Richdg

Lets set some things straight. 1. Franzen has not played great all year. He has played like crap fro most of the year. In October he played 12 games and scored 2 goals, both in the same game. In November he played in 10 games-missed 4 while hurt and scored 4 goals. In december he played in 8 games, missed 6 while hurt and scored 3 goals. In january he played 1 game, missed 12 and scored 0 goals. In February he played in 2 games, missed 4 others and scored 3 goals-all in the same game. March he has played in 7 games, missed none and has 3 goals. But again nothing the last 4. 2. Leaders lead, not push. If you want to lead Johan, put the puck in the net! That is how leaders do it. 3. Leaders also don't disappear. I understand that no one scores in every game. But goals scorers do it more than once a month. Your even worse, because when you don't score you stop skating, checking, playing D etc.....

Would love to see us pick up Trevor van Riemsdyk. Also lets add Barcley Goodrow to play LW. He is 6-2/215 has 30 goals for North bay and was at our prospect camp last summer.

One of the ongoing debates on this very forum is, do we bring any of the old vets back? IMHO no. The young guys bring energy if nothing else, something all of the 35+ crowd lack. Go young, let them learn, and we will see where they all end up. That of course means we may have a couple of thin years. If we can add a super via UFA, do so. But let the kids play!

I did watch the game, he was bad. But, as I said it wasn't all his fault. Was very clear about that. The point in all of this is, while kronwall is pretty good with the puck, he can't handle other teams top scoring lines. In the end, that is what true #1 or top pair Dmen are supposed to do. As for the others mentioned, yes Dekeyser is our best defensive Dman, and he is only going to get better. As he does that he may very well become part of our top pair, which is GREAT for us.

It was midway through the second before I even realized that Alfie was playing. He was a non factor. but then again he is 40+. Guys do run out of gas. Kronwall was -2 for the game after getting an assist on our goal.

Another game and another -2 for Kronwall. He was on the ice for our goal, so defensively he was -3 last night. Which is the point. He is average to below average as a defender. No it is not all on him, but we also have to be realistic. He is best served as a 2nd pair Dman. Of course that means we need a new top pair....

nice but the pens have cap room, so I doubt he is available. We shall see of course....

As of today, we will have a 2nd round pick, which could be a young C that we need more of. We are also picking 13th-bad bad number, in the draft.

The original number for next year was guess at 71 million. With the Canadian dollar dropping it might only be 68 or 69 million now. Espn has a story up about it. Not a big change, but a change none the less.

Oilers are a bad team, we are at home. We must get 2 points tonight. Already 3 points behind 8th place. Must must must get the 2!

Thanks Buppy. IMHO he would be the perfect bookend with Mantha.

To fix the BL is but one of our issues. But we have to start somewhere..... Now there isn't much in the UFA market, and most teams have plenty of cap this summer, so don't expect any big names getting boughtout/cut/waived etc..... Right now as of today we have the following BL: E-Kronwall DD-Smith Lashoff-Kindl Almqvist Those 7 are all signed or RFA's that we control. That isn't good enough. There are 2 UFA's that do interest me, but they are stay at home defensive Dmen: Greene and Fayne. Sign one to play with Lashoff on the 3rd pair. The D is now better and Kindl can now be moved. Now we can trade for a RHed partner for DD. Smith would also be in play-that is the position we are upgrading. But Kindl and Smith together are not going to do it. We will have to add a young forward to the mix. Of the guys that have made it up this year I would move tatar. yes he is a good sniper, but that is all he brings. No D, can't do faceoffs, not a passer. Sheahan, Nyquist, Jurco, Pulkinnean, and mantha all offer far more. Now we have a package to make a move: tatar, smith, and Kindl. That should get us a sub 30 RHed Dman that is better than what we currently have. Now the BL looks like this: E-Kronwall DD-new trade target lashoff-Greene/fayne Almqvist Much better. Also allows Oullett and Sproul to spend the next 2 years working together as a pair in GR.

yes, our ROW sucks so we have to be ahead of Philly and the BJ's. Only the Caps have a worse ROW than we do.

Yes, that is our record this year when trailing after 2. Yikes!

Yes. In the past we were so deep and fast that everyone was tired of chasing us around going into the 3rd. Now we are the team that is tired.

I wish I could link on this forum-doesn't work for some reason. Anyway, on nhl.com there is/was a nice write up about Tuch and how his coach raves about the guy. His work ethic and how he is learning to use his size, strength, and power to dominate other teams. Just what the doctor ordered!

There are of course many ways to say we are not very good. Right after the trade deadline, one of the trade sites had up everyones point totals from Dec 1 though the deadline. We had 33, which was 15th out of 16 in the EC.

Robb, yes Sproul may be a good one in a few years. That is part of the problem. Watching Sproul play one quickly relizes he needs another year-maybe 2 in the minors. That means it will be 3-5 years before he is fully adjusted to NHL life. By that time kronwall could be gone. he is 33 now and will be 36-38 by the time Sproul is up to speed. In other words, treading water. Sproul may be nothing more than a replacement, not improvement. We need help now. For the next 2 years I would love to see Oullett and Sproul play every game and every shift as a D pair in GR. Grow together. That way when Kornwall and E and done those 2 are ready to step in as the second pair.

Now, back to the question, who can be the next Weber? Ok, what is Weber? He is a 28 year old, 6-4/230 RHed shooting Dman good for 50 points per year and good D. So who are the next generation fo guys that could become that type of player? Have no idea how any of these guys will turn out, but here is a list I would work from: E Johnson 25 6-4/230 RH 40 pts per year Pietrangelo 24 6-3/200 RH 55 pts per year Shattenkirk 25 6-0/210 RH 50 pts per year Bogosian 23 6-3/215 RH 25 pts per year Petry 26 6-3/195 RH 30 pts per year Voynov 24 5-11/200 RH 35 pts per year Stone 23 6-3/210 RH 30 pts per year Myers 24 6-8/225 RH 40 pts per year Gryba 25 6-4/225 RH 25 pts per year Franson 26 6-5/215 RH 30 pts per year Faulk 21 6-0/215 RH 30 pts per year Schenn 24 6-2/230 RH 25 pts per year Carlson 24 6-3/215 RH 40 pts per year Now which ones of that group will develop further into a superstar? Carlson is most likely, in fact may have already developed to a point where it is impossible to afford him. But figure which one of these guys will get there, then make a move. Now we have a true top pair for the next 8+ years.

Getting Weber isn't going to happen, at least not for 2-4 more years. Yes I do believe he gets moved in time, but not anytime soon. But that doesn't help us, but maybe we are asking the wrong question. I think we all would love to have Weber or a guy like him to pair with Dekeyser for the next 8+ years and form a top pair. So maybe we need to be asking, who can we pick up that could become the next Weber type Dman? We don't have time to wait and see if Sproul or another prospect makes it 2-3 years from now. We need a DD clone from the right side now. So, who is going to be the next Weber?

Just for reference, some other goalie numbers for their careers: Osgood .905 save % 2.49 GAA Hasek .922 save % 2.13 GAA Joseph .906 save % 2.79 GAA Vernon save % wasn't kept 2.98 GAA Legace .912 save % 2.41 GAA all numbers are regular season numbers. It is pretty clear that Howard is the second best G we have had over the last 20 years. Prior to this year his save % was the same as hasek's.

robo, it was pretty easy. I took all the goalies in the NHL that have played 35 or more games this year-the starters. The numbers listed are their career numbers. I took the 2 lists and what their rankings are on each list. Added together, then divided by 2. So a guy with say the 4th best save % and the 10th best GAA would be a average of 7.

brett, first kronwall isn't able to land weber-which is part of the point. Would the current RW's team be better with Weber instead of Kronwall? yes. much better. Our D would be better and our O would be better. That is what a true #1 provides. Yes this is a pipe dream and would never happen.

many factors. 1.Fewer shooters 2. Bigger and better G's 3. Bigger and better Dmen 4. Outgrown the size of the ice 5. More grabbing, less fighting

It would take far more than we have.