EHM The Blue Line

jackknife77 wrote:Bobby Ryan will not be able to solve the Carey Price mystery when they will meet at the 2008 stanley cup final

Wow you're really enthusiastic!! On my side, I'm still wondering if the Habs will make the playoffs...
But I'm happy they bringed back old Breezer, so I wonder if Streit and / or Dandenault will again play on the wing

(Also I can't really be enthusiastic becaume batdad the schoolator is watching over me!! )

I really think that the last two Bruins trades will come back to bite us!!!!

I still think Toivonen can be a bonafide nº1 goalie in the NHL and that Kalus will be real good in the future...

Ok, we have received Soderberg in return, who seems to be a pretty good prospect, but that Toivonen deal will be haunting us in the future (same as the Boyes deal, but that we know for sure already, right??!! ).

Seems that the Blues are Chiarellis favorite team

Still not very sold on Fernandez. Yeps, hes a nº1 goalie in the NHL, and Rask isnt ready right now (watch our for Rask....he's gonna be better than Carey Price .....nahhh, just kidding, fellow Habs fans...have to say I really like Price, u guys are lucky to have him), but I would have traded Thomas away, even if I like him, for a more or less good Dmen.

Right now the only thing we can do is sit and wait, right??!!

I really like Price, but would love it if he need more time to devellop This way, the only French guy in the NHL should play games!

Go Huet, go!

As for the Fernandez deal, i totally agree with B72. Keeping Toivonen and spending the saved money to build a solid defense would have been a far better option IMO. Just imagine a defensive pair of Hannan and Chara... Who would be crazy enough to go in the slot and risk their lives with those two around?

Huet has to be for Price like Bryan Hayward was for Patrick Roy. removing pressure on the kid by taking half of the game.

holydogg wrote: Wow you're really enthusiastic!! On my side, I'm still wondering if the Habs will make the playoffs...

think BIG!!! think BIG!!!

jackknife77 wrote:

holydogg wrote: Wow you're really enthusiastic!! On my side, I'm still wondering if the Habs will make the playoffs...

think BIG!!! think BIG!!!

NO way!!!!





Just kidding buddy, but I think we both will have a hard season fighting for the playoffs...

To come back to Toivonen, same as with Jurcina. When he was with the Bruins he was being flamed endlessly, he's hardly gone and all of a sudden everyone is moaning because Chia traded away a potential #2 Dman. Lets face it, Jurcina sucked and getting rid of him and his salary was a good move.

Toivonen showed promise. Many prospects show promise. He wasn't exactly outstanding. You can't just look at 30% of his games where he was doing alright and ignore the rest. naff D might be an excuse for a poor GAA, not for all the soft goals. I'm not saying he's rubbish and will never even be a backup, but a lot of the people on the Bs boards are acting as if we traded the legitimate Brodeur-successor. Of course, again, he was being completely bashed before the trade.

Overall, I think we have improved, that's the good thing. The bad thing is, the expense is too high in relation to the improvement. Manny is better than Timmy, he's no 4m goalie though, never was, never will be. The loss of a top 3 prospect for an overpaid, overhyped goalie hurts. So does giving up a player with the upside of Boyes for...Wideman. But, as mentioned above, all in all I think we are a more complete team now than last season.

As for the Hannan/Vaananen point. I rate Vaananen but he's no #2 to me, and that's what we're lacking, not depth on defence, but a solid reliable #2. I'd have loved Hannan in Boston though.

I just hope Chia doesn't trade Muzz just for the sake of doing something. Many people don't realize he's one of the faces of the franchise and being an injury prone one trick pony still a 30-40g scorer. The East seems to have 3-4 top teams and a well balanced midfield, we could end up 6th, or 12th, nothing would really surprise me. Looking forward anyway. And we got Thornton to toss Tucker around

I can see your points, Danny. But I've been defending Toivonen all along. I always thought it was a bad idea to trade him (since talk of it started going around last season). I always felt that they were handling him wrong and destroying his confidence (in classic Bruins fashion). I think he can still become a really good goaltender. Not a Brodeur (really, I don't expect to see another version of him for a looooong time!) but a pretty good one that could be a solid #1.

Maybe Hannan wouldn't be a #2 on every team but he'd be a #2 on the Bruins. I think he'd be good enough to do the job. Better than Ward! Who else do we really have? Plus, he brings a physical style that would be great in Boston.

I think Chia's biggest problem is not getting enough value in return when he trades. All the more experienced GMs out there are looking to take advantage of the kid and they're doing a good job of it. Despite Brad Stuart screwing himself into a bad deal for next season, he could've demanded a good return for him. As much as I like Ferrence and I'm interested in seeing what a healthy Kobasew can do... don't you think he could've gotten more? How come the Bruins were the only team trading away a rental that gave up a conditional pick if the player didn't re-sign? Everyone else GOT a conditional pick if the player re-signed. We'll see how the Toivonen- Sodeberg deal works out. I've heard good things about Soderberg. He wasted Boyes on Wideman though. What was he smoking? Even if he really wanted a young offensive defenseman... did he forget that he's got Lashoff in the system? Jurcina I wasn't heartbroken to see go. He needed a fresh start. He was never good enough to be more than a 6-7 d-man here. He needed to go someplace where he could get more playing time. A 4th round pick isn't bad. Maybe we could've squeezed a 3rd out of somebody.

I really don't see the need to trade Murray. Besides our obvious problem with defense, the team also had problems putting the puck in the net. Murray is the guy that can do that. The team went down hill fast when he went out injured. They need him.

I think we got nothing for Jurcina in the end. Wasn't this the conditional pick we gave Calgary ?

Yeah as I said I'd have loved Hannan with the Bs, Ward is a solid #4 IMO, way overpaid though. The deal I really regret is Preissing. He got Ward's salary with the Kings, is very underrated, solid #3, maybe even 2 on the Bs, can move the puck, good in his own zone, doesn't make stupid mistakes, good deal for the Kings

The Ward/Mara trade turned out pretty well for the Rangers last year. But the problem with Ward in NY wasn't that he had too big expectations on his shoulders, it was that he didn't got along with Jagr and Shanahan, especially Jagr. That's bye-bye in MSG. But I have always liked Ward and with his experience and (at least at times) solid defensive play, he will most likely play a vital role in the Bruins defense this season.

The Blackhawks have traded Radim Vrbata to Phoenix for Kevyn Adams.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=215946&hubname=nhl

Kevyn Adams apparently was on waivers a few weeks ago but cleared.

One more trade that i don't undestand, Vrbata posted his best numbers last season and now is gone.':rant:'
Adams, 32 years old, is a fourth liner?!

Vrbata is that kind of easy replacing oneway players. Not good enough to be a regular on the first 2 lines.. and not defensive enough to play on the 3rd or 4th line so im pretty sure he will finish his career filling spots in weak teams.

I like Vrbata, not sure why, but he could be a 2nd line winger, averaging 30 points and raising, hey, if Penner can be judged to be so good by Kevin Lowe, in his rookie year, why can't Vrbata?

Vrbata's only 26, best days ahead of him, and he's always improving, i like him, the Hawks definately want to support there rookies this year, with veteran players, Adams' is cheap and there saving $600,000 in salary room, maybe for another veteran centre, few FA still there.

Vrbata can only be a 2nd line winger if he decides the boards, net, posts, players who are 2 foot 1, and the ants that are in the dressing room won't hurt him. Guy is the biggest pretty boy out there. He is scared. Very scared. This is a great move by the Hawks. Many Hawk fans were willing just to boot this guy...so getting a great PK, faceoff guy for him is a steal. Well done Tallon.

batdad wrote:This is a great move by the Hawks.

I have to disagree. Yes, Vrbata is a very scared player who I wouldn't want on my team and would gladly trade. But the trade they have done gets them Kevyn Adams. They could've picked Adams up off waivers not too long ago and traded Vrbata for something else. And Adams is only really a 3rd liner tops and is old and injury prone. Bad trade, but good to get rid of Vrbata.

Take the cap into consideration. In not picking Adams up on waivers and trading for him, they shed 500K in salary and get a more balanced roster. If they pick him off waivers, they wouldn't get as good a deal for Vrbata as other teams would know that they are just pressed to dump the salary. Tertiary scoring is fairly easy to get, but a good defensive center who is a face-off wizard are a lot more rare. Adams is a poor-man's Kris Draper, or a desitute man's John Madden (Madden has more offensive capabilities than the other two). Adams is good for 15-25 points depending on his role and ice time, plus he is a decent short-handed scoring threat. Getting rid of Vrbata opens some space for some of Chicago's up and coming young talent (Blunden, Kane, Skille, etc.) Honestly, all three of those youngers can probably put up similar, if not better numbers than Vrbata at a fraction of the cap hit. But none of them can fill the spot that Adams will. Overall, Chicago is a clear winner in this one.

Hypnotist wrote:Take the cap into consideration. In not picking Adams up on waivers and trading for him, they shed 500K in salary and get a more balanced roster. If they pick him off waivers, they wouldn't get as good a deal for Vrbata as other teams would know that they are just pressed to dump the salary. Tertiary scoring is fairly easy to get, but a good defensive center who is a face-off wizard are a lot more rare. Adams is a poor-man's Kris Draper, or a desitute man's John Madden (Madden has more offensive capabilities than the other two). Adams is good for 15-25 points depending on his role and ice time, plus he is a decent short-handed scoring threat. Getting rid of Vrbata opens some space for some of Chicago's up and coming young talent (Blunden, Kane, Skille, etc.) Honestly, all three of those youngers can probably put up similar, if not better numbers than Vrbata at a fraction of the cap hit. But none of them can fill the spot that Adams will. Overall, Chicago is a clear winner in this one.

True, very true. Adams does bring a lot of knowledge and leadership to the table, but surely the Hawks could have got better value for Vrbata? I'm certainly no fan of his but I'd think someone would give more than Adams for him. Whatever way you look at it, Chicago needs to do some more, bigger impact deals if they really want to improve.

Hee. This deal is like the old days when teams would put players on waivers and then claim each others guys.

What's up with the Islanders signing Sutton to 3 years/$9M? Isn't that a little steep?

bruins72 wrote:What's up with the Islanders signing Sutton to 3 years/$9M? Isn't that a little steep?

I don't think it's that bad, Sutton is a good second pairing guy and will get a ton of ice time with the NYI.

Sutton sucks. Stupid Isles.

giving a 3 millions dollars a year contract to a player from the Atlanta Trashers defensive squad!!?? yikes!!
I'm starting to think that the 700 000$ to brisebois was a rip off..

batdad wrote:Sutton sucks. Stupid Isles.

Needless to say "stupid" when you say "Isles" You know, Yashin, DiPietro, all that stuff...

Well, after buying out Yashin now they have a lot of money to do stupid things.