DickieDunn

About what I expected

Yeah, that and just plain making crap up. The last time I actually read his crap he said that Devellano said something and cut-n-pasted a Khan interview where Devellano said nothing remotely like that. When I blasted him for lying he said something to the effect of "you have to read between the lines, he meant what I said, not what he said."

Do you want a second line center for well north of $6 mil per on a long term deal?

That's just when Captain Cut-n-Paste copies a St. Lame article. 80% of a Malik post is him copying a legit reporter.

F*** no. And when he's a 35 point second pair guy the people who want him now will complain incessantly about his cap hit and term.

He was their #4 and they have cap issues.

Smith and Dekeyser are still improving. Give Ehrhoff Smith's 18:23 TOI a game and no PP time instead of almost 24 minutes and 3:27 of PP time how many points does he score?

None of the above

How do you know he wouldn't have been picked before then had they waited? They obviously liked him and had him targeted, and he's shown enough this last year to make it a legit pick. 34 points in 29 games is a nice step up from the previous year.

Wings don't need a second pair D. They have 3 of them. I don't see Ehrhoff as a significant upgrade over Smith, Dekeyser, or Ericsson.

Only if they can find a player who has a brain and doesn't constantly run out of position to make a hit.

I see Gilbert coming here too. He's a guy who can play on the second pairing, move the puck, and is a right handed shot, and his contract should be reasonable and not be so high that if Smith passes him and pushing him to the third pairing people won't be panicky about how much we're paying a third pair D. Ideally I'd like to see Kindl moved in a package for a better player and use Kronwall, Ericsson, Smith, Dekeyser, the new guy and Marchenko or Ouellet as the top 6 with Lashoff as a cheap young #7.

Yeah, after Suter it was a bunch of second pairing guys that year, most of whom got upwards of $5 mil per. As far as Cleary goes, as long as it's a 2-way deal and he spends 95% of the season in GR except for a call up for a few games, that's fine. If they lose a kid on waivers because they want to keep Dand M-F-ing Cleary, I'm going to be pissed.

Exactly. He uses the people he hires properly, something a lot of bosses don't do. I just think it's funny that his detractors blame him for everything they don't like because he has the final say (which he doesn't in the end, he has bosses too) but the good things happen because of everyone else.

Signing a second pair d-man to a huge contract just because there aren't any top pair guys available in free agency is a terrible idea. Teams always regret those deals within a year or two. That's why we've seen so many buyouts.

Why would he even waste his time trying to trade Spezza to a team not on his list? And why are Murray and Poile getting bent out of shape by it? That'd be like an exec at GM getting pissy because someone he wants to hire wants to work for Google instead.

And Trotz is thinking "sure NOW you a-holes go out and get talent."

Or the Pens tell you that they want Mantha Sproul and a first if they're keeping him in conference.

Pit might have been set on moving Neal west too

Typo. Small buttons on my phone

Unless he really likes a team offering less I think he takes 8 years over $6 mil.

If Niskanen wants to get paid he'll be able to find at least one GM to give him 7 years and at least $6 mil per.

People are calling Niskanen a solid player. He is. He was also the Pens's #4 d and despite being solid /good, he's going to get top pair money, if not #1 money. It'd be like paying as much for a Focus as you would a Mustang because you need a new car. Parise and Suter went to Minny because of their matching contracts and that's where their wives wanted them to go. There were also lots of free agents who didn't wan to come here before the cap, but back then your third option was still good.

There's a difference between wanting to talk to agents and players and actually going forward and signing someone. Holland is talking to everyone in order to do his due diligence. When/if he finds out that Niskanen won't sign for less than ridiculous money, Boyle only wants a 3 year deal, Moulson thinks he's worth 6 years, $6.5 mil per, etc. and he doesn't think that they're worth close to those deals, he'll move on and sign another player to a more or less sane contract.

Signing Niskanen or any player coming off a career season in a contract year to a long term contract is a big risk. Yes, he could continue to play at a high level, or he could fall all the way back to where he had been, or end up somewhere in the middle. Only one of those 3 makes him worth the contract. One is a disaster, and the other makes in bearable, but not good. Given the fact that they have Kronwall, Ericsson, and probably Dekeyser and Smith long term and Sproul, Ouellet, Marchenko, Backman, Jensen, et. al. in the minors, and that at least 2 and possible 4 or 5 prospects who can turn into NHL players, I don't think that the Wings need to take that risk unless they make a major move something like Smith, Ericsson, and a prospect for a Norris caliber d-man who wants to leave his team that will open up a spot.