SwedeLundin77

This picture has to be photoshopped.... his eyes aren't like that in every other picture you see of him.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012/09/04/spf-nhl-nhlpa-cba-ron-maclean.html Interesting read... give a little glimmer of hope, but the headline is so damn misleading... kind of pissed me off as I first believed they somehow reached a deal today or something. Anyway, hopefully this guy is right.

Slow day for news on the issue.... usually it's been pretty quick and the meeting's have been short.... hopefully this is a good thing and they are producing meaningful conversation and moving the process forward... We'll see.

So with what has been released so far... do people feel more confident about a deal getting done? This seems a ton more reasonable coming from the league. The salary cap rollback isn't too crazy and I like how the league has said they don't want to roll-back players' salaries (good idea, because that would have surely pissed off the players). The wings would be in good shape to sign a 2-3 million dollar defensemen or trade away some forward pieces for a more lucrative contract.... In either case, I hope this moves the process ahead and gives us a full season, or close to one.

Why hasn't this guy signed yet, and isn't this no longer a rumor? Why hasn't it been moved back to general discussion?

Solid 5/6 man... may give Kindl a push as well.

Datsyuk will sign a 2 year extension in the last year of his contract, then possibly a 1 year after that and will go play in Russia for 1-3 seasons before retiring. Book it!

From what I've seen on TSN... ever since Bettman came out with his cold "the players will be locked out if a deal is not in place by Sept. 15," the attitude on the NHLPA side has been seemingly optimistic about getting a deal done in time. I like Fehr's attitude because he talks about a lockout being the last ditch effort to all of this, it's not what the players want. I just hope the owners and Bettman can get their heads out of their b-holes and make some concessions to find some middle ground that both sides can move on with. It's ridiculous. If you just split the share revenues 50/50, that SHOULD be enough to satisfy both sides. The players can still play and I'm sure the owners can still line their pockets as they have over the past 7 years. At least they're starting to negotiate finer points, instead of the bigger picture now. I never understood that, you know where you are separated on the most, so work that out first and foremost, then the other stuff will fall into place and be a lot easier to negotiate on, without the elephant in the room.

I would be all for taking a chance and seeing if he could turn it around on a low term/salary contract, but I highly doubt we're looking at any forwards since we have 16 right now. Defense is our need now.

Saw an interview with David Moss on tsn about the possiblity of a lockout, very well spoken and just forgot he was a Michigan boy.... wish we could add him to our bottom six... that is all.

Seriously.... that's pre-lockout. It's a different game. Go cry about it.

Please God, not for a top 6 player....

Mark my words... we will not be trading any top 6 forwards for Bouwmeester. If a trade happens, it'll be for bottom 6 players and picks. We cannot afford to lose Franzen... at least not this season. I see something more along these lines for Bouwmeester: Eaves and a 2nd round pick / Emmerton, Mursak, 4th rounder. It looks like Calgary may only have 11 one way contracts signed thus far, so they could use a couple forwards.

You're griping over things that were out of their hands. Suter had us as #2 on his list and ultimately decided to go play closer to home and with his buddy. He was already overpaid, it would have been asinine for Holland to try and overbid for him (WASTE OF MONEY). He signed Samuelsson to essentially replace Hudler, which is fine by me. At least Sammy will shoot more often and not be scared to do so. Sammy=40-50 points. Quincey was a necessary move, considering we lost out on Suter and the pickings after him were slim. And no, giving 4.6 million to Garrison for six years was not the answer (he also went home). You cannot judge Quincey on his "handful" of games last season. He'll come out much better with a full season here (his play in LA/COL are proof that he is better than what we saw). Tootoo, while questionable, I think adds a dimension to this team that has been lacking since Drake. He'll add some snarl to the bottom six and will pair well with Abdelkader. Yes, he was benched toward the end of last season, but he also put up 30 points playing minimal time last season. Again, the choices for agitators that can still play decent hockey were slim. Bertuzzi has played well for this team since coming here. He adapted his style to be more defensively responsible and makes a solid 3rd line winger with size. Is he streaky? Yes, but he is also able to have hot streaks and play on the top two lines when needed. He did have decent chemistry with Datsyuk. And that backhand... you can't beat that backhand. A lot of whiners still hanging around, trying to stir up some panic, when I just see some adversity and truly believe the team, as is, will compete and make the playoffs. Have a little pride in your team, and don't start crying the second things don't go "your" way.

Wrong. Wrong.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=402546 Meszaros is sidelined indefinitely with an achilles injury... This will impact our search for a d-man.... they're going to push hard for a UFA/trade now, me thinks.

I would add Jurco to that potential list...

Only way getting Bouwmeester makes sense is if we only give up bottom 6 players (Eaves, Mursak, Emmerton)...

I would be giddy if he could somehow make the big squad this season.... Feeling like he could learn a ton from Datsyuk and those two would be awesome together. Not holding my breath, though.

I would love Arnott here, but that only makes sense if we move a few forwards for a d-man... Also putting Arnott in the 3rd line center position will stunt Helm's growth and development. Helm should be our #2 center, unless he can play the wings fine. We just have too many forwards as it is right now. Datsyuk Zetterberg Franzen Filppula Samuelsson Cleary Bertuzzi Helm Abdelkader Tootoo Eaves Miller There are 12 NHL ready fowards and then: Nyquist Brunner Mursak Emmerton I would like to see Nyquist and Brunner work out and play all season in the top 6. This means you need to lose All but two of Eaves, Miller, Mursak and Emmerton. Then you add in Arnott, so you need to lose another one. So the question is, who do you hold onto? And who gets sacrificed for Arnott? Essentially, for Arnott to be in, we either need to trade a main player away or send Brunner or Nyquist down. I'm not quite sure it's worth that (unless one of the two kids don't work out).

If I am Holland, I have to be looking over to my buddy Darcy Regier.... They currently have 9 defensemen under contract and only 1 with a 2 way contract (Brennan). Regehr and Leopold both have 1 year left on their contracts (4.02 and 3 million respectively). Both are 32 and are decent in size, with Regehr being bigger and I believe more defensively sound (Brad Stuart type). So you throw a package together to get one of those two guys, and throw a bid at Colaiacovo. In this scenario you sign Colaiacovo first, to get the insurance, and have Kindl traded (either in the package for Regehr/Leopold or for offensive help/picks). I figure we'll lose Emmerton or Mursak and a mid pick for Regehr/Leopold. So here's what you're looking at: CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER My Custom Lineup FORWARDS Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Damien Brunner ($1.350m) Danny Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Mikael Samuelsson ($3.000m) Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.350m) / Jordin Tootoo ($1.900m) Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) / Drew Miller ($0.838m) / DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m) Robyn Regehr ($4.020m) / Kyle Quincey ($3.775m) Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) Carlo Colaiacovo ($1.500m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $70,200,000; CAP PAYROLL: $62,045,379; BONUSES: $462,500 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $8,154,621 The problem with Franzen, for Phoenix, is the length of his contract. They are unsure what is going to happen with the team financially, long term. Better to get a guy like Filppula who has tremendous upside and is only signed for one season, just in case they go under or something.

Bring on Regehr to Detroit... They have 8 or 9 d-men right now.

Because it's bad business to burn bridges, especially if there is still a chance to sign him. I am thinking those rumors last week about him wanting big money on any other team than Phx were overblown nonsense. I think his Agent might have even refuted that statement. There are no other offensive player to be had in UFA now.... so of course we're waiting on him. We probably have an offer out to him, so that would be why we're waiting. It doesn't mean we're waiting on and not doing anything else. Holland is working on the defense I'm sure. Either trade route (Yandle or Bouwmeester) or UFA (Colaiacovo, Vandermeer, Rozsival, Kubina, etc.)

I'm not surprised by your post, seeing as your name on here is "Nyquististhefuture." While I may not exactly agree with this idea, and give no weight to this rumor whatsoever, I do think that if it were somehow true, I woudn't mind it, perhaps move that 1st to a 2nd or 3rd. Filppula could just re-sign here, but that is a big risk as you may piss him off in making such a move.

American: Abdelkader, Eaves, Miller Canadian: Bertuzzi, Cleary, Emmerton, Helm, Tootoo NA total: 8 Swedish: Zetterberg, Franzen, Nyquist, Samuelsson Swiss: Brunner (Apparently not soft) Russian: Datsyuk (Not soft) Slovenia: Mursak Finland: Filppula Euro total: 8 This Euro softies crap is completely overblown. It's a mentality that is clearly wrong when you actually stop and think about the roster. Even on defense, we currently have: American: Lashoff Canadian: White, Smith, Quincey Swedish: Kronwall (not soft), Ericsson Czech: Kindl That's another 50/50 (not including Lashoff, who I realize would only be a call-up this season because of injuries). This team is not as soft as some people blindly call it. EXACTLY!