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Lidstrom was also one of the top 2 d-men of all time. You take that away from any roster and you are going to be f***ed. If you have a good D (ie. not elite D), I do think you can win if you are elite down the middle. See Pittsburgh as an example of that, wasn't Letang out when they won the cup a few years back?

Saves owners money. I count at least 2 (maybe 3) active socks right now btw.

One more year of Helm and two more years of Nielsen still means Hollands contracts are dropping off every year. You're right, the Abdelkader deal doesn't fit the timeline but nothing about that deal makes sense. It's the worst contract given to any player in the league in the last ten years at least. Call it the exception that proves the rule.

I found this on Barstool Sports. Not sure of the source.

Sure. I think it's just as tough to do it without a premier forward though. In most cases, you need both to win it all. If you know your offense can score 4-5 goals a game, that takes a lot of the pressure off your defense...

They shouldn't... Absolutely not. But, any time you lose an elite player to free agency, regardless of position, you're not going to be as good. Would St. Louis be as good if they lost O'Reilly? No. Or Perron? No. Edmonton and Toronto lack defense for sure, but they have many other holes in their roster as well. I'm not arguing that you shouldn't build a team around an elite defensive core, I'm arguing that you can build at team around an elite offensive core. But ideally you build a team with a bit of everything. Think about Tampa, with an elite center (Point), winger (Kucherov), defenseman (Hedman), and goalie (Vasilevskiy)...

In terms of immediate value and resale value, I'd probably rank the signings like this: 1. Stecher - one of the better under-the-radar D-men 5-on-5 in the western conference last year and is just coming into his own 2. Ryan - great character guy can hopefully score 20 and get rewarded for his hard work both on and off ice 3. Greiss - having a 1A/1B type that doesn't eat all the hotdogs will be huge 4. Merrill - Going to be one of the best 3rd pair D men this team has had in a long time and will get us a 2nd at the TDL 5. Namestnikov - versatile guy who could come close to a career high in points if he plays with Zadina

That's because you're an ignorant f***... It's a disease. Bobby Ryan being an alcoholic, and then having the will power to not only get the help needed to kick the habit, but get clean, takes more "character" than you'll ever have.