haroldsnepsts

It was almost always in the milk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY44AgrZaGM

But the Kings would be a whole lot better in the stats department. They weren't nearly as good on the road for most of the playoffs, when the opponent had last change and could match lines against them.

I think the bigger question is, if Schneider signs somewhere else, will he be the new Fedorov, booed every time he plays in Detroit because he didn't play with the Wings until he retired?

I think the crease crashing has gotten out of hand in recent years. Goals are so hard to come by in the playoffs, as is any shot from the slot, so bulldozing your way into the goaltender has become an effective way to score. The goalies have a lot of pads, but they're sitting ducks. I wouldn't want to be inthe butterfly position and have a 200 lbs guy slam into me.

I don't see it changing because owners love it. If their team is out of playoff contention, they can save themselves some money at the end of the season by dumping a few months salary (like Tkachuk's) and letting him go to another team, but still have the option of keeping him on the team next year. On the other side, a team making the playoffs can get the benefit of bringing in a player and only having to pay a couple months of his salary. If that player helps the team win one more playoff game at home, it pretty much covers the cost of bringing him there. For the owners and players, it's almost always a win-win.

I like JR, but no thanks.

The Preds can definitely afford Kariya. It seems more a question of if he wants to sign with the Nashville when things are so uncertain at the moment. As for his fit on the Wings, I like his speed, not his size. He's got a good shot but isn't really the pure sniper many people think the Wings need.

I'd rather they try and make two solid, separate lines with Dats and Z as centers. Babcock always has the option to put the two back together with Homer. Better that than have one great line with them together all year, only to split them up in the playoffs when opponents put their shut-down line against them.

Why Mason and not Vokoun? who knows? Why did Manny Legace get a Vezina vote a couple seasons ago when he clearly isn't a Vezina worthy goaltender? As I said before, I think the strongest theory to explain the vote is the love of the backup. He gets to come in and save the day, where Vokoun is a known quantity from actually starting with the Preds for several years. So Mason puts together half a good season and suddenly everyone thinks he's the guy, because in the unknown they see potential. Whereas Vokoun actually has a track record. I understand what you're saying, but I don't think one third place Vezina vote doesn't make it a firesale. Getting rid of the guy who has done a great job starting for your team for seven seasons to replace him with a guy who played great for half a season is definitely a gamble, and one done for financial reasons. As for "firesale," it's just semantics at that point.

I'm not saying it's a rule, it's my opinion. Playing half the season in my opinion doesn't deserve Vezina consideration because there's a huge difference between putting up good numbers over 40 games and over 60-70. Furthermore, Vezina votes don't make someone a top ten goalie. All it means is someone voted for him. Mason is a question mark for me simply because he's 31 years old and has never started more than 40 games in one season. He looked good this year, but I think the first year as the starter for any goalie leaves a bit of a question mark until they prove they can carry the load of a full season. I wasn't making some huge knock against Mason. Backstrom played one game more than Mason, for the record. But I wasn't part of the crowd saying we should get Backstrom to replace Hasek, though it doesn't surprise me. It's the Manny Legace phenomenon. A goalie puts together a good half season and everyone thinks he should win the Vezina. Backstrom had great numbers over 41 games with the boring and seriously defensive minded Minnesota Wild. That doesn't mean he won't be a good starter, but he's still a question mark in my book until he handles the workload of a starter.

I guess that works too.

Is there a way Matt can program the site so it automatically moves all threads with "Eklund" in the title to the Rumors section (or the garbage?)

Agreed. For as big as Pronger is, he doesn't really fight. And when he does, more often than not it's a hug fest. He's not a very good fighter. He just uses his size to neutralize guys.

I'm not sure he is asking for less than market value, if it's around 2.5 million. He played great for us last season, but I stil can't imagine many teams, if any, paying more than that for him. Not to mention last year he wouldn't have even been in the NHL had the Wings not taken a chance on him. Would 2.5 mill be outrageous? No. But I'd prefer his base salary under $2 million with a lot of incentives. Last year the gamble paid off. That doesn't mean it's not a gamble again this year. EDIT: And to be clear, I'm in no way calling Hasek greedy for asking that much. Players get too much grief for being "greedy" and not giving up milllions of dollars for the team. It's awful easy to say when it's not your money and career.

2.5 is more than I was hoping they will sign him for too, but even a steal of a deal for Dom would be him signing for 1.5 mill plus incentives. So you're talking about a difference of a million dollars. If you want to point the finger at players who are allegedly greedy and taking money that could improve the team, Dom is hardly tops on that list.

I was really hoping they'd sign Dom for a base salary of under $2 mill. Then incentives from there. He was great last year, but that doesn't change the fact that he's 42 with chronic groin problems. No one would've taken the gamble on him that Holland took last year. That should count for something. And I still don't think many teams would gamble on him this year. As for Schneider, if he's really looking for $5 mill, I say let him go try and get it somewhere. And Bert for 2 or 2.5 would be great. Hopefully signed only for a year or two.

Didn't Mason get like, one third place vote? He shouldn't have even gotten that since he didn't even play half the season. There's a huge difference between Brodeur's .922 SV% over 78 games and Mason's .925 over 40 games. The Preds better hope this guy is the real deal and not a career backup who had a good run last year.

Clearly they must've been considering this for weeks before the deal happened. Trading away your #1 goalie is not an impulse decision. And no matter how much they earn in salary, there's a right way to handle things because it affects the atmosphere of the team and morale of the remaining players.

The obvious - Healthy, hard hitting, gritty, good touch around the net, don't take bad penalties, and a playoff performer. Unfortunately that's not something he's ever really put together all at once in his career. He's shown potential for all of it, but since the Moore incident has not really been physical. And has never really matched his regular season performance in the playoffs. I'm cutting him slack because of his long layoff and short time on the Wings, but he looked pretty lost out there most of the time. If the Wings re-sign him, I could see Bert becoming the new whipping boy here.

By the time Nashville is done making moves this offseason, I'm guessing Vokoun will be thankful he was traded.

No thanks. Mac had a great run with the Wings, but they bought him out because he was ineffective and injury prone. 08-Apr-07: Missed 47 games (hip injury). 27-Dec-06: Hip injury, sidelined indefinitely. 19-Oct-06: Missed 2 games (groin). 14-Oct-06: Groin, day-to-day. 07-Apr-06: Missed 3 games (groin). 01-Apr-06: Groin, day-to-day. 31-Mar-06: Missed 2 games (back injury). 26-Mar-06: Back injury, day-to-day. 09-Mar-06: Missed 1 game (flu). 07-Mar-06: Flu, day-to-day. 31-Dec-05: Missed 3 games (hip flexor). 26-Dec-05: Hip flexor, day-to-day. 01-Nov-05: Missed 4 games (head injury). 23-Oct-05: Head injury, day-to-day.

He embarrassed himself last playoffs. If he gets away from Sutter though, there might be hope for him. Iginla's got a lot of great qualities, but he has some wrongheaded ideas about how to fire up his team. After his meltdown in the playoffs, I'd be a little wary, but still think he'd be a great player to have on the wings. Tough, can score, can hit, a team player... As others may have already pointed out, Cheli was no angel before coming to the Wings. He was public enemy #1.

about what? the only time he's ever right is when he "breaks" a story less than an hour before TSN does. And TSN has the burden of actually checking facts and having reputable sources.

I didn't forget. I know they have to spend more money to meet the minimum. but by dumping Hartnell Timmonen and Vokoun they sure look like a team who's primary goal is saving money and maybe positioning themselves for the future, not improving the team for this season. Everyone keeps dismissing the loss of Hartnell and Timmonen saying how they never could've afforded to keep both of them. Yet as you point out, they are in a position now where they need to spend money to meet the minimum required by that cap. Seems to me like they had room to keep at least one of these guys. I just don't see how losing those three is a part of a sound strategy for building a better team (in the short term).

I think Mason is the Manny Legace of Nashville. He enjoyed the benefits of being the backup. Coming in to save the day without the expectations that come with starting. He seems like a decent goaltender, but I'd be pretty surprised if he turned out to be as good as Vokoun. Not to say it doesn't happen (though Hasek is the only one I can think of offhand), but he's a 31 yr old goaltender who has never had a starting job in the NHL. There's probably a reason for that. And overall Legionaire, I can't tell if you've really got the inside track on what's happening with the Predators, or if you're just a loyal fan who's deeply in denial. time will tell.