Defense? Clear winner Boston. Chara's the number one defenseman in the league. Seidenberg's a solid #2. They need a #3, but the rest is pretty decent. Philly, on the other hand, is suffering here.
Forward group? Edge Philly, but not by much. Boston's got a deep forward group: Seguin, Bergeron, Krejci, Lucic, Horton, Marchand, Peverley, Kelly, etc. That makes for a very balanced, strong top-9 (regardless of who they plug in at #9).
That forward group doesn't do it for me at all. Seguin and Bergeron, but after that? Lucic and Horton are thug second liners, Marchand is more of a mouth than a hockey player, Peverly is mediocre.. I'll give you Kelly as an excellent elite third line centre... but really, not that much to write home about as a group. As for the net, give me Carey over Rask any day.
Grats on their cup win but honestly, the stars just happened to align for them. Seriously, give me a playoff series agains the Bruins next spring and I'd sit back and watch a healthy Habs team take them down confidently. I'm sure of it.
For the record, I think all teams in the Northeast this year will surprise people. I see Toronto and Montreal really messing with the heads of Boston and Ottawa to be honest.
Now that that's out of way for at least a year, the Flyers will find it harder to compete for the top spot in the East. I hope they spend the dollars to sign an aging Doan to a multiple year contract while the Habs conserve their cap space. By 2014 (or 2015) the Habs will be able to approach them as a stepping stone to finishing still higher.
Now that that's out of way for at least a year, the Flyers will find it harder to compete for the top spot in the East. I hope they spend the dollars to sign an aging Doan to a multiple year contract while the Habs conserve their cap space. By 2014 (or 2015) the Habs will be able to approach them as a stepping stone to finishing still higher.
If you learned anything about Holmgren it's that he will dump players who fell out of favor in a second and will be very successful at doing so.
If you learned anything about Holmgren it's that he will dump players who fell out of favor in a second and will be very successful at doing so.
Philly might sign Doan or trade for Ryan but there big problem is D and goaltending. Adding offence, so that you can outscore the opposition will only go so far.
Philly will probably try to trade for Weber next summer, just pushes back their time frame for winning the cup slightly further back.
Maybe so but the price will most likely be even higher then since they won't be the only option that Weber could be dealt too like this time.. Anyway if I were the Preds I would never trade Weber to the Flyers now unless I get the players I'd want back just because of this offer sheet..
So fail by Weber... He wanted out and now he's stuck with Nashville for basically the rest of his career.
Obviously can't complain about the money but seemed like he really wanted out of Nashville.
I don't think he wanted out. He simply wanted a big contract. No one should ever turn down a career long $110 million contract, especially when the new CBA might put a cap on length.
Im not sure what the rules are with RFAs. it seems like Weber wanted out and contacted Philadelphia about signing there and they offered but then Nashville matched and they get to keep him.
If Weber was offered a deal from Philly without him inquiring about it then this means that the team you are on as RFA has the capability of matching a offer from another team (that makes a offer to you) and you as a player are forced to take it?
Im not sure what the rules are with RFAs. it seems like Weber wanted out and contacted Philadelphia about signing there and they offered but then Nashville matched and they get to keep him.
If Weber was offered a deal from Philly without him inquiring about it then this means that the team you are on as RFA has the capability of matching a offer from another team (that makes a offer to you) and you as a player are forced to take it?
Yeah I think it works that way. Players must accept the offer sheet however so a GM can't call a buddy GM, tell him to offer the deal he wants to his RFA and then accept it.
If a RFA is lowballed by another team then he's incredibly silly to accept the offer since his team is going to match easily.
Philly will probably try to trade for Weber next summer, just pushes back their time frame for winning the cup slightly further back.
In the next CBA they should add that if a team matches an offer sheet then although they can't trade that player for a year...they may be allowed to trade him to the team that made the offer sheet
That'll give time for Nashville to properly work on a trade instead of only being given 7 days
In the next CBA they should add that if a team matches an offer sheet then although they can't trade that player for a year... they may be allowed to trade him to the team that made the offer sheet.
That'll give time for Nashville to properly work on a trade instead of only being given 7 days
I hope they don't.. That would give the team that made the offer sheet exclusive trade negotiations over every other team for 1 full year.. How would that be fair to the rest of the NHL teams who could be interested in trading for the player?
Actually I wouldn't be against scrapping the whole no trade for 1 year thing altogether and let the matching team trade the player to whoever offered the most after they matched.
Is anyone else looking forward to seeing what happens with A-Kostitsyn? I don't understand the unwillingness to sign him. He's an easy 20-25 goals and fits in perfectly. Awesome injection of talent to a big but somewhat "stone hands" forward group that we have. Maybe not stone hands, but not a lot of "pure" talent, snipers, etc, whatever. I always wanted to see him with Desharnais.
Cole - Plekanec - Gionta
Max - Desharnais - AK46
Moen - Eller - Bourque
Prust - Gomez - Armstrong
White
Is anyone else looking forward to seeing what happens with A-Kostitsyn? I don't understand the unwillingness to sign him. He's an easy 20-25 goals and fits in perfectly. Awesome injection of talent to a big but somewhat "stone hands" forward group that we have.
I think the uncertainty of the CBA negotiations is making a lot players and gms wait out.
I think the uncertainty of the CBA negotiations is making a lot players and gms wait out.
I figure it's more teams making runs at Doan and Semin, then the Kostitsyn signing will fall. If we don't sign him (and, we won't), I could see him lighting it up on Datsyuk or Tavares wing and us Hab fans being pretty frustrated.
EDIT: Also, is it just me or is it a total no-brainer for Pittsburgh to saddle up 2.5 million for Kostitsyn on Malkin's wing?
So fail by Weber... He wanted out and now he's stuck with Nashville for basically the rest of his career.
Obviously can't complain about the money but seemed like he really wanted out of Nashville.
If you 'really want out' of somewhere you don't sign a contract that gives that team first dibs on keeping you for the next 14 years.
If he had wanted out of Nashville that bad he would have refused to sign anything other than a one year deal that at worst would have given him total control over his destiny next summer.
If you 'really want out' of somewhere you don't sign a contract that gives that team first dibs on keeping you for the next 14 years.
If he had wanted out of Nashville that bad he would have refused to sign anything other than a one year deal that at worst would have given him total control over his destiny next summer.
True, he had to know this result was a possibility.
I figure it's more teams making runs at Doan and Semin, then the Kostitsyn signing will fall. If we don't sign him (and, we won't), I could see him lighting it up on Datsyuk or Tavares wing and us Hab fans being pretty frustrated.
EDIT: Also, is it just me or is it a total no-brainer for Pittsburgh to saddle up 2.5 million for Kostitsyn on Malkin's wing?
I'm sure AK's camp is looking for multiple years and more than 2.5 mil.
A team like Philly who CLEARLY demonstrated that they do indeed have a glaring weakness at that position will NOT do nothing. You have to expect them to go and get a very good d-man even if it means giving up on youngsters. They can't have a good goalie...might as well find better people to protect him.
Is anyone else looking forward to seeing what happens with A-Kostitsyn? I don't understand the unwillingness to sign him. He's an easy 20-25 goals and fits in perfectly. Awesome injection of talent to a big but somewhat "stone hands" forward group that we have. Maybe not stone hands, but not a lot of "pure" talent, snipers, etc, whatever. I always wanted to see him with Desharnais.
Cole - Plekanec - Gionta
Max - Desharnais - AK46
Moen - Eller - Bourque
Prust - Gomez - Armstrong
White
Easy 20-25 goals?
He's averaged 18 goals the last 3 seasons. He hasn't topped 20+ since 2008-2009.
