The Detroit Red Wings announced today that the club has signed free agent forward Jason Williams to...

The Detroit Red Wings announced today that the club has signed free agent forward Jason Williams to a one-year contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Williams, 28, was originally signed by Detroit as a free agent on September 18, 2000. In 233 games with the Red Wings between 2000-01 and 2006-07, he posted 49 goals and 67 assists for 116 points. The London, Ontario native enjoyed his best season as a professional with Detroit in 2005-06, finishing with career highs in goals (21), assists (37) and points (58).

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7 months ago James Mirtle 12 comments 0 recs |

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Williams and Eaves both? Seems like they are banking on one of the two being just as capable as Hudler upon his return.

by hallock on Aug 6, 2009 2:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I heard Jimmy Delvanno say that this was the summer that the cap caught up to the Red Wings. They lost a lot of goals in Hossa, Hudler, and Samuelsson, and they’ll be relying on one or two guys like Leino, Williams, and Eaves to hit 20 goals to help make up for that loss.

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by saskhab on Aug 6, 2009 3:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The wings lost what? 80 or 90 goals with the guys they lost? If they can do 40 or 50 with the newer guys this year Helm/Leino/Williams/Eaves/Abdelkader and don’t struggle defensively like they did, they’ll be fine. That being said, the cap did catch up with them a little bit. Not as deep, but still not worried

by detroitnick on Aug 6, 2009 3:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not as deep up front but with Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericcson, Lebda, Meech and maybe Lilja still should have the best group of defenders in the league from top to bottom.

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by Hooks Orpik on Aug 6, 2009 3:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They won’t be able to afford as many goaltending issues this year as they had for most of last year, as they’ve also taken a hit at that position in terms of depth (and Ozzie ain’t getting any younger).

It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the changes. They had a few of these coming out of the lockout and responded very well… and actually after 2005-06 they made further changes. Filpulla will be a key player this year for Detroit for the first time in his career, that’s for sure.

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by saskhab on Aug 6, 2009 3:46 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s the key point in my mind: Osgood can’t be Osbad for so much of the regular season or they’re in trouble.

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by James Mirtle on Aug 6, 2009 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Osgood is truly an enigma

Miserable (for the most part) regular season and then got some conn smythe mention (I’m not saying he necessarily deserved it) I’m inclined to believe that last year’s regular season was an exception. He’s no Brodeur, but he’s not Cloutier either

by detroitnick on Aug 6, 2009 5:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Wings don’t need him to be Brodeur in order to have success, but considering the offensive losses of this summer and the aging of Lidstrom, they can’t really afford for him to be Cloutier either…

by Habs on Aug 6, 2009 5:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m a bit surprised at this move, but Holland is still talking to free agents. He needs a big forward. They’ve lost too much size up front and haven’t brought any size in. (Abdelkader is slated to start at Grand Rapids).

He’s got a bit of cap space (and he’s going to have more with Lilja most likely going on Long Term Injured Reserve). However, he needs to save some cap space just in case Howard doesn’t pan out as a backup goalie.

by skatehack on Aug 6, 2009 4:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

bad season last year, but I think his career speaks for itself. Could he be on the decline? sure, but the organization can deal with his .85 save percentage and howard’s .87 when and if it happens

by detroitnick on Aug 6, 2009 6:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

whoops, that was supossed to be a response to Habs up there

by detroitnick on Aug 6, 2009 6:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is the Williams that Raffi Torres knocked into next century, right? I know Raffi earned a rep as a headhunter for that, but he was never the same after it, either. I think he honestly felt horrible over it.

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by Doogie2K on Aug 7, 2009 12:40 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs