The Optimism Thread

[DatsyukToZetterberg 128]

I feel that it's only fair that we have one of these alongside the "overreaction thread". Although, I suppose optimistic overreactions are just as possible as negative ones :X

Did we become the Stanley Cup favorites today? Lord, no. Did we improve today? I think that's fair to say.

I'm very happy with what happened today. Started off great but got a little sad towards the end. But you know what? I'm still happy with Kenny and am excited for the group he's put together. I can't help it.

Alfredsson will come in and contribute. I don't think anyone can argue with that, and I certainly can't. We aren't paying for 40 goals and 80+ points. He still has tread on those tires and is a legitimate top-6 winger, something I think we really needed. He knows the East and is a real presence in the room. We will benefit greatly from the TOTAL package of Daniel Alfredsson.

When the Weiss number went down from the rumored 6 million per to the correct 4.9 million per, I shot from "on the fence" to all for it pretty quickly. A legit top-6 center with great skill, a strong two-way game and is good on faceoffs. A guy who has been a healthy, consistent contributor on a terrible team. If you aren't excited about someone like that, I feel sorry for you.

Filpulla is soft, inconsistent and doesn't play hard. He isn't even worth 3 million, if you ask me. He's had one...ONE...decent season. The "He's ready to break out" argument just slays me. How long have we been waiting for this "breakout"? If you were willing to wait any longer, promptly throw your computer away. That SHOULD NOT get you 5 million.

But it did, and now it's someone else's problem. I hope Lightning fans aren't expecting effort and consistent production.

As for not getting Clarkson, would he have been nice to have? Sure. Do I want to pay him what he's going to make for what he MIGHT do? Absolutely not. He has been vastly, and I mean VASTLY, overrated. A good, hard-nosed player who will hit everything that moves and isn't afraid to drop the gloves. Oh, but he MIGHT score some goals, so that instantly makes him worth a blank check.

...Wrong.

We have a lot of forwards, yes. We have some dead weight. Even I can't argue that. Are we the only team carrying dead weight? Ask yourself that. But to think that it stays that way much longer is just extremely pessimistic and, quite frankly, unrealistic. We can't even enter the season as we are now, correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I'm not sure why us not getting Bobby Ryan has everyone in such an uproar. Ask any Ducks fan and they'll tell you he's just like Franzen. I'll pass on that. If you want to give up a package for him similar to what Ottawa gave up, then go right ahead. He didn't impress me at all in the playoffs. I don't remember his name being called much.

I can admit to being very hard on Holland. I can even admit to doing this to excess. But with what he added today and what we have waiting on the farm...how can you not be excited? What, because Alfie's old he's instantly useless and a waste of money? Hasn't even played a game for us, yet. Weiss is a real good player and fills a big need nicely.

I am, however, sad to see Brunner go. Notice that I said "sad", not "furious". This is a business, people. Brunner, for whatever reason, seems hell-bent on testing the market. And you know what? He's probably going to get a ridiculous deal. He scores goals. In some GM's minds, that's justification for long term and big money. I loved having him here and was excited about him from the moment he got here. But, we have players who can do what he did. He's not irreplaceable. This is Damien Brunner we're talking about here, not Ilya Kovalchuk. A good player with a lot of promise...but not the ONLY good player with a lot of promise.

In closing, I think this was a really good day for us and I'm excited. You want to be angry and fume about how "dumb" Holland is and how we should fire him? Go right ahead. That's your choice.