NHL Offseason: All 10 weeks of it

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by notyoueither
You can win championships on defence.

The question at the beginning of the year is, do you have the right defence?

I'm doubting a slapt together, highest bidder version.

It's not a highest bidder version. Jovo, Redden, Chara all went for higher prices.

Gill isn't high priced.

The Leafs have put together a blue line corp that provides them with stay-at-home defenders, big guys with muscle to keep the front of net clear, offence and powerplay snipers and quarterbacks.

Will they be perfect together? That could be asked of any team at the beginning of the season.

What's important is that these deals make hockey sense and financial sense.

[cinch]

Pronger to Anaheim for Lupul, "a non-roster player, and several conditional high-end picks"...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

[cinch]

I hope to good by "non-roster player" they mean Francois Beauchemin...

[Hot Mustard]

Dear Mr. Lowe,

Hope you enjoyed being made a fool of by Brian Burke.

[notyoueither]

Well, that is... underwhelming.

[cinch]

Okay, the prospect is D Ladislav Smid. I'm sure he'll be great down the road, but still...

I won't even blame Asher for mocking this one.

[notyoueither]

I wonder what Pronger told Lowe he was going to say tomorrow?

[notyoueither]

So long and thanks for all the fish
Yzerman announces retirement

A great career.

[Lord Avalon]

Steve Yzerman, aka The Captain.


I've been fortunate to see him play lo these many years, from his early days as a scorer back in the old Norris Division, to becoming a 2-way player and leading the Red Wings to 3 Stanley Cups , to big injuries and coming back from them.

He quietly led by example. A class act all the way. He will be missed.

Big skates to fill for his successor.

[Guynemer]

My first and only hockey jersey is #19, Detroit.


One of the best of his generation.

[cinch]

to Stevie Y.

[cinch]

Well, there aren't too many UFAs left out there. Guerin, Samsonov, Peca, Spacek, Carter... and a couple of other mid-level guys.

Plus, Anaheim, San Jose, and Vancouver still have goalies to ship out. Should make for some interesting trades there.

As for the Oilers' situation... Trying to move beyond the lacklustre Pronger returns, I'd like to see us resign Spacek. We need a guy who can absorb big minutes, and he should also be able to mentor his countryman (Smid) a bit.

The only UFAs out there worth getting for the Oil are, I think, Carter and Danny Markov. We need Carter's scoring touch on the wing, although I have a feeling he'll go elsewhere. On the plus side, I don't think Toronto can sign him, either. Markov I'd just like for some 4-5-6 defensive depth.

Oh, and finally, kudos to the Rangers for signing D Aaron Ward out of Carolina. Not a huge move, to be sure, but it's indicative of the new management attitude there: spend a little, not a lot, and only get what's appropriate for the team. Ward should fit in nicely on their blueline.

[Hot Mustard]

I would be surprised if Vancouver let Carter get away - he is the first player to really work well with the Twins.

[cinch]

Originally posted by dejon
I would be surprised if Vancouver let Carter get away - he is the first player to really work well with the Twins.

As would I, but given their financial situation (see above), they're going to have to go about it rather skillfully.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm not that happy with Nonis' moves. We lost 3 defensemen now, even if we picked up Mitchell. In the last two years, these are all the dmen that have been poached from Vancouver.

Jovo, Allen, Mojzis, Baumgartner.

Plus

Malik, Sopel

Would rather we kept Baumgartner at 2.5 then trade for Mitchell at 3.5.

This was the defense we had just before the strike.

Mattias Ohlund, Brent Sopel, Marek Malik, Sami Salo, Bryan Allen, Ed Jovanovski.

All of these players are now top 2 defensemen somewhere!

Now we have:

Ohlund, Salo, Mitchell, ?