PavelValerievichDatsyuk

We were 14th in 5-on-5 goal for/against ratio. That's not horrible. If Franzen's back we'll have more scoring. If Pulkkinen and Jurco find their offensive games then we'll have more scoring. plus growth from Tats, Nyquist, Dekeyser and Sheahan. Weiss is still a wild card for me, though most have counted him out by now. With a scared Howard and Mrazek in net, our goaltending should be better and 5-on-5 goals against goes down. Boom improved 5-on-5 Then if we can sign a UFA upgrade on defense...

You picked out the one questionable name. St. Louis, Ryan, Seguin, Nash, Gaborik...Many stars have been traded recently. Myers could be a big player. Yandle was pretty big maybe some consider a star. I agree without spirit of your argument - We need to build from the draft primarily. And I don't think we can sacrifice what was paid in most of those deal. ...But you're overstepping things saying that no big times players are available by trade and also trying to argue that big trades didn't contribute to Bruins, Chicago, Kings cup wins is on thin ice. Kings especially were pretty much due to picking up on fortunate and timely trades. Without Carter, Richards (was a good trade for a while and contributed for a while), Gaborik (was huge for them, IMO) no cups.

http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/641738

The article talks of them trading Sharp. They'd want low cost players and prospects with potential. That could be doable for us.

Your right. I shouldn't have said drafted - I kind of wrote that part without thinking. To be honest, I don't know enough the majority of our prospects to know their reputations at lower levels before we draft them. I actually think complete 2-way players are few an far between at the time of drafting from what I've seen. We do develop players to be 2-way players and I think most organizations do and that involves scouting and GR though it is with an eye on Babcock's demands. I think that's all beside the point, though. I just really disagree with the idea that Babs' team defensive system has been a bad thing for the team and those prospects mentioned. Kindl and Smith would have to play defence under any NHL coach or else they would hurt the team. Tatar, Nyquist, Pulkkinen would have to learn to back check under any coach or they would hurt the team. All offensive players have to play smart on the defensive side for a team to have success. OV found that and finally gave in this year. Edit: Exception: if the team can cover up for them with great goaltending or defence. I think if you took away Babs' system of team defence then the D would look bad and we might have more goals for, but we'd certainly have more goals against. Without the offensive stars that draft picks bring in I think it's also going to be the best path to success. Now after all that, I'm still on the fence about Babcock. I think it could be time for a change, not for style reasons, but to enable the team a sense of turning the page and refocus with a new voice and new ideas (although our revolving assistant coach positions have supplied that somewhat). I also know that most of our team hasn't been with babs for long so for them it's not an old voice. We shall see.

Will he fly in with his cape on?

I don't think many would argue with you that a coach can make a big impact on a team. Also, matching a team and a coaching style is important. I just don't agree with the argument that our players are a mismatch for his style. I don't think we're an offensively potent team 5-on-5 that's been held back by Babcock. I think we've specifically drafted 2 way talents and I think that's what fits Babcock's demands. I think what has held us back is a few missing pieces on the roster. If you hate Babcock's system, if he's replaced by Blashill, it will be interesting to see if his is vastly different. They run pretty close in GR. I think part of that is that they've co-ordinate it to help prospects make the transition easier. Do you want him as a replacement?

Ribeiro never really dipped and you can't really claim a resurgence under Laviolette. he had 49pts in 48 games in the lockout shortened 12-13. He had one down season in 13-14 with 47pts in 80gp, but that could be explained by the fact that he was playing for the coyotes, who were a worse team than the Predators or The Caps. That season is also complicated by the fact that he apparently had some issues with alcohal/partying which lead to him being bought out. Forsberg just played his first full year so I would think it more plausible that he was getting used to the league in his 18 games of the 2 preceding years.

I think our 5-on-5 troubles are due to the defensive transition game. We don't have Lidstrom to make that great pass and get us into the offensive zone. After struggling with that for a few years we turned more and more to the dump in, which forced board battles. I think that was a good change for Babs to make given the situation. We score on the PP because we don't have to worry about zone entries. I'm not sure that a new coach would change this situation. I would like get rid of 2 aspects that I think are part of our strategy. 1. When one of our players goes on an offensive rush it seems that quite often everybody behind him changes. I realize that this is one of the "safe" times to get off, but it often leaves the player without support and negates the offensive chance. 2. We often regroup in our zone before a rush. I know this is sometimes necessary to get a change and is a safe way to maintain possession after failed transition play, but I think we let the other team set up and lock up the neutral zone too much. As for defensive vs. offensive minded coaches. I think if our forwards didn't have to play as much defence our Dmen would would just be exposed. I definitely feel that we draft for two-way players and I don't get Kip's square peg into a round hole argument. I also don't feel that we force players to play physical as we're not especially physical in style. Our reliance on the dump-in does force more board battles, but that's partly we have Abby and Helm on the top lines.

I hope this isn't true. I'm moving back to Ontario and I'll have to put up with Leaf fans making endless Semin jokes. It'll be like giving a 9 year old a whoopee cushion.

Something tells me they might have had an inside source.

Not sure that would be a good idea. Players that didn't want to retire would just lie about having concussions. Also, it would be to hard to come up with a number since concussions have different levels of severity and are hard to measure. I also think they should have control of when they want to stop. They have doctor's advising them on their health. Some kind of concussion relief fund would be good, though. For Franzen's case, he would still get paid, right, if he went on LTIR.

Finally, I don't think Devellano's comments are that big a deal and Mantha respond to them in a good manner. I think it would have been better to keep it behind closed doors, but he was just saying what we and Mantha already knew. I just really thought your response was over the top, Kip. Maybe it was to counteracted everyone who's very against the comments?

We'll see. I don't think that's a sure thing. He's carrying 4.9 for 3 years and he has an injury history and been scratched a lot with us. I think it would take some special circumstances like a bad contract coming our way (phanuef) us eating a bit of salary or him going to a team that's worried about the cap floor more than the ceiling. For the record, I still think Weiss could possibly turn it around here if we put him somewhere other than the 4th line and he works hard this offseason. (he did miss a lot of training and training camp last year). My thinking is actually not far off from most of what you said. These were depth signings that didn't really hurt us, but that's a low bar for what's considered a good signing. When you buy out a player, I think that means it was definitely a bad signing. Neither Tootoo or Coliacovo where bad here. Coliacovo only played 6 regular season games. He didn't hurt us, but that's not a signing that helped you out especially when he took up 2.5 mill for a caphit. Tootoo did his thing and changed our minds and decided that didn't fit our team. That also didn't hurt us, but I'm still not ready to call that a good signing. White was good that 1st year and he was a bridge player, Yeah, maybe that's all we wanted him to be. Sammy for 2 years at a 3 million caphit for 30gp 1g, 3a - I don't think anyone should consider a worthwhile signing. The short term of that deal didn't hurt us all that much, but it did keep Nyquist out the lineup and/or prohibited us from signing anyone else. Commodore didn't take #64 so he will always be considered a disappointment.

http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/rankings/average/goaltender/ 15 teams have a goalie for 5 million or more. Of this year's playoff teams 6 have a goalie under 5 million. Flames (Hiller 4.5) and Islanders (Halak 4.5) are close to 5 at 4.5 so really only 4 playoff teams have a lower priced goalie. Jets (Pavalec 3.9) Wild (Backstrom 3.7) Islanders (Bishop, 2.3) Caps (Holtby 1.8) Edit: Oops, forgot the Blues with Elliot (2.5) With Jake Allen a RFA, they'll have a lot spent on goaltending next year.

Ah my bad. Sorry, I thought the AHL season was the same length as the NHL.

62 of 82 is between 75 and 76%. He played 3/4ths of the season while trying to come back from a broken leg and adjust to pro level hockey. His stats (62gp,13g,18a,33pts) are actually really similar to Tatar's (58gp,16g,16a, 32pts) first year in GR. I'm not overly worried yet.

Uh, The Bruins missed the playoffs. "Just making the playoffs" may have been enough for the GM to keep his job - we don't know. He traded away a young star who is now thriving with Seguin, and put the team in a cap situation where they had to trade away boychuck, and couldn't re-sign Iginla. This clear mismanagement put them in the position that they went from a top team to missing the playoffs Pens' GM got fired because they mortgaged the future on deadline acquisitions that failed and have failed supply complimentary players around a core that should be good enough to go far.

2013 was a ridiculous year of regretful UFA signings. As well as the signings you listed: Ribeiro was bought out by Coyotes Horton was traded Clowe's only really played 1 year (career possibly over due to concussion - so that's a bit different) Brunner and the Devils "mutually terminated their contract" Briere traded by Habs There was some really good signings last year (Hawks-Richards, Pens-Erhoff, Flames-Hiller) but those are all short term and 2 were special circumstances. Still many long term contracts that will be regretted I think.

Yeah, we got stuck with some bad longish term contracts (Weiss, Sammy) and pickup some players that didn't fit or help us much (Coliacovo, Tootoo, White, Commodore - though these players weren't necessarily bad) Alfie, Brunner, Glendening, and Monster were all good signings, though, in my opinion. (Yeah, I'm really going out on a limb with Glendening at 628,000, haha)

You forgot Helm. He showed himself to be pretty important this year.

I think there's a generally understood difference between asset and trade asset. When the other poster said that Howard was our best trade asset, do you honestly think that they meant he has the highest worth? Obviously teams would pay a much higher price for Datsyuk than Howard. That discussion is just like asking who's the best player. When someone says trade asset there is an implicit assumption that the player is a non-essential piece that we could actually considering trading. You talked of Mrazek as trade asset and that is why everyone assumed (and I think rightfully) that you were suggesting Mrazek as a candidate for a trade. I think we're all on the same page, though. Mrazek looks like he'll a have a great future here. As for the Howard trade talk, I do think it's something we should think about. It should be after Mrazek looks capable of holding the #1 spot so it's in the future, but still while Howard's retains value. 2 battling goalie will be good for next year, though.

That's beside the point. You said that Holland doesn't pick up players in the offseason.

I never get where this perception comes from. Yes, we didn't bring anyone new in from outside the organization last off-season, but.. 2013: Weiss, Alfie, Glendening 2012: Coliacovo, Brunner, Tootoo, Gustavesson, Samuelsson, 2011: Conklin, Commodore 2010: Modano, etc...

Yeah, we traded down and got an extra pick. It was a trade with San Jose. We traded down 2 in the 1st round, they picked Mirco Mueller, we got Mantha, then we used the extra pick for Bertuzzi. I think that's some pretty good wheeling and dealing considering the players today.