Buppy

Joni Pitkanen is UFA next summer too. Younger, and I would say better overall, than Kaberle. Might cost a bit more, since there's (again) so few good UFA defensemen, especially young ones. My top choices would be (assuming the RFAs are off the table): Chara Markov Pitkanen Erhoff Kaberle Jovanovski McCabe

How'd they improve in the off-season? Mitchell and Poni replacing Frolov and O'Donnell? Maybe they weren't over-achievers actually. I guess it just seemed that way to me being ahead of us most of the year. Just not used to the Wings being so low in the standings. I just don't see all the hype around them. Maybe if they had gotten Kovy, but as it stands I think their top 6 is lacking firepower. Kopitar, Smyth, Brown and a handful of 3rd liners. On defense, outside of Doughty, none of them really impress me. Quick is average really. What exactly do they have that makes you think they're better than Chicago? With the cap space they had this summer, I expected them to become a threat, but they just never did anything. They still have a bunch of cap space ($5-8M depending on what kids make the roster) but not much to spend it on now.

Buffy was drafted as a defenseman. Still doesn't make much sense, given that Atlanta's defense is decent while their forwards are about as weak as you can find in the NHL. What would they do? Dump Valabik, and make Sopel/Buffy the 6 & 7 guys? Either way it really seems to diminish the value of that trade. Atlanta has never been accused of being a well run organization, so I guess it doesn't surprise me.

Yeah, unfortunately, nothing is better than NHL refs. And I mean that literally. "Nothing" would be pretty big improvement over NHL refs.

I really doubt he'll center any line (except on the PP maybe) but I am expecting him to at least spend a fair amount of time as a top 6 winger.

First 4 games actually. I like the Pens defense, but I don't think they have enough offense. Crosby and Malkin can only make up so much, unless Martin and Michalek show something or Goligoski makes a huge stride, that will cause problems for them. No one in the East really stands out though, so I wouldn't be shocked if they made the Finals. Philly, Boston, Buffalo, Washington, and New Jersey could all make noise. But I'll say Washington finally puts it together (maybe with a new coach) and takes the East. In the West, Detroit, San Jose, Vancouver, and Chicago (yeah, yeah... exodus and all, still a very good team) are easily the best teams (maybe top 4 in the league too). Phoenix, Colorado, and LA were over achievers last year, and I'm not convinced they could repeat that (especially not Phoenix, losing Lombardi and Michalek), though none of the other teams really stand out either. Nashville, Calgary, St.Louis, Minnesota, Anaheim...none of them look like contenders to me. As a homer, I have to pick the Wings. Otherwise Canucks.

Grand Rapids is only 2-3 hours away. Tough commute, but not really that bad.

Yuri Butsayev, Steve Thomas, Wendel Clark, Brent Gilchrist, Stacy Roest, Mike Krushelnyski, Tim Taylor, Mike Sillinger, Bob Errey, Mike Ramsey, Todd Gill, Yan Golubovsky, Jamie Macoun, Ulf Samuelsson, Jason Woolley, Jiri Slegr, Ken Wregget... Just a few I could think of that I didn't see mentioned.

Shanahan-Yzerman-Ciccarelli Kozlov-Fedorov-Sheppard Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom McCarty-Draper-Probert Maltby, Franzen Lidstrom-Murphy Coffey-Chelios Fetisov-Konstantinov Fischer Osgood Hasek

It's funny seeing some of the seldom-used numbers and names like Jamie McGinn, Paul Ranger, and David Perron. Melvin Angelstad...lol

No doubt there, but I think he was saying that the Pens defense as a whole is one of the better in the East, and I'd agree. Philly is probably better, and a few others are close, but not many teams even in the West are notably superior. They still need a 6/7th (McKee maybe), but they look solid so far. Defensively that is. Not a lot of scoring there though. PP is probably going to suck. They haven't been very good in the past two years, even with Gonchar.

Martin supposedly has some offensive potential that NJ wasn't capitalizing on, but overall they don't have much in the way of scoring from the blue line. Letang and Goligoski have a bit of skill, but they don't have a real PP quarterback. I think they will struggle quite a bit without Gonchar, especially on the PP. Unless maybe Martin and Michalek can really step up thier game. Defensively they should be fine, though. Very solid in that respect. In regards to their forwards; they're spending almost as much for Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Kunitz as we are on Pav, Hank, Franzen, Flip, Hudler, and Cleary. They need to get someone better than Kunitz for the money they're paying him, then either trade Malkin or Staal, or convert one to wing. You just can't spend $25M+ on four forwards and then not get consistent top 6 production from them.

True, though Lecavalier was really the first. Maybe Mike Richards if you want to count that one. 12 years, but ends at 36 and the salary doesn't drop off as drastically. Seems 40 is a safe cutoff, except in Savard's case, where it's probably the two years at league minimum keeping the 'investigation' open. Either way, we seem to be safe, so I don't care all that much what happens with the others. 44 to 42 is a big difference, and I'd expect the league to approve it, though I wouldn't be totally surprised if they ask for another re-work. And I still seriously doubt anything will come from the investigations of the other similar deals.

Forgive the confusion. That said, it's a list of plugs for the most part. A few could retire, a few probably end up in the KHL or another Euro league, and the rest probably get a spot at the bottom of some NHL roster where they won't make much difference. Always liked Nolan, it'd be nice if he gets a spot on a decent team somewhere. Maybe back in San Jose. I'm sure he'd like the chance to get past the 2nd round for once in his career, even if it's not the best chance.

Lindsay and Delvecchio weren't retired until 91, Sawchuk was 94, and Abel was 95. Kelly should have been included in that bunch. He was as good or better than any of them, and just as much a part of that dynasty. The Aurie thing is just a black mark on Ilitch. Regardless of how deserving Aurie is, a former owner decided to honor him, and Ilitch should honor that.

No one on that list interests me at all, mostly because our team is already set (in fact, we have too many players). Maybe if we hadn't already signed Salei, Bert, and Modano we could have a nice competition for the final spots, but I wouldn't want to see the Wings bail on one of the guys we just gave a contract to, nor get rid of any more of the young guys we have coming up. Perhaps if there was anyone on that list who was actually good (but still cheap), but when Comrie is pretty much the best player you're offering, well...

Obviously, they thought they were offering the deal to Miroslav Satan.

:looney:

I don't think there are fewer power forwards. I think if anything there are just fewer 'star' type players in that mold who also fight. Ovie, Thornton, both Staals, Holmstrom, Nash, Doan, and Horton are a few that I can think of that make good use of their size and strength, even if they don't fight or aren't particularly physical. Then if you expand your definition to include players who aren't stars you find a whole host of players in that mold: Clutterbuck, Knuble, Byfuglien, Latendresse, Avery, and a lot more, depending on how narrow you want to define the term.

I'd put Gonchar ahead of Malkin for now. Maybe move Ovie down a few spots (though it is just a matter of time before he secures the top spot, IMO). Maybe change the order around a bit, but looks like a pretty good list to me.

I'm sure they could investigate if they really wanted, but I really doubt they would, or would find anything even if they did. It's not unusual for GMs to have an interest in players/personnel they are aquainted with, and the deals are fair for both sides. (The Buffy deal is maybe a bit lopsided, but after his playoff run that was somewhat expected.) Nothing to see here.

Again, it would depend on how much he values playing in the NHL. A buyout would have given him $7.5M and the chance to stay in the NHL this season. And keep in mind, with Turco, he turned down the Flyers before FA even started (Flyers had permission from Dallas to talk to him) then after a month with no reported offers he signed with the Hawks. You're stretching things to say he turned down more money to play in Chicago. There's nothing to suggest that the Chicago offer was there when he turned down Philly, nor that Philly's was still there when he signed with Chicago. I'm not suggesting that this will cripple Chicago's ability to sign FAs in the future. Nor is it out of the question that Chicago's current management can repair what damage is done. There are many factors in a player's decision on where to sign. This will certainly be one of them. The Hawks still offer a lot of positives, this will just add one in the negative column.

Depends on how badly he wants to stay in the NHL. I'm sure someone would give him a deal in the $500k-1M range. He isn't nearly as bad a player as some people make him out to be. And if the Hawks had bought him out when they first knew they had no plans on keeping him, he would have had a lot more options. Not suggesting he's all that torn up over it, but if he wanted to stay in the NHL I'm sure he isn't happy either. And more to the point, is future FAs who want to stay in the NHL will be more wary of seemingly lucrative offers coming from the Hawks.

Obviously Grant Fuhr, since back in the 80s he was the only black guy ever seen in the galaxy.

The CBA does allow buyouts though. That would have allowed Huet at least the chance to sign somewhere else. Now, most likely, he'll never come back to the NHL. I doubt he's really taking it as graciously as it might seem. I doubt there will be any major impact for the Hawks, but there's sure to be a few FAs in coming seasons who will be a little leary of taking an offer from Chicago, more guys looking for NMCs, that sort of thing. How is that different than what you quoted?