Konnan511

Maybe I just over value them, but I follow our prospects extremely close and I feel like I know what they are/will be capable of better than most people on this board.

With first line minutes and a better center, he should challenge for the scoring lead next season.

That wouldn't be good for Atlanta. They like to be at or near the cap floor. Hudlers contract plus ButtMuffin's new contract will put them well above the cap floor, not something they like doing.

By the way, really nice clean set-up. Plus 1 for that alone.

Get well soon JQ

There is a 120% chance he does not come here. If Versteeg gets a 1st and 3rd, Boggo would get at least two first 1sts.

This is how it normally goes. Once the ISS final rankings you'll see it's about a slightly blow average draft, then in the weeks coming down to the draft people will be talking about it being an average draft. The CHL is slightly weak this year, but man, there are a lot of talented Euros this draft. Good news for the Wings with that talented Euro pool this year .

With the incredibly high price tag being thrown on players, Holland won't be making a trade unless it's for a guy no one is talking about.

I think the 02 team was the most talented, but I think the better team was the 97 team. It was roughly the same team that also won th record number of games.

Cap is projected to go up another 3mil this season due to record profits...again, so it's more likely contracts will continue to rise. This deal could be a huge steal, or a huge flop if Atlanta makes this their only big move this season/next season.

Naw. The Versteeg and Fisher trades were over payments, but not gross overpayments. Holland values draft picks as much as I do (Google his quotes regarding guarding draft picks), and I think we can all agree he is one of the top 3 GMs in the league. In a capped league, draft picks are very valuable.

Umm he's done it 3 times about to be 4 times and about to be 9 times where he's scored over 40 points... edit: nevermind, thought you were talking about Rafalski for some reason.

It really is a sellers market this season.

To me it sounds like they said no because they won't get federal help, then they said they'll build it without federal help and now they are saying the idea is dead since there is no federal help.

They had the same amount of points in the AHL, except Kindl began his AHL career at 20 in stead of Ericsson's 22. I think Kindl will be far and better than big E is now in two years.

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.

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 like Turtles!

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.

How so? My premise is that defensemen who score well get paid well. Byfuglien scores well, therefore he is getting paid well since he is on pace to score over 60+ points this season. Young players tend to improve as they approach their primes and this deal takes him to the stride of his prime. Players also tend to improve when they switch positions as they become more accustomed to it, this deal will see him ensured 6 seasons on defense. So unless I am missing something?

There were 5 guys who scored 55 or more points last season :Pronger, Boyle, Doughty, Keith, Green. There are 6 guys this season at the same pace: Yandle, Letang, Lidstrom, Byfuglien, Visnovsky, Enstrom. Guys who score a lot of points from the back end are a rare commodity. If he continues at this pace, then this price will be a steal down the road, and you'd have to imagine he'll only get better since he is still so young.

That's not really Green's fault, that is more Jobba the Dreau. Case in point, see OV.

Seems about right to me. Guys on defense who can score yah 55+ points a season tend to get paid pretty well. Plus it's his first season there as a DMan and he is only 25, he will probably be a 60-80 point defensemen in a year or two. This might be a steal in a couple years, unless they don't retain their assets and sign a couple more players for a serious playoff push.

So glad Stuart is coming back, we've sorely missed him.