kliq

Why? I understand people's concerns with Holland, but landing UFA's has never been a weakness for him.

If you want Kane, the move would be to trade Nyquist for picks, then go after him in UFA. I agree with @Dabura though, if there are 3 elite 20 something D all hitting UFA next year, we need to be ready to get into a bidding war. All those D > Kane.

Good point. I was thinking if we got in we would get the final wild card and face TB, and we have all seen that play out twice. Agreed, if we get the 3 spot, we could beat the Leafs.

We are an average team, to say we are awful is just an emotional response made out of frustration which I get. I cant see us winning a 1st round matchup if we got in, but not because "we suck" but because if we get in, we are likely facing an elite team.

As a rental? Or if we could sign him long term?

I do like Kane as a player (though he seems like he has attitude problems). I wouldn't mind having him here, but not as a rental.

Way too much unless you think we are winning the cup this year. Dont be such a Holland slappy. Kidding aside, Kane is a UFA so we would be getting rid of a top 6 forward and a 2nd round pick for a rental. Not worth it for us. Buffalo is going to trade him to a contender who will overpay with picks.

Keep in mind this “source” also “reported” that Drew Miller was 100% being brought back. i actually wouldn’t mind it if someone like E or Kronwall were moved. Him and DD played great together on the second pairing.

@Bill Berzeench was reporting that about an hour ago.

I think the only way to determine who the better captain is, would be to ask players who played under both. Cups is tough, because winning cups is a combination of leadership, talent, roster management, coaching, chemistry, strength of opponents, and even luck. No doubt both are/were good leaders, but I think its impossible to say who was better (as a leader). Who was better as a player, its not even close.

My bad, after a second read it seems obvious that is what you meant.

So if we are close to the playoffs, you want Holland to trade assets to improve our team for THIS YEAR? Unless you think you can win the cup, I think it's a bad move to trade assets for a playoff run. We cant win the cup this year.

I think he's better then Sakic as well. But if you were to put players in tiers, then I would place Yzerman/Sakic/Jagr/Forsberg all in the same tier, I would just have Yzerman at the top of it. He's hands down better then guys like Toews/Bergeron/Kopitar but hes just not at the level of guys like Lemieux and Gretzky. I think the same can be said for guys like Jagr, Forsberg and Sakic. Or can I not use Forsberg because he "mediocre"

@kickazz I'm sorry lol. This is my fault We are just going down the same road we have gone down a million times. Normally I would call out the fact that the majority of these accomplishments are team related, but we have literally had this conversation before.

Why do you think Smith is happier?

I dont put Yzerman in the same category as Lemieux/Gretzky who are arguably the two best ever, but I also dont put him in the same category as Toews/Bergeron/Kopitar. I put him in the middle with guys like Jagr and Sakic. Towes/Bergeron/Kopitar are NEVER winning a Hart Trophy, guys like Jagr, Sakic, Yzerman were more then capable (Yzerman's only mistake was playing at the same time as Gretzky/Lemieux.)

Agree with the bold, won't agree with the Yzerman comparison.

I know your asking @kickazz, but joking aside, I've always said I put him at the Bergeron/Kopitar level. My issue is when people put him at the Crosby/McDavid/Malkin level.

Agreed....we're not Chicago. Good Point!

I think people read too much into a few bad games. We are an average team, and we rank 9/16 in the conference right now purely based on points. We will jump up at time, we will drop at times. This is what happens when you have parity. I could easily see us making the playoffs, I could easily see us falling out of it.

If thats what you took from my post, you unfortunately missed the point. My point wasn't that you shouldn't call out vets, or that they are untouchable. My point is that you have to be harder on the kids, especially those that have elite/high end potential.

100% agree with this. Vets are what they are, it is very hard to change bad habits in a vet. Kids like AA, Larkin, and Mantha are at a very crucial point in their careers where these bad habits are not ingrained in them yet and should be called out. I actually commend Blashill for addressing it. Mantha has the potential to be one of the best wingers in the NHL, and Blashill has a giant role in that development. I'm not saying I love Blashill, but any good coach would do this.

I dont think the +/- matters, but I agree with the rest of this. When you watch him play you can tell he is talented, but it just rarely led to production.

Agreed. Kind of like the time Toews had a temper tantrum against us in the playoffs and was melting down in the box and Seabrook came over and had a talking to him like a parent to a child. Im sure Towes would credit Seabrook with being a good leader in that moment. So I guess the moral here is that Toews sucks.

For the record, I dont think he should be captain either. I just dont think the contract should have anything to do with it. This isn't directed at your post, but to be fair, what do any of us really know. Leadership is the hardest skill for fans to judge, as unless players are talking to the media about, we have zero clue what happens in that locker room. Sure we see snippets here and there of players yelling something from the bench, but for the most part true leadership takes place behind closed doors, or on the ice hidden from us.