Carman

At least our first pairing isn't Suter-Spurgeon

Makes sense, Eaves has a little more offensive punch than Miller.

I'd prefer Mule with Datsyuk and Filpulla, and Bert with Z and Brunner, but it's not a big deal. Just don't think that first line will generate enough shots, as all those guys are pass first. Hopefully that will force Fil or Datsyuk to shoot. Really like having Helm back, not only for him, but I think Abby-Tootoo-Eaves will be a very very good 4th line, all great on the forecheck, and can all score(at least for 4th liners).

Yea, because Holland would never trade assets... It's not like we've only had 4 first round draft picks since 2000 because Holland hates to trade right? Fayne's not on the radar because there is no way in hell New Jersey will let him go, he's on a great contract, been with them the entire time, is getting more and more ice time each year. They would move Volechenkov, or Tallinder first.

Samuelsson is a versatile forward, that is physical(not overly, but he's pretty good in the corners), he can play anywhere on the roster. And he puts up more points per game than Hornqvist, Derek Roy, and Okposo... Not too mention he and Babcock have some familiarity which is important during a shortened season. I feel it was a good signing, gives us depth which is needed.

Not only that, but to replace them only through trades and free agency. The Wings were successful replacing Fedorov/Yzerman with Datsyuk/Zetterberg. I think your best chance to do that is from within, and get the best players you can through trades and free agency. Holland should be criticized for the things he's done in my eyes, namely Quincey, or signing an injury prone Colaicavo. That still has time to heal, but it's not looking good. If we are going to be critical of Holland wouldn't make sense to judge him on the decisions he did make, that we have evidence of, rather then a blank roster spot that we have to fill in the circumstances and situations with our imagination? Did you want us to overpay for Brent Burns? That's about the only top pairing guy that's moved teams, and he was had for the equivalent of Filpulla, Smith and a first round pick. That would be trading talent for talent right? That would also put us in a situation if Helm went down where Abdelkader might be a second line center, and Emmerton and 3rd liner. Also we would be without Smith, whose ceiling might even be higher than Burns. Then add in the first rounder, I fail to see how that trade would have made us better. But hey it would have solved the top pairing problem right?

I don't know if I feel better seeing Lidstrom out there for as many goals as Quincey. I think I do, knowing that the team ended up with 104 points after giving up 10 goals. Either way it shows that one game doesn't make a season.

As long as Franzen is producing 25-30 goals, 50-60 points he's going to stay. Whether we like it or not, that's good enough production that you can't just buy him out, and it's not good enough to overlook his deficiencies. The only thing I would say is if we are out of the playoff hunt I wouldn't mind being a seller to an extent. But it would have to really depend on the information that I don't have(IE. Is datsyuk going to stay after his contract, how do I feel about our farm system, etc.) If I feel Datsyuk is gone after his contract is up, then it's a pretty easy choice for me, it would suck, as Datsyuk is one of my all time favorite players, but if trading him will give us a Kessel type return then you have to do it.

Nope it's not, but it's in the rulebook now and it's not going to change. The legal ramifications are too great, just look at the NFL.

But it wasn't a clean hit, you even said it could be charging. It was a high hit, which made initial contact with the head. It wasn't egregious, but it was an illegal check.

Kinda what happens when people learn the importance of concussions. Lots of things weren't always enforced equally through time. When more information about the outcome of the act come out, the penalty becomes stronger.

Suter is a damn good defenseman, but I don't feel comfortable giving him that much money. He's not proven to play well without Weber. In his time in Nashville everytime Weber was out the team got scored on more, didn't score as much, and lost more games. When Suter didn't play they actually scored more, prevented more goals, and won more games. That was over a 7 year span as well...

Oh yea, +/- is not a good barometer. I'm just reversing the argument on the people that want to complain about the team right now based on 3 games, and wanted Suter at all costs. Although no points in 3 games for a 7.5 million defenseman is worrisome, especially considering he hasn't played well outside of readily available statistics.

We have our first round pick this year, the Quincey trade was last year's first round pick. Agreed with the rest of your post though! Too early to call anything definitive.

Suter has been awful btw -3, no points,and no hits. yikes, imagine if we were in the same position with Suter actually on the team. Then again just 3 games in, it would be unfair to make complete judgements on a player 3 games in would it not?

What has Bert done to give you the idea that he isn't getting it done? Eaves and Miller are both important pieces, and Eaves is just coming off a year long injury and has played fine. Yikes, the bottom 6 on this team isn't the problem, it's the top 6 and defense.

Brunner is playing 18-20 minutes a night, on the first powerplay, with Zetterberg and Datsyuk duct taped to his side. Nyquist looked more than fine out there. His play was very good along the boards in the defensive zone, he back checked hard, he had two scoring chances, all in just 11 minutes of ice time. He's playing a third line role, with abdelkader at center. Man lefty, I don't like calling you out all the damn time but some of the things you say just make no sense. Mursak has just 4 points in 45 games, Nyquist has 7 in 19. Come on, how can you compare the two? By the way, Datsyuk had 5 points in his first 19 games, with 2 points in the 19th game, he must have been Mursak as well.

Let's trade Howard and FIlpulla, for Edler and Luongo then franzen for james neal

I'd rather him focus on taking the body in the corners and the forecheck. Playing hockey would be a priority for me, rather then throwing punches.

New Jersey has had Adam Larsson as a healthy scratch the last two nights, wonder if they could be a trading partner. Volchenkov, Tallinder, and Fayne would all be good additions. Volchenkov has a NTC, but hasn't been playing a ton for them, wondered if it's a limited one or not? Andy Greene would be amazing, but I doubt they would let him go play on the top pairing. Tallinder is a steady veteran, probably the easiest to bait a trade for and cheapest. Fayne is young, on a great deal, and is playing very very well.

At least we're not Philly. And we're only a point out of a playoff spot. Los Angeles, Vancouver and Washington both have worse GA/g too, lots of teams not clicking early. I don't think we can definitely say how good one team is to another, let's give it a couple weeks, unless we just play terrible every game until then. Do need to get our offense going, I don't think it's going to take too long we've been getting chances. Just have to change up the lines a little bit. I liked seeing Flip on the wing with Datsyuk. Wouldn't mind seeing Brunner-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi, Filpulla-Datsyuk-Franzen next game, we have to get that second line creating chances, Bertuzzi has enough skill and is pretty good in the corners, he should fit right in with Brunner nand Z. Filpulla/Datsyuk can dig in the corners and Franzen should be able to trip and fall in front of goalie at some point.

I'd prefer Carkner. Streit is better overall, but we need that big physical dman.

He took significantly less to come here the first time. Coming off a 36 point season and only taking 2.8. But back to the thread, Huskins played well enough last night. He was slow, but we knew that coming in. A few miscommunications, but that will happen when you haven't even practiced with the team. Decision making was simple and quick, he can make the passes necessary. And his positioning was solid, and he was willing to block some shots.

Suter has been the only defenseman that would significantly help us. And guess what? Holland went after him hard. Carle is on a 5 year deal and is another Ian White. He can't just create defenseman out of thin air. If there aren't any available why would you just settle with a mediocre defenseman for the long term? Especially when you consider the uncertainty of the new CBA, and the overpaid contracts that were handed out. Then again we just fall into the, "He should have done something", and I ask "What", and goes on and on. If we don't get a top pairing dman by next season I'll be very critical of Holland, especially if they start moving at the deadline. But until now I just haven't seen a move that I'd have supported to make this team good for years to come. Yea, our top 2 defenseman would be offensive minded. Wisniewski doesn't even play on the penalty kill(5th lowest time played on his team), and you would be paying this guy 5.5 million for 5 years. I'm sorry but we need to save that money to find the right defenseman. Not just anyone.

Is that a bad thing? Do we want players that won't take a pay cut to secure more talent for them to play with? I mean wasn't that how this team was built for a long time with no one making more than lidstrom? Wisniewski would have been a trainwreck here. Him and kronwall would be a disaster as a top pairing, it's not that Wisniewski is bad, it's just he's so aggressive, he would need to change his game completely, or Kronwall would have to. I guess you could split them up, but it still wouldn't help our main issue on the backend, and that's defensive skill. Wisniewski would just be another player on the backend giving up odd man rushes and turning the puck over, except he would be making 3rd most money on the team.