Valid points, but if they Wings were smart, they'd grab a younger, yet veteran player to replace Rafalski. Lidstrom may be nearly done, but he's still tons better than pretty much anyone else on any given night. I didn't see Joey Mac as that great. He won a couple and lost a couple and didn't look good in the losses. Maybe he'll be better this year after seeing some NHL ice time. They have another goalie in the system but I can't remember his name.
They need defensemen who can deliver the puck out of their own zone instead of making stupid passes that get picked off. We have a couple of players who tend to think about sending the puck down for a odd man rush or something.
Free Press is talking about singing Jaromir Jagr. I'm not a fan. He's been in the KHL for a couple of years and he's getting old. We need to get the young guys in the system playing. It was forward roullette for most of this season as it is.
I agree Jagr would be a terrible sign. Speed is what we need, experience we have. I also agree that there are plenty of young guys in the system ready to move up, although signing another forward wouldn't be a bad idea. I've heard of Brooks Laich, Nicholay Zherdev, and Curtis Glencross as possibilities. As far as, forward roulette, we both know that was because of injuries not because of inconsistency (Hudler aside).
Now defense we definitely need. Speaking of people who turn the puck over too much let Ericsson and Salei go and while they're at it trade Stuart, I'll never forgive him for what he did against the Pens. Now the list of possibilites for defensive signings is pretty much everyone in the league. There's Shea Webber, Thomas Kaberle, Christian Ehrhoff, Kevin Bieksa, Ian White, Joni Pitkanen, James Wisniewski, Andy Greene, and Grant Clitsome. Did I miss anyone? I'd love to see Webber but I doubt he leaves so I'm hoping we get Wisniewski and one other, maybe White.
The other goalie is Thomas McCollum, he gave 3 goals on 8 shots in his only appearance this season, and I actually like Joey Mac. I think he will do fine if they resign him. His save % was actually better than Howie this year and despite a couple of bad games I thought he played pretty solid in spelling Howard. Of course they would have to resign him or else they need to find another backup because neither McCollum nor Jordan Pearce are ready for the NHL.
I'm looking forward to see what Kenny has in store this off season. Like I said before, he has money to spend unlike last year. I think next year's team will be better than this year's and I think the Wings make a run at a Cup to cap Lidstrom's career (which means I think he's coming back).