e_prime

I believe Franzen and Holland would work something out, -- IF -- Franzen actually decided to hang them up... but I agree Kip, we're going to see Franzen on this roster for a loonnnnnggggg while. Ultimately eating up a roster spot that could be used more effectively. If I were GM, I'd say screw it... and buy him out next off-season. What's gonna happen? Franzen signs with Boston and magically gets back to previous form and goes beast-mode... wait.., I best stop that right now!

Oh! Revisionist history! YAY! Please tell us more in the Franzen on IR thread.

We need to buy out Franzen next year before he retires due to injury and we get hit with the cap recapture penalty. I wish capgeek was still around so I could run the numbers for you guys. I ran them earlier this year and I think if we just do a standard buy-out it doesn't hurt us as much as the cap recapture penalty would. If concussions continue to plague him maybe we just end up putting him on "permanent IR" ala Pronger/Savard

Looks like a lot of you are gonna see what you want to see when it comes to that first goal. The puck went off Mrazek right back onto Raymond's stick... Was he way out of his net and super-aggro in the first few minutes of the game? Certainly... It almost looks like his momentum is carrying him out further than he might want to be... but it's not as if he's chased Raymond BEHIND the net. He's off to the side of the net the entire play. I don't know what he was supposed to do about the actual goal once Raymond is behind and around to the other side of the net. Where's the skater that's supposed to be on Raymond? Is it Weiss? He got cut off on the opposite side of the net... and no one picked him up. Does it look bad on Mrazek? Sure. Is his super aggressive style of play heart attack inducing? Sure. Can he pull it back together, calm himself down, and pull out a win? Well, look at the final score.

Went to capgeek.com today and was greeted by the announcement that they have ceased operations? W T F ? I won't comment or speculate about the reasons why... Even though there is a short explanation... Is it really just a one man show?

Use your Puck Daddy alter ego, "Mayor McBoobs" and ask Wysh to get one of his lackeys on it... Hell, he could ask St. James, she's on the podcast on the reg, to ask about it... give her something meaningful to do. For those of you not familiar, do yourself a favor: Google (Image Search) Mayor McBoobs. Good for a chuckle even if you're not into boobs. NSFW-ish.

If only we could find that HOCKEY STORE!???!!!! Somebody google map that s*** for Holland.

Reporters gotta report tho'...

So, THE INSIDERRRRRRRR is Aaron Ward then, huh?? ...backin' up off that hot tip like it never even existed.

I'm just surprised that so many do. ...but we're a loyal bunch, right?

This is my expectation and even that is pushing it. I don't think Holland will move Kindl unless he gets something for him... maybe he gets moved in that second tier, right-handed shot d-man deadline move... and that's a big maybe in my mind. I have faith that if we traded for Myers, Babs would certainly utilize him correctly... at least in his mind. He would under-utilize him until Myers got comfortable which would essentially amount to under-utilizing enough him so that Babcock was never comfortable "letting him off the leash." (see: Weiss) Ultimately, I just don't think Myers is the immediate answer we're looking for. Even though, if the price were right, I'd take him... Still prefer Yandle. What I do wonder about is what has come up of recent: Are his coaching schemes working overall? Questionable. Are they the right ones for the makeup of this team? Questionable Is he's going to eventually "lose" this team? Questionable. (Mind you, he won't ever lose this team or players in the way other coaches might "lose" players or the team) Are we going to suffer through this type of situation if he gets re-signed and Holland remains GM? Probably. Do we want Babcock to remain our coach for the foreseeable future? Well... do ya?

Meh. This is okay. Certainly doesn't have the nice tools and gizmos that Capgeek does and probably isn't updated as religiously or fervently as Capgeek either. I'm sorry for my loss... ...but more importantly, I hope the dude gets better. I don't know him, but I'm gonna be rooting for him and his family in hopes that he gets better.

I've never seen anything that says Weiss isn't a defensively responsible forward. Maybe not "heavy" on the puck... but maybe people get confused about his two-way play because he used to be on one of the s***tiest teams in the league. On top of that, I would be amazed if Holland ever offered a 5 million dollar+ contract to ANY FORWARD that isn't at least a decently responsible two-way player.

I'm actually okay with that trade as far as payment goes... but what I want to know... How does Weiss make it to the second line?

You might not want to include Quincey OR Legwand because most people don't think those were worth a damn. I will disagree that the league hasn't changed drastically. The previous (2005) and current CBA have changed the way that franchises build a contender/perennial playoff team and it has been DRASTIC. At least for those that are building the teams, and especially after some GMs had some lessons learned along the way. Simply: Big purses don't buy teams anymore. (That should be obvious to us, if no other fan-base in the league) Not having a balance between building/developing through the draft and trading to get what you need is foolish. Sure, you can still just trade, trade, trade... but what happens when the bottom falls out. Do you trade away your star players? Trade away Malkin? Trade away Crosby? Bottom out for a couple years for those next up and coming franchise players? (TANK IT!!) I wouldn't want to root for that team, but hey... Pittsburgh has done it before to their fan-base. As far as the Pens and their trading, since 2008 when Shero was at the helm for the Pens, he made 43 trades to build to their perennial playoff team that has won exactly one cup -- in that same time period Holland made 14 trades. Just to play devil's advocate to my own argument -- Dean Lombardi made 53. ...but the types of trades he made vs. the types of trades Holland and Shero made are astounding and a lot of them are before the Kings were even a regular playoff team. I didn't see how many Holmgren made... but that resulted in how many cups for Philly in that time period? (I know all three of these guys were in place before then, but this specific time period encompasses a time that was most reflective of post-'05 CBA, when they were initially building for Cup wins up to present/time they got fired.) EDITs: Clarity

Watched the game last night. Thought the Preds were going to cruise to a win. L.A. is all sorts of resilient. Good to see the Preds put it away early in OT.

I'm not going to squabble about Perron's ability, value, our need for him, whether he was linked to Detroit by media types, whether we here at LGW want him... but... "would've cost very little" ... I mean, sure, if you scoff at first round draft picks.

We have this amazing stifling defense that we all hate so much! Ingrates!!

I just wanna know where I'm going to go to get my reliable contract information from now on!!

That's nice for Perron. Getting out of Edmonton... Scoring in his first game as a Penguin. ...and yet the Pens are still losing to the Habs 3 - 1. Still a freaking loser.

Archabello (spelling) just scored for Nashville (who are beating up the Kings 5-1) See what a change of scenery can do for anyone? Petry will turn into a point machine if he gets traded here to Detroit.

Agreed... even the Rumors/Trade section stuff doesn't get much love. It all just ends up in every other thread.

You bunch of sarcastic drunks... ...I love you.

Crosby needs a winger because Crosby is picky about his wingers. ...and what Golden Boy WANTS, Golden Boy GETS. (okay, it isn't necessarily that...) ...but I have heard discussion about what kinds of wingers Crosby needs and what wingers work best with him (specifically around Olympic selection time) ...and when your team IS made up of two 90-100 point players and a bunch of guys that can score 15-25 goals... you may want to bolster those 15-25 goal guys when they're not really scoring/are injured AND you're defense and goalie ARE terrible. (Okay, the defense at least... MAF hasn't been completely horrible -- and typically isn't horrible in the regular season) ...but that's the game the Pens play. We're GOING to outscore you with our forward corps.

YES!