Echolalia

I think the only big obstacle between us and him is his wife and his family priorities. It is to my understanding that his wife cannot leave the state of California without relinquishing her rights to custody over her daughter (Stuart's stepdaughter). That has an impact on a person that neither money nor job security even touches. On the flip side, if he does end up leaving us to return to California, it will decrease his overall value as a player, and I don't think he will be able to earn much more than 2.5-3M a year, simply because the Kings, Sharks, and/or Ducks won't be able to trade him away at a deadline, because every team will know that he is for certain a rent-a-player. I think either way you look at it, Stuart won't be making his ideal amount.

So are we going to see a trend where every RFA will go through arbitration

So how does the arbitration affect his RFA status?

He was also the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th European to win the Norris little known fact.

The N is for Norris

Gordie's still winning stuff

Rookie of the Year gets the speech of the night. He's the only one who didn't sweat out of his tux.

The Pens have quite a few decisions to make this year, what with the plethora of free agents they have. UFAs: Gary Roberts, Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa, Geroges Laroque, Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, Kris Beech, Jeff Taffe, Pascal Dupuis, Nathan Smith, James Connor, Mark Eaton, Brooks Orpik, Alain Nasreddine, Ryan Lannon, and Ty Conkin. RFAs: Ryan Stone, Jonathon Filewich, Tim Brent, and Marc-Andre Fleury. Interesting Note: Only four players in their current lineup have contracts signed past the 09-10 season (Crosby, Gonchar, Whitney, and Letang), which means while the Pens give out contract extensions for this year, they need to keep in mind that players like Malkin, Stall, Sykora, Talbot, etc etc will be waiting next year, with a couple of them deserving hefty raises. So with this huge mess in the Pens' office, how well do you think they will respond? Who is staying, who is going? And in the end, are they going to still be the same cup contending team that they are now?

Even without the paycut I find it difficult for him to stay here. He'd (and his wife) would pretty much have to say goodbye to his stepchild. But if he's serious about wanting to play in Detroit, I think we'll have to make up for the paycut with job security, and have him signed for at least the next five years.

yeah whats the deal

Apparently our own Todd McClellan has participated in interviews for the head coach positions in Atlanta and San Jose http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...3/1053/SPORTS05

The thing is, there are 29 other teams that are going to be making fixes in the off-season, and if we just sit around, one of these teams may just sneak past us in terms of skill. People have expressed concern that if Drake retires, we may loose some of that competitive hunger for the cup, and others have complained about the inconsistencies in our second line scoring. Furthermore, others were dissapointed in the fact that we had a full $5M in capspace going into the playoffs that went to waste. I'm not looking at next year as fixing something that "ain't broke". I'm looking at it more as keeping ahead of the competition, something I think Sundin would be a perfect fit for.

Atlanta, maybe, but definitely not Ottawa. They're still a solid team; they wouldn't pick up a coach like Crawford to drive the franchise into the ground.

Good post ^#19 If the only attributes Lilja brings to the team are blocking shots, then send him on his way. Just tell Meech or Quincey they aren't getting ice time unless they can dive in front of a puck. Besides, as 1st year full time players, we can pay Meech and Quincey less than we pay for Lilja, and get more, aseach of these kids are at least top 4 defensman to be. Problem solved.

There were definitely some questionable calls and noncalls, but I think that for 80% of the time, the calls/noncalls went both ways. That last game reminded me a lot of 90's type hockey with all the obstruction, hooking, and interference that was going on, but there weren't 20 penalties addressed just to one team for that duration. It was generally even. Overall I'm not any more pissed about the officiating than I normally am; in fact, I'm less pissed, because with all the penalties they could've called (both ways, I should add), the game wouldn't have been nearly as fast or as exciting as it was. But if there was something shady going on ala Bettman and his cronies, then all the media attention that is coming of it should hopefully have him at least think twice about doing this in the future.

If you read through my entire post you would know why I think of him as a young Fedorov.

They were actually just talking about this on Fox2 news.

Malkin reminds me of a young Fedorov. He has a lot of skill, but when it comes down to it, I expect that he plays more for himself, and less for his team. If he were given the opportunity to make more money elsewhere, with a solid first line role, I wouldn't be surprised if he jumped on it.

Bad news for Downey and his fans. But I'm not against signing McCarty to a one year contract, just to see his potential with an entire season under his belt. To be honest, I was impressed by the fact that he simply broke into the score sheet a couple times given the fact that he only played a handful of regular season games after a two year gap of nothing.

You guys need to chill out. Its not uncommon at all to tp someone's house after a sports championship. In fact, its a tradition at many high schools and colleges.

Move Sammy, Lebda, and Lilja and bring in Sudin for our second line, then fill up the defensive positions with Meech and Quincey (or Chelios if he still has gas in the tank). With Sammy, Lebda, and Lilja gone, that frees up 2.750, plus with Hasek and Drake expected to retire, thats 2.6 more in cap space. Grand total: 5.35 cap space made in addition to the 4 or so that we already have makes between 9-10M in cap space that we have for next year to extend contracts, sign new players (Sudin), and save for the deadline.

On CBC they are interviewing Aaron Downey and they say that during the Dallas series he hid behind a water cooler in the Dallas locker room and jumped out and scared the s*** out of everyone! Did anyone catch this??

Babs is a total badass

I'd be shaking too if I drove the nhl so far into the ground that he has, then had to present the Cup to the Wings in front of the fans of the losers.

yeah i hope to god he settles for less to stay with the wings. i would absolutely hate to see him walk to some team willing to give him 12 million