haroldsnepsts

I don't know about make it or break it, but I think this is the biggest test of his career as GM.

The thing is, he's not really awarding him a spot. It's just something he said to a reporter. Probably in part to boost the guy's confidence, show his faith in him, and maybe guard against Holland wanting to bury him in the minors. Once the season starts he may get a shot at the top six but he's gonna have to earn it to stay there.

JVR just signed a 6 year contract extension at the start of last season. What the hell is Philly doing? Getting re-signed for a long term is starting to look like the kiss of death if you're a Flyer.

I don't know if anyone really knows for sure. But they've dangled him multiple times now, so something is going on. The article mentioned he clashed with Carlyle. But Boudreau he did very well playing for, so I'm guessing the problems must be higher up the food chain.

hmm. good question. I don't see the media button anymore. Actually Jedi started a thread for just this kind of stuff with the forum upgrade.

I don't think it got thrown away, did it? Last I heard the NHLPA just wanted more time than the short deadline the NHL set, since they had zero involvement in the realignment process and wanted time to look it over and discuss it. To me that was Bettman's first posturing move to make the union look bad. As he smugly pointed out, the NHL isn't required to involve the players union. But requirement or not, think of the message that sends. Your players are who people come to see. Their lives will be most affected by realignment. Not involving them is just poor management of the league's talent.

Which at the very least could knock down Hudler's price a bit if the Wings re-sign him.

I'd be completely okay with the cone of silence if they were negotiating. This one was an exception but Bettman's updates are usually posturing and attempts to make the players union look bad. Bettman and the owners literally ARE the NHL. They're the face of the sport. The NHLPA just doesn't have and doesn't require that public of a presence. And yes I realize there's two sides to the negotiation. The reality is the owners and league have most of the power. And the responsibility ultimately falls on Bettman. Especially because I said lockout. We're not talking about players striking. It's the owners preventing them from playing hockey. It'll be interesting to see how Bettman handles it. Because he's always saying the league is better than it's ever been, but he also has to sell the idea that it's in trouble because of the players' salaries.

Agreed. I'm sure management knew it, but maybe didn't compensate for it as quickly as they could have. The Wings used to get around their lack of size through skill and puck possession. But the last couple seasons they haven't had the level of talent necessary to play the skill game at as high of a level, but they lacked the size and system to play other ways. So they sometimes were in no mans land.

well then it shouldn't be much of a change. So what's the big f****** deal? And thanks as always for all your hard work on the site Matt! I just realized that when I switched computers I forgot to re-disable adblock on my browser for this site. But it's disabled now!

He logged a ton of time on special teams. It was just on the PP. Among the seven defenseman on the team, he was dead last in SH TOI with an average of 33 seconds per game. Call me crazy, but I still think you should have to log some PK time to win the award for best all-round defenseman. People can bring up Coffey and Leetch, but Karlsson is nowhere near Coffey's offensive output to ignore his lack of playing in all situations. And he's not Leetch yet either.

That's crazy about Lapointe. I never would've guessed him being in line to get the C after Stevie.

Henrik dropping the f-bombs was pretty funny. Quick must be happy after his drunken speech at the Cup rally. Now another goalie's dropping f-bombs during a speech.

I did. It was as bad as some of the ones on the awards show tonight .

He won over Weber by 12 votes. I was definitely surprised by the win. I figured voters would wait another season to see if he panned out and developed defensively a bit. But I guess it's easier for hockey writers to go by points. As much as it would've sickened me for Weber to win it, he was more deserving. The funniest part is over on hfboards Sens fans are comparing Karlsson to Coffey, Leetch, and now a few are saying to compare him to Orr isn't much of a stretch. Doan winning the leadership award was a bit of a joke too after his behavior after the Coyotes got eliminated. Crying in the lockerroom about the refs being against them.

Definitely weirdly awkward. Nickelback didn't help. All the awards went as I thought with the exception of Karlsson winning the Norris. Another award goes the way of point totals I guess.

This is what drives me nuts. They're working on finding a date where they can meet?? That should be the easiest part of the whole process to decide and they still don't even have a date to meet? It's ******* late june! If there's another lockout, I'm hiring Chelios to kill Bettman.

They can still add that many incentives? I've never fully understood what was acceptable in terms of incentives and bonuses under the current (and now expired) CBA.

yeah, basically the only contract any team can offer him will be the same entry level one, so it comes down to other factors like the ones you mention.

From the article: $200 mill in debt and over a third of it due this summer? ouch.

Honestly I'd be a little surprised if there was booing other than from a few idiots. This has been a known thing for a while now, and it's not like he's leaving the Wings because he thinks San Jose gives him a better shot at winning the Cup or would get him more money. Who knows though. Maybe I'm giving Wings fans too much credit, but it's pretty crappy if they boo him. Stuart was a great late season pickup by the Wings and a big part of their Cup in '08.

Good point. Seeing as how he was having dinner with the Wild owner when the comments were allegedly made though, they obviously have a relationship. shady, but I guess not technically against the rules. Maybe someone should have dinner with Mr. I and let slip the terms the Wings are preparing to offer Parise.

I agree. It's not reaching out to Parise directly, but saying that in public still qualifies as tampering to me.

I used to rip on Penner for not living up to his contract with the Kings, but ever since the pancake incident, it's hard not to love the guy. It'll be interesting to see what the Kings do. I'm sure they're hoping to sign the Penner that they saw under Sutter, and not the floater they watched for nearly every other Kings game prior to that.

I get the assist on that joke.