RyanBarnes!

Hey, thanks! Well I have been around from time to time, but not posted a whole lot. It's been a little tougher to find the time once I finished school and started working full time and all. I'll try my best to be more active again and stir things up!

I can live with a few mistakes in the regular season, especially from the kids still adapting to the NHL, but let's not kid ourselves -Chelios is far from perfect despite being the definition of a veteran.

Interesting how Babcock pointed out that Stuart is a North American... On a sidenote, Chelios should retire. He looks quite lame out there and Quincey need ice time in the biggs. I hate to see a solid prospect defenseman not get a shot because Chelios figures he'll stick around forever. Quincey is the future not Chelios.

Yes, that's exactly what he is implying and for once it actually makes sense. True or not.

This will give the players a bit of a rest, and that can be a good thing -especially for veterans like Chelios, Lidstrom and Rafalski. Naturally it would be better to "rest" one or two players at the time, but as already pointed out -this will force Holland to trade for a defenseman. That should be a good thing, because Detroit needs to add more muscle anyway.

My thoughts exactly. I want a Sarich/Warrener type of defenseman.

This would be my impression as well, at least defensively. Stuart has more offensive potential though and on a team like Detroit where offensive defenseman thrive, Stuart could become quite a asset.

Trading for Fedorov would be such a terrible mistake. He really doesn't offer anything worth giving up a prospect or pick for. Stuart is interesting. He's the type of player I think could do really well in Detroit. Jackman would be intriguing as well. He would definitely bring a new element to defense and the overall lineup. I'd give up Hudler in a heartbeat, but it would probably cost a high draft pick too.

Players like Hossa are usually signed to a deal BEFORE being traded. This is simple logic since it will up the trade/return value.

Agreed. I'd be willing to part with Filppula, Ericsson and a 2nd round pick for Hossa signed to a long term contract. I see comments that management has made Ericsson untouchable -I don't see the point in that when it boils down to trading for someone of Hossa:s calibre. He should be right up there alley, except he's not undersized.

I hope not. Abdelkader and Quincey are two of the prospects I like best in the organization. I'd rather give up an offensive minded prospect.

I like Helm. Love his wheels!

I disagree. I would much rather shell out for Hossa than Sundin. Hossa is still relatively young (6 months younger than Datsyuk) and if signed to a long term contract he would be worth the hefty asking price in my opnion.

The ASG is pretty lame, but the Skills comp. is OK.

I got a quick look at him during the WJCH:s. Good face-off man, solid player overall.

Trading for Bertuzzi was the right thing to do. He contributed more to last season's playoff run than most would give him credit for. Had Holland traded Matthias for another pure veteran scorer that would have been very different, but Bertuzzi added a key element to the lineup. No regrets!

Arron Asham > Jon Sim

Holland did talk about GM:s becoming risk assessment analysts, didn't he? Not having an enforcer is definitely a risk in my opinion. Sidenote; 10 MUSD for Briere is insane...

In case you did not know, a player must not have attained his 26 birthday by September 15th of the season in which he is eligable. This rule was implemented after Sergei Makarov won the Calder trophy in 1990. Grigorenko is only 24 though.

Thank you. There would be no limit to the s*** people would write if Penner had been a Red Wing, but since this only concerns Burke and the Ducks -it's all good and part of the rules.

I think Rafalski is a more complete player than Murphy ever was.

I'd take Exelby for sure.

No doubt, and imo it showed. Osgood didn't really manage to do any damage at all, but on the other hand Roy looked silly when he struggled to capitalize on his reach advantage.

Roy was listed at 6'2", 185 lbs. Osgood is listed at 5'10", 175 lbs.

I'm convinced Bertuzzi played a big part in Detroit's increased physical play in the playoffs. Playing physical is to a very large extent a mental attitude. I think you could see the same tendancy when Brad Norton was in the lineup, even though it was only for a brief period. Having someone the players can count on to stand up and play physical every night is a huge boost for team morale and what I like to call team toughness. Naturally there were other factors as well though. I'm sure coach Babcock made it perfectly clear from the beginning that he's not going to accept players shying away from any play once the playoffs begun. I also think the players felt they had a lot to prove this year.