Opie

Don't forget his center before Thornton was Jason Allison, pre-concussions Jason Allison. Again no slouch at the center position. When watching Sergei he is very similar to Hull when in the offensive zone, he is just missing the shot. He is not good at creating his own shot, his best move was to turn out of the corner, using his speed, coast to the slot and take a wrist shot. Sammy cannot take a hit, it seemed like every time he took a solid shot he would end up on the bench for his next two shifts. He has suffered a couple of pretty bad wrist injuries, to each wrist I believe. Also last year he was healthy scratched and logged a lot of minutes on the fourth line in Montreal! That tells me a lot about where his skill has gone. 8-9 years ago I am all over the wings getting Sergei but not any more.

Got to say I saw a lot of Samsonov when he was in Boston, he is a water bug, a floater. He had great speed and pretty decent hands, but he has been declining for the past 4-5 years. He is a solid third liner, comparable to Whitney when he was in Detroit. And even in his prime he was just a real good player. He got lucky if you look back through the years he had some damn good centers. Thornton to name one!!!! Not that I am, but if I were an NHL GM I would take Willy over Samsonov last year this year and every year going forward.

As I started to type a reply to this I was in agreement with you, then I thought about how loyal would the team be to him? Would they take him back for another year, if they didn't need/want him? NO!! They would cast him off to free agency (probably not in this case based on the skill of the individual)! Think about it the same way you do work, most of us would give our notice at the last possible moment, because that is the way our company/boss would treat us. I think he did them a favor by heading to Anaheim, I think he not Pronger was the missing piece to their SC run.

I for one miss the old names of the divisions. I am so tired of the north, west, east, central, south, south by south west division names. The trophies have great names, think about it what other sport names there trophy for MVP. Most just call it the NL or AL or NFL MVP award. I agree though Hockey is becoming way too americanized, IMHO!! (I am American, FYI).

I wasn't correcting, I was trying to explaining how I misunderstood his point. I guess I should learn to be called basically retarded and not respond with any sign of disagreement in my tone. Either way, Hartnell would have been a good fit and I would have cheered for him, however that is as they say, all just dust in the wind! Yzerman arguing with the refs pails in comparison to some one using a stick or a dirty hit, and no matter what the Denver Post says about McCarty/Lemiuex they will always be wrong, think about it they hired Woody Paige, something has got to be wrong there.

You know what is funny, when I stood up to hazing in high school, it gained me respect from the older kids on the team. Now it appears that him standing up to hazing has lost him respect. He is 16 high school age in the US, man how the times change.

No some folks just need legibly written posts. Punctuation does matter, three periods in a row is used in continuation of a thought, not the end of a thought, that is what the single period is for. Using ... is like using KEWL, what good does it do you, I understand using things like BTW, because that serves a function you have to type less. Well at least I am not the only one with lead in my water, because others were confused by that too. Either way yes i agree, guys like Chelios and Holmstrom are guys you hate until they are on your team, same with Maltby and others. I agree, the difference is that Homer has always been a wing, and Chelios is an automatic HOF, I am not even sure the need a voting process for him. Hartnell on the other hand would have needed to join the team before he wuold have been accepted, but I guarentee you the first time he knocked an Avalanche or Duck helmet off of a guys head he would have become the fan fav. BTW I would have like to have Hartnell, just to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies. So any of you think Pronger would have tried that crap on homer if he knew Hartnell was skating around waiting for a reason to cheap shot someone?

Dude not to harp on you about your math skills but 91 was well more than 10 years ago!!

And I agree with you, a lot of people on here have blinders and think that all 4 lines and 3 pairings are the best in NHL history. I think the Homer/Hartnell comparison is a little off in the fact that yeah they both would score with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, but I would score on a line with those two (obviously an exaggeration), it is the in front of the net play and the type of physical play that seperates the two dramatically. No one has hands like Homer in front of the net, and Homer cannot bring the physical play like Hartnell. Schnieder and Timonen are a fair comparisson IMO.

I wasn't saying I was going to give him a hard time, just saying that it was coming.

Just a heads up you just compared Schnieder to Timonen and Hartnell to Holmstrom, the s*** storm is on its way towards you. Just a friendly heads up!!

It is open for trades not free agent signings unless it is the team that holds the players rights until the 7/1 deadline. However a team can trade the prospective free agents rights if they want, then the new team and only the new team can sign them until 7/1 at which point they become free agents. Hope that helps if not, I tried!!

Not so sure I would call those lethal lines, however lets for the sake of argument say that those are two lethal lines. Columbus had 2 lines that lethal last year and I would venture to say a better defense. Where did they end up. I admire the will and heart you show towards supporting your team, you are very red wing like in that manner, too bad the people in the preds org weren't as die hard and loyal as you!! The one thing that Nashville has for the next 5 years barring injury that could potential save everyone one of those seasons is Vokoun (pun intended) that man is a great goaltender!!

I don't think the preds are that stupid based on this move alone, honestly they gave up two players they were not going to be able to pay, and if Floppa does return to Philly they were not going to pay him what he wants and will probably get from philly. Is it the best move no, but they went from getting nothing for those 3 to at least getting a decent pick. And are Hartnell and Timonen going to make philly sc contenders I don't think so.Those are not the guys who will take you from worst to first. Edit: Spelling and clarity

Well now they are going to have to go after Souray really aggressively!! Or make no changes to the blue line at all (by that I mean bringing back Markov and Schnieder)

You know I thought about putting the kings on there, however my theory was sort of sticking with expansion teams or recent bad moves by the nhl, i guess I got into corrective mode. What kind of draw does LA get? Anyone from out west know what home games are like, when the wings are not in town?

I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but does any one have any other teams or other thoughts on this. I too have been to Tampa and the support there is fantastic, for now. What was it like 5-7 years ago, when they were not winning. Same can be said for Florida, Carolina, Nashville, Atlanta, and so on. I just think the league has stretched itself to thin. I really wouldn't mine seeing Washington gone either, that way Leonis or whatever his name is can stop screwing that team over.

Columbus was my last on that list for pretty much all the reasons you listed. As far as Minnesota goes it is not great rationale for why I want them moved/contracted but I would rather see a team in Minnesota called the North Stars than I would a team in Dallas, but seeing as the Dallas org has a longer history, I don't see the need to axe them. If you will notice my list, how many are not expansion teams? Carolina and Pheonix, two horrible moves to begin with and putting them in horrible locations to build a hockey buzz around. The honorable mention part was just that teams that I thought I would like to see removed, not necessarily the best teams or most likely to be removed. I spent more time and thought on the top 4.

I only see Hudler gaining ice time if Babs is looking to showcase him for a trade. I have no idea what Hudler did to Bab's dog, wife, and or children but he doesn't seem to be big on Jiri.

You raise a point Zombo that I hadn't thought about, how does that work? Is there a contraction draft, or do guys become Free agents?

I see your point about spreading fans around, however expanding the league right now would kill it. Maybe move one of the 3 teams out of NY, seeing as Washington and NJ have teams within a short distance as well. Or move one of the teams out of FL or Ca. I agree Hockey needs to be spread across the spectrum more, but I don't see expansion as a good idea. But I think moving teams is just going to cause more distress to the league's already dwindling popularity.

The league has not adopted the gambling side of sports as much as say Football, so I think that is partly why it will take a lot to get a team into Vegas.

I am really torn when it comes to the D on this team. The vets are awesome, but the youth looks so good. Do the wings need to sign Schnieds and Markov, or are the youngster going to be as good as they look, when they start logging top 4 minutes. Yes Quincey looked very good for a guy making his first Post Season starts, however he was doing that with something like 4 minutes a game. Lebda looks great, but can he do it without a guy named Chelios or Schnieder on the other side of the ice.

Winged Scooter, Great point,and I agree to a point, but can you imagine how fired up people would be if an O6 team was contracted. I think Chicago has one of the worst orgs. in the league, but there is no way Bettman is that dumb. I am not even a Blackhawk fan, but I would be pissed if he ditched an O6!

Here is a thought instead of pointing out my obviously unintelligent and irrational posts why not add your thoughts here, whom would you recommend?