalled.
That means, in my opinion, that the Wings are going to end up trading for a goaltender. While I like the names being bantered about, I'm nervous about what we'd have to give up, as well as the cap (that darn cap).
Evgeni Nabokov - San Jose - 4yrs $21.5mil - 35 Playoff Games
Vesa Toskala - San Jose - 2yrs $684,000 - 11 Playoff Games
Martin Biron - Buffalo - 1yr $2.128mil - 0 Playoff Games
J.S. Giguere - Anaheim - ?yrs $3.99mil - 27 Playoff Games
Personally, I would prefer that they go after Toskala. He played well this past playoffs, and he is affordable.
The Wings did sign Kopecky to a 1yr, $450,000 contract. Now they have Hudler and Bootland left, both of those guys have to make the team or they go to waivers.