Helene St. James answered some questions from the Detroit fans.

Questions are pretty obvious by her response so I will make it short and sweet.

On the goalie situation...

Jimmy Howard is under contract through next season. My sense is the organization is not sold on Coreau as a viable NHL backup, though that could change if he gets an opportunity to play some games down the stretch. More likely, the Wings look to add someone via free agency. The interesting aspect is, the free agent market likely will include Petr Mrazek. The Philadelphia Flyers have both Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth under contract through next season. Are they going to qualify Mrazek at $4 million? Seems doubtful, in which case Mrazek becomes an unrestricted free agent.

On the Wings signing a big name UFA,

My sense is they’re likelier to look for a patch player again, like they did last summer. Trevor Daley was someone they could add at a reasonable price and term who has improved their defense. They might look to add a forward this summer – I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sign Thomas Vanek, a guy who can be had for around $2 million and who’ll contribute in the 20-goal range. I know there is interest in re-signing defenseman Mike Green. At the same time, general manager Ken Holland wants there to be spots for prospects to make a grab at, such as forwards Svechnikov and Rasmussen and defenseman Dennis Cholowski. Xavier Ouellet doesn’t seem to fit into plans any longer (he has a year left on his contract, but if he’s waived most of his $1.25 million salary hit would come off the books), so there’s one potential opening.

more Q & A...