So-So Secondary Scoring? Sammy Sucks? Some Say Swedes Seek Sundin, I Say Sign Selanne

Glee! Wings game!
Sadness. It's on NHL Network, so no Center Ice Online.
Glee! There's a Yahoo feed!
Sadness. It doesn't work.
Slightly less sadness. WXYT.

Well in lieu of watching the Wings, how about some wild speculation. The other day I suggested Sammy has not been pulling his weight, and whether you buy that or not there's no doubt the Wings need some scoring help for the playoffs. The Wings are well-suited to load up for the postseason, with ~5M in cap-room or so. At the deadline, that's 20M in July 1 salaries. Wow! The Wings could add a top scorer, a physical d-man, and a goalie if Hasek suffers a groin-catastrophe before then.

(Bah! 2-2.)

But the problem here is that, the Wings don't just need space for these guys, they need to trade for them as well. As amazing as Sundin would be, what do we trade for him? I mean a first, sure, and then... what? Kindl? Would that be enough? A couple more picks and minor prospects? The Wings' cupboard isn't bare when it comes to prospects but we don't have enough to acquire 20M worth of talent.

(Yes! Homer!)

So how do you stock up without blowing the future? How about Teemu Selanne? With the return of Niedermayer, the Ducks have just 1.9M left, my guess is not enough for a guy who scored a ridiculous 48 goals last year, to say nothing of the fact that they traded his former linemate. Wikipedia reports he was waiting for the birth of his fourth kid to announce whether he'd come back, but the same article reports the kid was born on December 7th.

So here's what you do, Kenny: contact Selanne, offer him more than the Ducks can: 2.5M for a half-season, a spot with the Cup favorites, a young Finnish protege for a linemate, and did I mention the best opportunity to win another cup. You let him think it over until after the Christmas-roster freeze. Then of course he says yes to a 5M deal, which is pro-rated to a 2.5M cap hit since he's coming in at the halfway point. By making an acquisition at the halfway point instead of the deadline you eat a lot more salary, but you still leave yourself nearly 3M, and avoid dishing out any prospects, picks, or young players , all the while getting the most potent scorer available on the market, free agent or trade or otherwise.

(Yes! Cleary! And how about Kronwall getting going here. I like it.)

Sure enough as I'm talking about how much the secondary scoring needs a boost, Cleary scores from Kronwall and Sammy. Hudler's got a goal too. Well, the point remains that Selanne would make a badass acquisition. Check out these lines:

Hank-Pavs-Homer
Hudler-Fil-Selanne
Cleary-Franzen-Sammy/Kopecky
Drake/Kopecky-Draper-Malts

Tell me that's not an imposing lineup. And still enough to make one more move... hey, Danny Markov would be another great, for-free acquisition, huh? How about two acquisitions to put us over the top without giving up a thing?