nawein

Especially since there we so many injuries after we learned that Howard was out. Gaudreau and Forsberg get added to the real deal when their teams already had reps. Not that I'm complaining, just seems odd.

This is something I've been saying for ages. This is mostly the basis for my dislike for Smith and Ericsson and why I like Ouellet. It's the reason I think Sproul will take a while to be good in the NHL. Hockey IQ is harder to teach than physical attributes and it's more important.

Nah, he has 11. Ovi has 12.

I was comparing them in the fact that they make whoever they're playing with better. Yes, because that's true. We're a pretty good hockey team. We have a lot of defenseman coming up. We don't have time to wait for him to progress slowly. He's not terrible, which is why he has trade value. He is however, very expendable. If he can be moved in a package to get a legit top 4 guy today, ie Yandle or another top 4 in his prime, and you don't do it, you're crazy. I believe we're a legit top 4 dman away from being legitimate contenders and Smith could be a key piece to getting that guy. That's my point. He's not bad right now. He's not really all that good right now either. He's okay. He has potential. We have replacements. He's expendable. He should be moved. Will it happen? No, but I think it should. And for the record, I wouldn't be opposed to trying him on the powerplay if our powerplay wasn't currently awesome.

As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to sit here and bash Smith. This season I would say he's our 4th or 5th best dman on any given night, depending on how much Ericsson sucks that day. But that's not saying much considering the current lackluster defense that we have. As far as krsmiths argument that "he's looked good with Kronwall" that's not really the point. Ian White looked great with Lidstrom. As did Ericsson for the shory stint they were together. Kronwall looks good most nights no matter who he's with. So does Dekeyser. Smith, not so much. I think we were all hopeful that Smith would be a player that makes who he's playing with look good, and not the other way around. Could he turn into that? Sure, he definitely has the potential to turn into that. And that's why we should trade him and his potential in a package for the type of player we hope he'll become. A player that is that today and can help now.

Marek Mazanec I believe. Pulks scored two on him in 9 seconds in the A.

Agreed on the Ouellet thing. He's good don't gete wrong, but nobody trades top prospects for a first + a top prospect.

He also has Ouellets value way too high in my opinion. And Weiss' right now, though giving him some ice time might get him there.

I believe they did away with entry waivers in the new CBA. I know they at least did away with reentry waivers.

We need Mrazek to be like Quincey and not lose. That's really all there is to it. He doesn't need to be a superstar yet.

This is why I think we should make two moves that I think are actually doable and we have the assets for. Kindl+a mid round pick for Zidlicky, and Helm, Smith, Pulkkinen for Yandle. It might take more to get Yandle but we have 5 really solid D prospects and I wouldn't be opposed to moving one of Marchenko/Jensen/Backman in this deal as well. This would be the ensuing (healthy) lineup. Gus-Z-Abby Tatar-Pav-Weiss Jurco-Sheahan-Franzen Miller-Glendening-Andersson Yandle-Dekeyser Kronwall-Ericsson Quincey-Zidlicky We get two fantastic puck moving defenseman and suddenly we don't have to defend as much because we're not giving the puck away in our own zone. Another way you could pair them is Kronwall-Dekeyser Yandle-Quincey Ericsson-Zidlicky I actually prefer the second one because I hate Ericsson and I think he's a waste of space and turns the puck over too much, but that's another topic entirely. Either way you do it our defense improved and moving the puck a ridiculous amount, we suddenly have 6 defenseman that can play 20+ minutes on any given night, and defending ability actually may have improved as well (espcially since we'll have to do it a lot less). Those two moves I think make us legitimate contenders for the cup and I think we should make them.

Coreau and I would assume Jeff Lerg will come up from Toledo.

I actually think this Weiss demotion might have more to do with putting Miller, our best defensive forward, with Pulkkinen. Maybe Babs doesn't trust pulks enough on the defensive side of the puck, so he puts Miller there to compensate.

I thought of a weird scenario today in which we landed Yandle and Zidlicky. Kindl and a third for Zidlicky, and Smith, Helm and Pulkkinen for Yandle and a third. Someone please tell me if I've completely lost my mind or if that could work.

Same reason everyone thinks Ericsson is a half decent defenseman. He's tall so he's good. Myers is tall so he's good. Clearly.

Farewell to the single most impactful hockey site I've ever used. Hope everything works out well for Matt and his health improves quickly. Sending prayers.

Several mistakes by Ericsson on that goal. Gotta love it. Lashoff

The first was a bad bounce, second was a perfectly executed 2 on 1 where our D didn't take away the pass, and the third was a 2 on 0. Not like he had much of a chance on any of those.

Huh, thanks for the info! I didn't know that.

Pull the goalie in ot. Have a little powerplay. Couldn't be worse than what's going on.

No I agree with you entirely. I was just being a smart***. He needs more time and he'll play in the NHL. I fully believe that.

By my calculations that's 13-ish chances.

You guys forgot Andersson.

Quincey is having a bad game

Because Heatley is Canadian and Voynov is Russian. We get along pretty good with Canadians, not so much with Russians.