LeftWinger

Timashov should fall right in pretty quickly, probably $1M or less. If not, I am not too worried if he doesn't sign or gets an offer sheet. Now, let's get one more forward to better our team and give us another asset to deal at the TDL, whether it be a UFA or via trade and let's get this party started!

What the heck is happening in Mantha and Timashov land? If it was going to drag out like this, why TF didn't one side just file arbitration in the Mantha contract negotiations? Geezus, get this done.

What about Duclair or Perry for a year? I'd sign Hoffman for sure. These UFA's have to be getting a little worried. There are still 8-10 teams that have to shed salary before the season begins. Honestly, I'd like to sign Duclair and Hoffman to 1 year deals (maybe 2) and just waive Nielsen and Filppula. Bertuzzi - Larkin - Mantha Zadina - Namestikov - Ryan Duclair - Fabbri - Hoffman Helm - Gagner - Glendening Timashov, Svechnikov, Erne to battle it out for the final spots 13 and 14 Really, that forward group added to our improved D and G players, it could be a real fun year....at least compared to the last 4-5.

sorry for this, but it's spot on, funny and (it was made before we hired Yzerman) thank Goodness SOMEONE finally stepped in and forced Ilitch to hire Yzerman! BTW, Thanks Holland for killing us!

So did they 2nd buyout period go by already?

The writer is a hack.

At this point, whenever Mantha and Timashov sign, the roster will be pretty much filled. I know Yzerman said they still may add another forward, but I would think that he would only do so if he uses the other buyout. Personally, I like the idea of using the buyout on Nielsen or Filppula and replacing them with another C/LW/RW that wouldn't cost too much. Here are the top 5 UFA's in that position available still: IMO, and this is just that, I would re-sign AA to replace Nielsen or Filpulla. Not necessarily to play C, we have a few other players that can do that, but to get a younger, cheaper and more explosive forward. I know he had a crappy year with us, and didn't do too much more to better himself in Edmonton, but with that, it may cost us very little to sign him compared to the others in the 5 above. PLUS it could be that he has a nice bounce back. 1 year, $1M to try to re-start his career again. The ONLY thing is I think he had a very bad relationship with Blashill, so maybe if we could get one of the others. I think they all would be upgrades to Nielsen or Filppula.

I guess I should've read it better! I didn't even see the OHL part, I was thinking this was the NHL!

Nevermind, my bad!

Honestly, it's only last season that Mantha would've had outscored Bert if they had played 80 games, and even then it would've only been by 16 points. The other season's they both were between 40 and 50 points. I don't see where Mantha should get significantly more than Bert. I say $4.5M and call it. Give him a year or two to prove he can consistently get 70+ points, then reward him. He'll be a UFA either way when the contract is over, whether it's 1 or 8 years. He'll be 27 this season. You can't give him the same 2.5% raise, that would net him over $8M, so between $4.5M and $5M for a year or two and let's see him earn the $6M to $8M (or more.) Just my opinion...

This is ridiculous....decision please!

...so, of course they are going to make us wait the entire 48 hours for a verdict.

Quite the possibility. If Bertuzzi is only asking for $4.25M, it seems more like it was on purpose to allow another buyout. If it was a negotiation problem with Yzerman, why would Bert file and not Mantha? Are there no problems with Mantha and Yzerman? I do believe this was on purpose to allow another buyout. Nielsen or Filppula for sure.

is this a coincidence that we are on page 71?

His twitter is @dylanlarkin39, so I am guessing he wore it enough that it was important enough to him to use it. Guess I could be wrong.

The only two I guessed were 18 and 54. anyone else hear any rumors about Mantha going to his #8 that he wore everywhere else? That would be nice to see! Also would be nice to see Larkin go to his old #39 that he used to wear before 71, I don't know why, but I can't stand 71. I don't like 70 on Stecher either, I don't know what it is...He wore 51 in Vancouver, but unless we dump BOTH Filppula and Nielsen, I guess he's not getting that. Maybe in year 2 (and beyond?) Greiss I am ok with, he wore #1 before, obvioulsy not available, but 29 is a nice throwback to Randy McKay....LOL! Mike Vernon of course, just testing your age! Merrill either was a big fan of Probie, or he because he grew up here watching Chelios in it...maybe both. I am pretty meh with 92 of Namestnikov, I thought for sure he'd wear 13 for Kozlov. I am sure that Datsyuk would've had no problem with it either. I know he wore 90 the last few years, but either he knows about the voodoo curse on it, or they are saving it for Veleno. Right! Hell, $4.25M is a lot less than we were all predicting! Give him 4-5 years also!

No matter, Lucas Raymond is going to be better than Laf anyhow. Bet. The QMJHL always has players with tons of points come out and not do so well in the NHL. Laf will be good, but not the generational franchise talent his over inflated QMJ stats show. Raymond (and Stuetzle) are playing in men's pro leagues. The real winners are Ottawa and Detroit anyhow. LA should have gone D, they have 11, yes ELEVEN center's in their organization including Kopitar. That is not players that are listed as C/LW/RW it is straight up C! The ONLY center over the age of 22 is Kopitar, and he has 4 years left on his contract. So that is 10 C's (and yes they also have tons on LW and RW) that will all be vying position. that means more than half of them won't be playing for LA ever. Should've gone D. But I get it, BPA. Again, Raymond is going to be the stud of this draft, along with a few others that went outside the top 5.

So, instead of increasing our odds at the draft lottery, since, you know, 26 other teams got to play for a chance at Lord Stanley, including the lottery winner, our reward for sucking is an extended training camp....gee NHL, these 7 teams thank you oh so much for giving us a perk.

Just cancel the season, give the same lottery odds as this year.

That's what Yzerman should do. Go to these teams that refuse to pony up a 1st or top prospect in order to get some cap relief, then offer sheet one of their RFA's to the point where the team cannot afford to match (of course not having to give up too much in compensation) and force their hand(s.) Not that there are too many available from those top cap teams, but screwing Toronto over would be nice. What is the compensation this year? Sure would like to handcuff Tampa and offer sheet Sergachev, but they have $2.8M in cap space, we'd have to go above $3M for sure. Winnipeg better give me that 1st or I am offer sheeting Roslovic $1.5M as well!

all these cerebral players, we now need a cerebral coach, a chess player, a Professor....

Here are the teams that seem are going to be in dire need to dump some salary. What are these teams giving up?

Thornton just signed with Leafs. They sent "on paper" Engvall and Liljegren down to make room. Soooooooo worth it! But hey, it's a business!

from everything I can find, they get the 3rd best odds at the #1OA. I am not sure if they can fall 3 spots though, maybe they can only fall to the 4th? Here is how the NHL is gonna punish Arizona even more. Even though they forfeited their 1st round pick, the slot is still there, they will just skip over to the next pick like they did this year, for example pick 10, then pick 12. Arizona having pick 11. The punishment will be Arizona will win the 1st OA pick, but being forfeited the #2 team will choose the best player!