number9

It's not as hard to reload when you have some of the best drafting and player development in the league, and your one of the top free agent destinations in the league lol....now if this was Edmonton or Columbus.... Emmerton: NHL ready Mursak: NHL ready Andersson: NHL ready Smith: NHL ready Nyquist: NHL ready Sheahan: Call up Tatar: Call up (insert free agents name here) (insert free agents name here) That's potentially about 9 players who will be fighting for NHL ice time....plus Holmstrom makes 10....we've still got about 2 more seasons of reloading left IMO though.....

Clearly.....why dont you try using some evidence for once instead of "i am right"....oh and the SKEWED stats you used to start this thread don't count lol....pretty sure I already disproved them with my own anyway I'm glad someone else learned from the past. Holland would applaud your foresight sir.

In the past we never really had a stacked farm....yet we always had amazing players trickling through the system....but now for once i can say im actually really excited about our farm....so many good players, so much potential there, im like a giddy school girl lol....if worst came to worst and only a few trickled through i would still be thrilled! The brilliant mind of Lloyd Christmas + The positive outlook of Friedrich Nietzsche + The cool headedness of Chicken Little = Richdg

Well that's a little extreme....we have a lot of money to spend and in the players poll the players said the wings are the franchise they'd most like to play for....so we could very well get a Parise or a Suter this year but no im definitely not banking on it or expecting it at all. And if we don't get any top FA's and just bolster the bottom 6 or something we will still be VERY competitive if not more competitive than last year. And no we don't we have any RNH's or Landeskogs on our farm but we still have a very surprising amount of really good young players there....more than most teams. And I dont know how many times i got to say this but you dont need Lidstroms and Datsyuks to win cups.....it's a team sport....half the reason Lidstrom and Datsyuk have been as good as they have is because theyve had a fantastic team around them their entire careers.....they owe just as much to the team as the team owes to them. We made them the allstars they are.

OMG I CANT WAIT

Bingo!

OMG you are crazy and know nothing about the NHL if you think anywhere in the 70s for amount of games played is bad. 95% scoring percentage is nothing to frown about...we all should be jumping for joy because most players will never even dream of hitting that....its amazing that even at 30% decline from 5 years ago hes still barely below 100%....his numbers are also way more consistent than almost every other elite forward in the league (most shift way more than 30% across 5 years) . In 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 we also had a much more complete and well rounded team....If we had those teams every year around Dats he could probably go beyond 125% on an up year. Ovechkin 2007/2008 = 136% 2011/2012 = 83% decline of 53% ^ Whoa! By the looks of it Ovi is old and washed up like you think Dats is! Caps better trade him cause hes going nowhere but down. He's certainly not one of the top 5 players in league anymore or anytime soon! (sarcasm) Kovalchuk 2007/2008 = 110% 2010/2011 = 74% decline of 36% ^ Kovy is younger than Dats and decreased by 6% more over a shorter time span!... but wait look what happened this year! 2011/2102 = 107% ^ He's back up to his old numbers! Lets look at a guy older than Dats shall we! Selanne 2007/2008 = 88% 2010/2011 = 109% ^ Holy crap! At an age older than Dats he increased his numbers by 21%!!!.....but look what happened this year... 2011/2012 = 80% ^ The whole team had a bad year and he's down to 80%! Lets look at the top 2 forwards in each of the final four teams.... Kopitar 2011/2012 = 92% M. Richards 2011/2012 = 59% Gaborik 2011/2012 = 92% B. Richards 2011/2012 = 80% Kovalchuk 2011/2012 = 107% Parise 2011/2012 = 84% Whitney 2011/2012 = 93% Vrbata 2011/2012 = 80% By your logic none of these teams should still be in the playoffs.....The only one who did better than Datsyuk this year is Kovy and as we both know Kovy plays terrible defense compared to Dats and he's wayyyyyyy overpaid compared to Dats. All those players play worse D than Dats (besides M. Richards, but he only hit 59%)....And most are paid more than Dats.... problem is not Dats. Maybe we should just put the right pieces around him like we did in 07/08/09....a sniper like Hossa and/or a strong bottom 6 and allow him to excel again.

I wonder why somebody who completely disagrees with the wings system, has zero faith in our veteran players, and thinks we are heading straight into the gutter, is even a wings fan lol.

you don't NEED high draft picks to improve

does he make sense now?

lmao DATSYK!

LOL its called scoring percentage dude (pretty sure i said that in my original post....its reading not fantasy haha). Percentage of points scored per games played. Example: 80 pts in 80 games played would be 100% and 40 pts in 80 games played would be 50%......LOL did u really think i was just pulling random numbers out of a hat????? Next ur gonna post a thread about how we dont have a good farm and Suter is only famous for his name

Good lord, we were consistently among the top 3 teams the first half of the regular season till injuries plagued us during the second half and playoffs. And people like you take for granted that WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS....For pete's sake most of teams who DIDN'T make the playoffs are not going to be rebuilding. Why in gods name would we???? Guess What? Since 2009 we have been RELOADING...Kennys been waiting for the right FA's to hit the market....Farms been gettin riper and riper...We've allowed Helmer and Abby to fully replace Drapes and Maltby...Ericsson and Filppula are breaking out.....Basically the point is your thinking way too much in the short term.... We are not going to win every year....But we are going to be competitive EVERY YEAR. We run a system that allows us to do this and NOT have to rebuild. You'd think 16 years would enough be for people to realize this but apparently not. I swear sometimes I think you guys just want to see headliners like RNH and Landeskog come to this team and that's it. The numbers he "threw in our faces" were completely skewed to his point. We have some of the best numbers in the league. There is not even much I can say about that because they speak for themselves. Our numbers were still better than most this year and it was A down year. Emphasis on the A in "a down year". I'm all for a reality check. The team needed one and think the best thing that could have happened was us going out in the first round. Kenny got a little wake up and the players got a little wake up. Now lets take that reality check, add some depth this off season, and play like we want it. If we add Parise or Suter this off season (let alone both) I will feel baddddd for the other teams in the league lol. Those would be 2 HIGH caliber players added on to an already HIGH caliber team.....But good god sir this not a time to rebuild or even think about rebuilding...Unless somebody completely screws stuff up we won't be rebuilding for a longggg time.....reality checks are good but PANICKING IS NOT....at least act like u have some composure AGREED....and it's coming (Nyquist, Smith, Andersson, the rest of our stacked farm, not to mention the various FA's we are seeking) we just have to be patient is all. Can't win it all every year boys.

Pure luck? What are you talking about? We very much intentionally drafted those players because we knew how good they were and we drafted them late because we knew how late they'd go. Datsyuk would have gone undrafted for petes sake and we knew that....thats why we drafted him the 9th round and not the first, even though we had him ranked among the 1st rounders. If thats luck we get lucky ALOT lol. its called superb scouting sir....and we got relative steals with ouellet, marchenko, jurco, and nyquist most recently

Didn't you already over sing this tune on another thread...like...a couple days ago? No matter, I'll happily present you the real truth again. First off, Cleary and Bertuzzi CAN play in the top 6, but they will likely see time in both the bottom and top 6 to make room for our YOUNG players (yes despite your oversights we do have them). We also may add another top 6 forward like Parise through FA this year which would also force those two into the bottom 6. Now let's look at scoring percentage...since injuries will inherently impact and flaw all the stats you chose. Datsyuk (Top 6) 2007/2008 = 118% 2008/2009 = 119% 2009/2010 = 87% - down year 2010/2011 = 105% 2011/2012 = 95% Zetterberg (Top 6) 2007/2008 = 122% 2008/2009 = 94% 2009/2010 = 94% 2010/2011 = 100% 2011/2012 = 84% - down year Franzen (Top 6) 2007/2008 = 52% - down year 2008/2009 = 83% 2009/2010 = 77% 2010/2011 = 72% 2011/2012 = 72% Cleary (In and out of the Top 6) 2007/2008 = 66% 2008/2009 = 54% 2009/2010 = 53% 2010/2011 = 67% 2011/2012 = 44% - down year (nagging injury) Bertuzzi (In and out of the Top 6) 2007/2008 = 58% 2008/2009 = 66% 2009/2010 = 53% 2010/2011 = 55% 2011/2012 = 53% Those numbers are the definition of strong top 6 players and VERY consistent play.... 87% (Datsyuk) 84% (Zetterberg) are also arguably not AT ALL down years for a top 6 forward. Yet, because Datsyuk and Zetterberg are among the top 10 forwards in the league (offensively AND defensively, and yes even at this age) we'll call those down years for them You also conveniently left Filppula, Nyquist, and Hudler out of your evaluation....Those are 3 young players who WILL be on this team next year. (Hudler the only one who may get cut, but who would be likely replaced by an upgrade anyway) Nyquist (In and out of the Top 6) 2011/2012 = 38% Filppula (Top 6) 2007/2008 = 46% 2008/2009 = 50% 2009/2010 = 63% 2010/2011 = 54% 2011/2012 = 81% - (break out year?) Hudler (In and out of the top 6) 2007/2008 = 51% 2008/2009 = 69% 2009/2010 = did not play 2010/2011 = 50% 2011/2012 = 61% Hate to burst your bubble but we have one of the highest scoring and most capable Top 6's in the league....And players like Nyquist/Filpulla/Hudler are getting better and taking on larger roles in the Top 6, While Datsyuk and Zetterberg continually show us Lidstrom-like ageless play....And even if we add no one to the top 6 this offseason...that still leaves us with 8 players who are capable of playing in the top 6... While our team does have its problems and things that should be modified, the fact is the problem is not Datsyuk or Zetterberg......Your whole argument seems to rest on the fact that you think we need All-stars like Yzerman/Federov and Datsyuk/Zetterberg in order to win cups.....Guess what? It's not about the name on the back, it's about the logo on the front. This is a TEAM game, and no player or pair of players can carry any team to a cup....We need a well rounded team with all the right role-players and leaders....and right now we need size and grit in the bottom 6, a back up goalie, and maybe a sniper....not a new Datsyuk or Zetterberg Where is crymson when you need him to knock some sense into people

Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt were in the movie Money Ball together..... Got nominated for 6 Academy Awards But yeah our drafting dominance is still very much in effect....our boys just spend more time in the minors than New York's....only real difference

Not Swedish but I always thought it was pronounced simply Cali (Cally) (Call-eh)

Hopefully someone can clarify for me...Couldn't he just go back to the knights until the memorial cup is over, then come back to coaching the caps after it's over without stepping down? Why did he have to step down? Does he just not like coaching them that much? I mean he did pretty well for his first year...

ahhhh hopefully i just read that wrong then!

..,.,.,.sureeeeeee well u wanna elaborate there buddy? cause its well known we have a plethora of great young prospects and many will be shooting for roster spots in the next 4 seasons....so i fail to see ur point....if u even had one dont even bother....some wont ever get it

u need to read if ur going to respond We had just as many quality scoring chances as they did. We are not even a shoot first team and we still out shot them lol. Glad you know how to play but you need to start watching too. Again, go back and watch the series....Rinne stood on his head. Howard didnt. They got some fluke goals. We got nothing but bad bounces. Sometimes things just dont go ur way, no need to panic and blow the team up lol. Of course I agree with what babcock was sayng....but he wasnt referring to the top 6....hes made it very clear he wants the bottom 6 retooled....so yeah

Do you listen to the words coming out of your mouth? Our second best penalty killer being out is not, not a problem. You must not remember but Babs was PISSED that Holland didn't add anyone to the bottom 6 at the deadline. Pavs and Z typically only kill big penalties....like when were up by 1 in the 3rd. Eaves, Helm, Miller, Abby, and Cleary take the rest. You must not understand Hollands style either because he does not just add people willy nilly....He almost never makes lopsided trades or goes after guys unless there a perfect fit, contractually and athletically. On top of that he thinks 10 steps ahead....like trading away Commodore to keep roster spots open for Dekeyster or someone else...My guess as to why he didn't add anyone is because there's probably someone he wants who will be an FA soon or hes saving money to make a run at Parise or Suter or something. Again, he thinks 10 steps ahead....he doesn't want to win one cup now....he wants to win 3 in the next 10 seasons. I have no idea why you are obsessing about space. I understand your logic and the space argument...space is important....but we get plenty of it. Our top 6 is not a problem (though I would like to see a pure sniper better than Hudler amongst them). Our top 6 had a much better scoring percentage going into the series than Nashvilles top 6 and they had plenty of space to work....we out shot them 160 to 116 over the series. game 5 22-25 (SF/SA) game 4 41-17 game 3 43-22 game 2 17-26 game 1 37-26 You sir need to go rewatch that series....yes it's painful cause we lost and I remember a few painful goofs we made....but overall we played pretty darn good series, we just got really unlucky at times. We couldnt get a good bounce to save our lives, Rinne played amazing while Howie was average, we had zero checking lines to create energy and no third scoring line...while they had 2 big checking lines and 1 of those lines could also score. And we had Dats and Z focused on defense cause Helm, Eaves, and Cleary couldnt be utilized. Guys like Zetterberg and Franzen are some of the best playoff producers in the league....this just wasnt their year...you cant win em all. Sorry but it has nothing to do with space bud. Oh god yeah. Dont let me forget all the penalties we took.....even if we had Helm and Eaves and Cleary at 100% those penalties were so unlike us and were basically shooting us in the foot.

i dont think bryz-nastys humor is bad for a locker room at all...its about his play not his sense of humor