kipwinger

I wonder if Green and McCarty could have a "doin' coke and screwing up your career" competition to determine who has the right to wear the number?

We should trade him to San Jose. They've been known to do incredibly stupid things for incredibly big guys. See: the Demers for Dillon trade.

Keep the flies off...their windshields?

This guy was a second round pick. I wonder if that's because he was any good at hockey in lesser leagues, or if it's because he's a really huge guy.

How many Tootoos equal a Tangradi?

So, since this guy is big and fights, does he count more than all those smaller fighters that Holland has signed over the years?

This guy is huge AND he fights? He must be really good.

I know. The difference is sarcasm.

Imagine... Dekeyser-Byfuglien Kronwall-Green Quincey-Ericsson Marchenko/Ouellet I'd trade 3 Teemu Pulkkinen's for a defense that looked like this.

Good point. I guess I wouldn't trade Pulkkinen for Byfuglien after all.

Lol. You make the prospect of trading him sound like a personal vendetta. I'd trade him for a top pair, 50 point, right shooting defenseman. I've advocated as much. If that's "no real reason" to trade him, then I don't mind being unreasonable.

Who wants to dump Pulkkinen for no real reason?

I don't want to go through them all, so I'll respond to just a couple of your assessments. I disagree that Ottawa is better. They lucked their way into the playoffs, on the back of an insane goalie performance, after sucking all year. Hammond falls back to earth and the Sens go back to the cellar next season. Panthers and Blue Jackets BOTH make the playoffs next season. Boston and Pittsburgh drop out.

There are a number of different scouting reports, talent analyses, and game recaps which all explicitly call his skating into question. He was able to produce a lot in the AHL, despite of his slowness, because it's a much slower league. The NHL isn't. Unless he's a can't miss top line player, I'd ALWAYS trade an unproven third line winger with question marks in his game for something better. Pulkkinen, 2016 2st, and Kindl/Smith (or something comparable) to Winnipeg for Dustin Byfuglien. Upgrade the 2nd to a 1st if completely necessary.

I've watched him play. He's slow, small, and a one trick pony offensively. Guys like that don't normally have much success in the NHL. He's Jiri Hudler without the versatility. And it's a miracle that Hudler is as good as he is, I'm betting lightening doesn't strike twice.

Because he's slow. And the NHL is a fast game. And it's pretty hard to get your "right handed bomb" off if you're consistently slower than the guys defending you. Other than that, yeah, he's probably going to be better than Tatar. Lol.

Unless he breaks out and has a really good year. Like Tatar and Nyquist did. But with a 10th their speed or athleticism. At which point he'd just be another Tatar or Nyquist...and we'd need to trade him...for being redundant.

Exactly. He sucks. Dump him while some people are still gullible enough to think he'll be any good.

Pulkkinen sucks. I'd start there.

I'd wait until right before training camp, and if nobody has signed Semin I'd offer him a 1 year, 1 million dollar deal. If he's not available, oh well. If he doesn't accept the offer, oh well. If he takes it, great. I'm not going to leave a guy with that much skill sitting on the sidelines if I can get him for peanuts, but I wouldn't go too far out of my way to sign him.

Happy to see former Red Wings Patrick Eaves and Carlo Colaiacovo sign contracts this off season. Patrick Eaves scored 14 goals in 47 games last year with Dallas. That'll usually go a long way toward getting you a new contract.

The Richards' deal doesn't hurt us, so it's not a "bad signing". It's just confusing given our center depth and the Weiss buyout.

Why not just move Helm back to center for the duration of Datsyuk's injury, and sign a winger. Could Helm possibly be less productive than Richards' 36 points in 76 games for the Hawks?

I guess if they're planning on making Z the first line center, Sheahan the 2C, and Richards the 3C, then I'm fine with it...I guess. I mean, he did just have similar season to Sheahan...except for the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. I'm confused.

The media? I thought it was predominantly LGW trolls saying that? Isn't it always easier to justify Holland's ineptitude when you can say "durrrrrr he's out kicking tires while other guys are getting free agents"?