kipwinger

Yeah I keep hearing this 5 million thing and assume that it's just his agent's starting point for negotiations. I think he'll resign for 4-4.5 eventually.

Obviously it depends on what the team in question is asking for. But for Gaborik I'd start with my first and Nyquist and I'd be willing to put second tier prospects or additional picks in as required. With Ericsson I'd be willing to part with any of the above, and I'd put Mrazek in play too.

Here's the thing I don't understand about Kenny's philosophy. He doesn't want to do something and get worse, but he also doesn't realize that by doing nothing and getting older, you are getting worse. Each year he doesn't do anything, our already aging core gets a year older. And there's nothing on the horizon to suggest that we've got a new core in the making. Even our highly touted prospects aren't the next great wave or Red Wings. The next wave would have been guys Abby, Helm, Kindl, and Ericsson's age, and if that's our new core then watch out. If he continues to do nothing and hopes that internal growth will fix these problems, he's likely to lose Datsyuk and Flip, while Z, Kronwall, and Franzen decline and there will be NOBODY there to pick up that slack. Unless, of course, you think Nyquist and Tatar are the answer. I don't.

Didn't Kenny just come out and say he doesn't want a rental? I can't imagine we'd get Jagr. Then again, Kenny does seem to love doing things on the cheap so taking a flier on a zillion year old is right up his alley.

Because we have nobody in the pipeline that addresses any of our needs? We have a ton of two-way skill guys and very young puck moving defensemen. That's it. If we want a goal scorer or a power forward we've got quite a while before any of our prospects will even be close.

The reverse logic around here blows my mind. Very few picks become legitimate prospects, and even fewer of those become everyday NHLers. So the least risky thing to trade is a pick, then a prospect, and then a legit NHLer (obviously I'm not talking about trading Drew Miller for a superstar here. I mean trading quality for similar quality). I have no idea why people are ready to trade prospects but want to hang on to this late first round pick so bad. We're not going to get a lottery pick, we're going to make the playoffs. We've been solidly in a playoff spot for about two months and we're done with the hard part of our schedule. Nobody around here is willing to part with a 20-30th pick for Keith Yandle, or Jason Pominville, or Marian Gaborik? Insane. Edit: I had originally misquoted Euro_Twins on this, which was my bad. Fixed now.

It's one game. Granted, Kindl had a bad game tonight, but not any worse than Smith to be honest. As for the rest... Smith averages 18:40 ice time per game, Kindl 17:54, which is the difference of one shift. Both play on the 2nd PP where Kindl has noticeably outplayed Smith. Neither saw significant PK time until Quincey got hurt, as Quincey, Kronwall, and Ericsson are the primary penalty killing defensemen, so it's not like Smith has been carrying the load there. Even then Smith only has 1 minute of PK time during Quincey's absence. So with the exception of one minute of PK time, they play pretty much exactly the same amount of minutes and Kindl leads Smith in every single statistical category. I understand not really liking particular players, but it's hard to conclude that Smith should play while Kindl sits. However, they're both better than White or Cola, which I think we can both agree on.

Feaster wanted a goalie prospect given all this Kipper drama and we weren't willing to part with ours. St. Louis was. That's pretty much the difference maker there.

Re Really, you'd sit the guy who's at least playing well in transition and putting up points for the guy who's done jack s*** all season, just because one is better about taking hits? Smith doesn't score as well as Kindl, hell he doesn't even score as well as Lashoff this season, and he's been horrible defensively. Worse than the other two by a long shot. He's going to be good one day. But he's having a lot of growing pains this season. Probably because actually playing defense has always been a bit of a after thought for him.

Yeah, he needs to play more like Smith.

Makes me wonder why Brunner never played significantly with Datsyuk. You know, a shooter with a playmaker. Novel.

Hanzal would cost too much, he's so hot right now.

I wouldn't give him 3 years or 3 million. Filppula's coming off a 3 million dollar contract and in no way has Brunner shown he's even close to that good. I'd give him two years at 2 or 2.5. I'm expecting a lot out of this kid after a year with the team, a full year's worth of NHL conditioning, and a training camp. But until he shows it on the ice, he's still going on potential. And with the cap going down next season, potential doesn't get you 3 million bucks.

Unless we get a top end winger, I'm not super concerned with Regehr's foot speed. It's not like we play a transition game anymore anyway. The puck possession days are behind us, at least for this season, which is all you'd be getting Regehr for anyway. Add Gaborik or someone to the lineup and that might change, but for now, grinding is our game and Regehr would be fine.

Agreed on Gaborik but not necessarily with Cammalleri. I'd definitely take Cammy, he's a good scorer, but his stat line is almost exactly the same as Pominville's, they're the same size, both their contracts are through next season, Cammy makes 700k more, and he's noticeably worse on defense. I guess it would come down to the asking price, if Cammy could be had for less then I'd go that route, if Pominville is cheaper then that's what I'd do.

your 4-5 million range sounds about right on a two year deal.

Hoping to see Danny D tonight but I know it's a long shot.

He's the kind of guy that Kenny likes, plays a good defensive game, and can score as well as pass, very versatile for sure. Don't know if that means anything, but it is worth noting.

Well apparently we're still in on Bouwmeester, so that's probably what he's talking about.

ESPN reporting that Buffalo is actively shopping Jason Pominville, including asking him to provide a list of teams he will not accept a trade to. I hope that this helps drive down prices, at least temporarily, for goal scorers. Definitely could tip the scales on a Gaborik trade a little in our favor by having another top flight scorer available. Pominville is currently on a 5.3 million dollar contract which expires after next season.

Gaborik doesn't mean that we're Pittsburgh, Chicago, or Anaheim all of the sudden, but it doesn't "make us a bubble team". With or without Gaborik we're not a bubble team. We've been solidly in a playoffs spot for about two months, and have been VERY competitive against the best teams in the Western Conference in spite of having a top six made up of four legitimate forwards and two plugs. Gaborik gives us depth, a game changing presence that doesn't require Datsyuk or Zetterberg to create chances for him, an elite shooter for Datsyuk, and a guy to take the hard defensive matchups away from guys like Brunner and Franzen (in turn freeing them up). Gaborik would do a ton for this team, maybe not win it a cup, but put it in a better, more competitive position to do so.

Well that's pretty much the most reasonable post I've read all day.

I think you're overstating your case a little bit. Kindl averages 17:54 minutes per night, Smith 18:41. It's the difference of about one shift a game. Both Kindl and Smith play on the 2nd PP, and both have seen (some) PK time. Although both of their contributions to the PK should not be overstated as Ericsson, Kronwall, and Quincey (when healthy) are the primary penalty killing defensemen. If Kindl is playing 5/6th minutes then Smith is too. Finally, I think Smith will be a good player in this league in a few years. Just like Kindl is turning into now. My whole point was that THIS SEASON, Smith's game has not been as impressive as billed. He neither scores nor plays solid defense, which was true of Kindl when he was 24 as well.

Take it easy there fellas, all I'm saying is that I'm more impressed with Kindl this season, not that Smith is going to be garbage. Fact is, Smith will get better, but the scouting report on him was always "offensive defenseman with upside. Needs to learn to play the defensive part of the game". So far in his rookie season he's been neither offensive, defensive, or anything else aside from a pretty awesome skater. He'll be good, but it's going to take a while.

Jurco, Frk, Tvrdon, Athanasiou, Pulkkinen all project as scoring wingers. Doubt they all develop as expected, but it's not like we haven't drafted scorers.