kipwinger

Are we talking about the same two people? Because if we are then it should probably be pointed out that Kostitsyn's career high in points is lower than Semin's career average. Kind of a no brainer.

I'm thoroughly convinced that the only reason anyone thinks Semin is lazy is because other people say Semin is lazy. How often does he need to score in order to be considered consistent and not lazy? Should he score as often as Zach Parise? Oh wait, he already does. Should his plus/minus be better than Parise's? Wait, it already is. Maybe if he shot more or passed as much? Wait, he does that too...and at a higher percentage. About the only areas in which he and Parise don't match up are number of games played, and ice time. Factor those in and Semin has done as well or better than Zach Parise in every major category with MUCH less time on ice. His numbers also compare very favorably to Rick Nash and Bobby Ryan as well, and most of us (myself included) would be thrilled to have those guys. There are a lot of negative things you can say about Semin, but lazy and inconsistent shouldn't be among them.

Unless we're dressing 15 or 16 forwards a night, we have more cap space than the 17 million we're talking about here. So it's pretty hard to say that we're not signing people because we want to save money for next year. Even with a signing (or two) we've still got a TON of money. Also: Every year we don't make a change and desperately hope that one of Nyquist, Jarnkrok, Jurco, or whomever is the next Datsyuk or Zetterberg is another year older for a core of guys who (even with Lidstrom and Stuart) couldn't get the job done. It's really hard for me to believe that the same core that couldn't get the job done for the last three years (even with Lidstrom and Stuart) is going to be able to do it now. Unless Sammy, Tootoo, and Gustavsson were the missing ingredients...ugh. And even if Nyquist, Brunner, Jarnkrok, or Jurco come around and turn into high level guys, how far off is that, two years? Three? At which time Datsyuk will be Bertuzzi's age, Zetterberg and Kronwall will be Samuelsson's age, and Flip will be 30-31. Who's the core then?

Up on the top right, next to the sign out button, click the drop down box next to your screen name and there's an option that says "Manage Ignore Prefs". Then you just type in the screen name of the person you're trying to ignore and click the individual boxes for which content you want to block (e.g. posts, sig line, chat, messenger).

yeah for sure, the young guys are going to be a big factor this year and it's the first time in a long time that I'm excited about the young talent (unlike last year's Emmerton and Mursak infusion). I'm REALLY excited to see what this Brunner kid can do. If he turns out to be something quality, then that makes him or Nyquist expendable, in which case a high profile trade is entirely possible. As for the top six, as it is it's nothing special and very very shallow. If Holland doesn't acquire anyone prior to the season opener then I feel like it's almost an admission that we're taking a year to rebuild, given how hard it is to make up points after the trade deadline in today's game.

I definitely think he's waiting on Doan as well, but that worries me because so are a lot of other teams. Once Doan decides what he's doing all those teams that missed out are going to start bidding up Semin, and once he gets bid up, Holland will likely walk on the deal. That's the mind boggling thing about this entire free agency period, Holland keeps waiting on these guys...doesn't get them, and then doesn't want to pay the price for the plan B options once he's missed his first choice. Or at least it appears that way to me.

Yeah I agree. No matter what, signing Semin is going to come with a question mark or two. It's obviously going to be a gamble, but as you said before, it certainly seems like the kind of gamble that Holland would typically be willing to make. Then again, many of the things KH has done this off season haven't really seemed very Holland-like to me, so as I've previously mentioned...I have no idea what to expect from him.

My two cents: The ignore function is incredible. I just discovered where it was and already the quality of my LGW experience has improved immensely. From now on that's my first stop when repeatedly irritated by someone's posts, unless it's someone's quirks I've come to accept (looking at you Leftwinger), in which case I'll continue to jocularly rib with shear delight.

That is a serious concern, but I can't help but think that if he wanted to bolt to the KHL, he'd be there already. I mean, it's no secret that he's not going to get paid as much here as he would there, so what's stopping him you know?

Well I never said that Nash and Semin aren't difference makers, anybody that talented and with a history of high level offensive production is a difference maker. I was just responding to the guy who said Doan didn't have any gas left in the tank. At this point I'd be thrilled with any of the three, but I think that Semin will be the easiest (and surest) move given that I don't want to pin my hopes on Doan leaving the only team he's ever known, or on trades that are likely to be matched by other teams. In the end I just want us to acquire at least one top line forward in free agency, because I've thought we lacked top six depth for the last three years. Then if you swap top six guys in a trade (e.g. Nash for Franzen (plus package) you're still up one with the FA signing.

Doan is younger than Drake was when he came back in 2008 and laid himself on the line for a cup. Plus, Doan is a much bigger, grittier, and more skilled player than Drake ever was. Doan had 5 goals and 4 assists during this year's playoffs. That's a quarter of his regular season production in the playoffs. Not too shabby for a guy with no gas in the tank. Wherever he lands, Shane Doan will kill or be killed for a Stanley Cup.

You say Holland "inherited" the team as if that was a well established fact. Let's look at what Ken Holland inherited in 2008 shall we? Ken Holland drafted the lion's share of the talent on the 2008 team. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hudler, Franzen, Filppula, Quincey, Ericsson, Abdelkader, and Kronwall were all Hollands picks. Samuelsson, Cleary, Stuart, Lilja, and Rafalski were all Ken Holland signings. Additionally, Osgood, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Drake, and McCarty were drafted before Bowman came to the team, and in the case of Drake and McCarty, re-signed under Holland. The only notable people on the 2008 team that came from Scotty's tenure were Chelios, Hasek, Draper, and Maltby. That's right, the core components that Holland "inherited" were a backup goalie (in the playoffs), a sixth defenseman, and two fourth line grinders. No need for personal attacks when the facts fly so contrary to every statement you make

But I think the interesting thing is that he makes the players he's with better as well. According to the article most players were better off, offensively and defensively, when playing on a line with him so it's reasonable to expect he'd increase D,Z, Franzen, or Flip's production as well.

Like I edited above, I'm not saying they don't have a plan, or that we're totally screwed. I just don't understand what the plan is, or what their vision of the future is. Unless they decided that the only major moves worth making were for Parise and Suter, and if they couldn't land them then the next best option was to plug some holes and sit on the money until some future date.

So much of what's going on doesn't make sense to me. Like singing Tootoo, or signing Sammy when either Nyquist or Brunner was supposed to play in the top six this year, or giving Sammy a NTC, or not having much of a backup plan if we didn't land Suter, or not signing Quincey when it became apparent that we couldn't get Suter (Wideman, Garrison, or Carle) and we only have 5 defensemen under contract, or not signing a top six forward (the same problem we've had for the last three years), or staking our remaining offensive hopes on a guy (Doan) who's most likely to remain with his current (and only team), or not signing Semin now that he's really the only guaranteed top six that we could sign without having to give up assets for, or finally staking next season on trades which are more likely to not happen than pan out in our favor. Really the only thing that makes any sense to me was signing Gustavsson. Ugh. Note: That it doesn't make sense to me is no reason to believe that nothing good can come of it. I'm just saying I really have no idea what the plan was this offseason based on the moves we've made/haven't made. I'm in the dark.

Awesome article on why a team should be willing to take a chance on Semin. My apologies if it's already been posted somewhere, I didn't feel like scrolling back through the entire discussion to verify. http://www.anguscertified.com/alexander-semin-and-ignoring-the-10-percent/

Zetterberg is the Captain, and Doan, Datsyuk, and Kronwall would get the A's.

At this point I'd say that there's even money that Brunner will show up and make a difference. You're right, the Swiss league is weak, but the kid did put up incredibly impressive numbers at the World Championships against NHL level talent. I know the international game is on bigger ice and isn't as physical, but it's not as though he's only ever played against garbage competition.

"I heard from a very reputable former nhl goalie" that your posts lack supporting evidence and therefore any sort of credibility whatsoever. Perhaps if you were on a good team you could ride the coattails of the guys around you and between the group, finally fashion a criticism of Jimmy Howard that wasn't entirely founded upon hearsay and your own baseless and irrational disdain for him... that is, if you played for a good team.

yeah they were definitely in the same group, region I think they were calling them. Anyway, it was us, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, Dallas, Columbus, Minnesota, and Winnipeg.

Lundqvist, Rhinne, Quick, Smith, Elliott, Halak, Schnieder, Luongo, and Fleury all play for good teams. How is Jimmy any different? This is the same backward logic used by people who hated on Osgood. "Osgood played for a good team, he wasn't that good". As if Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur were on garbage teams their whole careers.

Well to be fair, this postseason was also the only time Semin had a coach other than Bruce Boudreau. Perhaps it was Dale Hunter's coaching that improved his two way game. In which case, there's every reason to believe that Babcock could do the same. Note: His rookie year Boudreau wasn't the coach, so you might have me there.

How is he not? Sixth in the league in goals against average, tied for ten in save percentage, and tied for fifth in wins. I think making it into the top ten in every major goaltending category automatically makes you one of the top 15 (at least) goalies in the league. Unless you'd like to chalk all of that up to the fact that he played on the team with the seventh best defense in the league last season.

Right, I understand your logic there, but in actuality I think that in the long run it's better for us to have a solid top six than it is for the Blackhawks to have a weak defense. I think it's bad form to bank our success on another team's weaknesses.

I don't really see the Hawks being willing to outbid anyone for Doan. Of course they checked into it, you'd be dumb not to. But they're stacked up front and could better use the money to shore up a weak defense and goaltending situation.