The Mule

Get real. Considering we're paying Hossa 7.5 right now, which is considering a bargain of a contract, does any part of you really think he will sign here long term for the same money Datsyuk is making? Not only would Hossa have to take less than he is making right now, but he'd have to once again turn down massive offers from other teams around the league. Plus, even if Hossa sticks around for 7.5 million per, couple that with Zetterberg's oncoming pay raise, and we simply cannot afford to keep Marian around without giving up half of our future.

Great, but my point is, why dump one proven goal scorer in Franzen walk, as well as two potential point producers, in order to keep one proven goal scorer? Hossa is an all-star, we all know that, but there are 12 forward spots available on a team's roster, and the more of those you fill with skilled weapons, the better chance you have of winning. Not to compare us to bottom-feeders, but there's a reason teams like Atlanta have little to no success; they hold on to their offensive weapons like Kovalchuck and Kozlov, but their team rarely prevails due to the lack of depth and lack of spread out scoring. If I'm Holland, I realize that we have players in our system (Leino and Abdelkader) who have the potential to be big names in the NHL someday, and I let Hossa walk, assuming he asks for a contract that we simply cannot afford without giving up all three of the names you mentioned. Not to mention, I'd take three 15 goal producers over one 45 goal scorer any day of the week.

What are you even talking about? From what I've seen, the majority of us LGWers are head-over-heels in love with Hossa right now. When you learn to read and comprehend simple English without exercising your blatant bias and blowing simple discussions incredibly far out of proportion, you may realize that we would all love to keep Hossa around for as long as possible, but not many of us think it is worth it to have to sacrifice Franzen+ (who will come cheaper), and has been just as productive as Marian when healthy.

I can agree with you there. Zherdev often looks uninspired from what I've seen, and more often than not, he is reluctant to pass the puck.

Hoss continues to impress me more and more every game.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, it appears Semin left the Caps game tonight in the second period with an undisclosed injury. Too bad. It may not be serious, but the kid was having a hell of a year.

Truth. I want Holland to lock up Franzen for ages. I'm a fan of Flip and Huds, as well, but they aren't crucial to our success.

We had next to no scoring chances in the second, and quite the opposite can be said for Florida's effort.

Not our best effort yet again tonight, but a win is a win. We were fairly good for most of the first and third periods, but we were uncharacteristically bad in the second. If we can put together a full, 60 minute effort, we should have no problem racking up wins.

Great work at the end of the period. Very impressive. VICTORY!!

Vokoun has been spectacular, but it's good to see us getting the puck to the net.

PP coming up. Lets bag some insurance, boys.

Hahahaha. From the Florida broadcast: "That has to be viewed as attempt to injure by Rafalski."

Yet another big kill. We need to turn on the jets and bag some insurance.

Stuart just crunched Zednik.

Bad penalty. We need to kill this.

Big kill.

Big PK here.

It looks like Franzen was credited with the goal.

Good positioning by Conks.

PP time again. Hossa will get the hatty. Count it.

GOOOOAAAAALLLL!! Kronwall gives us the lead.

Great shift. PP coming up.

He hasn't hit the scoresheet, but Zetts has shown flashes of brilliance tonight.

Horton is one speedy son of a *****.