kliq

Out of curiosity, what do you consider a "questionable" audience?

I agree with you to a degree, though I would call the "core" Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook, Hossa and Crawford. (you could even argue Hjalmarsson as well) Though, I think having just those 6 alone is not good enough to win a cup, but when put with good depth, and great coaching they become elite. If you had just those 6 and then pure crap, I couldn't see them winning 3 cups. Hell, if Crawford, and Neimi (first cup) didnt play well during their runs, and there is a chance that they have 0 cups right now. My point is, I agree that their core is the main reason for their cups, and I agree that our aging core is a huge factor in our decline. But, depth does matter. If it didn't, Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, and Letang would be #1 seed making it to the finals every year.

Z doesnt have a no-trade clause, so that is irrelevant. I dont believe Kronwall needs to be traded, I admit being the 1A guy right now is a bit much for him at this stage, but I am fine with him being on the second pairing or the third. He brings some good leadership to the backend, he just cant be relied on as "the guy". Howard I do see asking for a trade. As he showed at the end of the year, he has something left in the tank and I think their are teams that would be interested in him. E.....not a horrible as the narrative created on LGW.com, but he is overpaid and I dont see him wanting to be traded unless he is made a healthy scratch. But if he's made a health scratch, his trade value plummets. Catch 22.

As soon as Chicago singed Toews and Kane to those ridicoulas deals, the writing was on the wall. Reminds me of when the Ravens signed Flacco to a 28 million deal and lost half their team to never be the same again. Not that Chicago has reached that low by any stretch, but I think their cup run is over. Not me, St. Louis has never shown to be a team built for the playoffs with their constant first round exits. Hopefully for them, this a the start of a team that can actually win in the playoffs. Though, lets not put it past Chicago to win 3 in a row. Its not over until its over.

I couldn't agree more. I also find the PC world we live in annoying, but their are certain words that cross a line due to a history of violence and hate, and that is word is one of them. I think the uproar may be due to people being uneducated in the meaning of the word, or if its not, its just sad. A f*****t is a collection of sticks. Way back when, people used to use that word when asking someone to throw sticks in a fire (ie. Can you please throw some f****s in the fire.) Then there came a time where people thought that homosexuals should be burned alive for being so, and as a result of this line of thinking were refereed to as f****s. (ie. we should throw those f****s in the fire).....hence the extreme hate behind the word, and why people are so sensitive to that word.

Saying that the majority of great QB's have been white, is not prejudice. You are not pre-judging anything, you are simply making an analysis based on statistics. If you were to say, all whites are good QB's or all blacks are bad QB's, this would be a prejudiced statement. Saying "all Russians are "insert anything here" is a prejudice statement. It is literally the definition of the word. You are prejudging Russians based on a preconceived notion. If you were to say that historically a greater number of Russian players are bad at defense in comparison to American players, and you were able to back that analysis up with data, that would not be a prejudice statement. Do you see the difference? Don't believe me, call it B.S, I dont care. I'm not continuing to debate about this.

Isn't a statement like this pretty much the definition of prejudice? Judging an entire race/ethnicity etc. based on a stereotype?

Blues won! Please Please Please just get 1 more!!

We are re-building. Signing a guy like Staal, Hamhuis etc. just takes a spot away from a kid, and likely adds a big cap hit. We need to stay the course and stick with the re-build, the only type of UFA I want is a franchise player (ie. Stamkos) or a 1A d-man (ie. maybe Yandle). We have enough 2nd and 3rd liners on this team, we dont need any more at a 5mil cap hit.

That is a bit of a deceiving statement. #1 - #15 are all between 73.8 million and 70.5 million, which is pretty much the same considering LTIR plays a huge factor.

I assume we are strictly talking D here, in which other then DD I agree.

Tanking doesnt give you a 1D. Most are not even drafted in the first round.

I would play Mrazek in game 3, but not because Jimmy is at fault, but rather that I think Mrazeks style is a better fit for the Lighting. The bolts get ALOT of one-timers that force Jimmy to go left to right or vice versa (I feel that 80% of their goals were this), and to make saves like that you need to be extremely athletic and have fast lateral movement. Jimmy is a fundamentally sound goaltender, but a super athlete he is not. Mrazek has that ability, which is why i think he did so well against the Bolts last year. His style can stifle their way of scoring. We do not have a better offense then Tampa, we need great goaltending/D.

Out of curiosity, who was our second line tonight? CBC had it listed as the Richards line, but online I'm seeing the Sheahan line. Also, when I see Richards only played 13min, I question if that was our second line.

I pick: Ducks Kings Blackhawks Stars Flyers Florida NYR Bolts

The Myers contract and Hamilton contract seem to be where he will fall. They were both RFA right?

I think the exact same comment was made last year about Nyquist lol. People seem to forget that being an RFA and a UFA are big difference.

Sorry if someone else posted, but in this article http://www.tsn.ca/datsyuk-decision-not-100-per-cent-1.470019 he says he has not 100% decided yet.

Agreed. I wasn't saying it will, just that if it does this could all end up being a good thing.

I hope the Blues can pull this out. If there is one thing I want this year, its for the Blackhawks to NOT win the cup. I cant say I have too much faith though, for whatever reason this Blues team just doesn't seem to be built for playoff hockey. 1 series win in 12 seasons (though alot of those years they didnt make the playoffs) and 1 in the last 4 years all of which they were considered "contenders".

If this somehow leads us to signing Steven Stamkos, I dont see how this isnt anything but a good thing.

Ya, the only thing he will cost the Wings is actual $$.

If allowed, the logic would be to trade him to a team who doesn't want to spend, and can use this contract to get above the cap floor without actually having to pay the contract. Detroit wins because they unload the cap hit Team B wins because they get above the cap floor without actually spending an additional 7.5 million. Can this be done, I dont fully understand the CBA in regards to retirement. So you think that Franzen's contract that will not count against the cap is a problem. But, Datsyuk's whose would be a 7.5 million cap hit for nothing will hurt us?

Well said, agreed. As far as the "spare part" comment, he's not wrong as he was referring to last year when Mantha had 4 points in 16 games, but regardless he shouldn't have said that.

This isn't official yet. If Anaheim wins tonight the jump into 1st in their division and then SJ plays LA and Anaheim plays Nashville. If the NYI win tonight, they jump ahead of the NYR and then they play Pittsburgh and NYR play Florida.