theman19

he'd be a one year contract kinda guy, not entirely sure if he'd want to sign to that. Besides i think management is bent on having all that cap space for the deadline.

"NHL- Currently the NHL has fallen almost completely off the sports map in most cities. The NHL has its team though." love that part,...i swear sometimes it's almost like the sports media not Canadian has this pipe dream of killing the nhl entirly.

you know what i'm curious of? why no one has offered Ossi Vannennen a contract. He's a young kid, hits hard and plays a decent positional game. Surly he could be had for less than a million.

i wouldn't say i'm a closet fan. They're my second favorite team and i live in Raleigh so i watch them play whenever i can. However when Detroit's in town, everyone knows what team i'm pulling for. It just makes me angry when people who have no idea about how the canes play and how deep they're prospect system is say over and over again how much they suck simply because they're a southern team.

are you kidding me? i really hope that was a joke. If half there team isn't injured this team is an eastern conference contender. How would we have done If Zetterberg, Markov, and Lidstrom had been injured and Dats went into a slump? That's about how Carolina did when Stillman had surgery, Kaberle was out all year, Hedican was in and out, Plus Staal's production dropped. If This team is healhty this year they'll make some noise. Last year they had at one time maybe 5 healthy nhl defensemen.

kindofa pointless thread to me but i'll throw in my two cents. feds did have a hart in 94 and was a force of nature. But there are no cups without steve yzerman. don't forget in 98 he was the conn smyth winner. Plus until bowman made him a two way player he had just as much offensive upside as federov.

i brought that point up a few comments ago, I believe this signing was made to replace the loss of D mac more than anyone else. The difference being is that mac fought people and Drake just runs them over.

any body know if Dean is any good? just sayin'

okay, no one is going to say it so i will. Drake isn't replacing Lang that's not even close. Drake is replacing the loss of D-Mac The line of malby-draper-mac was a force of nature on the ice and the last time this team had anything resembling a checking line. Now with Maltby-Draper-Drake We might have something here. Drake isn't going to fight like mac, he's not going to stick up for people like mac but he'll level more people than mac and will score about the same as a 2002-2003 mac.

i don't understand all the yashin hate from everyone. True he's not been the greatest player in terms of leading a team or producing when it counted. But how would most players preform with the kind of pressure the isles put on him by naming him the captain of a suck franchiese and then throwing Gretzky like money at him. If the weight is off him i fully expect him to produce. Heck he was a major part of the isles making the playoffs in the first place last year. Then after he begs them to keep him, they still bought him out. Bottom line is he had 50 points last year and would be a perfect replacement for Robert lang who had roughly the same production. Is he an upgrade over lang, Not a chance, but you can't replace Lang with what's left and if kenny decideds the kids arn't ready, putting them there hurts their development.

where the piss is he at these days?

intresting,....

we've got a guy on here who's Dats' personal webmaster. He called a new contract with the correct terms a day before it happened. He got lambasted and then his thread was moved to rumor mill. Needless to say some people felt foolish. Legitimate hockey news is out there before it hits the freep, you've just got to know where to look.

i get what you mean. Actually i rather like our tradeoffs. (I think that's a better word, tradeoffs) Rafalski in my opinion is an upgrade of Schneider. Granted, Schneider is a beast on the pp (but didn't show it much last year), but i like Rafalski's D and his passing ability. Part of our pp problem was there was to much shooting from the point and not enough passing down low. I think Babs and Holland saw that and went for a puck moving D man. As far as drake goes, meh,.....Bertuzzi has to capablity to be an absoutlte game breaker. But he hasn't broke a game open in two years and honestly i don't see him doing it on the ducks. If he's the same Bert he was here in those few games he played with us, he's no different than drake in my opinion. Lastly i believe Lang's role will easily and much more enthusiastically be filled by fillpulla when all's said and done. This kid is the real deal and soon everyone will know it.

You know,...i read these all days,...and i just shake my head. Hockey is a brutal game, which takes a brutal type of player to play it. Gordie howe was famous for his elbow's too. He threw one a shift was how it went. Am i comparing Dallas Drake to Gordie howe? Not on your life! I am however saying just because a player hits another player up high everyonce in a while it doesn't make him Jordin TooToo. You know,...i read these all days,...and i just shake my head. Hockey is a brutal game, which takes a brutal type of player to play it. Gordie howe was famous for his elbow's too. He threw one a shift was how it went. Am i comparing Dallas Drake to Gordie howe? Not on your life! I am however saying just because a player hits another player up high everyonce in a while it doesn't make him Marty Mcsourly.

hence the only reason they made the change to begin with.

i laughed at that for at least 20 min.

the caps will have to give some kind of payback to the oilers. This has happened before.

if we can get him for under 3 million with incentives, and his foot is okay by playoff time, we basicly have the 2006 Swedish Olympic team. Why on earth would any of you be apposed to this?

From the bottom of my Raleigh residential heart; Bump off.

i doubt if to many of those teams let those forwards walk. Although with the way the rangers played (and he played) when he was on there team Sean avery might be to expensive.

you've never seen anyone say they wanted to trade samuelsson? stick around,....

We alll know how Detroit has always seemed to have a knack for taking players who's career's seem to be over and making them stars. (see cleary from this season, or larry murphy from seasons past) i'm thinking Holland is going to another dimension to find a Free agent. one that is probably going to makes us all uproar until he puts up 50 points. Jason Allison's name has been batted around a bit and he would be a guy like i'm talking about. He's always put up good numbers but didn't play at all last year and is slower than dirt. (or as mack_attack put it, "i've seen tectonic plates move faster") But when the dust settles he's a guy we might get for nothing and come in a be reborn. the other prospect i was thinking about, is definatly off everyones radar. Alyn McCauley. His Contract of two million was bought out by the kings making him a ufa. He never put up the kind of numbers people accepted of him but he's always been a solid two way player and we could get him for nothing probably. Only problem is his knee might be done. There's also Dave Scachard. He's big but that's about it. If the Yotes buy you out,...you suck end of story. Josef Vasicek provides exactly what the "grit" boys here want. At 6'5 215 he's got great size and can score. In 04' he actually led the hurricanes in scoring. He was bounced around after being signed by nashville off carolina, then when carolina traded to get him back, he was told he wouldn't be resigned. I think he's affordable and could be a star on this team. Lastly, and probably most Knee jerk, LGW gut wrenching action, is Peter Bondra. Yes he played sub average on the blackhawks when they signed him, but who the heck wouldnt? If he has anything left in the tank at all he could be had for absolutely nothing. He also wouldn't be the first player the nhl gave up on, that we made a star again. i dunno, this is just a "off in left field thread" But i really believe if we sign anyone else it'll be someone no one every thought would be here. We'll whine about it, cry about it, and then when he plays exceptionally well, we'll all say i told you so to no one in particular like we did with hasek this year.

i've always been one of hollands biggest supporters. That won't change, i'm going to hang on to the belief that he has something up his sleave here. It may not be a huge signing, but a trade could happen and it could be for someone you don't expect.

i have a theory, i think that because of the poor showing in ticket sales during the playoffs the boss has told holland not to spend to the cap limit. I'm sure with how this team has been run in the past that isn't something they would broadcast.