kliq

lol....In all seriousness, I know its low, but I like the fact that tanking no longer pretty much guarantees anything.

One thing I like is we could theoretically miss the playoffs by 1 point and win the draft lottery. I'm sick of teams that tank or simply suck (Edmonton) being rewarded. I like this new system, too bad it didnt come into play the year McDavid was drafted as Edmonton didn't deserve him.

I agree with all of this. My biggest issue is the regression of pretty much every player on our roster last year. I think it was you kickazz who posted at some point last season that almost every player had something like a 15% regression. I cant see that being due to anything but coaching.

I think it's safe to say that losing Babs hurt. Change isnt always a good thing.

I like that. Halak also has a caphit of about 800k less. Not to mention, in the final year of his deal he may very well be easy to trade to a team looking for help due to an injury since he will have an expiring contract.

But when the factors that contributed to the failure are no longer a problem, IF it is the best option moving forward, should the NHL not move their out of principle? From my understanding and I admit I am no expert on this, the two main reasons the franchise failed were because of the at the time plummeting Canadian dollar, and even more so the failure from the city/province to help build a new arena. Pittsburgh had a similar issue in the early 2000's and teased moving, when you don't have an arena that is set up to bring in big money, it can absolutely sink you. In 2015 QC opened their new 18,259 seat arena The Videotron Centre which from what I read is NHL ready, or will be soon. They have the established fan base, why not go there? I believe that the key to having hockey succeed in a city is when hockey is ingrained in its culture. What I mean by that, is a city where a large percentage of the kids grow up playing hockey and watching hockey, then when these kids grow up, hockey is huge part of their lives and it passes down generation to generation. I'm guessing a large percentage of the posters here grew up somewhere where as kids they played road hockey, pond hockey, or in a league. The cities that have this as a major part in their culture have a higher probability of succeeding then places that don't. Cities like Atlanta, Phoenix/Glendale, and likely Vegas IMO don't have this. Hockey can succeed in a market like I just described but it's less likely, and when you have too many, your playing with fire. and are bound to run into failures. The NHL should not got to QC because its in Canada or because its cold, they should go there because QC is a place that in 2016 gives the team a high percentage change of succeeding.

What potential starting goalies are available right now anyways? From my quick count you likely have available (this is pure speculation on my part): Howard, Fleury, (Niemi or Lehtonen), Reimer (if you consider him a starter), Halak, and maybe Bishop? I don't see Bishop being traded in a year where the bolts could win the cup, so between the rest, is Howard the best bang for your buck?

Funny thing is, isn't Eaves playing with them? Or was? *edit* Holy s***! Eaves is 7th in the league in goals right now with 9. Wow! Good for him!

Maybe we lucked out.....doubt it, but it helps get rid of the sting of not signing him. In all seriousness, I wish him the best in his recovery. I hate it when elite talent have their career's cut short or miss a lot of time due to injury. I don't like thinking "IF player x never got hurt, I wonder if he could have reached # x on the all time scoring list". Perfect example of this is Mario Lemieux, how much greater could his great career have been had he never had leukemia.

You could use that argument to say the NHL should go back to 6 teams, but it shouldn't happen. With all of the talent out there from Canada, The US, Finland, Sweden, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, etc. There are more then enough talented players to fill out the rosters of 30 teams and its not like the majority of the players that are in the NHL don't deserve to be there, and really how much better is the 350th best player in the NHL to the 410th. If anything, with less teams I could see some of the kids that deserve a shot being SOL. The Sproul's and AA's of the world.

If I am the GM of Calgary, I'm not ready to bite yet. The exact reason why you want him traded, is why I believe other GM's will wait.

I'm sorry but this is laughable. The quality of players in 2016 is so much better then what it was in 15 years ago. I recently watched the 2002 Wings Stanley Cup run and as good as they were in comparison to the teams they faced, so many times I was thinking "wow these shots would never go in now a days". It was a much slower game. The only thing more teams does (with the cap) is it balances out the skill meaning your best teams then were much better then your best teams now in comparison to the rest of the league. Out of curiosity, your opinion of Grand Rapids having a team in 15 years, what is this based on?

Ummmm the Las Vegas Outlaws! You didnt have a "He Hate Me" jersey? !

Ok, so its not that you want to get rid of them, but if they brought a strong return on the back end you would be willing to.

You would want to trade Mantha, AA & Sproul?

We're not always on the same page Frank, but I 100% agree with you.

Agreed, but I think they are good enough to score between 2-3 a night. Blashill is not getting the best out of these guys, I believe we are capable of more offensively.

People don't like Howard because the expectation on him have always been unrealistic. The guy is an average starting goaltender, and fans want him to be elite, plain and simple. He wont consistently win you games on his own, he needs a very good supporting cast. What he will do is provide you with good goaltending more often then not. Put this guy on Chicago, I could easily see him winning a cup. Lets not forget either, its not like Howard has had elite D in front of him since Lidstrom/Stuart left. Its easy to put all the blame of a team collapse on the goalie. With that being said, I don't think anyone is against trading him when the opportunity comes up due to the cap-hit. Well said!

What worries me about Howie starting tonight is that one of Howard's weaknesses seems to be his speed in his lateral movement. When Howard is on his game, he is simply a fundamentally sound goalie. Washington does a lot of one-times to Ovie over on that left side and if he gets that many chances on Jimmy, I cant see Jimmy getting over in time every single shot like Mrazek did.

I was at that game, I think I held my breathe for every one of those shots lol!

I understand the 50% on revenues issue from the owners perspective. I just had a meeting with our own accountant and she warned me about our payroll coming close to 47%. Its just one of those standard rules of business. Payroll should never exceed more then 50% of gross revenue's in most circumstances (I'm sure there are exceptions in some industries). I'm a bit lost on the escrow though. As far as the treatment of players, I am completely for this. I am sick of tired of refs changing their philosophy depending on the night, the period, and the team. Refs need to become consistent so players can understand what they can and can not get away with. You want to stop cheap shots with no enforcer, harsher penalties. If a guy throws an elbow to the head of a player, suspend him for 25 games, not 1. Though this should be towards all players, not just stars. When a guy can get away with throwing an elbow one game and then gets suspended the next game, its confusing. Either way, if there is another lockout I will be pissed. The year after the last one I boycotted spending money on anything NHL in protest. It just pisses me off that the fans are being used as leverage by both sides.

To be fair, Babs has dealt with national media since the early 2000's, while Blashill just got his first taste last year. I try not to put too much stock into the way a coach deals with media as at the end of the day what I care about is wins and getting the most out of your players. Now with that being said, it's not like Blashill is winning many over in that department either.

I was the one who brought up coddling. I never said Mrazek was being coddled, what I said was he shouldn't have to be coddled because that is what certain posters were suggesting. I am a huge Mrazek fan and am behind him, but what I want is for Mrazek to demand that job by his play, not be handed it despite his play.

Out of curiosity as you obviously watch a lot of the GR games....In your opinion, what is Russo's ceiling in comparison to Marchenko/Sproul/XO? I've never actually seen him play before, but I am reading a lot of good things about him and am excited to see him up here when the time is right.