SwedeLundin77

Wow, a Pitt paper is reporting Jagr's first choice is "their" team? I wouldn't even report that as news.

@eva Just reading his posts makes my brain hurt. Does he actually think that swapping Franzen out for Cole would be better? Cole had 26 goals last season, Franzen had 28. Over the two careers, Franzen has scored 121 goals in 395 games while Cole has 184 goals in 620 games... Do the math, one is better. Furthermore, let's look at the playoffs for a complete b-slap to your face for suggesting the replacement: Franzen - 83 games, 37 goals, 35 assists Cole - 43 games, 6 goals, 8 assists Eva, please stop talking!

Come one, come all... See the Amazing Chicken-Boy! Half chicken, half boy. Here him cluck!

Hudler & Emmerton for Havlat and a 5th round pick. Done.

Hudler's future? On the back of a milk carton, right beside a picture of his offensive production.

More on topic, does anyone else think this is a big slap in the face of Bobrovsky? I mean the guy played pretty damn well for coming out of nowhere and had a spotty playoff in his rookie year. Give the kid a chance and bring in a responsible backup: ala Hedberg or Theodore. It's not like Bryz played lights out when it counted.

If Jagr is as motivated as he says he is and is ready to play a team game and put in some serious goals, then hell yes, bring him on. For a reasonable price, of course. My response to this thread is as follows:

I think he fits in well with the Lightning and knowing Yzerman, he'll want to retain his services for at least one more season. I say we go for Montador as our 5th d-man.

For the last time, Holland WILL not sign Zherdev. Sure he can score 20+ goals, but he has a history of having a piss-poor attitude, taking games off, and his defense is lacking, to say the least. That's three strikes against him right there. Three primary factors Holland will look for and he lacks them. I have one thing to say to Zherdev: And yes, I know, he's not dutch.

Wasn't there some talk of Hemsky wanting out or they were possibly looking for takers? Hemsky would probably thrive with the Kings. Me thinks a line of Brown - Kopitar - Hemsky would be pretty sick. Of course, I'm sure LA would have to give a little something extra to obtain Hemsky.

I could live with Laich, Jagr, Wiz, and Brewer.... I really think Brewer will re-sign with Tampa Bay though. Yzerman is too smart to let him walk and it seems like Brewer had a good time playing there. I'd really like to get Montador here. He wouldn't cost a ton and he is capable of putting up 30+ points. I believe he logged some decent PP time last season with Buffalo. Oh, and he'd give us another right handed shot back on the blue line. I'd say we go with this D: Kronwall - Stuart Wizniewski - Lidstrom Montador - Smith or Kindl Janik Oh and Smith will NOT be up here if he's not in the top 6. Mark my words.

Damnit! That was my next suggestion...

I think Versteeg could do well here, but at the same time, he did not play all that well with Toronto or Philly... I would take him over Hudler, though.

I would not be surprised if Holland tries to make at trade for Bogosian.. at least tries. He'd be silly not to, and who knows. I am really hoping we get Wiz and Montador.. I think that would more than sew up our defense. Even if we just have Kindl play third line and bring up Janik as the 7th guy... We really could make a push for Richards, but I doubt it will happen. It's interesting to think of a possible trade with Philly, too. Maybe we get Carle? It's just exciting cause there are many possibilities and by all accounts, Holland has said he will be active and both him and Babcock seem to be promoting a change in the guard, maybe a bit more size and aggression, perhaps.

When has Erik Cole ever played for a consistently good team? Never. Not saying no to Jagr or Cole, but a 32 year old Cole might be more beneficial than a 39 year old Jagr who hasn't played in the NHL in 3 seasons. No one truly knows what you may get and he may command just as much as someone who is currently more defined in this league.

Crossing my fingers for Wizniewski and Montador to come in. Janik to be 7th dman. Kronwall - Stuart Wizniewski - Lidstrom Montador - Kindl Janik Two right handed shots. Wiz long-term, Montador on a 2 year deal for approximately $2 Million per.

If we're saying $3 million for Jagr, why not pay that same amount to someone like Cole? Pair him with Z or Dats and you'd have 30 goals + (if he stays healthy). Even beyond that, we may be able to take a chance on Gagne, depending on how much he'd take... he may be looking at a decrease in salary due to injury woes and a decrease in production with TB.

Why in the world would you want Tanguay on this team? So you just added another soft player that can be banged up? If you're paying anyone $3 million it better be Cole, Laich, Ward, etc..

The problem is that I don't think anyone on this topic here is getting upset about what he is paid. I brought up the idea that maybe he might take less, but I never infered that Holland would ask him to take less, nor did I post it in such a way that I thought he SHOULD take less. It was merely a what if... Again, I don't see anyone on here bickering or making a big deal about his pay. I'm happy he is back.

As far as a top 9 forward, I would definitely consider Ryder. Others I would consider are Laich, Jokinen, Upshall, Gagne (1 year deal), Connolly (1 year deal), Arnott, Cole, Fleischman (if healthy), and Ward. Those are the mid to low-salaried players I would consider. And yes, if we could fit him in, I wouldn't even hesistate on Richards, but it's not a very Holland-esque move.

I don't think there is anything to watch, it's just a conference call announcing the deal. I haven't seen any links to listen in, yet.

For the record, I am completely happy and thankful that he is returning for one more. I could care less if he makes the same, more, or less. I just presented an idea of "what if" he took a little less? It's not bickering, it's a thought. I even stated in my post that I wouldn't have a problem either way.

So you're saying that 4.75 is an insult to a player of his calliber with incentives that would more than likely put it up to 6.2-6.5? Seriously? And where did this sense of bickering come in? I clearly stated that I had no problem either way, but I wanted to throw it out there for conversations sake. Tell me how that is considered "bickering?" Haha.

The fact that you basically just assumed that I wrote that in relation to the fact that he's been here forever is ridiculous. Next time actually read my post and realize the reasoning behind it. It's beend one in the past, players have deferred salary or taken less so that a better team could be contructed. This is more than likely Lidstrom's last season, so it's not unthinkable that he may take a little less to help his team put an even better team out there to compete for the Cup (one last time - for Lids). Is it going to happen, more than likely not, but again if you read my post and truly understood it, you would have seen where I wrote that I didn't have a problem if he didn't take a cut. You may also note that I was thinking a cut of 1.45 million, which if you were to include incentives, he more than likely would still take home the same amount of money. And the difference would then count against next years cap.

I won't be too upset if he didn't, but I really hope that he took a paycut to give Holland an abundance of cap to work with, seeing that this is his last season (more than likely). We'll see... Lidstrom 1 Year, 4.75 million cap hit, maybe with incentives?