“If you’re that baby’s daddy, where you been at?”

There’s a nice little Treehouse of Horror reference for you Simpsons fans…

First things first — we at TPL must have gotten carried away with the cryptic tweets or something, but this can’t go unmentioned: Tomas Holmstrom has re-signed with the Red Wings for two seasons, at an insanely mild cap hit of $1.875M. Homer has routinely (read: his entire thirteen year NHL career) played for far less than he’s worth — and he will continue to do so until at least 2012 (when John Cusack and some punk-ass Mayans tell me the world will end). $1.875M for the best player on the planet at ANYTHING is a bargain — let alone the kind of job Homer does. Screening goalies, seemingly impervious to physical pain, deflecting pucks with pinpoint accuracy, and being the biggest pain in the ass on the powerplay is worth every cent of $1.875M and much, much more. Anyone who says otherwise deserves a swift kick to the nuggets.

Something I said on the podcast (more on that in a minute), if Tomas Holmstrom legitimately wanted to test free agency on July 1st — which I don’t believe for a second he would — he’d have twenty-nine offers in a matter of minutes. And every single one of those offers would be for more than $1.875M. But like he has his entire career, he came at a massive hometown discount and we’re lucky to have him and his gigantic ass back. I know Natalie‘s probably still floating…

I’m not advocating that Tomas Holmstrom be paid $5M a year — but anyone that thinks he’s “worth” less than $2M is on drugs.

Next, and far more timely, the newest edition of The Obstructed View is ready for download. I had the distinct pleasure of joining host/woodsman Chris Hollis and a first-timer to our little cabal: Sean Gentille of the Sporting News. It was awesome having a quote-unquote “outside” view on the show — putting a little perspective onto Wings Nation (since — newsflash — we get carried away sometimes). He was a consummate gentleman, incredibly knowledgeable about our game, and a blast to speak to. Here’s hoping he wants to come back in the future. Click the link to head to TOV’s page and download the audio – you’ll hear first-hand how we feel about Todd Bertuzzi’s situation (hint: I’m not a fan), Steve Yzerman’s departure and mini-raid, and Engelbert Humperdink records. And then the show ends with me admitting that I haven’t watched a single second of hockey since the Wings were eliminated.

Lastly, a bit of self-promotion here… check out TPL’s new Facebook page. There’s very little happening on it right now, but in the future, we plan to use it as a tool of some sort. Perhaps to make an announcement…

Go fan it or friend it or whatever they call it now (is it me, or do they change that kinda often?).