This in my mind means the team is going to fail for another two years. At least that will be it.

And think how easy it will be to cover for the dead cap space of nearly $2 million when TB retires after the first year because of injuries, since at the same time Lidstrom won't be coming back, either!

//bangs head against concrete overpass

Bertuzzi could suck balls this year, but as long as he stays healthy, I don't see why a repeat of last year is possible. Plus, if he does go on IR, his salary doesn't count against the cap, so it would not be all bad. The risk is there, but with any player over 35 there's a risk. Very few players at Bertuzzi's age come with no issues; maybe it's better to go with the devil you know than the one you don't.

Bert was here before, but it just wasn't quite right. Now he's got a chance to make up for it.

(side note: as a younger sibling, I love this analogy, but my older sister doesn't seem to appreciate it quite as much).

I'm just saying there are other options for lines… I mean, breakfast.

I had resigned myself to the original plan – the 2 years at a $1.5 million cap hit. Even though I hoped it wouldn't happen, I expected it to happen. But the raise? Aside from hating it on principle, we're talking about a 35-year-old with a history of injuries and inconsistency. And the extra money going to him isn't there to give someone else, which may cost us. If we lose someone this summer (like Lilja), or can't call someone up during the season (as happened last year), due to lack of cap space that we essentially bid against ourselves to waste, I for one won't be happy about it.

As for the rest of it, there are few things less interesting to me personally than number crunching, so I am really more than happy to let you all do it.

I gotta say, I had a good thing going with my fakeboyfriend (Drew Miller, for those who haven't been following along), but if he leaves, it's going to be splits-ville. I don't do LDR. Not even fakeLDR. Bummer. In reality, if we lose Miller, I count that's a loss for the team. He did a good job for us this last season. But Fakeboyfriend is clearly < Abbie/Helmer/Eavester Bunneh.

And further bummer that I won't be able to point to the Red Wings as a whole and be like, ONE OF THEM REALLY, REALLY WANTS TO DO ME, if Lills does leave. My fangirl puck-bunny cred totes drops down a level. Annnnnd, I dunno. I think Lills is from the "My brains got rattled and now I'm suddenly better at hockey camp" with Mule, but pre-concussion Lilja was always scary. The idea of an Ericsson/Kindl defense pairing scares the crap out of me though. Maybe we can knock each of them upside the head good and hard…

I also still want Lilja back, because Ericsson-Kindl as our third pair kind of scares me. But, hopefully Big Rig just went through a goaltender's sophomore slump and he'll be that guy we all saw in the playoffs two years ago.

I'm getting slowly convinced that Bert's cap hit is where a guy who brings what Bert does is worth, but my guts don't feel right. He's riskier than banging a hooker without a condom.