eva unit zero

Toskala is not worth it--a 30-year old goaltender who has never been a starter is not worth a first round pick. He might have the talent, but he's too old with too little experience to justify that kind of return on his own. San Jose might be looking to acquire cheap defense with UFA Hannan looming. Lilja and a 1st for Toskala and McLaren might be a trade San Jose would consider--Lilja played damn well down the stretch and in the playoffs, and this trade would clear up about 2.5m in salary that could be used to retain Hannan. Detroit would get McLaren, who would replace Danny Markov's salary and function, but with a younger player who has more offensive skill, as well as Toskala, who could successfully platoon with Osgood until Howard is ready. Both Toskala and Osgood are UFA at the end of the year, so even if it backfired, there's no long-term obligation there. Ultimately, it depends on a)how highly San Jose thinks of Lilja, and b)how badly San Jose wants to keep Hannan.

Ozzie was a top five netminder the second half of the 90s. He should have won the Vezina in 96 and was an all-star a couple other times. There was a time when Ken Dryden was the only goaltender with a better career winning percentage than Chris Osgood. It's not like he's Glen Hanlon or something..the guy was top notch for years and is still starter caliber.

I think it's a bug in the way the fonts have been displaying recently. Didn't used to do it. I dunno.

You all need to get a serious freaking clue. [/font] Bettman didn't join the league until 1993. At that point, there were 26 teams in the league, and the 30-team plan had ALREADY BEEN DECIDED. The only expansion decision Bettman was involved in was which of the 11 bids would get the four teams to make the number 30. Let's look at those again, shall we: Columbus--decent sized city with no major pro sports, but rabid college fans. Hamilton--Suburb of Toronto that wants to use Copps Coliseum rather than build an NHL-level arena. Houston--Four bids from Houston with similar plans, put in while Dallas was still securing its market. Atlanta--Former NHL city; Major city in an area fairly devoid of hockey. Minneapolis/St. Paul--Everyone said it was a disgrace when the Stars moved. Portland--A major city with an old but serviceable arena, but relatively nearby Vancouver was struggling with attendance at the time. Nashville--a good-sized city with no professional sports over four hours away from the nearest NHL market. Oklahoma City--good sized city with ok arena plan, but like Houston could have potentially threatened the Stars. Houston and OKC are dismissed right away because of potential threat to Dallas. Portland is gone because of Vancouver. That leaves five bids for four teams. The Hamilton refused to submit a new arena plan when asked to come up with something other than Copps Coliseum. That and they would be inside Leafs territory--don't think Toronto wasn't hugely vocal against that. This leaves four cities to host four teams. Also--the contracts with Versus and NBC are only viewed as small because it's compared with the contract BETTMAN negotiated with ESPN. IIRC the Versus and NBC deals make the league more money that any NHL TV deal negotiated pre-Bettman. A few notes: Cleveland had an NHL team. It failed. It merged with Minnesota in the 70s, split back off in the 90s, and is now located in San Jose. Columbus supports their team better than Cleveland ever did. Winnipeg did not suport the Jets. Phoenix, which 'barely knows' about the NHL, does a better job of supporting an NHL team than 'hockey cities' Winnipeg and Hartford. Quebec moving was a result of a total lack of corporate support, due to the cultural dominance of Montreal. Let's look at one more thing: Teams that have moved in the 14 years since Bettman took over: Hartford/Carolina, Quebec/Colorado, Minnesota/Dallas, Winnipeg/Phoenix Four of the original 26 teams when Bettman took over. 15.3% moved. Teams that moved between 1979 and 1993, the 14 years prior to Bettman: Atlanta/Calgary, Colorado/New Jersey, Minnesota(Cleveland)/San Jose. 3 of the original 17 teams from 1979. 17.6% moved. So while you sit and complain about Bettman moving teams, the fact is that a smaller percentage of teams moved under Bettman than in the 14 years before him. Looking back another 11 years to the 'Original 12', in the span between 1968 and 1978, California/Oakland moved twice--first to Cleveland, and then merging with the North Stars. That's 16.7%. Chance of teams moving under Bettman: Lower than it has been for any period of comparable length since the Original Six.

Ottawa winning the cup would not be a disgrace. [/font] Why? Because it would mean that arrogant ass clown Brian Burke would be denied a Cup.

Fixed it for ya.

They dropped 'Mighty' from the name. The Mighty Ducks never won the Cup, and never will.

Going into the lockout, salaries were 75% of league revenue. That is not even mathematically possible under the cap.

Hmm...Winnipeg never once averaged that number for a full season. Not once in over 20 years--including WHA championship seasons. Last I checked, Winnipeg was in Canada.

The Wings beat the Sharks and Flames, two teams generally praised for their physical game. The Wings beat those teams largely due to being MORE PHYSICAL. [/font] Yet the Wings still played clean hockey for three rounds. It's like I said before..the biggest reason the Wings lost to the Ducks was the fact the Wings were missing two of their top three defensemen--Schneider missing was huge for the PP, and without Kronwall there was nobody suitable to fill in for him. I'd like to see how the Ducks would have done had they been missing Beauchemin and Pronger all series while the Wings were 100% healthy. Wings likely would have swept with Niedermayer being the only capable defenseman left on the squad.

Think about Tomas Holmstrom. He's ALWAYS in front of the net. How many times do you see him kick at a puck when doing so would put the puck in the net? [/font] Now take all of those situations, and add a kick. That's an awful lot of kicks with a skate blade, from just one player. There are 700 players in the NHL. Assume about half will kick at the puck an average of once per game if it's allowed. That's a reasonable amount of an increase to assume, given the number of situations that occur per game where kicking might be utilized if it were an option. That means 20 kicks per game, which means about 25,000 kicks per season. You don't seriously think 25,000 kicks PER YEAR with blades on your feet WON'T result in more injuries?

Copps Coliseum is a relic. It's almost as old as the Joe, not in as good condition, and plans regarding its use were the main reason Hamilton's expansion bid in the late 90s was denied in favor of Nashville, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Columbus.

What that doesn't mention is this: [/font] As I said, what saved his life was nothing more than a matter of luck in where he was cut.

Hmm... [/font] http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=43557&view=findpost&p=1086929 Smyth is certainly attainable. Signing Smyth simply means no Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi was worthless in the postseason, until it didn't matter. Gimme Smyth instead.

Broke his leg hitting a rut during the warmup skate, and he nearly became the NHL's Tyco Brahe when he finished a check. [/font] Only one of his major injuries wasn't of the 'freak' variety. That was the hit by Hinote where Kronwall just ended up going down badly. In preseason. That might be true if they were related injuries. Say, being out repeatedly for the same thing. Kronwall has missed a lot of time on three separate occasions with three totally unrelated injuries. That's a matter of bad luck, not a matter of being injury prone.

Incorrect. if it wasn't for the fact Malarchuk was incredibly lucky in where he was actually cut--less than an inch higher and/or slightly deeper and he'd have been dead in a matter of seconds. Consider something left off that video; Malarchuk skated off the ice under his own power, holding his bleeding neck. And the only thought in his head at the time: "I don't want to die on the ice."

It only takes two days to get from the beginning of July until the end of August? Wow, I've been using bad calendars for ages...

If not for Schneider's heads up play in OT of game 5, there's no guarantee the Wings make it past the Sharks. The Wings walked over San Jose in game 6 because of how Schneider ended Game 5.

Selig, easily. [/font] Bettman may have made mistakes, but he never let his personal feelings on an issue dictate his decisions as commissioner, which is a major flaw Selig has committed more than once. Selig wishes he could be 1% of the commissioner Giamatti was.

[/font] Mike Richter was a good goalie, but if you think he is deserving of being a top 25 all-time tender but you don't think Vernon, Osgood, Hall, Dryden, Parent, Esposito, or Plante deserve consideration? All of those goalies have had better careers than Richter. Both in terms of statistics and accomplishments. Fuhr is arguable--he certainly has numbers and Cups. But he played his prime on what might have been the most stacked team ever, and in the era when the NHL's talent was thinnest--the European and American talent pools were yet to emerge and there were more than 20 teams. I personally consider Fuhr to be in the group with guys like Ozzie, Richter, Barrasso, etc. because he wouldn't have had nearly the accomplishments he did had he played on any other team.

New York can't do it. [/font] Check attendance figures for New York teams not named Rangers.

But would they have gone to the Cup finals had he played those 4 minutes every night in the playoffs?

The Wings have 11 forwards, 4 defensemen, and a goalie signed for next season. [/font] Schneider, Markov, Hasek, and Chelios should all be back. The Wings won't be paying all of them Markov-like numbers. That would leave Hudler and one more forward as the only players who need to be signed. The Wings would be in fine shape signing those guys and Hudler, and filling out the final forward spot with a spare part. Obviously something more would be better, but they have plenty of money to do what they need to.

How has Parros helped the Ducks in the postseason? [/font] The Wings were better than the Ducks in the regular season, remember? You act as if Parros playing regular season games is the reason the Ducks beat the Wings, which is just insane.

Schneider is top priority to me. His injury is the primary reason we suddenly couldn't produce enough offense. He was having a great playoff and then suddenly wasn't there and it showed big time against the Ducks.