Richdg

Average? LOL!!!! Yousaid he was bad end of last year? WTF are you talking about? Last 1/3 of last season he was the best Dman we had by far and away. Better than Nicky. When it comes to Ericsson, I will take Chelios's opinion over anyones. he thinks he is great! Go back and re-watch Chelis comments at Nicky's retirement party last summer. Now is Ericsson a number 1? No. Is he a solid 2/3? yes. Is he worth 3.25 million per season? hell yes! If he was a UFA this year, he would get 5 million per yer. Next year he will get that amount or more.......

Not to mention we can't score...... This was Howard's second bad game of the year-the opener. he has held us in almost every game this year.

I guess the RW's thought they had 4 days off...... ugly.....

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/buf130311.html This would be a good pick up for us. Kinda the anti-franzen. Doesn't have franzen's skill, but plays harder and with effort. good for 25 or so G's and plays both ends of the ice. only 27 and signed for 2 more years.

So with all the GM's together in one place, anyone expect moves? I do. I think there will be a big b!tch season about asking prices in the morning, then slowly over the next 72 hours deals will be announced. Will we be involved? That I don't know. But I do expect the flood gates to start opening up.

Stafford is 6 years younger, and his contract expires in 2 years. So in a worse case, he is gone. franzen will still be hitting our cap for SEVEN MORE YEARS! Now can Stafford regain his 30 goal past? Good chance. he is playing hard on a bad team that is in disarry. Will franzen? I wouldn't hold my breath. he is at the age where players get worse not better. Stafford is on the other hand just entering what should be the prime of his career.

Nothing against Smid, but I like our D. We have 6 good D now-when healthy, and more on the way. If dekeyser signs and i think he will, we are 12 deep with D that are here or will be over the next 1.5 years. D is a position of strength in the organization. So if we get Smid for cheap as a rental-Quincey being hurt, that works. But not picks, we need more of those!

Sorry but Howard is better than Miller, cheaper than Miller, younger than Miller-more years left to play, and we already have him. Why is this being discussed at all? In 3 of the last 4 seasons, Howard has had better GAA's, better save %, and more wins. Only in the 2010/2011 season did Miller have better numbers. Howard is also 4 years younger.

3 years ago I would be excited about trying to get Iggy. Now, not so much. Still good, but not worth the cost to get him. Numbers just are not there anymore.

4-1 Wings with the win! Tootoo, Abby, Filppula, and Ericsson with goals.

Ok here are 4 guys that have been rumored to be available/could be available, that fill needs for us: Drew Stafford 27, RW, 6-2/215, 2 years left on contract, good 2 way player, good for 25 goals per year. 4 million cap hit. Nikolai Kulemin 26, LW, 6-1/225, 1 year left on contract, very good defensive player, when played on scoring lines he has scored 30 goals in a season, 2.8 million cap hit. Brandon Dubinsky 26, LW/C, 6-1/210, 2 years left, gritty 20+ goal per year guy, 4.2 million cap hit. Patric Hornqvist, 26, RW, 5-11/190, RFA this year, true front of net player, good for 25+ goals per year. current cap hit is 3.1 million. Now the first 3 have all been mentioned in various rumors. Hornqvist may be a cap move. the preds have a bunch of holes to fill this off season. All of these guys are good solid, young, hard working players that would help us a ton. These 4, plus datsyuk, Z, Brunner, and franzen, gives us 3 solid lines that can score. These 4 would add 100 goals in scoring per season, for around 16 million. While thye may not be true homerun tranactions, we would get a bunch of doubles. Also have great depth once again. The trick of course is the how? Filppula in a sign and trade, tatar, Nyquist, Andersson, and some picks would all be in play no doubt. But all 4 are young enough we could expect them to be around for another 5-7 years. making each of them 31-34 years old depending on length of contracts. Not terrible at all.

Saw today that the Isles may be moving Okposo. Rumor was he wants to go play home in Minny with his friend Parise......

Again, AHL points mean nothing. Now if he was putting up 2 points per game maybe that would be different. he is small, not real fast, and looks like a 40 point per season guy in the NHL. Those guys are fairly easy to find.

Every move/non move is a crap shoot. Same is true with prospects. untill they actually do it, you just don't know. But when you can get guys that are between 24-27 and already have track records of scoring goals, you do minimialize the risk.

Anyone can be traded, it is all about the details. We have several pieces that can be used to make a deal. yes all of the guys I mentioned make us better right now than tatar, Nyquist, andersson, and the rest of the prospects do. these are guys that have PROVEN they can perform. Propspects haven't, which of course why they are called prospects. Now will that remain true years from now? That is always the risk/question involved.

is time running out with Nyquist? he turns 24 this year, has played at GR for a couple of years now, several more in college, and he can't take/keep a job with the big club. Clearly babs wants bigger players playing. Which is why Cleary keeps getting time, Andersson is staying, Abby on a top line, and tatar/Nyquist are wearing out their cars driving back and forth between GR and detroit.

Back when I started this thread, I was working under the assuption that most if not all of the top UFA's would resign with their current clubs. Which is kinda what is happening. So, before all the silly insults started, these are the type of guys we have to take a look at. Guys that are out of favor with their current clubs, impending RFA's, or on teams that are out of the race and looking to sell off. One more tha i would add to the list is: Okposo with the Isles. He is only 24, a RH shooter, has good size, very good defensively and has a resonable contract. With all of that beign said, why would they move him? well.... it is the Isles and they have some real weird payroll limits. He has already shown he can score at the NHL level. 3 different seasons with 18 or more goals, not a bad job on a really bad team.

Ok, Late saturday nite during the game Holland was on with Micky/kenny. I am not one to put a lot of stock in public interviews by GM's. After all, what do we expect? Him to lay out his strategy for the whole world to see/react to? But Holland did say some things that make me cringe. For the second time over the last 6 months, Holland talked about Sammy being a big guy. Yes, he is tech. 6-2/215. But he Holland ever watched him play? He might as well be 5-8/160. he doesn't use it. At the same time he was talking about how sammy is bigm, he mentioned Bert. Depending on 37 year old guys-that are hurt is just stupid. Sorry Holland, but this is dumb. You know it is and yet you say this stuff. STOP!!!!!!!! Some blast Holland for his life long man love for undersized pass first Euro players. But he has brought in enough size. the problem is, he has brought in/keep the wrong guys. Bert, Franzen, Sammy, and Abby all have decent/good size. But all are flawed as players. Be it they are old, broken down, lazy, lack skill, whatever. One last rant for the day.... Abby-listed at 6-1/215 and Andersson 6-2/205 are not big players. They are league average players. The last survey I saw was from 2008. In 2008 the NHL average was 6-1.5/206 for all players. Even know power forwards like Clarkson-whom I hope to see in a winged wheel this summer, is only average size for the league. Clarkson is listed as 6-1/200. He is the opposite of Franzen and Sammy though, he plays much bigger than he is.

D is fine with more help on the way. need forwards that can throw their weight around and shoot from the right saide badly. good news is there are a bunch of those type of guys in the first 3 rounds this year. fausching, McCarron, hayden, and many many more. yes most need 3-4 years in college and the minors, but that is how the draft works. draft today for results down the road.

Backs can be tricky. I hope he can be 100% next fall I wouldn't even try to have him play this year. Risking his career for 5 weeks of games just isn't worth it.

Not surprised at all. They are winning, had the money, and Perry is one of the best in the game. You just can't let 27 year old stars walk. he will be all of 35 when his contract expires. The new CBA made it easier for teams to keep their own players, they can sign them for 8 vs everyone else only going to 7. Big difference.

Yes I understand that we can't have hockey games every other day for very long. The bodies wear down. But I do enjoy seeing the RW's on TV every other day. Now we have a 3 day break and I find myself going into withdrawls..........

Rangers were/are a poorly designed team. Lots of big forwards, but weak up the middle. No one to get those forwards the puck. Ricahrds has been tailing off and Stepahn is very young, but that is it in terms of Cmen. They need a play maker or 2 to move the puck around. hey we have a bunch......

Helm is a very good hockey player? What is so hard for you to understand? But he is not physical. he does something that is normal in hockey-he checks. That doesn't mean he is physical. granted in today's game where it has become the No hitting League, that is rare and thus surprising to so many. Vald was physical. Mccarty was physical. Shanahan was physical. probert was physical. helm is draper 2.0. Great in that role. The biggest thign with helm is, i hope and pray he is 100% healthy. a bad back is death to many a hockey player over the years.

No it is not. we are a team that competes for Cups! not to be "like everyone else".