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The bigger question, what if Osgood has a 2008-style performance and Howard performs terribly? The Wings will of course sign Osgood and offer Howard a reasonable contract, but does Howard stay or does he try to force Holland to compete with the teams that might offer him more? Or perhaps another team offers Howard several million more per year for several more years, right away, and he simply walks?

Bingo. You have bigger contracts in the NHL with some cap modifications, and you know what happens? Better teams in Canada more often, and more of them. Southern teams like Phoenix would be set up for success as well because they would be in the mold of such teams as follows: "Buy yourself a strong young core with a good financial backing and you'll get your paid back several times over." And things like that would have happened with a cap that would allow one more player, smaller individual caps on salaries with cap modifiers for drafted players, etc. For example, players might have a salary, and therefore cap hit, maximum of $5m. This would capped Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and put significant different different roster plans on the team? But perhaps players a team has drafted take a 10% or 20% lower cap hit.

Why don't you go back and re-read my post. I said KEITH was the front-runner, instead of Doughty.

Because the voters vote based on a personal bias which, despite rules against it, push the voter towards players from a team or nation they prefer. Also, a writer might tend to vote against or for a player of a certain "style" such as a defenseman who was known for is physical play or a center who was considered a diver. In the early 90s, being a European alone might cost you an award. Dominik Hasek could be considered the trailblazer in that respect; he proved that a European could win an Award again and again. and then Nick did it right again right after him. Because the voters vote based on a personal bias which, despite rules against it, push the voter towards players from a team or nation they prefer. Also, a writer might tend to vote against or for a player of a certain "style" such as a defenseman who was known for is physical play or a center who was considered a diver. In the early 90s, being a European alone might cost you an award. Dominik Hasek could be considered the trailblazer in that respect; he proved that a European could win an Award again and again. and then Nick did it right again right after him.

We will have to look at it on a season-by-season basis. Figure each new contract for depth players is two years, with starting goaltender, top-three defenseman, 32 and under being five years. Retirement potential will begin at 35. Players who will be UFAs and RFAs on a year by year basis go this way. It will also be looked at based on UFA/RFA status at the time. 2010-11; F: Modano, Draper, D: Lidstrom, Ericsson, Salei, G: Howard and Osgood are UFA. F: Eaves, Miller, and D: Meech are RFA. Probable retirees; Modano, Draper, Salei, just from their age and their role on the team. That's loss one third line forward, one fourth line forward, and one of our bottom pair defensemen. So we have to look at the rest. Lidstrom, Ericsson, Howard are all probably staying, the same can be said of Meech, Miller, and Eaves if they are on the team at the end of the season, which for the sake of simplicity we will say yes. As for Osgood, he's the big question. It all depends on how his year goes. I think it goes well, and he stays around another couple seasons. If he has a bad outing, he'll call it quits and head home. We'll be able to keep Ericsson, Kindl, and Meech or certifiable replacements. So going into next season assuming probable retirees and returnees we'll be taking this year's roster and looking at: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Hudler/Filppula/Franzen Cleary/Modano/Bertuzzi Draper/Abdelkader/Helm/Miller Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Stuart Kindl/Ericsson/Meech Howard Osgood And turning it into: Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Bertuzzi Cleary/Filppula/Mursak Miller/Abdelkader/Helm Lidstrom/Ericsson Kronwall/Rafalski Kindl/Stuart/Meech Howard Osgood We'll want to bring in a top-six type forward, but the cap freed up by the losses of Modano and Draper are more than enough for that. It's hard to see what the roster is going to look like in the future with 30 teams in the league and most of them making stupid decisions, but one can look at what is in the organization now and try and figure out what will more forward in the future. But taking a look can be interesting.

The Hawks had two incredibly poor contracts in Huet and Campbell, and one bad decision in comitting to one good contract in Hossa when they were coming up on high hit deals for their best young players, who were playing at the time on low-cap-hit entry-level deals and would have caused a severe increase in the cap hit of the team, which already had several $3m deals like Byfuglien and co.

The Hawks had two incredibly poor contracts in Huet and Campbell, and one bad decision in comitting to one good contract in Hossa when they were coming up on high hit deals for their best young players, who were playing at the time on low-cap-hit entry-level deals and would have caused a severe increase in the cap hit of the team, which already had several $3m deals like Byfuglien and co.

That statement, no matter how many people make it, makes me flinch. Duncan Keith was the best defenseman in the league last season. It was was a clear, complete statement that he was so. Doughty was very good, but Keith was just better. The year before, Keith was an elite defenseman, and IMO was the second best defenseman (which I took a lot of flak for on this board) so o say that Doughty is easily the frontrunner going into this next season? Just no. Duncan Keith is the clear, undisputed frontrunner, and behind him are Drew Doughty and Nicklas Lidstrom, and then and a good stretch back behind them are Chris Pronger and the other top defensemen. Period.

The average NHL Ticket in 2009-10 was US$51.27. Only Ten teams made more than that, and you want to know the average Canadian ticket price? US$70.09. Want to know how strongly Canadian ticket prices controlled the market? 1) US$114.10 Toronto Maple Leafs 2) US$ 72.80 Montreal Canadiens -- US$ 70.09 Canadian Dollar Average 3) US$ 62.05 Vancouver Canucks 4) US$ 61.28 Minnesota Wild 5) US$ 60.25 Philadelphia Flyers 6) US$ 59.73 Calgary Flames 7) US$ 59.71 Edmonton Oilers 8) US$ 58.57 New York Rangers 9) US$ 54.94 Boston Bruins 10) US$ 52.77 Ottawa Senators 11) US$ 51.46 New York Islanders --NHL Ticket Average As you can see, simply from the average ticket the Canadian teams have a much higher average price, especially in larger markets that can maintain high attendance figures. Complain all you want about about markets in the south with lower attendance, remember that their low revenue numbers come more primarily from the ticket prices.

The skaters in the 80s were fairly equal, mildly less talented. The goaltending is something I am glad you mentioned because there are usually maybe a handful of goaltenders per decade as you go through the years who could honestly be called all-time greats. Many of the Hall of Famers who players in the early 1900s likely would not be able to goal nowadays.

How do you know that? Maybe the world already had already had 49 more Hitlers and the Third Reich ended up the way it went because there were 50, and had there only been 1 it would have been Nazi domination!

The retired Joseph might make it into the HoF while Osgood is still playing in the NHL. But Osgood is more deserving than Joseph. And this coming season could especially play into that if Osgood does well.

The NHL needs to offer expansion teams for these players. Yes, I know we all hate expansion, but think about it seriously. If we take the current group of foreign players who are in the NHL, then we have fewer talented players. But the problem is, the foreign players overseas provide a larger percentage of that player group than we had before. So by offering the expansion teams, we keep more players here and, more importantly we keep the YOUNGER players here. Two expansion teams is all we need. The biggest question is who can we get to provide the kind of cash? Balsille, Reinsdorf, and others might be in the runnings, but who knows.

As of February 10th, Osgood was tied for the active lead in shutouts with Roberto Luongo at 50. Osgood is about to clear 400 wins as well. Hall of Fame is a mark Osgood is going to clear this season.

Zetterberg 54-51-103 Datsyuk 35-63-101 Hudler 33-45-78 Franzen 36-34-70 Filppula 18-37-55 Modano 20-31-51 Holmstrom 26-24-50 Bertuzzi 20-28-48 Cleary 17-20-37 Kronwall 15-50-65 Rafalski 10-50-60 Lidstrom 10-45-55 Stuart 10-30-40 Ericsson 10-15-25 Kindl 5-15-20 Howard 53 games, 28-17-8 .921, 2.06 2 SO Osgood 29 games, 19-16-3, .912, .213, 1 SO

I felt you chose Iginla because he brought everything on the ice. MacDonald did as well, but he wasn't quite the physical force Ignla had been, which is exactla why I feel you made your decision. Iginla was certainly a quality leader, but MacDonald was the top captain for the Flames.

I felt you chose Iginla because he brought everything on the ice. MacDonald did as well, but he wasn't quite the physical force Ignla had been, which is exactla why I feel you made your decision. Iginla was certainly a quality leader, but MacDonald was the top captain for the Flames.

Homer's not gonna be a HOFer. He's a good player, but seriously. Maybe we can put together a Hall of Really Good and put together going to be just shy of the HHOF.

The biggest issue for Naslund is former linemate Linden, who pretty much taught him how to be a leader.

#5 will be double-hung as the next number in the rafters (Lidstrom and Kelly). After that it will be #30. Following that #91 has a slim chance at making it, and then we see numbers such as #13 possibly being the second double-hung number going up for Datsyuk and Slava Kozlov; of current players, #40, #55, #26, #51, and #35 could all earn jersey retirements from the current roster.

Ducks - Scott Niedermayer Thrashers - Scott Mellanby Bruins - Ray Bourque Sabres - Pat LaFontaine Flames - Lanny McDonald Hurricanes - Ron Francis Blackhawks - Pierre Pilote Avalanche - Joe Sakic Blue Jackets - Adam Foote Stars - Mark Tinordi Red Wings - Steve Yzerman Oilers - Wayne Gretzky Panthers - Brian Skrudland Kings - Wayne Gretzky Wild - Mikko Koivu Canadiens - Jean Beliveau Predators - Greg Johnson Devils - Scott Stevens Islanders - Denis Potvin Rangers - Mark Messier Senators - Daniel Alfredsson Flyers - Bobby Clarke Penguins - Mario Lemieux Coyotes - Shane Doan Sharks - Owen Nolan Blues - Brian Sutter Lightning - Dave Andreychuk Leafs - George Armstrong Canucks - Trevor Linden Capitals - Dale Hunter

1994-95: Osgood was 17th in wins as a backup, 3rd in GAA, 16th in SO, 2nd in sv%. 1995-96: Osgood led the league in GAA, Wins, and Winning % in 1995-96, 3rd in SO, and 8th in sv%. 1996-97: Osgood was 13th in wins with 23, 4th in SO with 6, 13th in sv%, 6th in GAA. Osgood may not be a big name goalie, but he's a winner.

Chris Osgood is 10th in wins with 396, has 24th in shutouts with 50, and of goalies who have played 75 games he is 30th in GAA and 52nd in sv%. He's 8th in playoff wins with 74, 4th in shutouts with 15, and of goaltenders who have won at least 8 postseason wins, he is 17th in GAA and 16th in sv%.

Hudler is an incredibly talented kid, in his draft year some scouts considered him to have the most raw talent of any center and the reason he dropped so far, to the end of the second round, in the draft is because of his size. But I do expect Babcock to use Hudler more than 12 minutes per game.