Carman

There is a pretty good argument that if we spent the money on Wiz we would be worse off. He's been injured a ton since 2010, he's a one dimensional guy that would play a ton of minutes and hurt us defensively. Do we really think that having Wiz here missing 40+ games last season and 1/3 of this one( he's only played more than 70 games once in his career) would really help us that much? Then add to the salary he's making and the constraints of us actually going for a player that would make us better in he future? You pay 5 million + on really good players that can stay healthy, Wisniewski is not this type of player in my opinion. His offensive skill would probably be worth it for some teams, but with his injury history in addition to our defense that really lacks a lock-down defensive guy outside of Ericsson, he would not be the answer.

You never go broke making a profit. It's good to have high expectations, it's bad when you don't appreciate how good you have it even if it doesn't reach your expectations. If we start missing the playoffs, and start getting #1-5 overall picks, then these are performances that should be taken to action. There is nothing wrong with being where we are. What's a problem is if we replace Holland with someone that will most likely be worse. You have to compare Holland to his competition, and when you do you realize there really isn't anyone at there that much better. Especially that would be available. Critique his moves, I didn't like him going after Quincey, I didn't like him not finding a way to keep Hossa, but even though I disagreed with those, there are 100's of other choices that he's made that ended up helping this team. This really reminds me of baseball managers, they have to make a ton of decisions, and no one gives credit if it's the right call, but if someone blows a save it's the end of the world. And forget about blaming players for not performing, it's much easier to point at the guy off the field that put him in that position.

Hope he can come back, he'd really help our top 6 if he's healthy.

Kevin Lowe is in charge of Edmonton anyways, until he's gone nothing will change much.

Datsyuk had 9 points in his first 33 games, Nyquist has 12(Same age as well for the most part). I think that people are too hard on Nyquist, he's done nothing to hurt his potential on being a great player for us. People really undervalue him here. I really like Tatar as well, but I wasn't comparing the two, I'm just saying Nyquist can be a big part of our scoring solution if he can get hot towards the end of his first season, I don't see how this is a surprising opinion. (Yikes just noticed the title of this thread, my bad got sidetracked quite a bit=(

He really is just a remarkable person, the work and battle he's gone through is just amazing. I can never get enough of his story, what an inspiration. Here's to many more steps for Vladdy!

Agreed, but I just don't know how realistic it is to get a #1 franchise defenseman. They don't normally get traded or hit the market, and we just missed on Suter.

This signing has no impact on that. Mrazek can earn the backup job and outplay jimmy in 3 years. This signing ensures us of at least having a good NHL goalie for the term, we can't rely on mrazeks potential.

Even with his gaping five hole his save % is 6th among active goalie with atleast 70 attempts.

He's 6th among active goalies that have more than 70 shots against. Try again. Carey Price has a .698 SV% in shootouts Howard has a .745

beauty datsyuk. nice one by couture.ughhh

Great pressure, but man did Quincey look weak as hell there.

I'm confused about this? What was supposed to be sarcastic about my Ian White post?

Abdelkader+Franzen=Dominate powerforwards.

Filppula took a terrible route there and lost his guy. Nice save by Howard.

Yeah, don't mind my posts on Datsyuk. I can't tell what number anyone is with this terrible TV feed. That goal was on Zetterberg.

Nevermind I'm wrong Zetterbeg made the bad play. Wow I can't tell on this crap quality video feed. My bad, that's entirely on Z. Nah, it's just we give up a ton more turnovers so it seems like it.

Datsyuk with yet another giveaway that leads to a SH goal. Not a good play, just send him back to Russia, Datsyuk is a hindrance.

Yeah here downriver it looks like it's not HD.

It really is up to the league to enforce it. If they made the risk of diving, not worth the reward of drawing a penalty people wouldn't do it. People that hate divers, have to realize that the players are just trying to win, and it just so happens that the league doesn't see diving as a big problem, and ends up rewarding powerplays more often then not. The blame lies on the league.

Yep exactly. Hopefully Mrazek does come up and push him. Having two good goalies is better than banking the future on one.

Ovechkin had 2 more years of developing then Crosby coming into the league. I'd say it plays a little into the grand scheme or comparing the two. Does Crosby playing fewer games this season really matter? He led his team to clinch the division already, and has 12 more points even with missing games. So while he may miss more games, he makes a bigger impact in the ones he does play, and to an extent where maybe him playing in 36 games, might be more valuable then Ovechkin playing in 48 games. And Ovechkin is great. I didn't mean to diminish him at all, but there is a pretty clear consensus among hockey writers/coaches/players who the best player in the game is.

Howard is the best option right now. I like Mrazek, but he's not ready yet and you absolutely cannot rely on potential. I'd prefer a shorter deal as well. But if that's the sticking point between having him and not, then I'll settle for 6 years. It's not super long, he was probably asking for the max term anyways. Really if the extra 2 years made the difference in keeping him or not, then you didn't want him in the first place. It shouldn't be the sticking point on whether or not the deal should have been done.

Umm, Ian White had 26, 21, 26, 38, 26 point seasons before his 32 point season with Lidstrom. Let me know when I can expect Smith, Kindl, Dekeyser to do that this season. Now long term yes, but we were talking about the rest of this season. Ian White has shown he can produce points, the rest of the guys haven't.

I wouldn't go that far, he's had injury troubles in the past. But he was worth the risk. We didn't risk anything signing him, he was the best option at the time.