dirtydangles

A quick 2 day flu for cleary isn't that bad... we can bring Tatar up and not send him down.

somebody give cleary the flu

You forgot the top 10 picks we will have in between there. should be good players.

You are being sarcastic on this one right?

Holland offered multi-year deals for old 35+ players and even went so far to give Sammy a NTC. Cola was a dumb idea. So are multi-year deals for 35+ players with NTCs when you have overripe prospects in the minors.

well we don't know if it is a "shredded" groin... but ya, I think Hank will be different next season. He played unreal earlier this year and has dropped off since because i think he has a lingering issue and is kinda burt out.

Drop Horton. Resign flip for less than 5mill. Then pay Kindl and Smith more. Kindl as been our 2/3 best dman. the guy is getting a 3 year deal for 2mill per probably.

What blows my mind is that quincey will always take a look around before making a boneheaded move - he should be able to identify the danger and make the right decision - but he sees it and goes ahead anyways. Most players make mistakes when they don't survey the ice - quincey sees it and still f's up.

This is basically the truth on the matter. This is how I feel. We took on guys that were pretty injury prone and not really a sure thing anymore and "hoped" that they would be good for us. We don't need anymore of this going forward in the future. I would rather have a young gun out of GR who gives full effort and stays healthy but didn't play 10+ seasons in the league (experience) than an experienced player who is probably on the decline and all indicators point to them regressing further.

Pav and Z have been carrying a lot of the PK load lately too and without helm this is really hurting us. They can't spend as much time on the ice in the offensive zone. Z looks hampered lately. Many forget the BEAT MODE he started the season with - he had a 5 point game that one night and looked great for a 3 week stretch. We need more young guys to carry this team with energy and effort. Too many passengers right now.

So much emphasis on "Tough." Look at Nyquist (and Dats most nights) out there yesterday just skating and backchecking and picking pockets then turning the puck back and taking it straight to the net and making chances. That EFFORT makes up for any size. I'm not against size - but I think we can still be effective as a skilled team. We always have been to some extent. There was this guy Lidstrom that played defence pretty well and never hit anyone and he did pretty well along the boards and in all areas of the ice. EDIT: the key words I would use is "tough to play against." A line can still be skilled and small and be hard to play against. Being tough to play against is all I care about.

One of the most frustrating things for a fan or coach watching hockey is when players don't leave it all out there. Often times this season, I have seen some of our players "mailing it in" for many games and not bringing any energy. Franzen has for sure been guilty of this but not surprisingly Cleary has been lacking in the energy department. Young guns like Tatar and Nyquist have something to play for and are bringing their full effort every night. THAT is why they should be in the lineup (especially when we are losing anyways). The only players last night I was really content with was Nyquist, Andersson, and Emmerton - all playing for their future jobs. Tatar is frustrated because he knows he can bring the energy and if enough guys do it - it becomes contagious. Lately Tatar has even looked like he is trying to do too much in GR because he probably thinks he needs to do more to earn a spot - however, in my mind he has already earned it.

We get so messed up when opposing teams bring three guys into the zone at the same time with speed. Our dmen back off too much and there is always a guy in the slot open and our backcheckers always screw up assignments. Often there is a far side shot that comes off a body or jimmy and then it is pounced on.

I think a guy like Sheahan could go a long way if he develops into a top 6 guy. However, I don't think our toughness has to come just from the top 6 guys in the forward group. Dmen can also contribute to toughness and size and are on the ice at the same time as your top 6. 3/4th lines also can grind when they are out there. Not every team has a Lucic/Perry for their top 6 that can do it all. Montreal has gotten along nicely with a group of small players this year. Edit: Size and gritty dont usually translate to top 6 player all that often. These guys are usually special and are highly regarded by their team. Anthony Stewart isn't a top 6 player. Franzen has potential to be that guy and maybe thats what holland was banking on when he signed him.

I don't know if you remember but Kindl used to be an offensive dud too. With some guys its all about confidence. Smith looked sick last season when he was jumping up in the play but he is trying to be smarter this year and I feel like the pressure of having 3 vets battle for your spot is making him second guess himself out there.

Babs seems to like this team for some reason... Only reason I can think of is that it gives him an excuse to lose.

Just wait unitl Helm, Sammy, Bert are healthy. Then you will see how much holland bugged up our system. I mean was he banking on these kids not developing when he signed bert and sammy?

So glad Cola is out. The guy looks like a rookie out there.

Ummmm Fil has played wing for the last two seasons and had his breakout year on Dats' wing.... he puts up 0 points when he plays centre. Like I said, Jarnkrok has a slight chance but not a good one of making the team. Depends on him. The wings will give him the shot if he brings it to training camp. You can't deny that.

I'm sorry, but all of those players listed - save jarnkrok - are much more likely to be here than emdog. If not for talent reasons, look at the wings track record - we keep our older players around. Tootoo and eaves aren't being traded and bert is far from done if he can recover over the summer. Helm will most likely be back by october.

Nice critique lol. But really, Babs seems to like Andersson much more than Emmerton. There is no room for another 4C on this team if Helm returns next season. We have Andersson, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula, Abby who can all play centre. Add possibly Jarnkrok and that is more than enough to make emmerton expendable. There simply isn't much room for him unless you want to see one of Tatar and Nyquist sit. Even if Jarnkrok isn't here next year we will just see Andersson up in the centre spot and emmerton would be sitting in the press box. Anyway you cut it - he doesn't fit. Best case scenario for him is that Sammy is amnestied, Bert is done, Helm is out, and Jarnkrok doesn't make the team.

Here is what I would be ecstatic seeing next season: FORWARDS Gustav Nyquist ($1.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Valtteri Filppula ($4.500m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Damien Brunner ($2.750m) Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) / Calle Jarnkrok ($0.900m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Jordin Tootoo ($1.900m) Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) / Joakim Andersson ($0.605m) / DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) Jakub Kindl ($2.000m) / Brendan Smith ($1.350m) Danny DeKeyser ($1.350m) / Kyle Quincey ($3.775m) Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($5.300m) Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m) OTHER Buyout: Mikael Samuelsson ($0.000m) Buyout: Carlo Colaiacovo ($0.000m) SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,432,879; BONUSES: $1,170,000 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $5,037,121 I think it is safe to say that somebody will have to be amnestied. Sammy is competing with Franzen, Brunner, Bert for a RW spot and it hasn't helped that he is injured 95% of the time. Cola literally looks like a rookie out there rather than a veteran presence to help the young guys, along with his injuries he needs to go. Swapping in these two injured vets bumps the development of some of the younger players who don't necessarily play themselves out of a spot in the lineup. We need to stop with this carousel of lines and let some guys gel together for next season. I think as a precaution for Datsyuk possibly leaving we should have Fil back and hopefully Jarnkrok up (if he takes offseason conditioning seriously) because we don't want to have another Lidstrom situation where we let Smith and the other young guys waste away in GR rather than learn from the best. After watching Jarnkrok in GR he played very well and his points didn't really show the level of play he is capable of (he kept shifts really short to start and played defence first) but he looked really shifty and quick out there. Having another top 6 centre allows us to Play Z with Dats when needed and still get some offence out of the second line when we load up. The fourth line would be more of a 3a/3b line with a great group of energy guys that can play hard and chip in with some scoring. I feel this line is what we really missed this season. We usually have a grind line that can be counted on to go hard and not get scored on and take the puck deep in their zone and sometimes get a quick one. For reference think of the original grind line and then the Abby-Helm-Eaves line of past years. The defence just needs time. They need time to get to know each other, develop, get comfortable, make some mistakes. We won't be landing any #1 dman likely at all so we need our young guys to band together and play some good smart simple defence. Once the defence starts clicking we will see some scoring shine through as well. We also need to go back to dedicating forwards for the PP and PK (not both). It kills us to have Z, Dats having to PK then come back out even strength too late. We have been scored on so many times by teams wearing us down on the PK then popping one in 2 minutes after the PK is up. With Helm back this makes this much easier. I'd have Helm, Abby, Fil, Tatar? be the go-to PK guys with Z,Dats working in situationally. Sorry for the essay.

how would people feel about danny briere on the cheap? he is signed for 6.5mill for 2 more seasons. I know its another old guy but he has some skill.

because he is asking for big money and has like 14 points. Abby has 10 points and 1 more goal playing top 6 minutes just like Fil. No excuse. If a 4th liner is managing 10 a 5mill player should be doing far more than 4 points better.

This loss is all on coaching in my mind. Had Quincey and Cola out at the same time late in a game - that spells disaster.