Carman

This guy

Well by all measures you can find Ericsson ranks as a much more physical defenseman than Carlo, he had 60 more hits than Carlo, and was in the top 50 among defensemen. I know that hits aren't a good stat at all with the discrepancies in certain arenas, but it's not completely meaningless. I felt Ericsson improved his physical aspect last season, he was much tougher in front of the net and in corners than what I recall from season's prior, and the hits support that. But yeah, Carlo is a solid depth signing, at the very least we have good depth on the back end, if we could add a good top pairing defenseman, or Brendan Smith becomes one(Still think he's one of the top defensive prospects in hockey, his numbers at each level give credence to the fact that he could be one) we will be looking very good. As it is, it's not terrible considering the bad luck we've had with just missing Suter.

No doubt Ian White was helped by Lidstrom defensively, but Ian White has consistently put up 26,38,26 points without Lidstrom, then 32 with him. He's proven to be a solid number 2 for a while, and he was a hell of a steal. Everyone struggles when you have to play with a new partner, especially after playing a full season. Quincey needs to step up, he has the potential to be very good for us, but I cannot defend his play for us last year, he was brutal. I'm content with our defense, especially with the depth signing of Carlo, I'd say we are just outside the top 10, but in the top 15. But we are also younger than in the past, and have potential to be one of, if not the best offensive unit in the league.

Believe it or not points aren't all that plays into salary for defensemen. Carlo is a decent puck moving defenseman, he's nothing more than an average to below average in terms of defense, Ericsson plays a ton more in shorthanded situations, and is much more physical. Different players demand different salaries depending on the role they play. One also had much more leverage on the team, Ericsson's not a world beater by any means, but he does provide something the wings don't have much of on the back end, toughness, and size. Which the Wing's lost quite a bit with Stuart.

Solid signing for what was available. Welcome!

Just trying to justify my mostly irrational hate of Wendel Clark. I'm partly joking, Wendel was a hard working and talented player no doubt, but I do think he's a bit overrated. Plus I just found SI's comparison to Burrows hysterical. This thread asked for ex wings that you dislike and are popular, and Wendel Clark was mine, I have a feeling if he spent 30% of his career in the penalty box with the wings we wouldn't be too happy, I know I wouldn't want one of our best forwards to be taking that many penalties and giving the other team an advantage.

At losing and wasting the minimal talent he had in the penalty box? Yeah quite a bad ass.

What a great character Wendel Clark was? I'm pretty sure he's the one that got a match penalty for slashing one of the NHL's nicest and cleanest players(sarcasm don't kill me, I hate Bryan Marchment) in the throat. I think Sports Illustrated compared Wendel Clark very well with Alex Burrows, very similar players. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0904/nhl.toughest.players/content.5.html

No doubt Crosby is an ******, Crosby is also one of the most talented NHL player of all time. And Clark's career was cut short because he did not play the game smartly. His numbers were drastically inflated.due to the era he played in, no way are John Ogrodnick's 400 goals as impressive as let's say Marian Hossa's 400 goals. Maybe Clark would have been a good player he if actually lead his team on the ice, instead of wasting 28% of the games in the penalty box.

you're right I am arguing the mental aspect of the position enforcers are in causes more mental harm. I'm not discussing the injuries hitting verse fighting causes, I'm discussing deaths. How many of these hits have caused suicides? I understand that it's not clear cut scientific data, but just from my personal experience and viewpoint it make sense to me that the enforcing position in hockey is very unhealthy much more-so than hitting, as evidenced by the death's of Terrence Tootoo, Trevor Ettinger, Don Sanderson, Boogard, Rypien, and Belak. Who has died from a hit on the ice? I guess we can use heart illness that triggers from hits, if we do that we have one Markus Wächter, that died due to complications stemming from a bodycheck, but was later announced he had a heart illness. So over the same period of time it's a 6 to 1 ratio on deaths of fighters to non fighters.

Bertuzzi has 300 goals playing in the dead puck era. Obviously Wendel wasn't terrible he was well above average, but I just never liked him for some reason. Btw I like Crosby and he gets into fights.

Sorry, I'm just not sold on the deaths of Boogaard, Belak, Rypien, and to an extent Probert being due to hits more-so than the fights. If it was Kayira-type players dying in the off-season then I'd side with hitting being worse than repeated punches to the skull, but that's not the case. I played Juniors, I played semi-pro, I saw first hand the dread that enforcers had of their next fight, and knowing damn well the only way they can get that next paycheck is to go out and fight. I just don't see the need for it to continue, it's a hazardous unhealthy job, I understand enforcers always have a choice, they don't have to pursue NHL fighting, but once you reach that point in juniors, that's your job if you ever want to play in the NHL. I think the NHL needs to outlaw it and save these player's from themselves, I don't see a reason the NHL should keep promoting fighting. I understand hitting would be next, I wouldn't like it, but if it will end up saving lives then I might change my mind, but I can't recall an NHLer that died prematurely due to hits, that didn't have a premature heart condition, or a situation like Masterson's. It took Ludek Cajka's death for no touch icing to be introduced for example. Terrence Tootoo, Trevor Ettinger, Don Sanderson(hit head on ice after fight), Boogard, Rypien all died do to suicide/drugs, all were heavily involved with fighting. Only two other cases of drug/suicide the past ten years that weren't enforcers, Roman Lyashenko, Tom Cavangah(was hospitalized several for schizophrenia).

That's fine, why should we change something that seriously harms someone? I'm sorry, I just don't understand how fighting is more important than a person's well being, I'll defend hitting in hockey, but I draw the line at punches directly to the head. I just refuse to believe the entertainment trade off for a player's health is there for me personally.

Not enough physical contact for me, I like football. You don't need to be an idiot and take shots to the head and become suicidal to be physical in today's game. Fighting is a cave man skill, now that we understand the human brain more and more, it's surprising to me people like you still want to see young men dead every off season. It truly boggles my mind that we are so backwards in this sport, and I can't wait until we catch up with the rest of the world, I'm tired of seeing players shave years along with quality of their life to appease a part of a sports fan base. In the meantime, you can watch UFC.

Absolutely not, hitting is a part of the game. Fighting isn't. Can't wait until fighting is gone and I don't have to waste my time seeing idiots punch each other.

I hate Wendel Clark, he was a useless goon that only has recognition around the league because he was the best player on terrible teams. He is everything hockey shouldn't be, he was not smart, he was not skilled and most of all he was ugly and I didn't like his hair.

I'm pretty sure even the people that like Bouwmeester don't want to give up these assets. I would only do it for players not on the roster, or non top six guys. Even with his enormous cap hit, he's still a top pairing guy, and it's not like we would use the whole 13 million anyways. Bouwmeester is overpaid, and overrated, no one is denying that, but that doesn't make him a bad defenseman, it just makes him a bad #1 guy.

Just want to correct this notion on Quincey. He's more than a third pairing, he led his team in ice-team on the top pairing at 23:36 a night in 09-10, and 20+ each and every night since, he played more than Stuart last season, and just a minute behind Kronwall, and 4 minutes more than Ericsson. Quincey is also a productive offensive guy, even with how he struggled with us last season he still was well within top 60 defenseman in the league points-wise, so at the very least you are getting top 4 offensive numbers, and a decent size/skating ability player. Quincey was bad with us, but the potential is there for him to be a top pairing guy, don't forget he's still only 26, and has had a top .54 ppg(top 30) season in 70 games which was 08-09 with similar numbers to Letang, Burns, Edler and Pitkanen.

Our forwards aren't as bad as they seem. Even assuming Cleary has another bad year and can't crack the top 6. Last year's number's compared to Vancouver's who had the best offense in the Western Confernce, and Chicago second best. Zetterberg(.84)/Datsyuk(.96)/Franzen(.73) Bertuzzi(.54)/Filpulla(.81)/Sammy(.57) Sedin(.93)/Sedin(.99)/Higgins(.61) Burrows(.65)Kesler(.64)/Booth(.48) Sharp(.93)/Toews(.97)/Hossa(.95) Kane(,80)Bolland(.49)/Stalberg(.54) Our top 6 doesn't suck by any standard, sorry. And we have pieces like Nyquist/Brunner that are unknowns and could contribute, and veterans like Cleary who have proven to put up 20 goals in the past.

But Quincey has a better career PPG in the NHL (sarcasm)

He's soft, but hockey sense I disagree with. He's very rarely out of posistion, has a good stick with size, good decision making, great passes, and probably one of the best skating defenseman in the league. He made Team Canada for a reason, Sutter(s) don't have a great track record of flourishing defenseman either. There's no doubt he's soft, and overpaid. But he's still an above average stay at home, 10 goal, 20+ minute defenseman. The concern I have with bouwmeester is going to be what we'd have to give up, and frankly he's not worth anything close to what's being reported.

Why would we get Girardi? We already have a younger, bigger, and faster version in Quincey.

At least Crosby doesn't hide behind the media like Giroux. Or go head hunting and get suspended in the playoffs and hurt his team.

LIDSTROMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! A goalie can't be good without a top 3 all time dman, what are you thinking?!?!?!?

Fair enough, I can't say that I watch a lot of anaheim. I did hear it from a few fans, but it might just be talk trying to soften the blow if he's traded. I watch a lot of the eastern conference, and Gaborik, Neal, Kessel etc. all seem very similar to Franzen. Although Neal's production was great, Malkin was the driving force, and opened up the ice tremendously.