kipwinger

Neither Edler nor Myers are as good as they're sometimes portrayed on this site. Myers may not even be better than Quincey. Edler is. But not nearly as good as his asking price is going to be. It's all unearned reputation that this point. I'd rather have MacDonald than Edler. He's as good and will cost less.

I think you just made the exact opposite point you intended to. Compared to the way the game was played in the 70s and 80s last night's altercation was indeed a relatively light scuffle. I'll accept your use of that example as your way of agreeing with me.

If you owned the rights to Kesler and Edler and you had a professional staff of scouts devoted to scouting and informing you on the players coming in, would you trade those rights for the package you just suggested?

He didn't attempt to injure him. He chirped him a bit and they got into a relatively light scuffle. Attempt to injure is a slewfoot, or knee on knee, or hit to the head, or boarding. Not a scuffle. If that's an attempt to injure then a plain old legal body check is now an "attempt to incapacitate...forever".

You know what, let him chirp. He barely touched Franzen, got tossed (can't take runs at guys when you're in the locker room), and the Sens lost 6-1. Why in the world would anybody want a different outcome than what we got?

Just read this article about the incident. If it's not blatantly obvious that Neil is a stupid piece of trash by about the second sentence then I don't know what to tell you. Whenever anybody tells me fighting is about "protecting your guys" I'm going to point to this. Just a stupid ape wanting to fight because he wants to fight...against a goal scoring Euro...in a game that completely out of reach...based on an interaction he started...for no reason. Idiot. http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/chris-neil-weighs-in-on-dust-up-with-franzen

When is the coach afraid to put Datsyuk on the ice? He plays all the time...when he's not nursing an injury. Also, how is the team "paying for" not having an enforcer?

People said the same thing about Wisniewski. Right now I'd kill for either of "those guys". Edit: Just thought of something. Obviously the lines would skake out differently, but just imagine how awesome a line of Tatar-Kesler-Jurco would be? Since in an ideal world Kesler is the EXACT type of center we hope Sheahan will be.

And Osgood though his days of intense video sessions ended the day he stopped tending goal! You're a stern taskmaster Harold.

Obviously they're all speculating. That's the nature of the rumor game. But there are those rumor mongers who are informed and generally more credible (LeBrun, McKenzie, Deger) and those that aren't (Richardson, Eklund, Garrioch). I agree that it's incredibly unlikely that Kesler becomes a Wing, and probably unlikely that he's moved at all. But Lebrun is not really known for just pulling sh*t out of his ass as you're suggesting.

Which is why they should have kept Murphy around. He was really coming into his own. He was like the lovable goofball that you couldn't help but laugh at. My two favorite Murphy moments... 1) Doing a pre-game spot on dollar hotdog night from the hotdog stand. When they delivered his order he had SEVEN hotdogs. 2) A couple of years ago when we played Nashville in the playoffs and Murph did his pregame spot while onstage in a Nashville music hall with full backup band. Every time he made an important point the drummer crashed on the cymbals and Murph would pump his hammy fist in the air.

Dude I really don't want to get my hopes up...but I would lose my s*** if the Wings landed Kesler and even a lower level puck mover (e.g. Gilbert)

I agree that's a lot to give for MacDonald, but I also believe he's precisely what we need on the second pair. He's a very efficient puck mover (Quincey's not), who has the footspeed and passing ability to mitigate a strong forecheck (Quincey doesn't). He's DEFINITELY not a first pairing guy, but he's a MUCH better option as a puck mover on the second pair than anyone else we've got. As such, I'd probably be willing to overpay a little bit given that the fit is right.

One of my all time fav videos. Such a pathetic attempt. Why even try? He must have been REALLY pissed off if he still tried to fight knowing that's his skill set.

Helps when the guy can put a 3 inch puck in a 2 inch hole. I wish to god we had a shooter like that on our team.

Ryan Kesler is awesome...at diving (had to)...but also at hockey too. I'd love that dude on our team. But I don't see it. I don't think Holland trades for a top six forward, and if he does it will be someone like Brad Boyes. Edler is a more likely target, and even that seems dubious given that he's not a complete bargain. I'm calling Andrew MacDonald or Tom Gilbert and MAYBE a Brad Boyes type winger.

As soon as I read "gap control" and "hurricanes" I knew Semin was the goal scorer. That guy's wrister is unreal.

Zetterberg's goals per game is .36, St. Louis' is .35. They have the same assists per game at .58. So basically it's a wash. I concede.

Hank led the team in shots and was top five in the league in shots back then (and is still quite close today). When he plays on Pav's wing he's looking to score goals. Pav doesn't shoot. Marty doesn't shoot that much either (compared to Z) so it would be silly to expect that much offense out of him. These days Marty makes his living feeding Stamkos and taking advantage of the Stamkos threat. We don't have anyone that good offensively (including Datsyuk) and so Marty wouldn't have the assists or free space to score goals. Look, they're both great players and would surely have highlight reel goals from time to time. But anytime you take a force a guy to do something other than what makes him elite, you're being inefficient. If you have elite playmakers (St. Louis and Datsyuk) on the same line at least one of them isn't elite playmaking (trademarked) at any given time...which is inefficient (despite it being a Babcock wet dream). St. Louis would be better with Zetterberg, Alfie, or Franzen because he'd set them up and they'd finish...kinda like Dats already does.

They'd be terrible together. They play almost the EXACT same game. Both need the puck on their stick to make things happen and neither are particularly good offensively without the puck. Stamkos would be good on Pav's wing, and St. Louis would be good with Ovie or Neal (shooters). But sticking a puckhandling playmaker with another puckhandling playmaker isn't a recipe for success.

Bertuzzi, the Canucks, Crawford, and the League just need to let Gary Bettman act as defense counsel. If it wasn't already abundantly clear, the last lockout showed how much smarter and more devious that little guy is than anyone else. What? You hired Donald Ferr, notorious ball breaking union lawyer to knock Gary down a peg or two? How'd that work out for you? Gary Bettman is like a real life version of the Vince McMahon's WWE character. He's too damned slick to ever truly have something negative happen to him.

Yeah no s***, not a lot of 38 year olds winning Art Ross Trophies. Dude is awesome. Of course, without the second best goal scorer in the world on his line he doesn't put those numbers either.

Jesus what a mess those lines are. Wouldn't it be nice to be in a situation where just once we knew what our lines were largely going to look like for a prolonged period of time. Like, the lines would be set and if individual players were injured the only question would be which players would step in for the injured guy...not how the injury would affect all four of our lines, plus our scratches, plus who plays in what positions. Ugh. Soooooo old.

I agree we need to improve the defense. I also agree that we need to cut loose of Kindl and Quincey. BUT I have to disagree about Smith. As much as I think he's a bonehead and god awful at playing defense, I also used to say the same thing about Ericsson. I'd want to give Smith the chance to grow into a real player...BUT...that means being firmly entrenched as the THIRD PAIR puck mover and nothing more. I don't want that s*** for brains anywhere near the second pair until he outplays someone and takes their spot. Until then, third pair puck mover and a "good luck kid". Let him sink or swim without Kindl or Quincey to take the fall for him. If he does...great. If not...no harm done because he's on the third pair.

Seems like it's been a long time coming. As Holmstrom declined we lost that element of our game, and instead of getting a guy who's made a living at that type of thing we tried to get guys who had never done it (Bert, Cleary, Abby) to become that sort of player...which is silly, and ineffective.