YoungGuns1340

The moves they're making don't have to make them THAT much better. They were making a run for the playoffs late in the season simply on the backs of Gagner, Cogliano, Gilbert, etc. Now they have Cogliano, Gagner, Hemsky, Horcoff, Cole, Nilsson, Brodziak...the list goes on...all with valuable NHL experience. They have a great offense up front, and a fairly decent offense, assuming Souray can stay healthy even if it is only for his PP shot.

What? 5.325M for a 54 point player? What? 5M for a 53 point player? What? 4.5M for a 51 point player? 3M for a 56 point player in this market is a downright steal.

Lilja also scored the only goal. I'd say the folks that raped our hopes were the ones that were nowhere to be found on the scoresheet. But I digress..

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/signings_2008/ This is just nuts. I don't understand what on earth this team is doing without addressing some huge needs on the back end and in goal. Safe to say Rolston is on the outs..

The Blue Jackets can't afford to wait anymore. They're making the playoff push this year. They got their young center in Umberger, now they're going hard after Morrison. Granted neither are great center as of now, and Morrison really needs a season to redeem himself, but all they're looking for is that playoff berth. Torres provides grit and great offesnive depth. And can be a 2nd liner if he rebounds after the (knee?) injury which still seemed to have lingering effects last season.

Wow. I am surprised he re-signed. Looks like those rumors about the custody issues were pure B.S. Ken Holland once again with a steal.

What are you talking about? In the post I was addressing, Bouwmeester was on the 2nd pairing as a #3 or #4. I really dont need you to tell me that the league leader in TOI and current best player on his team at 24 years of age would be a top-pairing Dman.

Thats a ridiculous excuse. And even more pathetic when youre the captain. Naslunds the one guy that should be going down with the ship if it ever came to it. Instead hes the first one of the boat.

Hudler is 5 years younger than Franzen and even still topped Franzens point total by four points. Here's a fun fact for you. Franzen missed 6 games in the playoffs, and he got 301 minutes TOI total in those 16 games. What did Hudler get overall? 255 minutes total TOI in 22 games. Almost 50 minutes fewer for Hudler overall - with lesser linemates - and he only landed 4 points behind Franzen in the playoffs, where anyone will tell you small players are supposed to become invisible. Franzen also got 5 more minutes ice time per game over the regular season. And for a guy that was 9th in ice time among forwards, Hudler finished T-3rd in points among forwards. Thats pretty damn impressive. Of course, no one will give him credit for it cause hes small and isnt a Selke candidate (you mean some teams have forwards that are just meant to score? crazy idea!). Hudlers the most underrated guy on this roster. And a hell of a lot more likely to hit the 60-80 point estimates than Filppula will, as some people seem to think Val is capable of..

Trade what? the chance for Pits to get stolen away on an offesheet.

Did anyone else catch the article in the free press about this? I want to say it was about 2 weeks ago, and I remember Babcock mentioning these things, more or less: *They're going to wait to look for an assistant coach until after all the NHL head coaching jobs are filled up. They won't mind getting a former NHL head coach as their assistant. *They've already looked through the AHL ranks and didn't find anything there *Babcock said something to the effect of "We're going to look at former NHL defenseman as well. We've got a lot of young defenseman this year..." I thought that last part was really interesting. I'll try and find the link. I only get the Free Press at home, but it might have been in the Sunday combined edition with the Detroit news.

The East is always stacking up. Up front that is.

Hes nowhere near Lundqvist money.

Watch a Vancouver game. This guy plays with ZERO passion. This is the exact opposite direction we should be going in. Especially at the price he'll get with so few big name forwards on the market. The guy had 13 hits in 82 games. And can't even crack the PK on the Canucks.

I could've sworn this deal already went down. Must've just been a rumor. I heard something like 4 years at around 3.5M or so? I remember it being a decent contract...

Haha yeah. The league leader in TOI sitting in the #4 position. I hope for Torontos sake they make a long-term play for Bouwmeester on an offer-sheet. Schenn and Bouwmeester is a heck of starting block on defense, and not a bad core if Kaberle sticks around.

There have been a few quotes in the freep about Holland basically considering trading one of them, if its the right avenue. The Wings are in a decent position despite what many think. If the Wings find a great fit on the market or via trade for the #4 position, they can trade a youngster. If they don't, they stand pat with a possibly identical Top 7 to what they started out with last year, only Meech (or Quincey, Ericsson) in Chelis spot and Cheli as #7.

Sounds familiar, huh? At least we get the defenseman version for half the price.

Not true. Offering Filppula a 3.5M relatively long-term contract is not simply "sticking it to the Wings". After Perry, the Ducks - more than any other team - need a 2nd line center. Its #2 on the priority list. It would kill a few birds with one stone in the event that Holland didn't match (which, at 3.5M as an example, is pretty much a given that he would). Now, I'm certainly not saying its something thats guaranteed to happen. But I sure am hoping that Kenny is well aware of what sort of position hes putting himself in saying that he'll wait to sign a fairly valuable commodity til well into the summer..Given his record, I suppose we shouldnt worried. And like I said in an earlier post, I'm guessing this position to wait and sign Flip relies heavily on what Zettererberg signs for.

Whos talking about Filppula's rights? I only care how his paycheck is going to affect the rest of our roster, through this year and the next. And in this type of market where RFAs are finally fair game, time has now become a pretty heavy factor. Kenny Holland putting his cards on the table doesn't help the situation.

He could've looked like that for a matter of seconds. Who knows, maybe he was heavily debating between champagne or beer... As for Stuart, I always expected him to leave. Between his wife and new baby not leaving cali, and him having to take a paycut here, those things add up. Besides, LA has the space to take him on and they're finally making the right moves towards becoming a respectable team in the near future.

Who said hes only gotten one offer? The problem is that Filppula's young and impressionable when it comes to contracts and money, and his agent is none other than Pat Brisson.

Using an image like that is pretty baseless. I like Stuart, but I'm definitely of the party that thinks he looked a better with the Wings than he actually is. Detroit's system has a way of doing that, as long as you can fit into a puck-possession game.

Like I said, If Ken Holland wants to offer Flip 2.5M, I could see a GM coming around and offering him 3.5M, knowing that Holland would match that offer. I dont see all 30 GMs holding back from driving up someone elses payroll even if by a little. It only takes one GM to screw you over, says Darcy Regier.

Trust me, thats exactly how I feel. But its Ken Hollands "we'll match anything" quotes that have me worried.