Richdg

Rooting against? No. Wanting to see our best players play every game they can? Yes. It isn't my fault that Holland signed a overrated always hurt player. The new trend here is Babcock is doing what he has been saying: The best play regardless of age/contract status/experience etc..... That is something everyone should be excited about!

2 games and no Cleary or Weiss! Awesome!!!!!!

Nice win to start the season. Best part was Cleary and Weiss were healthy scratches! Let the kids play! Good or bad they are our present and future.

8 million wasted on Cleary, KFQ, and Kindl. Other than that about what I expected.

All waived and none claimed. No need to be upset. The other 29 teams decided that these guys are not NHL caliber players and we still have them. They are what they are: depth players. let them lead GR to another deep PO run.

what is the purpose of a preseason? Get guys into shape-did that, let the youth show what they can do-did that and we are happy, and stay healthy-didn't do this. Nothing is season ending, which is good. most all the injured will be back by the first of the year.

My guess is they will start him in GR splitting time with McCollum. But in an effort to get him more ice time he will be demoted to Toledo so he can play every day.

All the rats that can escape a sinking ship.......

Ok had the wrong remaining amount, but the point is/was valid and true. We had 9.5 mil to spend. Just used 1.5 of it on Cleary-one way deal as well. Tatar and Dekeyser will eat up 3.5-4 million of the remaining 8, so that leaves 4 or so to spend. Alfie will get resigned and that will eat up the balance. Roster is overfull and cap is gone. Yippy! I am so excited about the upcoming season!

Sorry, but you don't have the correct answer up there. His worst signing or resigning is himself!

Holland is a hockey god!!!! He does no wrong! Everyone that is upset about this signing needs to see the bigger picture. Moves like this are what draws in the big name UFA's! Why can't you guys see that!

Pass on Green. He doesn't play D, he is injury prone, makes 6 mill per year. Right now we don't have the cap space to get him either. At 30 he isn't suddenly going to learn to play defense either. Yes he would help our PP and O when healthy. But we are already a team with injury issues for the past 3 seasons. We don't need to add another injury prone guy to the mix. Not to mention what it would cost to get him. Now if the Caps were willing to take Franzen and Kindl for Green, maybe I think about it. But I doubt they are that dumb.

We have had serious injury issues for three season now. Yes getting rid of Bert and Sammy will help. But the others are still here. Do I expect D and Z to play more games this season? yes i do. But that alone will not make a dramatic improvement in our team. Even when healthy we are not a great team, we are average at best. Plus the more they play the less others will play. The minutes have to come from somewhere. As for the cap, the best guess is on cap geek. per cap geek we have 6.5 million left in cap today BEFORE resigning Tatar and Dekeyser. Resigning those 2 will eat up another 3.5-4 million. That will leave us around 3 million heading into the fall, baring any other moves. If/when Alfie and Cleary are resigned, most of that will be gone. You have to keep in mind we are 3 million short in cap space this year because of bonuses paid for last season-most of which goes to Alfie. So yes my original statement stands: roster is full and we are out of cap space. Could moves be made to change that? Yes. Will any happen? Doubtful. Its been a 3 year issue, which of course you know. same cast of players is not going to fix that problem. make all the excuses you want, but we will have 250+ man games lost by the end of the 2014/15 season.

The city isn't the issue. It has been largely the same for decades. High crime, high unemployment, people leaving etc... Babcock isn't the issue either. Scotty was/is way harder to play for the Babcock ever was or will be. Scotty was the one who went public about trading away Yzerman if he doesn't start buying in to Scotty's way of doing things. Jimmy D was no pushover either. Always was tough on players at contract time. Point is quit with the excuses. Either you do or not do. There is no try.

As of today there is no room for him. Regardless of how he plays. We have to many guys that can't go down to GR and we can't afford the cap hits of cutting them. As for Holland making a move-doubtful even though it is needed. Hello from Cleary, Bert, Sammy, Kindl, Quincey, Franzen, etc.... Young players are never given anything that is true, but far to many vets are given far to many chances to show they still have it which hurts the young guys development.

Biggest problems? Lets see..... 16th ranked O last year-major issue 16th ranked D last year-major issue roster is over full-big issue out of cap space already-big issue As of today we are maybe the 9th best team in the east-major issue

Sorry Kip have to disagree here. At this point in time Smith is better than Tatar. Kronwall had his best D stats when paired with Smith. What tatar did-scored 17 goals and jumped around cheering alot has been done by hundreds if not thousands of guys in the NHL over the last 100 years. Part of this si, we s RW fans are forgeting what truely good players look like. That does not mean I dislike tatar. but he is what he is: small, no D and a 40 point per year guy. Those are fairly easy to find.

Agreed about the juniors vs pros thing, but and this is huge: Mantha puts the puck into the net. Our other young forwards are not great goal scorers. None of them have ever been big time goal scorers at any level, which goes back to my talent point. Mantha is head and shoulders more talented than most of our other prospects. But and I said this before: it is up to him to win the job. I think he will.

Josh, you are spot on. All those young players that Holland is so reluctant to trade, he didn't want in detroit. He was FORCED to call them up and play them because all of his UFA signing and guys he gave long tern deals to got hurt. So many want to blame the training staff for our injuries, why not to guy that brought in a bunch of injury prone players? How long has Betr had a bad back? hank? Will Helm ever play more than 70 games again? Sammy the walking MASH ward, etc...... Add in the age of these guys, no wonder why we have 3 seasons in a row filled with injuries. Who put together this roster? I have said it for 2 years, either build a team for one or 2 more serious runs at the Cup for D and Z, or get rid of the old crap and rebuild. We are doing neither. Which would be more exciting right now? making the PO's and losing in the 1st round, or drafting McDavid? Which would be better for the 2020 season? It isn't possible to do both.....

SOW this isn't a shot at you, but there does seem to be a feeling that trading a young prospect only means we are going to get a 34 year old guy with 1 or 2 years left to play. Look at the 3 big F that got moved so far this off season: Kesler, Neal, and Spezza. None of those deals broke the banks of the teams that picked them up. Trueth be told, we could have made all 3 of those deals, been a much better team, and still had some young guys left over. Not to mention we had the cap space for it. While prospects are nice and all, most never pan out. That is true and will always be true. Same was true with the Nash deal, not getting O'reilly, and Ryan. That is 6 big time F that have been moved or available lately that we could have had, failed to get, all but 1 are under 30. Meanwhile we have been 15th or so in scoring the last 2 years, with most of our prospects burried in the minors.

I understand what you are saying and agree in principle. Your pairs are all messed up though. Dekeyser-Myers Kronwall-Smith Ericsson-KFQ/Lashoff That would be much better. The top 2 pairs can play 45 mins per game, leaving the last pair on the ice only for 15 mins per game.

Doesn't matter what we think. It is entirely up to Mantha and Holland/Babcock. The later 2 have clearly said he has to earn a spot. Now it is up to Mantha. I think he will earn a spot. 2 reasons: 1. he is that talented 2. we are that thin/weak of a team. We had 1 guy score 20+ goals this year. mantha will do that this year plus. it is the other parts of his game that are the questions: strength, stamina, defense etc....

Trade tatar? Sure. For Myers? No-not sold on him. Yes tatar can score some goals, but that is about all he brings. While chippy he isn't physical nor does he really play D. Yes you have to give to get. So he would eb the one I move. The other young forwards offer more long term and appear to me more complete players. Myers is a guy that is a huge risk/reward guy. Yes he could be Chara in a few years. People forget how long he struggled in this league before he became the Chara we know now. Myers is what, 24? Now if making a deal there are toher guys I would rather have over Myers: Petry, Big Buff, etc.... No need to waste our few extra assets ina risky trade. last thing. There has been a few "rumors" about the RW and MDZ. Another young, fast, mobile Dman. Which would once again make us all wonder WTF with KFQ!

per khan

Pubk daddy had their hits misses andUFA awards up and of course we missed. They went on about the DRW losing their aura etc...... One of their key points was:s don't wan to play for great organizations. Players want to do 2 things-get paid and win. ideally both. Most don't see us doing the later anymore........ so the former don't matter.