eva unit zero

Blake might be a good pickup if we gave up Meech and nothing else. Anything beyond that and we're overpaying. Why, you ask? Rob Blake would be a third-pairing defenseman on the Detroit Red Wings, AT BEST. He is basically Cory Cross with a better resume. Rob Blake currently plays on the Kings' third pair with Tom Preissing; at almost 9m it is easily the most expensive third pair unit in the NHL. The Wings should look into physical, gritty defensively skilled defensemen. That's not Blake, and has never BEEN Blake. Lilja is not only better defensively than Blake NOW, he's better defensively than Blake has EVER BEEN. Ideally, we should be looking at guys between the ages of 24 and 33 who cost less than 3m on a full season. Some guys I would be interested in that fall into that group would be: Nick Boynton, PHX Brooks Orpik, PIT Keith Ballard, PHX Paul Mara, NYR Marek Malik, NYR Vitaly Vishnevski, NJD

I'd rather have Lidstrom and Lilja than Pronger and Niedermayer. Pronger and Niedermayer are very good...but of the three, only Nick is an All-Time great. Since the 1997-98 season, Lidstrom has been arguably the best defenseman in the world eight times in nine seasons. The only time he can't be argued as the best during that period was during what was one of the worst seasons of his career statistically, and he was still top five!

As poorly as Samsonov has performed this season, despite his outrageous price tag, I would pick him up. Here's why: Samsonov still has wicked hands and ridiculous speed. What he hasn't had anywhere he's played has been a regular Russian linemate. I would pick him up and try him with Dats and see how it works. At worst, the Wings waive him and he's off the cap. At best, we pick up the top-six scoring forward everyone here wants, and we can split up DZH if necessary. If Samsonov works out and performs like a top six, we could roll the following lines or something similar: Hudler-Zetterberg-Holmstrom Samsonov-Datsyuk-Samuelsson Franzen-Filppula-Cleary Maltby-Draper-Kopecky

You can see Z in another uni because you prefer Pavel. Z has said he would like to play his entre career in Detroit. The fact that he is NOT ALLOWED to have a contract extension right now and Pavel does is a direct result of the fact that Pavel demanded a contract that allowed him UFA status as soon as possible. In fact, that seems to suggest Pavel was more interested than Z in LEAVING Detroit. Just so you know.

Except that Samuelsson has scored 43 goals in 158 games since the start of the 2005-06 season. Divide that in half and it's 21.5 goals in 79 games. He's a 20 goal scorer, not a 10 goal scorer. Finding a 20-goal scorer with more physical presence than Sammy will cost assets we might not be willing to give up.

You do realize that it is a direct progression? If Michigan beats Florida, the Big Ten can beat the SEC in all matchups. If Michigan loses, the Big Ten can't. If Michigan wins, the Big Ten can sweep their bowls. If Michigan loses, the Big Ten cannot sweep their bowls.

666 and 616 break down numerically to refer to Nero using Hebrew gematria numerology, depending on whether you use the Greek or Latin spelling of Nero. The emperor Caligula works out to 616 in both Greek and Latin.

My priority in what I want to happen this bowl season: Michigan beats Florida; realistically possible. The Big Ten shuts out the SEC; also realistically possible, but far less likely. The Big Ten sweeps their bowls; least likely, due the the additional hurdle of the Rose Bowl.

Because Zetterberg was far and away the best rookie forward at both ends of the ice, and all the talk out of St.Louis was about how Jackman was so great, but Zetterberg was playing with all-stars which inflated his appearance. When in reality it was Jackman whose appearance was inflated. But voters wanted to give it to good Canadian boy, and since giving it to Rick Nash would have been obviously based solely on his birthplace, they picked the best rookie defenseman.

Drake and Maltby might be the only players on the team more expendable than Samuelsson. That said, Sammy brings a pretty decent package of two-way play and versatility. He'll never be a first line forward, but is good enough offensively to score like a top six forward when given top-six ice time, and good enough defensively that he can play effectively on a checking line in a defensive role. While I'd rather see him used in a more limited role on the Wings. But we need a better scoring forward for that to happen, and we don't really have that right now.

You fiend! YOU are the one who is ahead of me! You lead with 16 points after Utah/Navy, to my five and everyone else's zero. But my being the only person to pick Florida Atlantic looks like it will bump me up to a whopping nine points after two games...and still in second.

What's the best 23-man roster you can make given current contracts and the 50.3m salary cap? Here's mine: Paul Stastny 850k/Henrik Zetterberg 2.65m/Tomas Holmstrom 2.25m Alexander Ovechkin 3.834m/Sidney Crosby 3.7m/Brian Rolston 2.432m Dany Heatley 4.5m/Ryan Getzlaf 740k/Corey Perry 621k Milan Michalek 628k/Sami Pahlsson 1.4m/Mike Richards 942k Brad Boyes 1.5m Nik Antropov 2.05m Nicklas Lidstrom 7.6m/Dion Phaneuf 785k Sergei Zubov 4m/Tobias Enstrom 900k Jaroslav Spacek 3.333/Andrej Meszaros 984k Joe Corvo 2.625m Chris Osgood 850k Pascal Leclaire 1.05m TOTAL 50.224m

I read somewhere Lindros had the most.

Someone on LGW will be giving me tickets to that game for my birthday? Huh? Anyone?

Smolinski was born in Toledo, but played his youth hockey in the Detroit area and played minor junior hockey for Stratford before going to Michigan State.

Judging by the intent of the rule (to prevent collapsing defenses) it seems logical that perhaps the line is meant only for the defending wingers, and not the attacking defensemen? This would prevent teams from collapsing all five skaters to the slot, and would open the game up because while the attacking team could create a mismatch down low, it woul also potentially be giving up an odd-man situation. Which leads to more scoring.

I actually did what I could to ensure a well-rounded team; there are three top notch defensive forwards and a few others who are responsible; most of the roster is capable of playing a physical game, including quite a few who are significant physical players. There are defensemen capable of playing in a shut-down role. Also, when considering the 'next year' issue...you have to remember that these guys will not be putting up the numbers they do on their current NHL team, where most of them are first liners. I gave thoughts to chemistry and role as much as overall skill; hence the reason for the inclusion of such players as Sami Pahlsson and Tomas Holmstrom. I don't understand why people are going with goaltenders like Ryan Miller or Miikka Kiprusoff who make upwards of 3m when the three goaltenders who have been the best this season all make 1.1m or less, and the other guys at the top make upwards of 5.

I thought he chose may because May is the 5th month of the year, to provide further respect for #5?

I don't think it would require anything that drastic...just making the playoffs would be fine.

If Marchant was waived and sent down, he would still get paid by the Ducks, but his salary would not count against the cap. As mentioned before, Brian Sutherby could take Marchant's fourth-line position easily. Sutherby is an RFA at season's end, so he doesn't increase the amount of the cap hit for next season right now. They would be closer to the cap if they waived Marchant instead of dealing McDonald, but they'd still fit under it. If Niedermayer returns, they have to make another move to clear space for Perry. If he doesn't, they could have made it through with McDonald. Marchant is now the second highest cap hit among forwards on the Ducks, and he plays fourth line. Sutherby is an NHL player and played first line at times with Washington.

Schneider won't be moved. If he is, it means one thing; Scott Niedermayer will be with the Ducks next season. Burke traded Andy McDonald for s***ty return, supposedly because he didn't want to have to lose a piece of his defense for next year after Niedermayer leaves in the summer like everyone is expecting. Why would he then turn around and deal Schneider so that he can have Selanne for the rest of this season?

Waiving Marchant allows them to send him to the minors, and clear up his cap space. That would have provided them the tagging room necessary to have Niedermayer back in the lineup from the moment Marchant was assigned to the minor league club, which could have happened just as quickly as the McDonald deal allowed Nieds back into the lineup. Yes, Anaheim only allowed one regulation goal. But they also only scored one goal.

Three words that Mckenzie and Burke fail to realize would have been a BETTER move for the Ducks: Waive Todd Marchant. That clears up the same amount of cap space next season, while instead of losing the top six forward in McDonald, they lose an overpriced, redundant fourth liner who is close to retirement himself. There's a good chance Marchant will retire after the season...wouldn't it have been better for the Ducks to hang onto McDonald and only need to maybe replace one center, rather than now where they may need to replace two, including the second liner? It's a bad deal because of the players involved, and it's also a bad deal because of the other options available to Burke to achieve the same goals.

If Osgood leads the league in GAA, and is second in save percentage and wins, as he is now....there's absolutely no reason he shouldn't win the Vezina. The general knock behind guys who put up those kind of numbers is that they couldn't have kept it up all season...if Osgood finishes second in wins that means only one goaltender; likely someone who played significantly more, was able to put his team in position to win as much as Osgood. The only situation he likely doesn't win the Vezina is when there is a guy with more games played who is also near him in save percentage and GAA, at which point the other guy has a more compelling argument.

And after this season, that could realistically be: Niedermayer or Niedermayer+McDonald ?? If Marchant goes away, he can be replaced by Ryan Carter, who has seen plenty of SH time this season when he's dressed. The Ducks also have Brian Sutherby and Mark Mowers as part-time centers who can play a capable defensive game. Marchant's role on the Ducks is similar to Maltby's on the Wings; his team has several players who do his job better than he does. McDonald equates with the role Brind'Amour played on the Hurricanes' Cup team; the versatile, offensive center who is also defensively capable. One thing to remember; McDonald played on the top PP unit last season and is now on the second unit; he sees a minute less per game and is playing primarily with a combination of guys like Todd Bertuzzi, Rob Niedermayer, Mark Mowers, Geoff Platt, and Jason King. At even strength he had been playing with Bertuzzi and Andrew Miller; his linemates combine for 6-7-13 to his 4-12-16. If they try and plug Weight into that line...they won't have ANY secondary scoring.