blueadams

CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Parise ($7.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m)
Danny Cleary ($2.800m) / Darren Helm ($1.000m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m)
Matt Martin ($1.000m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.866m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m)
Drew Miller ($0.838m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Ryan Suter ($7.000m) / Ian White ($2.875m)
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m)
Kyle Quincey ($3.250m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m)
Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
Tomas Vokoun ($1.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,058,295; BONUSES: $37,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $241,705

There's no need to remind me of how pointless this is.  Free agents are going to be signed.  Trades are going to be made.  New prospects are going to be drafted.  Top prospects are going to bust (it'd be surprising if even half the prospects I'm listing ever become regulars).  Sleeper prospects are going to emerge.  Star players might decline (or get hurt).  Role players might breakout.  Etc...etc...etc.  

I know it's pointless.  I don't care that it's pointless.  I still have fun thinking about stuff like this.  There are others on the board that do as well.  If you don't, fine.  Let us have our fun.


FORWARDS:

V. Filppula(33)---P. Datsyuk(38)---J. Franzen(37)
G. Nyquist(27)---H. Zetterberg(36)---T. Jurco(24)
T. Tatar(26)---C. Jarnkrok(25)---T. Pulkkinen(25)
R. Sheahan(25)---D. Helm(30)---J. Abdelkader(30)
C. Emmerton(28)
J. Andersson(28)

T. Holmstrom(44), T. Bertuzzi(42), D. Cleary(38), J. Hudler(33), D. Miller(33), P. Eaves(33), J. Mursak(29)

...If all these supposed "high-end talent level" prospects we've got pan out, it's going to be hard to not roll three scoring lines in the near future.  Holmstrom's no longer going to be around.  Bertuzzi's no longer going to be around.  I'd be surprised if Hudler was resigned this off-season.  Cleary's not aging well, I'd be surprised if he was still around.  Miller, Eaves and Mursak could all stick, but there will be no shortage of competition.  It's scary seeing Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen at 38, 37 and 36 years of age.  It's scary seeing all that talent on the same roster.  It's scary seeing such a physically unintimidating team.



DEFENSEMEN:

N. Kronwall(36)---I. White(32)
B. Smith(28)---K. Quincey(31)
J. Kindl(30)---J. Ericsson(33)
X. Oullet(23)

N. Lidstrom(47), B. Stuart(37), R. Sproul(24)

...Lidstrom 'should' be gone (lol?).  Stuart's gone.  I think it'd be surprising if Holland let White walk (without a fight) next off-season, so I've got him listed.  I think it'd be surprising if Holland let Quincey walk (after giving up a 1st) this off-season, so I've got him listed.  I think it'd be surprising if Kindl was still on the team, but I've still got him listed due to the lack of prospects (it'll be interesting to see if sleepers emerge here?).  In general, this is a group that could use some outside additions.  



GOALIES:

J. Howard(33)
P. Mrazek(25)

T. Conklin(41), J. MacDonald(37), T. McCollum(27)

...Not much to talk about here.  Conklin's gone.  MacDonald's probably gone.  McCollum has some serious ground to make up on Mrazek.  Excited about possibly having two plus goalies on the same team though.



SIGNIFICANCE?

...Well, in the next five years:
-1) Proven, reliable, elite talent is going to need to either emerge from within or be acquired from outside.  Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen being in their late 30's in five years scares the hell out of me.
-2) Some depth is probably going to need to be added to the blue line.  
-3) The goalie situation looks great, as things currently stand.  
-4) Size and strength (at all positions) is going to need to be acquired from outside, as none of it appears to be on the way.

Here's an even better one, 25 and under (born in 1986 or later).  FREAKY how many talented young forwards there are out there right now..

FORWARDS:

E. Malkin(25, 6-3, 205)-----S. Crosby(24, 5-11, 200)-----C. Giroux(24, 5-11, 172)
A. Kopitar(24, 6-3, 225)-----S. Stamkos(22, 6-1, 188)-----P. Kane(23, 5-11, 181)
N. Backstrom(24, 6-1, 210)-----J. Toews(24, 6-2, 208)-----P. Kessel(24, 6-0, 202)
M. Lucic(23, 6-4, 228)-----D. Krejci(26, 6-0, 177)-----B. Ryan(25, 6-2, 216)
J. Eberle(22, 5-11, 184)
M. Duchene(21, 5-11, 200)

...J. Skinner(20, 5-11, 200), J. Tavares(21, 6-0, 202), T. Seguin(20, 6-1, 186), L. Couture(23, 6-1, 195), E. Kane(20, 6-2, 195), J. Staal(23, 6-4, 220), R. Nugent-Hopkins(19, 6-0, 171), J. Neal(24, 6-2, 208), T. Hall(20, 6-1, 194), K. Versteeg(26, 5-10, 182)
B. Marchand(24, 5-9, 183), M. Pacioretty(23, 6-2, 208)

DEFENSEMEN:

D. Doughty(22, 6-0, 212)-----E. Karlsson(21, 6-0, 180)
K. Yandle(25, 6-2, 195, L)-----K. Letang(25, 6-0, 201)
K. Shattenkirk(23, 5-11, 193)-----T. Myers(22, 6-8, 227)
A. Edler(26, 6-3, 215)

GOALIES:

J. Quick(26, 6-1, 212)
C. Price(24, 6-3, 219)

...T. Rask(25, 6-3, 171)

just for the hell of it... im making a team to play your "globetrotters" sorry to hijack your thread just seemed fun. i understand yours was merely on franchise players... but whatever you left off i used on my squad (whether you would start a team with them or not was not something i was worrying about.)

iginla-datsyuk-st louis
sedin-sedin-gaborik
zberg-staal-kane
benn-backstrom-b richards
seguin

chara-lidstrom
boyle-yandle
pietrangelo-myers
pronger (if alive)

rinne
miller


hossa, sharp, thornton, callahan, pavelski, mrichards, nug, hall, eberle, subban, kesler, hossa, eriksson, fleury, price all honorable indeed!

lol

i'll give you my 30 and over team

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-St. Louis
Sedin-Sedin-Hossa
Richards-Thornton-Iginla
Marleau-Lecavalier-Jagr
Selanne

Lidstrom-Chara
Timonen-Boyle
Kronwall-Campbell
Streit

Thomas
Miller

I bet that team would win a bunch of President's trophies.

lol, come on.  lot of size on that team.  4th line of lucic-getzlaf-perry is big and mean.  all the wingers, aside from giroux, are big (malkin's the next smallest at 6-3 205).  weber, suter, doughty, keith and even letang are all gritty on defense too.

http://www.detroitne...0354/1128/rss16

It sounds like Parise and Suter really are a package deal.  It sounds like Detroit really is one of the very few teams that interests them (has the cap space, a winning tradition, and both - more or less - grew up in Ann Arbor).  It sounds like this might be something that actually ends up happening...and which could have been in the works for some time?





Because me for being an addict, LINES!

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Zach Parise ($7.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m)
Justin Abdelkader ($1.300m) / Darren Helm ($1.400m) / Power Forward? ($2.000m)
Power Forward? ($2.000m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Power Forward? ($2.000m)
DEFENSEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.000m) / Ryan Suter ($7.000m)
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m)
Brendan Smith ($0.875m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m)
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
Backup Goalie? ($1.000m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,846,212; BONUSES: $37,500
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $453,788





Explanation:

If we're able to sign Parise and Suter, the top six is set (Parise replaces Bertuzzi on the first line, Nyquist replaces Hudler on the second line); and - assuming Lidstrom resigns - the defensive pairings are set (Suter replaces Stuart, Smith replaces Quincey).  But the bottom six isn't yet in order.  

I like Helm as our third line center.  He's one of the best defensive centers in the game.  Let's resign him (an RFA) to about a 0.5mil raise.  I like Emmerton as our fourth line center.  He's sort of like a young Helm in many ways.  Let's keep him there.  And I like Abdelkader as a bottom six winger.  He's big, strong, and great defensively (though he could be more physical).  Let's resign him (an RFA) to about a 0.5 mil raise.  But now we've got some issues.

I DO NOT like Cleary, Bertuzzi, Eaves, Miller or Mursak as bottom-six wingers.  I want three new, big, strong, physical, defensively sound power forwards to go along with Abdelkader as our bottom-six wingers.  If we move the aforementioned players, we'll have over 6mil to spend on these three power forwards.  Should be well more than enough to get us what we want.  It'll be harder to move some than others, but I do think that all of the aforementioned players are movable (worst case scenario, send them and their cap-hits through waivers en route to gr).

THAT's how we catch up to the rest of the league.

I'm turning this thread into a contest.

...whoever puts together the best 23-man roster that fits under the 2011/2012 salary cap (no impending UFA's/RFA's that are cheap now, i.e. Erik Karlsson at 1.3mil) wins.

Here's mine.

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Taylor Hall ($3.750m) / Claude Giroux ($3.750m) / Tyler Seguin ($3.550m)
Corey Perry ($5.325m) / Ryan N.-Hopkins ($3.775m) / Jordan Eberle ($1.158m)
Jeff Skinner ($1.400m) / Logan Couture ($2.875m) / Brad Marchand ($2.500m)
Milan Lucic ($4.083m) / Jordan Staal ($4.000m) / Max Pacioretty ($1.625m)
League Minimum ($0.525m) / League Minimum ($0.525m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Marc Staal ($3.975m) / Kris Letang ($3.500m)
Keith Yandle ($5.250m) / Alex Pietrangelo ($3.167m)
Alexander Edler ($3.250m) / Kevin Shattenkirk ($1.300m)
League Minimum ($0.525m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jonathan Quick ($1.800m)
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,858,332; BONUSES: $11,962,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $441,668

How do you build a successful NHL team you ask?  It's simple.  I don't get why people think Ken Holland's so smart??



Forwards:

6mil-6mil-5mil
5mil-6mil-5mil
1mil-1mil-1mil
1mil-1mil-1mil
1mil, 1mil

Defensemen:

5mil-5mil
5mil-5mil
1mil-1mil
1mil

Goalies:

5mil
1mil



...THAT's how you structure a 70 million dollar salary cap in today's NHL.  There are 11 players that you give about 5mil to (and three of them you could give 6mil to) - your top six forwards, your top four defensemen and your goalie.  I don't care if you draft and develop them, if you trade for them, or if you sign them.  You get them.  That's where you need your elite talent.  

...As for the rest of the guys, your bottom six forwards, your bottom pairing defenseman, your backup goalie, and your healthy scratches.  None of these guys should be making more than 1mil a season.  Most of them should be cheap, young, big, strong, fast, tough, hard-working ready-to-play draft picks that you make.  They don't need to be able to score.  They just need to be those things.  And you can find those things anywhere in the draft if you're looking for them.  If one of the guy's blows up and is in line for a big contract...you let him walk...and you call up the next guy.

Simple as that.

Don't get me wrong here.  I'm not saying that the LA Kings are the model franchise of the NHL.  But they are, (IMO) clearly, the best team in hockey right now.  They had a rough regular season, as a lot of new pieces needed to gel.  But they are 11-1 in the playoffs, and that's incredible.  

IF we wanted to mold our team after theirs - as good a team to pick as any IMO - how would we do it?





*I'm penciling players into our lineup to mirror theirs (not where they'd actually be in ours).

Top Six:

D. Brown(0.66PPG, 6-0, 204, 27)---A. Kopitar(0.93PPG, 6-3, 225, 24)---J. Williams(0.72PPG, 6-1, 191, 30)
D. Penner(0.26PPG, 6-4, 242, 29)---M. Richards(0.59PPG, 5-11, 199, 27)---J. Carter(0.62PPG, 6-4, 199, 27)

Z. PARISE(0.84PPG, 5-11, 195, 27)---P. Datsyuk(0.96PPG, 5-11, 197, 33)---V. Filppula(0.81PPG, 6-0, 193, 28)
T. Bertuzzi(0.54PPG, 6-3, 235, 37)---H. Zetterberg(0.84PPG, 5-11, 195, 31)---J. Franzen(0.73PPG, 6-2, 220, 32)

...Datsyuk's smaller, but he more or less matche Kopitar.  Zetterberg more or less matches Richards.  Franzen more or less matches Carter.  Filppula more or less matches Williams.  Bertuzzi's not as physical, but he more or less matches Penner.  THE ONE element our top six is REALLY missing is a Dustin Brown-type player.  ZACH PARISE's not the same kind of player (better in some regards, worse in others), but he's the closest thing there is, and signing him goes a long way to close the gap.





Bottom Six:

D. King-(0.52PPG, 6-3, 234, 22)---J. Stoll(0.27PPG, 6-1, 213, 29)---T. Lewis(0.10PPG, 6-1, 194, 25)
J. Nolan(0.15PPG, 6-3, 227, 22)---B. Richardson(0.14PPG, 5-11, 191, 27)---K. Clifford(0.15PPG, 6-2, 208, 21)

*?????*---*?????*---G. Nyquist(0.39PPG, 5-11, 170, 22)
*?????*---*D. Helm(0.38PPG, 5-11, 195, 25)---*J. Abdelkader(0.27PPG, 6-1, 215, 25)

Cleary(0.44), Miller(0.31), Eaves(0.10), Emmerton(0.14), Mursak(0.12), Sheahan(0.00); UFA: J. Hudler(0.62), T. Holmstrom(0.32); GR: Conner(0.38), F. Brunnstrom(0.20), Andersson(0.00)

...I think Helm matches Richardson.  Even though he's smaller, I think Nyquist more or less matches Lewis.  Even though he's not as physical, I think Abdelkader more or less matche Clifford.  But King and Nolan, there is absolutely no one on this team that even close to matches up to either.  If we want to match up against the Kings in that regard, we'll need to look outside the organization.  And really, we don't have a third line center with offensive abilities like Stoll either.





Defense:

R. Scuderi(0.11PPG, 6-1, 219, 33)---D. Doughty(0.47PPG, 6-0, 212, 22)
W. Mitchell(0.32PPG, 6-3, 208, 35)---S. Voynov(0.37PPG, 5-11, 199, 22)
A. Martinez(0.24PPG, 6-1, 206, 24)---M. Greene(0.18PPG, 6-3, 232, 29)

B. Smith(0.50PPG, 6-2, 195, 23)---R. SUTER(0.58PPG, 6-1, 198, 27)
N. Kronwall(0.44PPG, 6-0, 190, 31)---*N. Lidstrom(0.49PPG, 6-1, 193, 42)
I. White(0.42PPG, 5-10, 191, 27)---J. Ericsson(0.16PPG, 6-5, 220, 28)

J. Kindl(0.24PPG); RFA: K. Quincey(0.36); UFA: B. Stuart(0.26PPG); GR: D. Janik(0.11PPG)

...IF we signed Suter, I think he would match their top point producer, Doughty.  I think Lidstrom more than matches their number two point producer, Voynov.  And I think Ericsson more or less matches their biggest defender, Greene.  Our next three guys - Kronwall, White and Smith - IMO, are all more talented than their next three guys - Mitchell, Martinez and Scuderi.  But also significantly smaller in all three matchups.  And that's just something that we're not going to be able to change any time soon.  So we'll have to go with talent.





Goaltending:

J. Quick(26)
J. Bernier(23)

J. Howard(28)
J. MacDonald(32)

...Jimmy's no Quick, but who is?  He's about the closest thing we could ever hope for.  Probably could use a more reliable backup as well, but I have no idea who that would be.





Summary:

...We're never going to be as young as the King's.  That's just not going to happen.  And we're never going to be quite as big as them, especially on defense.  But if we added Parise.  If we added Suter.  If we added a third line scoring center.  If we added a couple of power forwards.  We could come very, very close to mirroring this excellent team.  And, IMO, we might actually have a slight edge talent-wise.





Potential Lineup:

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Zach Parise ($7.000m)
Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Two-Way Center? ($3.000m) / Power Forward? ($3.000m)
Justin Abdelkader ($0.866m) / Darren Helm ($1.000m) / Power Forward? ($3.000m)
Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Ryan Suter ($7.000m)
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m)
Brendan Smith ($0.875m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m)
Doug Janik ($0.513m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
Joey MacDonald ($0.550m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $69,699,962; BONUSES: $37,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $300,038

I don't disagree that the Rangers have done a good job bringing in young guys, but I don't think that means they scout and draft better.  They have had a younger team over the last few seasons and there has been room for young guys in their organization to move up.  Not so with the Wings.  The only guy we've drafted since 2006 who sees regular minutes is Emmerton and even he probably wouldn't have been in the lineup as much as we was if not for injuries.  This is not to say that we're not playing guys because they're bad, we're not playing guys because in the recent past we've had a veteran team who was able to compete successfully each years, so why bring new guys in?  We've got a ton of young talent waiting in the fold and over the next couple of seasons as our old guys retire you're going to see more and more of our picks from 2007-2012 coming into the NHL, while New York will have fewer picks breaking their lineup during the same time frame because there won't be any place for them.  In the post cap era, these waves are going to happen because you can't constantly fills holes through free agency, we just happen to have a nearly full lineup after the cap while the Rangers didn't.

"We've got a stacked team so we just can't make room for all the great prospects we have.  They suck, so they get to plug all those guys right in."

Dude.  The Rangers.  Their prospects are all on their team already (with a lot - maybe even more than us - still on the way).  And they would just mop the floor with our current "stacked" squad that is so good room can't be made for "stud" prospects.

We've fallen behind the Rangers and others scouting wise.  Hard to see it any other way.

Who drafted Datsyuk and Zetterberg?  Glen Sather?  I think you should cheer for the Rangers.  You seem to jumping on their bandwagon.

I'm talking about recent drafting competence...and you're talking to me about a 33 year old veteran that's been in the league for going on 11 seasons.

It also helps to have the best goalie in the NHL in net.

who they drafted 205th overall in 2000

I don't really get it, but I guess it's not THAT stupid

http://www.mlive.com...ltteri_fil.html

That's an interesting article for sure.

1) The Kane on the center or on the wing argument is interesting for starters.  It makes me wonder about putting Pav on Hank's wing.  Sure, he's the best two-way player in the game.  But if we let him play on the wing...and focus all of his energy on offense...it could be just what the doctor ordered.  Or even putting Hank on a wing.  We've got plenty of guys that could handle the center role defensively.

I often times wonder how our team might produce with it's talent focused on the wings...

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Calle Jarnkrok ($0.900m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m)
Zach Parise ($7.000m) / Darren Helm ($1.400m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)
Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Justin Abdelkader ($1.300m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m)
Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) / Tomas Tatar ($0.840m)
DEFENSEMEN
Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Ryan Suter ($7.000m)
Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m)
Brendan Smith ($0.875m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m)
GOALTENDERS
Jimmy Howard ($2.250m)
Joey MacDonald ($0.550m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,011,212; BONUSES: $247,500
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $1,288,788



2) If Stan Bowman wants to leave Chicago because of all of this.  Man.  I'd do anything to have Scotty back in our organization.  The talent in Chicago is still second to none.  And it's because of the way Stan/Scotty draft.  They've drafted 10x better than us since Scotty left.  If Holland continues to dissapoint, Stan Bowman is a candidate for sure.

Stevie-Y's the legend and all...but does that make him a great front office guy??  Couldn't say that I love him more, but let's see how he does in Tampa first.  It seems like he's sort of copying the Holland equation out there.  Which I'm sick of.  And which appears to no longer work.

Go ahead and shoot me, but I think Babcock would make a great GM.