What about Gagne?

[101st_fan]

Arnott had a big body, but never used it. His preferred scoring spot was out at the left dot and needed a setup man to create his offense. You omitted that he missed a minimum of 17 games each of the last two seasons due to concussion issues.

Ellis .... we lost our BACKUP goalie. A guy who twice was given the shot to be the starter, and lost out both times.

Anderson was brought in as a bottom six forward.

[lightning_legwand*]

Originally Posted by 101st_fan

Arnott had a big body, but never used it. His preferred scoring spot was out at the left dot and needed a setup man to create his offense. You omitted that he missed a minimum of 17 games each of the last two seasons due to concussion issues.

Ellis .... we lost our BACKUP goalie. A guy who twice was given the shot to be the starter, and lost out both times.

Anderson was brought in as a bottom six forward.

I know Kostitsyn has only played a handful of games and has yet to net 10 goals in a season, but I still think he could be the best signing we made this offseason, if he does what I feel he could be capable of.

Also,

Do you think Blum can replace Hamhuis in any shape or form in his first season??

[I Will Son]

Originally Posted by lightning_legwand

I know Kostitsyn has only played a handful of games and has yet to net 10 goals in a season, but I still think he could be the best signing we made this offseason, if he does what I feel he could be capable of.

Also,

Do you think Blum can replace Hamhuis in any shape or form in his first season??

I agree with you about Kostitsyn. He never had a chance to play on a top 2 line in Mont. and if he gets 13+ a game with the right linemates I can see him producing well. His numbers with Ganger and Kane are ridiculous. And if he doesnt perform, its only a loss of 550 K.

[lightning_legwand*]

Originally Posted by SLake

Yes, I feel we are currently as strong as we were to end last season and in a position to exceed that level of play out on the ice if Trotz makes the adjustments to our new found wealth of speed and skill and turns us back into a speedy, two-way counterattacking team again. Special teams will be revamped as well...

So to answer your question...YES! Tell me why we aren't? Just because we're lacking sexy doesn't mean we are lacking a large cache of skill and depth. Sexy just isn't the Predator Way...

I remember one season we had Forsberg, Kariya, Timonen, Vokoun, healthy Sullivan, etc. etc. we just need to get into a position where Trotz can through down that kind of cash. Weber will be eating up alot of that.

[ThirdManIn]

Trotz isn't throwing down any money on the roster. We need to get into a position to where the team can profit enough to spend more on the players.

On paper this could be a pretty good team. Skill-wise it's better than last year even without Arnott. Faster, younger, more potential. Defense might be shaky, but if there's one thing the Preds have gotten down over the years it's team defense.

[David Singleton]

Originally Posted by ThirdManIn

Trotz isn't throwing down any money on the roster. We need to get into a position to where the team can profit enough to spend more on the players.

On paper this could be a pretty good team. Skill-wise it's better than last year even without Arnott. Faster, younger, more potential. Defense might be shaky, but if there's one thing the Preds have gotten down over the years it's team defense.

No they haven't. It's why Legwand has been thrust/most trusted in a shutdown role. It's also why they were especially vulnerable to backdoor plays due to forwards not coming down enough to help out.

Nashville certainly has a few forwards that are very good defensively (Legwand and Smithson the two primary forwards). Other forwards are good on the PK (like Sullivan and Erat), but are not great ES defensively. If you want to see great team defense, look at last year's Chicago team. Toews, Sharp and Hossa are forwards that are equally as great defensively as they are offensively.

[ThirdManIn]

I was being sarcastic. I'm pretty concerned about defense this coming season, especially if either Weber or Suter goes down.

Edit: Though I do think that the core of our team does have the ability to be good defensively. It's just the lapses that end up killing us.