Richdg

The smart move for the Avs is to trade him. He is young-23, already proven, and there is bad blood building up. They need help on D. ROR would get them the help they need. Otherwise they risk losing him for nothing in a year.

Ok, don't waste the buyout on 22. He has 1 year left @ 1.9 million. We are going to have around 12 million to spend this year after resigning our RFA's before any buyouts. We don't need to waste the compliance buyout on him. If he isn't worthy of a roster spot, then cut him in camp. On a normal buyout 22 costs us about 640K each of the next 2 years. Franzen on the other hand costs us 4 million for the next 6 years. here is an idea, put the 2 of them on the ice, have a 5 min timer, and tell them they are fighting for 1 job. Lets see who wins!

Ditto. If loyalty is what is so important, how about Cleary return some of the 1.5 million he flat out stole from the team last year? he didn't earn a damn dime of it on the ice. How about saying sorry to the fans for being greedy and taking a roster spot away from Nyquist, even though Nyquist is clearly the better player? Now this isn't a Cleary thing. Many athletes have a hard time knowing when things are done. Happens in all sports. But the GM/team should know better.

YA! We have an always hurt backup G with a career save % of .900! That was of course an improvement after this year when his save % was .917, even though his save % was below .900 for the last 4 months of the season........

So we have a whole lot of nothing going on publicly atm. Everyone seems to be waiting for the first move to happen, which makes sense. That creates a baseline of value for other moves. I expect Spezza to move first and it will be to a WC team. Once that happens then you will see Kesler move to a EC team and maybe Thornton move. The only one of those 3 that we could realisticly be in on is Kesler. After that who knows who will move and that is where things get real interesting to me. Now to this point we have all put out many thoughts and opinions on what we think will happen. Most of which mean nothing. But I will go back a few weeks to 3 peoples opinions that were voiced publicly: Babcock, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg. All 3 were/are unhappy with this team right now. All talked about adding talent that can help then win now. Holland has also said he wants to add a top 4 RHed Dman and a big top 6 F that can score. Now I don't think there is any reasonable RW fan that disagrees with those 2 needs. I think most of us also understand that getting those type of players are very expensive. But, and these are big questions: Will Holland act? Can he afford to not act? The second question kinda answers the first. Can Holland as GM afford to sit and do nothing (its not a matter of making phone calls, its results) when his HOF coach and 2 HOF stars want him to act? As has been stated many times the past month or so, we have plenty of cap room and plenty of prospects. We have the pieces to make deals. Now it all comes down to will. Does Holland have the will to make moves? Stay tuned.......

Yes and we had just at F: Bert 6-3/230, Cleary 6-0/210, Homer 6-0/215, May 6-0/220, Abby and franzen. So yes in fact the 09/10 Red Wings were much bigger up front. All of those guys were still producing at a good level. Not to mention we had Nicky and Stewy on the BL. One is the best ever and the other was a good stay at home physical Dman.

Played great? Must have bee watching a different guy than me. lets see.... Save % by month: oct-.937 which is very good in 4 games Nov-.916 which is good in 4 games Dec-.900 which is poor in 9 games jan-.893 which is bad in 4 games feb-.978 which is awesome, but was only 1 1/3 games mar-.887 which is terrible in 2 games april-.840 which is beyond terrible in 2 game All are regular season games/numbers Gus started out ok in the first 2 month, then played lie crap the last 4 months. He is not a quality G in any terms. The more he plays the worse he gets. His career regular season save % is .900 which is bad. Let him go already. Besides he will get hurt-more groin issues.

J, sorry mate but that is not a very good F corp. maybe 5 years ago it was, but not today. between Z, dat, frazen, Weiss, Alfie and helm, we will be lucky if they average 65 games played. Miller and Abby are not offensive players, and the other 4 will all be sophm. and there will be some slumps. There is still no toughness, grit, or any real size. The last official study I saw was from 2009/10. That year the average size of a NHL player was 6-1 1/4 tall and 208 pounds. Only franzen is over thatsize with Sheahan and Abby being that size. All the rest or BELOW that size.

bad idea all the way around. he just isn't a NHL player-hell an AHL player anymore.

Jimmy D built this team and Holland maintained it. That is what Holland is still trying to do. Which of course is the problem now. This is a very average team that is trending down. We don't want or need it maintained. We need it built back up. Can Holland do that? Not sure.

Good for the Kings. Now that the SC is over, the silly season gets busy! To bad we will not........

Talent added for nothing? Sure. Just don't expect him to be a star right away. That was the biggest issue with many fans and some of the guys in the past.

Yes those are the rumors and I expect him to head west. Just like I expect Kesler to head east.

As was being beat to death in this thread, many were saying "can't make offer sheets because it upsets the rest of the GM's and then they will not do business with you". That is the number 1 or 2 reason given for not doing offer sheets. But as I mentioned, no one does business with us now, and when they do they overcharge/Holland overpays. So what do we have to lose by doing it? Nothing. No I do not expect Holland to change his ways on this. Honestly I don't expect him to do much this off season no matter how much Babcock, Datsyuk, Z, and us fans all want him to. Which is risky if you ask me.....

While true that no one makes offers, I will ask a question. How many trades have we made lately? How many guys were later traded for less than we offered. nash comes to mind. We made a much better offer than the Rangers did. yet we didn't get nash. Why? Because as Holland has admitted, everyone wants to over charge us. this has been talked about on this forum many times that it sure seems like the rest of the NHL doesn't want to do business with us very often. Heck look at the legwand trade this year. We clearly overpaid. Maybe, just maybe we need to stop being so damn nice. Both in the front office and on the ice.

C depth? Not really. When we look at offensive C's we have 1 maybe 2: Datsyuk and Weiss. Z has been playing LW lately and I expect that to continue. Helm, Glendening, and Andersson are defensive C's. Maybe Sheahan becomes something, but it is to early to tell, also he can play wing. So its not like we are overloaded with true #1 and #2 C's. Datsyuk as a 1 and Spezza or Kesler as a 2, is MUCH better then Datsyuk and Weiss. You can never have to much proven talent.

No thanks. TBH it has nothing to do with Ekblad. It has to do with the development time of most Dmen. It generally takes them into their mid to late 20's to develop. We have talked about this before. Ericsson was 28 before he made it. Kindl is 26 and still trying to figure it out. Same for Smith-25. Hell Chara didn't make it until his late 20's. We need help now.

Getting a guy like Spezza would be a very good move depending on cost and if he agrees to an extension in advance. He would be our best offensive forward the day he arrives. His career points per game average is better than Datsyuk and Z. Not much, but it is better. He has good size: 6-3/220 and is a right handed shot. No he is not a banger. he does use his size to protect the puck. he is great in the puck possession game. 4 different years he has scored 30+ goals. Not he turns 31 tomorrow and has had back issues, which is a concern. But he would make us better. All that being said, will we get him? No. Even though he is a Holland type of a player.

Per dreger. 6 teams-the same ones are rumored to still be on his list.

PVD, Toews is a 200ft play making C that scores. kane is a goal scoring winger. There are big differences in their game. Kane is not as good as Kessel and it isn't really close.

Fg is right/wrong a bit here. Yes Toews will get huge money. But and this is key. If he becomes a UFA other teams can only sign him to a 7 year deal if that happens he gets 10 mill/cap hit. By resigning with the B hawks they can resign him to an 8 year deal. That will allow them to get a lower cap hit. 70 mill divided by 8 years. kane is not in the same class as Toews. In 7 full seasons he has hit 30 goals once. A typical year is 23-27 goals. Good player yes, but not a superstar. 6.5-7 mill is more like it for him.

The place that everyone hates put it up........ But RW and Thornton? HELL NO!!!!!!!! Makes no sense........ flame away......

DD I agree. As has been talked about many times, for whatever reasons Dmen take longer to develop. late 20's seems to be the common age of when most get it. That is part of the question surrounding all the young Dmen prospects. It will be 5+ years before most truly make it, if they ever do. We need help now.

Is Smith a top 4 damn? No. Is he one of our 4 best? yes. He is supposed to be an offensive defensemen, but that would mean he scores more than 19 points in a season. he has the talent to be a guy that puts up 40-50 points a year, but it hasn't clicked yet. Just as Dekeyser should become a 30-40 point per year guy.

Yes Keith. He did not have a s***ty attitude. he had concussion problems later, but he was a great player when healthy. In fact more than once he was mentioned as our future captain prior to the trade. man has it really been almost 20 years????? Holy sh!t!