NHL '10 - '11 Thread

[E.J.]

Semyon Varlamov for a 1st and a 2nd.....hummmm...... That is not to say that I am not pleased to have him between the pipes for the Avs....just question the compensation to get him.... God knows that first may be VERY HIGH....

Hejda signing gives them a physical D man....hopefully he can further(start?) the Avs change the philosophy of "defense is optional, let's just outscore the other team" mentality.....

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by E.J.

Semyon Varlamov for a 1st and a 2nd.....hummmm...... That is not to say that I am not pleased to have him between the pipes for the Avs....just question the compensation to get him.... God knows that first may be VERY HIGH....

It is going to seem really high if Valarmov doesn't sign and goes to the KHL.

[Ahbroody]

LULs. If you cant beat them.........
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=568344

I really like White. I think the Wings aquired a great D man. I was hoping they would grab that POS Eirhoff.
Canucks get a little less douche letting Torres go and Eirhoff bring in Sturm.

I am starting to like the Sharks chances of coming out of the west. I think adding Handzus will soften the loss of Seto and Burns is a D upgrade.

[icehog3]

Handzus was a slug when he played for the Hawks.

I agree on White, much better way to go for the Wings than Kaberle.

[GreekGodX]

Originally Posted by icehog3

Handzus was a slug when he played for the Hawks.

I agree on White, much better way to go for the Wings than Kaberle.

Younger and I think will end up being a better player than Kaberle is now. Although unless some of the other guys step up it might be a rough year on the D.

[Ahbroody]

Lol that team finished 13th in the west and was brutal. I can see not liking much about that team.
Handzus suffered a torn ACL in the 06-07 season as a Hawk 8 games into the season and missed the rest of the year. In the 8 games he played as a Hawk he had 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in 8 games. Sounds like he was having an epic season before tearing up his knee. . He only played 8 games as a Hawk. With last years loss of Malholtra and Nichol now gone they needed a good reliable center who can kill penalties. Reminds me of manny. Assuming your joking.

Hes 6'4" 220, a good penalty killer with a 52% face off win, and he stands in front of the net which the Sharks need. I saw him a lot when the Sharks played the Kings and I never thought he was a slug. I do think he is an under the radar player a lot.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

Lol that team finished 13th in the west and was brutal. I can see not liking much about that team.
Handzus suffered a torn ACL in the 06-07 season as a Hawk 8 games into the season and missed the rest of the year. In the 8 games he played as a Hawk he had 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in 8 games. Sounds like he was having an epic season before tearing up his knee. . He only played 8 games as a Hawk. With last years loss of Malholtra and Nichol now gone they needed a good reliable center who can kill penalties. Reminds me of manny. Assuming your joking.

Hes 6'4" 220, a good penalty killer with a 52% face off win, and he stands in front of the net which the Sharks need. I saw him a lot when the Sharks played the Kings and I never thought he was a slug. I do think he is an under the radar player a lot.

He musta had a wicked bad preseason, Mike.

[icehog3]

San Jose and Minnesota made their second major deal of the offseason with the Sharks sending forward Dany Heatley to the Wild on Sunday for forward Martin Havlat.

I like this trade for SJ, be interesting to see Havlat paired with Marleau.

[Ahbroody]

I like the trade Havlat got 22 goals 62 points on a team desperate for offense.
Heatley 26 goals 64 points on a team that scored mote then enough.

Clears 1.3 million off the books perseason but adds a year of obligation. Havlat 20 million for 4 years, Heater 19 for 3.

I said it after Handzus I like this team this year and am starting to think they may be deep enough to get out of the west.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Ahbroody

I said it after Handzus I like this team this year and am starting to think they may be deep enough to get out of the west.

I was thinking the same thing about the Blackhawks.

[Sled Dog]

Originally Posted by icehog3

I was thinking the same thing about the Blackhawks.

I was surprised at the contract the Hawks gave Montador. He had a decent year but completely went brain dead in the playoffs for Buffalo last year. I watched almost every Sabre game last year and I can't see him not being in the bottom pair for the Hawks this year....

[Bruins Fan]

Originally Posted by Sled Dog

I was surprised at the contract the Hawks gave Montador. He had a decent year but completely went brain dead in the playoffs for Buffalo last year. I watched almost every Sabre game last year and I can't see him not being in the bottom pair for the Hawks this year....

Montador was more like a matador when he played in Boston,he was sent packing with just a short sample of his play.

[Sled Dog]

Originally Posted by Bruins Fan

Montador was more like a matador when he played in Boston,he was sent packing with just a short sample of his play.

Indeed, he doesn't really bring a whole lot of toughness either. When he first broke in he was dropping the gloves all the time but that is definitely not part of his game anymore. He doesn't really hit all that much either.

[Bruins Fan]

Goodbye Tomas Kaberle.The B's gave up a ton to get him and he SUXED Soft like a doughboy,puck moving d-man don't mean dumping the puck before you reach your own blue line.
Hello Joe Corvo he had his best season last year with Carolina and should be better with the Bruins if he has anything left in the tank?
I like this signing

[icehog3]

I would definitely take Corvo over Kaberle at this point in time.

[357]

Originally Posted by GreekGodX

Wings sign Mike Commodore, not going to replace Rafalski by any means but adds a D guy to the 5th or 6th spot. Looks like we'll probably end up throwing money at Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, or Ian White. We'll see what happens. We resigned Jonathon Ericsson which I'm not too excited about. He's getting a huge raise and I think he regressed last season. Expectations are high for him to move up in the D rotation.

I like the White signing, but this Commodore is signing is an interesting one. See below...

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index....eman_mike.html

Interesting signing, since Commodore had issues with Red Wings coach Mike Babcock when they were together in the Anaheim organization in 2003, publicly ripping him in January 2009, when he played for the Blue Jackets.


"Mike Babcock was without a doubt an obstacle in my career," Commodore told the Columbus Post-Dispatch at the time. "I wanted to prove him wrong, I'm not going to lie. I used him as big-time motivation. I thought he put his best foot forward to bury me."

Babcock said his only issue with Commodore back then was his conditioning.

Apparently they're both over it now...

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index....at_chance.html

"It was something I thought about a little bit (before deciding)," Commodore said. "That happened a long time ago. It’s water under the bridge. I’d like another opportunity to play for (Babcock). He was a first-year coach in the NHL, I was trying to break into the league. We’ve both come a long ways."

Babcock said on Friday that his only issue with Commodore in 2002 was his conditioning level.

"I didn’t think, fitness-wise, he was ready to play in the NHL," Babcock said. "I never thought about (Commodore’s comments) for a second. He’s a big boy. I am, too."

Commodore and Babcock talked on Friday, and the coach said he is excited.

"We had him earmarked for two weeks," Babcock said. "We like his size and he’s physical. He’s a perfect fit for our team. He’ll support his teammates, he’ll work hard on people.

"If he’s paired with (young) Jakub Kindl, he’ll help him."

Personally I don't know much about him. Seems like he underachieved in Columbus, thus the buyout. They say he is a big, right-handed, stay at home d-man for only $1 million for 1 year. I hope it works out.

[Ahbroody]

Yeah I think you dont forget stuff like that so easy as a player. When you use someone as motivation thats saying a lot. I think there both professionals and as long as he plays well he has no concerns, but if not it could get ugly.

Are there any rumors in Wings land about a big trade? Im not a big Wings guy its well documented, but I was really expecting more of an effort to rebuild. I know this years free agent market was weak, but White who I am a big fan off was it and thaf was replacing Rafalski. I dont see any ground gained on the Nucks or SJ and still trying to decide if I like what the Hawks did.

[icehog3]

Intertesting insight on the West from Tim Sassone. Forgive the Blackhawk bias, he is a Chicago writer.

Now that most of the dust has settled from free agency, who is the team to beat in the Western Conference in 2011-12?

Take your pick from these five: The Blackhawks, San Jose, Detroit, Vancouver and Los Angeles.

As it stands today, the Hawks are as good as anyone in the West and might be the cream of the crop.

1. Blackhawks

There's no question the Hawks are going to miss Brian Campbell's speed and ability to move the puck from the back end, but Nick Leddy gets the chance to fill the void while there's pressure on Niklas Hjalmarsson to take his game to the next level.

The Hawks addressed the need for size and toughness in free agency with the additions of Steve Montador, Sean O'Donnell, Jamal Mayers and Dan Carcillo, while Andrew Brunette should fit nicely on the second line.

The Hawks still have a ton of skill up front and the 1-2 punch of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook anchoring the defense.

2. San Jose

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson made two nice trades with Minnesota, getting Martin Havlat for the underachieving Dany Heatley and underrated defenseman Brent Burns for Devon Setoguchi.

A motivated Havlat could make Sharks fans forget all about Heatley, who was a playoff bust.

The Sharks lost some grit in Mayers and Ben Eager and let Ian White go as a free agent, but Wilson has brought in center Michal Handzus and defenseman Jim Vandermeer.

3. Los Angeles

If the Kings were lacking leadership they have all kinds of it now after trading for Mike Richards and signing Simon Gagne as a free agent.

They had to trade Wayne Simmonds and top prospect Brayden Schenn to Philadelphia to get Richards and lost Handzus, but the Kings are a team that now has a lot of the pieces in place for a deep playoff run.

4. Detroit

Never count the Red Wings out of anything.

The Wings saw defenseman Brian Rafalski retire, but they signed defensemen Mike Commodore and White as free agents.

Detroit still is loaded offensively, led by the great Pavel Datsyuk, and Nicklas Lidstrom is coming back for another year at age 41. GM Ken Holland still has plenty of money to spend and may be looking to make a trade.

5. Vancouver

It's hard to see where the Canucks have improved since losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to Boston.

Gone as free agents are defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and rugged forwards Raffi Torres, Tanner Glass and Mark Rypien.

GM Mike Gillis did sign center Marco Sturm, but that's it. The Canucks still need to find a top-six forward somewhere and more jam.

The rest

• Columbus: The Blue Jackets made some bold moves and should be much better with the additions of Jeff Carter's 40 goals and defenseman James Wisniewski's 40 assists.

• Minnesota. The team that couldn't score went out and acquired Heatley and Setoguchi from the Sharks. Which Heatley shows up in the Twin Cities likely will determine if the Wild is better. Losing Burns hurts, though.

• Nashville. How are the Predators better after letting Joel Ward, Steve Sullivan, Marcel Goc and J.P. Dumont walk as free agents while adding only Niclas Bergfors and Zach Stortini? They aren't.

• Phoenix. The Coyotes always could depend on goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to win games, but not anymore. He's in Philadelphia now, and also gone are heart-and-soul guys Ed Jovanovski and Vern Fiddler. Mike Smith is the new No. 1 goalie.

• Calgary. The Flames traded defenseman Robin Regehr and added nobody. Good luck with that.

• Anaheim. Like the Flames, the Ducks have stood pat, but they still should be right in the thick of the playoff chase with a solid roster.

• Dallas. The Stars lost Brad Richards, who can't be replaced. Adding Michael Ryder, Fiddler, Jake Dowell and Sheldon Souray won't come close. They're probably not a playoff team again.

• Colorado. What are the Avs doing anyway? They added goalies Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere along with defenseman Jan Hejda. That's not enough to make them a playoff team.

• Edmonton. Adding center Eric Belanger, Eager, defenseman Cam Barker and Darcy Hordichuk brings grit, but it will be another year of waiting on the kids for Oilers fans.

• St. Louis. The Blues finally got active Wednesday, signing center Jason Arnott and winger Jamie Langenbrunner — solid pickups after the additions of journeymen Kent Huskins, Scott Nichol and backup goalie Darren Elliott.

[Sawyer]

The lack of news on Stamkos is disturbing. I think the Lightning are dropping the ball, or puck, on this one.

[icehog3]

Blackhawks re-sign Stalberg. Whoopie.