Nevermind

I'd be really happy if our draft position is 30th.

Franzen's having fun?

From here on out, I think we'll basically see Datsyuk and Zetterberg will our team into the playoffs.

 

And I thought Getzlaf and Perry got too much for having a history of questionable work ethics.

I hate Ribeiro.

And this makes the Caps less gritty and less suited for playoff hockey. Don't know what they were going for.

He's not better than Parise.  Besides, Parise is much, much better defensively and actually works hard night in, night out.  And we'd still have to give up assets to get Stewart.  The Blues would probably charge us a higher price anyways.

My last complaint is that I don't get the pun.  Maybe if you said Stewart was a dark horse on the trade market?  

54 points in 73 games.
That's better than a few younger Red Wing roster players who are making considerably more than him.

He would have been 5th in points on our team and only 15 points short of our leading scorer. That's actually kinda sad.

No young forward on our team is making considerably more than him.

And his numbers have a lot to do with playing on Claude Giroux's wing.

Jagr would have been great to have. I don't understand these "wouldn't want him anyway" comments

I do.  Do the words grit, character and backcheck mean anything to you?

What newspaper is this?

I know he's rich, but not many people would still take out a full page ad just to say thanks.  What a classy guy!  

It shows he really cares about the fans.

I remember them fighting for their playoff lives and still losing a game in regulation to us.  Who knew?

Hopefully we can congratulate the NYR soon.  Just because I selfishly don't want Parise to make the Finals with the Devils.  

Parise is 5'11, 195. His game's not unlike Helm's - and he's good for ~30 goals a season and clutch posteason performance.

Semin's lazy, often half-interested (at best), not physical, not good for use on the PP or PK - it's a long list. We want to get less lazy, see less floating, be more engaged and aggressive on the forecheck & backcheck and in the corners and in front of the opposition's net, be more defensively responsible, be more committed to winning.

We don't want Semin.

Agreed 100%

Semin probably actually has more natural offensive talent than Parise.  That doesn't mean s*** though since he's a much, much less effective player because of his lack of grit, work ethic, and defensive awareness.  Conversely, Parise has all of these qualities that Semin's lacking...and he has them in spades.

Parise's forecheck alone would be a huge example for this team.  He scores the dirty goals around the net. Semin's another perimeter player.  We don't want more players like this.  I'd rather have gritty, aggressive, 3rd and 4th liners who are hard on the forecheck and tough to play against.  At least we'd then be a more well-rounded team.

3rd - Bertuzzi-Helm-Cleary
4th - Prust-Gaustad-Eaves/Nyquist

That's where our bottom 6 needs to be. Now, I like Holmer as much as the next guy, but....

Close to what I would want.

I would rather sign Konopka over Gaustad, though.  Konopka's also very good on faceoffs (maybe even a bit better).  And while he's 5 inches shorter, he's still more physical and can keep the flies off better.

Most importantly, Konopka should be much cheaper and cost under $1.5M.  I think Gaustad's been horribly overrated lately and is bound to be overpaid this summer.

Prust-----Konopka-----Eaves

1)  You want Semin on this team?
2)  AND you want to pay him $7 million.



That lineup is even less gritty than this season's. Those 3rd and 4th lines need to be dramatically restructured.  

Keep Cleary.  His health should be much better next season.  And he was one of our better players early on in the series.

Worse of all, you don't want Helm back? Why on earth would you want to let Helm go?

Is it an omen of good things to come that the DJ for the prom being held in the courtyard at my hotel just outaide my window is CRANKING Don't Stop Believing right now?


Let's Go Wings!

I would hope so.  Unfortunately, it's probably more telling of a horribly generic prom though.

Coach Mike Babcock does not subscribe to the theory that his team  isn't getting on the inside, that most of its shots are coming from the  perimeter. "I hear (team broadcaster) Mickey Redmond say, 'They're  keeping them on the outside.' So the good thing about that is that I  watched the game, and watched it on the computer and then 'NHL On the  Fly' played it again,'' Babcock said. "So I watched it three times to  see if that's the truth, to see if we're never getting to the net, we're  never getting on the inside, and all I can do is go off what I see and I  don't think that's the truth.''

Full article


Now, I've only watched the game once, but I'm pretty sure a lot of our shots were indeed from the perimeter.  And as far I'm concerned, we did have an incredibly tough time getting to the middle of the ice.  

Is anyone else puzzled by why Babcock can't see this?  Or isn't willing to admit it? I'm no coach, but getting to the inside would be one of my main areas of concern for Game 5.