eva unit zero

Hank had 6 goals in 6 games last postseason...

That's why it's called a rental. Smyth>Williams outweighs Lebda>Lilja.

It's likely Osgood will start next season. If Hasek hadn't been willing to come to Detroit for an insanely cheap price, Osgood would have started this season. You have to remember--Holland went goalie shopping and didn't bite on apparent deals such as Belfour for under 1m. He didn't sign any veteran goaltender until Hasek, a Stanley Cup champ, six-time Vezina winner, and two-time Hart winner agreed to a 750k deal with some hefty playoff incentives. He gave up no assets and retained cap spacee to acquire a guy who was the best goalie in the league the first half of last year. If Hasek retires for good (which is likely) Holland will probably go with Osgood as starter and Liv as backup. Howard will get one more year in the AHL and MacDonald will be cut loose. The only better deal on a veteran starter than Osgood right now is Hasek.

Better to keep him and trade Lang or Datsyuk for said winger. Hudler has a future with this team..Lang and Dats could both be elsewhere next year.

The 67 Leafs team is just getting together to discuss one thing: "How much longer until we are not the first team you think of when they say 'Cup winning Maple Leafs?'

Kronwall is a top three defenseman now and is likely going to be the cornerstone of the Wings' D for many years. Kindl is a top defensive prospect with top-two potential. Both of those guys are skilled offensive defenseman with solid physical and defensive aspects. Lebda only brings the offense, he doesn't have the physical game or the defensive ability. Nor does he have Kronwall's offensive capability. It's attitudes like yours that are exactly why Lebda SHOULD go in a trade for a guy like Smyth--because of better-than-expected performance the past year, Lebda's value is riding high compared to his actual potential. It's not that I don't like Lebda. The biggest 'weakness' that the Wings have had in the postseason the past few years is that they can't beat the trap with dump and chase because they have a limited number of guys who can get the puck in the corners, and they don't crash the net often enough. A trade like I suggested for Smyth would solve both problems, without creating any holes.

Vladdie received 2 first place Norris votes in each of his final two seasons. No other Russian defenseman has ever received even one. Vladdie is also the only Russian Norris finalist ever--a feat he accomplished in his final season. He likely would have been tha favorite for the award if he had played the next year.

If Edmonton een considers trading him, he could probably be had for something like Williams/Lebda/2nd or something of similar value. Those are offensively-apt guys who would fit in perfectly with Edmonton's system, are young, and are not terribly expensive. I'm sure my inclusion of Lebda will incite riots, since he is apprently untouchable according to some other posters on this thread...

Here is the current roster, as ordered by estimated trade value--how much the player would likely bring back if he were traded with no additional players or picks. Highlighted in red are the roster players I would consider trading at this point for whatever reason. UNTOUCHABLE Zetterberg Lidstrom TRADEABLE WITH RIGHT OFFER: Kronwall Datsyuk Cleary Hasek Lang Filppula Hudler Holmstrom Schneider Franzen Osgood Lebda Williams Kopecky Markov Samuelsson BASICALLY UNTRADEABLE--LOW VALUE Draper Maltby Langfeld Lilja Chelios MacDonald

Chelios is a 4th/5th defenseman in the NHL right now. He's a former perennial Norris trophy contender. Roberts used to be the best left winger in hockey. That was 15 years ago. Now, Roberts is a good depth player, but he won't turn a team into champions if they aren't already close. Most who would say yes to Roberts believe the Wings are not close...which makes it a pointless trade if it's the big deadline move. Personally, I feel the Wings only have to make one or two minor adjustments unless a great deal is presented. Roberts is not any of that. "Sexy tandem back in the saddle in Dallas" AWESOME!!

In all fairness, Cory Cross was the emergency backup plan. From what I have heard, Holland had lined up Witt well enough that he traded Rivers to make room for him, but then was trumped by Nashville's RIDICULOUS offer. Witt over Lebda wouldn't have changed our fortunes last year in the playoffs. Would you have rather coughed up a first, lost in the first round, and then lost Witt in the offseason? Cross was a good compromise when Witt's price increased dramatically beyond his value? Holland was able to pick up a physical depth defenseman to upgrade over Rivers without giving up anything of significant value.

Konstantinov was better than Zhitnik every year they played in the league together. Konstantinov was the best defenseman in the world when his career was tragically ended by injury. It stands to reason he should be considered above Zhitnik, who was never better, and that he should be given the same injury provision guys like Orr, Neely, and Lemieux get. Had Vladimir not been in that limo, he would probably be in the top spot on this list.

The 97 Wings had: Highly skilled players: Yzerman, Shanahan, Fedorov, Larionov, Kozlov, McCarty, Sandstrom, Lapointe, Lidstrom, Murphy, Konstantinov, Fetisov Tough guys: Shanahan, McCarty, Konstantinov, Lapointe, Ward, Rouse, Kocur, Pushor If you'll notice, there is HUGE overlap there. THAT is the key to those teams...not having a bunch of skilled guys and a few enforcers--having a few skilled guys who can stick up for themselves--including the best tough defensive defenseman and the best power forward in the league at the time, playing with several other highly skilled guys--the equivalent of adding Chris Pronger and Joe Thornton on this year's Wings team without giving up a core player. An improvement like that is NOT going to happen before next season at the earliest. That said, the Wings do stand as good a chance as any other team to win the Cup.

Is the best Russian goaltender as far as his NHL career is concerned.

Norstrom is one of about seven guys I wanted to shoehorn into the tenth spot, actually.

Having Yashin second totally invalidates this list. Assuming you mean their NHL career only: 1. Fedorov 2. Bure 3. Konstantinov 4. Mogilny 5. Kovalev 6. Zubov 7. Kovalchuk 8. Ovechkin 9. Khabibulin 10. Gonchar

the 10 best Swedes in the NHL right now: 1. Zetterberg 2. Lidstrom 3. Forsberg 4. Sundin 5. Alfredsson 6. Ohlund 7. Naslund 8. H. Sedin 9. D. Sedin 10. Lundqvist

Except that Chevy was a Vezina contender and All-Star, something Joey Mac will likely never approach.

Dats and Zata had a clause in their contract stating they would play in the NHL or in their home country. Hudler was 22 when he became a full-time NHLer. Zetterberg was the same age. Datsyuk was 23. Datsyuk and Zetterberg got to play with actual scorers in their rookie seasons. Hudler has been played on the fourth line pretty exclusively, despite showing excellent scoring touch and the ability to make plays.

Yzerman may not have been as good as Mario or Wayne offensively, but he was FAR better defensively. Yzerman is the only player in league history to score 150 points and get at least one first place selke vote in the same season--and quite possibly will be the only player to ever do that.

I would consider Zetterberg for Crosby or Ovechkin. Simple reason why? While I would rather have Zetterberg now, the fact remains that the other two are at the top of the league in scoring AND are several years younger than Z. Of course, the fact that Crosby and Ovechkin might be worth a player of Zetterberg's caliber is exactly why they will likely never be traded.

The Wings had beaten the Avs and won the Cup the prior season. Fedorov had made about 8.5 million total over the previous two seasons, and was arguably the best player in the league at the time. There were other guys making 8, 9, 10 million. Fedorov received a six year deal with a 14 million dollar signing bonus, 12 million dollar 1998 conference finals bonus, and two million per season base salary. Total contract value 38m, average per year 6.33m... Fedorov only received a raise of about two million if you factor in his bonuses. Consider that, if you average his contract over the six years incluidng bonuses, only in the first two seasons does he crack the top five salaries--after that, he doesn't even break the top ten. It could easily be argued he was better than his salary rank.

30. Ted Drury

What I'd like to see: Williams, Maltby gone Fedoruk-type and pick(s) or prospect(s) in. Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Hudler/Lang/Cleary Kopecky/Filppula/Samuelsson Franzen/Draper/Fedoruk

Is this supposed to be Martin Rucinsky, who also played for the Oilers and Nordiques?