kipwinger

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.

You're obviously entitled to feel however you like, but I think hockey was awesome this year. You have tons of good young rookies to watch. The rise of new powerhouse teams in Dallas and Florida. Ovie scored 50 again. Almost every playoff series has been brutal and close. And teams like Los Angeles and Chicago fell off. I probably watched more NHL hockey this year than I have in a decade.

I agree with this assessment of Mantha going forward. The difference in talent at the NHL level is negligible for most players. What seperates them is commitment to doing all the little things that make talented people into top performers in their sport. There's an awesome quote from Connor McGregor on the topic:"There's no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equal as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top and that's that. I'm not talented. I'm obsessed." Thats something that all great performers have in common.

Peters?

Yuck it up all you want, but there's a real possibility that Stamkos will go the same route as Parise. He will have a handful of elite level seasons, get paid out of proportion to his current value, and then regress back to a good but not great player. I don't want a good player making 10-11 million bucks on this season. Its way to prohibitive. I'd much rather have two good players making 5-6 million apiece.

Rychel is a tough dude too. Knows how to fight.

I wish they reported possession metrics for the AHL. I'd love to see how the young guys shape up in that department. I'd imagine Sproul and Russo lead the way, but it would be cool to see how they stack up against the rest of the league.

So pumped to see Sproul playing like a stud. It'll be hard not to factor him in to next years defense corps.

I'd rather we sign Okposo and Radulov than Stamkos and either of the other two. Gives us more money to accommodate a defenseman if we can trade for one. Stamkos is going to be a VERY expensive 70 point player.

I don't want to see Larkin or AA on the wing next season. They are future centers and need to be playing there. I agree with limiting Zetterbergs ice time though. in the scenario above I'd but Zetterberg with AA and Bertuzzi, Tatar with Larkin and Mantha, and Radulov with Stamkos and Abby. But honestly I don't really see us signing stamkos, so its a moot point.

Meh. Pavs should go enjoy his retirement and the Wings should transition into a new era. This will hasten it. I'm not too broken up about it.

Chicago's best player is a winger. And their top center is no better than Backstrom according to most.

Ugh, this made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

One thing that I think is super important for both Houda, and whoever we sign to coach the offense, is a knowledge and embrace of how modern analytics can/should inform coaching. I don't know where any of the candidates stand on the topic though.