Richdg

Again injuries are not a surprise. many of us talked about that happening in the east. guess what, it is. we did not add enough size and toughness just to make it through the grind of more physical play. Forget about fighting, that is not what I am talking about. How about some forwards that can actually stand in front of the other teams G and pick up the trash. None of our current group can do that at a high level anymore. bert is to old, franzen is well....., and the rest are to small. Same thing with crashing into the corners for lose pucks. These are things that the best teams do every night all game long. We don't and we don't have anyone coming over the next couple of years that do it either. That means trades for guys like Ryan that we passed on or signing UFA's like Clarkson that we didn't even talk to. Instead we go out and spend more money on guys like Alfie, Cleary, didn't buyout Franzen, etc......... Don't get me started on Weiss......

It might be getting to that time. Holland has been great for a long time. But he is making far to many mistakes lately. Every player can't play until 40. he also seems to be building teams based on the idea of how he wished the NHL was, not the way it actually is. Why does it have to be someone from the inside? Time for new blood. An outsider would be great. New fresh ideas and perspectives.

Instead we spend our money on Cleary who brings NOTHING and cy to shanny about people picking on us. crying like a bunch if little BITCHS! They missed the call........ he should be suspended........ we need to remove fighting from the game........... PP is our enforcer...... Even if every goon is removed from the game and every play worthy of a suspension is caught, who is worse off? a 4th line checker that is suspended or a star C like Datsyuk? Most teams and coaches would make that trade in a heart beat and not think twice about it.

This isn't a surprise. We have been trending down for a few years now. The young guys are not players that can carry a team right now-too young or too limited. Holland's patch and plug methods haven't worked. Yes we may make the PO's, but then again 53% of the teams do. That isn't a huge thing. We need a major injection of talent that is proven.

35g 73 points in 32 games. yes he slowed down, he is the only threat for Vol. Still well on his way to a 60+ goal season.

I just want to see all the old broken down 40 year olds gone. Once that happens then I will be glad to talk about new lineups. Until Bert, Cleary, Franzen, Alfie, Sammy, did I miss any..... are gone and off of the roster, we are treading water at best. Wish we could find a way to get rid of Weiss and his contract as well, but that will not happen until he shows he can produce again, in which case Holland will want to keep him.

While I do not think either will ever be stars, they are young, fast, bring energy, and both should have been in the lineup every game we play this year. That is the only way to ever truly find out.

Bert with the goal! We have to beat this crappy team. Good to see Datsyuk back on the ice.

before the season started I mentioned something about "we are going to struggle offensively, we would do well the first 30-40 games, then the size and toughness factor in the east would catch up to us". Z's back is something he will deal with for the rest of his career off and on. Glad he signed for 7 more years! Helm just doesn't have the size to hold up for the type of game he plays. Sorry to be rude guys, but this stuff was predicted and we were warned. Flame away......

Yup, preaching to the choir my friend.

For all those calling for the Sens to pay on Saturday, I will ask a question. Whom on our team do you expect to make them pay? We don't have enough toughness to make it happen. Abby and E are our best and Neil can most likely whip both of them at the same time. This is why many of us have been asking for more size and toughness to be added to the team. Holland refuses, and now after one of our stars have been hurt, all we can do (as fans and the team) is whine like little girls about how unfair it is.

Good deal. Less than what he would have received on the UFA market. I figured he would be in the 5 mill per range. .75 million per year less and his contract is up when he is 35, so not terribly old.

Last winter during the lockout season, O'Reilly was holding out for the Aves. At the time I was all for us making a move to get him. Didn't happen. After he signed with the Aves he came back and put up 20 points in 29 games. Which was the same pace as the season before where he had 55 points in 81 games. To date this year he has 11 points in 15 games after the Aves moved him to the wing. That is a better pace than the 2 previous years. Oh he is still very young-only 22 as of today. Bobby Freaking Ryan. How Holland talked himself out of making a deal for Ryan is beyond me. So far with the Sens he has 19 points in 17 games. Only 26 of course. Between the 2 of them they cost about 10.1 million per year and have scored 15 goals. Instead we have been "blessed" to watch Alfie, Cleary, Franzen, Weiss, tatar, and Nyquist play/sit in the minors/get hurt and produce 10 goals while costing us 18 million. We have to get smarter.

O'Reilly was on the block, in fact there was much discussion here about Holland asking and not willing to pay the price. Who cares if we would have had to put tatar and nyquist into those deals. Nyquist is so great he is playing for GR. Holland was so sure about him he signed Cleary. BTW O'reilly is younger than Nyquist by nearly 2 years and has already shown he can play. But because we didn't make that move we had to go out and sign Weiss. Weiss who is already 30, 5-11/190 has averaged .59 points per game for his NHL career. less than O'Reilly the past 3 partial seasons. o'Reilly is of course bigger 6-0/200 and much younger. Come 2020 O'Reilly will still be playing and only 29/30. he is a building block type of player. same is true with Ryan of course. Imagine a second line of Abby-O'Reilly-Ryan following up a first line of Z-dat-Bert. That is depth and talent. Not the crap we are juggling now. Yes water under the bridge. On the plus side come march 1 O'reilly is able to be moved and Ryan will be a UFA after next season. Both will cost even more now.........

While I am not a fan of Franzen the hockey player, I wish nothing but the best for Franzen the person. Good think he has plenty of resources to deal with this. But the RW are a business. They ned to find out asap the deal and make the correct moves. We have a buyout left for this coming summer. LTIR him now, then buy him out. No cap hits this way. get us off of the hook if he retires or even if he decides to play again. Time to cut bait. Maybe he just needs to go home and play there with less pressure and lime light.

Some guys just take more time.

3 games so far and 6 points! 1 game to go and let's make it 8 out of 8! Trips like this we have to capitalize on. 1 good team that we own, 2 bad teams and an average team. We even managed to pick up the scoring, hopefully some confidence will carry over for a while. Go Wings!

he plays the same game as Shanny and Perry. Skates, shoots and fights. None of those guys were or are known for lots of hits. Not their job. their job is to put the puck in the net. that being said he is just 19. Yzerman didn't learn to play D until his late 20's when Bowman threatened to trade him.

You have to remember he is only 19 years old. He is still 2 years or so from being in Detroit. By that time he will be a 6-5/225 fast skating goal scorer that will drop the gloves. Think Shanahan. yes it will take him a year or 2 to adjust to the NHL but it will happen. The AHL better look out next season!

The very very first thing that has to happen is: Holland has to admit that his plug and patch plan has not worked. We can kind of understand what he was trying to do. Sign some vets for a couple of years while letting some young talent develop in the minors. makes sense. But it hasn't worked. The drop off has been faster than the development which is what has created our issues with the forward corp. If Holland ever sees this and admits it, then there are hundreds of ways to improve this team. But you can't fix a problem until you admit to the problem.

How about the fact that 4 of those 5 are 33+ and the one that isn't is coming off of a major wrist injury/surgery. yet this is the group we decided would take us to the promised land!

The problem with your line of thinking is all those same players who were old then are still here and are even older now. fact is players to wear down. Just as none of us are the same at 35 that we were at 25, same is true with athletes. Players don't get better in their late 30's and we have far to many guys in that group.

Was just watching 42 year Jagr score a breakaway short handed goal. Just saying.....

The idea of signing a vet for "one last chance" at a cup is a good idea. But you can't have a whole dang team of those guys. if you are a young team like the Oilers or Aves, going out and bringing in 1 or 2 guys like a Bertuzzi and Alfie is a great idea. provides you with leadership, some scoring or grit, and someone who has been there and done that. But we are not a young talented team needing leadership. Hell if anything we have to much veteran leadership. We need the young talent. Ok we need middle age talent-hockey age not real age......

What are you talking about? Goals scored has been droping. 2010/11 we were 2nd in the NHL 2011/12 we were 7th in the NHL 2012/12 we were 20th in the NHL This season we are 23rd. Worse every year for 4 years now. A strong negative slope (for you statistic majors).