kliq

This is easy...."The perfect Goose".

Funny post coming from someone who started a thread about Larkin being elite.

Arizona is not looking for salary, they are looking for cap. So for example, a guy with a salary of 1mil, but a cap hit of 4mil. The only player I could see them taking is Franzen, but that doesn't really help us. Now if they take him for nothing, go for it.

The Leafs since Shanahan took over re-tooled, they didnt re-build. The shed two big contracts in Pheneuf and Kessel, traded 1 horrible contract for an LTIR contract (Clarkson for Horton), and traded low end players away for picks. This combined with hiring one of the best coaches in the world, and getting the #1 pick for AM, led them to where they are today. Bozak, JVR, Kadri, Rielly, Komarov, etc. were all there 3 years ago.

I think we would all LOVE to see that, but I if he's no ready, he's not ready which I think is the case.

I did see that, but I doubt it. That would imply that someone in the Wings organization in the know told CapFriendly, which I just don't see happening.

Re-builds don't take 2-3 years, re-tooling does.

Ya that makes sense, I could easily see them doing that.

I could also see them trading Sheahan which honestly I am fine with. We have Z, Nielsen, Helm, Glendening, and possibly Larkin down the middle, we really don't need him. He really didn't show much of anything last year on the wing.

Yup

This is why people ask for "source" on here, because so often post opinions and incorrect information as fact. Nice post @amato!

Have we ever started a year with every single roster player healthy? I feel that based on the law of averages, someone will get hurt. It's not a smart strategy, but it usually works out that way.

I disagree because you can't replace the 1a or 1b best D-man of all time with even Brett Burns. Burns is awesome, but he's still no Lidstrom. With that being said, I realize that you are not saying he is Lidstrom, but that is the context I am using when I said "really can't replace that." Plus, nobody knew back then that Burns would become a Norris caliber D-man at 30, hence my comment of "hindsight".

Not sure who "everybody" is, but from my understanding the guy has chronic knee issues. Likely he has a lot of inflammation, possibly worn cartridge etc. Injuries like this don't "go away" and somewhat gives them the ability to put him on LITR anytime they want. If you think this is me defending Holland, it's not. This is just me simply saying what I think is going to happen if he has no options.

Hindsight

But is it fair to assume if Kronwall's injury qualified last year, that it would qualify this year?

Ya, the way I look at it Holland had 3 plans. 1) Sign Suter, he came close, but obviously this didnt workout. 2) Draft a ton of kids, hope one breaks out. Again obviously this didnt workout, I remember back then they had high high hopes for Smith. 3) Elevate Kronwall. This is what he did. Tough spot to be in when a franchise D retires, really can't replace that.

You can tell in 2011 Holland went all in drafting D with the anticipation of Lidstrom's retirement, which obviously was only 1 year away (I have to wonder if Lidstrom gave him the head's up a year out).

D drafted since 2001 (Kronwall taken in 2000) not including last 3 drafts since its too early. Looks like Smith & E are the best we drafted since Kronwall. 2011 class/Jensen are still up in the air, but for the most part these guys are pretty much no names. To be fair though, ALOT of these guys are low end picks. Source: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005492.html 2001 - Miroslav Blatak, Dmitry Bykov, Francois Senez 2002 - Johan Berggren, Derek Meech, Pierre-Olivier Beaulieu, Jonathan Ericsson 2003 - Kyle Quincey, 2004 - Sergei Kolosov, Nils Backstrom 2005 - Jakub Kindl, Jeff May, Juho Mielonen, Bretton Stamler 2006 - Logan Pyett 2007 - Brendan Smith, Bryan Rufenach, 2008 - Max Nicastro 2009 - Gleason Fournier, Nick Jensen, Adam Almquist 2010 - Ben Marshall 2011 - Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Mattias Backman, Richard Nedomlel, Alexey Marchenko 2012 - Mike McKee, James De Haas 2013 - Mitch Wheaton, Marc McNulty 2014 - None

He's young, and it says he will make a full recovery, but this kid has been injured quite a few times now and I remember at the draft this being his biggest negative. The more I think about this trade, the more I think we are going to come out the winners. http://www.tsn.ca/chychrun-out-indefinitely-after-knee-surgery-1.821775

Is what on 1st?

For the record, I pretty much agree with everything you are saying. The way I look at it, is it's not fair to assume that an assistant is going to be just like his predecessor (not saying you are saying this). If this was the case, Yzerman would be a Holland clone in TB, yet I think we can all agree that Yzerman and Holland have not been similar in their approaches over the past few years. I'm not even saying Draper is the best candidate, I have no clue. My point is just that I want Illitch, Holland, JD etc. to hire the best candidate possible (if KH steps down as GM). If that candidate comes from within...cool. If they come from somewhere else.....also cool. I just hate the narrative that is created by some on this board that we CANT hire from within. I think as soon as you start to limit yourself in your selection process, you are asking for problems. The bold does scare me a bit. I remember when people claimed we "needed" to get rid of Babs to get some fresh blood in Blashill, obviously this was not the case. Grass is not always greener on the other side, and some people want change just for the sake of change.

I dont really care if it's "new blood" or if its someone from within the organization. What I want IF Holland steps down, is the person most qualified to do the job. If someone like Draper has the potential to be a great GM, I would hate to lose him because we are scared to hire from within. With that being said, I am not opposed to hiring from the outside either. Isn't this the same as a GM with 2 assistant GM's? The only difference being you are calling one "head GM" and the other two "GM's"?

Why would he? This fan base would just turn on him if he didnt turn it around right away. He is beloved here, no reason to ruin that.

Agree with most of what you said, I think you are too hard on Abby as a player, but I wont defend the 7 years. Two things I would challenge. First would be the the Helm comment, in that I do agree given our team we should have let him walk, but I do not think we would have found someone almost as good for a lot less. We likely would have found someone not as good for a lot less, unless you are simply evaluating Helm based on his scoring. If you mean solely scoring, then I agree. The second is the DD signing. In today's NHL, and on our team especially top 4 D men are very hard to find, and I think we had to lock DD up. I agree his season last year was not the great, but with a solid partner on the second pairing, his 5mil cap hit would be ok (not great, but ok).