stevkrause

well put...

that was my exact train of thought, I think he would be a great fit here...

I was not a fan of the Blake to Detroit trade before for one reason and one reason only - What he would cost us. Lets look at this logically, he would be a PERFECT fit for us and if anything, his injury only helps, because it means we will get him for cheap. As already said, he does not need to come in and play right away, which gives him plenty of time to heal and come on, DO NOT COMPARE HIM TO BERT - Blake will be coming off a broken leg, Bert was coming off of FREAKING SEASON ENDING BACK SURGERY - Blake will be out 6 weeks at the most and it wasn't a horrible break to start... Baring that there is some unforseen condition to his break, this move makes PERFECT sense.

great read indeed and yes, many very funny quotes

We also have several 1st rounders that will be every day guys within the next 5 years, keep that in mind... but yes, Kenny and the boys are really just that much better!

you also have to keep in mind that only 1 of those first rounders was drafted by us... Cleary was a free agent try-out... Nick is, well... Nick

for the most part, I am kinda a purist to the game and usually think the only real changes that should happen are those to get it back closer to its original form. With that said, unlike many purists, I LOVE the shootout, I hated when regular season games ended in ties and thought it was almost a waste of time - Keep in mind, this only applies to REGULAR SEASON - Playoffs are and should ALWAYS be sudden death, first goal wins. Now, in contrast to that, hockey is a TEAM game and I think it should be decided as a team game - This is where my problem with the shoot-out comes in: Deciding a team game, with an individual effort. Yet... I hate ties... so my proposal: a change in the point system awarded during the regular season. Make it based on a 4 pt per game system, with points being awarded as such: 4 pts - Regulation/Overtime win 3 pts - Shootout win 2 pts - Shootout loss 1 pt - Overtime loss 0 pts - Regulation time loss If this point system were put into place, it would award those teams that won AS A TEAM by getting the maximum amount of points Teams that fought through the 65 minutes of regulation and OT to still be tied - also walk away with at least 2 for the team effort. Teams still get 1 just for making it to OT, but this is where the extra incentive to win it AS A TEAM comes in - If you win in regulation or OT as a team, you can get more pts than just waiting and settling for the shootout I think it would make overtimes harder fought and mean more.

haha did you know he was responsible for the original cancellation of Family Guy, WWII and every MTV reality series on TV as well?

best goal of the year to date.

oops... ok, so I didn't read it close enough... just figured it was recent because it was on the first page here in January... my fault

[sarcasm]they pick two Canadian born players.[/sarcasm] in all honesty though, this is a horrible snub - Nick is having a Norris AND MVP year and is one of the best leaders in the game...

am I mis-reading something here, or did everyone else just completely gloss over the fact that the original post asked if he was an UFA NOW?!?! He is under contract and playing for the Rangers until the end of the 07-08 season... THEN he will be an UFA and I'm pretty sure he will retire or take a HUGE pay cut, as the Rangers will not be able to afford him at the price he is at with that albatross of a deal Gomez got, not to mention Jagr AND Drury's insane deals... to be honest, I don't even think they're going to be able to retain Lundqvist... I honestly see him booking for a heftier contract Keep in mind, not only Lundqvist is an UFA in 08-09 - They have a SLEW of contracts (Kasparitis, Rosival, Avery, Straka to name a few) ending and a few guys in that list will require a pay increase(some might be shipped out)...

haha, we were replying the same thing at the same time : :

I can definitely agree with this, it just kinda screws the teams that fought hard through the game and OT and then lost because of an individual effort, as a shootout, when in the old days, both teams would've gotten 1 for the tie, what about: 3 - Regulation/OT Win 2 - Shootout win 1 - Shootout loss 0 - Regulation/OT loss Then the records would just be Win-Loss-SOWin-SOLoss- I don't think that's too complicated? Now that I think about it, I actually like this a lot more... as it's a GRAND TOTAL of 3 pts awarded for a game - It's just how those 3 are given out depending on outcome

in 100% honesty, I did not know this was already a topic of conversation - do you have a link? I'd like to read it I definitely agree with it if this is the case... the only thing I had heard to this point was that discussing an adjustment to the pt system was on the BOG agenda this summer but had not heard any specifics as to what direction they were considering

WORST IDEA EVER Deciding a playoff game with a shootout is a HORRIBLE idea - I don't care about national gimmick, it would be just that a gimmick, people may tune in for a few games, but that would be it and it would DESTROY the integrity of the game :thumbdown:

agreed 100%

I could get on board with that, I just don't think the defensive teams would go for it, which is why I thought it should be drawn out... but I'd like to see that as well

We locked up Dats last year and with the mid way point almost here, how much longer do you all think it will be until a new deal is announced for Z, especially now off of the AO announcement? My guess would be that it will be done by mid Feb. and that it will be similar to Dats deal, 6-8 years at about 6-7 mil a year... in my mind, the longer the better with Z, lock him up...

haha, why not go for 30, lets lock him up until he's 60!

yes... that's why it's an extension.

Breaking up Z and Dats gives us more depth, and with the return of Holmer, of COURSE he goes to the top 2 line pairings... but with the way the Flip-Dats-Cleary line was playing, why split them up?! Furthermore, I think Holmer and Z have more chemistry than Dats and Holmer (not that Dats and Holmer don't, I just think it's stronger that way) On any note, as long as we continue to win, don't fix what isn't broken - Filppula - Datsyuk - Cleary Hudler - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Maltby - Draper - Samuelsson Kopecky - Franzen - Drake and like the good ol days - roll all 4 lines, with everyone getting at, or close to at least 10 mins We have the depth and talent to make it work, of course Z and Dats lines' are gonna get more minutes, but we can also rest them a little and get more out of them

and why's that?

oh, for sure, every so often, do some line juggling and put them together when you really need to... plus, they'll play on the PP together... they are damn fun to watch together... but it really does server the team as whole better to split them more than not

No, Sammy isn't as defensively responsible as Drake... which is why you put him with 2 of the most defensively responsible forwards in the NHL - Draper and Maltby - Plus, this line is going to get more minutes than the 4th, and as much as everyone likes to knock on Sammy, he does have more offensive punch than a few of the other guys on the roster and he IS going to get more minutes per Babs... roll the lines each at least 10 minutes, but Z and Dats lines getting 2 shifts to the other lines 1.5 shifts, getting Z and Dats line each at least 18 mins, Drapes line around 15 and Franzen's around 9-10 - obviously, these numbers get skewed depending on special teams as well... but roughly this equation