Richdg

Yes. that is the mind set that made the US the greatest in the world. You go out and do, not sit and wait for things to happen. You take the chances, you take the risks, you be proactive, not passive and hope things turn out in life.

BTW someone brought up bare knuckle boxing. fact: bare knuckle boxing is much safer for the brain than boxing with gloves. You can hit much harder with gloves on than without. BK boxing was very bloody-turned off fans. It was also much slower because the number 1 injury was broken hands. Without gloves there were cuts and blood. Now there is concussions. same is true in rugby vs football. rugby has 1/10th the number of concussions that football has. Without head protection, players stop using their heads as weapons. if the goal in all of this is to make the games safer, call/enforce the rules: charging and boarding in hockey and spearing in football. helmets do not prevent concussions, nor are those designed to. those are designed to prevent skull fractures. Concussions are caused by the brain moving inside of the skull and crashing into the skull wall. There is no piece of equipment that can be made that will prevent that from happening.

Very simple: yes you do what you have too to win the job.

Sorry Stevie but I disagree. fact is you spent a good portion of your career-nearly all being protected by guys like Probert, Kocur, McCarty, Shanny, etc....... You had 1 career fight, lost badly, and were smart enough to never do it again, which counters your argument. no one has to fight. But most star players are glad there are guys that do. Some of us remember that wonderful evening back in 1997 when the RW finally became a champion. No it wasn't a 5 goal night from federov or stevie, it wasn't the night we finally lifted the cup over our heads, it was a couple of months earlier than that, at the Joe vs the Avs in March. Every RW fan under 30 knows that night. But most can't tell you who won the game, or what the final score was. But everyone remembers the night of the turtle. Everyone remembers Mccarty redeeming his best friends honor. Everyone remembers Shanny clocking Roy, and then letting Vernon pummel Roy. BTW the final score was 6-5 RW's, with McCarty scoring the game winner-something he wouldn't be allowed to do if Stevie had his way. Same guy scored the Cup winning goal a few months later.

Like when little Bert put Jensen on the LTIR? Everyone on the forum was for it. Trying to make an impression and a name for himself. Go back a few years. probert, kocur, grimson all practiced fighting. Tommy hearns used to box Mccarty lapointe etc..... There are tryout videos online of McKee fighting others in the USHL tryout camp. Every player has to play their game to earn a spot. You do what you have too to make it.

Yes. That is what young players are supposed to do: earn a roster spot/playing time. Which as of today nyquist and Tatar haven't. maybe it is do to blind loyalty or maybe it is because they are not as good as the vets some fans want them to replace. Yes waiting for your chance is hard to do. Then do something about it. As Ric Flair used to say "To be the man, you have to beat the man". There is a lot of trueth in that statement. What made the RW the most successful isn't overriping players in the minors. It was a great draft-1983, several big time trades, multiple UFA signings, and scouting Europe before everyone else did. All the while being backed by the best owner in sports. The overriping of young talent is a by product of having a deep and talented team. Not the cause of having a deep and talented team.

Mantha now up to 18 points in 7 games. 11 G 7 A. Wonderfull!!!!!!!!! Nastysiak has 3 G and 3 A in 7 games. Very good as well. Yes I changed the spelling in his name.

While the Flyers are a bad team, that is on the GM not the coach. But GM's don't fire themselves. Yup. maybe out of panic we can get them to trade us Simmons...... One can only dream.......

I like how our schedule builds. Easy game vs Buf, moderate game vs Canes, tough game vs the B's. Work our way into the season.

Want to bet who has more goals at the end of the year? Ryan will score more goals than Alfie and Cleary combined, and cost about 2 million less. Might even score more than Alfie, Cleary, Tatar and Nyquist combined.

On pace for what? 180 points? LOL......... We can only dream. I do wish they would try him at C.

Yes it is easy to pick on Sammy, bert, q, and franzen. But I am going to go outside the box: Kronwall. His D was terrible most of last year and made a ton of mistakes with the puck. he is supposed to be a leader of our young blueline corp and has to play better.

Yes! Hockey is back! Tatar will only sit one game. The chances that both bert and Sammy make it through tonights games injury free are so small, not worth mentioning.

I have always thought he could be somewhere between keith Premieu and Shanny when he is 25 and on. Size, speed, scoring, and toughness. Just what the doctor ordered. But that is a long way down the road....

No that is not what the draft is about. You have a good draft when you pick talented young players. How they turn out down the road is another story all together. This was a great pick for us in this draft. BTW Vol already has Mantha listed as 6-5/206. So yes he is growing. Yes I understand EVERYONE lies about how big guys really are. But he was listed as 6-3/190 on most draft sites, IIRC the RW site has him as 6-4/190, but now his Junior team lists him as bigger. This is a good thing. Nastasiuk is also off to a good start with Owen Sound. 2 G and 2 A in 4 games so far. He has also grown. Listed as 6-2/196.

Just think, there were people on this forum questioning this pick.......

Was talking about tatar and nyquist.

These are preseason predictions. You can agree or disagree, which is fine. But also post yours. BTW I have never listened to the "experts". Almost all of them had the Pens winning the cup last year. How did that work? My point is, where did we improve? By adding a 40+ forward? Not really. Weiss is just replacing Filppula. If we are to improve it has to come from the kids, but 2 of them may very well start in GR.

Smith is learning to play the game. Most if not all young D struggle at the beginning of their careers. The NHL is a very different animal than minor/junior/college hockey. Even Nicky took a year or 2 to fully adjust to the NHL game.

Bert is done, but he will be on the team until he gets hurt again. After this season he is one of about 5 guys that will be gone. Wish him well in his future.

Yes we could use a true #1 Dman, what team doesn't? most do. but those type of players are 1. very expensive cap wise, and 2. very hard to trade for because no one gives them away. Yes Weber would be a great fit on our blue line. Big, fast, tough, RH shot, etc.... but he isn't available nor do we have the cap room. After this season E and Q are both UFA's and free up about 7 million in cap space. Do we resign E? it will cost us 4.5-5 million per year to do it. if so, we don't have any room for another big name Dman. Our roster is full (2 players over) and we are cap tight. In my humble opinion we really don't need a top tier Dman. Well maybe for a year or 2. but our system is full of great young Dman. 2 years from now we will have: kindl, Smith, DeKeyser, lashoff, Sproul, maybe E, Kronwall, and several other good young prospects coming. There is a good possibility that 2 years from now, Kindl and Dekeyser are the top pair with E/Kronwall the second. Leaving Smith/Sproul as the 3rd pair. That is a good group. TBH I would hate to move one of these guys right now. Let them develop and enjoy the ride.

It is really eye opening to see the different levels of talent between 03 and now. Even our best player today are not as good as our top guys then. But that is part of the reason why we are going downhill and it has been 5 years since our last cup. We really need Mantha and the next couple of years 1st rounders to turn out.

Of course this will change based on who is healthy and playing well next winter. As for G's Miller will be 3rd. Quick/Howard will be the starter based on who is playing better at the time. IIRC Ryan, Backus, and Brown were on a line together and played really well.

If everyone is healthy, do the lines. Z-Dat-Abby on the 1st, Franzen-Weiss-Alfie on the 2nd, Bert-helm-Sammy on the 3rd, Miller/Cleary-Emmerton/Andersson-Tootoo/Eaves on the 3rd. Haven't even mentioned Tatar and Nyquist yet. Now we can move some guys around. bert plays well with datsyuk, but on the other hand datsyuk likes having Abby on his line. babcock loves Miller so he is in. TooToo is the only "tough guy" on the team. The only line that Nyquist and tatar could play on if everyone is healthy would be the 4th. They are not checkers. This is a group with severe issues and limitations.

So? It isn't about dreams. It is about talent and more important: production. scores more goals too!