Richdg

DD neither of us truly know what was offered/said etc..... during the trade talks. What we do know and was quoted many time KH: "We had questions about Ryans compete level so we didn't purse very far". That was beaten to death here and many other places. There were also quotes about inquiring about O'reilly last year and passing on him. Point is, things happen. Same is true with both Clarkson and Weiss. Clarkson is not worthless, he is very good. In fact he is a very good shooter-which is how he scores many of his goals. he is not a Holmstrom type, much better overall player. But sometimes when you miss 10 games to start a season-suspended, then get hurt, and have the pressure of going home, things don't go well. Some for Weiss. yes he should be a 50 point guy for us. But he has been hurt and was pressuring himself-life long dream to be a RW, so he wasn't playing well. The good news for both guys is, they have many more years to redeem themselves.

Pumpkin, the isles traded conditional 2015 picks in the Vanek trade, not 2014 picks.

This is always the risk when you bring in any player. be it through trade, UFA, or up from the minors. You never know how it will turn out. Clarkson was very good in NJ and has not been in Tor. Weiss was good in Florida, not here with us. Flip quit on us, yet has been good in TB. on and on it goes. As for Holland sometimes he wins sometimes he loses. He passed on Ryan and O'Rielly. 2 20 goals scorers this year, and yes we are an offensively challenged team.

3rd and 4th best teams? Now you have lost your mind! USA and the country up north are the top 2. There is no question about this. The only thing that makes it even close is the bigger ice, which the euros are far more familiar with. There are reasons why Canada has had 445 player play in the NHL this year, the US has had 200, then followed in distant 3rd Sweden had 57, Czech republic has 33, Russia 29, and Finland 20.

Down with the Canucks! May all their Maple Leafs rot away! USA! USA! USA! USA!

hate Russia, glad they lost. Now on the plus side datsyuk gets plenty of time to rest, relax, and rehab his knee.

There are several reasons why Kulemin is a good fit. 1. Maybe most important: he is available. We can all come up with lots of names, but how many are truly available? he is. 2. he is Russian. Linemate for datsyuk and Euros tend to be cheaper on the UFA market than NA players. 3. he has already PROVEN he can play at the NHL level, were as most of our prospects have not. 4. With Z, Franzen, and datsyuk all well over 30 and developing injury issues you need guys in the late 20's-prime years of there careers to help the young guys when they come up. 4. Kulemin is not going to come here and be a 30 goal per year guy. But 20 per year on a line with datsyuk? yes he can do that. 5. We have tons of cap room for the next couple of years, baring any stupid resigning by Holland. best guess right now is 16 million after we resign our RFA's for next season. More if franzen is bought out/LTIR and Z is LTIR. Plus we have a buyout left to use. cap room and payroll flexability we have, proven NHL players is what we are short on.

Thanks for the update.

Nikolai Kulemin 28 this summer. 6-1/225 LH LW/RW. His per 82 game averages for his career is 17 goals per season. UFA class 2014. Averages over 2 hits per game. Now I have thought the idea of adding him was a good one for several years. Might be a good running mate for Datsyuk. He has a season best of 30 goals a few years ago, so he has some scoring ability. The ML seem to be willing to let him walk. if we could add him for say 5 years at 3.5 million per would be a good deal.

grantland.com/features/hockeys-worst-contracts/ 2 RW's on there. What is interesting is Franzen and Hossa are both on the list.

BTW, the Colts have AA listed as 6-2/200 this year. Nice growth to go along with his speed and offensive development.

Dom, no where did I say anything about playing 2-3 rookies on D next year. I didn't even hint at such a thing. As of today, we have 7 Dman for next season, 1 of which is a rookie. As of today the 7 Dmen are: Kronwall, E, Dekeyser, Kindl, Smith, lashoff, and Almqvist. yes we should upgrade from Kindl if we can. I don't think anyone disagrees with that idea. The how is the question. Kindl alone isn't going to upgrade for himself, so others have to be added. To get a top 4 Dman will take Kindl plus a guy like Nyquist (as an example) plus something else, prospect or high pick. Yes that would make our 15th ranked D better. But it would also make our 19th ranked O worse. This is where we have to be carefull. This is why I want to sign Vanek if possible. His 35+ goals more than replaces the goals scored if we have to move a guy like Nyquist to upgrade the D.

Jimmy, all the early reports from WMU coach Andy Murray were positive, at least early on. Don't have the time to find the quotes, but he was surprised how well he skated and moved around on the ice. But like I said, have no idea what happened to him, thus why I was asking.

Dom, a few things. 1. counting on that lineup to ever be 100% healthy is foolish. Helm is always hurt, Z has a bad back that will be with him until he retires, Franzen has had multiple concussions. They will be hurt going forward. 2. You have 16 forwards listed, we can only keep 14. So yes we have bodies to move. That being said, what 2-3 can get you a top 4 Dman? The answer is of course, the guys we want to keep. That is the issue with trades. get to give, it is that simple. 3. The lineup you have listed is most of our NHL ready forwards. There isn't anyone behind them ready to go. On D that isn't the case. Dabura, last year I listed him as a guy I would go after. Hornquist, Kulimen, and a couple of others. ZWD, yes he has value. But he isn't that hard to replace. Plus he is often hurt. Soon he will be in the 3.5 million range to keep. Not sure he is worth that type of money. he is a 3rd line C, not a premier player. helm is Draper 2.0, which is great. But who was more important? Shanny or drapes? We lack Shanny type players.

kip, I agree on the no rentals thing. we don't have enough tradable pieces to waste any on rentals.

dabura and kip, could we trade helm? yes. it all depends on the who is coming back. Helm is a great guy, checker, and skater. But TBH we have 10 guys that fit that description, none of which have the trade value he does. To get you have to give. We need guys that can put the puck into the net up front, and a partner for Dekeyser on the blueline. If I am getting a proven 30 goal scorer or top 4 Dman for Helm+, then yes move him.

Funny some of you asked about physical growth. Yes the RW's still have him listed as 6-0/177 under the prospects thread. However, if you go to Barrie's team page, AA is listed as 6-2/200. So yes he has in fact grown and kept his speed, while improving his production. Next year we will find out if he can do it vs. pros.

Anyone know why Big Mike hasn't played more than 11 games for WMU this year? I saw him play a game early on D, then heard he was moving to F, but he hasn't played much since then. Did he get redshirted? just have others ahead on the depth chart? get hurt?

What happened to little Tuzzi this year? he has been stuck on 29 games played forever? I am assuming (dangerous I know) he got hurt. Anyone know for certain?

Just some updated rankings: Hockey news has Tuch ranked 18th. Interesting that they have Ritchie ranked 13th. That could put him on our list.

Toby we are ahead of everyone but Canada. There are 200 US born players that have played in the NHL this year. Russia has 29. Of course this doesn't include the AHL, college, junior etc...... yes there are more playing in Russia itself, some of which can play here. This only makes sense. The population of the US is much larger than Russia or Canada. We also are able to afford the game, which many countries can't. But back to my first statement: anything less than the silver is a failure. The rest of the team (other than Canada) are very flawed in one way or another.

yes, then we have the option to buy them out.

freshy, yes the pain can decrease on its own, butt hat isn't fixing the problem. As was mentioned before, over here he was taking pain meds and pain blockers. From the gusy that I know that have had this type of issue-none of us are 100% sure on Z's details, the only fix is to have surgery which involves fusing the bone together. I hope this doesn't have to happen, because that can be a career ender.

1. Nice win. A game we were favored in BTW. 2. Anything less than a silver for the USA is a major upset. We are at worst the second best hockey team/country in the world. 3. While outside listening to the radio today on lunch, some idiot was on the radio chatting with Bob(?) Ryan-the sports writer from Boston. He was talking about the development of hockey in the USA over the last 50 years. he was talking about how when he was in college-1964-68, there was only 1 US born hockey player in the NHL. Now that was back in the days of 6 teams and 150 total players, but still major growth.

Guys, I was clearly talking about if Z can't play anymore, which is a legit possibility. Something we will all find out over the next few months. Same is true with franzen and his multiple concussions. These can be career enders. Under that context only if they can't play, we have 1 buyout left to use, that has to be used this summer.