Lou_Siffer

Theres definitely the loyalty factor going on with Grilli, and its got to stop. You can go only go so far with it, he's been horrible all season long, he's gotta be sent down. Unfortunately, theres really not much in the minors to call up. I guess we could call De La Cruz back up, because he has talent, but theres some control issues and we know how frustrating that can be to watch. Maybe its time to send Tata back down and give Jurrjens a crack, since he's had the hot arm lately. Toledo is not a necessary stop for him, you can go from AA to the bigs. Another option, and i know its a crazy one, but didnt David Wells just get released? Yeah, I know he's sucked....but with Rogers being a question mark maybe take a chance and see if somehow Boomer can be revived? Sign him for the rest of the year (if he'd want to come here of course), give him a couple starts...if it doesnt work just let him go.

Yep, just what i was about to say.

Sure, i could see him coming here in the offseason. I definitely could see that. But as for the deadline, its been my contention and will continue to be so, that we will land none of the coveted names when guys start being made available. Rolston, if availaible, would be one of those guys. We'll be looking more at the overpriced veterans who are having a so so year (or injured) group. Guys that will have very few suitors and can be had for a middle of the road offer. Nothing i said in there was insulting to Holland Drake, it was just the truth. I didnt even say we SHOULD have made those moves. Im just making a point to people who maybe are getting their hopes up that we'll trade for someone real good at the deadline because we have alot of cap room.

While I agree with the jist of what you're saying, in someone like Maltby's case, if say, a fighter were thrown on the 4th line in his spot i can guarantee you he'd be forgotten quickly. Lets say, just hypothetically, that NJ had no room for Cam Janssen and traded him to us. His populararity would so far exceed Kirk's that it would make sense from a business perspective as well. Now will this happen? Of course not, but just sayin..

Here's why theres no way Rolston is coming here. First off, its pretty unlikely Minnesota will be so down in the standings that they have no shot at the playoffs. I think at worst, they wouldnt be more than 6-8pts out. But lets say, for sake of argument, that they are considering being sellers. Brian Rolston would immediately become one of the top sought after names available. Over the last 2 seasons, we have seen zero reason to believe Holland will get in a bidding war and trump other teams' offers. It does not matter what cap space you have unless you're willing to pony up the high draft picks and prospects. Most likely, they'll throw out a lame feeler offer, and we'll be hearing the same "Prices are too high right now" spiel. Someone else would throw up a big offer and get him.

Cool, thanks.

With the way Raburn is looking, and with Thames on his way back, this should officially be the end of the Craig Monroe era in LF. Theres simply no reason to use him anymore other than the occasional pinch hit and spot start. I seen he was a listed as a possible interest for the Cubbies, who are looking for an outfielder due to Soriano's injury. Get rid of his ass, take anything...call up Clevlen to sit on the bench.

Haha, sorry I cant help it anymore! Fisher signed a 3 yr deal with the Sens prior to the '05/06 season, so this upcoming season will be the last of his deal. He'll be getting a nice big raise for sure, so we can only hope that they'll have issues accomodating it, cause i think Spezza is due up as well as Heatley? Whether or not Fisher is unrestricted, Im thinking he is or YoungGuns probably wouldnt have listed him. If he's restricted though, we might as well forget about it.

So you're agreeing that fighting can have an impact on a game? I was always under the impression that you felt it had no effect either way???

Ever see a team come out re-energized after a fight? I sure have. Cant that lead to goals?

1. Wil Kronwall reach #1/#2 Dman status within his current contract (next 5 years)? No. I see him being a career 3/4....if healthy a quality 3/4 2. Will Grigorenko prove to be a capable top 6 forward this season? No. While he may end up seeing duty on the top 6, that doesnt mean he's capable of it. 3. Will Hudler score 20+ goals this season? No. I think he'll be in and out of the lineup and dealt at some point as he'll fall out of favor. 4. Will Filppula have a 45pt season? Hmmm....right around 45 sounds about right, so ill say yes. 5. Will Lilja get in more than 5 fights? Absolutely not. He'll probably have 2. 6. Will Rafalski have a career offensive year? No 7. Who will be the alternate captains when Zetterberg gets the C? One will for sure be Draper, as Holland will re-sign him till he's 40...so it doesnt matter when Lidstrom retires...he'll be there still. The other i have no idea, even though he's new i guess Rafalski.. 8. Does Cleary turn out to be a one hit wonder, or does he repeat with another 20+ goal showing? I think he'll struggle to find the net in stretches, and probably get about 13. I think the 20 was a bit flukish, but what he'll contribute will be just fine for a 3rd liner. I dont think he'll ever be that top 6 guy some feel he is...he's not. 9. What one forward, that is an 08 UFA as of now, would you like to see the Wings get at the deadline? Dont know, but whats the difference, whoever i say they wont get anyway! 10. Of the players whose contracts expire in either 08 or 09, which ONE top 6 winger and ONE top 4 Dman (both in the 3M-5M range) and which ONE bottom six player (less than 2M) would you like to see the Red Wings sign? Fisher, Vandermeer, Moen (although i dont think he's going anywhere for as long as Burke's there). Now promptly scratch off all 3 of those as possibilities

A mob family with no goons? Wheres the protection? What if theres a Joe Pesci type enforcer in the Valanccio family? He'd slash and wack his way through all of them singlehandedly! He'd have them all singing Soprano...

I know, I was just referring to the typical routine when beginners first start out. Myself, I could never follow a strict diet. Life's too short to be finicky with every single thing you eat! Just following a few general guidelines like exercising and not stuffing your face at night and you'll be fine. I may be an exception, but i pretty much eat what i want throughout the day and Im not fat. I think without a doubt working out is more important than anything, and allows you to get away with eating more than you probably should and things you shouldnt really be eating since you're metabolism is so stepped up. I always get a kick out of serving sizes, i swear they must set those amounts for a 70lb woman or something! Like the other day i had these mini taco things, the serving size was listed at 4 tacos...well, i ate 24! lol. Or the 50 pizza rolls that i mentioned earlier in this thread...the serving size for that is friggin 6! Get the hell outta here...who can possibly be full after 6 of those things? Or am i just another Kobayashi???

I guess maybe it was just the 2002 Cup that me and you disagreed with before in a different thread. Theres no difference between Neidermayer and Selanne wanting to sign with Anaheim and Robitaille and Hull with Detroit. You cant just credit one GM and not the other...thats why I dont give Holland or Burke kudos for those signings. Burke did have a little more influence on his team than Holland in 98, I dont think that can be argued. Even if the team had just been to the Finals in '03, he still was the guy that got them over the hump...whereas Holland's team was already a proven Cup winner.

At best a light heavyweight? Nah, there's no argument that he was that. McCarty was a light heavyweight, or an at best bottom tier heavyweight. He's one of those tweeners like Brad May.

Ive actually made a post or two in the past talking about how the Burke/Holland scenarios are similar...and how people say Burke fell into a great situation but then wouldnt feel the same about Holland (eva for one). One difference I think though, is that Burke put more of a stamp on his team, making them the toughest team in the league and very physical. They werent like that prior to his arrival. Also he acquired key pieces via trades, as well as a head coach that fit his philosophies perfectly. So while the situations are quite alike, and i give Murray the vast majority of the credit definitely, I think Burke had a little more of an impact on his club. Holland's claim to fame is basically the Hasek trade, but im sorry, being in a non-cap era and a top spending team does diminish that.

Agreed. The Fedorov trade was a catalyst to them getting the Cup imo. Aside from the salary dump, which was the main purpose of the trade, they ended up getting a key player in return. Usually when someone has such a bad contract, its difficult to get much of a return,...so Beauchemin was a huge bonus. That propelled them to the West Finals, which in turn made Burke go for the over the top move in acquiring Pronger the following offseason. Thats not to say it isnt entirely possible they couldve signed a big name FA defenseman rather than trade for Pronger and still won it all...but we'll never know.

The point is I dont see how you can make the assumption that Smid would be the equal to what Beauchemin was last year...especially considering he played very well. Could he turn out to be better in the future? Maybe, who the hell knows, but we're talking about last year's team. Present day it is without a shadow of a doubt - Beauchemin > Smid..until proven otherwise. As for the other guys, Pronger's value is so much more than Fedorov's its ridiculous. Lupul is definitely better than Marchant obviously, but that difference doesnt come close to equaling the difference from Pronger/Beauchemin vs Fedorov/Smid. Key words. This is about who wouldve been better for Anaheim on last year's team. I assume that you wouldnt call that equal?

Sorry, but i stopped reading after the first line. No point in going any further.

That is absolutely nuts! Pronger's talent speaks for itself, and Beachemin is a very underrated, good defenseman...as well as a key ingredient to winning the Cup. If you actually believe what you're saying here...christ, i dont know what to say.

I dont know why, but i have this strange psychic feeling that Johnson will be freakishly injured and never play a regular season game for us. I cant believe that nobody has mentioned in here yet that Drew Stanton is out for the year!

I bet the Nats are full of s*** on that one...given that they wanted Cameron Maybin for Jon Rauch, one of their other relievers. Last rumor i heard today was the two prospects supposedly in the Wilson trade were Jurrjens and Brent Clevlen

Im not down at all on Casey at 1st for the rest of this season. He's my boy still. I think the thought process with Wilson goes though is that he'll be just the reserve shortstop this season, then start next year and shift Guillen to 1st. I think Casey would still play first this year, but just wont be brought back. Personally, I dont think theres really much promising about Vasquez. He strikes me as one of those guys who'll be bouncing to and from AAA his whole career. I know he has good numbers at Toledo, but still, I'd be willing to give him up in a trade no problem. We can dwindle this Pirates talk down to a couple names. If its 2 of our top six, you HAVE to rule out Maybin obviously and Gorkys Hernandez...unless DD has gone crazy. That leaves De La Cruz, Tata, Trahern, and I guess Vasquez. Since they were offering Trahern to Colorado for their SS, i think we can assume he's also being offered to Pitt for theirs. So there's 1. Now that leaves us with the MLB ready guy, now when they say ready to "join the staff", do they mean the starting rotation? I'd probably think so, that eliminates De La Cruz who's converted to relief. Hmmmm....Tata....Vasquez....Tata....Vasquez...Im going with Virgil Vasquez. Reason being he made a pretty decent start for us last time out but they decided not to bring him back up when Rogers went down and went with Tata instead. Almost like they wanted to protect that 1 pretty good start for trade value purposes and not risk him having any bad outings. Also it would make sense for them to look at Tata and get him some big league work if they knew they planned on dealing Virgil anyway..so yep, Im officially going with: Jack Wilson for Virgil Vasquez and Dallas Trahern (im obviously bored if you cant tell) Oh GoWings...as for a reliever coming as well, I highly doubt it. I cant see someone like Marte, Torres, or Chacon just going through waivers unclaimed.

If Niedermayer retires, dont forger they'll have around 8 million in cap room. Enough to sign another defenseman, and another decent forward. Unless theres a bad relationship with Burke that im unaware of, I think theres an extremely strong chance that defenseman would be Brent Sopel...who played many years in Vancouver under him. Pronger - Beauchemin Schneider - Sopel O'Donnell - Hnidy Or another possiblilty would be trading for Nick Boynton, I know he went through waivers unclaimed but since there would be a need opened up for him...I could see them getting him for a just a very mediocre draft pick. Kp- I think you're undervaluing Hnidy a little bit. He was a +15, and also managed to chip in a little offense. For a 5th/6th guy, he's very solid...and certainly a ton better than Dipenta or Huskins.

Pronger - 6,250,000 Niedermayer - 6,750,000 Schneider- 5,500,000 This is what cost them Dustin Penner. I dont know why everyone continues to make this a Bertuzzi issue. The overload of money is on Defense. Its simple really... Bertuzzi - IN Selanne - OUT Schneider- IN Niedermayer - ? (was thought to be an OUT... now theyre probably 4 million overspent on D. What do ya know...Penner signed for just over 4) If thats true, im quite surprised the Penner offer wasnt matched.