Dabura

Niklas Kronwall Aaron Ekblad Danny DeKeyser Anton Stralman Don't Know What Evz Who Cares It's so beautiful.

Rick Nash and Jennifer Lawrence have very similar faces. Except, Jennifer Lawrence is sexy. Discuss. UNDER PRESSURE

It's a limited stat. That's how I think of it. It can tell you something, but, generally, don't take it at face value. Case in point: Jason Spezza this season. The Sens sucked this season. (Apologies to the resident Sens fan.) They absolutely leaked goals. Neither of their goalies could stop a beach ball. And yet, Spezza was, I think (haven't formally checked), about a point-per-game player. So, on the second line of a defensively responsible team like the Wings? I tend to think he'd be a difference-maker, without having the baggage of a captaincy and being The Guy. If I'm Spezza, that's what I want. What happened to the Ducks? I thought they were in on him? That'd be an interesting match. Take away the 15 goals Franzen's going to score against the Sens every season and they become a playoff team.

A few more thoughts: I guess Spezza for Kesler makes sense, in theory. But I'm not sure the Canucks would be thrilled with that trade, unless Kesler is just balls-to-the-walls get-me-the-hell-outta-here, in which case, sure, Spezza sounds awesome. Spezza's big, but, yes - he's soft as a baby's bottom. And kinda lazy. He's an elite 1C in this league, no question about it - but as other are saying, he doesn't scream "THE ANSWER." ...However, we don't need an ANSWER. At least, not in our forward corps. At the very least, Spezza would be a solid complimentary player who would, in theory, hold down the 2C spot (the less time Z has to spend playing pivot, the better), and take over for Datsyuk when he leaves. Personally, I want us to go young with the forwards. But we're definitely lacking a high-end centerman in the pipeline. The hope is that Sheahan can become a 2C. Interestingly, his stats for this season - basic and advanced - suggest that's very realistic.

Murray's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. If it goes public, "He's throwing Spezza under the bus. The little s***." If it doesn't go public, "He forced Spezza out, all secret-like. The little s***." All I "know" is, from all the things I've seen and heard and read about the state of the Sens organ-I-zation, it's a screwed up enterprise. And it has very little to do with Bryan Murray (who I rank as a really good GM) and a whole lot to do with the owner, Eugene Melnyk, who's insane and/or evil. I don't know if Spezza has a NTC or NMC or whatever, but I'm guessing Murray's probably not in a position to be super-choosy about the ultimate destination, i.e. I think Detroit is, in theory, a possibility, given our wealth of good young assets and futures. (Plus, the similarities in our systems and emphasis on skill and possession.) Remember, they're a budget team, not a cap team; they want cost control. I mean, sure, ideally they'd probably do a "hockey trade" (value for value), but, failing that, they'll look to bring in a couple solid young players and a good pick. Again, I think that puts us in the conversation. If nothing else, this screams Ken Holland. Screams.

Not really. But I'd love to have him, at the right price. The interesting wrinkle here is Murray's probably gonna have to sell low, or at least much lower than he'd like for his best forward (arguably their best player, period). Not that that wouldn't have been the case anyway, but asking for a trade, when this guy's your captain? He's gotta be moved. The other interesting thing is the Sens don't have a lot of Realgud players. Seriously. Look at their roster and their pipeline. We're waist-deep in quality assets, any one of which they'd probably love to have. For better or worse, I doubt the idea of Spezza to Detroit (reunion with Alfie?) is at all appealing to Murray or Melnyk. But you can be sure Kenny will pursue this. It'd be a very Ken Holland pickup.

Get Ekblad, sign Stralman. That would be divine. I feel like Tallon would probably want Ericsson (plus whatever else), but I wonder if Smith+Kindl (plus whatever else) would do it. Can you imagine? (Rhetorical question!) Kronwall Ekblad DeKeyser Stralman Ericsson Ouellet Lashoff

I've said it a couple times before and I'll say it again: I'm 100% down with (the idea of) trading for the pick and taking Ekblad. I'd be willing to consider moving any of the players in our system to get this done.

Trying to find a middle ground between realistic and pipedreaming, I think I'm settling on this for our blue line: Kronwall Smith DeKeyser Stralman Ericsson Marchenko I'd be ok with that. Up front, I'd love to add Pouliot, as I've said. That's almost certainly not happening, but I have him slotted in there for now. I'd also like to trade for Tom Wilson, as I've also said. Stralman, Wilson, Pouliot. For all my bellyaching and teeth-gnashing and pissing and moaning about making bold deals to make our team a winner, I'd be real happy with just adding those three. I'm not in favor of big moves for the sake of big moves. I do think we're a couple players away from being one of the better teams in the East. I'ma try and work out some forward lines. I've got custom roster fever again.

You have no idea what you're talking about. I don't mean that in a mean way. Actually, yes, I do. Kinda. We could use some help up front. Every team could. (See: LA acquiring Richards, Carter, Gaborik.) But these days it's about being able to roll four solid lines. (Ask the Penguins.) It's also about having an elite, cornerstone defenseman, or at least a really solid top-four. I think this is fine: Zetterberg Datsyuk Jurco Franzen Weiss/Sheahan Nyquist Or this: Jurco Datsyuk Alfredsson Franzen Zetterberg Nyquist Or whatever. And Mantha's in there somewhere. Versus this: Kronwall Ericsson DeKeyser Smith Kindl Marchenko Which makes me want to cry.

Kronwall Smith DeKeyser Boyle/Markov Ericsson [Kid] What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with what I'm saying? Our scoring woes stem from our blue line more than anything else. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are two of the best players in the world, and Weiss, Helm, Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Sheahan, Pulkkinen, Mantha could each be good for 15+ goals next season (not that they're all going to be on the roster next season, of course). Point being, we don't lack skill and scoring prowess up front. We lack puck movement and offense on the back end.

Well, full disclosure: I'm biased. I really like Mrazek, a lot. I think he's good enough right now to be a starter in the NHL. I'd like to see him make his case for being our #1.

I say bring Mrazek up and give him every opportunity to steal the starting job from Howard. I don't care if Kenny was brough up too soon and it scarred him for life and now he's trying to protect this young goalie or whatever. Mrazek is awesome.

I'm gonna kinda sorta contradict myself... Chris Stewart and Wayne Simmonds are really good friends. And Wayne Simmonds was a Wings fan as a kid. And Wayne Simmonds is awesome. If we could trade for Wayne Simmonds and then get him to get Chris Stewart to sign a reasonable deal with the Wings next summer (when Stewart becomes a UFA), that would be awesome. Though, I'd still want that top-four defenseman.

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Weiss, Franzen, Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Sheahan, Mantha, Alfredsson, Athanasiou... We need a top-four defenseman like whoa.

If we sign Brodeur, I will riot.

Yep. Broke my heart.

I doubt there are many. But maybe there are. If you think about it, why wouldn't there be? There are a number of top-four defensemen, and few are truly untouchable, and every team has needs, and those needs won't all be solved through free agency. (You don't think the Coyotes would considering move Yandle for a scoring forward?) Solution: the GMs can put on their big boy pants and stop this "Well, no one ever trades a top-four defenseman these days (except when someone does)" self-fulfilling prophecy. I imagine what this probably comes down to is, I sit here and think Tatar + Smith + a second-round pick in next year's draft is a pretty good deal for Keith Yandle - but Kenny doesn't want a pretty good deal. Kenny wants a Realgud deal. Which is fair enough, I guess. Except, if true, it means we're never going to make a big trade.

I said Rangers in seven. The way the series has gone thus far, I think it's a real possibility.

Straight off the top of my head: Zetterberg Datsyuk Jurco Nyquist Weiss Stewart Franzen Sheahan Pulkkinen Miller Helm Abdelkader I could get behind that.

Stewart would definitely be a risk, a reclamation project. He's headstrong, didn't get along with Hitchcock (but then, who does?), disappeared for vast stretches of time, rarely looked really engaged, hasn't shown an interest in the 200-foot game...but I'd be very interested, because his upside and overall potential are so tantalizing. He's a 26-year-old power forward who shoots right, and we might be able to get him for a reasonable price. And it's definitely true that "problem players" have, in more than one case, reinvented themselves as Red Wings. So I at least kick the tires, definitely.

It's almost like there's this cosmic plan unfolding. That the universe has "course-corrected" so that we can not only acquire a top-four defenseman, but do so comfortably. Think about it. The unreal number of injuries revealing four top-six-worthy kids in Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Jurco. Nyquist setting the world on fire. The kid line turning heads. Mantha - the kind of prospect any GM would kill for - being handed to us on a silver platter and then silencing his critics with a monster season. The six young NHL-ready defensemen, all of whom are looking like former first-round picks. Tyler Bertuzzi having the season he had. Glendening showing his mettle against Stamkos and Crosby. Athanasiou looking like a potential top-sixer. Pulkkinen tearing it up for the Griffins. DeKeyser choosing the Wings. A team like, I dunno, the Sens would probably love to have Andersson or Almqvist or Callahan or Ferraro. Full credit to Team Holland on this front. Having this many promising young assets while always making the playoffs and never picking in the top twelve and never rebuilding - it's incredible, absolutely incredible. But my point is, it almost seems too perfect, doesn't it? It's like this had to happen. Is there perhaps some defenseman out there who's supposed to become a Wing and help lead us to glory? Or is the idea that we truly have all we need, and those special players - say, Ouellet and Pulkkinen - are going to rise to the surface this season and turn us into a contender? Maybe I have it backwards with my Holland bashing. Maybe the bold, risky course of action is pushing for that one last Cup for Datsyuk using only what we have. I guess the argument could be made that anyone can pull off a trade, but not just anyone can amass the kind of young talent we have in our system. Hmmm.

I don't fault him for Suter-Parise. I believe he got about as close as he was going to be able to get. What I fault him for is pursuing 90% of the big names that surface in the rumor mill (Nash, Edler, Bouwmeester, Salo, Burns, et al.), getting close to pulling the trigger a few times, and then turning around and saying, "That's not how you do it in the cap era," and then turning again and signing Alfredsson and Weiss and trading for Legwand. To me, that screams picky, cushy. He wants the perfect deal to fall in his lap, or he needs to be put in an impossibly desperate situation where he pretty much has no choice. He doesn't want to "overpay." He wants it to be nice and clean and storybook-like. Safe. On his terms. As long as we can make the playoffs, there's no serious urgency - and even then, "Well, we can't make the playoffs every year. Parity. Retooling. Parity. Difficult. Half the league makes the playoffs. Blah blah blah. But we can give Jordin Tootoo way more than he's worth. Blah blah blah." I've posted this a couple times in the past few weeks and I'll post it again: http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/41032-Campbell-Brent-Burns-trade-moves-Sharks-closer-to-Stanley-Cup.html Kenny's always talking about how it takes two to dance. You have to wonder if he's the one who's unwilling to dance, not all 29 of the other GMs and all the free agents he's courted. And you have to wonder if that would be because the asking prices are always astronomical and totally non-justifiable, or because there's some issue on his end.

To be clear, I'm not saying we need to sign Dan Boyle. Even if he's game for a two-year deal with us (not likely), I believe we can do better. That's where I really agree with you, kip. We can do better, at least in theory. We have tons of assets. We have about as much cap space as we're ever going to have (because this is about as close to rebuilding as we're going to get). We can get that top-four defenseman on the right side of 30. I get wanting to hold on to your prospects, but we're looking at a logjam anyway. Kindl, Lashoff, Almqvist, Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, Backman, Jensen, maybe even Smith - these guys are competing for, at absolute most, three spots.