Signing Stamkos won't make our defensive woes any better.

No it wont, but this is more realistic than Holland making a huge trade, he does not make huge trades, and there are No UFA defense that will really make our team dramatically better. Datsyuk leaving also needs to be replaced

Agree with you on the Datsyuk contract 100%. If the Yotes don't actually have to pay the cold hard cash why wouldn't they upgrade a draft pick?

Totally goes against Kenny's M.O. but they have to think about biting the bullet and buying out Big E's contract or see how iron clad his Modified NTC is, he is not terrible as a player but that contract clogs up the roster. Bad contract all around.

Can someone please explain this to me because im still hazy:

If a player retires of his own accord not of injury, the cap hit remains with the team regardless but the salary they pay him is not paid out anyway? For some reason i was under the impression if a player with a over 35 contract retires, the team still needs to pay him? As well as account for the cap hit. In this case, if Datsyuk retires and is traded to Arizona, woulnd't they cash strapped Coyotes still need to spend money on an asset that won't play for them? Sure you upgrade a draft pick but if your not one of the bigger clubs in the league does your owner want to pay salary for nothing? in this case millions of dollars?

Also if a player retires due to injuries for example Pronger, Clowe, Savard etc, if they are traded does the team they're traded from have to pay the salary or does the new team have to pay his salary as well as take on the cap hit ? (But has the ability to put his cap hit on LTIR thus removing the cap hit from the team)

Thanks

The scenario that I have heard is the contract is traded, Coyotes and Datsyuk mutually agree to void the contract thus allowing him to play in the KHL. If he retires neither team is paying any actual cash just the cap hit stays around, the Wings can terminate the contract as well but they would keep the cap hit, if they decided not the terminate the contract the cap hit stays but again no money is paid out. Long story, no one has to pay any actual money in any scenario if he decides to leave but someone has to terminate the contract for him to play in the KHL.

this is correct, the wings or yotes (if accepting a trade) will pay 0 actual hard dollars out, but they will have 7.5 on the cap

technically pronger didnt retire, hes a LTIR player, meaning his cap does NOT count on the cap, but he DOES get paid, which is why he wasnt traded until the amount the yotes would owe him was LESS than the cap hit, its an odd thing doing a trade like that, but Franzen may be similar when his front loaded contract changes from paying a lot to paying very little, he counts against the cap 0 but hes still getting paid regardless, the wings wouldnt ever need to trade franzen because they have the $ to pay him, they are more concerned with cap hit

I think Jagr is living the dream in South Florida. Being that he is about to retire, no need to come to Detroit for a season and go back to Florida after. I see him staying put. That's also a lot of money to put into back up goalies. I see Detroit attempting to move one of them by the draft.