achildr1

Lol...this is actually quite probable. NJ should miss the playoffs, NYI will probably make it, and if they do they will (or should) pick up a piece or two at the deadline. LouLam will probably take Snow to the cleaners...all makes sense to me.

The Isles have to be next based purely on geography...he obviously has an interest in playing in every team within the NY metropolitan area/east coast. The Isles would top that off. Watch out for Carolina after that.

Yea...this question is loaded. Technically...Kronwall, and its not even close. P4P...............Tootoo, as mentioned above I don't really think anyone else can seriously be considered because Tootoo is better at it than Abby and Ericsson, while strong, really rarely wantonly throws his body into people.

Doubt it.

Same here. That said, I think we should call that a franchise defenseman and redefine what a normal #1 is.

Anyone going/already there? Anyone have a schedule? I'm going to bejust south of Traverse City tomorrow and I was thinking about stopping in on it...

If he's not top ten...who all is better than him? Go! Ill say Doughty, Subban, Chara, Weber, Suter, Karlsson...

I heard Kyle Wellwood was softer than the Downy bear but I'm with you Franzen is beyond useless physically in the regular season. How's that? Happens every year....just ask Paul Holmgren...or Mark Streit

For real. Like 1/3 of Abby's goals were open netters too. He had a comibined good month and a half, maybe. The point of all this is, the best production that Abby is most likely capable of is not worthy of the ice time he would require to accomplish it. Abby is not, and will almost certainly never be, a top 6 winger. We need to groom the players we have that are/or are much more likely of being top 6 guys. Tatar and Nyquist need top 6 minutes to develop their offensive skills at the NHL level. Lol...I read this right after posting mine. Pretty much sums mine up.

Maltby lookin like a playmaker here too... Quick...name that goalie!

I love when people use facts to abolish nearly any remaining arguement there is...5 bucks says a few people will completely ignore this and swear that we'll finish 15th and at least two of our players will be bruised to death by the toughest place on earth, the NHL's Eastern Conference.

For real. I don't buy it either. I'm sure some people won't think so but do you ever think that these teams respect/fear our style of play/history/sucess a bit? Plus, Kronwall is the biggest open ice hitter in the league. Datsyuk is the least hittable player in the league, and so on. Its just like the Anaheim debate in '07...thinking we had to sign a team full of goons to survive. And then we made the finals the next two years and the Ducks disappeared. We'll be fine.

I like Damien but he screams Bruunstrom/Leino at this point...I guess we'll see

Lol. Trumped. That was filthy. Looking forward to Steve Weiss round these parts.

True story. Dallas was right up there too.

This thread is getting out of hand. McPhee isn't the smartest GM ever (see Filip Forsberg trade) but c'mon....classic "our garbage for your good stuff trade".

Lilja, Kuznetsov, Butsayev, Mowers, Gill, Bootland...

I'm no expert but I think Mrazek, Tvrdon, Pulkkinen, Andersson, and Dekeyser could be seriously looked at for thier countries. The Czech/Slovak rosters, I beilieve, aren't nearly as deep as they were 10 years ago...which I assume would open up opportunities for Tvrdon and Mrazek. Pulkkinen has been one of the best players in Finland for awhile. Andersson isn't as close but if I'm the Swedish GM, I'm taking a long look. Dekeyser has almost no shot I imagine, but with injuries and a half season to consider the blueline, he might get a look.

Knuble, Ward, Tim Taylor, Dallas Drake, Primeau

Exactly. Ill say it again, he's Osgood 2.0. Osgood was horrendous for two regular seasons...not bad, horrendous. Useless. But he had decent playoffs, and he was Holland's favorite son (think Don Kelly/Jim Leyland), so he kept him around. Cleary was so bad this year, I thought he'd retire after the season. Then he had a good enoigh playoff to give Holland an excuse to resign him. You could see it coming.

I don't see why he ever plays center to be honest. He's a protypical, grinding winger. He is the mold for a 3rd/4th line winger. He doesn't skate or pass like a center. Add that to how we may have the best bottom two centers in the league (Helm and Andersson) and it doesn't make a ton of sense for him to be there. Abby is a waste in the top 6. It was fun watching him last year but I really think 35- 40 points is his ceiling and that wouldn't justify his playing time. Honestly, this just made me realize how much we need a Homer type (but he has to be better than Cleary). It would be nice to have Brunner, we need a shooter, but he could truly be Bruunstrom/Leino all over again. Nyquist. Datsyuk. Franzen Zetterberg. Weiss. Alfredsson Tatar. Andersson. Bertuzzi Those are three great lines. I wish people would realize how good Nyquist, Tatar, and Andersson are. I think Andersson will be one of the best third line players in the league very soon. Tatar brings so much to the table. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone higher on Nyquist than me. Don't forget that 5 of them will be empty netters...

Lol...I think we were trolled but a 12 year old but this was funny none the less...

That's the great things about our team now...progression of young players. Nyquist, Andersson, Tatar, Kindl, Ericsson, Smith and DD could all be that much better just because they are aging into their primes. I also think that they will get better way more than any regression experianced by our older players (once again, I'm so glad for the ageless Datsyuk). I believe Nyquist and DD will be legitimate top 6/top 3 guys. Alfredsson is adding a #6 forward. Weiss should be the point producing #2 center we always wished Fil would be. Couple that with the possibility of Smith being who he could be and the rest of the young guys getting better and this could be a very dynamic team.

I respect your opinion but I think your way off. I love Kozlov but Dom set the shutouts record that playoff. Not to mention the near impossible to quantify theory that a team plays much more confident in front of a stellar goaltender (which Osgood was not). Ok...cmon. Pav was a point per game highlight machine (TSN's play of the year vote was Datsyuk vs Datsyuk). He dominated this year. He had a less productive playoff but he by no means regressed. Thank you. Agreed.

"If I can just push a little harder I can have a dump more successful than this team has been the entire time I've been here"