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You don't know who is going to be targetting a #2/3 C or what the value of his contract is going to be. Would have have given $4.9M to Weiss? I wouldn't have. Would you have thought Cullen would only get 3.5M You're right about that line... and then each was moved up, at various times, to play with Datsyuk when he returned. Which disrupted the chemistry.

What's market value? Who's deciding that? Certainly not you. And you have no idea why the coach is playing him on that line- could it be that he's trying to get Legwand to play with people he's comfortable with? We've had one of the most active rosters over the last four weeks, with a crazy number of different lines. Nobody seems to be comfortable out there right now. I'm sorry, I was reviewing the Legwand trade and got mixed up. It should be a 1st and 3rd, plus the better center (Berglund is better on the wing) which is what the RFA deal calls for at that price point. I still believe in Legwand.

Or, it's his hometown team, and it takes more than seven weeks to develop chemistry with players, especially with a number of guys going in and out of the lineup (Datsyuk/Helm/Franzen soon to be Zetterberg, etc.) and he just miiight be looking forward to an opportunity to play on the top line for his favorite team growing up?

Nah, I was talking about RFA. What's the formula for determining that?

Compliant Buyout Franzen. Regular Buyout Tootoo. Trade Stephen Weiss, 2014 1st, and 2015 3rd round pick to St. Louis Blues for rights to RFA LW Patrik Berglund. Immediately sign him to a 4-year, $4.45M/yr contract. Sign LW Tomas Vanek to 3-year, $9.00M/yr contract. Sign D Dan Boyle to a 1-year, $6.00M contract. Re-Sign C David Legwand to a 2-year, $4.50M/yr contract. Re-Sign D Danny DeKeyser to a 3-year, $3.50M/yr contract. Re-Sign G Jonas Gustavsson to a 1-year, $3.50M contract. Re-Sign RFA LW Tomas Tatar to a 1-year, $950K contract. Re-Sign RFA C Riley Sheahan to a 1-year, $950K contract. Vanek-Datsyuk-Legwand Berglund-Zetterberg-Nyquist Jurco-Sheahan-Tatar Miller-Helm-Abdelkader Andersson-Glendening Kronwall-Smith Ericsson-DeKeyser Marchenko-Boyle Lashoff So Gustavsson and Boyle move on/retire after next year. Frees up money for re-signing Gustav Nyquist ($3.75M/yr for 3 years?), Tatar ($2.75M/yr for 4 years?), and Sheahan ($2.75M/yr for 4 years?). The last two basically sacrifice their first year or two years of UFA for a big raise over their RFA years. By the time Legwand is done with his contract, the team will have Mantha, Ouellett, and Sproul up. Only thing the team would be missing is a #1 C for Datsyuk, depending on his health/ability/desire to play in NHL... Vanek would be 34 and the team could assess him then, too.

Are Tatar/Sheahan unrestricted free agents after next year, or do they have another year of pending RFA status?

I know it was briefly discussed in the GDT, but this should be a topic of concern for Red Wings fans over the next few days. There is an ENORMOUS difference between playing hard and playing dirty. The jewels are sacred in all sports- boxing, UFC, football, etc. If the NHL doesn't lay a HEAVY suspension on Lucic (3-4 games) for his actions, I will be extremely disappointed. It is his SECOND time THIS SEASON doing something like this, although the first one was "light" and "an accident". Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. He got damn near his entire stick between DeKeyser's legs! That is not a hockey play at all and he should be sitting for quite some time. Heck, trying to lay a huge hit and have your skates come off the ice will cause you to sit for at least a week, even if it occurs during a hockey move, but hitting someone between the legs with your stick is brushed off? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nssGVSiNYU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioq2gp2pJu4 That's two shots in less than FOUR weeks, it was caught and replayed on NATIONAL TELEVISION in TWO of the largest NHL markets, and during PLAYOFF HOCKEY. There BETTER be a suspension! Otherwise, the NHL is setting a tone for the rest of the series that the Red Wings might not be able to keep up with.

anyone have a video of the "takedown"?

I like Alfie a lot, actually, if Z and Datsyuk are healthy, he's on the top line with them. I just don't think that he fits with what I was trying to do there, unless we're to give Franzen the boot (PLEASEEEEE)

Sigh. I mean... ugh. I don't know what to say to that. LOL

Someone in another thread posted a lineup I liked a lot: Legwand-Datsyuk-Nyquist Jurco-Sheahan-Tatar Franzen-Helm-Bertuzzi Miller-Glendening-Abdelkader

Is that Chara on the far side? I haven't seen the video in a few hours and it's not loading for me. Anyway, something I noticed earlier - he didn't actually fall over because of Datsyuk's move, his skate was kicked by Abdelkader when Abby tripped. Then the other defender laid on top of #8.

You're pretty confident. Sadly, confidence doesn't equate to reality. I think, by next Thursday, we won't be seeing you for about six months.

Well, they made an example of spearing when Lucic did it in March - he simply got a warning. So if they were to fine Perry, for his first offense, that would go against precedence, which is grounds for a labor complaint. Here's the thing, though... Lucic admits to doing it TWICE in a month ("I mean, I haven't done that but unfortunately I've done it twice in the last little bit here,") and all he gets is a MINUTE fine. Again, it is 0.0008% of his salary. That is 1/1250 of his paycheck... or, if we consider hockey a 24-hour-per-day job, 7-days per week throughout the entire year... fining him for six hours of work. Total. So he paid off his punishment by basically sleeping. The coach says... "Our video doesn't show it, so I can't comment on it," he said. "I think it was seen on another station and I haven't looked at it yet, so I can't say much about it. But obviously if it's serious enough to get a call then hopefully he has to adjust and rectify that, so I've heard of it but haven't seen it." So if it doesn't get a call... he doesn't have to rectify it? Whatever. Doosh.

Anyone know how much Lidstrom's surgery cost? That's gotta be on the internet somewhere... that should be the amount of the fine, right? Also, how does a penalty during the game = game misconduct, but when it's caught on national television during the broadcast AND replayed over and over for people all around the world who might not have even been watching the game only = .0008% of his salary?

What a joke. Totally irate right now. So what happens when they take Datsyuk's knee out in game 3? We just layed the ground work for dirty plays = minimum fines, no suspension.

I don't know if anyone pointed it out... but the OP shows the Chicago Blackhawks listed as the team (above team points-leaders), not Bruins. FYI.

Package the #1 and a D prospect (Almquist? I like him, but he's out of options) and get Patrik Berglund from St. Louis Blues. He's young, he's huge, he's competitive, and he's Swedish! Sign him to a 3-year, $4M/yr deal. Abdelkader-Datsyuk-Nyquist Berglund-Zetterberg-Alfredsson (most decorated Swedish line... ever) Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Helm-Glendening OMG drool.... Alfredsson moves on &, if Mantha keeps up his progression/pace, instant replacement.... Bring in a Dan Boyle (1-year, $10M for all I care - they'll have more than enough money to re-sign the team and sign Berlund), you'll end up with: Kronwall-Smith DeKeyser-Boyle Ericsson-Kindl Lashoff

I hope it's Franzen! Z-Dats-Abby Gus-Helm-Alfie Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Glendening-Legwand

Franzen - Datsyuk - Alfredsson Abdelkader - Legwand - Nyquist Tatar - Sheahan - Jurco Miller - Glendenning - helm Whatever you do, Mike, do NOT touch Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco....

With good reason. Some of those looked mighty close to undercutting people, clipping knees, and there's no place in hockey for crushing someone into the boards when they're 4-6 feet away from the side- especially the bench. That's asking for some serious head/neck/face injuries. Why don't we see them anymore? Because we now know that hits like that lead to PERMANENT and DETERIORATING brain disorders. I get as pumped up as the next guy when I see a crushing hit, but you know what? That's not my brother/father/friend who, thirty years from now, will have a hard time writing his name or remembering mine because of hits like that.

:lol: Good lord. I was just talking to a buddy about Eric Fisher and how he went #1 overall, but people expect two of Lewan, Robinson, and Matthews to fall out of the top 10 in the NFL Draft. Guess I should stick to talking about one sport at a time. That's embarrassing... but yes, Scherzer was a one-time, one-trick pony. Doug Fister has put up some of the best stats in baseball for groundball-per-at-bat, and with a defensively-oriented infield, that would only get better. Scherzer is going to be Scherzer regardless of the team behind him- he's going to try to overpower the hitter and rack up K's.

I wish they would have traded Scherzer instead of Fister; the make up of the team behind the pitcher now suits Fister (groundball outs guy) than Scherzer (strikeouts). I also would have thrown in any prospect not named Castellanos to get Elvis Andrus instead of Ian Kinsler. The Venezualen turn between Andrus-Infante-Cabrera, with the rangy Iglesias at third (of Cuban-descent, and a great relationship with Omar Infante), would have been significantly better than what they went with. The difference between Kinsler and Infante is insignificant as far as talent; but Dombrowski threw away that camraderie and is now asking a multitude of players to develop new relationships. Let's say Infante went down with an injury... Perez is a solid backup. Let's say Andrus goes down with an injury... Iglesias slides over. Let's say Iglesias goes down with an injury... Castelanos steps in like he did. There was no point in trading for a 2B when there was a competent guy that could have been re-signed... I didn't understand that trade whatsoever. They could have traded Scherzer for a guy like lefty pitcher James Paxton and utility player Nick Franklin (Seattle), re-signed Infante for 2 years or so at $13M/yr, and swung Fielder, Eugenio Suarez, and Austin Schotts for Andrus. Give up the draft pick to bring in Curtis Granderson for 2-years, $19.5M/yr, and pick up the option on Jose Veras. They could have still brought in Joe Nathan at $10M/yr AND signed Edward Mujica (2-years, $4.75M/yr) to round out the bullpen. ALLLL these moves and they STILL would have been under $175M. Going forward, I figured Cabrera would cost $29M in 2016 (I would have only given him a 3-year extension for up to $33M/yr), but the team would have been back under $160M in 2015 by letting Hunter and Martinez move on, even with Andrus' salary bump and Fister getting about $15M/yr.

Never knew that, so thanks. Also, thanks for responding; my fears of your account being hacked and spamming links have been eased LOL .

I saw the domain, I just didn't understand the "oss".ticketmaster... I'd have to imagine they're all gone, because there's only one row left being offered there.