chaps80

Cool, didn't know that. Does his NMC reduce to an NTC or M-NTC though, or is he completely moveable anywhere?

I hated Calgary after the series with the Wings in the semis in '04, but that doesn't compare to the crap the Ducks pulled over the years. Hope the Flames win this one.

Edmonton has got their s*** together and have a good team, but SJ will be hungry after last season's disappointment. They should have won the Cup.

The Blues are still the only franchise from the 1967 expansion who haven't won a Cup. They've had some damn good teams over the years, but can never seem to get it done. Don't see that changing this year. Dubnyk has been a wall this season.

More of the same from Holland. His plan is to try to get into the playoffs next season, and he's still thinking about free agency? LOL This guy needs to go now. His expansion draft strategy should be to force Vegas to take a bad contract. He won't need any sweetener draft picks to do that. Nielson, Zetterberg, Athanasiou, Mantha, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan, Larkin(exempt) Oulette, Jensen, Green Mrazek With that protected list, it leaves Abdelkader, Helm, Glendening, Kronwall, Ericsson, DeKeyser, Sproul, Howard, Coreau. So they can take Sproul, hoping a change helps him reach his potential, but they will have other options on D with a decent NHL career in the books that can help right away. Don't see it. As for Coreau, he's shown he's not NHL ready, and they will have much better options in goal. I think they'd snag Howard before him if they were to take one of the two. Out of the veteran contracts, I see Helm or MAYBE Abdelkader taken. At the trade deadline, swap Green for picks and try to convince Nielson to waive his NMC and then shop him. I'm sure at 33 he'd like a shot at a Cup. He'll probably be impossible to move, but Holland should try. Ditto for Howard if he can stay healthy and play well. Again though, probably unmovable.

I figure everything of historical value and memory will be moved to LCA. Not like it's a far move and the Illitchs don't have the money to do it.

HAHAHAHA This has to be my fave of all time

I went to see the Wings play the Leafs at the ACC a few years back and four tickets in the upper bowl cost $800 from Stubhub (Wings lost to boot). That place is sold out like 5 years in advance. Lots of big corporations have a whack of season tickets. Anyone who has season tickets can make quite a bit of money off them.

Hope the Make Me Laughs get swept so I don't have to listen to their idiot bandwagon fans for very long. There's too many of them here in Sudbury. I don't see them taking out the Caps either way though. The Leafs roster is full of first time playoff players, while the Caps are full of experienced playoff players. Matthews is good, but he's no Ovechkin. Holtby is also a better goaltender than Andersen. who may not even play in Game 1. McIlhenney against the Caps offense..look out! I wonder if my friend will burn his Leafs jersey again if they're eliminated, like he did when they blew that 4-1 Game 7 lead to Boston. Hahaha

That's awesome! And I agree, spread some in LCA's penalty box.

This.

At least he hit puberty before the draft.

Guess we'll find out, cause Holland will let him do what he wants, so Blash will too. Even if he's even slower and more of a liability, he'll never sit. If he does play better though, good for him.

That's true about Z, but Z also is a hell of a lot more skilled and mobile than Kronwall. Maybe if Kronwall wasn't playing 20+ minutes a game still. If Blash is still around, he needs to cut his minutes big time.

HAHAHAHA You need a Xanax? Mannnn. Holland did state Cholowski was going to be a project and he knew that when he drafted him. The kid looks like he's 16 years old. Might be why he was signed after one year of college. So they could get him on the right track and more focused on hockey and training instead of his studies. He needs to bulk up some if he's gonna try the AHL that's for sure.

I hope Holland isn't re-signed. Finish your contract and GTFO. Putting Blashill's future in Holland's hands pretty much guarantees he'll be back for at least next season, despite the obvious problem that he's in over his head and has no idea what he's doing. Yeah there's over ten million in combined salary owed to those two that Illitch may as well throw in his fireplace and watch it burn. Not like that money gets him anything useful.

Really? Not surprising if it's true. The guy obviously doesn't know when enough is enough. If he looked at his stats from this season and saw that he was a liability and negative presence on the ice and his blunders and mobility issues resulted in quite a few goals against and still won't hang em up before he completely ruins any good memories fans have of him, the Wings are screwed. Honestly, the ONLY player on the team who should be able to control his own future with the team is Z. Kronwall needs to sit or go to GR and help out down there. Just ridiculous.

Excellent! They needed to do that and I'm glad they will. Still, kinda surprised they decided to.

Cholowski is a good example of one of his experiments. He even openly said he knew he would be a project that will take a few years. Most GMs would have taken Chychrun, or at least Max Jones, who was still available even after Holland dropped to #20 after the Datsyuk trade. He could screw up a pick even if he had the 1st overall in the McDavid/Eichel draft year.

It's up there for sure. Maybe they should have stuck with Budaj, the guy who saved their season (up until Quick returned and they traded him for Bishop) and was easily their MVP. But instead Lombardi panicked and sent him packing like he didn't do a damn thing for them. Karma sucks, huh Dean?

LOL Excellent. Thanks.

Took me a few mins to find Stevie lol picked out Lids and Z right away though. Is that Vernon on Stevie's left? Not left in the angle of the pic, but left as they stand on the ice facing inward. Nah, I don't think any dual sport use arena has a system like that. Lots of money for nothing really. Each team will have their own end of the ice/court though I'm sure, so they won't be near each other.

Heh you beat me to posting the thread by not even ten minutes. And I agree, hire them both now Illitch!! Successful new GM and coach for the rebuild and the new arena. Works out great.

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2017/4/10/15253308/los-angeles-kings-fire-coach-darryl-sutter-and-gm-dean-lombardi-robitaille-rob-blake The Kings announced that general manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter had been fired on Monday. Franchise legend Luc Robitaille will become club President and Kings Hall of Famer Rob Blake will take over GM duties.

Yeah I think they'd look elsewhere for goaltending first. If PIT can't trade Fleury before the XDraft then they have to protect him (NMC), and Murray will be exposed. No way he goes unclaimed. Bishop is UFA, but if they take him from LA, which I'm sure LA hopes they do, and can get him signed, they'll be set. Raanta will be available too, cause no way NYR protects him over King Henrik. There's other options as well. I think the Wings are stuck with Jimmy until his contract is over, unless he stays healthy and plays well until the trade deadline. Then they may find a taker. Ive heard that LV is planning on taking a few goalies to corner the market and trade the ones they don't keep for players, prospects, or picks.