kipwinger

I agree, trading for Myers is a bad idea. He's ALREADY getting over paid, and you'd have to give assets to get him. The very thing people worry about with Niskanen is already a reality with Myers. And even if Niskanen gets over paid (which I don't think he will), you don't lose assets acquiring him. Myers gets paid (5.5 million) to give you the same offensive potential as Niskanen and none of the defense. But he's big, and everybody knows that NHL GMs go weak in the knees (and soft in the head) if a player is big; regardless of whether he uses that size for any practical advantage or not.

Well there goes that. Seems like a pretty good trade for both sides. Vancouver was trading within the division (typically requiring a larger return) and Kesler only approved limited teams (typically ending in a smaller return). He's a good player and I'd have loved to have had him in the Winged Wheel. Oh well, on to the next one.

I read that too. I just don't see it though. Maybe that's me being wishful.

I can just imagine the conversations you and Don Cherry would have haha. Two peas in a pod. I actually want that conversation for you (provided you record it for the rest of us) lol.

No doubt! I mean, since he's the one making all the money she probably shouldn't have any say in their join decision making at all. It would probably be best if she could hold off having opinions or even talking as well. Better yet, she should probably just lock herself in a cage in the basement and only be allowed out when Ryan Suter says so. I mean, he makes money and she has "a free ride" so its not unreasonable to expect her to abdicate her say in their future plans for a life of domestic slavery.

I actually know Craig Coxe pretty well and have had the opportunity to chat with him several times about his epic fights with Probert and Kocur. Very cool guy with a lot of good stories. I've also spoken with Derian Hatcher on a couple of occasions as well. He's quiet and doesn't have much to say. One of my fondest memories was busting his balls the first time I met him by grabbing him a shot and proposing a toast "to skilled european forwards". He looked at me completely seriously and said, "I was a defenseman, not a forward". Had no idea I was screwing with him.

Well, now that we're both on record we'll just have to wait and see.

You drive a hard bargain my friend lol.

Sure, nobody's doubting that's a possibility. But I'm wondering what you think he'll actually settle on. Because before you made it seem like he'd get #1 money, not that he'd be offered #1 money. Everybody knows some bottle dweller will throw money at him to get to the cap floor, but what are the chances he takes it? So again over/under 6 million, and over/under 6 years? Tim Bits or regular? And assorted flavors or plain?

Zero percent. Maloney isn't stupid and is not going to trade an all star defenseman for a guy with injury questions who only played 20 odd games last season.

Chicago just spent a little over 2 million combined on Ben Smith and Antti Raanta. That's just over half their available cap space. Unless they move out significant salary I'd say they're out of the Kesler sweepstakes. That leaves only Anaheim unless he's willing to expand his list.

It's not a guarantee, no doubt, but I'd say it's a significant factor. Also, it's not like Columbus gave Wiz the moon to play there. They paid him about what a 50 pt. puckmoving d-man should make. So I'm assuming he went there for other reasons. 75% of the teams in the league would have paid 5.5 million for 5 years for Wiz at age 27.

Well he did say in an interview (which I read in one of Malik's diatribes so I'm no willing to go dig it up) that term is "generally" more important to him than salary. Though I'm not suggesting anyone interpret that as Niskanen saying "I'm looking for long term to the EXCLUSION of salary". Like I said, I'm expecting 5 years at less than 6 mil. In other words, Wisniewski money and term...which he's worth. Obviously he COULD get more elsewhere, but only from a bottom dweller with unlimited cap space. And why would Matt Niskanen walk away from playing with Crosby or Malkin for the rest of his career to play on a worse team less likely to win? This kid's looking to win. I don't think he prices himself out of the market for that reason alone.

Yeah, I see him trading down. Someone they like is going to slide down the chart given how bunched together everyone is after the top five or six picks. I called Kempe a few months ago, and I'm sticking with it. They'll trade back two or three spots, still get their man, and get a 2nd to replace the one lost in the Legwand clusterf***. Edit: Larkin wouldn't be a bad pick either, and he's a center (Tyler Wright seemed to indicate this would matter). But I'm sticking with Kempe.

What's #1 money? I'm curious what you think Niskanen will make? Since there's no way you could know the exact number, lets do an over/under. Over/Under 6 million cap hit? Over/under 6 years term? I'd say under to both. Which would definitely excluding him from #1 defenseman money. But that's just me.

Exactly. Someone will get traded today, and then Eklund will do his usual "Aha, told ya" schtick. He's the Miss Cleo of hockey rumor pushers. Nothing he says can be proven wrong with certainty.

Are you suggesting the more you pay Niskanen the more likely he is to get a hernia before the beginning of the season? Because that's just silly.

I'm as frustrated as anyone about Holland, but I'd hardly say he's stood pat. He's made a lot of moves. They've just been moves that had a higher than average probability of failure. I don't think you mean that Holland has done nothing. But rather that he's not been willing to spend the assets necessary for acquisitions whose success is not dependent on a large degree of chance (e.g. this will help IF so and so gets healthy, or IF so and so bounces back, or IF so and so is played in the right role).

You're trying to make it look like I said something I didn't. I never mentioned Ryan Suter. Or overpayment. Or any of the other things you've added to my post. I said I don't think Niskanen will leave his current team, for a worse team, for less money. If you want to talk about that, fine. If you want to make things up, I'm not sure what to do with you. It would be cool if you could take it down since you're LITERALLY putting words in my mouth. I'd be more than happy to discuss the topic with you. But I'm not going to defend some imaginary thing you've LITERALLY invented and placed in a quote box with my name on it.

KH: "Hey Matt, you should sign with us". MN: "Why would I do that? You're a worse team than the one I'm leaving and you've done nothing to improve." KH: "Oh by the way, we're going to need you to sign for less than you'd make elsewhere". MN: Lol.

I totally agree. But he's got to get the shot in order to prove it. I'd rather he get that shot in a year where there's essential ZERO chance of use being competitive. That way, if he struggles it doesn't hurt us that bad, and if he's a stud then it's a bright spot. When are they supposed to give him an opportunity, the conference finals? As I've said a thousand times, signing Boyle just keeps a mediocre team mediocre. Giving the opportunity to the most deserving kid may hurt in the short term, but the experience he gains playing with our vets and learning from "the greatest coach eva" is invaluable in the long term.

OR, he goes on LTIR or retires. There's not just one possible outcome here. And at least the two I've identified carry no long term fiscal exposure for the Lightening, which is probably why they weren't too worried about the contract. I agree that his contract carries some risks. They all do. But you're acting like it's a foregone conclusion that this contract is terrible and will bite them in the ass. I'm just providing two realistic alternatives to that narrative which don't end with this being a catastrophe for Tampa. You're welcome to disagree with their relative likelihood. But surely you won't deny that a "Brian Rafalski" scenario couldn't happen with Callahan if his body deteriorated before his contract expired.

Well, I'm still ambivalent about Pulkkinen. But I'd DEFINITELY rather have Sproul in the lineup than some mediocre hack on the blueline (Boyle, Robidas, Gilbert). At least the experience he'd get would help us in the future.

Who cares if his body breaks down? If his body wears down, they'll put him on LTIR (no cap hit) if he wants to fight through the injury and play another season or he'll retire if he can't (without a recapture penalty because it's post lock out). He could literally play for three more years, retire, and the Lightening would owe him nothing more than the three years salary and have a lower cap hit than the actual salary on top of it. I don't see the problem with it.

I hope so. I'd love to see it. I'm thinking that kid is going to be really good.