Leaderboard

Olczyk is arguably one of the most biased color commentators I've ever seen in any sport. The fact that NBC sports allows him to work on a national telecast when either the Blackhawks (and to a lesser extent, the Penguins) are playing is a flat out disgrace. That said, I absolutely wish him a full and speedy recovery from this. Hoping he'll be back for me to mute soon!

You mean he would be a 3C on Pittsburgh? That I will agree with, although he'd likely play on Crosby or Malkin's wing in that situation. But no, he is not a 3C on just any Stanley Cup winning team. He ranked top 25 in points last season for all positions. That absolutely qualifies you as a top line player. He may not be elite anymore (although I'd argue that he still is borderline elite, even at the age of 36), but he's certainly not a third liner... You really don't think a single player within our organization has the ability / potential to become a top line player? We're not talking about elite here, we're talking top 90 forward in the league... I'll say it again, Tatar and Nyquist do not NEED to be moved. They're both very good secondary players on fair contracts. If we could trade one in a package to upgrade our defense, sure, but not just to dump them... Abdelkader is on an awful contract, but on a team with a handful of bad contracts, it looks a lot worse. Kronwall and Nielsen I'll agree with, and I'd add Ericsson to that list as well.

Sheahan signed a 2 year deal worth $2.075 mil a year after a season where he scored 14G and 25 points in 15:15 TOI a game at 24 years old in 81 games. Athanasiou scored 18 goals and 29 points playing 13:28 a game at 22 years old in 64 games. You're right, I'd want a lot more. 2009 he was one of the 10 best int he NHL, easy. He hasn't slipped that much. Start listing teams with 3 better forwards. I'll wait.

Not many people are defending the way Holland has managed this team over the past few seasons. Most are saying we should move on from him after this season, or at the very least, we should explore other options. The difference is, no one is stooping to your level, saying he should be dead, "sleeping with the fishes" or if he were lying in a ditch on the side of the road, you'd piss on him... That's beyond ridiculous, but whatever, people say ridiculous s*** behind their computers all the time... How do you know Holland hasn't already offered a contract in the ballpark of $2M? You don't. For all we know, Athanasiou is holding out for $3.5M, and if that's the case, Holland should be holding out. I'm not even saying Athanasiou wouldn't earn that contract. I think he's capable of earning every penny and then some. The problem is, he hasn't yet, and you don't sign such a young player with such a small sample size, to a contract based on what a player potentially could do, but rather what he has shown he can do. RFA's rarely get overpaid, and Holland is great at re-signing his RFA's. He will sign a very fair contract in the coming weeks, and you will look back on this and (hopefully) realize how ridiculous you really were acting... Not getting into the Nyquist / Tatar thing again. You refuse to admit they're good secondary players on fair contracts, so whatever...

Except by trying to be cannon fodder for a first round opponent they're not going to get the higher draft picks that typically mean better players. His 68 points was tied with Pavelski for 24th in the league, one fewer point than Ovechkin, Mathews, and Benn. This isn't the 80's where all the good scorers are up around 100 points. He'd be one of the three best forwards on any team in the league. Why in the hell would AA take a dime less than Sheahan got on his RFA deal? I sure as hell wouldn't

I didn't read this anywhere, but not shocked you jumped to this. As far as the rest goes, its just way to ridiculous to even address. You seriously sound ridiculous.

Saying nobody on our team would be a top 6 player on a Stanley cup winning team is such a weak argument, its as if they think that all top 6 players on elite teams are elite. Having an elite line, does not mean EVERY player on that line is elite. Right off the top of my head, I can think of many top 6 players on top teams that were not elite and could likely have their spot taken from Z. Richard Panik and Artem Anisimov on Chicago, Mike Fisher on Nashville, Conor Sheary on Pittsburgh etc. I'm sure I could list countless examples.

Yea that last pairing is basically two pylons with hockey sticks attached. At least Hicketts can get up and down the ice. If I was running things I'd go with Daley-Green DK-Jensen XO-Sproul/McIlrath/Russo Its not much better tho.

Sheahan signed a 2 year deal worth $950K a year after a season where he scored 9G and 24 points in 14:26 TOI a game at 22 years old in 42 games.

Depends on who his wingers are. Put him on the Caps with Ovechkin on his wing, he's the #1 center and they have a better shot at the Cup. Toews is younger, but not necessarily better. Pens have probably the best 1-2 punch at C, so he'd either be a winger or 3rd center there. TB he'd be a top line winger or #2 C. BUT you said zero top line forwards. There are no teams with 3 forwards better than Zetterberg, and damn few with 2 better than him. Since he can play both wing and center, you're wrong. Plus Mantha could be a legit top line winger if he takes a step forward. If Larkin rebounds he cold be a top line forward. Of course, a lot of the rebounding and progressing depend sin large part on coaching, and I've read nothing to suggest that Blashidiot is going to change anything, so I expect a repeat of last year with most players performing below their capabilities.

lol, I didnt realize I used it twice. I think we all know a contender he would easily be the 1C on

I was talking top 6 because of this comment by Bill. "Zetterberg is a 3C on the Stanley Cup winning teams." Either way, even if we are talking top line, Panik is listed on Chicago's top line, and Sheary is listed as being on Pittsbugh's top line.

Sounds like there's a not-so-subtle interference obstructing his colon!

Only if you ignore the botched rebuild 07-12 and them missing the playoffs for that period. Shanahan isn't really the beginning of their rebuild to me, since they've been trying to rebuild for so long before that. To me It's like saying the Edmonton rebuild started with Chiarelli and them picking up McDavid.

Anyone making a pilgrimage this year?

Since reality is setting in that the Joe is not long for this Earth, I had to fly my drone to 3d map the building so it will live on. 996 photos (around 5GB) make up this 12.02 gigapixel model. It took about 30 minutes total to capture over the course of 3 batteries. Probably somewhere around 5 miles total of flying zig zag back and forth across it to capture all angles. https://www.altizure.com/s/Sy4qAzMDZ