PavelValerievichDatsyuk

Clendenning and moved up a round in the draft. Trade doesn't make too much sense, though. Internal conflict? trying to get younger/get draft picks back?

The KOvy situation, losing Parise, and the Brodeur drama all seemed like they caused rifts in the organization and with the fanbase. But when Lou was still around last year I figured that they'd passed through the problems and stuck together. This is a huge surprise. The Leafs do have some very good guys on the business side of things now. They will be very interesting to watch in the coming years to see if they can turn it around.

Okay, that's what I had previously, but I was told by a few people that I wrong. I guess they were just basing it on the fact that he has an extra year on his contract. Thanks

Okay, that is a few. Pulks, Mrazek and Jurco (if his is a 1 year deal) are the only ones that really matter. We will be tight for space upfront in a few years with AA Larkin Mantha, Svench. Maybe that's the consideration. I think here's been some misinformation here for the past couple of years (I repeated it myself) Jensen isn't out of options next year - he has 2 years, doesn't he? That makes only 1 too many next year (assuming Kindl is gone by then) Sproul has a ways to go to put himself in the running K-E DD-Green Smith-Marchenko Ouellet Yeah I didn't look closely enough, guess - I didn't know Miele was included. Thank for the correction.

What other young player has got a 1 year deal? I think Andersson did last year, but I can't find another.

General Fanager.com says we'll have 100, 000 so we'll be a bit in the minus side when we sign Jurco. But we'll have Datsyuk on LTIR at the beginning so we'll be fine. Franzen is also possibly their. If the situation happens that everyone's healthy I'm pretty sure waiving Kindl would make everything compliant (assuming he gives us somewhere around 900, 000 relief).

The cap does reward teams that build through draft. entry level deals and second RFA deals are usually significantly lower than comparable players who are UFAs. You just have to keep doing it so you have young cheap homegrown players coming up to take spots. Also, when players are UFAs, they often take the hometown discount (Toews and Kane didn't go that route despite what Frank thinks) I like that it's on the players to realize that being on a good team sort of inflates (or maybe 'maximizes' is a better word) their value. I don't feel the Blackhawks situation is very bad and doesn't warrant changes. They could have planned better for the cap crunch and got more of a return when they weren't desperate. But the went all in for the cup and it payed off. They also have a number of non-homegrown players on the team Hossa, Carcillo, Rozisival, Rundblad, (Versteeg might count now since they had to trade for him) The cap has made it so you can't bring in too many players like this without losing some homegrown talent. This can be seen as another way the cap rewards teams for building from within rather than without.

Chris has already taken over. Assuming that, when Mr. I passes, Chris will get pa's companies outright and continuing running the ship the way he has.

Well there are other teams that are 'buying a championship" in both those situations. Yankees haven't had the highest payroll for the last few years. Before the cap, we were often outspent: A random year chosen for an example 02-03: by the Blues, Stars, Rangers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_team_payrolls_in_the_NHL#New_Jersey_Devils Without a cap, the winners are pretty much limited to the few big spenders. The top few have a relatively even playing field and then other factors come into play.

Down with stroumboulopoulos! He doesn't know enough about hockey and doesn't know how organize discussion with the panels. Nice guy and watched him since MuchLoud, but stay away from hockey. Also get rid of the long angle shots that show these hockey guys standing awkwardly floating on your sets. Get them some chairs and a desk. Ratings problems solved. I think Hawks will be fine Sharp hasn't been as good the past couple years. They've done really well finding complementary players. My opinion on the cap has changed over the years. I used to be on the side of Frank, Mickey Redmond, that it's a forced unnatural system, but the more I think about it, what's more boring and artificial than a couple rich guys buying championships. Let the smart GMs claw it out.

Meh, I really think it doesn't matter. I would only mind if he was taking up a roster spot. If he's not in the NHL, a small caphit doesn't really matter. Without Chelios, Blashill in Grand Rapids it would be good to ensure there's some strong guidance down there (I know Fischer and others are still there). It would be better if he was an assistant coach or advisor, but hey it is one minor league roster spot and it's important to have veterans there in the AHL.

Salaries don't follow what is legally allowed they follow the precedents of other contracts of similar tiered players. If the Blackhawak signed Toews and Kane for the 13.5 then the would essentially be saying that those 2 players are both 4.8 million better than Crosby, for instance (or a little less than that since Crosby's deal was a while ago)

But that's what I was saying: Tatar last season doesn't matter since it happened after his contract was signed. Goose has more numbers to back up his negotiation then what got Tatar his deal. 54pts (Nyquist) vs. 39pts. (Tats) - including 8 more goals - is far apart to me. If you compare salaries for players with that point differential I think they would be very different. And add Nyquist's rookie season where he scored about a goal for every 2 games (28 in 57). It's a different situation. 3.5 is closer to the ballpark. I'd say that's the lowest possible. Holland is pretty good at keeping RFA salaries down.

He's definitely not getting Tatar's deal. TT signed that deal with 1 season of 19g, 20a, 39pts (79games). Nyquist has 2 seasons of 28g, 48pts (57games) and 27g. 54 pts. (82 games) Those are not really similar numbers at all. And he's more proven than TT was at the time - he'll get more or he should fire his agent. I think you meant that they had similar numbers for this past year, but that has no real relevance.

I'll let this year go to see if 3-on-3 really makes a big difference. I'll hope for 95%. I agree on Yoshie, though. I think signing a guy mainly for shootout considerations wouldn't have been worth it even before this year. We have guys that should be pretty able in the shootout. It just seems that Babcock didn't practice it very much and Jimmy certainly didn't help us out. Datsyuk's 1 shooter. Jurco had a reputaion for being good at lower levels. Make it a fun competition at the end of practice (like the often do with Datsyuk's keep-away) and let Pulkkinen, Tatar, Nyquist and Jurco vie for the other shooting spots. Nyquist's 57.1% shooting percent last year was actual near the top of the league so he's probably the 2nd shooter. Wonder how Green and Richards are in the shootout.

If that could come together, I think I actually really like that lineup. Just not sure about this idea of Sheahan playing wing. Maybe it's just because I haven't seen him there. Goose-Larkin-Pulk say soft to me. with Mule it would be a bit better. I think Jurco would be better for that spot though with Mule on the first line or Tats up top and Mule on the 2nd I think that's a hell of a 4th line. I think that both Abby and Helm can play higher and perhaps 4th line is wasting them, but they would be really hard to play against and I think would also put up some points. I

Clearly you don't remember them together 2 years ago. With what we have, I want to see Quincey-Marchenko as the 3rd pair. There will be injuries and Smith will have to fight for Quincey's spot. If he does, then ship out Q. I'm also for the unlikely scenario of turning some combination of E, Q, Smith, Kindl, into a really sold partner for Kronwall via trade. Hopefully Ericsson training without a broken finger will mean enough improvement for the 1st pair.

How about this perspective: Since 1950, Every Hart winner has had their number retired by a team, except: Al Rollins: No Hall of Fame, Never played for a team for more than 5 years Jose Theodore: No cup, No Hall of Fame (also self explanatory) Lindros: No cup, No Hall of Fame Fedorov?: Because of contract disputes? Historical Footnote: Before 1950, it's definitely a much different era. The majority of early MVPs are actually not retired. Retired numbers only really became a thing in the late 70s. Before it was just seems to be for players who had horrible accidents or died during their careers. When they did start retiring number they are rarely from earlier times. (I think this has to do with the growth of the games popularity around this time, and that mass media (HNIC started 1952) made certain players into heros or icons)

We also switched to the 1-3-1 formation last year and had 1 D man instead of 2. I hope they keep these switches.

I like that he's not automatically going with Babcock's choices. If Helm goes back to 3rd Center I could see SHeahan on wing. I think it would necessitate Pav being healthy and either him or Z as #1 C. Ferraro said Dats wants to move to wing. I have read that Richards signing was to keep Z-Pav together. There seems to be a lot of possibilities for what we see at the beginning of the season.

Well I hope Callahan will be re-signed for Grand Rapids to take the spot on forward. Edit: BadgerBob beat me to it.

I'm a huge Helm fan and I think he adds a lot of energy and speed to the team and wouldn't want to let him go. I don't think he'll get that much in the offseason unless he has a huge season, but you're right that he won't get 4th line money. We do have too many forwards, though, and we will also have to deal with the cap and new contracts. We'll have Richards' 4 million cap coming off next year (nhlnumbers says there's a 1 mill bonus) Quincey's 4.25 will also be gone. We'll also have some small contracts likely to take these places (Larkin, Marchenko, Ouelette) If anyone has to feel the pinch, I would let it be Miller over Helm. I like Miller, but Helm adds more and is a better PKer, can play in most situations.

Awesome!!!! My childhood hero and all time favourite player. I don't think they would mention it unless it was going to happen.

Between those options I'd say #90. I mean, 3rd time's the charm, right?

I hope Monster lands somewhere.