PavelValerievichDatsyuk

If you're going Canadian, Habs-Leafs is the only rivalry you need to talk about. Not as heated as it's been, but deeply engrained and is always something worth watching. I mean the rivalry is on our 5 dollar bill...

Yeah, but The Bruins wouldn't have traded within their own division. I'm not really sure that "Jarnkrok had a nice value back then" (he and a pick did only get us a rental Legwand - which was a bit of robbery, but prices are high around the league) and what other trades were possible? It's the land of hypotheticals and hard to pin down.

There is no financial muscle - that's the whole point of the salary cap. And I think you know how likely it is to land someone on an offer sheet. Solution is to build from the draft, which we've done. Try to pick up college free agents (Dekeyeser, Glendening) AND take a swing in Free agency. Alfie and Weiss were top free agents. we haven't done as badly in free agency as some suggest. If we finish where we're at in the standings now, we'll be pretty attractive as a destination. Edit: Also, this year looks like a better crop of free agents: Green, Erhoff, and Franson, Boychuck, Marc Staal, Petry, Jackman, Martin are set to be UFAs this year. Some will get signed before then, but who knows...

That didn't happen. I don't really read it as Holland admitting a mistake. He's just saying that you can't do that every year. He defends the move saying the line carried us for a while and gave us hope, which it did. THat was the purpose - make the playoffs. I don't think it was a mistake anyway. We made the playoffs - it was a necessary evil. There was little chance Jarnkrok would find a space on a team that has so many centers that Weiss is on 4th line wing. Jarnkrok could have been used in a trade for a long term need (RH D), but who knows if having him would make a deal happen that won't without him

Honestly? That's a little over the top.

He was listed as 194 Lbs. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=118379 Maybe he lost weight this year, cause they now list him at 183 http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8475800

Quincey is only signed for one more year. He's been playing quite well and could be moved pretty easily i think. He seems to be the most likely sacrifice if that situation came about.

I'm actually totally fine with that. We just need to find a taker for Kindl, We should try one of the RH soon, Pursue Franson and Greene in the offseason.

I don't think we'll be dealing with the all at once and I don't think it's that big of a deal that their options expire the same year. They're all at different developmental stages despite the common "deadline". Ouellet should be up for good now, but even if he's sent down I don't think there's any way he plays in GR until he's out of options. Same can happen with the others in the intervening time. We've got these promising players. let's see how they develop before doing anything. I mean there could be an injury or who-knows-what. As far as trading them, if we do, it should be in a package for that established RH offensive D upgrade that we want. I don't know much about Santini but I see he's 19 and a high prospect - Jersey's near the basement this year so they're playing for the future and they wouldn't want immediate help anyway.

Clearly you're just too much of a consistency freak.

Rubs hands together. It's all going according to plan - The madder Franson gets, the less likely he stay in TO and we can have a chance at him free agency. The possibility of Greene and Franson in free agency is exciting. We'll be a more attractive team this year as well.

Agreed, but my thinking was that, since we're trying to get a defensive upgrade, every expendible piece should be thought of as possibly part of a trade package. I think Monster, Kindl, Andersson, Cleary, Lashoff and one of Ericsson/Quincey (Maybe Weiss - like him, but he hasn't found a place - due in a large part to Babacock, but... Also, I'd like to keep Sheahan and Helm) could be shed without much hit to the team as PART of a package for getting a defenceman. Problem is that most don't have value. There's some teams need goal tending help, but you're right Monster's injuries negate his value.

Marchenko is not out of options next year - He signed in in 2013 at age 21 so had 3 years of waiver exemption. Neither is Jensen. Jensen signed in 2013 at age 23 and so he also had 3 years of exemption status http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2009/11/26/1174855/waivers-101-a-guide-to-the-nhl For added interest: Sproul signed at 19 in 2012 so he had 4 years exemption. XO signed at 19 in 2012 so he had 4 years exemption. Backman signed at 21 in 2013 so 3 years exemption Looks like they're all good until the beginning of 2016-17. I think that's correct, but I might have missed an early birthday or something.

I agree. I wonder if we could trade the Monster. His injury woes would probably get in the way of that, but there has been some desperate teams and he's got last year's record to show teams.

Too bad Tampa and Montreal won, though.

Agreed, but how else do you judge how good a coach is? There's always people that will say that any team's success is due to the players. The only real time you can definitively say that coaching played a role is when there's a coaching change and then the team improves.

The media (NHL.com, few other non-local writers) speculated that we needed a trade for goalie. I didn't really see anyone around here propose that. Love Mrazek. Love how nonchalantly he was handling the puck in overtime with players on him.

Did Z touch that or did I just see a weird angle?

Bolded my responses

Yeah, but they're already bottom of the league. They'll only have the incentive if they start winning, haha.

If Quincey + Kindl + pick or Ericsson + Kindl + pick gets us a player of a higher caliber then I think that would be a great move for the team. Or move Kindl in a separate deal. Ericsson has been underperforming this year and will probably get better, but I'd sacrifice him for that RH offensive guy. I sort of agree with many who say that Lashoff is the perfect 7th D, but role is getting so small that he'll play very few games at all. Right now he only plays when Kindl's out - if Kindl's gone he's only going to be used in emergency situations. Every other injury should be used as an opportunity for one of our D prospects. Even in that situation, though, I'd keep him around since we don't want our prospects as the 7th guy not playing. As soon as the prospects start running out of options, then we can upgrade Lashoff for one of them as #7 and maybe have a rotating situation.

Agreed. There's no incentive for Edmonton to make a deal before the deadline. they'll get more then.

I agree 100% for #1 - Petry is from Michigan - I think that is at least something and he could very well want to come here. for #2 - Quincey will be in his final year of his contract and he's been playing quite well - I think he could be unloaded pretty easily if we started with the scenario that you describe.

I was going to allow you that they might like him more if he was Canadian (national hero factor). But if that's what you're saying I think that's non-sense. It's easy to refute too - just look at all the non Canadian players that are/have been loved in Canadian hockey cities: The Sedins, Alfredsson, Sundin. Kovalev and Koivu were very popular here in Montreal (and Kovalev was a lazy prick, haha) Just sticking with the Leafs - Van Riemsdyk is pretty well liked by fans and media. You've been watching too much Don Cherry. I think the Toronto Media demands that a player be really a publicly extrovert personality. They also demand that a player put up with a lot of s*** from the media and bite their tongue. I think Carey Price is a great comparable. He went through the same stuff in years past that Kessel is going through - being blamed for every little problem the team has gone through. They criticized his withdrawn personality. The criticized his manner of dealing with media. He's Canadian, Kessel's American. They're both Great players who have garnered way more criticism than they deserved. Price get more appreciation since the team is doing better. Same would happen for Kessel.

Fine then name me a beloved player on a Canadian team . The Sedins? And they're not Canadian. Subban, Price: Canadians that take endless s*** from the Canadian media. Price more-so a couple of years ago when Habs weren't as good (like the Leafs). I've been thinking about it and maybe what you're saying is possible. There is definitely some pro-Canadian nationalism with some Canadian coverage. It's hard to gauge how it affects individual players public perceptions, though, and pretty hard to prove. There's also so many factors apart from nationality - How the team is playing, The players' individual style, and also, public demeanor and personality plays into it. Even if that public perception is often formed or influenced by the media themselves...