Buppy

Depending on how you define 'high pick', you're not likely to get one for Kindl. At best you'd get a probable late first rounder and end up with a gamble prospect 3 years behind in development. Maybe they'd turn out better, maybe worse. It wouldn't make any sense at all. The only way it would make any sense would be if Meech were to perform substantially better in training camp. (That's assuming another FA signing.) Trading away a potential top pair and high-end offensive defenseman because you have some bizarre attraction for a plug defenseman who has NEVER, in 128 NHL games, shown even one sign that he has the potential to be more than a 6/7 roster filler is just incomprehensible.

And it's pretty obvious to me that you have an irrational dislike for Hossa because he left. There were a lot of factors for our loss in the finals two years ago. But you just want to make Hossa the scapegoat because he left. You don't have to admit it. Datsyuk, statistically speaking, is relatively worse in the playoffs. That's a simple fact. My original response was to someone saying that no one else came close to Hossa's drop-off from regular to post season. I pointed out someone who is not just close but in fact worse. I was never comparing Datsyuk to Hossa. I was comparing their relative drops in production. You're the one that wants to make it a "who's better" argument. Both players score less in the playoffs. That is a simple, undeniable fact. That is all I was saying. Now you just want to jump in and say something bad about Hossa, while exempting Datsyuk from criticism for exactly the same thing. That's what makes you a homer and bitter little cry ass over Hossa leaving. But whatever, free country.

Datsyuk has averaged nearly 30 goals a year over the past 6 seasons. He's much more than just a playmaker. Likewise, Hossa is more than just a goal scorer, averaging over 40 assists for his last 6 seasons. Both are paid to be elite two-way players. That's what they both are, but both struggle some scoring in the playoffs compared to their regular seasons. Over the past three years I'd say they're pretty close to even. Yes, Datsyuk is a better overall player. That wasn't the point. The point was that Datsyuk also struggles to score in the playoffs relative to his regular season production. That is an undeniable fact. It is also a fact that his relative struggles are even worse than Hossa's. As is often said about Hossa, he's paid to produce and he hasn't. Yes, he contributes in other ways, but so does Hossa. You saying that Datsyuk has been obviously better, and the double standard of praising Datsyuks non-scoring contributions while ignoring Hossa's is what makes me call you a jilted lover. You're a blatant homer. You're mad at Hossa because he left. If Datsyuk had left you'd be saying the same things about him.

And there's still a bigger difference between Datsyuk's regular and playoff performance. And while Datsyuk does do things other than score, so does Hossa. Stop acting like a bunch of jilted-lover-cry-ass-Penguin-fans about Hossa. Both struggle scoring in the playoffs compared to the regular season. Both contribute a lot in other areas; defensively, creating opportunities, and pressuring the opposition. Both are elite players, and any team would love to have either one of them.

There are reasons why, in three years here, Meech was unable to earn a regular spot in the lineup. Why he was never able to move ahead of Lebda on the depth chart, despite the fact that Lebda is not any good. Why he never moved ahead of Ericsson, despite the troubles he had last year. Why he couldn't even consistently stay ahead of an ancient Chelios when he was still here. Why he settled for a league-minimum deal instead of going to arbitration. Meech is not any good. Maybe not the worst player in the league, but every indication is that he's worse than Lebda. Every indication is that he will never be particularly valuable. Quincey was a fluke. Meech has had 128 games with the Wings to prove what he's got. 5x the opportunity Quincey had. Meech has not shown any indication that he has anything. Ericsson had a bad first year, but he has at least shown some signs he could be more than a 7th defenseman. Meech hasn't. All indications are that Ericsson is not only a better player now, but also has much higher potential. Kindl, despite his somewhat disappointing development thus far, is still considered a potential top-pair talent. I think (especially after Quincey) that he'll get every opportunity to prove himself, even if that means spending years fighting for a regular spot. They gave Meech three years, why would they give up on someone with a much higher ceiling after not even one? I really doubt Meech could play his way ahead of either of them. I think he'd have to be significantly better to have any shot at all. If we sign any halfway decent FA, Meech is almost certainly gone.

Datsyuk Regular season: 592 points, 606 games: .977 ppg Playoffs: 76 points, 110 games: .691 ppg

Where did I say they were 'elite top 6 players' or even any better than Buffy or Versteeg? (Though I would say both are better than Buff, Brouwer for sure is.) And I'd expect both to be in the top 6, assuming Sharp is traded. Bolland would certainly center the 2nd line, and Brouwer wouldn't do much on the third line with no support, so there'd be no point to it. And it's not like they have a ton of other options.

For what we were aiming for, Leino and Williams were far better suited to our third line than Carcillo would have been. With all the injuries, Carcillo probably would have made our 3rd (or even 2nd at times) line, but then so did Draper. Doesn't mean he's a third line player. He's a solid 4th liner. I'd take him over Miller, but that's about it.

Hossa has a nice cap hit, but there's 11 years left on that deal, and that takes down it's value in trade. I understand how badly many people here want to hate Hossa, but he's still an elite two-way forward. Probably the best overall forward on the team at the moment. Much better than Versteeg, and Buffy isn't even close to Versteeg. One good playoff run doesn't make Buffy some kind of playoff superstar. Hossa had a much better run two years ago; so that makes him 'playoff scoring', right? Bottom line is Byfuglien isn't a very good player. Between Kane, Toews, Hossa, Brouwer, Bolland, and whoever else (Kopy ), they have a very good top 6. If they can somehow get rid of Campbell and keep Sharp, it would give them one of the best top 6 units in the league. No matter what they did, their bottom 6 was going to be pretty weak, and they really couldn't have a better top 6 than they will by keeping Hossa. If they had been smarter about the contracts they gave Huet, Campbell, and Hossa in the first place, they'd be much better off. That carryover, and the over-commitment that led to it, is what's tearing them apart now. But well, too bad for them.

Buying out or demoting Huet does not require trading Hossa, so it's hardly relevent. I still say that Hossa plus a cheap player like Bickell or Dowell is better IMO than keeping two players like Versteeg and Byfuglien. And that's all they would have been able to do differently. People act like trading Hossa would have let them keep everyone. Either way you look at it, Chicago is going to have a very good top 6, and not much beyond that.

Wouldn't have helped much, he has a pretty friendly cap hit. Hossa + Plug > Vertseeg + Buffy. Now if they had never signed Hossa in the first place, they wouldn't have the $4 mil in carryover, THEN they would be in pretty good shape.

We'd have to get a LOT more than rights to an RFA who is reportedly looking for top-pair money and an aging role-player we don't need. Like Wis signed for around $2.5 + someone like Brookbank or Chipchura + rights to either Fowler or Etem or a 1st rounder next year.

I'm hoping for Nick Boynton to fill the D spot. Decent size, RH shot, hits and blocks shots alright, and was pretty good all-around in Boston pre-lockout. Should be available for around our price range. Plus he'd be yet another FA to leave Chicago, albeit a rather unimportant one.

I have hard time believing he would be awarded substantially less than Halak, Rinne, and Lehtonen. Those are the only comparable players eligible for comparison. And his stats were pretty similar. That would put him in the 3.5-4 million range. I think their only hope is that he wants to stay in Chicago and they get him signed before they get to arbitration. Did he really perform below expectations though? He was the starter, in that he played and started more games than Niemi. He just lost the job by the playoffs. His save% was down, but his GAA is on par with his career numbers. He really hasn't been bad in Chicago. And it's not his fault that the Hawks paid him twice what he was worth. I don't know that the PA would or could do anything, but you can't blame for Huet for not being worth $5.6M. He never has been, and Chicago had no good reason to expect him to be. He had a great handful of games in Washington, and Tallon grossly overpaid for him. Now they should have to pay the price. Unfortunately, they won't, and there probably won't be any negative consequences.

3) Do the right thing and buy themselves out of the stupid contract they never should have given him in the first place.

So you agree that Franzen was only the third best forward on our team and not the top player in the entire playoffs? Though now after looking closer at that list, it's a fantasy ranking, not a 'best' list.

Depends on your definition of 'earned'. Personally, I think the title of 'best player in the playoffs' requires a little more than one incredible game. He was good, but nothing special for the majority of his shifts. Pav and Hank both had more impact than he did, and Flip, Nick, Jimmy, and Stuie were all pretty close.

That's only for recall waivers. He would first have to clear regular waivers, be assigned to GR, then recalled later and claimed then. In this retarded hypothetical, if Rafi was sent to GR, we wouldn't recall him.

Mule was pretty good, but not the best by far. It was only his preformance in the last 2 games that even moved him ahead of Filppula into 3rd best forward on the team IMO. He had a third of his points in one game, and at least half the remaining points were less 'making plays' than 'touching the puck prior to Pavel making something happen'.

Detroit would be 1M over the cap. Holland has said he'd like to leave 500k in case of injuries.In which case Meech would be moved, Abdlekader would start the season in Grand Rapids, and Miller/Ritola would be moved. Which is what we all know and have talked about here since this Modano rumor came up. Reports are saying around $1 million for Modano. Then you move Miller and Meech, and we'd be $500-600K (depending on what we spend on Abs, Helm, and a d-man) under cap, right where we want to be. I don't really like the idea, but it does work.

I doubt the arbitrators are stupid. They aren't going to base a contract off a player who is very obviously overpaid. If it goes to arbitration, he'd likely get a fair market value plus a little premium as a Cup winner. Unfortunately for the Hawks, they couldn't afford that either. Looking at the Halak deal, and Lehtonen and Rinne from earlier in the season (and probably at least one of Turco, Nabby, or Theodore will get a job) and I could easily see Niemi being awarded something in the $4M range. If that happens, even dumping Huet in the minors doesn't likely give them enough to bring back Hjalmarsson (or any decent #4 d-man) and still fill in the rest of the roster. They need Niemi back at around $2.5 to avoid losing another big piece.

His cap hit was under the minimum last season. His salary wasn't. His hit was slightly over minimum for the first two years. And he's not worth more than $500k to us. We'd be better off without him. Maybe it will force us to get a real defenseman.

Getz might be a great player, but so is Hank. Hank's skillset is more suited to both our system and our other personnel. He's a better goal scorer than Getzlaf, and that's something were already lacking. The only thing Getzlaf has on Hank is his age. Hank is a better player right now, and a much better fit on our team. Trading him for Getz would be stupid.

Funny enough, they barely even have a roster yet, and you're not wrong.

Not to break up the Stvie love-fest, but he really hasn't done anything yet. Ellis is a solid move I think, not convinced the other two are all that great. Not bad moves, but not great either. A 4 year deal for St.Louis is a bit risky, but it is a decent price and he's not showing real signs of declining. Meszaros isn't a terrible player, and his contract wasn't that bad. And with the weak FA crop this year, it won't be easy to replace him. He still has too much work to do to make any judgement yet.