Yeah basically if this season commences at some point like I've said numerous times it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Seems that it is sensible to.move a defenseman with some.value for.some.help up front. Tallinder.or volch makes most sense but obviously the latter has a NMC so that throws a wrench into things prolly. Wonder if its gonna be a week and a half of.madness as teams make.roster moves by opening.night if it happens (which I have my big.time doubts about for.good reason)
Just realized Zidla`s contract expires after this season. Well, that`s not good. I wanted to see him play a full season before offering him an extension.
Fayne will get more goals as will Larsson. I don`t expect Greene to light it up. At the same time, I don`t even care if he does as long as he keeps doing what he was doing last year. But absolutely, we still need more points from the back end, much more. Don`t expect Salvador and Tallinder (if we keep him) to get many, if any.
I don't think we'll re sign Zidlicky. Which sucks cause I think we need him more than Volchenkov, and Tallinder, or at least we need him more than two of them. Volchenkov, and Tallinder as well as Salvador during the regular season have as much offensive capability as Ken Daneyko, and Colin White. A pipe dream is dumping Tallinder, and Volchenkov, re signing Zidlicky, and bringing up a cheaper replacement like Urbom.
There won't be room for Zidlicky by the time his contract is up, or at least I hope there won't. No need to spend money on a question mark contract with Larsson probably ready for full-time duty and Urbom and Gelinas waiting in the wings.
There won't be room for Zidlicky by the time his contract is up, or at least I hope there won't. No need to spend money on a question mark contract with Larsson probably ready for full-time duty and Urbom and Gelinas waiting in the wings.
I agree there won't be room which is why I don't think he'll be re signed. I think it was my man njdevs26 who said he was sure the rest of the league probably noticed Volchenkov getting coned time and time again by the Panthers. The contract might be hard to move if he even agreed to waive. I still don't think he is as bad as he looked that series. Had to be injured, but his salary is not ideal for a d man with the offense of Dano! I think that's something we can all agree on.
Getting rid of him would free up salary. Though we don't need another multi year 35+ contract which Zidlicky will likely attract. Patty will likely be getting one, and Zubrus possibly too.
There won't be room for Zidlicky by the time his contract is up, or at least I hope there won't. No need to spend money on a question mark contract with Larsson probably ready for full-time duty and Urbom and Gelinas waiting in the wings.
Waiting in the wings with cheaper contracts, too.
I like Zidlicky, but agreed that there really isn't any use for him after this season.
He was brought in at the tradeline to beef up the roster for a playoff run.
He did exactly what he was supposed to.
Now the youngsters can come up and grow into Pete's system.
There won't be room for Zidlicky by the time his contract is up, or at least I hope there won't. No need to spend money on a question mark contract with Larsson probably ready for full-time duty and Urbom and Gelinas waiting in the wings.
Agreed, I don't think he'll be re-signed unless our defensive prospects all suddenly bust. The kids will get their chance.
Another reason why this lock-out is plain frustrating. With all the injuries throughout a 82 game season, Urbom and Gelinas would've gotten useful experience with the big club. Because next year both must get ready for full NHL duty.
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Another reason why this lock-out is plain frustrating. With all the injuries throughout a 82 game season, Urbom and Gelinas would've gotten useful experience with the big club. Because next year both must get ready for full NHL duty.
How do you figure? We still have 6 NHL ready defensemen under contract and can easily resign Harrold as the 7th.
I'm not even sure Urbom, or Gelinas will get a chance next year full time. Only through an injury unless we do get rid of Tallinder or somebody else. I have a feeling if the whole season is lost we don't move anybody. Zidlicky just isn't re signed, and we're down to 6 NHL defensemen again, and with 7 total if Harrold re signs.
Perhaps in 2014, and hopefully Tallinder walks cause if he doesn't those guys won't get a full time chance unless Fayne(Also a UFA that year) walks.
Keep in mind I only wish to re sign Zidlicky if we can dump both Tallinder, and Volchenkov. Volchenkov we likely cannot.
Because he had to. Otherwise he`d be playing elsewhere. At the time, Lou believed we need more toughness on the back end. On the other hand, our transition game was horrific and he didn`t see it that way. Heck, we still have to get better at that.
Seems like Lou has learned from all this, especially after Lemaire and Parise called for a change. Now let`s see what his next move will be.
I wasn't so mad about Lou signing either of Volchenkov or Tallinder. At least he went out, and replaced Martin with something other than question marks. Don't get me wrong they're both much different than Martin though. I had no problem with Tallinder's contract or price, but I wouldn't mind dumping him to free up $3 million to re sign Clarkson, and Zajac with.
The worst thing about Volchenkov's contract is the no trade clause I think. A no trade clause at that amound is Al Trautwig BRUTAL. He brings no more offense than Colin White did, and has been playing bottom pairing minutes plus PK.
meh, NTC's are not as literal as they once were (langenbrunner-bull**** aside)...we could trave volch tomorrow (well, under a new CBA) if we wanted to. it just limits the teams we can deal with and thus the return we may get.
He brings no more offense than Colin White did, and has been playing bottom pairing minutes plus PK.
Everyone knows how I feel about Volchenkov but you've said something I've been preaching for close to 2 years now.
What's even worse is that he's our highest paid blueliner and if Lou wants to test the market to upgrade our defense, agents of pending UFA's will ask for the moon, knowing that our highest paid d-men is playing bottom pairing minutes.
Anton Volchenkov is a solid SAH d-men that is golden on the PK but he isn't worth his contract and he sure as hell didn't deserve a NTC on top of that... but what's done is done and now we just have to live with it.
I don't get why certain posters want to let go of Zidlicky after his contracts runs out? He's our only d-men that can bring some type of offense on a consistant basis and he's as solid as it get's when talking about our transition game. I'd much rather try and move Tallinder or Volchenkov (slim chance but you never know) and keep Zidlicky around in all honesty.
This offseason is going to be crucial for us. We have 4 forwards in our top 6 that are turning UFA's + Zidlicky. The way I see it, we can't afford to lose anyone. It would be a absolute disaster if we lost 2 or 3 guys, especially Zajac and Elias, while having to forfeit our 1st round in a year that could see us landing a top #10 pick.
Oh well.... here's hoping Matteau will turn out to be something solid because wich ever way you want to cut it, not forfeiting the 29th overall pick last summer is still a decision that has me scratching my head today.
Everyone knows how I feel about Volchenkov but you've said something I've been preaching for close to 2 years now.
What's even worse is that he's our highest paid blueliner and if Lou wants to test the market to upgrade our defense, agents of pending UFA's will ask for the moon, knowing that our highest paid d-men is playing bottom pairing minutes.
Anton Volchenkov is a solid SAH d-men that is golden on the PK but he isn't worth his contract and he sure as hell didn't deserve a NTC on top of that... but what's done is done and now we just have to live with it.
I don't get why certain posters want to let go of Zidlicky after his contracts runs out? He's our only d-men that can bring some type of offense on a consistant basis and he's as solid as it get's when talking about our transition game. I'd much rather try and move Tallinder or Volchenkov (slim chance but you never know) and keep Zidlicky around in all honesty.
This offseason is going to be crucial for us. We have 4 forwards in our top 6 that are turning UFA's + Zidlicky. The way I see it, we can't afford to lose anyone. It would be a absolute disaster if we lost 2 or 3 guys, especially Zajac and Elias, while having to forfeit our 1st round in a year that could see us landing a top #10 pick.
Oh well.... here's hoping Matteau will turn out to be something solid because wich ever way you want to cut it, not forfeiting the 29th overall pick last summer is still a decision that has me scratching my head today.
I don't really want another 35+ multi year since Patty will get one, and unfortunately Zubrus as well I'm sure. A one year contract for $2.5-$3 million for Zidlicky would be great though if we could get rid of Tallinder(Possible) and dump Volchenkov(Probably impossible)
All I can say is if the mess of last July 1st is any indication, I'm sure this July 1st(Or whenever UFA starts) will be too, and I can see Patty being hung out to UFA until Zajac, and Clarkson make decisions. That whole mess with Marty last year was completely unnecessary especially since Parise walked anyway. I'm not so mad about the draft pick, I'm more mad with the way Lou does business with UFA's at this point. Though Parise leaving isn't on him though I'll say that much.
meh, NTC's are not as literal as they once were (langenbrunner-bull**** aside)...we could trave volch tomorrow (well, under a new CBA) if we wanted to. it just limits the teams we can deal with and thus the return we may get.
I'm not so interested in the return. I just wanna dump salary a little with the cap going down. We NEED Elias, Zajac, Clarkson, and even Zubrus much more than we need Volchenkov at this point. Though the return might get us a Trent Hunter type that we wind up buying out anyway. Maybe not though. Who knows if Volchenkov would waive? I bet if we could send him back to Ottawa he would waive cause he said he wanted to stay there. Ottawa likely doesn't want him though.
As I was posting about Volchenkov and PMDs, I was like "damn, I haven`t seen DATW in ages".
Go figure.
It's just nice to see that people are finaly realising what Volchenkov's "true value" is really worth.
You said so yourself a couple of post ago. Our transition game needs to get better and getting rid of Zidlicky is the last thing we should be thinking about IMO. The fact that we resigned Salvador is another head scratcher for me. We already have a similar player who's most probably a immovable object (contract wise) in A-Train, so did we really need to resign Salvador when we have 2 or 3 solid prospects on the verge of cracking our lineup? Anyways...
Lou had this idea that it was 1990 all over again when he inked Volchenkov, just to see him waive someone that brought the exact same attributes at a cheaper cap hit, a couple of years after that in Colin White.
Adding Volchenkov wasn't a mistake, it's the contract he threw his way that made no sense at the time and looks even worse today when the game is now based way more on speed and quick transitions.
It's just nice to see that people are finaly realising what Volchenkov's "true value" is really worth.
You said so yourself a couple of post ago. Our transition game needs to get better and getting rid of Zidlicky is the last thing we should be thinking about IMO. The fact that we resigned Salvador is another head scratcher for me. We already have a similar player who's most probably a immovable object (contract wise) in A-Train, so did we really need to resign Salvador when we have 2 or 3 solid prospects on the verge of cracking our lineup? Anyways...
Lou had this idea that it was 1990 all over again when he inked Volchenkov, just to see him waive someone that brought the exact same attributes at a cheaper cap hit, a couple of years after that in Colin White.
Adding Volchenkov wasn't a mistake, it's the contract he threw his way that made no sense at the time and looks even worse today when the game is now based way more on speed and quick transitions.
Marek Zidlicky is going to be 36, halfway to 37 when his contract expires.
I agree that re-signing Salvador made no sense, but re-signing Zidlicky doesn't make much either.
I just wish we had some scoring from our D. Our defense is among the lowest scoring in the league. Maybe Gelinas could help with that? Our defense was outscored by the Isles defense last year. Granted almost half their goals were from Mark Streit. And if this lockout ends I'm sure they'll outscore our D again with the acquiring of Visnovsky.
I use the Isles as an example as they were one of the lower scoring teams in the league last year. The lowest scoring team in the league the Wild had 14 goals from their defense. 2 less than our 16. Zidlicky didn't even score a goal for them last season. And if you take away Zidlicky's 2 goals last season we're at 14 also.
Zidlicky's skills were much needed, but it's not like we don't have anything coming up the pipeline.
These defensive prospects are just about ready to break into the league, they need to start playing against NHL level competition. They'll never get the opportunity if we keep Zid around.
If the option was available to cast away multiple defensemen and keep Zid, that'd be fine. But I doubt that's possible.
Marek Zidlicky is going to be 36, halfway to 37 when his contract expires.
I agree that re-signing Salvador made no sense, but re-signing Zidlicky doesn't make much either.
Age is nothing but a #
If the guy can bring another dimension this team desperatly needs, he can be 47 for all I care, as long as he can produce... that's all that matters at the end of the day IMO.
It's Salvador we should've let go in order to sign Zidlicky this off season. If we let Zid walk and keep Sal + Volch, we're back to square #1 when talking about not moving the puck up the ice and creating zero offense from our breakouts.
Granted, there's guys like Larsson and Tallinder who can do just that but we need more then just those 2 guys in order to be "playoff team" IMO. He's also our only threat from the point and that's another thing we need to improve... get pucks on net threw traffic. Salvador killed it last post season by just wristing pucks on net, wich saw him land the 2nd best point total by a blueliner in franchise history if I'm not mistaken.
I think that's something we can all agree on. 
