Nevermind

Speaking of Anthony Mantha, I've never seen him play, but he has 35 goals and 38 assists for 73 points in only 32 games. He's nearly 20 points ahead of the next guy! For comparison, Jonathan Drouin has 50 points in 23 games. I've heard Mantha isn't very good at all defensively, but he seems like a truly natural scorer.

Thought I'd start a threat commending his play. With 3 points tonight, Hank currently sits tied for 2nd in league-scoring (behind C***by and tied with Alex Steen). At the start of the season, who would have thought Zetterberg would be that high up right now? Him and Pavel have been outstanding all season--so they've defintely got some good years left. And come playoff time, I really think Z will carry the team on his back again in a bid for Alfie to win his first Cup.

I'm very glad that we have DeKeyser instead. Schultz flat out sucks defensively. He's like Brendan Smith, except he actually produces a lot of points. And while DeKeyser will never have Schultz's offensive potential, I still think he can put up 30-40 points a season one day. Conversely, Schultz will never be confused for a shutdown type.

Yeah, but only about 5% of major junior players make it to the show. And obviously a substantially higher percentage of that 5% would have torn it up compared to the remaining 95% of major junior hockey players. EDIT: As for the topic--Mantha strikes me as a Jeff Carter type of player. Someone who can score a lot of goals--but doesn't really bring any other dimensions.

What exactly do you guys think Kenny offered for him on draft day? I'm guessing Smith was part of the package. EDIT: And no, I don't want him. I think he's pretty overrated and am glad that VAN didn't accept.

I don't think Ilitch is the reason that Mikael Samuelsson is still on the team.

Smith+Tatar+draft pick for Dan Girardi when the Rangers realize they're not gonna make the playoffs. Would anyone make that deal? Kronwall-Girardi Dekeyser-Ericsson Quincey-Kindl Lashoff

Not sure how reliable the source is...but I found this. http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/van130703.html

Do you mean from different eras? I'll give it a shot. I was born in 1991, so the older players are by what I've heard. Lindsay-Delvecchio-Howe Shanahan-Yzerman-Fedorov Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Maltby-Draper-McCarty Lidstrom-Konstantinov Kelly-Chelios Kronwall-Larson Sawchuk Osgood (Scratches: Abel, Aurie, Pronovost)

If I was in charge, this would be our lineup for opening night. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelkader Franzen-Weiss-Alfredsson Nyquist-Andersson-Tatar Miller-Glendening-Cleary Bertuzzi and Samuelsson would be healthy scratches. Helm is on LTIR, and perhaps Tootoo/Eaves as well. Send Glendening down to GR when Helm can play. I'm guessing Emmerton was sent down so Glendening could stay up as an injury replacement. He certainly adds a lot more grit to the 4th line than Emmerton.

I think Mrazek would help the Wings win more games than Gustavsson. But I also think it'd be much better for Mrazek's long-term development to play over twice as many games in GR.

Agreed. Kronwall's a great value. Hjalmarsson's contract would have been terrible a few years ago, but it's a solid deal given the market today. I mean, Quincey has a $3.8 million hit for another year. I doubt Quincey takes a paycut (though it'd be fair)--so I think he's as good as gone after this season. Surely Holland wouldn't extend him for $4M plus...right!?

Funny video. But I'm not big on the idea of a player saying it's his last season "for sure". And more interestingly, how has Selanne gotten this "class act" label? Just because a player's 40+ and has played with mostly one team, it's doesn't mean he's a class act. He's no Yzerman, Lidstrom, Sakic, Francis, etc. Selanne's been a whiner and diver his entire career. So I don't get it.

I agree--he's not going to transform us into Cup favorites. But I definitely think he'd strengthen our chances and allow Kronwall more freedom (not that Ericsson's been bad...he's just no Girardi). Regardless, I'm guessing the Rangers extend him for $5M+ per during the season anyways (he plays over 25 minutes a night for them and would be a huge loss). For "over-the-top", it's tough to be realistic. Even then, who could be traded? Vanek is the only elite forward that jumps out to me. So perhaps Vanek for a Franzen + picks/prospects package. Buffalo gets a solid goal-scorer in return for someone they probably can't re-sign. Obviously, to make the deal we'd have to be pretty sure Vanek would re-sign with us for a fair price. But then again, we'd be more over the top with both Franzen and Vanek. Franzen is too old for a rebulding Buffalo anyways. I'll let you know how this goes when NHL 14 comes out haha (somehow we don't trade Nyquist/Tatar for Vanek)... Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Vanek Franzen-Weiss-Alfredsson Nyquist-Helm-Tatar Miller-Andersson-Abdelkader (Scratches: probablyEmmertonbecausehe'sacenter and hopefullynotSamuelssonbutmaybeBertuzziorTootooorEaves) In reality though, hopefully this is the guy who puts us over the top by stepping up his game on a much better team.

Dan Girardi from the Rangers. He's a UFA after this season--so it might not be that unreasonable if the Rangers fall out of contention and feel they likely can't re-sign him. Plus, Glen Sather's an idiot. I'd trade Quincey away somehow to make room for him. NYR probably wouldn't want Quincey since he's also a UFA next offseason. But I'd overpay a bit for Girardi--a right handed guy who's extremely solid defensively. Certainly better than Q. Kronwall-Girardi DeKeyser-Kindl Smith-Ericsson Lashoff That would be awesome...

No. He falls too much during work. To be fair though, I thought Cleary was great playing through a separated shoulder in the playoffs. He's blamed too much around here.

Helene St. James ‏@HeleneStJames 7m Sidney Crosby called Daniel Cleary this afternoon to sell Cleary on joining Penguins. #RedWings

Great signing! And he probably took over a million dollars less to sign with us over the Blues.

I don't see how they can keep Couturier and (Brayden) Schenn down the road.

Grabovski is NOT a floater. His numbers were really down last season, but he was basically playing as the Leafs' shutdown center (most of his faceoff starts were in the defensive zone too). From what I've seen of him, he really competes though and doesn't back down. A lot feister than Filppula for sure. Hopefully Datsyuk is enough reason for him to come here at around $4M (they were teammates during the lockout).

This guy would be the perfect 2nd line center for us. Too bad it could never happen. Apparently he's close to an 8 year extension with the Bruins.

I think the only bad cap numbers on our team belong to Samuelsson and Quincey. And they've each got just one year left. So there's a credit to Holland being conservative. But like I said in another thread, we can't waste Z and Pavel's remaining good years. We NEED to make some competitive moves.

True. But Datsyuk and Zetterberg will be 35 and 33, respectively, this season. They're still by far our best players. So our window's closing--we need to make a run soon.

Much more respectable! Never thought I'd say that about AT&T.