Wingzman91

Wow, this is a slam dunk. LeBlanc is a repeat offender and he needs to keep his arms down. He made contact with the head, simple.

Should be good, thanks for the GDT! Let's go Wings!

I'll second this, no Mursak means Bruno makes it, and I was hoping for Conner..... Brunnstrom is playing like he wants it again tho and I'm sure he couldnt get any worse on the full team vs. pre-seasoners.

This is called "The Dan Cloutier" Where you sign a tryout with one of the better teams in an attempt to get a mediocre team to sign you. Cloutier ended up on the AHL Rockford IceHogs.

For someone like Burke, just based on the amount of trades he makes, chances are eventually he was going to make a decent one. He did basically gut the whole Tor team when he was hired, then traded away the only benefit of gutting your team, your next 2 first round draft picks. Those picks became Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton. That just seems like alot for a player who already has a history of cancer and injury problems at so young a age. Also, to smash Burke a little more, Nashville was looking to dump salary before arbitration with Weber, so it seems more despiration to get rid of Lombardi. Combined with Franson it saved them 3.8m, more than half of the 7.5m awarded to Weber and most of what they offered him, 4.5m. Also Lombardi is on contract for next year when they really need money and Franson is a RFA and due a huge raise compared to the 800k he is making now, probly around 3-3.5m. I understand Nashville wants to keep their dmen core, but that starts with building a winning team and the way I saw it this was their last year to do that before starting to lose key players.

If I was not born in the South, and @ 27 fillout to a 6'6 frame while only weighing 175 lbs. I still play the crap outta roller hockey tho.

Gotta pop in for the Russian Five for my vote aswell, just sick.

I clearly saw the puck go roof, its a goal, thanks for the offseason heartache.

most of this topic is here> Emmerton vs. Conner

IMHO, unless Brunnstrom will go to Grand Rapids, he won't be with the Wings this year. He will do the tryout and some team will offer him a contract, but he won't crack ours unless he is stellar. Tatar and Smith will go back to GR because they can, they will get their chance, just not this year. Out of the 3 you listed, Smith probly has the best shot and only because Commodore can be sent to the minors if needed. ...but Smith would have to out perform one of White, Stuart, Kronwall, or Lidstrom.....1 more season and he'll come up. If Brunnstrom was awesome, they would have to move someone, likely Hudler to offset the cap hit. I mentioned this in a previous thread, Chris Conner is another one on this list, he has to clear waivers to go to GR, so if he does great in camp he has to make the team or he might get claimed.

The guy obviously had problems; he grabbed a fan in the crowd, rage issues at the very least. I flamed him then for it, but now that seems petty. It's hard to call for someone's head when they didn't have it themselves. RIP Mr. Rypien.

ah...my favorite topic is back, it's a lazy day, let's try this angle: These are just the 1st rounders. 1993: Rob Niedermayer (5th overall) - Jun 23 '01 - Traded to Cal for Valeri Bure, Jason Wiemer. 1994: Ed Jovanovski (1st overall) - Jan 17, '99 - Traded to Van w/ Dave Gagner,Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes,1st in '00 for Pavel Bure, Bret Hedican, Brad Ference. 1995: Radek Dvorak (10th overall) - Dec 30, '99 - Traded to SJ for Mike Vernon. 1996: Marcus Nilson (20th overall) - Mar 8, '04 - Traded to Cal for a '04 2nd round (David Booth). 1997: Mike Brown (20th overall) - see Jovanovski trade. 1998: (Vincent Lecavalier)(1st overall).- Nov 13, '97 - Traded this pick, Dave Lowry to SJ for Victor Kozlov, SJ dealt it to TB, who drafted the all-star. 1999: Denis Shvidki (12th overall) - total miss - 2000: (23rd overall) - See Jovanovski trade. 2001: Stephen Weiss (4th overall) - Still with the team. 2001: Lukas Krajicek (24th overall) - Jun 23, '06 - Traded to Van w/ Roberto Luongo for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, Alex Auld. 2002: Jay Bouwmeester (1st traded for 3rd overall) - Jun 27, '09 - Traded his rights to Cal for the rights to Jordan Leopold. (Rick Nash went 1st) 2002: Petr Taticek (9th overall) - Mar 09, '06 - Traded to Pitts for Richard Jackman. (3 career NHL games,drafted 2 spots higher than Ballard, who FL later traded for)(Jackman later was traded to Ana for a 6th round pick, he went on to win the cup that year) 2003: Nathan Horton (1st traded for 3rd overall) - Jun 22, 2010 - Traded to Bos w/ Gregory Campbell for Dennis Wideman, 1st in '10.(Marc-Andre Fleury went 1st) 2003: Anthony Stewart (25th overall) - Panthers let him go, Atl picked him up/Win didn't want him, now he is in Car. 2004: Rostislav Olesz (7th overall) - Jun 24, '11 - Traded to Chi for Brian Campbell. 2005: Kenndal McArdle (20th overall) - Jul 8, '11, Traded to Win for Angelo Esposito. 2006: Michael Frolik (10th overall) - Feb 9, '11 - Traded w/Alexander Salák to Chi for Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman, David Pacan. 2007: Keaton Ellerby (10th overall) - Still with the team. 2008: (9th overall) - Jun 22, '07 - Traded to Nash for Tomas Vokoun. 2009: Dmitri Kulikov (14th overall) - Still with the team. 2010: Erik Gudbranson (3rd overall), Nick Bjugstad (19th overall) & Quinton Howden (25th overall) - Yet to debut. 2011: Jonathan Huberdeau (3rd overall) - Yet to debut. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, this is far out guessing but I'd think they might be a better team with most of these players. A 2006-07 team built and managed right could have looked like this : Nash-Lecavalier-Whitney Huselius-Jokinen-Hagman Campbell-Horton-Neidermayer Booth-Weiss-Dvorak Cullen-Olesz-Stumpel Boyle-Neidermayer Jovanovski-Montador Krajicek-Kuba Van Ryn-Lilja Luongo (could be M-A Fleury, but the one good deal in Panthers history brought them Lu and no Horton then) McLennan ----------------------------------------------------- That is obviously a dream scenerio, but who's to say they didn't treat Neidermayer better that his brother wouldn't have come to FL from NJ instead of to ANA. If you drop Scott Neidermayer into the top 4 on defence and take both players from the champion Ducks, also no Jackman for the Ducks because they didn't move Taticek. or even the year before, taking Whitney and Cullen's 33 combined playoff points and adding them to this roster?(if they kept Whitney they likely wouldn't have got Cullen but 1 or the other for sure) The worst thing is now I am so past thinking it will change, teams like NYI could suck for years because they have history, the Panthers have been (re)building since inception.

This year's waiver question. Both have to be waived to go to Grand Rapids, who makes the team? I like both players, but I think Conner's speed and experience give him the edge here. I'd pick Conner and waive Emmerton, what do you guys think?

To put this in perspective, since the lockout Bettman's salary doubled and Datsyuk's did not.

It's not even close to that the team has had the money to sign these guys, the players don't want to play here. The Panthers are a team known to give big contracts to mid-range, known talent and the vets know this and just come for a year long vacation away from competition. The kids here get screwed around alot, thats why they hold out or never sign at all. I'll add another example: Ray Whitney Drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the 2nd round (23rd overall) in 1991. 11/06/1997 Claimed by the Florida Panthers off waivers from the Edmonton Oilers. That season he scores 32 goals,61 points in 68 games for the Panthers. 273 games, 97 goals, 227 points playing for some very questionable Panther teams. The season he is traded he has 31 points in 43 games. 3/13/2001 Florida Panthers traded Ray Whitney and future considerations to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Kevyn Adams and a 4th round selection (Michael Woodford) in 2001. Strike 1. Come on, a near point per game player (.831) and you get a 4th rounder and a gamble in Adams. Adams goes on to play 56 games for the Panthers, scoring 7 goals and 21 points over 2 seasons. Bust. Then: 1/16/2002 Carolina Hurricanes traded Sandis Ozolinsh and Byron Ritchie to the Florida Panthers for Bret Hedican, Tomas Malec, Kevyn Adams and a conditional 2nd round selection in 2003. Strike 2. They trade him off to join Whitney in Carolina and eventually win a cup together in 05-06, meanwhile FL loses Ritchie to F/A and deal Ozolinsh to the Ducks where in his 1st year they go to the cup finals. January 30, 2003 - Traded by the Florida Panthers, along with Lance Ward to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in exchange for Pavel Trnka, Matt Cullen and Anaheim's 2003 4th rnd.(Jay Pemberton). Strike 3. ----------------------------------------- So far we started with Whitney for free and have just traded around for contracts and ended up with essentially Matt Cullen.......wait for it Cullen goes 86 games, 12 goals, 31 points for the Panthers over 2 seasons. Bust. __NHL Lockout___ They lose Cullen to F/A, but here is the best part, he joins up with Adams and Whitney in Carolina to win that cup. A waiver pickup that sustained a franchise with bodies for 6 years. Thats all it ever was for them. If they wanted to win they could have kept those players. These guys obviously wanted to win. Sigh, headache is back, maybe i'll be able to add more tomorrow.

Winning the cup is so hard and Osgood had great teams in front of him. That said the man was stellar in both of his cup wins. Watch as his acrobatics distract Tikkanen: ...but seriously, a good goalie can win a cup or even a few but a great one takes the time to realize they are not the best and work their ass off to get better. For the most part, this is how i'll remember Osgood, always working to get better. A undersized goalie that puts up these numbers and wins in all stages of his career, gotta be in the HoF. I don't see another Wing wearing the 30 either. Official or not, 30 = Ozzy.

This is a joke right? Florida has done this for years, buy players, it won't work. There has never been a owner of the Panthers that actually cares about winning a NHL game. It's sell, sell, sell.....they want to sellout crowds of people, not even fans, like a carnival and sell jacked up merchandise and beer. It's tough love, but the business model of developing high 1st round picks and then trading them for lower picks and more vets/cap relief has got to change if they want to be taken serious. " The Blueprint continues..." that was their slogan, I just think that's sad, like, management says, we have a team but from game one even we don't believe in them. These moves may make the team more watchable, but I don't see how filling out your team with 1/3(arguably the worst 1/3) of a championship team from 2 seasons ago makes you a contender. This is a team that drafted Jovo, went to the Cup in his Rookie season then dumped him in his prime for Pavel Bure, who could score but was poison for the team. They took a chance on Luongo after NYI had failed and when he develops, BLAM, traded, again, to Vancouver for Alex Auld....Alex Auld. Bouwmeester is a perfect example of what happens, the team doesn't care about winning so the players leave or have to be traded for assets that are already under contract. There are way more examples, but just this has given me a headache, to think that it will change is silly. Tallon has to be in some basement somewhere scheming on how he can package Booth and Weiss for Byfuglien, better yet, Crawford.

Have to give the Oz man love. Glad to see he is staying on with The Wings in a mentoring capacity.

He is a RFA after this contract is up. Absolutely. If nobody else, Yzerman knows what Emmerton can do.

Source is junk, the rumors they get right are already reported and the ones they get wrong are usually reading into local sports writers and bad translations from foreign sites. I know they we're useless during July 1st.

I think Hudler could switch in at center just as well as Emmerton could. That said I think the experience will win out and they will try and sneak Emmerton down to GR. You could have Flip, Huds, Abs, Mule all fill in at center and do just as good as Emmerton. I hate it but here goes, even if we had Z and D injured: franzen,filpulla,holmstrom bertuzzi,abdelkader,cleary miller,hudler,eaves mursak,helm,conner If there is a god, he won't let this happen. I don't see how plugging Emmerton in anywhere makes this team better. They knew his contract was coming for this season and they still played Tatar etc. The confidence doesn't seem to be on either side, Emmy's or the organization. I'm in the minority though, as through 74 votes, LGW is 2/3 in favor of Emmerton.

Conner's stats last year : Pitts Games 60 Goals 7 Assists 9 +/- +5 PIM 10 Hits 50 BkS 20 GWG 3 ------------------- Alot of games that he looked good in, I think he played on the top two lines at times and during the playoffs. I am glad we are in a position where we have depth like this and it's not from guys about to retire. That said, it's going to sting a little to lose one of these guys.

IMO, I don't see either passing through waivers.

Capgeek and one other source I read has it as a standard contract, meaning he'd have to go through waivers. I was afraid I might jump the gun if it is a 2 way as details are changing every day. If this is a 2 way then there is nothing to worry about, I apoligize. Edit: Seems he is still vulnerable, so the debate is on!

This was my exact thought, and that with Mursak that would be the fastest line in the NHL, not the best hands though, awesome energy.