kipwinger

Spezza for Kesler makes no sense considering Kesler has a no trade clause, has listed his 6 teams, and Ottawa isn't one of them.

Mike Green has a higher Corsi than Ryan Suter, is he "better" too? Also, both Dekeyser and Kronwall had more non-powerplay points. Kronwall has 24 five on five points and Dekeyser had 18 five on five and 1 shorthanded point. So that's false too.

Sure he wasn't asking for 2.7 million rubles? That's only about $42.50 in American dollars. Totally worth the risk! But joking aside. Where did you see that he wanted 2.7 million dollars? Because the maximum entry level contract in the NHL is 1,350,000 dollars. So if he was asking for 2.7 he clearly didn't want to play over here at all.

Your entire point earlier was "what if Zetterberg and Ericsson played". You're playing the "what if" game too. I'm just being a little more realistic. Odds are against any of the kids being as good as Datsyuk or Zetterberg. Babcock and Holland have each said so explicitly. So resting our hopes on "the kids" is a recipe for failure. It would probably be a good idea to move SOME of them for established NHL talent while they've still got value. Otherwise we may find that five years from now we've got a bunch of decent talent and nothing to write home about. The two teams in the Cup right now are full of star players that weren't drafted by either team. Mike and Brad Richards, Jeff Carter, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis, Marian Gaborik, were all traded for and they're playing huge roles for their respective teams. They weren't acquired for peanuts. We've got HUGE amounts of young talent. Would it kill us to move SOME of it for established players?

And the year before that it was "could you imagine if Helm and Dekeyser were playing". There's always some excuse for losing. But the reality is, we're not going to win anything soon if our GM doesn't get aggressive. Maybe 5 years down the road when all our kids are in their primes, provided their primes are even all that great to begin with. What happens if we put all our eggs in the kid basket and it turns out Nyquist only ever gets as good as Filppula, Mantha's the next Primeau, and Smith is Mathieu Schneider 2.0? We'd be f***ed. And given how hard it is to become a star in the NHL, it's much more likely that these things happen than that any of our young guys become star NHL players.

I'd complain. What's the point of signing two guys who aren't going to make you Cup competitive. If you're just planning on treading water until "the kids" develop then you might as well get them into the lineup and let them start developing. I'd rather Mrazek start 25-30 games next year as Jimmy's backup and get professional level coaching than have Nabby for a year. Same with Sproul over Boyle. We're not competing for the Cup either way. At least one of those things helps us in the long term. The other is just more nickel and dime s*** that doesn't amount to anything.

He's not as bad defensively as people make him out to be. But regardless, if you paired him with Ericsson as the 2nd pair and Kronwall and Dekeyser as your shutdown pair you'd be fine defensively and MASSIVELY better offensively. The difference he'd make on our powerplay alone would be worth the cost. But there are other options too. I don't want to make it seem like it's Yandle or bust.

Well of course they "could" win a Cup before Z or D leaves. They just can't do it with a strategy of "lets hope the kids improve faster than the vets decline".

It's tongue in cheek dude, don't take it so seriously. He'll definitely do something major. I imagine he's working up the contracts for Alfredsson, Gustavsson, and Tom Gilbert as we speak.

This is probably exactly what we'll get. But you wouldn't want to overpay. I mean, you gotta keep that cap money because next year...that's when it's all gonna happen. Next year's the year Kenny finally pulls the trigger. Always next year.

I wouldn't want him as our coach, but I'd take him as an assistant. He'd surely help the offense and PP you'd have to think. Not like every player on Pittsburgh's team didn't have about 2,000 powerplay points this year.

I've always been curious about him too, but I recall someone saying that part of the reason he was traded was because Hitchcock didn't like him because he's not committed to two-way hockey. If that's true (and I don't really know if it is) then Babs will hate him too and he'll end up on the fourth line or playing 10 minutes a night and won't be worth a nickel. All depends on his attitude (and/or the validity of the rumors about him) I suppose. But on paper I'd be very interested.

I agree with all that. When I brought up Suter-Parise I wasn't lamenting the fact that we didn't get them, but rather that's the last time we were willing to make a serious push for first rate players. I'm actually glad we didn't get them because they would have put us in cap hell. But you're right, it's got to be from our end. I can't believe that in the last 5 years only two players were available that were both right for our team and also worth the money. Everyone else seems capable of making meaningful moves at free agency or the trade deadline and it doesn't seem to be hurting the chances of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, etc. Everybody acts like our only choices over the years have been "trade the future away" or "sign some has been who won't ask for too much". There's a middle ground, and probably more of one now than we've had in a long, long, time.

Yeah, quitting is almost never a good idea.

Well I'll say this. It would be a big gamble. I don't think we'd get the Dan Boyle of last year, nevermind the Dan Boyle of old. He put up 36 points last year on a team that's WAY more offensively capable than we are. In my opinion he's declining fast. Don't get it twisted, I'd love to be wrong. But I'm skeptical that adding another old guy on the decline is going to improve us that much. A signing like that is just treading water, and one of these days we're all going to wake up and realize that while we were treading water we wasted the last 6, 7, 8, years of two of the best two-way forwards of their generation. Other than "trying" on Suter and Parise, there hasn't been a meaningful attempt to make this team elite since 2009. That's not ******* acceptable.

I agree. They handled that terrible. No matter what they decided to do it was going to end up classless. If you wait this long and fire him, you're just leaving a guy's neck on the chopping block unnecessarily long. And If you wait this long and don't fire him, but don't publicly back him, you've basically told him you have no faith in him and the first minor screw up is going to get him canned. Who could coach in a situation like that?

I was talking with a Pens fan last night who was crushed because he was convinced Pierre was going to get the job.

That's exactly my point. Trading for a guy like Yandle makes us significantly better, no matter the price. Signing a guy like Boyle makes us a little better (maybe) but not enough. Given how far we are from being a competitive team, a little better isn't enough. Let the kids get the experience if you're not going to be competitive either way. And IF you want to be competitive, you've got to do something more substantial than Dan Boyle. When you've got an entire core of guys in their prime and playing well, getting a "little better" can be a big help. For example, the additions of Oduya and Handzus for Chicago. We don't have a core it their prime. We've got kids who aren't ready yet, and old guys who can't get it done anymore. We've got two options A) spend the assets it takes to get competitive again, whatever it takes (within reason), or B) wait three more years and hope a couple of your young guys turn out to be good enough to make up for the lose in quality you'll get as your stars decline. And even then it's probably a wash.

I agree with the parts about Quincey and Niskanen. But I just think that if the guy you acquire doesn't give you considerable improvement, you're better off letting Sproul and Quellet or Marchenko get the experience. Take the team we've got right now and add Boyle and we're really not much better. We'd still get ruined in the playoffs (if we made them). If that's the outcome either way, let the kids get the experience.

It's a good move. Nobody else available is as good as Rutherford. He's no superstar, but he's not Jay Jeaster, Darcy Regier, or Pierre ******* Mcguire either.

Boyle theoretically helps our PP. Taking on someone of his age doesn't work out just as often as it does. IMO you're better off signing or trading for a guy in his prime and giving the third pair to your two best kids. If they struggle, you can always trade for a third pair stay at home defender for relatively cheap. It's not like we don't have the assets.

Here here.

I'll bet he does. Given all the good years he's given San Jose it would be really s***ty of them to trade his rights to a team he's not willing to sign with. My guess is they had a discussion with him before they pulled the trigger and he gave the ok.

In your opinion, what's "too much" for each Niskanen and Vanek?

Who said anything about "elite". None of Stepan, Nash, Kreider, Girardi, Brassard, Puliot, Kreider, Staal, or Zucarello are "elite". But they're all very good. And they seem to have helped the Rangers. Likewise, Voynov, Brown, Carter, Toffoli, Martinez, King aren't elite either. However each and every one of the guys I mentioned is better at their respective positions than anyone we've got in the same age range. Surely there are UFA's or trades which are better for our top six or top four than Abby or Smith and who aren't going to cost a zillion dollars? Also I'm not sure why you think Vanek and Niskanen are going to get paid so much. Everyone knows they aren't "elite" and they won't get paid as such.