kipwinger

Damn, pretty bummed about this. Really was looking forward to seeing a more aggressive Red Wings team. Hope whomever we get is the same style. I REALLY don't want to watch any more boring trap hockey out of this team.

Preferred the whale tail did you?

Given how bad our offense and powerplay were, I think the assistant coach matters quite a bit. Don't agree, look at home much less successful Pat Ferschweiler was with essentially the same roster as what Jim Hiller had. Otherwise, I agree with you. Whether or not we have an extra 7.5 million to spend in this offseason vs. next year (this season has WAY better UFAs than next) is a pretty big question mark.

Well then I like their rose logo lol.

But also means more money to further inflate players' salaries. Tough call for the PA.

Agreed, with one caveat. I think the Hurricanes' alternate flag logo is really cool.

I wish Datsyuk would hurry and make up his mind. The two big pieces that will dictate this offseason are A) Datsyuk's decision, and to a lesser extent B) Who they hire as assistant coach. Once the organization knows those two things they'll formulate a strategy. I wouldn't expect much until then.

I don't think it's Radulov or Stamkos in terms of their desires. It's math. If we sign Stamkos, that's pretty much the only impact forward we will be able to afford. Maybe a depth signing, but that's about it. Otherwise we have to re-sign our RFAs. I think if they sign Radulov early they'll still be in the hunt on July 1st. But if they wait and sign Stamkos on July 1, I wouldn't expect much more. Which is why I've always favored passing on Stamkos, signing Okposo AND someone else.

To put things into perspective, Jurco played every game in November of last season and scored 1 goal and 1 assist. He also played every game in February and scored two goals. That's 24 games, in two 12 straight game segments. So while I agree that he's seen spotty usage at times, he's also seen prolonged usage at times as well. In neither case has he produced to the extent that he should given his skill set. He may need more time, and maybe he'll get it, but he's been undeniably disappointing thus far in his career. For comparison's sake, Teemu Pulkkinen played every game in October a scored 4 goals and 2 assist, and every game in November and scored 2 goals and 3 assists.

Howard would be expensive, but no more than Hartnell. Plus Bobrovsky has been injured A LOT lately, so I think Howard would be more like a 1B goalie. I think the thing for them, from what I'm hearing, is that they don't want someone they'll have to protect. They wouldn't with Howard. But you're right, I wouldn't do this as a first option. Definitely a "if Pav comes back and we can't make a big splash in FA" type move.

Hey, here's a question for the board. From what I'm reading, Columbus wants to trade Hartnell. They don't want to have to protect him in case of an expansion draft, and his contract is bad. They also need decent backup goaltending. How would everyone feel about a trade package that centered around Howard for Hartnell. I think both sides would have to add lower end picks or prospects to make it work, but it's interesting. We'd gain a veteran power forward who's still playing good hockey. They'd gain a backup goalie that they wouldn't have to protect. Keep in mind that we're probably signing Todd Richards as assistant coach, and Hartnell played very well in Richard's system for a year and a half in Columbus. Thoughts?

I'm not dying to get rid of Jurco by any stretch, but I wouldn't be broken hearted about it either. He's at best a huge question mark going forward, and a number of younger guys are pushing for that spot. Same goes for Pulkkinen. If either, or both, are needed to sweeten the pot for trade deals I'd be ok with losing them.

Look at all the iconic logos around the league: Wings, Leafs, Habs. They're all really simple. Not to busy. I like that. The new Florida logo is a step in the right direction.

We should want to "sweeten the pot" as well. If we are looking to bring forwards in then we will need the roster spots.

Same reason Babcock left our team for a worse one. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I like it. Looks respectable. The old one looks like one of those crappy tattoos you pick off the wall.

I think this is all about sending a message to a team that's under performed the last two years. Its an easy way for team management to show that they're unhappy with the outcome without doing something dumb like tearing apart a competitive team or firing an excellent coach.

I'd absolutely give him two years, especially if it meant getting him at the lowest possible cap hit. 2 years at 4-4.25 million would be a done deal for me.

He broke the Datsyuk back to Russia story a couple months back. Way before the Albom article. That was a legit scoop.

He does look exactly like what I imagine the entire city of Philadelphia looks like.

This whole "He played with Tavares" argument is false. Okposo's primary center this season was Neilsen, and he scored more of his points with Neilsen than Tavares. When Okposo played with Neilsen their overall possession numbers improved over when they were apart. The same is true of when he played with Tavares. Tavares improved Okposo's corsi, BUT Okposo improved Tavares' corsi as well. Which shouldn't come as a surprise. When you put guys who compliment each other together the sum tends to be greater than the individual parts. http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/showplayer.php?pid=932&withagainst=true&season=2015-16&sit=5v5 None of this is new though. This argument has been invalidated just as often as it has been true. Crosby is the best center Kessel ever played with, and Kessel actually scored WAY MORE after they were split up. Likewise, Datsyuk is the best center Hossa ever played with and yet none of Hossa's five most productive seasons were on Datsyuk's wing. Saying "player X only scored as much as he did because he played with player Y" is only sometimes true, and absolutely isn't in Okposo's case. Edit: AND Okposo's best points/60 came on Brock Nelson's wing. Not Tavares' OR Neilsen.

And I'd rather have either than none at all.

I don't think Nyquist will ever be a primary scorer at the NHL level. He's too passive in this overall game and tends to let the play come to him. Which is probably why his possession numbers are so much worse than Tatars. I think Tats is much more likely to be a more dominant player. Nyquist reminds me a lot of Ales Hemsky. Highly skilled but not as engaged as he needs to be in order to maximize his skillset.

Good point, and let's not kid ourselves, we missed a guy like Franzen this year big time. Imagine how well he would have contributed to offensive zone time, and as a result, total offense this year. If Mantha becomes another Franzen I'll be thrilled.

I don't believe you need some magic recipe to win a Cup. There are far too many intangibles to be formulaic about it. Look at St. Louis, who just trounced Chicago and Dallas despite having Jori Leterha as a top line center and Brian Elliott in goal. Hell you could even argue that Chicago, all during their Cup runs, only had one out of three top center, goalie, OR defenseman. Meanwhile, Los Angeles probably has all three and missed the playoffs last year and got waxed this year. Acting like landing an elite center, to the exclusion of other parts, makes us closer to contention ignores the fact that tons of top centers don't have Cups. Thornton, Spezza, Seguin, Stamkos, Sedin, Backstrom, have zero cups between them. Conversely, our only recent cup win saw zetterberg on the wing, and our three best players were Franzen, Z, and the much maligned Osgood. In my opinion its better to have a disproportionately good team, not a disproportionately good player. Signing a guy like Stamkos at 10 million all but ensures we can't address other needs.