kipwinger

Cool, thanks.

I think the fact that his favorite team was the Maple Leafs is clear evidence that he's got terrible judgement and probably will be plagued by poor decision making his whole career. Hmmm...now that I think about it, does anybody know if Brendan Smith's favorite team growing up was the Maple Leafs? lol.

I thought "Helm with Hands" was supposed to be Athanasiou on account of his speed...and, er...hands.

For the record, I like the pick. But who's comparing him to Ryan Kesler?

Well they're closer to 12 than we are, that's for sure.

I wonder if any American team has more homegrown talent than Detroit does?

You had to know they were picking a center. I like Kempe as the sleeper pick, but this isn't surprising at all. Good choice.

Still going with Kempe, but only after Holland trades down.

Not a single person reported accurately either the Kesler trade or the Neal trade until it was announced officially. I have no faith that any of the reported asking prices that we've supposedly been dealing with over the years was accurate as well. Not that you're saying so, but there is not league wide conspiracy to ask more from the Red Wings. Likely the reason we don't trade much is because everyone knows that Holland hangs on to people he drafted AND our prospects are never highly thought of because they're always later round guys. If we had a spare Patrick Hornqvist lying around, I'm sure we could have had Neal too. We just never do. And if we did, Holland wouldn't EVER consider trading him.

I assume you're talking about the Legwand trade, since we haven't been trade raped recently other than that one. The reason we got hammered is because we were negotiating from a position of weakness and Poile knew it.

Depends on the package. If we lost any of our good young forwards I'd be pissed. That's a lot to give for a guy with as many check marks against him as Myers has. Smith, prospects, and picks (on the other hand) I'd be fine with. You've obviously not watched a lot of Myers if you think he's got the upside to be a #1. He's big. That's it. He doesn't play defense worth a damn. He's just got a big shot from the point and stands up to the forecheck well.

Big risk to take for a guy who's never produced any better than Matt Niskanen, plays half the defense, costs 5.5 million a year, and would require a significant package to acquire (per reports). Why not just spend a little more (maybe) on the guy who does everything better and keep all your trade assets?

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.