Jiri Hudler signs and some good articles

Wings prospect Jiri Hudler, 19, has signed a three year contract with the Wings. As usual, the Wings did not announce the financial terms. Hudler, a center from the Czech Republic, was considered a steal when he was picked 58th overall in last year's draft. From what I've heard, he isn't exactly ready for the NHL because his defensive game is a little lacking. He isn't automatically on the team though. This is just a chance for Detroit to bring him over hear and for him to try out. If he's good enough, we'll see him in a Wings sweater but chances are he'll either play for the Griffins or go back to the Czech Republic for another year. It would be nice to have another rookie come up and take the place of Igor Grigorenko, the prospect that was supposed to come up this year. I hope he makes it. He just has to work on his defense. Great article from The Sporting News from a couple days ago. The writer sees the Wings as making the better decision in signing Hatcher over the Avs signing Kariya and Selanne. He bases his opinion on what happened in the playoffs this year -- defense wins championships. While the Avs' defense has gotten weaker, the Wings' has gotten stronger. With Hasek in net (hopefully), the Wings should be set to win the close games, while the Avs might find themselves playing catch up a lot. A generalization but still pretty accurate. The Avs aren't done on the market though, they still have more deals coming, I'm sure. Either way, I think the Wings probably did the smarter thing. At least some pain from losing Kariya and Selanne is going away. Another good article from The Sporting News. This one's about the Wings/Avs rivalry and how they are going for the Cup now instead of letting the new CBA coming up scare them.