Cern

I think the cap is giving Pittsburgh a lot of problems. There's a heck of a lot of money put into not very many players, and a lot of those secondary positions have been revolving doors the last two years. Obviously for whatever reasons the guys Pittsburgh picked up this year ended up being the right ones, but chances are a lot of them aren't going to be back. Even with Crosby and Malkin the team as a whole is put at a heck of a disadvantage if you have to rebuild line chemistry every offseason and trade deadline. This would be an even bigger problem had Pittsburgh thrown 7 million of cap to Hossa. Honestly Pittsburgh should be thankful he didn't sign with them, the Penguins' cap situation would have been an absolute nightmare if he took the kind of money he was offered. Though I'm thinking Heatley is going to New York as well, especially if the Sedins wind up getting themselves resigned with the Canucks. Rangers are desperately in need of some offense, even if that offense is cancer in the locker room.

Is there some kind of maximum contract length you can give a player? How hilarious would it be if Holland gave Hossa a front-loaded 50-year deal that puts his overall cap hit at league minimum. Plus he's under 35 so when he retires or gets traded his money is taken off the books. Get it done, Ken!

I think you'd be trying to fit too many games into too few TV time slots if you tried competing HDiC directly with the Winter Classic. I'm tempted to say keep HDiC put, but include an outdoor game as a continuation of the Heritage Classic. The issue with that is there's ultimately only six teams to draw from if it's going to be kept exclusively between Canadian teams, which dosen't offer a whole lot of options.

There's nothing noteworthy at all about Hockey Day in Canada, though. It's just like every other session of HNIC except they tack on a matinee game in front of it, if they didn't explicitly tell you it was HDiC you'd never know it was anything special. Having an outdoor game as part of HDiC would be a huge draw.

I'm probably going to be in Calgary for the next year, so this is pretty sweet news for me :X

Boston's been my Eastern ream on account of my dad being a Broons fan.

w-what?

Here you are dohohoho, I'm just as witty as those people who made those Terri Schaivo .gifs

I've never quite figured out the exact Calder requirements. Helm has already played on the roster during the season which would suggest he's not eligible, does there have to be a certain number of games played for a season to be considered a 'rookie' season even if he's played previous years?

You seriously believe that Gill played anything ressembling an active and useful role contribution that dosen't suggest he basically got a free cup ring? That his presence...HELPED? You guys are REALLY starting to pull at straws for ways to troll us now.

I think what's most reassuring for me is that it's entirely possible for us to bounce back from this next season. It really is something special when your team can remain competitive for the cup year after year, this really is one of if not the most resiliant team in the league. Obviously there's some uncertainty in the roster but that means we can put in some fresh and very talented young guys who will provide some more energy. I'm really excited to see what Helm can do with a full season on the roster.

Don't forget Hal 'The Two Million Dollar Pylon' Gill

Or even if he was flexible on where 'Make it Seven' would be, er, made seven. Bettman stirred the pot by citing Winnipeg over Hamilton as a potential relocation spot in a legal document. You can debate whether a new team there would work, but if Balsillie wasn't just in this for the sake of having a team in his own backyard and called Bettman out by saying "Hey, if you think Winnipeg would work I'll put my backing there", Gary would be in a bit of a bind. I think Balsillie's big problem is more in inflexibility than his methodology.

This is a tricky one, actually. Flip at his price is fantastic for us, but we're really overstocked on centers right now.

Too much money into too few players. In particular it's meant that Crosby's wingers have been revolving doors the last few years. For whatever reasons you want to list off what the Penguins got this year ended up being the right combo, but just like last offseason the Penguins' roster is in some significant cap trouble, meaning they're probably going to have to start the same process all over again. You can't be a dynasty when the team chemistry is so unstable, and it really dosen't do a heck of a lot to dissuade the notion that Pittsburgh is ultimately a two-trick pony.

-implying that Phoenix will EVER make money -implying that Detroit isn't making insane amounts of money and hence proposing a move (unlike a proposal to move, say, Phoenix) would make no sense whatsoever -implying that a team in Hamilton wouldn't be a money-printing machine, a fact that would benefit the league as a whole. But hey, our team gets to continue to steadily piss its money into a toilet in order to keep that black hole of a franchise that noone cares about afloat instead of an option that all but guarantees instant revenue, what's not to celebrate about that? This news depresses me almost as much as the Wings losing the finals, let alone knowing that people are actually HAPPY about the League flushing its own credibility down the drain by refusing to accept that the Coyotes being where they are benefits nobody whatsoever.

Wouldn't we still be on the books for Maltby's and Holmstrom's salaries anyway? At the same time, if Lilja's headaches persist he might end up not playing this season.

Thanks Matt! Though that said, you absolutely need to do something about these recent threads. It's becoming absolutely ridiculous, every other thread is by some 12 year old Pittsburgh retard going out of his way to throw class out of the window. Either putting a temporary freeze on registration or making registration authorization more strict would really clean this place up.

The team name is ultimately a vintage throwback. It's certainly no less 'unique' than Canadiens or Maple Leafs. Also, their original profile-head logo jerseys were ******* gorgeous, tied with the Wings as my favourite in the league. Their aesthetics took a huge nose dive when they switched to the 3/4 view.

That old Peguins logo they used in the late 90s was great, imo. The original/current one looks like it belongs on a carton of ice cream.

Flip isn't a UFA anyway... Depends on how Lilja is doing health-wise. His headache issues sound really worrying, he might not wind up playing next season anyway.

It's not just stemming from the playoffs. It was already well known that the cap really was working against having him extend his contract, that dosen't change with Hossa's personal performances. The math simply dosen't work if we want to keep the roster at least somewhat intact. I'd much rather see him walk - our top six is already great even without him playing for us, it's our bottom six that really could use some retooling, something we can't do if Hossa eats up the rest of the cap. I was thinking the same thing months ago as I am now. What would be the best of both worlds in the long run (though I don't know how viable it would be) is if Hossa took another short contract somewhere else, wait for Lidstrom to retire or take a smaller contract, then come back to the Wings with that extra cap room.

dohohohoho, grammar nazism, well done. You might as well have a neon billboard over your head flashing 'TROLL' at this point.

A few months earlier we also knew that keeping him beyond his one year was going to obliterate the roster too. Whether or not he's 'liked' is unimportant, the numbers simply don't work favourably with him staying.

Funny you talk about sour grapes given that all Pittsburgh did all last year was ***** and moan about Hossa