stevkrause

He participated in our camp last fall and is friends with Babs... he could prob make as much $$ as an asst here as he could as a head in another town and who knows, maybe his ego isn't as important as winning to him...

DAMNIT! there goes my chance...

I personally wanted that all along, but MacClean seems to prefer to coach the O, so I don't think they'll move him when he's happy... however, I would be all for it (Gallant for O, hmm, hmmmmmm?)

I agree, I want to scream it from the mountaintops right now... I feel like I need to run through the streets screaming "McCrimmon is gone" and hugging random strangers...

Lids will never be a coach, he's even gone on record of stating that it's not something that interests him after playing... he's a front office type if anything...

I could DEFINITELY get on board with that... Hitch is a hell of a coach and Babs and he are friends, so........

think of the points on the PP too... I can't emphasize how much I want Bieksa in the Winged Wheel...

I would LOVE Bieksa with the Wings Lidstrom-Bieksa Kronwall-Rafalski Kindl-Stuart yes please. Same here!

I know I said I was out of here until the draft, but this was too big to ignore.... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Long overdue in my mind, so far, this is the perfect beginning to the off-season!

There really should be some sort of rule in place where a player can only be on LTIR for a designated period of time and after that, they have to be eligible to play, or the team eats the roster spot and the cap... it sounds heartless, but there has to be some sort of a check in there to keep from this loophole being exploited, even if the duration of LTIR is something huge (like no more than 164 games LTIR for every 246 games of contract) That would basically allow a guy to sit out 2 of 3 years and the team not take the cap, but Pronger could esssentially go on LTIR for the remainder of his contract and the Flyers are free and clear of a horrible contract...

I love Chelios and think he WILL be an amazing coach and wouldn't be opposed to him taking over for the D, I'd just prefer that he get some seasoning as a coach at the AHL level for a few years first, then when MacLean gets his head gig (which will surely happen) then you make the move... but regardless, McCrimmon has got to go - when something breaks... look to what changed...

you, are correct sir!

Lidstrom, like Yzerman, is destined for front office greatness, that is if he even wants to stay in hockey, he's said all along he plans on moving back to Sweden when he retires and I wouldn't be surprised at all to his him get involved in politics over there... He's simply too soft spoken and too cerebral to be a coach...

As I posted before, the GAA has steadily gone up since McCrimmon took over, our PK has steadily gotten worse... he handles the PK AND defense... I think one of the most glaring problems is pretty obvious... as I've said ad nauseum, move MacClean back to the D, hire Gallant and have him take over the forwards... I love Chelios and think he WILL be an amazing coach and wouldn't be opposed to him taking over for the D, I'd just prefer that he get some seasoning as a coach at the AHL level for a few years first, then when MacLean gets his head gig (which will surely happen) then you make the move... but regardless, McCrimmon has got to go - when something breaks... look to what changed... Also, it's no coincidence his teams in ATL and when he was in the AHL had terrible GAA... he has a good hockey mind, but his spot is not behind the bench...

The reason the Sharks are winning these games (aside from the fact they've outskated us 5 of the 7 periods we've played) is they're willing to just throw the puck at the net and crash... we did that against Phoenix, so I don't understand the regression... all I know is that if this doesn't drastically change for game 3, they'llbe golfing very soon...

As I said in my post, Byslma did a good job this year, but name me a single coach on the list I posted that he deserved the nomination for more? especially with the standard that had been set with coaches not getting nods based on injuries (ie. Babcock, Jacques Martin and Peter Laviolette all dealt with that last year, yet none of them got nods...) Babcock, Boudreau, Boucher, Tippet and Julien all did more and made a bigger impact... also, as I said in my original post, I still think Trotz deserves it this year, regardless of who is/was nominated

I really hope so, he's the only one of the 3 that even deserved a nomination... Byslma is a good coach and had a good year, key word - good. Even regardless of the injuries he did nothing special this year, or exceptional, which is what this award is supposed to represent. Vigneault, I actually thought did a great job, but for the same reason Babs gets repeatedly snubbed, is the same reason Vigneault didn't deserve a nomination - To whom much is given, much is expected... they had a stacked team and all he had to do was basically organize practices and show up... once again, nothing exceptional there... The fact that Babcock got snubbed again is such a freaking joke... this years nominees should have been: Trotz Babcock Boudreau yes, I know Boudreau seems like an odd nomination, since he's kinda been a joke in the past, but the way he got that team to commit to defense this year deserves recognition, couple that with the strong play all season and the obvious difference in focus in these playoffs and regardless of how you feel about the butterball, he deserved it... Honorable mention (guys that maybe didn't deserve it as much, but still more than Byslma and Vigneault): Guy Boucher Dave Tippett Claude Julien with ALL of that said, even if Babs had been nominated, I still think Trotz deserves it this year.

Drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son

So what you're getting at here, is that:

It spirals quickly around here... to get back on topic and answer your original question, most important to me would be to retain our players and keep a little cushion for a possible deadline deal if possible, when the unspeakable does finally happen and 6+ come off our books, then I'd be for making a splash to secure that spot... also, coincidentally, a couple pretty good stud d-men will be available around that time... I'm not going to get into the speculation of 2 or more years down the road, so for this upcoming season, even with a 6m+ increase, I'd rather us just lock up what we have, sign a legit backup goalie and barring any trades, stay status quo... never hurts to have the cushion come deadline day either if you can...

oh yay, someone's been drinking... a lot...

not necessarily true, a LOT of the writers that have votes put more stock in +/- than they should... there is a very good chance Weber is going to win... the best thing Nick has going for him is the nostalgia factor since his career is in its twilight, whereas Shea Weber's is just entering its prime and some voters may vote for Nick just on the premise of "well, Weber will have plenty of upcoming years to win it, lets give it to the vet"

of the 3 nominated, I think Nick deserves it the most, although you could DEFINITELY make an argument for Weber and what he means to that team... Chara doesn't even deserve a nomination this season, so it should be a 2 horse race... key word is SHOULD I guess... The only thing that makes me think Shea may win it, is a lot of people who have votes, will not vote for a player who finished with a - rating and, seeing as how this was Nick's first ever - season, it could hurt his votes...

wow, these are shockers... I can't believe Visnovski got snubbed with the year he had... imo, I think the nominees should have been Lidstrom, Weber, Visnovski and even though I think Nick had an amazing year, I think Visnovski deserved it this season... Chara had a good year, but does not deserve this, this season...

Since this thread has taken a turn into the land of EA sports NHL franchise lollipops and make-believe, let me get in on this - Trade Hudler/Howard/Kindl for Ryan Miller and a 3rd rd pick. Sign Conklin as backup, Modano retires, Lidstrom comes back for another year, we re-sign Salei and Ericsson and sign Kevin Bieksa. Draper comes back at a discount, re-sign Drew Miller, Eaves and bring up Mursak and Emmerton full time as depth players - CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m) Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) Drew Miller ($0.750m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Kris Draper ($0.883m) Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Jonathan Ericsson ($1.250m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Kevin Bieksa ($4.000m) Ruslan Salei ($0.750m) GOALTENDERS Ryan Miller ($6.250m) / Ty Conklin ($0.750m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,217,044; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $182,956 TOTALLY FEASIBLE!