eva unit zero

Quebec and Hamilton maybe. Winnipeg NEVER pulled in 14,000 average yearly attendance. Oh and BTW, Nashville's attendance figure from last season was over 15k. And it was over 14k the year before. The Preds lost Hartnell and Timonen, and traded Vokoun because Mason played very well the past couple years when Vokoun has been out of the lineup. Hartnell wasn't coming back, and Timonen likely cost more than Nashville wanted to pay. They basically got a first round pick as compensation for two UFAs who were not coming back. The Preds' top six forwards, four defensemen, and goalie right now are: F: Sullivan, Arnott, Legwand, Dumont, Erat, and Radulov. D: Zidlicky, Weber, Suter, Hamhuis G: Mason That's a solid core. They will probably be in the market for one or two top six forwards, as well as a top four defenseman. Vokoun would have cost them nearly 6m. Timonen as well, and Hartnell probably 3.5m. They can replace Hartnell and Timonen cheaper, and have already done so with Vokoun. Say Nashville signs Kariya to a 5m deal and Forsberg to a 6m deal. That's 5m that wasn't on the cap last season; that and a new backup goalie are paid for by the departure of Vokoun. Timonen and Hartnell combined for about 4m; this can be used to pick up a guy like Rafalski or someone else of that caliber who could replace Timonen. It could just be me, but it seems like these deals are more about restructuring to fit Forsberg and a new defenseman. For those who have been saying 'firesale so Balsillie can move the team' you need to remember: Balsillie hasn't paid a cent for the team, and is not the owner. Leipold is the owner until final sale paperwork is filed. Balsillie has zero control over what the Preds do.

Huh? Guerin was given a NINE MILLION DOLLAR per year deal from Dallas. This was the summer after scoring 66 points in 78 games playing with JOE THORNTON. Only once, his second season with Dallas, did he ever come anywhere NEAR those numbers since signing that deal. Murray scored 44 goals and 92 points during Guerin's first season in Dallas, numbers Guerin could only dream of. Clearly, a bad move by Boston. In fact, Guerin's 69 point season with Dallas was the only time he has put up a better point-per-game ratio than Murray since 2000-01. Clearly, Boston should have kept Guerin at 9m and instead let Murray's 3.5m walk. Axelsson and Kobasew are the only ones you mentioned who were top six among Bruins forwards in ice time per game. Axelsson scored 27 points in 55 games; Kobasew posted 19 in 50. Axelsson is one of the league's top penalty-killers also. Compare him with Draper from Detroit's top six. Kobasew isn't quite as good defensively as Axelsson, but he is a defensively aware, physical winger with developing scoring ability. Compare him with Johan Franzen from Detroit's top six. Chistov, Bochenski, Donovan, and Mowers all were bottom-six forwards on the Bruins, although Donovan and Mowers were regulars on the PK unit. Not sure why Lewis was canned, but I don't see the organization getting rid of those guys soon. Thornton was a case of playoff failures, combined with a high price tag. Thornton was considered overrated and overpaid when he was traded. Obviously that's not the case now, but he's scored 1.47 PPG in 140 games since the trade, compared to 0.85 in 532 before it, and 1.17 in the two and a half seasons and 177 games before the trade. That's a MASSIVE difference. In three seasons, Bergeron has scored 70 points twice. Thornton took six seasons to hit the 70 mark twice. Bergeron was a 30 goal scorer in his second season, something Thornton didn't accomplish until his fourth. Bergeron is also signed through 2010-11, so his price tag will stay relatively low for what he brings offensively. Savard is signed through 2009-10 at 5m, a ridiculously LOW rate for a guy who has scored better than a point per game every season since 2003. I am getting sick of people who are angry that Balsillie won't get to move the Preds. Why, you ask? Because it's the same ******* people who are so upset about teams like Hartford, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Minnesota moving. Nashville supports their team better than any of those cities, yet Nashville doesn't deserve a team because they 'don't support it' and those other cities deserve one?

How is Guerin a bad deal or non-deal? They got him for Anson Carter, and when he left he got a deal that paid him TWICE what he was worth. Boston had Murray, who was better than Guerin at that point ANYWAY. Allison wasn't signed because Boston could (and did) just replace him with Thornton. The problem with Lapointe is they saw him have one season on Fedorov's wing on the first line, and signed him based on that result but then put him on the third line. Much like Ray Whitney in Detroit; signed at a first line contract for a first line performance, but then not given first line time or linemates.

And Fedorov left for less money. Fedorov played a BIGGER role. Fedorov and Shanahan should be treated the same. Whether that means booed or cheered, that's up for debate. But to boo one and cheer the other is silly. Sleeping with someone else's wife did get him sent packing from St. Louis...

Toivonen also missed the last 41 games in 05-06 with an ankle injury. I bet he'll look more like his 05-06 self (.914 sv pct) next year. He did make 30 saves per game this year though. Murray last year scored 28 goals in 59 games (39 goal pace over 82 games), and his shooting percentage was the best it had been since his first season in Boston. Not sure what else he could have done that would have fit what you were expecting of him. Bergeron missed the net more per-game. Savard posted 96 points, so if that's not 'the player he can be' then why does Boston get flak for trading Thornton?

Per TSN, It's Zyuzin. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=211518&hubname=nhl

They were one guy away from winning the Cup. That guy is Mathieu Schneider.

That's the best argument yet for not allowing Hamilton a team. The worst run franchises: 1) Chicago. They don't even try to succeed. 2) Toronto. Constantly adding overpriced pieces that aren't what the team needs is not a recipe for success. 3) Phoenix. Consistently bad player management and the only team that was around before 1998 that has yet to win two rounds in a single playoff year. 4) Washington. Washington has had the best left winger in the league for two seasons, and their top centers are third liners Kris Beech and Brian Sutherby. It's been painfully obvious they need a top-six scoring center, especially given they had five wingers and a defenseman in their top six scorers this past season. 5) Boston. Thornton trade and Lapointe signing not great moves, but Boston at least tries to improve by signing the kinds of players they need (Chara, Savard) and developing their top prospects (Bergeron, Toivonen).

A lot of the anger directed Shanahan's direction on this subject has to do with the fact he left in a similar fashion to what Fedorov did, and Shanahan gets called 'classy' while Fedorov gets booed.

Why would anyone even consider Souray? Schneider is better AND cheaper than Souray. By the time Souray is better than Schneider, one or both of Kindl and Kronwall will be ready to step in and excel. So age is not a consideration since we have guys who will be ready when Schneider drops off.

Samsonov was not the number one option. Look at GOALS, not points. Guerin scored 78 goals in under two seasons in Boston.

After seven seasons, Daigle had scored 100 goals and 240+ points. Stefan isn't anywhere near those numbers in seven seasons. Daigle had 2 50+ point seasons at that point, while Stefan's career high is 40. Daigle had scored 20+ goals twice, while Stefan's high is 14.

Samsonov had the better GPG when they were apart. Together, it's virtually identical. Also, taking the first set of numbers, and projecting it on a per-game basis over each player's GP in the second set results in these numbers: Thornton 220 GP, 60g-79a-139pt. Increase of 21 goals and 82 assists. Samsonov 140 GP, 41g-54a-95pt. Increase of 10 goals and 17 assists. Thornton certainly seems to have received the bigger benefit. Either that, or he simply developed naturally into a star, and his increased ability didn't change Samsonov's numbers significantly. Also, don't forget the fact that Samsonov was generally considered the second option for Thornton behind Bill Guerin.

They did mention a guy who was selected first overall and has been more of a bust than Daigle ever was. Patrik Stefan.

Fedorov should only be looked at as a potential acquisition if he plays this season like he did the first half of last season, and the Wings are looking to add a rental forward at the deadline. The only other realistic scenario of a Fedorov return is as a cheap addition if his contract is bought out, but that doesn't make sense for Columbus to do because they'd only save 2m in cap space, and that wouldn't replace Fedorov.

Daigle had a solid career. The five guys ESPN mentioned were all top seven picks. Two of them never saw NHL ice. Only Johansson played more than three games, and the total for all players is 21 games, including one playoff game. Johansson's 1 goal and 2 points is the cumulative total of all players. Daigle may not have been the next Mario Lemieux, but he had three seasons with 20 goals and 50 points, and the 94-95 season might have been the best of his career had it been a full season. How about Dave Chyzowski?

Probably when the referee has to stop play due to a player being down injured.

Fedorov's numbers this season. Start-Jan 6th©: 36GP, 13g-15a-28pt Jan 16th-Mar 10th ©: 24GP, 4g-7a-11pt Mar 14th-End (D): 13GP, 1g-2a-3pt In the game on Jan 6th, Fedorov only played about five minutes before being injured. He next played on Jan 16th, and clearly was not all back. Even so, Fedorov's offensive production from the blueline was a step down from what it was after he was injured. If you project Fedorov's "healthy" numbers over the 73 games he played, assuming he doesn't get injured or move to defense, and he comes out with 26g-30a-56pt. That's pretty solid for a guy who also plays Selke-caliber defense. Also, for the record, when Fedorov went down injured, Pavel Datsyuk's stats were 38GP, 10g-21a-31pt. Pretty close, don't you think?

Sergei's contract was a six year deal for 2m per year, plus a 14m signing bonus and 12m for reaching the conference finals in the first year. The CF bonus actually counted as salary in the second season, only counted for doing it in the first season (otherwise he'd have recieved it in 2002 as well) and the average value of the contract was only 6.33m per year including all bonuses. [/font] For reference, Joe Sakic signed a comparable deal the prior season that was 2m per year and a 15m signing bonus, an average of 7m per season. If you adjust the contract of Fedorov to the average, he would have been among the top paid players the first two seasons, but he quickly drops beyond the top 10, and then 20 even using the figure of 6.333m for all years. Considering he was among the best five or ten players in the world pretty much every season of that contract, it's hard to argue he was anythng but underpaid. Didn't Clarke get fired like a year ago?

The difference is that Sergei was still paid below his market value. He was the best player in the league and wasn't paid like it.

You're right. A hot Lang probably also had an effect.

In the playoffs, Calder wasn't playing with a hot Hudler.

The Wings shouldn't draft a player who has a decent chance at being a good NHL er...they should trade Zetterberg to Chicago so they can draft Kane. /sarcasm

Hamilton is within an hour of both Buffalo and Toronto, just FYI. Also, THE PREDS HAVE NOT BEEN SOLD YET. The sale must be approved by the end of this month. Balsille told Bettman he was not planning on moving the team, then started taking deposits for tickets. There is a locally owned group that has put together a bid in the event Balsille's bid is rejected, which at this point seems likely.