Official 13-14 NHL Regular Season Thread

[Primis]

The team was one win away from the Stanley Cup last year

While there isn't a lot of stud defense free agents I def think some of these guys could help out http://www.capgeek.com/free-agents?year ... _type_id=2 I agree with you only 3 of the Wings Dmen are really NHL caliber at this point. Wouldn't be surprised if they traded some of those forward prospects to a team like Buffalo who may unload guys like Myers/Ehroff. Andrew McDonald may also be a possibility in FA.

One win from the Conf. Finals, not Cup Finals. They beat ANA, then ran into a lazy CHI team that wasn't expecting to get counter-punched. Had CHI been all business, I don't think DET does what they do in that series. DET did to CHI what teams have done to DET in 7 game series' for years and years, just roughed them up and refused to back down.

Ehrhoff and Edler are two names I continue to hear connected to DET. Ehrhoff may in fact help, he's not the 1st pairing partner Kronwall needs though. Edler I had a good feeling about last offseason, but I'm not sure DET should go there now. Myers is broken enough I don't see him being any better than playing Quincey or Smith. That's not to say he can't or won't pull out from it, but DET is not going to be the place to do it. DET can't bring in someone to "develop" on the blueline. Some Wings fans were REALLY upset Holland didn't go after Del Zotto too but, again a young guy learning is not what DET needs on their blueline. Diaz has also been mentioned numerous times, but that's again more an obsession with the hand he shoots from than anything else.

RE: Parise & Suter.... Parise was never going anywhere but MIN and everyone knew it. It was reported as likely months in advance. As for Suter, there never *was* a Plan B after Suter and that is honestly what has upset so many Wings fans. Not that they didn't land him so much as then not getting him led to Holland just panic-signing Tootoo, Samuelsson, and Colaiacovo, none of which are in DET anymore.


batdad, a lot of Wings fans feel DET's hurt guys will be "healthy" in time for the Olympics, and that in reality they'll play hurt through the Olympics and then not be able to play a while after the Olympic break again (or will play but will not be in any shape to be). Franzen and Zetterberg in particular have problems that are chronic, so honestly they SHOULDN'T play in the Olympics to maybe rest to come back later in the spring, but I'm sure they will play. Datsyuk maybe will be ok enough to play and be fine, but that depends as there's been secrecy re: his actual injuries. I don't think anything changes post-Olympics though. There is anyone to help the blueline, and that's what is needed.

[Primis]

Wow did anyone watch Scrivens? I think this is the first time I am bummed I didn't watch an Oilers game. 59 saves with a bad team is fantastic, if you include blocked and miss shots its 100

I had a hunch after his first game in EDM and so I picked him up the other day for my one fantasy league. I needed goalie help (Ward out, Bernier and Anderson are my other 2).

We've seen it before in EDM, a guy comes in and beats the world for a while. And then EDM's epic badness just wears him down. Hopefully for him he doesn't wear down I guess and have his will sucked out of him. CBS did the same thing to goalies for a looooooong time. Remember: the first thing his new team said about Dubnyk was that he had "bad habits". That means EDM's coaches/goalie coaches let him have bad habits and didn't address them. SImilar thing CBS did to both Leclaire and Mason.

[batdad]

Edler has a no trade clause that kicked in July 1. He is not going to be asked to waive that just yet. It would look bad on the organization to do that just after the NTC on his new deal kicks in. Gillis will not do that.

If Vancouver moves a dman with a no trade it will be one of the guys who has been under that deal for a bit. BIeksa is the one that comes to mind. But they overvalue him.

Right now the Canucks only have one marketable dman without a no trade and that is Tanev. And they would be dumb to move him. He is the only one they should not consider moving.

No..if Pavel and zetts are really injured, they would not play. Too many issues could come of that for them. They will want to play, but will be dissuaded enough from doing so. They make their living in Detroit and the NHL, and they will not go in and risk that. Of course it is possible that they are so passionate about their countries that they do.

But again....just speculation. There is nothing to back up officially that these guys are playing hurt or injured right now. HF Board fan rubbish does not hold up for me. Every board has some crazy arse things. I mean I love the trade speculation one especially. Just throw any name out there and go for it, and if you ask for compensation for anyone....just throw in a 4th round pick and it will be a DONE DEAL. Regardless of salary cap, no trade clauses, agent involvement, anything...just add that 4th baby and you can get Crosby for a bucket of pucks.

HF BOards--home of every 12 year old hockey expert in teh world. Well no..that is Canucks,com LOL. At HF the average age mentally and emotionally is 16.

There was no plan B for anyone after Suter...because there was nothing else there that was anywhere near as good as he was. Not a Detroit problem...an availability problem.
And yeah Detroit needs a dman or two who can play...find me a team that does not. Everyone needs another dman all the time. D-men are the most difficult to find. The world cannot produce enough top level dmen ever. Just the way it is because it is actually one of the (if not even more difficult than goalie or QB) positions to play in sport.

Changes of scenery usually work well in the short term for everyone. Guys need to prove themselves again, and go full out trying to do so. Scrivens has been criticized and said to be not as good as showed in LA, because of LA d system. That is true, but Scrivens is still one of the top 100 goalies in the world and he is going to prove it darn it....for the first month or so. Then exhaustion sets in, injury comes and he gets lit up. This happens with all average players regardless of position when they move to a new team. Well maybe not all David Booth....but many.

The drive to prove oneself is fleeting. It happens on short term basis, and then relaxation kicks in, and in some cases (Vancouver) apathy and a ladida I am confident in my job and nothing will ever happen to disrupt that sets in .... and BOOM downhill you go.

[Primis]

Franzen has been ruled out for Sweden for Sochi. He played one game and had an assist, but my understanding is his concussion issues flared back up, he's been placed back on IR. And he will not travel to Sochi. Let the speculation begin on who gets named instead.

Don't read HFBoards. Don't EVER read HF Boards. There are many, many bad places to read up on hockey stuff, but HF Boards is easily the worst.

[batdad]

No, check canucks.com. LOL it is so darn funny.

HF has some interesting articles at least, but other than that. Wow. LOL.

[Peter_Doherty]

I think its a no brainer to pick Hörnqvist to replace Franzén, but you never know with Mårts. Tallinder got picked ahead of Hedman, Brodin, Lindholm, Strålman and Gunnarsson so i obviously know nothing about his thought process =P

[batdad]

They are going to go all Czech Republic and pick Mats Sundin or Markus Naslund. Or maybe Bjorge Salming can play up front.

Anyway...sign of things to come,,,if Wings are hurt and still playing in Detroit, they will not be going to Europe. Good decision by the mule, and his bosses in Detroit. (Holland (and Babcock) is laughing to himself...yay...go Canada)

[CJ]

I think its a no brainer to pick Hörnqvist to replace Franzén, but you never know with Mårts. Tallinder got picked ahead of Hedman, Brodin, Lindholm, Strålman and Gunnarsson so i obviously know nothing about his thought process =P

Experience is the only thing that comes to mind why they picked him...

They are going to go all Czech Republic

Why not Finland? We have Selänne!

[philou21]

Nedved is way better than Selanne!

[batdad]

Because Teemu can STILL play. Nedved never could.

[jesterx7769]

Hedman doesn't replace Franzen position wise but the way he has been playing I'm a bit surprised he's not been taking as a back up even.

[Peter_Doherty]

Hedman doesn't replace Franzen position wise but the way he has been playing I'm a bit surprised he's not been taking as a back up even.

It's madness really, Mårts hasn't even been to a single Tampa game this season. He just decided that Hedman wasn't going to be in the team based on a pants WC in 2011 (?) or whatever year it was .

[philou21]

Avs signed Varlamov to a 5 years deal. Hope he will not pass them in prison.

[jesterx7769]

Not surprised. He is young and was going to be an RFA. He has played absolutely stellar at times (thought not at others), and more importantly, what would they do if he walked? (much like Detroit did with Howard). I liked the Avs ALOT this year as a rebound team and to make they playoffs. When you look over their roster they are loaded with overall talent for a young/"bad" team (from last year)...but then the rest of the team just falls off the table like having an old defense but what team doesn't need top 4 defense.

[philou21]

Except from Hejda their defense is really young? Maybe I misunderstood your post.

[batdad]

Just saying that the Avs need dmen who are good. You know like Detroit, Vancouver, Buffalo, Minnesota, Montreal, Pittsburgh, San Jose, calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, philly, Florida, Tampa Bay, and even Boston to some extent.

[philou21]

TRades rumors are starting to get intense.

Parenteau has been benched for a second game in a row yesterday and there's alot of rumors than sends him to the Habs for Bourque LOL I hope the Avs are not that dump. It seems they are asking for an Habs prospect but Bergevin doesn't want to give him up. Good idea. I'm not sure Parenteau is a good idea. He's putting better numbers than Bourque but I heard he is a lazy guy on the ice sometimes.

There's also the Rags who are looking for Stewart it seems. Callahan is also in those rumors. I wonder if they want to let him go even if he is UFA. Thought he was important for them.

[batdad]

New coach, new style. Callahan not succeeding. Talk out here Canucks are interested. But...he is not the guy Canucks need. If they still had Aaron ROme though they could get Callahan. AV loves that guy.

[jesterx7769]

It will be interesting what happens with Callahan. He is a hard worker and leader but not known for points (especially this year), it will be interesting to see how much money a team gives him. I understand the Rangers current position, Callahan prob wants good $ but he has been playing on their third line when he is healthy.

[Primis]

Just saying that the Avs need dmen who are good. You know like Detroit, Vancouver, Buffalo, Minnesota, Montreal, Pittsburgh, San Jose, calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, philly, Florida, Tampa Bay, and even Boston to some extent.

COL needs d-men as badly as EDM I think.

It made them passing on Seth Jones all the more bizarre. If they slip to just out of the playoffs and won't get a great lottery pick even, they'll regret passing up on him even more.

That's not so much a commentary on Jones' potential or likelihood of panning out as it is on just COL's effort to even fix things. As we've discussed many, many times, the state of bluelines across the league isn't so great right now, a shallower pool. Even if Jones busts, at least you *tried* to address it then, and MacKinnon can't address it even if he goes on to become a star. It's similar to EDM continually passing on d-men.

[jesterx7769]

I think a lot of people were surprised by them passing on Jones, a hightly touted "cant miss defender". Imagine if Avs had him and Johnson going forward for next 10-15 years. Having them in place you could then focus on forwards.

[Peter_Doherty]

Callahan is and mostly has been on the Rangers second line to be fair. The top 3 lines get very similar ice time though and he isnt seeing alot of special teams time as he used to. I would hate to see Callahan go, but i would understand it. He knows he can get a massive contract on the UFA market in the summer and from Rangers point of view he just isn't as important to the team as he was under Torts. I still believe that Rangers can keep everyone they want with the cap going up, but maybe Sather just don't see the value in giving Callahan $6m or whatever.

[Primis]

Callahan is and mostly has been on the Rangers second line to be fair. The top 3 lines get very similar ice time though and he isnt seeing alot of special teams time as he used to. I would hate to see Callahan go, but i would understand it. He knows he can get a massive contract on the UFA market in the summer and from Rangers point of view he just isn't as important to the team as he was under Torts. I still believe that Rangers can keep everyone they want with the cap going up, but maybe Sather just don't see the value in giving Callahan $6m or whatever.

I'm not sure who will pay a ton for Callahan though. Buffalo? Montreal?

[Peter_Doherty]

I think there will be a bid war for him, look at Clarkson. Callahan is a better player then him, not saying he will get more pay but probably something similar.

[jesterx7769]

I am sure he is asking NY for 5m, and they are saying no way and willing to test that market just like he is. I don't know him well enough to know if he would go to a bad team for more money or take less for a good team he likes.