Chunkylover

Great to have him back, but dang are we snug under that cap. I know most of the other players mentioned can go down to GR, but it has to be unlikely that Mac and Cheli will return at this point. Even still, I'm happy to have Downey back. I always love his positive attitude during interviews and his complete disregard for himself, his opponents, the boards, et cetera, while on the ice.

This is a pretty negative topic. Almost too negative for me to participate in. I guess maybe Calder since he was kind of a chump last year. On the flip side I'm happy that guys like Cleary, Lebda, Lilja, and Samuelsson will get their names on the Cup for the first time considering they'd be marginal NHLers if not for Detroit and the lockout. I'm happy to see Mac and Cheli win it again just because.

I agree that Malts doesn't need the letter to be a locker-room or on-ice leader, and he probably wouldn't really want it. Before his injury and immediately after he signed his new contract, I thought Cleary should have been considered for an "A" based on his tenacity and performance. Hopefully he can regain that form early on this year and keep the momentum rolling throughout the season.

Yeah, but it took Downey half a season to figure in on a goal, whereas it took McCarty only a few games. Why not have someone who can fight, and contribute in a small way offensively? The only thing Downey has on McCarty is that he is younger. He's not a better skater or stickhandler. He may be a better fighter but there really is no way of knowing where Mac will be until the season starts. Nothing against Downey.

If the league would raise the cap and increase the amount of players a team could dress for a game then we could have Mac and Downey for enforcement and dress our depth defensemen in each game and not have to sacrifice in the skill department.

I picked San Jose and Ottawa. Neither franchise has one a Cup and they are redundant as far as state/province representation. And I agree it was difficult choosing a Canadian team. I think the Panthers and Thrashers should go and TB should stay for any remaining southern fans, and they have a Cup. I like Nashville and think that they and the Islanders could succeed in drawing fans if they could succeed on the ice. There is no reason for a team in LA, Anaheim, and Phoenix considering their proximity. I'd say two should go but the Ducks have a Cup and the Kings are part of the first expansion so I feel that should garner them some respect. Washington has a bunch of bandwagon fans, and Columbus has a lot of transplanted Wings fans, but both had high viewership in the playoffs so their markets aren't necessarily bad, just sick of losing.

This was a very good article. I was actually going to post it myself in the "General Discussion" board but thought I should look for a more appropriate place. Now that I've found it I see it is suffering from a lack of top billing here in the "Prospects" board.

The Canadian sports media will hype anyone they think will come to Toronto and get them a Cup (see: Holland, Ken; Bowman, Scotty; Brunnstrom, Fabian)

Guys like Justin Abdelkader and Jimmy Howard played only a handful of games between them last season. Should they have been skating the Cup around during the celebration? I know there is kind of the taboo about touching it before you've won it, do you think they should have gotten to carry it around? I know no one on the ice at that time is going to say, "Whoa there young fella," but someone like Abdelkader has a statistical zero chance of getting his name on it. Don't hate me because it's summer posting season.

I realize there are a few different discussions going on but I think some of the people defending Kronner inadvertently scoring off Hall's skate support my point. I never said anything stupid like "we don't need Nick Lidstrom", in fact I actually pointed out that I wasn't talking about Lidstrom. I was talking about Kronwall and anticipating that it is pretty likely he will get better in a two years. At that point, we will have two more years with Stuart, three more with Rafalski, and another stud Swede defenseman in Ericsson likely rounding out our top four. With that in mind, and the improbability that Detroit will lose the team defensive game, will we really be that bad off in our own end?

Interesting. Your argument is so well-reasoned and developed, I don't know how I can disagree.

I just watched the game from March against Buffalo where Kronwall had a great performance in his second game back from the clavicle injury. Given his progress over the last few seasons, and Ericsson's potential, will we really be in that big of a predicament when Lidstrom retires in a few years? I'm not discounting Lidstrom's importance to the team, but no one would have expected us to do so well following Yzerman's retirement and we've actually seen more success without him. That is a credit to the young guys stepping up and bridging the gap. In two or three years, is it entirely unlikely that Kronwall will be able to step into Lidstrom's skates as the top defenseman? In two years Ericsson could be at the point that Kronwall is now and unless injury forces him to retire Kronwall could be the backbone of both the offense and defense. What do you think? (I feel I should leave a final note pointing out that in no way am I attempting to diminish the legend of either #19 or #5. This post isn't about them.)

No, it's not. I think my brain is bleeding....

It's not that I don't think they should or that I'm angry that they did. I meant to address the superstition and Esprit d'Corps that is associated with the Cup. No hockey player touches it unless they've earned it. My objective with starting this thread was to discuss whether we thought the new guys earned it. I agree with the poster that said if Chris Chelios or Henrik Zetterberg hands you the Cup, you take it. Also no one can deny that both Mark Hartigan and Derek Meech played important parts during the long season even though they may not have met the minimum requirements and require a team petition. Howard and Abdelkader were there in the regular season, too. I just wanted to see where people came down on the subject of the legend and lore of the Stanley Cup.

I definitely agree with the "Elite" category. I think that Trotz and Ruff have proven that despite their owners they can lead successful teams. Even though Therrien chased away Hossa and Roberts, and is a terrible leader, I would say he is a proven coach. The whole, "this team wants to have the worst defense in the league," thing was pretty bold and probably necessary for a bunch of goofy kids. There is no way guys like Laviolette, Renney, or Murray are "proven". Laviolette is the only one that's done anything and immediately afterward commenced with the failure. MacTavish is another questionable coach. Totally agree on Carlyle, Hitch, Tippet, and Wilson, and the remainder of the listing. Lastly, Vigneault shouldn't have won the Adams in '07.

Don't we start the season against Toronto? It could be an important, tone-setting game, and they beat us last year....

Tampa Bay is kind of like the Kool-Aid pick that the Capitals were in the playoffs last year. There's a lot of hype surrounding them, which is good for them. Who knows what the heck will happen in the Southeast Division? All anyone can predict is that one team from that division will make the playoffs. I think Buffalo will get better at the expense of the Ontario teams who got somewhat worse. I don't think the Atlantic will be the Eastern Conference that it was last year. I'm guessing Philly will take it. Phoenix could surprise everyone or they could underperform per usual, which wouldn't be a surprise. I won't rule out Anaheim, but the fight for the Pacific lead will be between Dallas and San Jose. Both teams now have good coaches. Chicago and Edmonton will probably be the 7 and 8 seeds this year, which could suck for us since we had our worst records against them. However as with the Southeast, who knows what will happen in the Northwest division? In summary, my teams to watch out for: Anaheim, Chicago, Dallas, Edmonton, San Jose.

This would actually make him one of the best team players because he does what the coach tells him to. There were a lot of games where guys like Datsyuk missed the net (again I notice Dats because he's my fave). Maybe they're all working on that this offseason.

Well, here's hoping Howard has the opportunity to earn the right to gaze at the Cup next summer!

Dude, it's summer. I'm sure the owner of this board is quite pleased with the amount of debate, considering it provides him with ad revenue. It's a good thing.

Aww, man. Alright.

I agree. It's always been my argument that due to Michigan's economic problems over the last decade many Wings fans have been transplanted to Dallas, Phoenix, Chicago, Virginia, California. I know people in each city/state that I've mentioned who are transplanted Wings fans, including myself. I went to a Wings/Caps game after the lockout and it was easily 50/50 fan support. Even with our team filling many other teams buildings we still sold out a lot of games this year. Additionally, I agree that a good team should be necessary to be called Hockeytown. Say, a team so good that it brazenly secures the rights to that title.

Well yeah, naturally you and I should be able to touch it, get champion rings, and have our names listed before Nick Lidstrom.

That's pretty lame. Good for Montreal, I guess. The Canadian media has done a real good job of not discussing this interesting little bit of information. I mean, they did it all within the boundaries of the rules but does anyone else think they had a slight advantage through all this. Maybe an asterisk on a few of their Cups would be appropriate. By the way that's the first time I've ever used an emoticon, and boy do I feel dirty.

Is this true?! I've been trying to think of how one team could be so good for so long even without there being a cap there was really no precedent for their dominance.