Nevermind

Can't be much worse than Quincey.

Will Luongo still pump Thomas' tires?

14 years after they traded for him the first time around. Is there an application I can fill out to become Vancouver's next GM?

His point production might be a fluke, but I don't think he's gonna suddenly stop blocking shots.

So exactly how reliable is Ehrhoff defensively?

I would have made that trade for MacDonald. It's similar to what we gave for Brad Stuart (albeit in a contending year). Later we could've re-signed McDonald with Quincey's money.

A lot of other teams would easily offer more than that for him in a trade. And we'd have to re-sign him for at least $6-7 million per. While Subban's an extremely talented player, there are too many question marks about his attitude and defensive zone coverage.

It doesn't make much sense for us to have both Weiss and Kesler on the team. That's 10 million right there. While Kesler's a good 2-way hockey player, I just can't stand having a diver and d-bag playing for us. We won't win a potential bidding war for him anyways. And with his NTC, he may not even welcome a trade to Detroit. In a perfect world, we'd have Patrice Bergeron or Mikko Koivu as our second line center. But the world isn't perfect, so we're stuck with weathering the injuries for now and hoping for the best from Weiss moving forward. If anything, I'd rather shore up our D and give the kids a chance up front.

I haven't heard his name in the rumor mill. Probably because he still has 2 years left on his deal at a good cap hit ($4 million). But I'd have to think Calgary would be open to trading Giordano if it helped their rebuild. He'd definitely cost a good amount--certainly more than Ehrhoff would. EDIT: Well, that's too bad then. Makes sense though--he seems like a player Burke would like.

At least he finally scored a goal this season. Here's a name I mentioned in the other thread. Is Mark Giordano possibly available from Calgary? He logs 25 minutes a night, is gritty, has 29 points in 42 games and instantly makes our blueline so much better.

Here's a name I haven't heard mentioned: Mark Giordano. Even though he's Calgary's captain, I'm sure he'd be available for the right price--given their rebuild. Giordano's gritty, blocks shots, and still generates offense (9-20-29 in 42 games so far this year). One of the most underrated players in the league, IMO. Best of all, he's signed for a $4 million cap hit the next two years. Thoughts? This top 4 does look a thousand times better without Quincey in it... Kronwall--Ericsson Giordano--DeKeyser

No. But we'll definitely kick some tires.

Diving and flopping.

Kesler is a diver who'd cost too much in a trade (and I just hate him, in general). Edler is prone to giveaways. Stewart is extremely inconsistent and pretty bad in his own end. Ehrhoff contract is too long and he's not particularly that great in his own end either. Too many red flags on all these players IMO. I'd rather not make a move just for the sake of it.

It's a definite upgrade. But perhaps more importantly, I think it's a huge morale boost for the rest of the team.

Miller makes them Cup contenders this year for sure. And if he re-signs with them, I'd say it's a pretty good deal for the Blues. Buffalo gets a 1st round pick next year, but obviously St. Louis is hoping that's a late first round pick anyways.

I hope we get Andrew MacDonald. He logs almost 26 minutes a night for NYI and leads the NHL in blocked shots this season (he has about 30 more than the next guy). Actually, the only other defenseman who's blocked more shots in the past 3 years is Dan Girardi. He makes the league minimum this season, but turned down a 4 year, $16 million extension from the Isles recently. He may take less if he were re-signing with the Wings though. But the Islanders are reportedly looking for a first round pick for him. We'd have to offer something else since our first might be too valuable this year. Perhaps they'd be interested in Kindl and a prospect or mid-round pick?

Glendening. He's grittier than Andersson and a righty as well. I think Andersson has better hockey sense, but he's too slow and isn't physical at all, despite decent size. It's not like he's creative offensively either. Right now, we might get a few more points out of Andersson, but I think we're a lot better off with Glendening long-term. Both are career 3rd/4th liners, and I'd prefer more sandpaper there.

I've always sort of compared these two players in terms of their roles on the team, so I was wondering if others do the same. It appears that Eaves may be scratched tomorrow night if Datsyuk returns. Though Miller is a great penalty killer, I like Eaves' 5 on 5 play better. He's a bit bigger, more physical, has a good shot, can be used on the power play, and is one of only three righties on the team right now (Glendening and Alfredsson being the others). I think Eaves brings more enthusiasm and energy to the forecheck as well. In the long term, who would you guys rather have in the lineup? It's also worth noting that we have Andersson on the wing right now. I wouldn't exempt him from sitting a game here and there, but Babcock seems to really like him.

Here's how I look at it up front. We can only have 14 forwards until the 23-man roster limit is lifted. Let's say, miraculously, we're completely healthy. Take the actual lines with a grain of salt. Zetterberg--Datsyuk--Abdelkader Franzen--Helm--Alfredsson Nyquist--Weiss--Tatar Miller--Andersson--Cleary Scratches: Bertuzzi and Samuelsson Sent down just because they can be, even though they don't deserve to be (thanks to Sammy, Kenny!): Eaves, Glendening, Sheahan and Jurco I don't think we'll ever be totally healthy, so at least one of Eaves, Glendening, etc. will be up. But when the 23-man roster limit is lifted (after the trade deadline I believe), I think they'll definitely challenge for 4th line spots and possibly play their way into the lineup that way. Of course, Weiss' play after injury is a huge question mark as well.

Does this mean Datsyuk carries the torch during the opening cermony?

1. Use remaining compliance buyout on Tootoo. 2. Let Quincey, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Eaves and Gustavsson walk. 3. Re-sign Alfredsson if he doesn't want to retire (~4 million) 4. Re-sign RFAs Tatar, Glendening, Sheahan and DeKeyser. Also Almquist since out of waiver options. 5. Overpay Ryan Callahan to play with Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Not a great scorer and certain to not be worth the cash, but still a great character guy that brings a lot of grit and intangibles despite his small stature. I wouldn't mind being stuck with him for David Clarkson money. 6. Sign Dan Girardi. There are concerns over his play the past couple seasons, but there really aren't any top 4 D-man options out there. He's much better than Quincey though. But we can't offer him more money than Kronwall, and some other team might overpay him even more. 7. Trade Kindl for picks/prospects if we're able to sign Girardi. Basically, we trim a lot of fat, overpay for 2 Rangers, and hope Weiss transforms himself. FORWARDS Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($7.500m) / Ryan Callahan ($5.500m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Stephen Weiss ($4.900m) / Daniel Alfredsson ($4.000m) Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Gustav Nyquist ($0.950m) Drew Miller ($1.350m) / Joakim Andersson ($0.733m) / Tomas Tatar ($1.750m) Luke Glendening ($0.850m) / Riley Sheahan ($0.950m) / DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Dan Girardi ($4.725m) Danny DeKeyser ($3.500m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($4.250m) Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) / Brendan Smith ($1.263m) Adam Almquist ($0.750m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($5.292m) Petr Mrazek ($0.595m) BUYOUTS Carlo Colaiacovo ($0.000m) Jordin Tootoo ($0.000m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (estimations for 2014-15) SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $68,219,545; BONUSES: $195,000 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $2,830,455

Realistically, I think at this stage, he'd be a defensive liability out there. But, can he really be worse than this guy?

Is Victor Hedman really not better than any of those defenseman?

Jimmy has a NMC through next season. It'd be an insult to ask him to waive it so soon after signing the new contract. In NHL 14 though, I'd definitely like to have Miller and Ott on the team in exchange for Howard + prospects. No to Moulson and Ehrhoff though. They would both make our team even softer to play against.