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Option 1: Acquire high end goalie and have him play for you on the cheap, hopefully leading your team to the longshot playoff spot you have when you first acquired him. Option 2: Acquire rights to said high end goalie, have him NOT report, toll his contract and trade him off for other solid assets in the summer. Option 3: Don't bother improving your team. Nabokov not reporting is comparable to someone you work with deciding they don't want to work at that location anymore, and just not showing up for work until they get a transfer or a new job.

Mason was 33-20-7 to Rinne's 29-15-4. Rinne's point percentage was 64.6% to Mason's 60.8%, and Rinne won 60.4% of his games to Mason's 55% Only San Jose and Detroit allowed fewer shots per game than Columbus, despite the fact that Columbus was a below-average shot-blocking team (and Detroit was near the worst) Nashville was around the middle for shots allowed, and was near the worst for shots blocked. Columbus won one more game, two more of their losses were OT/SO, and their offense was vastly less productive. Columbus missed the playoffs by an OTL, while Nashville made it as the 7th seed and the 8th worst goal differential; 24th in GF/G and 13th in goals against. Rinne's performance was better than Mason's, and he was arguably the more valuable goalie as well.

Yzerman and Fedorov lost to Vezina winners. Howard lost to Tyler Myers, who finished 15th in Norris Trophy voting and 9th in postseason All-Star voting. Lidstrom lost to Pavel Bure, who finished 12th in right wing voting. Zetterberg is the only one who got 'screwed' as Jackman received zero votes for Norris or All-Star,and deservedly so. You also forgot the other recent Calder candidate the Wings had; Chris Osgood, who finished tied for fifth in Calder voting due largely to the fact that he shared a rookie season with Martin Brodeur.(8th Vezina, 6th All-Star) and so as the "other" goaltender his Calder chances were limited. Tuukka Rask lost a lot of votes last year due simply to Jimmy Howard, and Howard due to Rask. If only one was playing, they would likely have won the Calder.

14.2 to win the skating comp? Wow. That's kinda slow for "fast" skaters. Jiri Fischer posted something like a 13.8 a few years back, and Fedorov and Coffey posted 13.5 and 13.6 in 1994. Fedorov beat Gartner's record with a 13.38 or something in 1996, only to have Gartner beat it back by something like .02 on the very next lap. Helm would almost certainly be sub-14; he's way faster than guys like Hall and Grabner. But would he match Fischer's time? He's not Fedorov fast, but he might be Fischer fast.

I understand no. You simply don't understand how waivers work. Nabokov is only required to pass through waivers if Snow tries to trade him THIS SEASON. If his contract is tolled, then Snow can trade him after the season ends.

If a player who normally scores 1 point per game goes on a 20-game streak where he scores 3 points per game, then plays "normal" and so he now has 120 points and ends up with the Art Ross and the Hart? Sure. But a going on a 20-game hot streak and then playing out the rest of the season like a borderline starter is not the same; Mason's hot streak won him the Calder in SPITE of his poor performance later on. He did NOT deserve it, but the hype he had built up overwhelmed that fact. If Ovie works out his slump and gets back up top of the goal and point scoring charts, he'll definitely be in the Hart talk. But right now it's Crosby because of his scoring lead and his long streak which too up a huge portion of the season as played so far. With regards to the defenses Mason and Rinne had in their rookie seasons, Rinne faced 29 shots per game, Mason faced 27. While there is more to it than that, Nashville giving up more shots than Columbus doesn't suggest that they were more protective of their goaltender. And the top four of Tyutin, Commodore, Hejda, and Klesla was pretty solid defensively. For those who are particularly interested in +/-, Hejda's +23 was 7th in the NHL among defensemen, tied with (among others) Chara despite much worse offense. Commodore tied for 32nd at +11 with other highly effective defensive defensemen with similar offensive output. Columbus also blocked 96 more shots than Nashville, finishing 22nd to Nashville's 29th. Mason was hardly a one-man team.

5 shutouts in 41 games, and he still only had a .907 in those 41 games. Ten shutouts in 61 games, and he still only posted a .916; tied for 11th overall. He did NOT have a good Vezina case; he played top end hockey for a month and a half, plus the occasional game. Mike Smith of Tampa played 41 games over the entire season, posted only two shutouts, and had a .916. Much more consistent performance than Mason, both whole season and final 41 games, and his overall season was just as good on a team that was much worse defensively. Better candidates, in order: Tim Thomas, BOS Tomas Vokoun, FLA Niklas Backstrom, MIN Roberto Luongo, VAN Ryan Miller, BUF Henrik Lundqvist, NYR Pekka Rinne, NSH Cam Ward, CAR

It is illegal for them to provide you with a DVD reproduction of your VHS recording of an NHL broadcast or any collection of clips thereof; so whatever Costco location that did it is actually breaking the law in making that reproduction.

At that point he is most likely traded.

Nabokov wants to play in the NHL. He is under contract to the Islanders. He's not going to veto any trade with his NMC just to screw them. He'll take a good deal if they can get him to a team he likes. Nabby's best move is to play. If he doesn't play, he doesn't win the Cup this year. If he does, he doesn't win the Cup this year. Big difference is that if he plays he can decide where he goes and for how much, while if he doesn't he is traded with only limited say in his destination. He also doesn't get paid this year if he doesn't play.

From the start of November 08 through the end of December 2008, Mason posted 12-7-1, .938sv%, 1.69 GAA, and 5 shutouts in 20 games. From January to the end of the 08-09 season, he posted 21-13-0, .907sv%, 2.59GAA, and 5 shutouts in 41 games. You don't think that's Mason going on a wild hot streak at the beginning of the year that carried hype about him through to the award voting? Rinne had seven shutouts, and had a consistently very good season while Mason had a month and a half of greatness before dropping down to Earth.

If Nabokov is suspended right through the end of the season, it is virtually guaranteed that his contract will be tolled. So at that point, Snow has Nabokov on a one-year deal for $570k with a NMC. He can trade him to any interested party, and given the teams likely to be interested in a goaltender, Nabokov would quickly and happily waive that clause. Snow basically gained prospects/picks and/or a quality roster player for free.

I'm going based on his points per game over the span. If Datsyuk scored 70 points in 80 games one year, and then the next two years scored 15 points in ten games, he would be worth 80 points in 80 games over that span even though for two of those seasons he was well above that pace, and he would likely well exceed it playing significant time in the following year. Or Jiri Hudler right now. Hudler has scored 12 points in 14 games; if he continues that pace he will finish the year near the 50 point mark. But that is only because he spent such a long time earlier in the season having such trouble getting on the scoresheet. Twelve in fourteen is closer to a 75-point pace than a 50-point pace. Understand now?

Mason was also seriously overhped in his rookie season. He was not even the best rookie goaltender in his rookie year; Pekka Rinne was. His having a stellar month and a half after Leclaire went down won him the Calder.

NM, I accidentally looked at Lalime's deal. Hey, he used to be the starter right? So you're saying that Snow, if he were smart, would just give up something he got for free in return for nothing because he isn't going to be suiting up for them and they can't trade him until July 1st (assuming his contract is tolled). Yeah, real smart. The smart thing to do is keep him, and either play him when he changes his mind or trade him in the summer if he doesn't.

The idea behind Franzen/Hudler/Bertuzzi is that Filppula is bigger and stronger than Hudler, so you put Flip on the line based more around speed and put Jiri between two big wingers (Messier/Gretzky/Anderson anyone?) so that we can take the most advantage of both players.

Jackman wasn't even the best rookie defenseman that season; Bouwmeester was. Both played about 20 minutes on their team on the first pair of a fairly thin defense corps; Jackman rode shotgun with Al MacInnis while Bouwmeester spent time largely with Ozolinsh or Majesky. Given the injuries to Ozolinsh and Pronger, Jackman was basically the #2 in St. Louis and Bouwmeester the #1 in Florida.

Five is what I meant. And do you seriously think Nabokov wouldn't waive his NMC to be traded to a team like, say, Chicago? Realistically, I see Yzerman trying to make a deal for him. Gagne and Stamkos are the only significant FAs on the team, and replacing Smith and Roloson with Nabokov saves about $3m in cap space towards those two. Jones is a UFA, and can be kept or replaced (maybe a pitch for Ericsson?) but if Nabokov's deal is tolled, it's perfect for the Lightning, who have a only 4 roster UFAs if you exclude goalies.

Thing is, with Datsyuk back there will be less focus on Jiri. Jiri's past history has shown that when he is confident, he produces no matter what role he's used in. So if he's still playing in a top-six role, with 15 minutes per game, his production could get downright wicked because the opponent will be focusing less defense on him.

He sucked his way to being a Vezina contender multiple seasons, finishing 5th in 1991-92 and 7th in 1992-93. In postseason All-Star voting he finished 10th in 1990-91 and 5th in 1991-92. He was also named to the Campbell Conference All-Star team in 1991-92 alongside Ed Belfour and Kirk McLean. His first full NHL season was 1989-90, and his first year as a starter was 1990-91. He played seven full seasons, posting a winning record in five of them. Only once, in 1994-95, has he missed the playoffs as a starter; missing by three points as the Jets' starter. Cheveldae won 10 of his 27 decisions (28 games played) in 89-90, compared to starter Glen Hanlon's 15 of 38 (45 games played). The team as a whole won 28. Cheveldae took the reins the next season, and the Wings made the playoffs with Chevy playing 65 games with a 30-26-5 record. Detroit has not missed the playoffs since. As for nicknames... How about "Stumpy" Steve Thomas?

Teams whose starter is a UFA this summer: Buffalo, Colorado, Florida, Ottawa, Phoenix, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Toronto. That's eight teams. He would be an upgrade on six of them. I can think of at least two more that would be interested in trading for his services. Ten of 29. That's about 35%. Given Nabokov's ability and cap hit, his trade value is through the roof. So even with what leverage Snow loses due to being forced into a trade, he still will be able to get a strong return.

Well, Franzen/Zetterberg/Cleary has worked well when assembled. The problem is that you then have Datsyuk and Filppula remaining. Do you have Flip center the third line, or does he play on Dats' wing on line 2? Or does he center line 3? Of the 7 players who have taken at least one per game, Flip is the 4th best. Datsyuk is the best of that group. Z is second, Helm is third, and Franzen is 5th. Modano is 6th and Abdelkader 7th, the only two below 50%. So Flip is one of the team's best faceoff men. Filppula is also one of the team's best forwards. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are considered the top two, in whichever order you choose. Franzen is generally considered the #3. After that, you run into a group including Cleary, Bertuzzi, Modano, Hudler, Holmstrom, Helm, and Eaves. Filppula is generally placed as the #4 between Franzen and that group. So while it seems ideal to have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Filppula all centering lines as they are strong two-way players who are good at the dot; it doesn't seem to make sense for the team on one level. If those are your top-three centers, then only one of your top four forwards is playing the wing. Having one of your top four forwards playing center is common; it typically results in or from a loaded first line, alternatively with the top center and one star winger, and then a second line with two wingers who have solid chemistry with the #2 center (If the top two lines were D/Z/Cleary and then Franzen/Flip/Helm, with Helm in the middle) Some center setups, based on the 6 guys who have played a decent amount of center this season, are as follows: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Filppula/Helm Zetterberg (Datsyuk)/Filppula/Helm/Abdelkader Zetterberg (Datsyuk)/Franzen/Filppula/Helm I'm personally a fan of these lines: 1) Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom (naturally) 2a) Franzen/Hudler/Bertuzzi (big sniper, skilled playmaker with nice shot and great vision, and net presence with good skating and two-way skills) 2b) Cleary/Filppula/Eaves (quick wingers with good shots and defensive skills, good skating two-way playmaking center) 4) Abdelkader/Helm/Miller - Draper/Helm/Miller - Abdelkader/Helm/Draper (wicked fast, physical center with solid grinding wingers; all four guys are solid defensively and on PK) Come on Babs, try 'em!

Who knows hockey better, Wayne Gretzky or Scotty Bowman? Bowman knows more hockey than everything Gretzky knows combined. How about Ken Holland or Garth Snow? Holland, easily. But Snow was an NHL starter at one point in his career, while Holland was a minor leaguer who was lucky enough to play a few games in the NHL. Knowledge affects performance, but performance does not determine knowledge. There could be someone here who knows more hockey than Nick Lidstrom, but has a muscle disorder or something. There's more to it than brains, as much as brains mean.

Hudler over the past 14 games: 3g-9a-12pt, +3 (for those who care), 4 PIM, 2 PPG, 18 shots, 16.7s%, 15:37 ATOI Although his goals-per-game are a lower percentage of his total points that expected, his points-per-game over that period fit right in with where he was expected to be given the 2nd/3rd tweener ice time he was going to be getting, and has gotten over the past 14 games. Only Filppula and Zetterberg, tied at 13 points, have outscored Hudler in that period on the Wings.

Drake in his prime was worth 20 goals and 50 points. Would probably even higher in today's NHL; maybe 25-65. That kind of a production from a top notch defensive forward who brings a physical presence? I'll buy.