NGKEIB

I think Mike Grier (or any black/minority player) would be offended if he knew that 'bringing diversity' would have had anything to do with his contract. There are a number of intangibles that should go into weighing whether or not a player is worth hiring, but GMs can't have race in their minds...

He's also a righty, I believe.

He won the Eddie Shore award a few years back (top defenseman in AHL, the year after Kronwall won it). He put up decent numbers with the Predators a few seasons ago (18 goals etc.) and should do very well in the AHL. Might be a more reliable call up than Kindl, and probably better offensively than Janik.

It will be interesting to see how he and possibly Dickie A. do in GR. Boom or bust

Yeah I was going to say... Maltby may start them, but he's never in them. His chirpy aspect hasn't changed, he just doesn't throw reckless big hits anymore. Good points. I think that Abdelkader should be in GR. Oulahen and McGrath were just signed, so I imagine that they will come to camp. If Oulahen plays well, I don't see why he shouldn't make the team as a 4th line defensive specialist.

Word.

Emery owned Biron in a fight. Therefore, in the Flyers eyes, Emery is better.

I like McCreary (if only for his facial hair).

I would say that Oulahen has a huge advantage over McGrath, namely that he is a very good penalty killer. According to a report I read on him, he has also 'improved' his hitting, but it is an area which needs work.

I've seen threads about U.S.A.'s, Canada's and Russia's prospective teams, so I thought that I should start one for Sweden - certainly more relevant when taking into account the number of Swedes who play for Detroit. N.B. - I have left a few people out, for various reasons. If, say, Sundin signed somewhere and had a great season, I still wouldn't list him as he said that he was done playing for Tre Kronor. I'm not sure if Lidström has said the same, and while it would be nice to have him rested for the post-season, he's too good to leave out. Holmström, however, does not feature in my team. Franzén-Zetterberg-Huselius (Stumped for the right winger on this line... Any ideas? I like the other lines as they are. Could always be Holmström I guess...) Sedin-Sedin-Samuelsson (Putting the Sedins together is a no-brainer, and I'm assuming that Sammy might have developed some kind of chemistry with them. If not, put him with Franzén and Zetterberg, and put a more physical player [by Swedish standards] with the Sedins to make some room.) Axelsson-Påhlsson-Alfredsson (They've played together in Frölunda and on the national team, and were in my opinion our most important line in 2006. Great shut-down line, and Alfredsson can score.) Eriksson-Bäckström-Berglund (Young guns. Put the best set-up man with two good scorers.) Holmström (What the hell.) Lidström-Kronvall (No-brainer) Öhlund-Hedman (I'm thinking that these two will get along together in Tampa. K. Jönsson is not included, as I believe that he has retired now. If Hedman doesn't look ready, put in someone like Edler - he'll know Öhlund from Vancouver.) Oduya-Enström (This one posed a problem. To go for bruisers à la Lilja and Murray, or puck-movers like Strålman, or solid guys like Hävelid... Not sure about this.) Murray (Only because he was so much fun in the Worlds - big hits, knocking out Morozov etc.) Franzén-Bäckström-Zetterberg-Lidström-Kronvall Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson-Enström-Alfredsson Axelsson-Påhlsson-Lidström-Kronvall Zetterberg-Franzén-Öhlund-Hedman Lundqvist Liv/Gustafsson Liv/Gustafsson What do you think? These are only composed of NHLers (except for goalies). I'm sure that there will be a few SELers on there.

I'm sure that both Stuart and Ericsson will get some time - they have great shots, and Stuart looked good out on the PP when there were holes that needed filling. Re Helm, I love the guy, but I really don't think that he's going to be a 20-goal scorer. With regard to Franzén-Filppula-Cleary, I'm not sure about that. I think that Cleary is great, and in many ways definitely deserves power-play time. However, I think that Leino has better offensive instincts, and the net presence will be fulfilled by Franzén.

Mikael Samuelsson... The Bane of the Opposing Team's Laundry Boy. You ever tried getting rubber marks off of a jersey?

I wouldn't even bother discussing this. It's Eklund. A real news site will run a story a week from now that Hossa was either a. perfectly healthy; or b. had a groin injury. The way I see it, the only thing we can rule out is a rotator cuff injury.

Haha. Hawks sign Kopecky in order to attract Hossa, and once Hossa is under contract, they promptly demote Kopecky to the AHL.

I don't think that we will see as much hitting from Helm in the regular season than we did in the playoffs. I'm not sure if he'll be able to sustain it over 82+ games. His speed and tenacity on the other hand... Re the 2nd PP unit, I agree with you and I guess that we'll see Franzén-Filppula-Leino Kronwall-Stuart/Ericsson Some may lament Hudler's absence. But let's face it, this PP will never be the same without Sammy.

Well, according to some people on this forum, Helm has great hands and 20+ goal potential, so why not give him a try?

I think Edler will be on the squad too, now that I think about it. Didn't really think about goalies, but I seriously doubt Larsson will be picked, when there are some Swedish NHL-caliber (if only as back-ups) goalies who actually play(ed) in the NHL, such as Ersberg, Hedberg, Holmqvist etc.

Maybe for a few games... But the lines as I recall them were Forsberg-Sundin-Modin Holmström-Zetterberg-Samuelsson Axelsson-Påhlsson-Alfredsson Sedin-Sedin-Jönsson

I agree. Some people make Ericsson out to be the second coming of Bob Probert, after only seeing him ragdoll Perry. It's a far cry from Perry to some of the bigger, meaner forwards in the league. I'm not sure I even want him fighting that much - a. I don't want him to get injured, esp. after coming off of a wrist injury (see also what happened to Lilja); b. defensemen are too valuable to be guys who fight regularly (in terms of being short a defenseman for 5 minutes, while the other team probably loses a less valuable fourth line forward). There is a difference between him and Lilja not taking crap in the crease, and being relied upon to answer the bell.

Haha. I read that and then thought: Lidström-Rafalski Stuart-Kronwall Grier-Abdelkader I'd prefer Betts to Grier, because that would mean that finally we would have a top PK'er who isn't also one of our top offensive players (sorry Kris, but you're getting a bit long in the tooth), which means that we could count on our 3rd and 4th lines more for PKing. He doesn't hit as much as Grier, but he's younger, bigger, blocks more shots, very good penalty-killer, and only cost 600,000 last season! Unfortunately, he got injured by Brashear, so I'm not sure what his status is...

Fighting in SEL is very different from in the NHL. People like Ledin, Kåberg and Oduya epitomise Swedish fighters - light- to middle-weights, do more than just fight etc. When Lilja played there in the lock-out, he actually won fights. Colorado signed Ledin as a sort of spark plug, as he has a fairly good hitting game, and runs his mouth all the time. However, he runs his mouth in Swedish and clearly didn't play that well as he spend the season in the AHL. I don't think that Skröder would do really well in the NHL. I could be wrong, but there is a difference between outhustling some a fairly big SEL defender and facing Pronger's elbows.

Up to a point... FIlppula could be relied on from a defensive point of view, and played on the penalty kill. See below. Unless I'm mistaken he saw ice time playing with Franzén and Zetterberg against opposing teams' top lines, and didn't look good at all out there - but that's not necessarily a knock against him as a player, a possible alternative is that he had no time to gel with them. In any case, I don't think it had to do with him 'not feeling protected'. It probably had more to do with being given more money and a much bigger role, which he will no doubt excel at. Hopefully some Swedish teams join the KHL so that I can watch him play in Sweden!

Is Brilliant Captain Pube Head your signature? How can you call Howard a failed project before the regular season has even started?

Goodbye Pavel Datsyuk. Goodbye Tomas Holmström. Goodbye Native Americans. Goodbye people who do jobs that aren't much fun, but I'm sure you would be happy to do them instead! Immigrants have no place in the U.S. It's not like it was founded by them. Well they emigrated there too. Just a very long time ago.

Good. I would have liked to see him on Detroit, but got a bit sick of the Moen-mania. There are other fish in the sea. Anyone know about Betts' injury situation?