eva unit zero

The choices in this poll should be: Nick Lidstrom Red Kelly Reed Larson Black Jack Stewart Vladimir Konstantinov Marcel Pronovost Steve Chiasson Flash Hollett

I could believe this, but on this ground: Bertuzzi and Nabokov were also involved in the potential trade. The deal would have seen the Nucks give up Bertuzzi, Schneider, and probably something else (Morrison?) for Thornton and Nabokov. Nonis probably decided he couldn't afford to take on that much salary on a guy who last season was worse than either of his own current goalies. Imagine..Naslund/Thornton/???...could be a real scary line.

The only number that matters.

I have always been in favor of Isbister. He's physical, gritty, can score a few goals. If we pick up a free agent forward before the season starts, I want it to be him.

Maltby SHOULD be traded...Draper, Franzen, and Cleary do the same thing and are better at it. Only Draper costs more, and he is more versatile and generally better, and has a NTC. Draper, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Cleary is still a very good top four PK forwards. Antropov still has the potential to be a huge success. If we could trade Maltby for Antropov, I would do it. Holmstrom/Zetterberg/Samuelsson Antropov/Datsyuk/Williams Hudler/Lang/Kopecky Cleary/Draper/Franzen Maltby Antropov did excellent while playing with Sundin, and his abilities may be more suited to success with Datsyuk. Imagine if Antropov and Kopecky turned into solid 20 goal, 50-60 point PFs this season or next?

And Osgood was the only reason his team even made the playoffs to lose to Nabokov's far more powerful Sharks.

I like Mike Knuble. But this trade doesn't work for a couple reasons. Philadelphia is already committed to nine million for their current top four defensemen. Keith Primeau might not be able to play this season. Trading Knuble for Schneider would increase the Flyers' payroll by almost 2m, while taking another solid forward away. Philly doesn't really need Schneider as they have Pitkanen and Rathje. They currently have about 13m committed to seven defensemen. Without Knuble, they will only have Gagne as a solid scoring winger, with Kapanen and Sanderson as decent options. The Flyers, like the Wings, are center heavy and like will be playing guys like Richards, carter, and Nedved out of position to fill holes. They don't need to give up their second best winger to add an offensive defenseman. By the same token, the Wings are better off with Schneider than Knuble. While Knuble would give a solid option up front, the Wings have enough scoring with the roster as is, and have added plenty of grit in the moves that have been made. And perhaps most importantly..if Schneider is traded for a forward, Williams will be on the point on the PP.

Souray for Lang straight up favors the Habs. Why the hell should we trade Lang AND Hudler or Lang AND a pick for him? That's stupid. I would rather trade Datsyuk anyway; Lang is more likely to resign, and is a notably better player in the playoffs. Datsyuk has higher trade value, so use him to get something solid. Datsyuk for Souray and Ryder would be good; Souray is physical. But he'd be our no.4 defenseman and isn't good enough to justify Lang, let alone Dats. Ryder is a gritty, offensive winger that we could definitely use. I can't imagine the Habs would be terribly upset about getting Dats to play with Kovalev instead of Lang. Maybe add in Williams from us and a mid-late pick from them to even it up. Holmstrom/Zetterberg/Samuelsson Hudler/Lang/Ryder Franzen/Kopecky/Kolanos Cleary/Draper/Maltby Bootland

You want to pay a few million for a backup? Belfour is the only realistic option on that list; Giguere and Nabokov would cost too much in salary and in assets. Biron isn't being traded until the Sabres acquire a backup, and the Wings would either get hosed on roster players or have to give up solid prospects to pick up a goalie who is not an upgrade over the current no.1, and is not a long-term investment. Gerber is already signed. Belfour will sign for a similar number to what Ozzie signed for. If he doesn't, he won't be around. The real question is not 'which goalie will be a Wing' it's 'If we get someone new, what happens to Stefan Liv?'

Why are we taking Edmonton's trash? [/font] Pronger would be a nice complement to Schneider, but I don't see Edmonton trading Pronger to the Wings. That and they wouldn't trade Pronger to get a depth defenseman and a second line center. If/when Pronger is traded...he'll bring back something that fits Edmonton's needs better...likely a solid two-way defenseman as the centerpiece. Although we might just be able to get away giving them Schneider and Lilja

Look at it this way... As 'bad' as the US did in hockey, they were eliminated by the silver medalist, Finland. Canada was eliminated in the same round by Russia, who was also eliminated by Finland. The US was not expected to threaten for Gold, while Canada was the overwhelming favorite.

Did you use 36 point font and 2 inch margins? That makes it easier to get 7 pages...

Jason Williams hits more than Lecavalier. Lecavalier 'can hit' the same way Fedorov can. And how about this one....I would like a center to play at both ends of the ice. Lecavalier has always been absolutely DISMAL in his own end. I wouldn't mind having Lecavalier, but he does make 6 million. That would likely mean shipping out Datsyuk AND Lang and only having a million or so to add another forward. I would much prefer a guy like Brenden Morrow, but I don't see Dallas trading him, especially to Detroit.

Mostly because they need a goalie a heck of a lot more than Anaheim needs a one-dimensional center. Although Anaheim needs Vinny more than say, San Jose, which has a similar goaltending issue. Boston might be willing to part with Raycroft+Boynton for Viny, and that trade works for both teams. Although Tampa hasn't really had success with the former Boston goalies (Ranford, Grahame) they have had.

You are saying one of two things. Either A) Bonds is still on steroids, and that's why he's still got the numbers he had ten years ago, yet he for some reason doesn't test positive. Or B) He's so incredibly consistent that he would have had to cheat to alter his performance, up or down, which is proven by the fact that he is now not on steroids and putting up comparable numbers to ten years ago. Both of those arguments seem awfully silly for one reason or another.

I would offer them Datsyuk and Maltby, plus maybe a pick and/or Williams. The question is...would they accept that?

Howe turned 40 the season he posted 44 goals and 103 points for the WINGS. One could make the argument that Bonds is not uncomparable to Howe--both had their best years in their late 30s, both were among the great all-around players of their game, both were top players and MVP candidates often throughout their career. Another thing to point out... Many pitchers of Bonds' era are/were juiced. Bonds' rise in production may just have been due to hitting more juiced fastballs, and therefore having more 'warning track' shots get that extra couple feet to turn into home runs instead of doubles.

I am not discounting the possibility. I am just trying to point out the fact that it has never been, and likely never will be, proven beyond hearsay. Unless you know of a positive steroid test or an admission of guilt that nobody else is aware of?

There is not a steroid you can take which will improve your batting average. Also, that's a very skewed stat you posted; His average did not drop below .291 from 1990 to 1997...and in four of the six years immediately preceding the alleged juicing, his SLG was in the 600s and above his career average of .609. Also: after hitting 30 HR only once from 86-91, Bonds would hit 40 HR three times from 92-97, hitting at least 30 every season. Aside from the 73 HR season, Bonds has never hit 50+ even in his 'juiced' years. Is it so hard to believe that one of the best players of our generation could have an unusually good season? Or maybe every pretty good player that has had a ridiculously good season was just juiced? Selanne must have been hitting the needle hard in 92, huh? Or maybe Gordie Howe was on steroids when he posted 100 points in the 70s after never doing it before?

No, the only thing that matters is that it has never been proven he ever actually took anything. Only assumed. If this were a criminal trial he would walk after the prosecution presented nothing but hearsay and conjecture.

Just where, exactly, would you have found the cap space for Thornton? We only had enough to sign Dats and Zata. If you take Thornton's 5.5m salary instead of Dats' 3.9...then we end up with less than a million to offer Zetterberg. Either that, or we deal off Lang for next to nothing to get back under the cap.

You can personally asterisk it in your head all you want..but the fact remains: There is no real evidence that says Bonds knowingly or intentionally took steroids. Combine that with the fact that his period of alleged use falls into a time period in which steroids were not against the rules, and the fact he had already posted significant power numbers and won the MVP a couple times before the alleged use. Remember...there has never been a positive steroid test on Bonds, as there was for Palmeiro and others.

And his points per game was a career-low.

Hatcher was worse. Because: Lilja had a stellar season compared to his past. Hatcher had his worst offensive season, and was not terribly good defensively in his limited time in Detroit. Lilja also at least had a stretch of solid play, while Hatcher was consistently terrible.

Just a quick reference for those of you saying 'he should get a raise...' The only way Cleary doesn't get a raise is if he doesn't play in the NHL. The minimum goes up to 475k this year.