DickieDunn

Five teams wanted him at that money and term just like Cleary had a three year deal with Philly. I don't buy that.

Who the F would want any of those players on those contracts?

No, In saying Mrazek isn't.

Gambling is pure numbers. Sports isn't.

And he played better, Blashill praised him, then he was scratched for 3 straight games. If I was Jurco I'd run as far away from Blashill as I could get.

There are #1s because they have a proven track record, and there are #1s because someone labeled them that for other reasons. You go back to a guy in group A quicker than a guy in group B because one is proven, the other is not.

But like you said, this isn't Lundquist

Maybe give him some time with line mates who aren't stone handed pluggers first.

Exactly, gotta let your starter play. Which is why they need to roll with Howard.

He kind of reminds me of Brady Hoke. Some success on a smaller stage, says the right things, makes you feel good about him, then his players stagnate and he looks overmatched.

A lot of that is as much in the team in front of him, but nobody is arguing that when he's bad, he's bad. But when he's on, he's All Star caliber. That makes him average

How has he not played up to his contract that pays him like an average starter when that's exactly what he's played like? His issue isn't talent, in talent level alone he'd be top 10 easily. It's mental, and when he's off, he's one of the worst in the league. There really isn't much in between for him, either. Goalies are like quarterbacks, if you don't have an elite one, yours isn't good enough.

Like I've said before, every kid has to be on point defensively every shift or they get benched while a vet, even one who is supposed to be a defensive wizard, can blow assignment after assignment and not see their ice time touched. He tries to take every kid and make him something he's not, just like Babcock did before him. Smith was an offensive defenseman coming up, Babcock took him and never let him sniff the PP but ran him out on the PK. Dekeyerser was a defense first guy, put him on the first PP unit. Helm is a checking line center, make him a scorer. Jurco is a scorer, make him a checker. It's stupid.

he was always a long shot to play in the NHL

Cheveldayoff has zero reason to trade him now.

How does this make him easier to trade for?

He went to college. That's his decision, not the Wings refusing to give him a chance. Then he's done nothing while he's been there

I don't dislike them, I dislike their deals. Sign them for 2 or three years or at least a million less per year for a long term deal. The goal for a longer deal is generally to get the cap hit down, not make sure average players are taken care of financially.

He's bad at hockey. At least compared to guys who have a shot at playing pro hockey.

If you really believe that I have a wonderful little tropical getaway in the Yukon in trying to sell. You interested?

Why? It seems obvious that Trashill has something against him and wont give hIm or AA fair shot. He expects the kids to be "on" every shift but lets the vets get away with taking entire games off. If anything the established NHL players need to be held to the higher standard than the kids.

If I was Mantha I'd be asking out of this organization right now.

Paying guys too much for too long limits flexibility. flexibility is good, especially when rebuilding. Those deals are just part of the overall problem.

Good luck with that with studs like Glendening, Abdelkader, Ericsson, and Helm signed to multi-year deals.

It's not a lock, nobody said it was, but the odds drastically decrease as you go down the draft. The top 2 are generally locks, outside the occasional bust, 3-5, a little worse, 6-10 worse yet, then the odds drop at a growing rate the further down you go.