kipwinger

I actually think Kindl would be good on a run and gun team like Washington or Florida. Teams like that usually don't get forechecked too hard and that's Kindl's biggest weakness. On a team like that I think he'd be good because he's a good skater and his shot is fine.

There's no way to guard him because of his shot. Every year everyone predicts the downfall of Ovie and it doesn't happen. When you can one time the puck like he does you'll always get your goals.

I agree with you about them never winning with Ovie, but not because he's the Captain. Rather because his contract is prohibitive. It's Washington's fault for giving that much cap space to a guy that can only score goals. If he were the exact same player, but making 6 or 7 million he'd be worth every single nickel (with or without the defense or the captainship). Sooner or later these GM's will realize that you don't win cups with one guy, franchise or not. Devoting that much money to a Weber, Ovie, Lecavalier, Kovalchuk, etc. is a recipe for disaster. Hell look at the guys I've just mentioned, one cup between them despite all that time in the league and all that money spent on their services.

I think you could trade him. I just don't think the return would be great, but who cares right?

Jesus did they? How did I miss that? Well that was really stupid. Why move a veteran skill player from a team desperate for veteran players? Almost as dumb as moving Smid. They're still never going to make any noise until they move two of Hall, Eberle, Nuge, Yakupov, in my opinion. I'd still try and land Stastny or ROR though and trade for/sign defensemen based on how this shook out. Yeah, I completely missed him being traded somehow. I thought he was still there. I definitely don't expect him to go back (why would any sane person do that).

They really need to trade two of Hall, Eberle, Nugent Hopkins, and Yakupov for defense or a veteran top line center, and then keep Hemsky and Gagner. Afterward use the freed up money to sign whichever one (center or d-man) you didn't get in the trade. Personally, I'd move Nuge and Yakupov and keep the other two. For example, trade Nugent Hopkins and a pick for Ryan O'Rielly (since he wants out) and then sign a good d-man, or trade Nugent Hopkins for a quality d-man and sign Paul Stastny. Then trade Yakupov for a second second pair defenseman. You could theoretically have top six of... Hall-Stastny-Eberle Hemsky-Gagner-Perron The above much better than what they've got now and they'd get some help on defense if they traded both Nuge and Yakupov for quality veteran defense.

They've got like 40 guys on their team that need the puck to be effective. There's only one puck. Trade a couple superstars for really good depth/role guys and use the freed up money to land a quality free agent or two. Look at what Columbus has been able to do with half the assets. Do that. Oh, if management/coaching could collectively pull their heads out of their asses that would be a big help.

This is probably my favorite post ever on LGW. Atta boy!

Franzen's been blocking shots like a mofo. Atta boy.

Is it wrong that I think given the opportunity each and every Leafs fan would do something just as stupid?

I definitely agree with this 100%.

I don't really think it's fair to pigeonhole an entire...hey look a pony!

That's like saying it's impossible to say whether life without one of your arms would be good or bad because it hasn't happened. Sure, but you can speculate with a pretty high degree of logical validity. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are two of the best players in the world. It's always better to have them than not have them...just like both your arms.

Don't be such a curmudgeon.

Don Cherry: Proponent of obnoxious teams, opponent of obnoxious fans.

If he's this good hungover just wait until he settles down a bit.

This rules so much! I want to hit up a Tatar party.

Agreed, I definitely don't think that being competitive is bad. Although after re-reading what I typed I understand why it would look that way. I suppose my point was, injuries or no, if you can take leads in games then you should be able to win games (especially with multiple goal leads). We should be winning more with the lineup we've currently got. Sure we'd win more with D and Z, but this lineup has shown it can compete too. I just wish it was competing a bit more successfully after 60 minutes. But then I have to remind myself that even when we didn't have all these injuries we were still blowing leads. So maybe it's a product of something else. While I'm no expert, my guess is that a combination of a healthy D, Z, Weiss, Ericsson, PLUS the infusion of the kids, PLUS a little work on the back end is probably the recipe for success...but I don't know.

It would be impossible for me to hate the fans of a sports team more than I hate fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And that includes the New York Yankees.

I do agree that the effect of losing guys like D and Z (and even Helm and Weiss, who are both good defensively) lead to an overall propensity to blow leads. But, it's not like we weren't doing it before the injuries. Most of those games we lost during the streak of overtime/shootout loses were blown leads as well, and we had our regulars in the lineup then. But I don't want to make this about blowing leads, I already created that thread. I do think injuries have played a part, and when you combine that with the fact that it took this long to get the kids into the lineup AND the fact that our defense is severely underqualified you've got a recipe for games lost. Next year, a healthy lineup, PLUS the kids, MINUS the old timers will be much better. Although without changes to the defense it still won't be near the top of the league in my opinion.

I'll say this, for me it's not a matter of thinking that the team is sinking or that there aren't (some) reasonable excuses for (some) of the loses. I agree, the injuries tore this team up all year. BUT we're in every game we lose, tied in a lot of games we lose, and leading in almost a third of the games we lose. When you're leading by two goals going into the third you need to win more often then we do. It would be one thing if, because of injuries, we rarely got leads in game. It's another thing entirely to have leads so often and blow them. And you can't blame that all on injuries.

Well if that's true then all the team's success belongs to Holland too. If he's going to get blamed for one he needs to get praise for the other.

Except that it wasn't Holland at all. Babs, Dats, and Z, wanted him back. Holland's got a lot to be ashamed of (Tootoo, Sammy) but this one ain't on him. Here's the quote... "Nyquist could have made the Wings to start the season. But Holland signed 40-year-old free agent Daniel Alfredsson, and then he re-signed 34-year-old Dan Cleary in training camp. Cleary was a surprise, because he had bad knees and better offers elsewhere. But coach Mike Babcock wanted him back. The team leaders wanted him back – from Howard to Zetterberg to Datsyuk. And he came back on a one-year deal worth $1.75 million, when he turned down the Wings’ offer of three years at $2.25 million per on July 5 and the Flyers, Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets were offering three years at $2.75 million per." And here's the link... http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nhl-s-hottest-scorer-gustav-nyquist-shooting-for-goals--glory---playoffs-after-starting-the-season-in-ahl-161232581.html?

Tatar w/the hatty in the final minute of play. Calling it!