Nevermind

Why is Nyquist trying to dangle out of his own zone?

Good shift by Weiss. But Babcock will still bench him unfortunately.

Ericsson has an A haha. Do we have another alternate in this game?

What is Brendan Smith's strength? I think it's that he's realgud.

Even if we have a chance, I'm not really interested in spending the $7 million or whatever it would take to sign him to a long-term deal. Besides, if Babcock is still coach he might roll something like this... Kovalchuk-Glendening-Miller/Andersson

Haha isn't it a penalty to play with a broken stick?

No lineup changes as well according to Khan. Why can't Babcock give Weiss a chance to redeem himself? At home, he gets to control matchups too so it really doesn't make sense to me.

Totally agree. I feel our team lacks emotion and forechecking momentum, and he could have helped here if given a fair shot. But I guess he just wasn't defensively responsible enough or whatever for Babcock. Remember he got got benched and later permanently scratched in the playoffs after taking one penalty.

Nyquist and Tatar might be better, but they still look like they're gonna be a lot closer to Filppula/Hudler than to Datsyuk/Zetterberg.

Is Weiss scratched against his former team? If so, Babcock really hates him.

Over/under on the number of shifts Babcock sticks with Weiss on the top line?

Agreed. Let's say Buffalo does finish last, and Edmonton second-to-last. That means Edmonton has a 13.5% chance of getting McDavid and a 20% chance of getting Eichel. Basically a 1/3 chance--which is still too high for my liking haha But they'd still ruin Hanifin anyways.

They would still only have a 20% chance at McDavid from finishing last. In other words, they're 4 times more likely to get Eichel really.

The Wings should buy up as many of those sticks as possible. That way he'd have no choice but to sign with us in the off-season.

Either... Kronwall-Ericsson DeKeyser-Zidlicky Quincey-Marchenko or Kronwall-Ericsson DeKeyser-Quincey Ouellet-Zidlicky ...would be my ideal D pairs. Smith and Kindl nowhere to be found.

As much as I don't like him when he floats around and takes nights off, he may have a very real, and serious, concussion issue. At this point, his future quality of life could be a greater concern than his hockey career.

While our amateur scouting has definitely been one of the best in the league for quite some time now, I'm beginning to think we're not so good at scouting at the pro level. Recently, I was reading in the Freep how Holland was meeting with the pro scouts to discuss potential trade targets. It mentioned our entire pro scouting staff. We only have four pro scouts altogether. Mark Howe Glenn Merkosky Bruce Haralson Kirk Maltby Ideally, our pro scouts would be watching every game and every team on a nightly basis. And that should include the AHL. I highly doubt that's happening when we only have four pro scouts total. I'm sure they watch a list of targets closely and have many hockey connections they get information from, but surely that's nowhere near comprehensive. Perhaps that's one of the reasons (in addition to the high price of trades and free agency), that most of our team consists of homegrown talent? Also, I'm not sure about the thinking behind signing guys like Colaiacovo, Samuelsson, Commodore, etc. when those guys didn't look very good in their last stints before signing with us. Either Holland simply made desperate stop gap moves, or he needed better information from his scouts. In a cap world, minor, but savvy trades and signings can make a big difference. And I feel like we just fill in all the gaps from within. Which is fine given our track record at the draft, but you'd have to think we're missing out on ways of potentially making our team better. Thoughts?

I agree that fighting is harmful in that it can leave a player with long-term issues related to concussions, brain trauma, etc. If that's your only argument, fine.But to say a genuine fight doesn't impact a hockey game is silly. That's like saying a big hit or shot block doesn't affect the momentum of a game either. Or the crowd even. There are too many variables and differing scenarios that a scientific study won't be able to capture this. Also, chemistry and camaraderie are vital to any hockey club. Sticking up for your linemate after a dirty hit is part of being a good teammate. You don't think that brings a team closer together?

Haha yeah...whoever gives you the least amount of heart palpitations in the defensive zone wins.

Honestly, I think a Kindl with confidence and a willingness to battle in the corners is a slight upgrade over Smith.

Sign me up for Miller-Glendening-Neil. Definitely think he'd have a Dallas Drake type of impact on a playoff series. But I've heard at least 8 teams have shown interest in Neil. And our GM doesn't value that type of player enough to put in a competitive offer.

Brave use of sarcasm.

Our team would be bigger, but softer actually.

Tunnel vision probably.

Ehhhh...Bernier's seen crazier goals by Nelson Mandela.