GMRwings1983

What's wrong with Benoit Pouliot?

Any relation to Moe Mantha?

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/06/27/stanley-cup-final-scores-impressive-ratings-for-nbc-sports/eBWVtIisaVdIddadORiACL/story.html Apparently, these were the most watched Finals since this stat was kept in 1994.

Oh, imagine what Hawks vs. Penguins would have drawn.

I think last year's Finals would have been even bigger (if Jersey didn't c***block into the Finals). Unlike the NBA, the NHL can't just rig it every year so that a big market team makes it into the Finals. We all remember the Calgary vs. Tampa Bay and Edmonton vs Carolina matchups. That can happen anytime, and it would get crappy ratings for the league again.

Ericsson should get more icetime on the powerplay, but I guess Babcock loves those right handed forwards who are useless on the point (Samuelsson, Williams, Brunner).

Better than Ericsson's, although he's been wildly inconsistent. I think offensive game and production are one and the same. You have to rack up the points to have an offensive game from the blueline.

Well, Kronwall had a very good regular season offensively, but a poor regular season defensively. In the playoffs, it was the other way around. He was very solid defensively, but his scoring completely disappeared and our powerplay struggled as a result.

Remember when Colorado traded Chris Drury to Calgary for Derek Morris? Seems like that was the beginning of the end for the Avs as a top team.

Lidstrom could make anyone look good, but Kronwall isn't that type of player. He makes too many defensive mistakes. We desperately need some scoring on our blueline. Kronwall is our best offensive defenseman, but he was atrocious in the playoffs and only scored like 2 points. I do hope Holland looks to add something to our blueline in the way of scoring.

Here's a question. Is Ericsson good enough to be a #2 defenseman? He's solid, but nothing special to warrant being one of your top all around guys. His offensive game is not impressive at all, even though he has a hard point shot.

Who would have thought years ago that we'd all be saying "NO" to trading Ericsson. That's partly from him improving as a defensive defenseman, and partly from Holland not adding much else to our blueline.

He's twice as good as Quincey, so his asking price makes sense.

Paul Coffey and Brian Leetch didn't seem to have problems going end to end against these big, modern day hitters. There were plenty of rugged, mean defensemen back in Orr's day. Since Orr was smarter than anyone else in his era, he would have figured out how to adapt to today's game and today's players.

It seems like everybody is willing to overpay for players nowadays. Not just the bad teams.

Move over Emma

Hey, Bykov carried Lidstrom to his 3rd straight Norris.

I swear to God I had no idea Jay Pandolfo was still playing in the NHL. Thought this guy retired years ago.

We know Holland doesn't like paying market prices for free agents, so I don't see us signing Horton at that price. Not sure if we should either.

Especially since those guys are replaceable in our own lineup. We don't have anyone else like Tootoo on the roster. He makes us more balanced. And it's not just Boston being a tough team. Toronto has a tough team as well, and we may run into them in the playoffs next season. Philly always likes tougher lineups if they can get back to being a playoff team.

I don't think it matters how old you are. I never saw Gretzky in his prime either, but that doesn't mean I'd rank Crosby ahead of him. I don't believe a lot of hearsay, but from looking at Gretzky/Orr's stats, and listening to what people have to say about them from watching them play, I firmly believe they were as good as people say they were. Most people have Bobby Orr ranked as one of the top 4 NHL players in history. If Lidstrom is above him, that would mean Lidstrom is a top 4 guy. I think that's pushing it too far for Nick.

Chicago only as 6 more Cups to go to catch the Red Wings. Then again, we have a lot to go to catch that one team that isn't relevant anymore.

Because they kept "The Core"

Nah. Blowing a 3-0 lead is as bad as it gets. Even if nobody watched hockey back then. Wings were probably due for an OT loss in the Finals in 1964. They won two Stanley Cups in the early 50's on OT goals in game 7. Most people don't know that. That kind of karma bites back eventually.

I'd like to see Lilja strangle him with a pair of socks.