Buppy

I think we have to see what the picks end up being before we can really judge. Swapping 1st and 2nd rounders isn't like swapping a 3rd and a 4th. There can be a huge difference in prospect quality between a pick in the teens and a pick in the late 30s/early 40s. Conversely, if it ends up a pick in the 20s (not too far fetched if St.Louis can heat up) for an early 30s (easily if Colorado keeps slumping) then not so much, especially if this draft is as lean as some have suggested.

They could always just dump Souray when guys start coming back. Doubt it would make much difference for them anyway, so still probably unlikely.

You mean Kronwall. Nick has barely played with Ericsson this year. Nick's +/- is as much a result of goaltending, poor team effort, the forwards, and his own mistakes as it is Stuart or any of his other partners.

Nick was +3 when Stuart got hurt. In the first 13 games after Stuart got hurt, Nick was a -7. He's +5 in the last two games, but still -2 without Stuart.

There isn't any rule preventing a team from trading for a player at the deadline, then trading them back to the same team in the offseason. But trades aren't allowed to contain special provisions/future considerations, and the NHL has to approve all trades. Not to mention you still need to be cap compliant after the deadline. I'd imagine there's some kind of anti-collusion rules as well. So basically, no. It wouldn't be possible even if Yzerman wanted to do it.

That would certainly be a great team (even with Kopy), but you'd also be looking at like $16-18M in raises next year. Not exactly sustainable. Then again, no team like this really could be. CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR FORWARDS Johan Franzen ($3.954m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Loui Eriksson ($4.266m) Marian Hossa ($5.275m) / Ryan Kesler ($5.000m) / Jeff Skinner ($1.400m) Cal Clutterbuck ($1.400m) / Tuomo Ruutu ($3.800m) / Taylor Pyatt ($1.000m) Bryan Bickell ($0.541m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.750m) Jan Mursak ($0.646m) DEFENSEMEN Marc Staal ($3.975m) / Shea Weber ($4.500m) P.K. Subban ($0.875m) / Kristopher Letang ($3.500m) Hal Gill ($2.250m) / Johnny Boychuk ($1.875m) Brendan Smith ($0.875m) GOALTENDERS Jonathan Quick ($1.800m) /Brent Johnson ($0.600m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $55,279,823; BONUSES: $500,000 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $4,120,177

Yep. Little known fact: All fat, bald, white guys are related.

Since the lockout, January and February have been the worst months for the Wings. I'll start to worry if they're tanking in March and April. Nucks should be alright for now at least. Offense wins in the regular season, and their team defense and goaltending should be pelnty enough to keep them up. Playoffs would be different, if they have guys out that long.

Stuart had over 200 hits last year. His highest total since the lockout (possibly a career high, NHL.com doesn't have pre-lockout hits). He was pretty close to that pace again this year. He still is more physical than Mesz, or certainly on a similar level. He has been rock solid for most of the past two seasons defensively. Easily 2nd best on the team. For many games both last year and this, he was arguably even better than Nick. Like most people, you probably just fixate on the mistakes. Watch any player close enough, looking for flaws, and you will find them.

Isn't that backwards? Waiving the in-person hearing means the suspension would be 5 games or more I thought...

The trade deadline is fast approaching. I'm sure every team has their scouts out in force, if for no other reason than due diligence.

I wouldn't say Mesz is either better defenseively or more physical. In a similar amout of games since the lockout, Stuart has around 200 more hits. Both are solid 2nd pair guys who can fill in on a top pair when required. Mesz is no more a shutdown defender than Stuart. He is younger, but I'm not building the defense around either so I don't care. Regardless, even if I did think Mesz was better, he is certainly no where near enough of an improvement to include a 2nd rounder and a prospect. You even point out that our defense isn't physical enough and then propose trading our most physical defender for someone who hits less, and you throw in a pick that could easily garner a big, physical defender 6 years younger than Meszaros if we decided to go that way. Or, if we decided to trade the pick and maybe a low pick or prospect, we could get another defenseman of similar quality. (As proven by the trades involving the very players we're talking about.) Your proposal was a gross overpayment. I don't think you know what 'good' looks like. Stuart isn't an all-star, but neither is Meszaros. You trade Stu AND a 2nd AND a prospect with even a hint of NHL potential you better get an all-star in return or you're getting robbed.

Simple answer is I wouldn't start a franchise around a goaltender at all. Optimally, I'd want to commit around 5% of the cap or less toward my goalie tandem. A solid vet, and a promising younger guy. Spending an extra ~$3m for another solid defenseman will do more for the team than a 'star' goalie.

You know this isn't the NBA and 2nd round picks are actually worth something in the NHL right? Stuart for Mesz is a lateral move at best, so you're basically throwing away a prospect and a high pick while also adding $250k in salary.

The summer of 2012 could be very interesting for the Wings defense. Rafi, Stu, and Kronner all UFA. Wideman, Burns, Suter, Boychuk, Carle, Liles, and maybe a few I overlooked UFA that year, plus any UFAs/RFAs this summer that might sign one year deals. Plus a new CBA. Lebda. Could see a real facelift on D for '12-'13.

All in all I thought the show was disappointing. Both of the shootout competitions sucked and the whole thing seemed disorganized. Too much other stuff on the ice, distracted from the action. And for a two hour show, there was little enough action to begin with. I think what they should do is have each team (or each team that wants to) send one entrant for each event. Then at the end of each event have the top 4 or 8 in a mini-playoff. At the end of it all, could maybe have the top 4 teams compete in a relay. Fastest skater, hardest shot, accuracy shooting, puck handling/agility skating, and passing. Fastest skater I'd leave as is. Hardest shot I'd say give 3 shots instead of 2. Accuracy could either stay as is or combine it somehow with the one-timer thing from the relay (say, hit the targets, then complate a one-timer from each of 5 different spots on the ice, maybe including at least one backhand shot). Puck handling could combine the two drills from the relay with a new section, maybe flipping the puck over and/or through different obstacles. Passing would be the relay event, plus a new section adding some moving targets and/or moving obstacles. Shootouts are tougher. With two players against each other a great or bad play by one can make the other look better or worse than they really were. Not sure how to improve the shootouts. Maybe not have a contest, but instead a 15 minute exhibition by Datsyuk.

Not a bad deal for one year, especially considering how thin the UFA forwards are this year. If he'd have hit the market someone might have been desperate enough to throw $7.5-8 at him.

That defense would be nice, but would need some hefty discounting from Nick and Markov. Unrealistic really. And not sure I'd want to give up Franzen, even if it meant having two Eaves's.

Prior to the last couple seasons, he was as hearty as most players in the league. Though given the seriousness of his latest injury, he'd have to offer a nice discount before I'd be too interested.

Nick just needs to hang on one more year. By then Robo-clone Lidstrom will be complete, and he'll have laser-skates. Probably a hyper-quantum plasma stick too. Pre-programed with a cap-friendly atomic contract. Kenny is working on getting rules allowing laser-skate equipped Robo-clones with hyper-quantum plasma sticks into the next CBA. Shanny and Stevie are his allies so we're optimistic. 2014 will bring us 3-headed-Mechahudler and possibly Laserface-GhostOzzie to dominate the annual Moon Classic. Future Hockey is awesome.

Something to note in regards to the 'replace Miller with a fighter' sentiment that's so popular around here. When this team is healthy, Miller is in the pressbox. No one helps the team from that position, so to me it seems pretty pointless to worry so much about the bottom of the bench. Guys like Miller and Mursak are great bench players. Cheap and capable of contributing in a lot of different situations or roles, even if not at a very high level; but at the same time, you're not really missing anything when they're not in the lineup. Makes more sense to me to either aim higher and replace someone like Hudler or Flip with someone like Ott, Clutterbuck, Ruutu, Brown, Boyle or even Neil looked decent when Ottawa was good. Granted some may have bad contracts and or be too hard to get, but the principle remains. Or alternately, and probably better, replace someone like Bert, Modano, or even Hudler with someone like Konopka and use the money savings to upgrade someone else to compensate. Bottom pair defensemen also make a good spot to insert these types of guys.

Same thing as what would happen if Chicago or anyone else signed all those players and then NJ claimed them all on waivers. You don't make or judge rules based on the worst case scenario you can imagine. A better question is if that scenario or the 'hide players in Europe to circumvent the cap' angle or any other reason is a credible enough threat to league parity/function to justify the rule. In my opinion, no. So, in my opinion it's a stupid rule that should be changed.

It's always about enforcers. Same 'debate' as always. I put debate in quotes there because you can't really call it a debate when no one really disagrees on any of the salient points. No one wants a one-dimensional goon. Everyone agrees a guy who can play and fight would be nice to have. We all know it isn't an absolute necessity, but we all admit it wouldn't hurt. What are we actually debating? The only reason it's ever discussed at all is because most of us over-invest ourselves in our team, to the point of trying to live vicariously through the team. So when someone on the team looks like a punk, the fan feels like a punk. Or from another direction, the 'softness' of the team gets pointed out, the fan feels soft. It's all the same thing, just slightly different buttons that trigger our insecurities, and a different balance of aggressive/defensive coping responses. There's your daily psycho-analysis. Reflect.

Interesting, though other than the trapezoid I don't really agree with any of them. I like the current tag-up and 2-line pass rules. Don't think they need any changing. The current automatic delay of game rule is stupid, but I can't see giving the refs more discretionary power as being anything but worse. Should just get rid of the rule. It's not like shooting the puck over the glass delays the game any more than shooting it into the benches, or even a regular icing. Nor is it really any easier to do. Just make it like icing, faceoff down low in the offending team's zone. Fans love souvenirs anyway. The smaller offensive zone is intriguing. Maybe a bit counter-intuitive to think a smaller zone could spread the play out more; but then again, if the zone now is too big for defenders to cover adequately, collapsing inward to best protect the most important area makes sense. Making the points easier to defend could theoretically draw defenders outward. And I do think there should be more room behind the net. Still, I can't help but think the ice is a little too small already.

Technically, if Crosby plays tomorrow, he would be in violation of the rule if he then skipped the ASG. Doesn't look like he will though, so nothing to discuss really. However, Crosby certainly should be suspended a game for skipping the ASG two years ago, since it was just a made up rule that allowed him to weasel out of it back then.