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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ahhhh.. I needed that..



-LTL

Posted by LTL

8 comments:

eplagge said...

Yep it's easy to hate Detroit.. I can't stand them... but that last game against the blackhawks shows you that experience (with skill) goes a long way.. trust me I can't stand the obnoxious fans, babcock's snide and cocky demeanor and commentary, the paycut taking players, the excellent scouting staff... I can't stand it.. indeed I concur Detroit sucks..but do I really want to root for the Penguins ?? .

BTW am I the only one who thinks that Babcock is a bit of a jackass when he is being interviewed ?? I would hate to use the term douchiness, but he seems to radiate a lot of it...

May 26, 2009 at 7:48 AM
Chris said...

Ahh...thanks LTL what a great thing to see in the morning!

@eplagge, I will root for the Pens simply because Hossa whored himself and I would loooooooove the irony in the Pens beating the Wings in the cup finals. :)

May 26, 2009 at 9:18 AM
LTL said...

Yeah I don't want either to win as the Pens bandwagoners are about as bad as the Wings..

...but if I have to choose gotta go with the Pens.

Sure would have been nice to see the Hawks in there though.

-LTL

May 26, 2009 at 9:38 AM
eplagge said...

BTW shouldn't we start a thread on possible D-men we might be interested in.. I will start with a list from NHLnumbers.com (Sorted by cap hit Large-small) I only listed D-men with a cap hit of 2M or more... and to be quite honest... nothing really stands out for me.. Morris and Barker interest me a little bit, but only because they have an aggresive game.. let me know who you think would or should be Howsen's radar !!!! (PS the list might not be 100% complete or accurate)

Niedermayer, Scott 35 ANA D UFA 6.75 6.75
Schneider, Mathieu 40 MTL D UFA 5.625 5.75
Zubov, Sergei 38 DAL D UFA 5.35 5.35
Blake, Rob 39 SJS D UFA 5 5
Bouwmeester, Jay 25 FLA D UFA 4.875 4.875
Aucoin, Adrian 35 CGY D UFA 4 4
Morris, Derek 30 NYR D UFA 3.917 3.95
Hatcher, Derian 37 PHI D UFA 3.5 3.5
Ohlund, Mattias 32 VAN D UFA 3.5 3.5
Spacek, Jaroslav 35 BUF D UFA 3.333 3.3
Boynton, Nick 30 FLA D UFA 2.95 2.95
Barker, Cam 23 CHI D RFA 2.736 0.984
Havelid, Niclas 36 NJD D UFA 2.7 2.9
Boucher, Philippe 36 PIT D UFA 2.5 2.5
De Vries, Greg 36 NAS D UFA 2.5 2.75
Sydor, Darryl 37 DAL D UFA 2.5 2.5
Skrastins, Karlis 34 FLA D UFA 2.4 2.4
Warrener, Rhett 33 CGY D UFA 2.35 2.5
Backman, Christian 29 CLB D UFA 2.3 3.4
Johnson, Jack 22 LAK D RFA 2.15 0.85
Gauthier, Denis 32 LAK D UFA 2.1 2.2
Kalinin, Dmitri 28 PHX D UFA 2.1 2.1
Gill, Hal 34 PIT D UFA 2.075 2.1

May 26, 2009 at 9:38 AM
LTL said...

Good list Ep.

I was going to do some free-agents posts on our biggest needs over the next couple of weeks:

* Backup goaltender
* PP QB
* 3rd/4th line centers

...and since you requested and are always such a great contributor around these parts I'll start with the d-men!

-LTL

May 26, 2009 at 11:00 AM
eplagge said...

Thanks LTL,

Appreciate the kind feedback... regarding your list:

* Backup goaltender
* PP QB
* 3rd/4th line centers

I think your list is dead on... however I think you are forgetting 1 position... #1 Center... I believe that has to be #4 on this list.. It's like an optional... He is definitely working on the G, PPQB and 3/4C (and you correctly put them in order of importance)... but if the opportunity arises he might go for the 1C... The reason I believe this could happen is simple... A lot of teams that are good, but not good enough.. seem to complain about 1 thing.. not having a Physical D-group, or gritty D.. I strongly believe the market is strong for the likes of Klesla and Method..I am not betting the house, but I believe we might get more then we expect this offseason...

As for PPQB, I really don't see anything that jumps out... my gut feeling tells me Howsen will find a steal somewhere.. a medium recognition name that might work out very nicely.. but I think the quest for a PPQB will be a very difficult one.

3/4C... this shouldn't be difficult...

backup G, ... tis the season for goalies...Biron, Lehtonen, Kolzig, Legacy, Gerber, Niemi, Nittymaki, Garon, LaBarbera, Raycroft, Budaj, Tellqvist, Joseph, Weekes, Boucher, Sanford, Clemmenson..

just to name a few...

My gut feeling is we will pick up a veteran.. just to provide some veteran leadership to Mason... guys like Legacy, Gerber or Curtis Joseph come to mind..

May 26, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Chris said...

Tellqvist already signed a 4 year deal I believe. Could be wrong, also we don't have the dough to get a true #1 center and Brass/Vermy are more than enough anyway.

My list would be Boucher, Weekes, Clemmenson in not particular order. Granted all 3 are going to want starting roles and more money than a back-up should have.

May 26, 2009 at 3:45 PM
JAL said...

Tellquist has not signed an NHL deal yet, but is rumored to be on the verge of signing with the KHL.

Look for the CBJ to make a big splash with a defenseman. :-)

--JAL

May 27, 2009 at 9:14 AM

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