What would you settle for to consider this year a success without the cup?

[twistedwrister17]

I voted for win the east, although I'm confused as to whether you meant the regular season #1 seed or ECF. I would love to see them make the SCF but getting past the second round would be good enough. It all depends on who we draw.

[The Perfect Paradox]

Winning the division and getting past the 2nd round.

[klingsor]

Originally Posted by pld459666

Considering that we are ahead of schedule in terms of truly competing for the cup, a 2nd round exit would be fine by me.

It would show progression of the franchise and give additional experience to this team as we continue to build towards actually competing for a cup.

This.

[mrhockey193195]

Originally Posted by Badgerfan

Nothing short of the cup.

The people voting the 2nd round are probably the same ones that said we didnt need Nash. Well in 5 years if we still dont have a cup because we held onto a few prospects you should give yourself a good look in the mirror and shake your head.

People were saying the same thing before we traded for Lindros, traded draft picks for Bure, etc. I'm still amazed that people somehow believe that getting Nash would automatically mean a cup, or even that getting Nash would automatically mean we have a better chance of competing than with our current group. You'd think that 8 years of pure **** on the ice would make you hesitate to go down the big-star path again.

[Matt4776]

I voted cup or bust. Every year you go into the year hoping to win the cup. That being said, I would not jump off a bridge if we do not win the cup. Our future is incredibly bright. Our lineup could very easily look like this next year:

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS
Zach Parise ($7.000m) / Brad Richards ($6.666m) / Ryan Callahan ($4.275m)
Artem Anisimov ($1.875m) / Derek Stepan ($0.875m) / Marian Gaborik ($7.500m)
Chris Kreider ($1.750m) / Brandon Dubinsky ($4.200m) / Carl Hagelin ($0.875m)
Michael Rupp ($1.500m) / Brian Boyle ($1.700m) / Brandon Prust ($1.200m)
/ Chad Kolarik ($0.525m)

DEFENSEMEN
Marc Staal ($3.975m) / Daniel Girardi ($3.325m)
Ryan McDonagh ($1.300m) / Tim Erixon ($1.750m)
Michael Del Zotto ($2.000m) / Mike Sauer ($1.250m)
Stu Bickel ($0.700m)

GOALTENDERS
Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875m) / Martin Biron ($0.900m)

BUYOUTS: Chris Drury ($1.666m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,683,334; BONUSES: $1,462,500
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $616,666

That is a very deep lineup. The year after, we will probably have to trade Dubinsky in order to give raises to the likes of McDonagh, Stepan, Anisimov.etc, but he can be replaced by Miller/Thomas.

If we miss out on Parise, I would go hard towards Weber. Not only would it balance our LD/RD imbalance, but he would provide the key element that we sorely lack on the power play- the booming shot. Having Richards being able to feed an actual shooter instead of mediocre-ly shooting himself would work wonders for this power play.

I would offer up Staal+1st 2012+2nd 2013+Thomas+any other prospects/futures not named Kreider/Erixon. That would leave us with:

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS
Artem Anisimov ($1.875m) / Derek Stepan ($0.875m) / Marian Gaborik ($7.500m)
Chris Kreider ($1.750m) / Brad Richards ($6.666m) / Ryan Callahan ($4.275m)
Brandon Dubinsky ($4.200m) / 1 Year Stop-gap ($3.500m) / Carl Hagelin ($0.875m)
Michael Rupp ($1.500m) / Brian Boyle ($1.700m) / Brandon Prust ($0.800m)
/ Chad Kolarik ($0.525m)

DEFENSEMEN
Michael Del Zotto ($2.000m) / Shea Weber ($7.000m)
Ryan McDonagh ($1.300m) / Daniel Girardi ($3.325m)
Tim Erixon ($1.750m) / Mike Sauer ($1.250m)
/ Stu Bickel ($0.600m)

GOALTENDERS
Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875m) / Martin Biron ($0.925m)

BUYOUTS: Chris Drury ($1.666m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $62,733,334; BONUSES: $1,462,500
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $1,566,666