nawein

I'd love to see us move back and get a second round pick. Hopefully take a chance on Kylington in the first round and grab Senyshyn in the second. That would be pretty cool.

Want to know what's more marketable than a player? Stanley cups. If Edmonton refuses to make moves to get better because it's less marketable then, well, they deserve to be where they are.

I'd love to have him but my guess is he ends up in Minnesota.

I agree, Callahan shouldn't be given a spot either, but Blash loves him, he plays a gritty game and is way better defensively than Pulkkinen. He also goes to the hard areas, wins board battles and can score some goals. In other words, he brings WAY more to the table than Pulkkinen if Pulkkinen isn't scoring. Callahan is also a better fit for that line than Pulkkinen because with Callahan they'll be able to grind in the O-zone on both sides of the ice. Pulkkinen doesn't really grind. And Dekeyser-Kronwall is too top heavy if Quincey is bad Quincey and Kindl doesn't have a bounce back year. I don't want Quincey with Kronwall because I think they'd be bad together. I have no basis for that other than a gut feeling. It could be worth a shot. EDIT: I actually waived Weiss because we have the cap space to keep him for now. You can buy him out next season and save us a year of cap hit down the road when we might actually need it. If someone claims him, great, if not, buy him out later. We don't need to buy him out now.

Barring any free agent signings, I think as far as lines we should run something like Tatar-Datsyuk-Abby Zetterberg-Sheahan-Nyquist Callahan-Helm-Jurco Miller-Glendening-Ferraro Kronwall-Dekeyser Quincey-Kindl Ericsson-Marchenko PP1 Tatar-Datsyuk-Jurco Kronwall-Sheahan(netfront) PP2 Nyquist-Zetterberg-Helm Kindl-Abby(netfront) Let Sheahan, Helm, Glenny, and Miller do most of the work up front on the PK with Quincey, Kronwall, Dekeyser and Marchenko doing most of the work on the back end. Let Pulkkinen work his way into the lineup the same way it was with Tatar and once he does put him instead of Helm on PP2. For the record, I also think Smith is dumb and until he proves he can stop turning the puck over and can get his point shot through, I don't want to see him on the PP because I think it makes the PP worse. I'm hoping Kindl can get back to how he was playing when we signed him to that deal. I also hope we sign Stafford and can use him instead of Callahan on the third line, putting Callahan on the 4th for Ferraro. That's what I hope happens.

They stopped scoring because they ran into a goalie who, in 32 regular season AHL games this year, had a 1.88 and a .934 along with going 22-7-2. His stats are better in the playoffs. The Canucks are trying to move Eddie Lack to get this guy in the NHL for good next year. That's why they stopped scoring. Not Blashill forgetting how to coach or anyone being distracted.

Not that it has anything to do with Franzen, but why are people so quick to give up on Jurco? Sure, he didn't meet expectations this year but he's an entire year younger than Pulkkinen. Give the kid some time, he'll be good.

For his sake I hope he retires. Concussions are dangerous when you've had as many as he has and another one could quite possibly cost him his life. No game is worth that.

I believe it's going to be AA-Larkin-Porter.

Or we could try to get one that can get the puck out of our zone. So that, you know, we have to defend less and can attack more. Therefore scoring more. Therefore winning more. But yes. Big slow tough guy that can hit and fight and block shots. He'd be a very busy man since he'd always be in the defensive zone.

Pulkkinen, Mantha, Sproul, Ouellet, Jensen, Athanasiou and maybe some others probably all come up to see the playoffs and watch first hand how it's done. Just my guess though.

People said last game that whoever won that game will win the series, now this game too. I'm going out on a limb here and going to say whoever wins their 4th game of the series will win the series. We're up 2-1, it's far from over. Lots of work left to be done. Let's take a step tonight.

Ahh yes. Because benching our 2 leading goal scorers after one game of the playoffs for not scoring makes a ton of sense. Also, they didn't play a lot on the third because we were short handed for most of it.

So if Smith loses his job to a rookie, then said rookie (who is actually young, with 14 games played in the NHL) falters and loses the job, it somehow makes Smith better? That's not even logical. Also, coaches don't sit people to send messages going into the playoffs. Coaches sit people to send messages in the middle of the season. Babcock isn't sending a message. He's playing Marchenko over Smith because Marchenko gives us a better chance to win than Smith does.

Here's the thing. For your first point, it couldn't have and hasn't happened to anyone. Zetterberg has never reached out into the play while on the bench to play the puck. Kronwall, DK, Cleary, Tatar, Andersson, or anyone else either for that matter. It wasn't a split second decision that could have happened to anyone because every other NHL player I've ever seen isn't stupid enough to think "Oh, I'm on the bench. Oh look a flying puck! I should try to grab it." It's a play a 6 year old makes. It's the equivalent of a defensive football player running off the sidelines midplay to make a tackle and thinking he'll get away with it. There's no words to describe it. It wouldn't happen to anyone else because other hockey players have the ability to think and follow the rules. And yes, the thread was made about Smith because it's not the first time he's done something utterly asinine. It's becoming a repetitive problem and it's no longer excusable. For your second two points that I bolded, I have actually been saying these things since I watched him play in GR several years ago. I gave him a small benefit of the doubt but he made 6 or 7 terrible reads and two of them ended up in the back of his net. I watched him a couple more times after that and that's been my position ever since. His play at the NHL level has only confirmed it. Also I'll say this. The ability to think the game is the most important ability a prospect can have. It's not so much about physical ability or talent because those can be taught and developed. It's about ability to make the right read and react and have it be instinctive and fast. It's why Ericsson never developed into a top 2 dman despite his physical stature. It's why Ouellet will be better than Sproul. It's why DeKeyser is better than Smith. Given their physical attributes it's no doubt that Smith should be the stronger, faster, more athletic player than DeKeyser, Ouellet or Marchenko but Dekeyser and Ouellet and probably Marchenko will all be better because they have the mental side of the game that can't be taught. Smith doesn't have it. He never has and he probably never will. "A good player plays where the puck is, a great player plays where the puck is going to be." Smith usually plays where the puck was, because he probably just turned it over.

Khan Tweeted: Tatar-Datsyuk-Cleary (holding Helm spot) Weiss/Abdelkader-Zetterberg-Nyquist Andersson-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Glendening-Ferraro

That's what I think should be done too. Put pav and Z out against Stamkos. Give Miller-Glendening-Andersson The job of shutting down their young line put Gus-Sheahan-Tatar out against Filppula's line and roll Helm-Weiss-Jurco/Pulks against whoever else they have.

Who knows. I'm still waiting for Ericsson to grow out of some of his "growing pains." I'm in the camp that wants us to get rid of Smith. He's dumb. I've said that for years and it's still the case. Trade him while they still are seen as growing pains.

Penguins don't have their first this year. They traded it for Perron.

I don't remember where I saw it but I think I remember that Holmstrom was actually the one to give it to him and it's just kind of hung around. Either way, it's kind of hilarious.

He has a no move clause.

Axels stats are eerily similar to Kopitars at this stage in their careers. At 18 in the Swedish elite league: Holmstrom: 44 Games 10 goals 10 assists +6 Kopitar: 47 games 8 goals 12 assists -12 At 17 in the same league Kopitar played 5 games and Axel played 4. Neither had any stats really to show for it. I'm assuming Kopitar for more ice time and harder competition considering he came to the NHL the next season and scored 61 points in 72 games and he was taken 11th overall vs 196th, but if Axel can turn into even half of what Kopitar is he'll be another late round steal.

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not but I'm assuming it is since it was usually Hyman that drove the play for that line.

Confirmed by Khan's twitter that he's starting tomorrow too.

My guess is Weiss and Andersson. I think we'll run something like Tatar-Pav-Helm Cole-Z-Abby Gus-Sheahan-Pulkkinen Miller-Glendening-Jurco. I'd love to see Ericsson healthy scratched on the back end and replaced with Kindl or Marchenko. Kindl has played well in his few appearances lately and Ericsson has been a dumpster fire. I would try running Kronwall-Dekeyser Kindl-Quincey Smith Zidlicky With the top pair getting around 25 minutes and the others getting around 17 each.