Yellowknife Redwing

It's times like this that I wish Franzen knew how to fight so we could kill this conversation for good.  Holland wants to add a 40 year old first-ballot hall of famer in a 3rd line scoring role for around a million bucks and people get all up in arms ("we're hindering the development of our kids!!" etc).  Now a 35 year old washed up scrapper gets a tryout and people get excited.  Downey's an awesome guy and he deserves to play hockey somewhere, but it's not worth the roster spot for him to be a pylon and take on the other team's goon once every 4 games.  If you're going to pick a vet as your 13th forward, why not go with Maltby?

The worst part about that post isn't even the trade proposal...it's that you could bring in Jack Johnson to "replace Lidstrom when he retires"

Are youf****** kidding me?

You don't think that's not a lot of "Plug" to defend the Cup with?

To clarify, by "Plug" I mean a player whose value is generally somewhere between 800k-1M that plays low minutes.  There are a ton of guys like that looking for work around the league and whatever can't be hired, can most assuredly be found in their depth chart.

Look at what Miller and Eaves did for us this year and they were scooped up for next to nothing from the unemployment line.  This year we're going to be relying on a pile of guys who don't make a whole lot of money but play important roles.  Eg: Kindl, Ericsson, Meech, Helm, Adbelkader, Eaves.  Who's to say that the Hawks don't head right out and scoop up Lebda, Lilja, Miller, Maltby, Williams from our castoffs alone?  Building a 4th line, 3rd pairing and hiring a backup goalie during FA season isn't exceedingly difficult.  They've got the goods where it counts.

I'm enjoying the dismantling as much as anybody, but I also think there's been a great deal of hyperbole regarding the Hawks' anticipated nose dive for next season.  

They currently have just north of $3.6M in cap space, but are expected to bury Huet in the minors, freeing up an additional $5.625M, which in and of itself is enough to facilitate a raise for Niemi and Hjalmarsson and pay for a seasoned backup goalie.  Marty Biron just signed a sub-$1M contract, for example, and there are plenty of reliable, seasoned goaltenders that could back up Niemi at a similar dollar figure.  

When you look at this situation realistically, the Hawks still have a solid foundation to ensure that they're not going to get rolled and will most likely be a playoff team for the next 5 years.  The following still looks more imposing on paper than any of Columbus, St. Louis or Nashville by a mile from where I'm sitting:

Hossa/Toews/Kane
Bolland/Sharp/Kopecky
Stalberg/Reasoner/Brouwer
Plug/Plug/Plug

Keith/Seabrook
Campbell/Hjalmarsson
Plug/Plug

Niemi/Plug

It's fun to partake in a little schadenfreude at the expense of their depth, but let's not pretend that they're going to magically start sucking over night.  Also, be wary that if they can find a way to jettison Campbell for spare parts, they're going to become very dangerous again in a big hurry.

I want Nill and co. to grab as many of Burmistrov, Tarasenko, Kuznetsov, Galiev, Kabanov, and Kitsyn as possible.  There are a ton of high-skill Russian players in this draft that are projected to be risky picks and I think we could benefit by scooping some serious talent that other GMs are afraid to take a chance on.

I absolutely couldn't resist.  I'm sure some of you will have a field day with this:

http://en.tackfilm.s...76034236156RA61

EDIT: Wait til the end and you can customize your own, this is just one I threw together

Chances are I'd blame the Sharks.  As far as I know they've scored the game winning goal in every Wings round 2 loss.  Can anybody confirm?

If you're gonna gripe about anybody on TSN, I'd say Darren Pang is the more obvious target.  I really hope they don't renew his contract.  I actually think Ferraro is probably the best in the business at the "1 Up 1 Down" style of commentating.  Pierre and Milbury are unbearable and I think Razor does a much better job than Murph too.  Sometimes Ferraro gets a little carried away with his passionate rants, but he's got a keen eye for on-ice developments and I don't find his commentary abrasive at all.

I'm not even kidding, I would make out with Z right now

WHAT A GAME

I've never been a fan of Tkachuk and I honestly think the state of his face is sadder than his impending retirement.  He had a few great years though.

I'm sure there's a logical explanation that we're not privy to because we aren't associated with the team and don't know Chris Osgood, but I'll wager the conspiracy theorists and haters will come up with some irrational rumor to satiate you.

Worst part about that was he had the f***** beat and then crashed into the corner

Yup, he didn't just double clutch, he triple and quadruple clutched.  If he'd done the single head fake, side step and just snapped it, that would have been the game right there.

Hockey fans are no different here than they are anywhere else.  They're just as passionate about their team and they don't want to miss the playoffs, just the same as we don't.  I don't understand why everyone wants to run off at the mouth calling everyone idiots and douchebags just because they're upset about losing potential points.  Chances are we'd be pretty pissed off if Edmonton gave Calgary a point with less than a second remaining in regulation and Vancouver gave Calgary the bonus point with less than a second remaining in OT.  

If Detroit got spanked last night, all the "sky is falling" theorists would come out of the woodwork and make this board look like a bunch of idiotic crybabies.  My best friend is a Flames fan and on game days we poke fun at each other's GDTs.  Believe me, this board can come across equally as childish and petulant as CalgaryPuck.  It's all a matter of perspective.

When Zetterberg and Filppula are only average offensively, this team doesn't have enough to compete with the NHL's elite.  We are just a mediocre team at best without them.  It's too easy on other team's defenses - they only worry about one line...

Zetterberg has been utterly useless offensively.  He charges into the zone and does one of three things:

a) shoots from 60 feet with no traffic
b) stops moving his feet, spreads his legs and tries to glide past 2 defenders
c) cuts to the half wall, chews 15 seconds off the clock and gives the puck away

Filppula is equally as useless because for all the flash and dash stuff, he never shoots the puck.  Defending Filppula is like a night off for the opposing defensemen.

Pav and Mule were invisible against Edmonton and they've looked fairly pedestrian through 20 minutes of this one.

We may be outshooting them 17-8, but a good 10 of those shots never had a prayer of going in or yielding a rebound.

Also, Meech plays defense while "being a forward".  He collapses on the rush instead of attacking the guy crossing the line, which gives them a free pass into the zone on every rush.