Finnish Wing

Kind of a Monster vol. 2.

Finnish article

I've heard that the testing in the NHL is an absolute joke. Teams get informed three months earlier about tests etc. Dunno how much about that is true though.

Thanks, Babs. This is exactly what I've been hoping for.

LOL. Why would PIMs have anything to do with being a power forward? Power forward is a player who plays physically to create offense. PIMs are only evidence of taking penalties; you get penalties when you're too slow and need to hook for example. Fights are not needed either. Zetterberg isn't a power forward. Nash is. Nash mostly uses his size and physical game to create offense. Zetterberg is more of a skill-guy. I wouldn't call Steve Downie a power forward though, yet. You still need to be able to get more than 50 points at least in this league to be called one.

Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-Rafalski Kindl-Salei + Ericsson

Damn. Total blackout. For sure I knew that. It just looked weird to see Selanne and Coyotes there together. I was half asleep when I wrote that.

As said already. We dont have to pair Kindl and Ericsson together.Lidstrom-Kronwall Ericsson-Rafalski Stuart-Kindl Lidstrom-Ericsson Stuart-Rafalski Kronwall-Kindl Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Kindl Stuart-Ericsson etc. etc. etc. There are numerous options.

And Kindl - one of our top prospects - would sit on the press box. YAYY! Talk about being shortsighted.

We have options. If we want to give 3rd pairing more ice time we can always put Stuart there with Kindl and and put Ericsson with Kronwall for example. Or Rafalski with Ericsson etc. Somehow I feel like this is coming down to the toughness debate again. Lidstrom is the best defensive defenseman in the world, but that isn't because he's tough. You can still win the Cup even if you don't have "Lilja" or "Mitchell" there clearing the crease and dropping the gloves occasionally.Sitting Ericsson or Kindl just to add a little more veteran presence and toughness to the 3rd pairing would be stupid. Kindl could be a solid top4 d-man after one year already if he gets enough NHL experience. Ericsson has all the tools as well starting from his size to the way he sees the ice. He just needs more balance to his game and that comes through experience.

I wouldn't have nothing against it if it didn't mean sitting Ericsson or Kindl in the press box. Those guys need ice time because they both still have much potential. They're good enough to play on our 3rd pairing at the moment. Let's spend our money elsewhere. We still need to sign Abdelkader.

Or Brad May.

LOL. I'm on a weekend holiday btw. This military service sucks at times.

Whatta ya know! A Jedi.

It's like Bowman thinks he can use the Jedi Mind trick and just make things work, even when he can't. To Hjalmarsson: "You will sign the contract." To the league: "The cap isn't an issue."

What? Where?

Do Sharks lose the picks even if Hawks match it?

I would have preferred Wade Belak.

That doesn't mean anything. Salary cap is what makes this sport much more competitive and actually adds a new dimension to it. Without salary cap team's who are richer usually get the best players. Now, what's the point of that when basically none of the money they've got have come from hockey? It's all from some other business. Salary cap demands more skill from front office people and you can't just throw money around like you used to.I don't see any political connection there.

I don't think he got that much overpaid. It's just that Holland always signs these bargain deals. Lebda was easily worth at least 1m on the market.

I think Niittymaki/Greiss is better than Hawks' Niemi/Crawford. Our tandem is looking pretty good as we have Osgood as our backup. If Howard has a sophmore season we don't need to rely on a rookie like Crawford to get the job done.

Too old.

Miller. I think he doesn't give us anything too special. Ritola and Eaves both have more upside than him.

They're probably rotating between Niitty and him.