SwedeLundin77

I believe it was Mike Green's... but I could be wrong. Give that stick a multi-year contract already! Oh, and this team, including the coaches, are all hot garbage.

Blashill needs to stop being a nut job and keep his lines together, let them build chemistry. Frk never deserved being thrown down the lineup. Tatar-Zetterberg-Nyquist Mantha-Larkin-Athanasiou Helm-Nielsen-Frk Wilson-Glendening-Abdelkader Booth, Witkowski They did assure Athanasiou that he would be getting 16-17 minutes a night and solid powerplay/pk minutes, so there is that to consider.

Completely agree with the above assessment. That too many men penalty 45 seconds in was hilarious. I'm not sure I've ever seen 6 guys on the ice, all in one zone, engaged in the play before. Good bench management Blash! Nielsen looked okay but definitely needs to up his game (offensively and defensively). Abdelkader had some head-scratching plays, especially when he outwaited the goalie and then didn't even shoot the puck at all. Ericsson looked hilariously bad in almost all situations. Tatar and Nyquist didn't seem to factor into much, hopefully, that changes as we need them going and playing better/scoring. Green looked rough in the defensive zone. Howard looked phenomenal, hope he can keep it up and stay healthy. Zetterberg was his usual self, which is solid. The Mantha, Larking, Frk line was great. Created changes, but I'd say Mantha needs to make sure he keeps skating, early on he looked a little uninspired. Frk was great, made some nice defensive plays, had that great hit in the offensive zone, great score and other solid shots/plays. Booth looked good as well in his limited time. I'd almost like to see him play on the 3rd line as he seemed to have a ton of energy and was generating some chances. Also liked Helm's play, although it was limited. Now, hopefully, Blash keeps Howard in while he's hot, except on back-to-backs of course.

I don't mind it, but don't see how they'd fit him under the cap along with Athanasiou. I wonder if he's a possible backup, in case Athanasiou bolts for Russia.

I'm pretty sure kickazz lied... AA is still unsigned. I'm starting to wonder what the hold up is. They can be a certain percentage over the cap without issue so why not get him locked in? Sign and trade perhaps?

I just hope Holland does truly take a run at him. We are in desperate need of high-quality defensemen. I'm just not sure this kid looks at our team and says, I'll sign with them since we currently have 74 defensemen on the roster. Where does he fit in? (from his view-point) I know I know, but seriously, we have 9 NHL defensemen and that's not including Russo who remains an RFA. Something has to give. 10 forwards (signed) plus Athanasiou, so 11 forwards right now. 9 defensemen and no one is waiver exempt 3 goalies and no one is waiver exempt I would be completely baffled if he is not working out some sort of trade/trades leading up to camp. I know, it's Ken Holland, but still. You look at this roster and it's so imbalanced.

I'll never understand why we re-signed Helm, at least to the term and dollar value anyway. I understand Abdelkader to a point, but they had to understand that playing with Dats inflated his numbers, so I don't understand why they give him the term and dollars. I'm actually okay with Glendening, but he should be making around 1.25 at most.

This tells me that they are and will continue to actively shop Mrazek, whether we agree with that choice or not. If Mrazek sticks around, I expect it to be 50/50, at worst 60/40 Howard (if he stays healthy). They have to get Mrazek games so that they can at least try to lift up his value and get something for him at the trade deadline if it comes to that.

Haha... gee, it might be for the use "retard." I'm fairly certain if he had typed, "Holland is an idiot and needs to be fired," they would have cared less. Some people I'll tell you... Of those players listed, I'd be willing to trade Nyquist, Tatar, and maybe Athanasiou/Svechnikov. The latter two I would only trade for a top 2 D or top C. Nyquist's trade value, right now, isn't great. Hoping for a bounce-back season. Tatar's value is probably so-so until he can show he can be more consistent.

Not sure, but, and this will piss me off, if they waive Sproul and he goes down, they'll have enough to afford Athanasiou at the lower end of the estimate (around 1.5 million), but they still won't have enough to bring up Bertuzzi. They'd have to waive Witkowski and Sproul. That would be very piss-poor since you just signed Witkowski and I don't know that either would clear waivers. Unless Kronwall or Ericsson are on LTIR. That then would buy them some time.

Wonder if E will start on LTIR and that helps with that decision. He's just such a worthless player to have on the cap at over 4 million for another 3 seasons. Even if he plays, he'll only get worse from here. I just cannot figure out what's holding up AA's re-signing... Should be fairly straightforward.

Mantha had real chemistry with Zetterberg last season, he'll be on the right side with him. Tatar also had great chemistry with Z toward the end of the season. I think we'll see the following: Tatar-Zetterberg-Mantha Larkin-Nielsen-Athanasiou Nyquist-Helm-Abdelkader Bertuzzi-Sheahan-Glendening Witkowski Daley-Green DeKeyser-Kronwall Ouellet-Jensen Sproul Nyquist and Athanasiou can swap when necessary. The D pairings suck outside of the first pairing. I really don't want DK on the first pairing as he excels when not being called on to defend top lines. I'd prefer Kronwall on the third pairing, but I feel that Ouellet and Kronwall would be a slow pair and thus get burned a lot. I'm wondering if Ericsson gets bought out, there is definitely a chance it happens, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sproul hasn't had a chance to be consistently in the lineup... and he won't unless we move some players.

You have to give to get. We have some dynamic youngsters in the 3 that you mentioned as well as Svechnikov. What we don't have and are desperately in need of is a top 2 D. That, in my opinion, is more important to this team. Trust me, I don't want to trade AA, but if that's what it takes, I would heavily consider it if I'm Holland. How else do you expect us to get a top 2 D that is young?

There is a NTC in year 2, part of year 3, and a modified NTC in year 4. No NTC in year 1 though, since he's technically RFA this season.

Don't forget freakin' Helm!

Why?

We can't do the same buyout next year, it's a one time option unless Larkin or Mantha elect arbitration (under CBA rules). It gets a pretty useless player off of our roster and gives Sproul a better chance to show what he can do and if he's worth investing more time and development in. Ericsson does nothing for this roster.

He needs to play on Zetterberg's wing this season. He tore it up with Z at the end of last season. Tatar-Zetterberg-Mantha

Well, yeah. I feel that A2 would be the prime piece in the trade and we'd have to throw some extra goodies in. Bring on Trouba!

Apparently we have a 2nd buyout window since Tatar elected Arbitration. We could potentially buyout Ericsson. Buyout Details SEASON SALARY INITIAL CAP HIT ACTUAL COST SAVINGS BUYOUT CAP HIT 2017-18 $4,000,000 $4,250,000 $1,388,889 $2,611,111 $1,638,889 2018-19 $4,250,000 $4,250,000 $1,388,889 $2,861,111 $1,388,889 2019-20 $4,250,000 $4,250,000 $1,388,889 $2,861,111 $1,388,889 2020-21 $0 $0 $1,388,889 -$1,388,889 $1,388,889 2021-22 $0 $0 $1,388,889 -$1,388,889 $1,388,889 2022-23 $0 $0 $1,388,889 -$1,388,889 $1,388,889 Sorry the last number is what is most important... that's the cap hit for the next six seasons. The 2nd column from the right would be our savings, so it would buy us 2.6-2.8 million in extra cap the next 3 seasons.

I'm okay trading A2 if the trade brings back a top 2 D or a top Center.

Exactly! Ericsson, DeKeyser, Helm, Nielsen, Abdelkader all overpaid. 11 million dollars for goaltending? Things have got to change. I don't mind this deal, but I'll reserve praise for the season when we see if Tatar can be a consistent point getter because last year he was horribly inconsistent, other than when paired on the top line and we were out of the playoffs. Also, his playoff production leaves something to be desired, but so did Datsyuk's the first few years.

Craig Custance ✔@CraigCustance Tatar trade protection a bit of a moving target. RFA year has no protection per CBA. Full no-trade YR2, most of 3. Partial in year 4. 4:58 PM - 21 Jul 2017 So I was off on the most of year 3 being full, whatever that means.

You'll have to retain half of E's salary and even then, it's a tough sell. He's gotten worse of the past few seasons and is, at best, a 5/6 d-man. Nielsen is 33 and has 5 more years on his deal, so again... who's going to want that contract? Nielsen also has a NMC this season and a modified NTC the rest of the way. I'd trade Green, Nyquist, and possibly Tatar.... Trade for a 1/2 D.