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Am I the only one bothered by the fact that Bleacher Report is just a giant collection of amateur blogs? Legitimate (if you can still even call them that...) are bad enough, but some of the blogs on that site are just dripping with stupidity; armchair drivel at its best. I'm fine with the idea of people having a blog and a voice, but I think it gets fuzzy when they start trying to pass themselves off as proper journalists when they blatantly are not beholden to the same standards of integrity and accuracy.

Were they paying for him by the pound or what?

I'm with you; I used to read Bleacher Report "articles" now and again, but stopped when I realized I pretty much had to rant at the stupidity of the authors after almost everything I read on there. There are hidden gems, but frankly most of the crap over there is just that: crap.

I wouldn't mind adding one solid d-man as long as we don't have to give up too much. Would be nice to have some more insurance in case of injury. And to me, Kindl is far from insurance.

Pulkkinen scored yesterday his 16th goal of the season in 5-2 loss against JYP. http://www.nelonen.fi/ohjelmat/sm-liiga/etusivu?vt=video&vid=128030 Pulk's goal at 1:25. His stats so far: 46gp 16g 26a 42p 14pim +15 10pp 3gw 207s 16:20 TOI/G He leads rookie scoring and is 8th in overall scoring.

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I like the Canucks, they are like Red Wings lite.

20-30 points and a defensive liability gets you a 2nd rounder??? Ottawa got away with murder in this one. Again, I'm glad Holland is our GM and doesn't make these deals. He'll get the guy that no one is talking about for super cheap.

If Saku Koivu would've stayed captain longer in Montreal, i'd put him here. Yzerman without a doubt Stevens without a doubt (he may not have been a scoring leader, but by god if he couldn't hit somebody) Messier gets some credit for winning with the oilers post gretz and then ending the Rags 53 year drought. Beliveau without a doubt. Always thought Arnott and Langenbrunner were decent, maybe not top 5 but sure up there. And lest we forget, Brendan Shanahan was the captain for the Hartford Whalers when we picked him up.

Except at the time when Rafalski signed that contract it was considered by EVERYONE to be a massive hometown discount. And he is still a DMan that will get you 50 points and a +20, which is worth every penny, no matter how many people blindly complain about him. You can't be that terrible at defense with such large +/- totals compared to everyone else on the team, not to mention if you wouldn't want a 50 point +20 player on your team, you're crazy. Rafalski is worth his paycheck, he's just not a bargain like he use to.

I knew I forgot to add something! There are 21 NHL Defensmen that make 5mil or more. You have guys like Campbell, Bouwmeester, Phaneuf, Redden, Timonen who are all making over 6mil a season and aren't close to being worth that kind of money. Then you have guys like Hamrlik, Gonchar, Souray, Rozsival, martin etc that are all making 5mil or more and are truly over paid. So when it comes down to it, if Byfuglien keeps up his pace, or exceeds it, he's not anywhere close to being over paid. Atlanta gets to the Salary Floor, Byfuglien gets paid, and the fan of the Thrasers get his franchise DMan all for around 5mil a season.

Long read.... http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=552681

It might be an overpayment for a team with some history, but for a team just struggling to put butts in the seats and barely making the cap floor... they have to pay SOMEONE... I think they're just greatful to actually be keeping a player they can market to their fans as a face for the franchise

Call me crazy, but I think all this Messier talk as being such a great leader is a little overrated. I don't think he'd be in the conversation if the 1994 Rangers didn't win. There's to much attention on one year. Just my opinion.

EXACTLY!!! Yes, the core of Marios message was true... BUT, it was obviously just Mario whining and crying because things didn't go his way, like he has done his whole career, and now taught his little protege to do as well. Not him actually caring about the league or other players. Mario doesn't really give a s*** at all. As was pointed out before, HIS TEAM is the leader in both penalty minutes AND fighting. He has never said anything about that. HIS TEAM pays the dirtiest player in the NHL to go out game after game with one goal; injure other players. He doesn't say s*** about that or condemn that kind of play either. He could be expressing ways to change the game for the positive, with his influential voice, in league meetings. But nope... Mario doesn't give a s***, and doesn't even attend those. But now that his boys got their ass handed to them for once, NOW he is all up in arms and pretending to care about the league and other players... Lets call it what it is. Hypocritical bulls***.

He's trying to get the band back together

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I just hate how most of the talking heads in the media are once again toeing the company line (and yes, even though Lemieux was supposedly speaking against the league, all he was doing was bitching about the league not protecting his little ***** boys - do you honestly think he gives a s*** about Marc Savard or Alexander Ovechkin or anyone else in the league that isn't a Penguin?) and are slobbering all over themselves trying to agree with Lemieux. Even on ESPN yesterday (is the show "Around the Horn" or something?), 3 of the 4 guys were all "Lemieux's the best! Whatever he says is right! This is a tragedy, a tragedy!!!". If Lemieux wants to take his puck and go home, let him. Let him go and take Crosby with him. The league's better off without their whining, entitled attitudes.

As I said on the last page, the actions taken by Martin aren't as dangerous as the actions taken by Cooke. Gillies hit was very similar to Godard's hit, and I don't think the ensuing 'fight' (jumping) was the cause of the concussion. Why does it matter that Cooke is a 35-point player? I don't know why fans, let alone the league, believe that points are important when it comes to discipline. IMO you compare incidents based on the severity of the rule broken only, not on who the player is.

Cooke is obviously the biggest agitator this league has seen in a while. He definitely walks that line, but I mean Marc Savard's career is basically over because of the hit (Whether it was legal or not is debatable). The thing is, Cooke has repeatedly proved that he's got no respect for the league's other players. It's one thing to hit hard and finish your checks every time and get in everyone's face, but it's another thing to take knees out and deliberately attempt to seriously injure someone. As far as Gillies goes, the hit was obviously an elbow, but I don't think Tangradi was innocent. He must have said something or went after someone, because Gillies was really letting him hear it. Not jutifying what Gillies did, but I don't think Tangradi was completely innocent.

His comments may have been about this specific type of game, but they were also about player safety and the integrity of the game so, yes, employing Cooke is absolutely relevant. And Cooke is much worse than any of those other current players you listed. He has a career full of incidents where he deliberately tries to injure players. We're not talking about a Bertuzzi moment, or a questionable hit or two. He's done it over and over and over. It's not just that he plays for the Pens (though now more people are probably exposed to what a dirty player he is). He was a famous knee on knee artist in Vancouver. And honestly, I don't hate the Pens, or Mario, or even Crosby (shocking on this forum, I know). But overall Mario comes off like a drama queen for threatening to leave the league. And when you re-sign Cooke, it's going to taint the message when you're lecturing the league on how they should protect players.

Versteeg's gotta be a happy camper.

Flyers are scary. Good move by the Leafs, they need all the picks they can get.

The worst part about that post isn't even the trade proposal...it's that you could bring in Jack Johnson to "replace Lidstrom when he retires" Are you ******* kidding me?

I have mixed feelings about this. Rafalski is an upgrade from Schneider, IMO. Hes got great offensive skills, but great defensive skills too. He thinks the game like Lidstrom does, hes younger than Schneider, and hes less injury prone as well. Hes put up big points in NJ on a defensive minded team and will definitely benefit from playing with Schneider on the PP. All those are a plus. The length? Its easy to see why Detroit signed him to a 5 year contract. Lidstrom is no Chelios, and its very possible that he retires after this season, especially if we win the cup. Having Rafalski here for 5 years gives Detroit a lot of insurance. And BEFORE everyone freaks out about the 6M per price tag, keep in mind two things: Defenseman in the new cap era are continually overpaid, and should the cap number continue to rise, the price of Defenseman will too. 6M may look more like 5M next year. On top of all this, Rafalski is a champion. A guy that loves to win. Thats always a great thing to have on your team. However, this signing makes me a little concerned about the physicality on the blueline. Hopefully that will be addressed.