Panic! At The Joe

A lot of people are pretty concerned about the way things have gone since July 1. I figure the Wings have upgraded at D (Rafalski better than Schneider, Lilja/Quincey cheaper than Markov), and at the forward position they've lost the three forwards who did the least for them in Lang, Calder, and Bert. Bert's loss hurts because he could potentially have been a force next year, but those three will be replaced by (assuming no other moves) Igor Grigorenko, Jiri Hudler, and Tomas Kopecky. If those guys do pretty much anything, the Wings will be fine, and can go out and grab whomever at the deadline. I think people are underestimating how huge a move it was for the Wings to get rid of Robert Lang. We are 1000 times better for it.

But if the Wings really want to go out and grab a FA power forward? How about Jason Allison? He could center the second line if you want to keep Pavs and Hank together, but better yet he could center Huds and Grigorenko. Or you could move him to wing and have him essentially replace Bertuzzi. I mean he's no mauler but he's big. Risky, but likely cheap. Just a thought.

Nervousness is also building about Hasek. I'm still unconcerned, especially cause the Wings have the cap room to overpay if they have to. Just sign him. The Toronto Sun, via George Malik suggests the Wings go after Andrew Raycroft via trade if Hasek doesn't return. Wow. I think I'd rather go for Ed Belfour. And I think I'd rather kill myself than go for Ed Belfour.

Oh yeah, and this.