chrisdetroit

Exactly

I want the cup back in '08. Not '09, '10 or '11. To do that we need one of the top goalies in the league. Raycroft doesn't fit the bill. If we wanted to take a risk with a young inexperienced goalie, we would start Howard who probaly has the same potential as Raycroft. To get Raycroft would make no sense.

Why do you think the Leafs got Toskala? Because Raycroft wasn't getting it done. No thanks. Dom will be back.

Really? Did you watch the playoffs. There was no "lack of grit" and who did we lose from that team that was "gritty"? Markov is about it. Bertuzzi never showed up. So we need a Markov like D man, then we should be set.

Calder disappeared after the playoffs started so he is no loss Bertuzzi never got going. He was a non-factor in the playoff. It would be great if we had signed Bertuzzi of 2002 but we signed the 2007 version. He may never be as good as he once was so is it really a big loss? Lang - Now all the sudden people are complaining that he left. He showed very little in the playoffs. Markov - If Lilja continues to play like the beast that he was in the playoffs, he just replaced Makov. Hopefully this years playoffs was a turning point in Lilja's career. So all that said and the fact that we upgraded from Schneider to Rafalski tells me things are looking up. As far as the vacated spots of Bertuzzi and Lang, we could plug in guys like Kopecky and Grigorenko. They couldn't do much less than Lang and Bert.

Short memory. Did you watch the playoffs this year? One bad interference call on Pavel, and we are in the finals. Have faith.

Guerin? Did you miss the playoffs? Guerin was a no show. We don't need anybody that doesn't show for the playoffs.

Smyth, Smyth, Smyth. Forget about Smyth. We have about 6-7 Mil more to spend and we will spend 2-2.5 on Hasek, 2-2.5 on Bert and around 2 on Markov. All Done. Smyth will go for 7+. No thanks

I'm with you. Plus he's only 33. We just got younger too.

They iced one of the best teams in the league last year (certainly in the top 5) and still could not sell out and still lost money. The conclusion is that no matter what, this team loses money in Nashville. They even brought in a marque name in Peter Foresburg to try and drum up interest. Nobody is going to spend money to buy the team and keep them in Nashville. This is (like it or not) a business. Those people in Nashville that bought tickets for next year so that they could keep the team in "their" city are the ones that really got screwed. Look what the team then did for them - dumped all their good players. They couldn't sell out with Voukun, Timonen, Hartnell and Kariya. Does anybody think that they can sell out without them? With a team that pays the minimum allowed by the CBA? The Preds will be leaving town. The only questions are to where and when. Are they giving refunds to the fans that they misled?

Smyth will go for 6-7 Million. We don't have that kond of cap room and Smyth isn't worth it.

The top teams in the league last year are losing some key players: Aneheim - Selane will probably retire, Scott Neidemeier probably will retire Ottawa - may lose there goalie in Emery Wings - probably lose Schneider San Jose - no major losses Buffalo - loses Brier and Druary Nashville/Hamilton/Kansas City reverts to an expansion team Did I leave anybody out?

No. We have an abundance of small skilled forwards - Datsyuk, Fillpula, Hudler. We don't need another one. Granted Kariya >> Filpulla or Hudler but we need more size We will not pursue Ryan Smith. He will go for $6-7M after an intense bidding war. We will sign Bert, Hasek and probably Matty. Markov will go elsewhere. You are dreaming if you think that we will get into a bidding war for Smyth when we are struggling to keep the guys that we have and stay under the cap.

If Schneider was playing against the Duckies we win the cup. No question. So why isn't he worth $5mil for 1 year. The other options are to bring in guys like Sorray for almost the same money or play Quincey or Kindl. In those scenarios, our power play gets worth and if it was just a little better (ala Schneider) we win the cup. Pay the ,man. I know it's to much but we have the cap room, it's only for 1 year and it may give us our 11th cup. The other options just don't get it. We have nobody out there that will give us what we need on the power play for less money and Kronwal isn't there yet.

If we can't afford to pay Matty $5M why do you think we would pay Smyth $6M

You're kidding right? Sheldon Souray over Schneider? Or Zidlicky or Vishnevski? Be realistic. We came close to hoisting the cup this year. What were we missing (except for a little luck from the hockey gods) - An effective power play and it was obvious that with Schenider playing in the WCF, we would have won. Until Kronwell starts playing up to his potential and gets past the bizzare injuries, we NEED Schneider. We don't have any other offensive defense men ready to step up. Pay him the 4-5 Mil for a year (but only a year) and let's get on with it. You want to let him walk for 5 mil and turn around an pay 2-3 mil for a Zidlicky? No way What? Schneider was out the entire WCF and we lost. And we lost because we couldn't score on the power play. Remember game 5, we just couldn't get more than 1 goal. Even on 5 on 3. Babs had Sammy playing the point on the power play for God's sake! I don't get how you think that we were doing fine without Schneider? As far as offensive D-men, we got Lids and Kronwall. Who else are you talking about? Cheli - no, Lebda - no (or at least not yet), Lilja - I think not, Markov - no, so how are we "set" for offensive D-men?

In the real world of the salary cap, you can only have a few high paid stars. We have Lids, Dats and in a couple of years Z ( who is going to get a big raise). So there is no use in speculating about guys like Ryan Smith, Iggy, or Luongo unless you want to part with the high paid guys that we have. Not me.

Bill Guerin? Did you watch the playoffs? We don't need a guy that disappears in the playpffs

No. They talked about it alot but the wings were 6-1-1 against the Preds and the 1 loss was with Joey McDonald in goal. Competition? I think not.

Well said!

The one thing that we were missing this year was a guy with a great shot from the slot ala Brett Hull or Shanny. This killed us on the powerplay that pretty much sucked all year and this reared it's ugly head in the playoffs. Is Kozlov that guy? Maybe. According to TSN he has a heavy shot. I don't remember that about him though. If Kozlov is that guy, I'm ok to get him cheap. Otherwise forget it. Anybody else out there that can fit this bill? NO not Shanny, he's done. Anybody know?

If we resign Cheli and Schneids, we don't need to go after another D-Man unless we go back to sitting Lilja which by the way he played in the playoffs, isn't going to happen. I expect he will get every opportunity to prove himself in October. Lids Nick Jr. Cheli Lebda Lilja Schneids So if you sign a free agent - who sits? I say give Lilja an opportunity. If he goes back to sucking, then make a trade. But we would be stupid to not give him the chance. Agreed. Let the young guys play. There is no future in Kozlov and '06-'07 was his only good year since he left. No thanks. I want to see guys like Hudler, and Filpulla playing.

This is a stupid argument. We got some bad calls and they got some luck bounces. That's part of hockey. Yea if we had Kronwall and Schneider the results might have been diffferent but that's the way the puck bounces. Aneheim has got a good team but Pronger is a dirty player who has no class. The Ducks organization is not very well run/coached as you can see from Selane complaining to the media about the officiating and Pronger saying that it is all a consrpiracy of the Canadian press. Can you image one of our players whinning to the press or not admitting fault when they tried to injure another player? It would never happen. That's why we are better than them. Even Carlye said that we are a class organiztion. Anybody say that about Aneheim. We may not have won our 11th cup yet but we can hold our heads high. We are a class organization with a great team and played great in the playoffs. We will be back for #11. Aneheim - well they're be back in the playoffs most likely but we outplayed them this year and it's unlikely that they will get to play weak teams in the first two rounds again while we have to go to war with Calgary and San Jose. So will they repeat - I doubt it. Will we get #11 next year. I don't know but we have at least as good a chance as the Ducks.

Are you kidding me, Colorado won the cup twice. Now those were dark days in the NHL

Exactly. Schneider will be resigned. Nobody else is going anywhere - Lebda, Cheli, Nick Jr., Norris Nick. So it comes down to pay a few million for Markov or play Lilja. IF Lilja can continue like he did in the playoffs, this is a no brainer because he is already signed cheap. if Lilja reverts to his old self, we need Markov. I say we take a chance on Lilja and use the money elsewhere for somebody with a good shot from the circle ala Brett Hull or Shanny (NO not Shanny himself, but somebody with his shot). As with everything though, this is a gamble.