Touring the Detroit Sports Scene
The Diceman
Paul over at Kuklas Korner reports that Ken Holland was on the air and talked about his efforts to sign some of his unrestricted free agents. I just saw that Christy over at Behind the Jersey attended the NHL Draft. You can read her article here. She ended up sitting near Pavel Datsyuk’s agent.
I had noticed that two people with badges sat in front of us. Gary Greenstin, Pavel Datsyuk’s agent, sat right in front of my friend. When she asked him for advice for an aspiring sports agent, he didn’t say anything useful whatsoever.
However, Michael later said something about Sergei Fedorov and being traded back to the Wings (as a joke). Greenstin immediately turned around and asked “What about Sergei Fedorov?” Michael explained what he said and that it was a joke. I added that my friend and I were Red Wings fans and liked Fedorov. Greenstin proudly shows us his Wings’ Stanley Cup ring. He then tells me to lean forward, which I do, and he whispers into my ear that the guy sitting next to him (two seats down) is Fedorov’s father, Viktor.
Scotty Bowman then spots Greenstin, who gets up and goes down to talk to him (as seen in the poor photo above). The two talk for 5-10 minutes. Greenstin then returns to his seat and proceeds to get in what sounds like an intense discussion in Russian. I’ve never wanted to be able to speak Russian more in my life than that moment.
Bill over at Abel to Yzerman comments on the reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs approached Scotty Bowman on taking a role in their orga-NI-zation.
It’s kind of an odd thing going on in Detroit. Bowman is listed as a “consultant” with the Wings, and we won’t know any time soon just how much influence he has over draft picks, potential trades, strategy or post-game meals. But we do know this: that frigging vault of hockey knowledge is being put to some kind of positive use within our organ-I-zation. And we also know that Toronto could have stolen him away. But CEO Richard Peddie was reluctant to allow him to make the changes he wanted.
…Whatever. Stay [a] Wing Scotty. We appreciate what you bring to the table, even though we really have no idea what the hell that consists of.
Yep, you can’t argue with that. I have no idea what Bowman does either but based on his commentary for NBC Sports he seems to get paid to watch a lot of hockey and give his views on what is happening around the league. Mike Babcock has mentioned that he can always run ideas past Bowman and get his thoughts. I guess you could call him coach emeritus.
Pete over at Yzerman is God takes a look at the reported amount of Dom Hasek’s contract for next year and crunches the numbers. He debates signing either Mathieu Schneider or Danny Markov.
Holland has said 5.25M is the max for Schneider, but as you can see they can fit him at 6M, which I believe is his value and which I believe he will certainly get on the open market (maybe from the Ducks… blech). The only problem is that Schneider probably wants more than one year, but the Wings must sign him (or Markov) to a 1-yr deal to maintain flexibility for the impending Lidstrom FA and Zetterberg extension in 08.
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If the Wings go with Markov they have room for Smyth, who I estimate at 6M. They must give Markov only a 1-yr deal, however. With Markov’s, Draper’s, and Hasek’s contracts expiring in 08, it frees up 7.63M to extend Zetterberg, potentially give Lidstrom a raise (I doubt it but they have to be ready to do so if needed), and also re-sign Dan Cleary who will be a FA.
Of the two d-men Markov is the only guy you are going to have any shot at signing for one year - he’s been a one year contract guy of late and based on the reported difficulty of getting Schneider signed you can expect him to be looking for at least 2 and maybe 3 years for his next contract. Someone will pay him the money he’s looking for and will give him more than a one year deal.
In the cap world you have to take calculated risks. Guys must perform above their contract value. Use a baseball term and call it the Yashin line. Detroit has generally guessed right on their risk/reward scenarios. If the team can sign Dom and Todd Bertuzzi to reasonable contracts then that leaves them more cap room to address their defense.
Detroit Bad Boys has a roster game where you can try to guess what the team’s roster will look like for opening night next season. With Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess opting out of their his contracts it increases the degree of difficulty. Despire rumors to the contrary Antonio McDyess did not opt out of his contract. Chris Webber is also expected to decide in the near future what his plans are for next season. He’s a great fit for Flip Saunders’ offense but he can’t play any defense. And he wouldn’t exactly fit into Joe Dumars’ stated goal to make the team more athletic.
Scott over at Quo Vadimus pointed me to this article over at the Detroit Tigers Weblog that is along the lines of what I had to say regarding Andrew Miller.
I can’t help thinking back to last year when we kept hearing about how Justin Verlander had such a dramatic increase in innings. And remember how he had ot miss starts and he admitted to being fatigued? Well Verlander had those issues after a full season of [minor league] professional ball. Miller doesn’t even have that.
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…I’d like to see Miller continue to work on his change-up in the minors, where he can work on it. Jeremy bonderman was rushed to the big leagues because there was no one else, and every year we hear how he needs to work on his change-up. Now in his 4th year he finally appears to have it. Why not give Miller the time to work on it now so he can be a dominant force next year?
In his win against Atlanta he had to rely entirely on his fastball, which was obviously very, very good to him. Even with that being the case I believe he’d be better served being at the top of the rotation in the minors and working on further developing his pitches. But one of the benefits of having Dave Dombrowski runnning the show is you can’t doubt the guy. If it were Matt Millen making this type of call you’d have to fear for the worst. So while I disagree with the decision I’m willing to wait and see and admit I was wrong if Miller continues to perform well for the Tigers.
Billfer heard back from the Tigers and they said they do not have an innings limit set for Miller.
Andrew Miller Antonio McDyess Chauncey Billups Danny Markov Dominik Hasek Pistons Red Wings Tigers Todd BertuzziNo Comments
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