stevkrause

20?!?!? where'd that come from? all reports I read before were for 12... they've also had a problem paying a lot of players over there, a lot of contracts are going unpaid in full...

Which is why he shouldn't get a penny over 3.75 from us... if someone else wants to pay him more... I'd love him for that price, but could not justify paying him 4+ for those very reasons... as I said before, he's a very similar player to Stuart and thus, doesn't deserve more than Stuart...

Agreed completely... especially come trade deadline time...

Lemaire*

oh, no, no, no no... I didn't mean that we shouldn't sign anyone, I meant that we should sign a defensemen with a ton of defensive ability, who isn't necessarily a point producer, but very solid in their own end/positionally and hope E and Kindl can provide some offense from the back end - this, opposed to signing an offensively minded d-man, then go something like: Kronwall - FA signing Stuart - Rafalski Ericsson/Kindl - Lilja something like that with the mindset that Kronwall would jump up on the play a little more... As for Seidenberg, I really like his game, he plays physical and provides some points and is only 28... not too great defensively all the time, but he's got a LOT better at that in the last couple years... as long as he's paired with a smart partner, he could really flourish...

I think Lilja should be brought back, he's been amazing for us and really helped lift the D, not to mention, we can probably re-sign him for 1 mil a year - that's great for a PK specialist who plays on the 3rd pair... I just don't like Hamuis' game for Detroit's style(not a lot of tangible reasons, just gut feeling) and if Lids does retire, would rather us try and develop Kindl and Ericsson into the offensive defensemen they COULD be, while letting Kronwall and Rafalski carry the load offensively from the back for now and shoring up the actual D of the position... I agree 100% that anything more than 3.75 for Volchenkov and I wouldn't want it either... Now if Seidenberg was willing to come here for 4.5... that's a different story...

That was only a part of it... it was also for a better life for a lot of the Russians, Czech, Slovaks, etc... also, furthermore, one could EASILY argue that even without the Europeans, the NHL would still be the superior league as the Canadian and US hockey pool has become deeper and more talented... look at the perennial winners of the WJC and World Championships over the last few years... Now, if the SEL was giving money out like it was candy, with the quality of life there - THEN you might have an argument, but they are smart enough to not tank their league by getting in over their heads in debt... Your argument is flawed on so many levels... EDIT - Also, see health care... Zednik would not be alive today had he been in the KHL when the skate incident occurred and I am floored for that very reason that he went over there...

1. Because their GIANT, Moscow Dynamo just folded and majority of teams in the KHL are in the red BIG time with cost to revenue ratio 2. NHL is the best, because the best players are there. period. 3. Yes. I hate to say it, but right or wrong, defensemen that don't put up huge points, don't get 5 million + in this league Volchenkov is a very similar player to Brad Stuart, just a little better positionally and only about a year younger... I can see maybe 4 a year, but to pay him 5+ would not be worth it...

After Olympics - 22GP, 2G, 7A, 9PTS, +4 Playoffs - 6GP, 0G, 5A, 5PTS, EVEN+/- yea... horrible... Well, I agree I'd rather strengthen the D, but I don't like your options with the exception of Mitchell... there's a few other FA's I'd rather see them pursue than those listed... I'm just not sold on Hamhuis... don't know why, he's good enough, for some reason, I just don't see him working here...

yea, because he's been so bad also, those line pairings were just thrown together, I didn't give them too much thought...

I would rather they completely re-align, so all the travel is equal year-round, but I would prefer this over the current setup if they won't completely re-align

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($2.000m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) / Drew Miller ($0.800m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / Darren Helm ($1.000m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.900m) Mattias Ritola ($0.511m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Anton Volchenkov ($3.750m) Andreas Lilja ($1.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) / Chris Osgood ($1.417m) ROSTER: 23; PAYROLL: $56.024m; CAP ROOM: $1.676m BONUSES: $0.000m look a lot better to me... and it means we don't lose Ritola before even knowing what he is...

for what we need, I'd go Volchenkov if that's what it came to... Seidenberg is available and would provide more pts, but I like Volchenkov's style... I really don't see Ottawa letting him get away though... It's actually a pretty lean year for FA's as far as puck moving defensemen and most of the better one are 35+

Is this thread a joke?

no way possible, 5 mil a year untaxed, compared to 2.5 taxed, at 25 years old when you've made less than that total in your NHL career up to that point(I'm assuming you're referring to Hudler) is NOT the same as 12 mil a year compared to 8+ to stay in the best league in the world, as a 27 year old, who has already made at least 30 million through his career to this point He is still a competitor and wants to be in the NHL - he will not go to the KHL and you can quote me on that.

you and I are definitely on the same page... I'd guess he'd probably get a little raise, but nothing too significant, as he is a damn good d-man, but doesn't really add anything offensively... I'd guess anywhere from 3-4 a year?

I've said it before, I'll say it again - he's having a great year and you can't take that away from him... but it's an anomaly and he will come back down to earth...

for sure, like I said, I can DEFINITELY see the intrigue and him on Dats wing makes me happy in the pants, but our D would suffer too greatly and I can't see him taking that money anyway... too greedy

There's no way he goes to the KHL... 1. The KHL is going to fold within a few years 2. He is too competitive and wants to play in the best league in the world (NHL) 3. 8+ mil a year in the NHL > 12 mil a year in Russia

wouldn't that be nice... be better for my ticker, haha

ok... out of this stat, how many have we actually played in? they barely ever made the playoffs in the 80's and pretty much always had home ice for the last 20 years... so how many ROAD game 7's have we even played in the last 30 years? EDIT - sorry, just had to point this out... "have NEVER won since"... shouldn't it have just been "have not won since"? Never implies, well, just that, never... grammar is a pet peeve of mine, sorry for being over-analytical

I wouldn't worry about it, he was an analyst on the NHL Networks NHL on the Fly, so I'm sure it wasn't a bad thing... if anything I would guess whoever was tapped to be the analyst on the night for NHL on the Fly had something come up and Darren covered for him, thus pulling him off the VS broadcast, as they already had other analysts to fill that show...

I still think the solution is as simple as switching up the D partners *cough* as Bas did last game on several occasions *cough* Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-Rafalski Ericsson-Lilja those pairings perfectly compliment each other and maximize each guys ability the best, while still keeping the talent the most accurate as it should be between top 2, middle 2 and bottom 2 pairings...

pretty telling stats...

It's a surprise, because they're not the same teams, AT ALL, that met in the regular season...