Heroes of Hockeytown

This is silly. Fedorov is so much better than these other guys, they don't even get to smell his farts.

He was just on the local news... seems like a friendly enough guy. Didn't say too much on him, other than that everyone at camp was asking him about his name. Shanny joked about getting on the coaches good side and stuff, "Good morning, what's that supposed to mean? There's got to be another meaning to that!" I don't wanna take it for anything other than face value--and kind of a joke--but hopefully he is taking Babcock more seriously than Lewis.

Is this Eklund? Anyways, yeah, no go for Dats in Nashville. I would forever be Kevin Lowe's and Ken Holland's humble servants if they could come up with a deal to bring Ryan Smyth here.

Yes timothy, they lost, and I'm sure you cried aloud with mirth and merriment. May your snobbish "I told ya sos" echo forever in this place.

Datsyuk will probably re-sign, defensive liability that he is. Hull is replaced by Lang (who actually had a +/- of 2 on the Washington Capitals, for chrissakes); Lang is bigger, stronger, and better defensively--he obviously doesn't have as good of a shot and isn't a floating one-timer machine, but we already have enough of those. Mac never did anything offensively. Cool Ray's slack can easily be picked up by Williams if he has a decent season (assuming he plays top line minutes, anyways), or Homer. Even Maltby and Draper could shore that one up. As long as Datsyuk signs, we will have four lines that are as good as any in the league. We won't be able to just roll them like we used to, but that might get key guys like Williams even more time to refine his game. The issue in my mind isn't the guys we will ice on opening night, but the lack of depth. We haven't been this shallow in a decade--so it'll be up to the kids to carry the old folks from time to time. Not a problem when you consider that stretch in December last year where half the Wings starting roster was out, but Datsyuk and the rest of the kids hopped the team up on their back and allowed them to dominate.

Eep.

Hart is a monster isn't he? I went crazy over that TD run of his, he just ran over that defender, flattened him. Insanity. Avant = Braylon Edwards who? (Just kidding, we don't have anyone to replace Braylon but he's damn close). Breaston was dangerous, but he ended up coming just a little short on all of the deep balls Henne sent him. If he and Henne can get on the same wavelength there, it'll be a deadly duo for sure. The defense? Bo said it. Our tackling was attrocious. Wrap the sunnavabitch up with your arms, don't just run into him and hope your dead weight will be good enough to take him down. The defense was excellent at producing turnovers (2 generated by hits, 1 from knocking the ball out of the QBs hands, 1 interception), but still struggled mightily stopping the run. It could be a loooooong game against the Irish, for sure.

I don't know if they could afford to take on an extra $2M. Here's the only way this deal could work: Philadelphia has $34,120,600 in disclosed salary, and two rookies signed (+$1.5M). Now, if the other four players they have signed are ALL for the league minimum, it would push them up to $37,420,600. So, if they lose Handzus's $2.1M, bringing them down to $35,320,600, then take on Smyth's $4M that would bring them up to $39,320,600. I think the cap is at $39.5M, so that gives them BARELY just enough wiggle room IF they have those four I mentioned at league minimum. Of course, they could avoid all that hoopla just by dumping another player or two--they wouldn't even have to be signficant ones--but bah humbug I don't believe it anyways.

Good signing. Stumpy will have a good year as long as he stays healthy (and maybe the guys around him too). I'd expect about ~40pts out of him and maybe some clutch scoring in the playoffs... if they make it. If he's signed anyways. This is one rumor that I wouldn't right off, though.

It's not like they're pissed at each other or anything. This isn't Dom "Overfiend of the Superego" Hasek and Joseph. They'll just be competing for the number one is all. They've done it before, so no big deal.

That would be a pretty killer line... But with the Thrashers looking to make the playoffs this year, I'd take Koz 10 times out of 10 over Datsyuk. And anyways, Atlanta isn't one to put all their eggs in one basket. They rarely played Heatley and Kovalchuk on the same line.

Laraque is a badass, the problem is once he scores a couple of goals he starts thinking he's the next Gretzky and will refuse to fight for fear of breaking his hand. Babcock would have to smack some sense into that guy.

Could be the next Chris Simon. In which case, I welcome him to the originization and offer him a ten year contract!

I don't know if the Oil would swap Markkanen for a more expensive Legace and Torres for a more expensive Datsyuk. Don't they have some sort of self-imposed cap of $30-32M or so? There must be a reason why Smyth hasn't signed yet (unless he's looking for a short-term, Datsyuk-esque contract so he can bolt for free agency).

Tell that to Scotty Bowman! *rimshot*

The Nortwest might be challenging the Northeast for most heavily contested division this year... In the Northwest, Colorado and Vancouver are still great teams, Calgary is rock solid, and Edmonton is improving steadily. But the Northeast--with powerhouse Boston, Toronto, and Ottawa, and even Montreal, they were the only division with four teams with 40+ wins and four teams with playoff spots. But Edmonton was just one game out of playoff contention last year so... Things definately getting tighter around the league.

Clarke should be smacked if he pulls off this deal. Bondra will be gone in a year. He has Handzus for years to come, because he's not going to be making that much money and if I recall correctly even said he wanted to stay in Philly his whole career, so they could potentially get a discount on his talent. Worse, you'd put two rookies--Carter and Richards--over the proven Handzus? He brings much more to the table than scoring as well, he is big, tough and physical. You just can't put a price on this kind of play. I would eat my hat if the Flyers moved Handzus to make room for Bondra.

He also claims later in the article that Philly is prepared to move the young, talented, promising Michal Handzus for aging sniper Peter Bonda. As always: I'll believe it when I see it.

I agree it wouldn't be wise for Montreal to make this move, but from Tampa's end moving Richards is probably a good idea. He's going to want Lecavalier/St. Louis money next year when he becomes UFA and TB's already got all that money locked up so... might as well trade him and get some younger, cheaper talent.

Yeah, if you're Detroit. Before the words even left his lips the man from Minnesota would've hung up the phone.

Not like those three are the future success and competitiveness of the team or anything. No reason to be concerned. Move along.

Absolutely. No more choking in the Rose Bowl this year, boys. Either put up or shut up. And I have the faith it'll be the former.

Definately, it's no one factor. You've gotta hand it to Ilitch for absolutely giving his all to ice a competitive team, he loves to win. Jimmy Devellano and the scouting staff deserves a ton of thanks for helping draft/aquire some of the best in the league. I'd say the jury is still out on Ken Holland. He might've been good as a scout. But GM? We'll see.

The Sens are a fun team to watch. If only they had a real goalie, they'd be in Stanley Cup City right now.

BWHAHAHAHAHA! Are they kidding? Not in a thousand goddamn years. I'd eat my hat.