Bring Back The Bruise Bros

The defense is what held them down last year, and it is poised to do the same going into this season. The goaltending, much like the aftermath of Howard's injury last year, is also a huge question mark going into the season. If Howard can both stay healthy and play even a similar game to what he began last season like, the team may be in decent shape. There are a lot of "if's" and "maybe's" involved here, so while the forward group doesn't look bad at all, I don't have my hopes up.

I'm on board with bringing Vanek back in on a one-year deal. Question is, who loses a roster spot in that situation? Zetterberg-Nielsen-Mantha Tatar-Athanasiou-Nyquist Svechnikov(?)-Larkin-Vanek Abdelkader-Glendening-Witkowski Helm/Sheahan/Bertuzzi I like the looks of this, but it's pretty clear that a move is going to have to be made if Vanek is to be brought back. With the Panthers having lost Marchessault, Jagr, and Reilly Smith this offseason, you'd think they are looking around for forwards. Sheahan seemed to garner some interest at the deadline last year, so maybe Florida would be interested as a potential boost to the PK and based on the fact that he's still young. They seem to have some players in their AHL pipeline, but it's unclear to me whether they feel that those prospects are NHL-ready right now.

Happy to see him re-signed, but I'm not convinced he'll see much NHL time outside of significant injuries to the defense.

I'm not going to lie, there will be no easy roster decisions. The Ott-Glendening-Miller line has looked great and produced. Mantha and Athanasiou have looked good. Callahan definitely deserves time on our 4th line. There's a ton of competition and there just isn't enough room for everyone. I'd love to see all of these guys on the opening night roster.

What are the cheapest that the upper bowl seats get if one was to wait until right before game time to buy them? The views from rows 1-10 look amazing online. I'm seeing around $60/ticket but the game is a few months away. Not sure what folks typically pay.

It's hilarious considering how much whining people have done over a one-year deal for a 4th liner. It wasn't warranted, but I've literally never seen so many fans complaining about such a minor signing. Someone at Wingingitinmotown wrote some garbage article whining about how Ott and other PKers are useless and overrated, which is funny considering Detroit was 14th on the PK last year. 4th line looked real good last night. I hope they're able to continue.

What a washed up waste of a roster spot that Ott guy is!

Anyone have experience using Seatgeek? Are you allowed to show tickets on your phone at the gate?

Yeah, this guy's coach, Andrei Nazarov, got tuned a few times in his NHL days. Guy has acted like a total asshat since he began coaching in the KHL. Pretty sure he was the head coach of those Vityaz morons who did this kind of stuff almost on a nightly basis.

Takes quite a beating at the end there from Alexander Svitov. Gets a few in at the beginning, but doesn't really do much against Evgeny Artyukhin. So he's real comfortable running around taking shots at guys who have no intention of fighting back, but can't really hang with guys who are used to dropping the gloves.

KHL should've just shipped him off to North America as punishment. The NHL isn't the rough and tumble league it once was, but I can easily name you 50 NHLers off the top of my head who would kick the s*** out of this guy.

James Wisniewski on a tryout with the Lightning. http://www.todaysslapshot.com/from-the-ice/james-wisniewski-inks-pto-tampa/ Like this move for Tampa Bay. Absolutely no risk and has the potential to fit into Matt Carle's vacated position on the blueline.

Abdelkader got drilled a few times earlier in his career. I specifically remember scraps against Ryane Clowe and Ryan Wilson that really didn't go well for him. Most of his fights don't last very long and don't involve many punches thrown. He beat up Max Lapierre twice, so he's got that going for him.

May and Tootoo. Even by today's standards, Abdelkader isn't anything special. Not terrible, but not intimidating at all. Ott has never been a good fighter, but his career total of 100 NHL fighting majors tells you he doesn't mind doing it.

Totally agree. Walked on in 2005 and busted his ass from then on out. His stay here was a few seasons too long, but Cleary belongs nowhere near this list.