Dabura

Yes, we do.

Y'know, I'm not a big fan of Kesler or the idea of trading for him - but if the price is Jurco, Andersson, and our first-round pick in the upcoming draft? I strongly consider pulling that trigger.

Doesn't Tortorella like dogs?

Hear, hear! Of course, if LA wins the Cup, that's two in three years. Which would be nuts. But would they have enough in the tank to repeat next season?

I think it's a closer series if Price is in and Emelin doesn't also get hurt. But I think the Rags still win in six or seven. They proved they're the superior team, IMHO. They pretty much beat the Habs at their own game, killing them with speed, skill, and best-of-the-best goaltending. Their PK was better than the Habs' P.K.

I'll be rooting for the Rangers 110% (sorry, haroldsnepsts), but I won't be devastated if the Kings win it. I certainly won't be shocked. (Who's actually picking NY to win this? Aside from their fans and people who don't watch Western Conference hockey.) I'm expecting Kopitar to have a really huge series. With all due respect to the Blueshirts, they don't have a Toews or a Kane. The weight has been lifted, the shackles loosed. What a matchup tho. Best goalie in the world in Lundqvist (IMHO), best defenseman in the world in Doughty (IMHO), Carter and St. Louis trading end-to-end chances back and forth with blinding speed, both teams are defense-first but can really open things up if necessary...this should be good. Realgud.

Did you see that shot of him in the hoodie?

Philly sucks at developing its own, though. Re: Williams - dude is now the clutchiest Game 7 player in NHL history. 14 points gives him more than Gilmour (13), more than Gretzky (12, I think). 14 points. In seven game sevens.

My impression is Engelland is gone. I mean from Pittsburgh. He's going to want a raise, and they're not in a position to give him one, so he probably goes to Edmonton. That's what I've heard from Pens fans. Not to be grumpy me, but Murray is terrible, and the rest of those guys are largely-inconsequential depth guys. With the kids we have on the farm, I don't see us going for one of them unless it really makes sense. I think my ideal scenario, re: our bottom pairing, is Ericsson gets bumped down to the third pairing - because we land a Realgud top-four defenseman - and he embraces his gritty, stay-at-home, crease-clearing, bare-bones basics side. Put him with Marchenko and that's a Realgud bottom pairing that can shut down, block shots, kill penalties, play heavy in front our net and in our corners - and also move the puck really well and put some points up.

THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!

I can't see Draisaitl going any later than eight, and even eight's really pushing it.

See, I'm not sure I really buy that. Any player could turn into a steal - especially for an organization like ours which specializes in drafting and developing. What I'm hearing/reading is that the uncertainty surrounding the consensus rankings means some very good players might go later than one would probably expect. So there's also that going for us, maybe.

I was gonna mention Richards. He seems to have fallen off a bit. (I think Handzus was his guy on that overtime winner.) But yeah, someone needs to be shadowing him, no question. Go CIA on his ass. Side note: I'm half-watching Kopitar's day with the Cup on the NHL Network. They showed a picture of him with his younger brother when they were really young, and, if I saw it right, he's rocking a Kings shirt! How great is that??

Woohoo!!!

All good points. I just feel like he's still got more in the tank, more years of pro coaching left in him. Taking over at Michigan would be like an early retirement. If that's where his heart is (when the time comes), more power to him. It'll probably be an easier decision if he can win one more Cup.

Basically the Kings have let Kane have his way with them. That's pretty much it. If they can stop doing that, they'll be ok. Easier said then done, of course, but they did a pretty good job of it earlier in the series. This could be a game for the ages.

Nope! But I think we could make it worth their while, given the depth of our prospect pool and the simple fact that a body or two will need to be moved in the very near future. Kindl, Almqvist, Andersson, Ferraro...

I like T.Low. He gets things done.

I don't see Babs going to Michigan, personally. Not at this stage in his career. A guy like him, arguably the best in the hockey world, arguably still in his coaching prime, just walking away from pro hockey altogether? I think he stays in the NHL and takes over a good but underachieving team that's tuned out its coach, e.g. St. Louis. Stupid though these Pittsburgh/Toronto rumors have been, pretty much any and every club would love to have Mike Babcock, in any capacity.

Sorry, I'm being snippy. My back's been flaring up. So I was thinking. Why not a UFA (e.g. Niskanen) plus Yandle? What would Yandle cost, realistically? Tatar, Smith, and a prospect? We'd be looking at a lot of $ invested in our blue line, but if we go young up front (which should be the plan anyway), it shouldn't be a problem. Kronwall Niskanen DeKeyser Yandle Ericsson Marchenko Not perfect, but we'd have puck movement and offense coming from the blue line, which is what we need. We wouldn't be spending the whole game in our end, which is what we need. We'd have a lethal power play, which would've given us a chance against Boston. If not Yandle, Shattenkirk? Would you be willing to move Nyquist for him? Kronwall Niskanen DeKeyser Shattenkirk Ericsson Marchenko We have so many tradeable assets. Granted, they're mostly futures, but in a way that's ideal. Why not swing for the fences? Seriously.

Not that I wouldn't like to see us get a little bigger, stronger, tougher, more truculent up front. But I'd rather go for Tom Wilson.

Gazdic sucks.

Handedness is important in a number of ways. (Otherwise, no one would care about it.) One example: breakouts. Puck possession and puck movement are paramount. That's why Lidstrom-Rafalski-Kronwall was the best top three we've ever had. Lidstrom wasn't terribly big and never hit anyone. Rafalski was smallish and non-physical (and not amazing in the d-zone). Kronwall is smallish and, aside from the Kronwalling, not especially physical. Size and strength and physicality, as measures of defensive value, are overrated. If you're hitting, it means you don't have the puck. I want guys who can own the puck, do good things with it, make plays with it, keep the puck out of our zone, drive our possession and attack. If we get steamrolled by forecheckers, it's because we suck with the puck in our end. Having said all that, I'd like for Stralman to score more. But if he's helping the team score, that's fine by me. As long as we're scoring. Plus, if he's a big point-producer, his price tag is way higher and he becomes more of a pipe dream, because we don't do bidding wars anymore. Bottom line - like Son of a Wing said, Stralman's playing top-four minutes on a Stanley Cup Finals team, and the stats (and the eye test) point to him being one of their most important players. And he's Swedish! C'mon! The value of The Hit is overstated, unless it's leading to meaningful possession. You want to always have the puck. If you're hitting and Being Truculent, it means you don't have the puck and you're trying to get it back. Our problem is we can gain possession but we don't do good things with the puck once we have it, at least not in our end. That's been Smith's problem - he's done some very bad things with the puck in our end. However, he's probably one of our better puck-movers on the back end when he's on his game. And, for what it's worth, he's faaar from "soft." I like the Smith we saw in the playoffs. He stepped up. EDIT: I'm not saying handedness is all-important or that size and strength isn't key. I just want my better defensemen to be, above all else, really damn good with the puck. Point production is huge, but I see Niskanen getting an absolute monster of a contract, whereas I feel Stralman could be had without having to beat out 20 other teams in an all-out bidding war.

For what it's worth (nothing), they went 2-0-0 against Chicago and 1-1-0 against LA in the regular season. I think if anything does them in, it'll be their power play.

(More on Stralman.)