Richdg

Some of that is because the devils are really deep at D. Though they did move one IIRC. LOL. Clarkston who scored 30 goals last year makes 2.7 million. he also passes, checks, fights, and shows great leadership. Franzen..... not so much.....of anything. BTW Franzen-who everyone said was playing great this year, is on a pace that over 82 games would score 19 goals.

True. But oif we want to make any trades to improve, we have to give up something. We do have a nice stable of young Dmen. They need time and minutes. Forward, not so much. We need talent. Some big (size) talent to be specific.

Mraz is what 20? he needs to be in GR playing 3 out of 4 games. We have a great starting G in Howard. let the kid play with zero pressure and develop. After next season he may be ready to be the backup.

Yes I misquoted myself on Nyquist and Emmerton, which I admitted to. it was Abdelkader that scored 52, not Emmerton. So glad that finding every mistake everyone makes is the sole goal of your life. Fact O'reilly is better than Nyquist and tatar. O'Reilly is already producing at the NHL level and those 2 have not. In fact, Nyquist can't even keep a job here. Now you can not beleive it, keep hoping coal turns into a diamond, and that is fine. But trying to deny that O'reilly wouldn't be an upgrade is just wrong. He would be the 3rd best player on our team right now, and only get better.

Lie? How. I used his best season. As for +/- on a forum, you have to be kidding.... Are you 12? Also, in 08/08 while playing for Erie, O'reilly scored 66 points in 68 games. Next year he was a rookie in the NHL. Never played in the minors like Nyquist and tatar are. Year before O'Reilly put up 52 points in 61 games. So, as I have stated before, he improves every year. Which is what you want from your young stars.

Panic? Nope. This is what I expected this season. I thought going in we would be around .500. finish somewhere between 6th and 10th in the WC. That being said, it still sucks watching this. We are used to competing for Cups. This team is not close. Oh well, time for bed. Bring on the preds and Go Wings!!!!!! 17 of the last 24 on the road. That is a tough (to quote Micky) ball busting schedule.

Goalies are always hard to judge correctly. If they have a great D in front of them, the D gets the credit. if it is a bad D, the G sucks. This is universal. Some remember Fuhr back in the day. was a great G but his GAA was high because the Oilers played a run and gun sttyle of play. they gave up a lot of golas, but scored even more. Goalies are also prone to huge swings in their numbers year to year. Most HOF G's have this problem as well. Of all the issues with the RW's this year, Howard isn't one of them, other than the fact he isn't resigned yet. We have to resign him. there is nothing out there better via UFA. The other option would be to trade for a G (again who is better? Are they aavailable?) What would we give up? if we have assets to trade, wouldn't we be better of using said assets on some NHL caliber F's and Dmen?

Not sure if E is going to be here much longer. He is a UFA after next season and is already making more than he should. The market might push him into the 4.5 to 5 million range, and I don't think he is worth that much. Not to mention he could also be a trade piece. one of the few we have that can bring some quality back. If dekeyser signs this spring, thne we may-key word there, may not need E anymore. With Kronwall, Smith, Lashoff, kindl, and dekeyser, that is 5 LH shots. Sproul and the russian (name escapes me atm) coming as RH shots, E could be moved. Saves us some money to upgrade the forward group.

tatar scored 58 in 76 games. Again doesn't matter. AHL points are not the same as NHL points. Go back and look at the points totals from last year, and see where O'reilly and his 55 points compare to others around him. Some of the others that scored 50-60 points: kane, Ryan, Toews, getzlaf, Backes, versteeg, etc etc.... Now go check what those guys make per season. 5 million is the market rate. BTW with the crappy play that Fil is showing to date this season, O'Reilly would be our 3rd best player. A close 3rd behind D and Z.

Well that sucked. Was hoping we could beat a 1 line team. Did the Wild ever complete a tape to tape pass all game? they looked like a JV team out there with their passing, yet we still lost. 08 seems like a long time ago....

I would like to see him working with Lashoff in a year or 2.Lashoff is a big LH shooting stay at home D and Sproul is the RH shooting offensive Dman. Should be a great pair. We hope!

ya 76 games. a lot less vs a lot less competition. O'reilly is a much better player today, tomorrow, and baring serious injury his whole career. Now you can say we should target others, which is fine. Everyone has their favs. But if we could get O'Reilly-and there is no evidence we are even trying, we should. Would be an instant upgrade to our team. He alone is better than Nyquist and tatar together.

I understand waht you are saying. But at the same time, isn't the goal to win games? If so, then shouldn't you play your best players? If the goal is to win, then how is Nyquist not in the lineup? Well it can only really be 1 of 2 things. I would think we are trying to win. That only leaves 1

I didn't say that. Cleary sucks a$$. That being said, why can't Nyquist beat him out? Or eaves or Emmerton, or...... that is the point. Read what is written and stop ass-u-me-ing. I don't think Nyquist will ever be better than a 40 point guy in the NHL. That is my opinion. But I have also said several times, the only way to find out is for him to play in the NHL. Play him. Then he makes it or breaks it.

LOL, this is funny and kinda sad at the same time. Are you really trying to compare AHL points to NHL points? if so, there is nothing else to discuss. those 2 things are not even close. 58 points in the 2012 season Nyquists and tatars best full seasons to date is not better in any way shape or form than 55 points in the NHL for the same season. its like Al bundy bragging about once scoring 4 touchdowns in a HS football game. if you can't see this you destroy any and all validity in all your points. BTW neither Nyquist or tatar ever scored a point a game in Juniors either-they didn't play. They played overseas and Nyquist played college hockey, which again isn't the same, by a long shot. O'Reilly would be the 3rd or 4th best F on our team. Only datsyuk and Z clearly better right now, and he is about equal to Filppula. The difference is, he is on the upswing, where the rest are on the down swing. One last thing. Nyquist can't stick on our team right now. he once again has been sent down. He isn't able to beat guys like eaves, Cleary, Abby, Emmerton, etc....

Axe you and I agree that we need to make some moves. but you have to have a better understanding on who can be moved and what value they truely have. For example: Kronwall has a full NTC. We can't trade him untill after the 2016 season IIRC. Even then it is to a team on a player provided list. Franzen with his bad contract has very little value. maybe a 2/3 round pick at max. He is signed untill he is 40/41 years old, and the cap hit remains regardless if he plays or not. Filppula is a UFA after this year, thus lowering his value. Suter and parise are gone, get over it. Yes we need to rebuild/retool. That is clear to all-that want to admit it. But it isn't a one year thing either. it will take 2-3 years to change over the roster. 7-8 guys per year is a lot of change to begin with. But first we have to hope our braintrust realizes this, and that "injuries" are not the only problem. I would love to get Howard and Fil to resign so cheap. Hudler got 4 million per, and Fil is a much better player than Hudler. Even with the reductions in the cap, Fil will get 5+ million per year. Howard will also be ion the 5 million per range.

Could it be, and i realize this is crazy, but maybe Nyquist isn't as good as some here think? After all he seems to have been passed by tatar. Let's face some possibilities here. Nyquist has been up a couple of different times. he hasn't been able to stay and beat out any one of several over the road has beens/never were's.

Hmmm.... So because our old guys are hurt-who hired them? We lost. Not because of the "great" young talent from GR. odd. we just played a game with all of our talent from GR and got smoked. Some have been beging for the young guys to come up and play more, and the old broken down to play less. well you are getting what you asked for. not pretty at all. This will ghet worse before it gets better. A lot worse. I hope some player changes are made very soon!

Best defense is a good offense. If we have the puck, then of course the other team doesn't. That helps our D. Even if datsyuk is playing we still need more talent across the board.

ya but one never knows how things turn out in UFA. I think we all can agree we need more talent at both levels. how is the trick....

That is just wrong on so many levels. O'Reilly has produced more points at the NHL level than Tatar or Nyquist have at the AHL level. Big huge giant difference. he is 22-just turned that this past week, that is YOUNGER than Nyquist. At 6-0/200 he is much better equiped to handle the grind of the NHL. he is on his way to being a 70+ point per year guy. Nyquist/tatar will never be there. Now we can like or hate the current pay schedules in pro sports, but that is what they make.

Fired? no. Retire, yes. Could be anytime. i expect him to remain club president, but let someone else run things day to day.

Yes and no. Yes most fans can see if player X has talent and plays well. the trick is can you see how well that player will play in 5 years. For even the best scouts and GM it is the toughest part of the job. The second hardest is not hitting the panic button things get tough. Yet at the sme time, trying to find ways to improve your team.

But Jimmy d doesn't do much anymore. Plus he is 70+. That also was 30 years ago. It has been a long long time. The rest is just an opinion and trueth be told means little. we haven't developed a star player in over a decade. The Griff's record has nothing to do with future or current as we saw tonight, success pf the RW.

Brunner was -3 tonight. I guess you have to go back to before the season. What did you expect? I thought we were/are a slighly better than .500 team that would end up between 6th and 10th in the WC. Guess what. That is what we are. To "good" to be considered a bad team, but not good enough to hang with ethe top teams anymore.