NHL '13-'14 Season Thread

[Stogeyfish]

Originally Posted by Malakai

Go Kings Go!!!

[nutcracker]

Would ave liked one more game at least.....
It was chicago's to take - too bad they faded, but the Kings did play some big games!

Oh well, pre-season again in October!

[CRIMPS]

That was quite the entertaining game and series. Well done, Kings.

[icehog3]

Congrats to Donald and all the Kings Fans.

Congrats to Coach Sutter, to Justin Williams on a deserved Conn Smythe, and to Marion Gaborik on his first Cup.

Oh yeah, and f*** Drew Doughty.

[CRIMPS]

Congrats to Hasek, Blake, Modano, and Forsberg. The frontpage of this article is rather comical for Dallas Stars fans.

[icehog3]

Very deserving group, and Pat Burns as well.

Modano, "former Red Wing"?.....that's rich.

[CRIMPS]

Pretty fun start to the FA period.

Spezza to Dallas for Chiasson, others, plus 2nd rnd pick. Really happy with this. I enjoyed Chiasson's antics 5 feet from the net, but we needed more.

Stastny to St. Louis was next, I believe. St. Louis gets better.

Bolland to Florida.

Niskanen is probably next.

Ryan Miller to Vancouver.

Just heard Hemsky to Dallas as well??? Wow. Jim Nill is awesome.

[357]

Jim Nill IS awesome. BTW, that front page is the Detroit Free Press aka the Freep. That's why the Madano tie to the Wings given his single season here. Not that it's how I would have written it but that's the rub.

[E.J.]

7M a year for Stastny?

[icehog3]

Stasny to St Louis makes the Blues better.

Avs lose Stasny and Parenteau, get Briere and Iginla....I think it's a wash at best.

And obviusoly Kesler to the Ducks last wee.

I think the Blues and Anaheim just got tougher for the Hawks and Avs in '14-'15.

[E.J.]

Yes, I think Stastny gives the Blues offense, which they need. He is a 2 way player that will grind, I wish the Avs could have found a way to bring him back.....but at less than he was making last year, not with a raise.

I am A BIG Pauly Walnuts fan, but he was overpaid at 6M. Paying 7M a year for him does not seem reasonable.

Iginla is going to be good for that young locker room....hope he finds fountain of youth, not a spring chicken.

Need to get O'Reilly locked up long term. I fear with their continuing to butt heads, when he can, he'll bolt. He's a cat that deserves to get paid.

[drjammer]

I liked Pauly as well but 7m a year, the Blues can have him .

[CRIMPS]

The craziest signing, IMHO, is the Niskanen contract, at 7yrs and ~$40MM. Have fun with that, Washington.

The chances of that working out aren't high. He had one good year, after many very lukewarm seasons.

[357]

I know I'm going to get cheapshots galore but, what invisible plague have the Wings contracted?

I get they are not the same HHOF studded roster they used to have but they get snubbed by 2nd level FA year in and year out for 5+ seasons.

I hear a lot of players don't like Babcock but I also head how just about every Canadian team would cut off an owner's teste to get him.

[icehog3]

Maybe the Wings still prefer to grow their own, and snag guys from Europe, rather than go the UFA route? I haven't heard of any big money UFAs snubbing them, Mike.

[357]

This contains the details.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/ne...e-60b1702f1b09

A few snippets...

Remember when July 1 wasn't just Canada Day, it was Detroit's day?

No team rocked the Kasbah on the annual launch of NHL free agency like the Red Wings. Suitors lined up to sign on the dotted line.

Tuesday, as the free agent period opened, the only sound around Joe Louis Arena was crickets.

...


Christian Ehrhoff could have gotten two years and $8 million, but instead signed for one-year and $4 million from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"My first priority was to be on a good team," Ehrhoff told TSN.

That's got to sting just a little bit, don't you think?

Dan Boyle picked the bright lights of Broadway over Hockeytown for $3.5 million less than the Wings put forth.

The Wings offered Matt Niskanen seven years and $42 million. He chose seven years, $40.25 million from the Washington Capitals.

Just like that, the Wings were the Austin Jackson of free agency - three swings, three misses, go grab some bench - further evidence that Detroit is no longer a destination NHL players covet.

Second-tier defenders also spurned Detroit.

Tom Gilbert already had the offer he accepted from Montreal by the time the Wings called.

Stephane Robidas, saying he wanted to be closer to family, spurned the Wings to take a similar offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Wings weren't willing to give Anton Stralman the fiveyear term he received from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Left standing at the altar again and again. It's a trend that is becoming a recurring theme for the Wings.

Remember the spring of 2012, when Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were the prize UFAs? Flying to Suter's Wisconsin home on owner Mike Ilitch's private jet, GM Ken Holland and Wisconsin grad Chris Chelios did the wooing.

They boarded the return flight certain they had their man.

But Suter signed with the Minnesota Wild.

[357]

Worst of all...

At the end of the day, Detroit's only moves were to keep free-agent defenceman Kyle Quincey, a guy they'd hoped to jettison at the start of the day, for two years and $8.5 million, more than Ehrhoff got from the Penguins.

And another gem

Clearly, there's an image problem afoot for the Wings.

They skate in one of the NHL's most ancient facilities. The view most outsiders have of Detroit is the bleak one presented on the nightly news. They are coached by a demanding, micromanaging taskmaster in Mike Babcock and that's not a quality many of today's pampered athletes seek in their bench boss. Post-season participants for a league-best 23 straight springs, the Wings aren't winning when it matters most - one playoff series triumph in three years, five straight springs absent from the conference finals, their longest drought since 1989-94.

[icehog3]

So they should build a new arena and fire Babcock?

[357]

Not what I'm saying. I keep hearing Toronto would sell their building to buy Babcock if they could. I think he really pushes players, which is a good thing. Also, they are building a new arena but we're a couple years out. I'm just wondering if any of you might know what's going around the NHL watercooler. Clearly Ken Holland doesn't know, the Wings were shocked yesterday. They got denied by everyone they talked to and settled for Quincy who they wanted to jettison. Holland even said as much publicly.

People are just throwing out ideas of why no FA want to come here. I get Detroit itself has a stigma but it has for decades. Something in the past 4-5 years changed.

Honestly I feel the Wings could contend if they were able to add a legit top 3 D-man and maybe a 5/6 D-man. The young forwards with a healthy veteran core should be able to get past the first round if they have some help on the blueline. But, we couldn't even sniff a 1st or 2nd tier FA before they went elsewhere. I just wonder if there's a single reason or if this is a combination effect and unbelievebly bad luck.

[icehog3]

That have some great young forwards in Jurco, Nyquist, Tatar and Helm. But there stars are quickly coming to the end of the line...Zetterberg, Franzen and Datysuk seem to spend more and more time on the IR, Alfredsson, Cleary, Bertuzzi....color them done. Couple good young D-men with Danny DeKeyser and Brendan Smith. Seems to be a good core even with the stars playing less games, so there must be something that isn't being disclosed publicly as to why players are avoiding Motown.