Carman

The Nathan Horton deal.

Some fans simply prefer drafting players they've personally seen play rather than a foreign player they don't know much about and haven't watched develop. Also the KHL is a factor, especially considering what happened with Hudler. So that is another added risk considering a European player is more likely to rather than a North American. Not saying it's fair or right.

Tinordi is looking good. Has good size, uses it and some offensive potential.

Nope, St. Louis got it. Pavel did have more penalties than him I guess, so it wasn't a travesty.

Datsyuk's had a HOF career up until now, it's up to him to continue the pace to be a Hall of Famer by the time he retires.

Awesome, guess I disagree with 86 people then.

"most outstanding player in the regular season as judged by the members of the NHL Players Association." outstanding does not mean most valuable.

Easy. Ovechkin is more flashy. Crosby is a better leader and winner. He was also more important to his team. Edit: Also I guess you think Henrik Sedin is a better hockey player than Datsyuk, by your stance on that award.

I can see Spezza really having a good season with Nash. If the chemistry is there they can put up some gaudy numbers. That said Columbus is still really weak depth and defense-wise.

Philly's new goalie?

Good news for the Wings. Hopefully we can fill the bottom of the roster with good, gritty, young players now.

Sakic had better numbers, and leadership ability was close albeit not as much as Yzerman. It's a very close debate but I think Yzerman's injuries hurt him in comparison.

Sooo Cory Emmerton is going to be the Red Wings' version of Breenan Boesch.

Soooo how about that Jimmy Howard. Calder trophy winner soon?

Well, on the bright side, if that doesn't add enough fuel to the fire for the Wings to win I don't know what will.

I really like him, but I think he's going to get a bigger contract than the Wings can match. He's a good player though it's worth a shot.

Agreed Newfy. It's too tough to judge intent with the pace of the game today. I'm alright with a couple game suspensions for hits to the head, but most of them are largely just split second mistakes, not premeditated hits. If you start enforcing the penalty to for the hitter to be out as long as the person he injured then you'll just effectively kill open ice hitting. No player is going to take a physical oppurtunity when it's largely a roll of the dice if they hit the guy too high. That said a medium length suspension wouldn't be the end of the world to me, it would diminish the premeditated hits to the head and not kill the open ice opportunities.

At least 10-15 more goals? Also the ability to play top 6 minutes.

He was all banged up last year. He provides front net presence, PK ability, defensive play and physicality along with 20 goals when he is healthy. His impact is felt much more off the score sheet then on. Now if he struggles to get the puck in the net by the trade deadline then I can see trying to shop him around, but that will be a hard thing to sell.

My original comment meant that his value isn't going to be higher. The odds of him living up to what he did in the playoffs is not very high. I'm coming off a 12 hour shift, I'm surprised you even got that far in my rambling haha.

Bleh yep mistyped, but his value would still be down.

Who is to say Halak won't fall back down to earth? Halak was going to be much more expensive, and that money could be used to make the line up better rather then just hoping Halak can steal the cup again. Price's trade value is very low right now, and Halak's value couldn't be higher. With this move they can keep the goaltending position cheap and use that extra money to give the team in front of the goalie a much better chance. Price isn't the worst goalie in the world, he's had some attitude issues in the past, but for the present we don't know what the Montreal staff does, they must think he has what it takes, and they have much more information available then you do, sorry. In summary, this was a gambling situation, either play it safe with option A. And try to sign both goalies, which either 1) They lose Halak for less than this trade for Eller* or 2) they sign him to a pretty contract, lose Plekanec or a shot at a big name free agent and hope that he can provide the same level of goaltending. Or option B which is trade his rights, get a blue chip center prospect that is NHL ready and go with your goalie that you drafted 5th overall and have seen first hand for 5 years. Both are gambles, but at least with option B they can avoid having to gamble on a possible bad contract. It's a much safer move money-wise, which is important with the salary cap.

There was no guarantee that Halak would have signed though. That's a major gamble, if you lose Halak for nothing. Goaltending is a very unpredictable position, Halak might have been good this playoffs, but Fleury looked good in the 08-09 playoffs as well. Also Halak didn't have to carry the load as a number 1 goalie most of the season as well. That said I think Halak is going to be a very good goalie, it's just practically impossible to say that goaltending is a sure thing. Theodore won a Hart trophy, Giguere won a Conn Smythe etc.

Bertuzzi deserves every cent of that contract. How can this deal possibly be classified as "blew it" at this time? You aren't going to find a player that has Bertuzzi's size and skill for this much money.

They traded his rights. He was up for arbitration and Price isn't. Price is younger, cheaper, bigger, and has a higher ceiling.