kipwinger

Our #1 d-man is Kronwall. I agree that Subban is better. But we don't need that because there's nothing wrong with Kronwall at #1. Everybody always seems to think you need a team full of all-stars to compete. You don't. We've got a #1, we don't have a #3. So rather than spend insane assets to get a star, just to say that we got a star, why not just get the #3 that we need and keep our assets? And that's no knock on Subban, I like Subban, he's awesome...we just don't need him for what he'd cost.

Yeah, because they'd been dangling him on the trade market for like two years and he didn't know why. The fact that they wanted to trade him was the source of that animosity.

If the Ducks are in on Vanek then I no longer understand the Ryan deal. Gotta be something else.

Hmmm, didn't see this one coming. Also don't know why it happened.

100% true. I guess I was just thinking that if he's half the "genius" GM everyone proclaims him to be he'd have learned from that mistake. Maybe not though. Edit: I decided to check the numbers and they've got the 9th best goals against in the league so I guess they're not as bad as I thought. You'd still think they'd be looking to replace Letang though.

I sure hope he is getting traded though. It would definitely lower the price on Erhoff or Edler.

I agree.

I wonder if Shero is really willing to sell the farm for Kesler or if he's just trying to scare away potential suitors/drive up the price for rivals. I mean, I can certainly imagine him going nuts and trading half of his farm club for an elite player...but wouldn't it make more sense for that player to be a defenseman than a forward...ya know, because their defense is laughable?

Agreed, I'd be VERY reluctant to move any of them. I've made clear my preferences IF they have to be moved. I was just trying to point out that we definitely have assets, it's just not smart to trade them unless you're getting studs in return.

Don't get me wrong, Subban is awesome. But we don't need a #1 d-man, we've got one. We need a #3-4 d-man to play with Dekeyser and that ain't Subban. I'll take Erhoff and keep the assets personally.

Shero reportedly says he'll beat any offer on Kesler. So there goes that.

I'm not going to preach to the choir, but yes, Ryan Kesler is a super good hockey player. You're correct that he's being underrated here. Is "Pascal Depres" a frankenstein monster made up of Pascal Dupuis and Simon Despres?

That would definitely be an overpayment, and there's no way that Vancouver is asking for that. As usual St. James is exposing herself as clueless.

I'd still rather trade Nyquist than Tatar. He's the better player sure, but because of that he'll get you the better return. Plus Tatar is aggressive. We don't have enough of that. He's harder to play against and gives us a different dynamic. Nyquist is really skilled, but he essentially plays the same style as everybody else. In another year or two when Tatar's up around 195 lbs. he's going to be a motherf*cker to play against.

I don't think anyone is saying Helm is untouchable for a superstar. But nobody would trade a star for Darren Helm, he's good but not good enough to land a star player. As such, you'd basically be trading Helm for a pretty good player (but not a great one) and I think some feel that he's got more value to our team than does the type of player Helm would get you in a trade. Not saying I agree or disagree, but I do think it's important to be accurate. Helm for Stamkos, yes. Helm for Chris Stewart, no.

I"m not sure having a single back injury is the same as having back issues. Zetterberg has back issues, Bertuzzi has back issues. Helm had a back injury.

Said it before and I'll say it again. Zetterberg is the better player...by quite a lot actually.

This is probably true.

It's hard to say, maybe he'd been told he was going to make the team then didn't. Maybe they wanted him and Stamkos together, and when Stamkos went down St. Louis was dropped. Maybe it really is just that he felt snubbed given that he's playing at an INSANELY high level the last couple years. You're right, it's pretty clearly about the Olympics...but I think there's probably more to the story than just "I didn't make it so I'm mad". He didn't make it in 2010 and didn't ask for a trade, so if it's just about being a baby over an Olympic snub...why not then?

Agreed on both points. The problem is, they're trading a young star. Even if the pick was top ten, it's still hard to entice a team to trade a star with a pick (which may or may not turn out). That's why picks are used to sweeten the pot, but not be the center piece. The difference between the 15th and 28th pick is almost impossible to gauge the value on. Helm, Almquist, and a first might get it done, I don't want to say absolutely not...but I have a hard time believing someone couldn't beat that for a guy of Kesler's quality.

So it was the same process as all the other teams pretty much? (except the Russians, lord knows how they pick their Team). They lost in 2010 to the US team in the prelims.

I think you'd probably have to give more to get Kesler. Look at what Columbus got for Nash. Probably have to upgrade the prospect part of it to Marchenko or Quellet at a minimum.

I think Kenny's being coy, he's trading that 1st in a package. He's go so many quality prospects he's about to start losing them and this year's draft class is relatively thin...of all the years to trade your pick now is the time.

Legit question here...when people say "Yzerman didn't pick the team by himself" do they mean that he had input from other people but had final say on the roster or was there something special about Team Canada's selection that took some selection power out of Yzerman's hands?

Martin St. Louis has been one of the most respected and well thought of players in the NHL for a very long time. I don't think he turned into a ****** bag overnight. Something happened, we don't know what it was. When it comes out, he might be the bad guy...which is fine. But currently there's no reason to think that a career class act all of a sudden decided to act like a baby.