b.shanafan14

I can't believe the numbers you guys are throwin out.  Compare him and his scoring to Hudler and then consider Hudler got 4 yrs @ $4m per on the open market.

 

Guys that primarily put the puck into the net are the hard one's to find. 

This. Good luck offering your top goal-scorer in the playoffs and 3rd best goal-scorer in the regular season (all during his first North American action mind you) right-handed shot soon-to-be UFA $1.5M-2M... kiss that one goodbye.

I love the guy. He went from next-to-zero travel and 40 games in Switzerland to the Western Conference grind and 97 combined games this season, and handled it more than admirably. He'll never be a great defensive player, but he hustles, he is a righty, seems like a good locker room guy, and he scores goals. What more do you want?

If this guy makes it to UFA because we don't want to commit more than $2.5 and a couple years, we'll be kicking ourselves. Get this done, Kenny.

Buffalo buying out Leino sent a chill down my spine... DON'T DO IT KENNY!

TLDR: No pick, no matter how high is a guarantee, so why not entertain offers to satisfy some needs? Repeats in the top 4 to the tune of 2 or 3 appearances in 7 years does not necessarily indicate parity not working. Are good teams supposed to be replaced by the worst teams through the draft and salary crunch every year? If anything is wrong with the system, its that teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and obviously less successfully Edmonton can tank for several years and basically bounce off the bottom into contention with little to no growing pains by stockpiling high picks through the lottery.

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I think some people are trying to see a problem where there really isn't one.

First of all, even supposed great draft prospects can bust, or at the very least not be the sort of "game-breakers" a team hopes for. When you look at a team like Edmonton, imagine if they had dangled a few of their top picks for a group of established players that could provide the sort of leadership and depth they have been missing. Maybe they wouldn't still be bottom feeding. To equate trading your top picks to some conscious effort not to improve seems silly. If Edmonton had been bad enough early enough they could have gotten Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Toews, Kane, that caliber of player. Instead, they got serviceable guys like Hall that haven't been good enough to really turn them around. That's life.

And as far as the supposed same teams making the top 4 every year, I don't really see it. Red Wings 3 straight, Pittsburgh 2 straight, Hawks 2 straight, Sharks 2 straight, with some teams returning to the top 4 this season after a few seasons out of it. Is parity supposed to knock teams down and others up every single year?

Some teams are good consistently working within the cap because the same core remains. At no point did parity and draft lottery guarantee the sort of "worst to first" climb Pittsburgh and Chicago had, nor did it limit a teams window to a year or two. Its evened the playing field in terms of salary, period. In fact, in terms of the draft lottery system, I think its terrible that the worst teams get rewarded with the quickest ascent ala Chicago and Pittsburgh, while the bubble teams remain in limbo.

Sorry stopped reading when you said franzen is most consistent goal scorer. Then I realized you're trolling me...

Don't mean to jump on you here, but I have to agree. Franzen's god-send the last few season has been a handful of huge games punctuating long stretches of consistent nothing. Those rare games when he actually plays up to his ability are the one's that further frustrate us fans and management.

In 2010-2011 season, for instance, he scored 5 goals in one game against Ottawa in February, then proceeded to do nothing for the next 2 months. No goals, no hustle, completely invisible. Without that one game, Franzen goes from an admirable 28 goals to a trifle 23 goals on the season. 28 goals is misleading because when we look at season totals we tend to automatically assume consistent distribution, with some peaks and valleys, but for the most part an even contribution throughout. That season he used over 1/6th of his total output (and effort from what I saw) for the season to help the Wings secure 2 points in the standings.

He has been guilty of similar stat-padding efforts in seasons ever since, showing up for a handful of games before going on vacation again. When I see those stretches compared to the vast majority, it feels like he is doing just enough statistically to keep his ass off the bench.