Probert 5 For Fighting

I think Columbus is a lot better now. They lost one decent forward(Zherdev, who's all bark and no bite), and gained 3 good ones in Torres, Filatov and Huselius. The key here is defensively. Jan Hejda and Rudy Klesla are two of the best defensive defensemen in the league, and adding Commodore makes them that much better on the backend. Tyutin is also able in his own end, and he can contribute offensively. And you can do a lot worse than Christian Backman as your 4th or 5th Dman. Good offseason for the Blue Jackets, in my opinion.

Collier is Pittsburgh's Drew Sharp - his sole purpose is to rile us up, in case you haven't read his previous works of garbage. I stopped reading when he started talking nonsense - which was about three words into it.

I've been on forums too long, sadly, which is where my disdain for such arbitrary lists stems from.

There's really no point in making lists, if only to briefly entertain onlookers with the pretty numbers. The Redwings have an excellent group of forwards both offensively and defensively, they have an excellent defensive corps, and they've got steady, reliable goaltending that doesn't put Detroit in bad spots in key situations.

Ericsson? Gone? Please.

Indeed. Clean hit by Laperriere. And we failed miserably by not knocking one of their stars out, I tell ya!

There is nothing more annoying than fans talking about their team needing gritty, glue, sandpaper, flypaper, bikini wax guy - which is just code for "guy who sucks but can hit or fight". "We need these guys in the locker room" they say. Because if we don't, we risk losing "team chemistry" Because your team can't perform without those bikini wax guys kick and claw and scratch their way on the ice wasting 10 minutes of ice time. The best kind of grittiness is good defense, which is why guys like Drake stuck around. If you can kill penalties and backcheck, you're exactly the kind of grit Babcock is looking for. This team has no need for wasted space in the name of "enforcers" or "glue guys"

Honestly, Babs could talk about his latest bowel movement and I'd still sport wood, probably. Cunning linguist, he is.

And Hossa wouldn't honestly pass on 70 million dollars for just a one year chance at a Cup. Oh wait.... Ya never know, man. I agree with you about Flip, but maybe Detroit is just that damn appealing to these guys.

I believe the other team will have to give us a few first rounders if they go after Flip, so it's not all bad.

Since we only have about 4 mil in cap space now, if some Lowe-like crazy person offers Flip 5 mil+, he's gone.

Zetterberg and Franzen are fine. They're signed through next year. Hossa is on for just this season, so he has nothing to do with the '10 cap.

Oh.My.God. I usually criticize you guys for your line of thinking that "players should come here and only here because we'll give them the best chance at a Cup," but it looks Hossa - who's not even reached his prime yet and probably deserves a 60+ million dollar deal - is bypassing all of that to play for the Cup with Detroit this season. I apologize to all the homers. This is truly one of the great coups in recent history.

I don't think a guy like Ryder would sign for less than 3 mil, eh?

Again, the game has changed. Get used to contracts like that. Chicago's building something sweet. If they get Campbell to go with their already-stout group of defensemen, and if they can add another decent forward...they'll be in the playoffs.

He single-handedly carried the Pens in the middle of the season for a little bit. For 750k, he's just fine as a 2/3 goalie.

The Preds are targeting noone. They'll get to the cap floor and that's it. Nice moves by Minnesota. They're starting to look good again. You can build around Zdlicky and Burns on the backend for a few years.

Did you even watch a single Lightning game that year? They were one of the few entertaining teams despite playing in the deadpuck era. Hockey is pretty big down here, despite what you may think. Certainly not as flaky as places like Anaheim or Carolina.

If last year wasn't a fluke, TB has certainly made Stamkos' transition to the NHL much easier. Who were his planned linemates? Ouelette and some other garbage? Malone and Vrbata are a step up, even if they are bleeding cap space.

This is how the NHL works now. Just like the NFL, the pricetag on players continues to grow every year. A few years ago, 4 mil a year meant you were probably a first-line player or a top 2 defensemen. Now 4 mill a year is what 2nd-liners and top 4 defensemen will be making. It's just the nature of the beast.

Uh, when worse defensemen like Visnovsky(7 mil) and guys like Redden will be commanding 5+ mil in free agency...3.75 mil is probably less than what he could have gotten elsewhere.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242074 I know the guy was drafted high and they obviously expect big things down the road, but give me a break. If he turns into a 60-70 pt player, I'll eat my words...but the reality is they're paying big bucks for a guy who has hasn't scored 20 goals or eclipsed 30 points in any of his first 3 seasons. Fantastic. EDIT: This is probably the sort of deal Malone should have received.

He also quickly locked up Samuelsson when he emerged as a regular in the lineup. And Zetterberg's 4 year, 10.4 million dollar contract signed during his emergence(IMO) as one of the 10 best players in the league might be the greatest deal ever negotiated. I hope Zeta fired his agent.

Ryan Malone will make as much as Niklas Lidstrom the next two seasons. The lockout rocked!

Signing Malone is a good move and Tampa is sure to benefit from it... ..but it's going to be unbearable hearing the sports talk radio down here boasting about how Tampa will be back in the playoffs again. Malone is about the 7th or 8th legitimate NHL guy they have on their roster now. Good to see the owner holding on his promise to spend money, though.