Derian Hatcher, Chris Chelios, and Kris Draper of the ‘not playing’ Detroit Red Wings have signed to play for the ‘very much playing’ Motor City Mechanics, an AA-Professional Hockey expansion team of the United Hockey League (UHL). They will be playing out of the Great Lakes Sports City, an arena in Frasier, Michigan, that (according to their web site) has a seating capacity of over 4,000. By comparison, Joe Lewis Arena, home of the Red Wings, holds 20,058 per game (not including standing room tickets). Getting a ticket to a Red Wings game was hard… I bet tickets to the Mechanics are going to be next to impossible to get.

Hockey fans in Detroit need their ‘hockey fix’. We love our hockey. On the other hand, some things are getting out of control. For example, according to the Detroit Free Press, instead of saying ‘Welcome to Hockeytown’, they are now saying ‘Welcome to Hockeyburg’. (Kinda lame in my opinion…)

The irony is that they are playing for a league with salary caps. Even with their ‘star’ status, they are NOT going to get NEARLY the amount of money they got from the Red Wings. They claim that it’s more than the salary caps. For some, it might be, but for others, who knows?

Some players in the UHL are upset that the Red Wings players were signed. What’s your thoughts?