BringHomeTheCup!

J Willy is better. Samsonov is more skilled. J Willy is more complete, he isn't a defensive liability, and he can score. Samsonov is a defensive liability.

SHHHHH don't tell him!! Sparky had a 3.4 GPA in college, he knows what he is talking about!

You guys should do some more research on Tampa Bay. They don't have a strong following. I recall a thread earlier in the year talking about how Tampa Bay didn't sell out a single game last year. Tampa is a good team, with a lot of potential. Contraction is a bad idea. There is no addition by subtraction here. If necessary, move a few teams to Canada. You know they will be supported there.

He'd be great with Wellwood.

If you would just take a few minutes and read what was wrote before, you'd see that stats were about Thornton producing more than Samsonov. Nothing more, nothing less. I've already told you that Samsonov is indeed more skilled than J Willy, so what are you trying to prove? How does bringing stats into that 'argument' help anything? Relax Sparky, I gave that one to you. Did J Willy have anything to do with the Cup run? Not much, but the point is that his name is there, and Samsonov's isn't. Show me one season that Samsonov contributed more to his team winning the Cup that J Willy did in '02, and I'll give you this one too. But you can't because Samsonov has never won a Cup. I won't be as arrogant as many people on here are and say he never will win a Cup. But the fact still stands that he hasn't won a Cup, and I can promise you he won't win one in Chicago next year. By the looks of your posts, you must have had someone write all your papers in college. Nice job Sparky, I'll tip my hat to that. It was people like you who made it possible to finish grad school debt free. Like they say, there is a fool bron every day. To you Sparky, I send my regards. It's dinner time for me. Let's be serious here. Samsonov is 5'8" when he has his skates on while standing on Theo Fleury's shoulders.

Your'e cute. Once you realize the futility of your argument, you try to make it seem like it is me who doesn't know anything. Really, it's cute. The use of stats in the earlier argument was used to compare Thornton and Samsonov. It had nothing do to with the comparison of Samsonov and J Willy. I never said J Willy would put up bigger numbers, or that he had more talent. All I said was that he was a better player. If you choosed to see a player are being 'better' because he puts up more points, sobeit. Riddle me this, what has Samsonov proven in the playoffs? He has never won a Cup, and until last season he had never been past the second round. Do I need to remind you that J Willy has his named etched on the Silver Chalis? Lastly how'd you come up with $65? Hah, if you actually get people to pay you for your 'knowledge' I guess you are much more sly than you put off in your posts. Now hurry up Sparky, finish your dinner, it's almost bedtime.

Actually, Nashville is kind of already in 'firesale' mode. But with the Cap minimum, they won't be able to get rid of everyone...

If Nashville got a shot, I don't see why Hamilton shouldn't.

Does anyone else remember when Stevens totally destroyed Karyia in the Finals? Ok, now stop smiling. Remeber he came back that same game and scored a HUGE goal. Yeah, I guess you are right. He is soft, and can only cherry pick.

I'll give you the general idea behind re-entry waivers, which Samsonov was placed on. Any team could have picked him up for about 50% of his contract. Coincidently, that is about $150k more than J Willy makes. No GM would was willing to take that chance. Again, that says a lot about how Samsonov is viewed. Yes, Samsonov is more skilled. J Willy is better. It's just like you can be smart, but not knowledgeable. Or do I have to explain that one too? If you can't see the difference between being skilled, and being effective, maybe you should pay attention to the game. What I meant with the football remark was simply this. Football is a sport that has several positions that don't require you to be good at any other aspect of the game, or even have any in depth knowledge of the game. Place kickers, and punters are great examples. All they have to do is kick the ball. That's it. The same with baseball. They have a DH, or relief pitcher. Hockey doesn't have a position like this. The only real comparison is a fighter, and they are pretty much extinct. Evenso, to get any amount of playing time, a fighter still must be able to contribute. As far as comparing stats between J Willy and Samsonov, I fail to see your point. I've never said that J Willy put up bigger numbers, or that he was more talented. Samsonov puts up more points. But that isn't what I'm talking about. I'll give you one more example. Lang is much more talented, but Draper is a better player. I hope by now you can grasp that concept. I'm going to say this one more time, Sparky, go read the waiver rules. Then you can come back to class, and try to school me. But nice try, for a Tuesday anyhow.

Karyia would be a great addition to the Wings. I don't think that lacking size hurt the Wings at all this past year. And as long as we can maintain some nastiness on the backend, our guys up front should be ok. That being said, I think Karyia would ask for too much $$$ to play in Detroit. But I'd love to have him. Outside of the Sakic, he's got the best wrist shot in the league. I've been saying this since Hull left, we need a sniper.

Wow. Did you even bother to check out the waiver rules? You should. Then get back to me and tell me why no one picked up Samsonov. As much as everyone here hates the guy Pronger was HUGE in the Oilers run, so was J. Smith, Torres, Hemsky, Pisani, and Sykora. To put Samsonov as third in that group, well, it's just sad. In fact, just by points alone, Samsonov was 6th on the team. Add in Rolie's play, that puts him at least 7th. The simple fact that Williams was traded when Samsonov could have been picked up for free, both would have been paid nearly the same amount, says a lot about Samsonov. I won't deny that Samsonov is more skilled than Williams. But I do believe that Williams is a better player. It takes much more than skill to play this game. It isn't football or baseball. So before you make yourself look even more foolish, go read about waivers. Then apply what you learn to you Samsonov theory. BTW, yes, you did say that I said Williams is more skilled Samsonov. That's exactly what you claimed I said. Check out your own post there Sparky.

Let's not forget Pro Beach Hockey. That was some pretty intense stuff there.

Since the sale of the Preds won't go through until after June 30th the current owner will be on the hook for next seasons payroll. The minimum will be around $33. That is what they are shooting for. I'm sure Mr. Balli has no problem with that either. It will ensure that the attendance won't rise above 14,000 average. The Preds are as good as gone. Speaking of Mr. Karyia, he won't be back. Personally, I'd think he be a good fit here. He has a great shot that would compliment playing with either of the Eurotwins. He is small, but he is also very quick. He is a gamebreaker. I don't think he will end up here. Watch out in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, I can read. This is what I want you to do. Just a small favor. Go look up the waiver rules. You'll notice that Samsonov not only could have been had for nothing, but also at a fraction of the cost. Samsonov's 'fat' contract had NOTHING to do with every GM passing on him. Show me where I said that J Willy is 'more skilled' than Samsonov? Seriously, show me. You can't becuse I didn't say that. Maybe it's you who can't read....

I just don't get you Samsonov fans. What has he ever done? He is a decent third line guy, maybe a second line guy every now and again. He isn't snything special. He is the sterotypical lazy russian player. As I recall, Thornton and Samsonov didn't actually play together much from 99-04. But when they did, they both did benifit from it. But look at what Joey can do when he has guys that can score. He is an assit machine, a true playmaker. And just a sidenote, those stats are a little bias. Evenso, taking your numbers, when Joe and Sergei played together Joe's PPG went up about a half a point, while Sergei's went up about two tenths of a point. Obviouly it wasn't Samsonov doing anything different. It was Joe. Looking at the stats a little closer, Thornton actually had a better GPG than Samsonov both while playing with and without him. When Joe Thornton puts more pucks in the net than you do on a consistant basis, are you really a goal scorer?

That's funny. If Samsonov is so much more highly regarded than J Willy, why did EVERY GM pass on Samsonov twice last season? And why was there only 1 GM interested in him in the offseason? J Willy isn't a great player, but at least he shows up. If it's not on the score sheet, it's in his physcial game. I'm not saying GM's were lining up to get him, but I remember several occasions which Kenny talked about moving him.

The description 'Devilsih' was meant to shed light on how the Devils changed the game with their style of play. And yes, the icing rule was changed after the lockout. However, what I was suggesting is to make it more liberal. There are still too many icings in the game. That is a huge flow killer. The way things differ between your suggestion and mine, is that I would not change the layout of the ice. You want to drasticly change it. Those type of changes aren't what is going to get things done. They will, however, turn hockey into a circus sport just like Arena Football is. I don't think your suggestion would result in faster games, or more scoring. In fact, I think it would result in the exact opposite. You woul have teams sitting back and waiting. Why press a defender into making a play, when you can shorten up the ice simply by letting him skate it up? You would never see hard forechecking, all it would take to beat that is one quick side to side pass. Then boom, add in the long bomb pass, and you have an odd man rush. I think the only real solution is to just leave the offsides rule as is. The tag up offsides has proved to be the best possible method. It works, leave it alone. Maybe coaches should stress staying on side more. That would reduce the number of whistles.

In the intrest of time, I here is the offical list of players who weren't influenced by Yzerman: Players Who Weren't Influenced by Steve Yzerman:

The trap teams would morph the trap into an even more boring game. You would see a harsh decline in forechecking from these teams. Instead, they would just sit back and wait to attack, say until the opposition has passed the blue line. They would still clog up the middle, and they would still play a very 'Devilish' style of hockey. What the NHL should look at is this. Be more liberal with waiving off icings. Encourage long passes. Maybe something like as long as the player is past his own blueline, and the pass is within a reasonable distance, the icing is waived off. Maybe even throw in if that player can cross the opposing blue line before the puck crosses the goal line, icing is waived off. The point is there are so many more viable options than trying to change the line format, or offsides. Offsides is an intergal part of the game. Don't try to change it. It's fine how it is. Bettman finally caved to the pressure and brought back the tag up rule, that's plenty.

If Samsonov was so good before Thornton, then why was he taken AFTER Thornton in the draft? Winning the Calder doesn't mean jack. Jim Carey won the Vezina, where is he now? Look at the stats, they don't lie. BTW, it has been 10 years since Thornton and Samsonov came into the league, but only 9 seasons. Thornton averages 73 points per season to Samsonov's 46. The reason why Thornton didn't do much with Samsonov is because Samsonov isn't that great. He isn't a goal scorer. Thornton is a playmaker, and he needed to get a true first line winger to play with. He got that in San Jose. To even thing that Samsonov is half the player that Joey is, well, that's just carzy to put it tactfully. I've said it before, Samsonov is a decent player. No way is he worth $3.5, I don't think he is really worth $1.5 but that's just me. One last thing, when has Samsonov broken 100 pts? For that matter, when has he hit 55 points without Thornton? Samsonov is a good player when he is surrounded by better players. He can't do it by himself. He isn't that good.

It isn't because he only had one bad season. It's that he's only had 2 seasons worth talking about. And you are wrong about NHL GM's taking Samsonov of WIlly. There wasn't a single GM who wanted to pick up Samsonov for FREE last season. This was merely salary moving for both teams. Chicago made the move because they had some dead weight to get ride of, and there is a slight chance Samsonov could put up 50 or so points. BTW, he averages 45 points per season over his career. Montreal obviously just wanted to reduce it's cap hit. Open your eyes, Samsonov hasn't ever been a legit first liner.

It's hard for me to discern which is the worst idea on that list, #5 or #9. How could you tell players they can't use one-piece sticks? They don't pose any threat to players, possibly the goaltenders, but lets be serious, those guys are nuts anyhow. If anything these sticks increase scoring by allowing a player with an average shot to have a good shot, and a player with a good shot to have a great shot. Are they as reliable as wood? No. But they are also much more dymanic than wood. Does Al Strachan really think that these sticks increase the number of blocked shots? That is insane. I won't argue that these sticks make it more diffucult to handle the puck if the player using it doesn't have 'soft hands'. However, in that case, maybe it's the players fault. I could see maybe an extra shot being blocked every couple of games because of this, but it isn't directly the sticks fault, it's the player not being able to properly use the equipment. So why should Lidstrom not be allowed to use the stick beacuse Laraque isn't good enough to use it? Bad idea. And the nets. Do I really need to say anything here? Hey, I've got an idea, why don't we just get rid of the offsides rule while we are at it? I've said this before, I'd pull for a dual-commish Orr and Howe. And did you mean Burke could one day be commish?

This is a terrible idea. It wouldn't force trap teams into anything. I think it would actually play more into the traps teams game. It would just give them one more excuse to run the 1-2-2, and wait for mistakes. Has anyone ever watched Rick Nash play when the Jackets are on the PP? He sits with one foot on the blueline, and one foot inside the zone, just waiting for a long bomb. It doesn' work much. But this is what you can count on if you take out offsides. One thing you can garuntee is a lot less 'flow' to games, and a lot more long, usless passes.

Yeah, Sergei Samsonov is probably the best player to come out of Russia. Let's get serious here. He has never, in a PROFESSIONAL league, put up more than 75 points. Never put up 30 goals. Never put up 50 assists. I find it astonishing how overrated this guy is. He has never done anything overly impressive. EVER. Does he have the talent to make an impact in the NHL? Sure. But he is coming from one team that is offensively troubled to another. He isn't the playmaking center that the Hawks need to play with Havlat. He probably won't play with Havlat. Look at the two seasons that Samsonov put up decent numbers in the NHL, 2000-2002. He played with Thornton, playing with Thornton, I could pot 20 goals. Seriously though, if Samsonov is such a goalscoring threat, they why didn't Thornton have more assits while playing with Samsonov? The answer is that Samsonov isn't that much of a threat. As evident by Thorntons numbers when he went to San Jose and played with guys who can put the puck in the net. Chicago doesn't have anyone to play with Samsonov. He won't be any more effective there than he was in Montreal. I'd be more worried abotu J. Willy. Please, stop this Samsonov lovetrain before it starts. HE ISN't THAT GOOD!!