JacksonJ

I don't think that the only way a player will get a raise is to win the cup. The problem with your assessment is that you have every single habs prospect meeting his full potential yet we don't move any of our older players to accommodate. If Pouliot and Eller both score thirty along with the big goals Gio, Cammi and (hopefully) AK will score, along with Plex and Gomer putting up good totals AND the 50-60 points you think Markov and Subban will score how will we not win the cup?

Looks like the devils will need to start clearing some cap space. http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=327880

The cap won't matter in that situation, because the only way all those players get all those raises is if we win the cup. Also the salary cap is always on the rise, so maybe by then we will have more wiggle room.

Wild sign Koivu for 7 years, 47.25M. That's quite a bit of cash for an under 1 point-per-game player.

So now that Markov is a Canadian citizen can he play for team Canada?

I didn't want to start another topic for this so I will try and make it relevant to this thread. Is a captain necessary to being a successful team, and will/should the habs name a captain for the next season? I think they will, I just hope the players vote in the captain and he isn't appointed by the coach or GM. I just don't see how naming a captain who will bring you good PR is better than actually recognizing and promoting the actual leader of the team. Right now I would have to say the candidates are Gorges, Gionta, and maybe Gomez. Gomez has great skill and leadership plus he is learning french, but I don't see him as the next captain. Gio has the heart of a lion and is always there when we need him and I could definitely see him as the next captain. My choice, however, is Gorges. He is one of the longest serving vets (weird isn't it?) and he never lets the team down. From almost all reports he is the leader in the locker room and players really seem to turn to him on the ice. He is also great with Carey who, lets face it, our entire 2010-11 season is riding on. He also isn't afraid to call out teammates including young mister Price, and that is necessary for a captain. On a side note I would love to see Gill be named captain for his leadership and for the fact he will stand up to and call out the media. I know, however, that he won't play that much longer for the CH and his regular season performance is at times sub-par. I would still like him to wear an A though.

Of course he should. In NHL 2k6 when koivu got injured Krog scored 40 goals for me in just over 20 games. Hes a stud for sure.

TSN had given me the impression the leafs were the only team in the league that held developmental camps. It's nice to see other teams are catching on to the leafs ingenious ideas.

I think he would command enough respect to get some of our other top players some space. How much production he would actually bring is a mystery.

You mean our PP that was second in the league? That power play? You also need to stop the broken record with Halak, it was a great story when it happened but it was never as amazing as it seemed. He was only ever amazing against wsh, and thats because the caps were used to instant success and as soon as the met a difficult situation they all tried to force the play. Solid team D kept all the shots to the perimeter and Halaks stats were padded like hell. You also say he is the only reason we made the playoffs, do you forget all the loses to bad teams at the end of the season that forced us too back in? Surely Saint Jaro wouldn't lose to the leafs on the last game of the season with the playoffs on the line. There is also no guarantee Halak will ever play to that level again. By the end of the playoffs teams realized Halak was swiss cheese high glove and they exposed him. Also now that pads have to proportional he will take up much less room. What holes don't you think Eller and Boyd will fill? As 3rd and 4th centres they are light years ahead of Moore and Metro, and Eller could also play top-6 on the wing if necessary.

Actually Modano isn't a bad idea. In a pretty weak UFA class where we don't have a lot of cap room it wouldn't be the worst thing if we signed a quick-fix for one year and try again next year when Gill and Hammer's contracts come off the books.

ELLIS WANTED TO START!!! People need to realize he wanted a chance to start and we wanted Carey to be our guy. Move on. It doesn't matter if he only signed for 500k more if he didn't want to sign here. Auld will be fine in his limited playing time.

Hmm... maybe if we dump AK we could make a pitch for Gagne... http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=326408

Boyd is bigger, grittier, younger and cheaper. He is also a right handed centre which is a big positive.

It's probably a good move on Ellis' part. He realizes that he will never carry a team, so instead of fighting to split ice time with another journeyman on a mediocre team he wants to get his fingerprints all over a potential up and coming star. He will earn more respect as the goalie who developed Price than as the goalie who started half a season in Nashville a few years ago.

That's how I remember it too. It may have been irrelevant to his brother at that time though, and he only played poorly when his brother was being mistreated and he was pouting. Now that Sergei is gone heres hoping he can play some distraction free hockey.

61% in the regular season, 57% in the playoffs.\ Edit: sorry those are just his road percentages, his home regular season is 56%, and home playoff is 56%.

I guess we can say goodbye to Moore.

Sergei to the preds for Ellis and Boyd. Just got the text from tsn and didn't know where to put it

Not at the 3M he makes now, but at 1-1.5 I would look at him for the third line.

Don't you only have to pay half a players salary if you claim them off waivers? He would probably bring some value at at around two mil.

If we keep Hammer for the final year of his contract do you think we could get him at one or two years at a bargain price? I know he will be old and have to play reduced minutes, but I think we will be trying to bring up a lot of youth on the blue line and his experience and leadership will be very beneficial.

Not to mention the Hawks gave up four guys, not one.

I see your point, but with Marleau he always had the regular season production, and his only knock was playoff performance. Plek on the other hand has been hit and miss, up and down, his entire (brief) career. I would have probably preferred Marleau, but I like the Plek deal because worst case we end up overpaying him by 1-1.5M a year, where as best case he turns into a PPG, Selke winner and is a great bargain for years. You don't make good deals without a certain element of risk.

I guess because Gomez has a couple Stanley cup rings and was one of about three or four guys that actually looked like he was trying in the philly series.