Buppy

No one has any value sitting in the pressbox, and we don't have to worry about the cap until Franzen and Weiss get back. It wouldn't make any sense to waive Cleary then bench Andy or Glenny. Glendenning should go. Move Andy down and let Pav take that wing spot, ease him back into it. So I guess Sheahan. Could be Jurco, but if Sheahan's going down anyway for the break, might as well go now.

We don't have the cap space to just add. Tatar and Nyquist make too little money to trade them for an upgrade at forward. The only trade that might work is packaging one of them along with one of Quincey or Kindl for an upgrade on defense. (Well, we could do the same package for a forward, but then we might have to rely on Almquist/Marchenko/Ouellet down the stretch. Also not sure anyone looking to improve their D would be interested in Quincey or Kindl.)

Pretty loose definition of "superstar". I do agree that we need some more high-end talent. A high-end offensive defenseman (who's not a total liability on defense) because our system is so reliant on it. (Though this seems to be less so of late, but I'm not sure if that's by design or just a consequence of our current roster.) And we could sure benefit from a high-end goal scorer, since our two stars are not particularly great at it themselves. (Though I think our forward corps, if healthy, has terrific depth. What we lack in quality can be made up for in quantity, it's just a question of whether all our talent could gel well enough.) Replacing Datsyuk and Zetterberg is a separate issue, though of course solving that issue could also address the first. It would be great if we had future-Pav & Hank right now playing a complimentary role to the current. But very few teams are ever lucky enough to have that luxury. We got lucky once, it's still possible we could again (but probably not). But losing them is not an event horizon such that we need to replace them before it happens or we'll never recover. The franchise won't disolve if we miss the playoffs or fail to win a Cup every so often. There's a reason people say you have to build through the draft. It's because trying to build through trades and free agents almost never works (even relative to the draft almost never working either). For one, players actually worth building around almost never move. The teams that have them are trying to build around them. The ones who seem to have that level of talent who do move usually get moved precisely because their GMs don't believe they have the intangibles to build around. Even if such players are available, the cost is exorbitant. You want to trade Franzen, Kronwall, and Abdelkader for the next Joe Thornton? Zetterberg, Jurco, Bert, & a 3rd for Seguin & Peverly? Two top-10s plus an early 2nd for Kessel? No thanks. (Wonder if Boston will be shopping Reilly. Franzen, Pulkkinen, and a 3rd ought to get it done...) Trades for those kinds of players are usually a "tear the whole team apart and try again with this guy" move, rather than a tweak to make the current team better while also securing the future. Also, trades and FAs are usually a bit older and more expensive than your own prospects. So you have a smaller window in which to build, and less cap space for any needed additions. (And with trades, you probably gave away a good young prospect or three.) Trades and FAs are best used to tweak your roster, not create it. We have good assets for tweak moves, and of course we should explore that option (though our bad cap situation make it unrealistic this year), but if you expect to pull our next stud from someone else's stable, we'll probably be worse in the short term, and it usually doesn't work long-term either. I'd rather settle for sensible moves now, without giving up much, and hope for a bit of luck. Or at least wait until we're actually bad before we start making blockbusters.

I still think you're all reading too much into it. I really don't think it's any kind of punishment, or even an expression of dissatisfaction with his play. It's just an unfortunate situation. He played almost every game last year. He was on the roster to start the year over Nyquist. We've just needed some people in different roles. He could fit now, in place of Miller, Eaves, or Cleary...but he's already in GR and even if we brought him up we'd just need to send him back down once our skill guys get back. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the team next year.

I actually think Zidlicky would be a good fit here. I'm sure an old, undersized, offensive-minded Euro wouldn't be popular, but he's still an effective player who fills one of our needs.

But it's still $925k freed up. Means a lot when you need it. And the only people we have that would clear more are people who are much more valuable.

Ok, yeah. Happy, not really. Kip: Not sure how you can think it's better than the current roster, unless you're meaning the current injured roster. Jurco, Sheahan, Callahan, & Ferraro are at best a wash with Alfie, Cleary, Bert and whichever of Eaves/Tootoo/Glendening/Sammy/Emmerton you want to consider our 14th. More likely a bit of a downgrade. Same goes with replacing Quincey and Gustavsson. Plus Pav, Hank, and Franzen all a year older... I like the confidence you seem to have in the farm, but to say they'd be significantly better is probably an unrealistic expectation. But I do agree that that lineup really wants for a good forward and defenseman. I'd also rather see Mrazek starting in GR than backing up here, but not so much that I'd complain about it.

Overthinking it a bit. We needed cap space. He's among the most expendable.

I'd be all for pursuing Vanek as a UFA, but trading for him this year is hardly feasible. Somehow I doubt they'd take Bert, Sammy, & Cleary for him, and anything else creates another hole and/or makes an already bad cap situation far worse. All for someone who may not stick around after this season. And for the people dreaming about Faulk... I can't see why Carolina would even entertain the thought of trading him for anything less than eye-popping overpayment, except maybe straight up for Marc Staal.

I can say with absolute certainty that we will not "miss the playoffs for many years" this year. If we do happen to hit another dead era, it will, like the last, be more about what happens during that era that what happened immediately preceding it. We can't solve all our potential future problems now. We can't fail to solve them now either. Pardon me for waxing philosophical, but the future, though full of uncertainty, is also full of opportunity.

Well, Kenny's never been very active in the trade market. He's not going to make moves just to make them, but I don't think that necessarily means he's particularly averse to making trades. For most of Kenny's tenure, we've been a very good team, so the possible trades that would improve us were more limited, particularly those involving roster players. We've relied heavily on older players, usually have low draft picks and prospects that weren't that good, so our trade assets haven't been all that attractive. Now, though, we're not as good, so there are more options for improvement. We still don't have many roster players worth trading, but the prospect pool looks good and a lot of them are close to maturity (or already mature). With the cap and injury situations this year, I don't think any significant moves are very realistic. But I think the next couple offseasons could be more interesting.

Nah, he's fine. Even with Lash. Just needs to arrange an accident for Sammy sometime before Weiss comes back. Kidding aside, if we ever do get healthy, we'll likely waive Eaves and then Miller if needed.

I believe that's Dino on the right, standing next to Drapes. No idea who the guy is in the back center. Also no idea about back row on the left or the other goalie. Back row right (who I think you think might be Mickey) is, I believe, Paul Coffey. I may be wrong on all counts though...

I mostly agree, but I don't think the transition struggles can be blamed solely on the defensemen. I think far too often the forwards do a poor job of supporting the defensemen on breakouts. Too much standing around waiting when they should be trying to create outlet options, finding gaps, or coming back to help battle for pucks. But having only two good puck movers (and playing them together) on the back end does hurt.

I think much of the reluctance in recent years to tap into the prospect pool came from having so many question marks on defense. Now with the way E has developed and him being locked up long-term, Kronwall locked up for a while, and DD already so good we have more answers. Guys like Smith, Kindl, and our prospects are more expendable now, IMO. Which is not to say that we will, or should, trade them. But I think there'd be less risk in it now.

I think we all have a new respect for the sturdiness of his chin at least.

Nice! My letter, inspired by greater cynicism, would be somewhat shorter... "Dear Western Conference, Be back in a bit. Wish the Coyotes good luck in Quebec for us."

That's Miller. The one that confused me at first was James. Damn nicknames. Edit: Forgot to reply to the thread... I wouldn't play Toots, but I don't think it's a terrible idea either. I think we could afford to bench Cleary and bump Eaves up into his spot. It would give us a little more speed and physicality.

True, "it was an accident" isn't a good argument against a penalty, but that doesn't make it a good rule. Not every rule violation has to be a penalty. Imagine if they made icing a penalty, or a hand-pass, or offsides, or shooting the puck out of play in the offensive zone... Back when this used to only apply to the goalie, I don't recall any notable issues with players flipping the puck out of play all the time. Nor do there seem to be any problems in leagues that don't have this rule. This rule needs to go.

90-91 Lost 3-4, St.Louis 91-92 Beat Minnesota 4-3, lost to Chicago 0-4 92-93 Lost 3-4, Toronto 93-94 Lost 3-4, San Jose 94-95 Beat Dallas 4-1, San Jose 4-0, Chicago 4-1, Lost to New Jersey, 0-4 95-96 Beat Winnepeg 4-2, St.Louis 4-3, Lost to Colorado 2-4 96-97 Beat St.Louis 4-2, Anaheim 4-0, Colorado 4-2, Philadelphia 4-0 97-98 Beat Phoenix 4-2, St.Louis 4-2, Dallas 4-2, Washington 4-0 98-99 Beat Anaheim 4-0, Lost to Colorado, 2-4 99-00 Beat Los Angeles 4-0, Lost to Colorado, 1-4 00-01 Lost to Los Angeles, 2-4 01-02 Beat Vancouver 4-2, St.Louis 4-1, Colorado 4-3, Carolina 4-1 02-03 Lost to Anaheim, 0-4 03-04 Beat Nashville 4-2, Lost to Calgary, 2-4 05-06 Lost to Edmonton, 2-4 06-07 Beat Calgary 4-2, San Jose 4-2, Lost to Anaheim, 2-4 07-08 Beat Nashville 4-2, Colorado 4-0, Dallas 4-2, Pittsburgh 4-2 08-09 Beat Columbus 4-0, Anaheim 4-3, Chicago 4-1, Lost to Pittsburgh 3-4 09-10 Beat Phoenix 4-3, Lost to San Jose 1-4 10-11 Beat Phoenix 4-0, Lost to San Jose 3-4 11-12 Lost to Nashville 1-4 12-13 Beat Anaheim 4-3, ...

For the record, it was Franzen-Filppula-Cleary that was matched up against Getzlaf and Perry for the majority of that series. Pav and Hank were together in Game 6, which was arguably their best game. They were also separated for the majority of Game 1 against Chicago. The lines can work either way, or they can fail either way.

You should be sure, seeing as you've been told several times. We were over the cap for the entire 2009-10 season, using the LTIR excemption. Fitting even the extra $1.3 for Hossa instead of Franzen would have been difficult. Keeping both would have required something like not signing Bert or Willy and somehow losing Cleary and Draper. Then you could afford Hossa and fill the remaining spots with players near league minimum. Plus then we'd have three potential problem contracts in later years.

That's not really accurate. You're trying to pay for 15 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 3 goalies. Obviously, if we want to keep all the players you mention, and add someone new, some other guys have to go. Depending on how we make the roster room, it could clear enough cap space to pay Flip and add someone, potentially someone in the $3-6M range. Furthermore, "moving forward" is more than just next summer. Even if we can't add anyone for next season, we may still be better off holding onto Flip and trying to improve the following year. Of course, upgrading Flip is an option we should look in to, but keeping him should be too.

I believe it's only the final four that matter, so for now we're still in the same spot.