Dabura

Viewing party in Bryant Park?! How cool is that! Ugh, Kenny Albert.

But if they win the Cup, that's two in three years, and then there's two teams in the West that could become modern dynasties. :-(

I love both these teams. It sucks/is awesome. I'd love Rangers in seven.

I don't really mind Pierre. When he does his weekly interview with Hradek and Mears, he's a surprisingly likeable person, same with Edzo. I think they both play up their quirks for NBC, to the point where they become caricatures of themselves. Whatever sells the show, I guess. As for biases - well, for starters, Pierre likes the Wings. He's made that clear. But I get the argument. Really, I think it's whichever team is controlling the game, that's the one he's going to talk up. Because if he doesn't, well, then he looks biased. So he can't win. And yeah, he's going to pay special attention to Crosby, but I've never gotten the impression that it comes from this sinister place in the darkest region of his soul. He likes Crosby because he's a great player, and even if that weren't the case, you know there's a mandate to Sell the Sport (and the show), so Crosbyvision is happening no matter what, with or without Pierre, whether we like it or not. Edzo. I do think it's pretty clear that he's not the biggest fan of the Wings, but we blow it way out of proportion. He has his Edzoisms that he needs to get in at least once a night, regardless of the teams that are playing. Subtle interference, dangerous and reckless way to take a hit along the boards, four-on-four means D get D and forwards get forwards, "You cannot allow [insert thing you cannot allow]," etc. But getting back on topic - I can see Pierre being a pretty good GM, but, honestly, I don't have much to base that on, and I could just as easily see it being a disaster. He knows his hockey, and he seems to be pretty ok in dealing with hockey people. But being the general manager of an NHL organization is a crazy-big job. It's more than just knowing your hockey and doing scripted two-minute "interviews" with cliche-packing hockey players. It's more than knowing where everyone played his junior hockey. I'm sure there's more to him than that, but enough to guide the Penguins to the multiple Cups they feel they deserve? That's the question.

The funny thing - as you're pointing out - is that the same proposal at this point in time would probably be an overpayment. What a difference a year makes, right? Kenny's definitely going to have to make some trades. We have a wealth of promising young players and prospects, a real testament to this organization's drafting and developing. My belief is that this is what's really going to decide Kenny's legacy. If he can turn our system's depth into a dozen quality roster players, two big trade acquisitions, and a boatload of draft picks, he's King of the GMs.

At the time, Nyquist + Smith + a 1st would've been borderline insulting. "We want your cornerstone defenseman, but we don't want to give up a key roster player to get him." Or, basically, "I think you might be an idiot."

Smith's a top-pairing defenseman right now, though, admittedly, it's a learn-from-the-master situation. Still, he was one of our better players in the Boston series. He largely restored my confidence in him by playing to his strengths. He's got size, he's not afraid to use it, he's an exceptional skater, and - as long as he keeps it simple - he's one of our better puck-movers on the back end. I think if he gets time on the power play and first pairing, his production skyrockets and he becomes a legitimate asset in our top four. Might as well put him in a position to succeed and find out if he can do it, provided he remembers to keep it simple. I'd take Smith over Almqvist any day.

Was that Kenny's prefered package? I was trying to remember. If so, I don't fault Gillis for wanting to squeeze more out of him.

We do need more "O" from our "D," particularly with the man advantage. But Almqvist isn't our only option, even if we don't sign or trade for a top-four guy. On the roster, Smith should probably be seeing time on the power play. Of the kids, Sproul stands out as a bona fide weapon with the man advantage. The New School is size, mobility, and being good with the puck. The concern with Almqvist is that he's neither big nor an especially good skater. (And he's not very good on the defensive side of the puck.) So, even when he's quarterbacking the power play (which is pretty much the only situation where he's not going to be a liability), if he gets caught flat-footed at the blue line and coughs up the puck to a speedy NHL PKer, he doesn't have the skating to be able to bail himself out. That was an issue with Alfredsson this season.

I've been saying for a while now that Almqvist's future probably doesn't lie with the Wings. But that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a future in the NHL. I'd look to trade him, preferably to a team that might really have a need for him.

Well, that was under Gillis, who's insane. Twice he very nearly dealt Edler and ended up asking for more than what was more-or-less originally agreed to - and he was dealing with Holland and Chiarelli, two pretty honorable peope. (I can't really confirm that that's what happened, naturally. But yay narratives!) Holland will bring it up with Benning and see if he's any more willing than his predecessor and if Edler - who would have to approve a trade - might be open to it. The Wings have been interested in Edler for a long, long time. They had wanted to draft him, have tried to trade for him, and clearly still carry a torch for him. So this goes beyond whatever happened in Vancouver last season (which was, I think, Tortorella. See: the whole team sucking, mercilessly.) This is a guy who was supposed to be on our blue line from the beginning of his NHL career, learning from Lidstrom and Kronwall. So they think very highly of him and believe he'd be a great fit. I don't think the handedness matters a ton. It's important, but you're not going to not be interested in a guy like Edler because he shoots left. Holland and co. are going to consider every option, righties and lefties, and Edler's way up near the top of the list, because they're familiar with him and - let's be honest - he's a top-end talent. I assume we'd be moving a roster defenseman (Smith) to Vancouver anyway, so it's not adding another lefty, it's upgrading one of our existing ones. That's how I look at it. Like I've said before, I think the ideal play-out is we add two very good defensemen and still have room for a kid. So, UFA pickup, trade, and a promotion. Something along these lines: Kronwall Edler DeKeyser Niskanen Ericsson Marchenko That's an excellent top four and a really strong bottom pairing. It's a lot of money to invest in your blue line, but we have cost-controlled kids trickling into the forward corps.

Yep.

I like Hemsky.

Re: Kesler - I reckon Benning would want Sheahan.

Apparently Holland is still very keen on Edler. So says some Swedish outlet.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from making a comeback?

Chelios ('02, '08) Dandenault ('97, '98, '02) Konstantinov ('97) UWE KRUPP Murphy ('97, '98) Olausson ('02) Rafalski ('08) Rouse ('97, '98)

More and more I'm thinking we should trade for Florida's pick and take Ekblad.

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

And Orr, Westgarth, and Parros.

We're dangerously close to not having a single righty on the roster. That's...pretty silly.

So we probably just sign Tom Gilbert.

Normally, I'd fully agree. But I'm hoping the frustration Z and D have expressed, and the way we were torched in the first round by a team we absolutely can't compete with without making a major change or two, and the wealth of tradeable assets, and the significant chunk of cap space we should be clearing up, and Babs calling our recent playoff futility a "five year drought," and our core only having a few good years left...I want to believe Kenny will approach things differently this summer. I'm hoping there's an honest push to really, truly compete for Lord Stanley's Cup, as opposed to making the playoffs and treating everything past that point as a bonus. Actually, the thing that really gives me hope is the Kings' run. One of my absolute pet peeves is referencing their 2012 run as this magical Cinderella story that nobody could've predicted because they were the eighth seed. Bulls***. They won because they were an incredible team. Now they're proving it wasn't a fluke. They're proving you have to be really f****** good to be a dominant postseason team and a true perennial contender. Our core deserves one more Cup.

Not that I can remember, but it's possible, given how awful Kindl and Lashoff were together (though, they were only together because Ericsson was hurt). But I've gotta think those spots will be filled internally, unless Babs feels we need some more snarl and maybe some more veteran leadership. In that case, I might like Matt Greene on a one-year deal.

I agree with all of this. *reads it over again* Yep.