e_prime

It took all of FIVE minutes for us to break down and hand Minny the game. Another 26 minutes of play and all I saw was CRAP from the Wings. At least Mrazek held in there.

A N G R Y!!!!!!!!

Agreed. ...but Richards knew what he was getting himself into when he signed with the Rags. So, that says something about Torts and his coaching style with players. Players don't like to get benched. Some of them know why they've been benched, and some act like getting benched wasn't their fault or was the freaking end of their careers... some say, "Hey, I've been playing like crap, coach benched me, I need to get back out there and do my job." I know this hard to do when you have a team that's as injured as we are, but I think it might wake certain players up.

^ but where is he now? This is a nice story about O'Reilly's work ethic when he's got himself a contract, but currently he's a hold out and that can be viewed by many as a "bad attitude" or "bad teammate." I think he could be a great player, but I wouldn't throw $5 million a season at him just yet. Adrian Dater (Avs writer) offers up this analysis, which I think sums up nicely the counterpoints for all the "IS COLORADO DUMB OR WHAT!?!? SIGN THIS GUY ALREADY" analysis that's out there. (Dater even admits to some of that analysis himself.) EDIT: Formatting. The cut and paste job of the article made it impossible to read.

Babs is my guy, but did you guys note that Tortorella benched Brad Richards last night? I mean, there is a world of difference between sitting Danny Cleary for a game and sitting Brad "Freakin'" Richards. ...but Torts is a coach that can do that and it means something, it proves a point, especially to a player like Richards. I wish that Babs would do that. It would have the same meaning and effect and maybe all of this "Player X could be better" would actually have some weight and actual repercussions. "Hey Clears, I know you can be so much better... I didn't see that from you in the last 10 games. Take a night off. Show me in practice what I'm looking for and I'll work you back in. Until then, ride the pine Danny-Boy." (I'm sure Babs could say it more appropriately and more convincingly, but it's not THAT HARD, right?)

I have high hopes for Bert's return to the line up -- healthy and happy. (Well, not too happy, I still want him to play mean.) Get well Bert! but... If worse comes to worse, and Bert is done. I mean, retirement done. We could have a conversation with the man and use one of our new CBA buyouts to get out of the rest of his contract, no? Or would that be too much of obvious cap circumvention?

All talk I've seen thus far concerning a possible trade for O'Reilly are with teams in the East. As far as the asking price goes, the Avalanche are looking for a young roster player and top prospect. The Avalanche wouldn't trade with us in the first place, but I'm not going to say that Tatar and Nyquist don't meet the prerequisites of a posible deal. (Tatar is on the ice for us, and most people think Nyquist should be, or would be if he were playing elsewhere) Proven commodity (I don't necessarily agree that he's "proven") or not, the Avalanche have already reached an inpasse with O'Reilly and they have pretty much reached the point of no return when it comes to getting him signed and back on the ice. So, while I'm not saying they should be taking "scraps" for the guy... they gotta start thinking about getting something for him.

Hopefully today's game winner sparks a little confidence.

CODEBREAKER!!!

Avery is such an ego-manic when it comes to his hockey career, it's amazing that he's doing so much "good work" outside of the game. (I speak of his charity work, not his modelling career.) Landsberg annoys me, but I still watch what I can of that show on the TSN website. ...and what's with the Our Lady Peace dude being there? Is he Avery's "handler" when it comes to interviews. ("Hey man, if things get off track, I'll just toss in some side remark about how much we PARTIED!!! or your HOT GIRLFRIENDS, right bro'?!") Also, he's got worse teeth than most hockey players.

I'm all for Franzen taking exception to the hit from behind. It would have been real nice to see Franzen turn Perron around, drop the gloves, and... oh wait, it's Franzen.

Most of the time I think "The Code" is a bunch of hogwash. It only applies in situations where players and teams actually apply it... and as soon as someone breaks it, "The Code" doesn't exist. The Moore/Bertuzzi is an extreme example of this, but for something a little more typical: During the Tampa/Philly game the other night: Rinaldo kept punching after Crombeen goes down. Which opens the door for Lecalavier to add a couple extra shots after Talbot is on the ice. Who breaks "The Code?" Rinaldo? Lecalavier? Both? I'm not for abolishing fighting in the NHL, but I think "The Code" is a joke. As far as Torres goes: He says all the right things in the post-game, which is fine and dandy. I think he was suspended an appropriate amount of games (Hell, I think he was out more games that Hossa, no?) Do I think he learned his lesson? Is he a changed man ala Matt Cooke? Probably not.

Until 14-15

Move is cap-related Isles needed to be over the floor by tomorrow, needed insurance against not being cap compliant the entire season. Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) February 7, 2013 EDIT: Wow embedding twitter posts is odd.

Why? I thought he wasn't even playing this year.

So, what does that number look like to you? In dollars, I'm thinking in the Anderson/Halak/Schneider ballpark.

Oh yes, I understand all that. If the sides are as deadlocked as they seemingly are, an offersheet is just what O'Reilly or the 'lanche may be looking for. Someone else to force their hand into making a deal. Which is why I find the idea of an offer sheet for O'Reilly to be amusing. If you're truly interested in him on your roster, you don't offersheet him. You pry his rights from Avalanche for a younger roster player and/or a decent prospect and/or a 2nd or 3rd round pick. (Depending on how you value him) Then you offer O'Reilly a serious wake up call of a deal. He's turned down both deals the Avalanche have offered: 2 years at $7million (3.5 cap hit) and 5 years at $17million (3.4 cap hit.) He wants 5 years/ $25million I don't think O'Reilly is worth $5 million/year. It's a shame that Colorado signed David Jones to $4/yr -- he's healthier than Jones... and yeah, he was only drafted 30 spots lower than Duchene in the same draft, but he's no Matt Duchene. (Who will be looking for a new contract very soon) EDIT: I thought Duchene's contract was up this year. If he's looking around the league at other contracts... Well, he's no Jamie Benn either, which is what he think's he's worth. He's gotta look at the bridge deals that Del Zotto and Subban got and seriously understand that with the new CBA and lower cap next year it is going to ensure that sane GMs don't overspend on solid, but yet unproven talent. Take that bridge contract and play your guts out for that next contract.

From THN: Really? So, he's up to wanting $5 million/season?? ...and the first option for a team with interest is to try to sign him to an offer sheet? Riiiiigggghhhht. Sounds like someone wants Colorado and O'Reilly to work this out because if you're going to float an offer sheet his way you have to go big. If you try and lowball an offer and get away with just second rounder compensation... $3.364/yr average or under, Colorado is going to thank you kindly and match that offer. I don't know what it is about offer sheets and the media, but seriously... if you have ANY serious interest at all in making O'Reilly a member of your club.... you're trading for his rights with something reasonable, not offering up an win/win for Colorado.

NYR trade Mike Rupp to MIN for forwards Darroll Powe and Nick Palmieri. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=415226

Oh, you know... just his family and millions of untaxed dollars. ON TOPIC: I think Holland is going to roll with what we've got for the time being and we'll see any other movement and acquisitions when teams start to worry about getting cap compliant for next year.

I'm in.

As a hockey fan, a Brooklyn-ite, and a goddamned Islanders fan. I couldn't be more pleased. Barclay's is a 10-minute walk from my house. Nassau Coliseum, despite all it's history, is a dump and is less than ideal to get to if you do not live out on the Isle and/or you don't own a car. Hell, it's been easier, more pleasant experience, and I'll even go so far as to say SAFER* trip for me to get to Newark to see hockey than it is to go out to Long Island. *Drunken suburbanites are far and away worse than any perceived urban dangers. Brooklyn now is not Brooklyn of then. Hell, Brooklyn now isn't what it was when I moved here nine years ago. People love to s*** on this team, but they have some real offensive talent. Additionally, the new location could attract some better players (veterans or defensemen...PLEASE!!) to the team. I'm not going to lose any sleep whether they're called the Brooklyn Islanders or the New York Islanders. It's not like the Rangers are the Manhattan Rangers or the New York City Rangers. They're the New York Rangers. The Islanders, for history's sake, will thankfully remain the New York Islanders. It's not like they're moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix and taking 17 years (more including their WHA years ) of history to a different country and climate... they're moving 25 miles down the road. If we want to split hairs... sports team naming and branding is a headscratcher: Tampa Bay is in Florida and the Panthers play in Sunrise. Where's the consistency? How many NHL Teams play in California that aren't called the California ______. The DETROIT Pistons play in AUBURN HILLS. (I think) Indeed. Amongst a multitude of other factors.

You conveniently missed the video of the Tootoo/Bertuzzi fight, I guess? Tootoo has the ability to hold his own against larger fighters. While I'm certainly not going to give Tootoo any points for the sucker-punch, he saw the opening and took it. If he ends up doing this while he's on the Wings, I'll probably grumble a bit, but at least we'll have some snarl again.

^THIS x 1,000,000,000,000,000

Bouwmeester is on the trading block because he is expendable now that they have Wideman. They'd certainly love to dump his salary, but like it has been said before, Calgary does not NEED to trade JBow. They could just as easily dump Babchuk if they're looking for a bit of cap or salary relief. Without Bouwmeester, Calgary still has seven defensemen. Kindl isn't going to see an increased role with the Flames. He'll be a third pairing guy or healthy scratch. ...and if he can work out for Calgary, why can't he work out here. I'm of the camp that think he's made improvement and will continue to do so if he sees the same amount of responsibility here in Detroit. ...and we DON'T have Janik. ...or Meech. ...or any other defenseman on the Griffins that's seen much NHL time. So, why at this point would we dig ourselves, albiet possibly smaller, another hole to fill on defense? We need a stay home defenseman more than we need another puck moving guy. Sign a FA that we won't have to give up a single roster or prospect for. If we want JBo so badly, we should go after him with forwards and a pick. I don't necessarily think that they are, but IF the Flames are so desperate to dump him, it should not take Fil or Franzen.