PavelValerievichDatsyuk

Also, the Globe and Mail article says Alfie's 3 million dollar bonus will hurt us significantly, but, if we buyout Tootoo, that takes off 1.9 million. From what I've heard anyway, we won't be pushing up against the cap with Cleary, Sammy, Bert coming off the books.

There seems to be very inconsistent info on this guy. ELiteprospects has him at 183 cm / 6'0". http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=41014 Anyway, he doesn't look small in the Hockeybuzz video. There is nothing anywhere mentioning guaranteed spots on the roster for Nosek or sekac (or even if we have him) so I don't know what the problem. I also don't know why you had a problem with Brunner. I don't think anyone would say that he didn't deserve a spot on the roster. These are no risk pickups. no assets given. small salaries. I say rock on. I forgot weight. That link has him at 174. Who knows what is the most up to date or accurate?

The Predators will also never make a trade with the Flyers. Offer sheets don't work and they close doors to do future business.

Datsyuk Zetterberg Weiss Helm Sheahan Glendening Andersson We do not have a lack of center depth. the andersson at 1st line center was a perfect storm of everybody getting injured.

Ah, now I won't be able to hear Murray attempt to say Spezza with his lisp again. Ottawa just seems to me one of the worst run organizations. Just think of all the good players they've let go: Ben Bishop Brian Elliot Ray Emery (Okay, he did fight with other players on his own team) Hossa Chara Fischer Havlet Vermette I'm sure there's many more - that's just off the top of my head. Even if they didn't keep all those players, they should have a better team with those assets passing through. Heatley demanded a trade (Yes, he's has an attitude problem) Alfie wanted out Now Spezza demanded out Hopefully Karlsson demands a trade at some point.

I live in Montreal. There's pretty much citywide disapproval of the way Vanek played. I watched all the Canadiens/ Rangers series - they broke down two goal against where CBC guys specifically blamed Vanek because he didn't backcheck Search Thomas Vanek news for further reviews of his playoff performance: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/guy-lafleur-torches-max-pacioretty--thomas-vanek---they-can-stay-home-155307895.html http://www.hockeywilderness.com/2014/5/27/5746524/has-the-thomas-vanek-backlash-gone-too-far

I definitely think Toews is the better player, but the stats you showed don't say much. If you're comparing goals, Toews has only reached 30 goals twice. Also, Kane scored 29 in 69 games this year and 23 in 47 games last year - if you prorate that to a full season, that's basically him being a 30 goal scorer 3 out of 6 years. Anyway, point-wise they're pretty equal and they're both definitely stars Toews is a great leader the more of a complete player. I actually think they'll make pretty much the same amount if only because Toews seems likely to take a bigger discount to help the team.

I like that. I was asking Leftwinger, who wants to sign 2 Defencemen and also didn't mention moving Kindl.

So where do our highly touted defensive prospects go?

It already felt wrong taking Alfredsson from the senators - we would really be home-wreckers if Brodeur wore a red wings jersey.

Sadly, we don't have a Jack Johnson laying around that we could trade. Also, we're on the rebuild and can't trade 1st rounders

I've made my view very clear so you can reread my other posts. What I've been doing is not making excuses for him. I've stated in my post that I am not even much of fan of his. I'm criticizing the amount of hate he has gotten. This conversation started with somebody claiming he was "the go-to guy." I think he not and shouldn't be thought of that way. That's a clear opinion. You're cherrypicking his single year AAV to compare it to other players signed under extremely different circumstances. It's not really an apples to apples comparison to Franzen's contract because it ignores every other single variable about their situations. It's not "cherry-picking" to show a player's Cap Hit and show that he farther down the depth chart. For home grown names, during Franzen's contract, LIdstrom has made more, Kronwall, Howard, and Ericsson will next year. Kronwall will make more in 10 years than Franzen will over the course of his 11 year contract. Ericsson might end up making more over the course of Franzen's contract as well. Shouldn't that mean that they are expected to be greater contributers to the team? Or not just because the money was doled out in a number of contracts instead of Franzen's one very long one? You think the 11 year contract length is really important for what we. I think the cap hit is what matters most.

Why are falsely claiming that "I'm playing games" and "shifting my argument?" We just disagree about what his contract says about his expected contribution to the team. Respect my view as I do yours. I'm putting up real numbers as support - I'm not playing with them. For me, the cap hit is all important in the cap world. Yes, he was signed for an 11 year contract - it says he meant to be a part of the team for a long time. We just disagree how large a part. I think, if he was expected to contribute closer to the level of Z and Dats then his cap hit would be closer to theirs. And yet many fans are always angry at him for not being at that level. It's understandable because of his stretches of great play. If he was that player consistently, though, he'd be paid much more. Franzen needs to be better than he was this playoffs, but that can probably be said about every player on the team. Yet Franzen is the lightning rod for hate. Franzen is not one of the drivers of our bus - not paid like that, won't be that guy consistently.

How so? The conversation started with someone saying he was the guy. I said he isn't. you brought in the idea of a #3 guy, - that still seems to denote that he's grouped in with Datsyuk and Zetterberg in terms of expectation. I said his money shows he is expected to be a supporting cast member. That seems pretty consistent to me. As for the #3 guy thing, The money now shows that Weiss is expected to be more of a contributor than Franzen. Alfie was also above Franzen this past year. Also, to clarify. I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Mule. He's not certainly not a complete player, but he's not paid like a complete player. I just think the hate he get is over the top.

The contract is too long - i was a gamble and I'm sure the organization was hoping he continue being the playoff mule he'd been before and the contract could have been a steal if he had. But he was signed to be the tier lower than Dats and Zetterberg and he is that. The Cap hit shows that. And for that cap hit his production is good. The car financing analogy really doesn't seem to be all that meaningful to me. I'm sure there are a lot of secondary players that will make around that much over an 11 year period - just not in one contract. To pick a name who's listed as a comparable to Franzen on capgeek, If Mike Fischer plays 4 more years after his current contract(after next year) at around 3.4 mil. (he will probably get more). he will have made 43 mill over 11 years. he'd be 38 at the end of that. Franzen will be 39 at the end of his contract. The length of Franzen's contract just means that there's a risk that he declines to the point where he his production doesn't warrant the cap hit. The thing to think about with this, though, is that salaries will continue to go up so 3.9 mill in 2019 will definitely get a lower level player than it will now - so Franzen may not be overpaid that much at the end of his contract.

He's not the guy. Zetterberg and Dats are the guys. Franzen helps out in stretches during the year. His cap hit is not of "the guy". he makes Bickell money, Hudler money, Briere money...

It's not: http://kuklaskorner.com/assets/images/uploads/nhlja1.jpg

This is definitely not the team of 4-5 years ago and things are starting to go in the right direction. Signings could help the team or have the potential of standing in the way of young players. I'd rather have Helm than Puliot. Helm's main assets are not even offensive, but: Helm: 12 goals in 42 games; Pouliot: 15 goals in 82 games . Also, Weiss is a player within that age group who is supposed to be pretty good - we shall see. Dekeyser will be 25 next year and could be entering his prime, but is certainly "worth a damn." I like the youth movement. Hopefully Nyquist can play 3/4 of the way he did down the stretch then we'll start considering him part of the core. Z, D, and Weiss healthy and Howard playing up to his past standards and this is already much different team. I also like what Holland has been saying about this offseason: "We're moving slowly. I don't want to lock into something that in two years I'm trying to figure my way out of." - He is basically admitting some resent mistakes with this comment and it suggests that situations such as Sammy, Tootoo, Coliacovo won't be happening. The impulse of "we've got to do something now!" is exactly what lead to these signings. There were no great UFA players available for a reasonable price then, just like there probably won't be this year (still hoping for Gaborik). The strength of our prospect pool is what changes the situation now from the past few years. Young prospects are real options for filling roster needs. On a side note, I think Holland hinted that Mantha will be in GR next year with this comment on Blashill: “He knows those kids and he knows there’s another wave with (Andreas) Athanasiou, and (Anthony) Mantha, and (Mattias) Backman. He knows there are a few more kids coming in and he’ll have those kids for another year, so I think he’s excited for the opportunity to continue overseeing their development.”

What are you basing these statements on?

The Berensen comment was a joke and it was said in the context of: my daughter has one year left in high school so I have to stay in Detroit one year for that so, if I'm not with the wings, I'll go be Red's assistant. There's no way Babs would drop down to College level hockey - he's very competitive guy and surely wants to compete at the highest level.

Did someone say Beatlejuice 3 times?

I believe you could call that exploring. As for FAs. There's only room for 3 even with a goalie: 1D, 1F (depending on whether Alfie retires and Mantha/Jurco sent down), and 1G if Mrazek isn't backup. We need to leave 1 spot on D where a prospect can take away a spot (probably Kindl's). My ideal: Sign Nabokov for 1 year (I want Mrazek, but people say another year in the AHL is better for him) SIgn Gaborik: if not let Mantha/Jurco play (don't want Moulson/Vanek/Callahan at their prices) Sign Markov for 1 year: would mean that Sproul/Marchenko get the call to supply a righty and Kindl/Lashoff need to move to make room. If not: Let the kids play! Tootoo traded to give him a chance to play (Miller traded for Eaves, haha) Z-D-Alfie/Mantha Franzen-Weiss-Gaborik Tatar-Sheahan-Nyquist Miller-Helm-Abby Glendening Kronwall-Dekeyser Markov-Smith Ericsson-Kindl/Sproul/Marchenko Lashoff Howard Nabokov

That's really kind of ridiculous. Franzen only played 54 games - of course he isn't going to rank near the top of the league. Because of the games missed, the only stats that mean anything are TOI/G where he's well above 180 and faceoff % where he is as well (even though he's not a centerman) Now let's do it for Datsyuk: GP: 549th Goals: 126TH Assists: 214TH Points: 176TH Goals: 126TH assists: 214TH Points: 176TH +/-: 293RD Are those the numbers of a #1 center and 7.5 million man? he just squeezes in the top 6. Let's get the pitchforks and charge them all out of town! This is fun

That statistic doesn't take into account that Weiss was on the ice with a horrible Panthers team while Filppula was playing with the Wings and playing with Z often. Your stat is a team stat as much as it's a personal stat because, obviously, more than one person is on the ice and contributes to goals against or for. For the record, I always liked Fil and was sad to see him go, but he really did have a poor season leading up to his contract year. I think it would have been a big gamble to give him the money he was asking for. Weiss was also a gamble - coming off of injury, but he has years of proven pruduction. I think it really will take a year or two more to see which would have been the better choice. Obviously, with Weiss's problems and Fil having a good year, right now it seems like Fil, but they both have 5 year deals.

I was looking at the list of those who won CHL player of the year. I'm not arguing that big players can't flop, but it that it certainly helps the transition to the NHL. I think raises Mantha's probability of success and looking at that CHL player of the year shows that. As a side note: I wouldn't call Radek Bonk a flop. He played about 15 years in the league. had four consecutive 20+ goal seasons. 497 pts in 969 NHL games. Also, Thomas Hickey is in his 2nd season in the NHL season. I don't know much about him, but I think it would probably be too early to call him a flop - especially since he is defenceman and they take longer to develop.