TurdBurglar

I'm OK with his size when he's producing, as I'm sure everyone is. If he's surrounded with 2 big wingers nobody will notice his size.

Too small for what we're trying to accomplish. We are looking to get bigger and more skilled, not just one or the other.

Looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. I hope he plays more like he did in the World Juniors. He was a wrecking ball.

The deal is 4 years @ $14 million as per TSN. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=418228 $3.5m average per year.

This probably has a lot to do with getting him into game shape. Good to see he's ready to play, nice to have more depth.

Realignment approved. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=660138&navid=DL|NHL|home Not liking our division with the unnecessary travel to Florida and the extra team. It also makes the Western conference the preferred conference to play for as 6 of 14 teams are guaranteed to make the playoffs, while in the east only 6 of 16 are. I'm unsure why the Florida teams aren't in the D division while CBJ and Pittsburgh should be in our division. This alignment seems to make our division the worse balanced in the league, with travel and the extra team. The only way to fix it is move Florida and Tampa to Quebec City/Hamilton and Seattle/Vegas respectively.

I haven't seen this name come up here, but what about Byfuglien? He seems like a player we could definitely benefit from. Use him as forward primarily unless we have injuries on defense. Worked for Chicago.

Speculation is Ottawa is going to trade away Bishop or Lehner in the near future. Maybe giving him a little more time to increase his value?

This is sad. While he was never going to be a dynamic offensive talent, really enjoyed his style of hit and grind. Was really hopeful about his return.

Watched him on the Oilers last season. He loves to hit and his speed in underrated. Big, fast guy that likes to hit and not scared to drop the gloves. I see nothing wrong with that for our 4th line. I think we should pick him up if we can.

I'm not sure Streit could add much more than Garrison does to the Canucks. Maybe a little more unpredictability, but as for the shot, Garrison's is a little more dangerous than Streit's. While we need another big winger, preferably right, the question will remain who gets bumped from the top 9? Gionta? Ryder? Gallagher? Which one of these, if untraded, goes down to the 4th line? My personal opinion is get a top 6 guy like Clarkson and put him on the 4th, but get a center for him too, so we could roll Prust-Center-Clarkson as one of our top lines. Then if an injury occurs we could fit Clarkson in the top 9. I think a lot of us, me included, are focusing on the line number. I think we need to make moves to make use have 4 dangerous lines. This way if one line isn't performing, we can adjust ice-time accordingly. An example: Bourque - Pleks - Gionta Wolvie - DD - Clarkson/Ryder Chucky - Moore - Gally Prust - Eller - Ryder/Clarkson Roll all 4 lines with the intention of 15 mins each of icetime. Separate DD and Gally for size reasons only. Keep the rookies together, so if the under perform they can get a little less icetime. Give them a defensive center. This setup has 2 lines with 3 players capable of putting up points, and 2 lines with 2 players capable of putting up points, one on each line more defensively, with the bottom line fairly defensive.

IF we get Streit it'll be Markov-Streit and Diaz-Subban. Markov-Streit were a force to be reckoned with before Streit was let go. I'm sure the trade deadline to the end of the season would eb long enough to get that chemistry back. I'm not sure why people believe Markov-Subban works. Our PP took a clear dip when Markov plays with Subban. Markov-Diaz was incredible. Actually if Subban decides to pass Subban-Streit would be pretty good as both have cannons from the point and if I remember correctly, Streit is a lefty while Subban is a righty. If we thing Clarkson and Clowe will be too high of a price, Iginla is going to be even higher. I would imagine Calgary would be looking for a roster player, good prospect and at least a 2nd. His price tag will be the highest of all the players that are speculated to move. While it would be nice to get Iginla, MB already said he's not willing to mortgage the farm for a Cup this year.

I hope the 2 goal night Ryder had breaks the seal, so to speak, and he starts to score goals his way. Took a fluke for Wolvie and an empty net for Gionta.

Right you are, thanks for the explanation.

Switch Bourque and Ryder. Bourque before he was injured was gelling with Pleks. Maybe even Bourque-Pleks-Ryder. definitely(This has a capital D, every time I hit save changes it becomes lowercase, weird) Bourque with Pleks though. Not so sure who loses their spot between Moen and Armstrong. While Moen can play better than Armstrong, he hasn't shown it this year. May even end up as Moen-Prust-Armstrong.

Can Dumont? Ryan White was pulling similar offensive numbers in Hamilton. Actually a tad better numbers. There's nothing statistically to show Dumont is better than White at anything. The only difference is Dumont is another smurf, which we don't need another one and he plays soft. At least White finishes his checks and can mix it up, which is what he's being paid to do. Dumont isn't getting points, isn't hitting and doesn't look like he has the drive to create anything in the NHL at this point in his career. Dumont is a good filler, but right now is not a NHL caliber player capable of keeping his spot in the lineup night after night when he has competition for his spot. White's compete level was never in question this season, it was his discipline.

What? White can't win faceoffs? He's our leader in faceoff wins at 53.9%. Dumont took 16 faceoffs vs White's 128. You can't judge Dumont's faceoff ability in this league on 16 faceoffs.

Just wanted to show something that shows how Boston's style is accepted, whether it's legal or not. NHL.com Barry Melrose did a preview of tonight's game between Boston and Pittsburgh. http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=53&id=218428&cmpid=embed About half way through he's talking about Bostons defense, and the clip is Chara getting away with an interference penalty. This is priceless.

Seeing as Dubinsky, Anisimov a prospect and a 1st was traded for Nash, you could reasonably guess Columbus would be looking for a 1st if they were to part ways with Dubinsky. Boll on the other hand might fit nicely on the wing with Prust on the 4th line.

LOLEklund reporting we're interested in Streit, Jagr and Sullivan. Only pointing out an Eklund rumor to get some discussion going. Saw Jagr and Streit come up a few times here, although I don't see how Sullivan would help as he's another smurf. That is unless we are trying to win a cup with and average height of less than 5'10. I personally like the idea of Jagr and Streit. Streit plays top minutes against the other teams top line every night, could really thrive in an easier defensive role. Also has proven he can work with Makrov. To me that sounds like a pretty low risk deal. Jagr is a proven winner, let's not kid ourselves. While he isn't the Jagr of 10 years ago, he could really help out DD and Wolvie, look what he did for Hartnell. This would also put less responsibility on Chucky and Gally, which is gonna be a key factor in winning in the playoffs. Can't depend on rookies to play like anything other than a rookie.

I like Moore. While he doesn't have the offensive upside Cullen has, he's great on faceoffs, something we absolutely need if we're going to be serious about a cup this year. Sitting in the bottom 1/3 of the league inf faceoff% isn't going to do it in the playoffs.

The whole reason for putting Clarkson on the 4th is so we can roll 4 lines with even minutes. Plus he could easily fit in the top 3 line if an injury occurs. I must of underevaluated him, I didn't think he would be worth a 1st. Not worth trading a 1st at this stage of the rebuild imo. I still believe we would benefit from scoring power forward on our 4th line to make it dangerous. Maybe Morrow or even Antropov for the wing? I'll never give up advocating for Cullen. He can win faceoffs and is solid defensively. Plus he is a 40-point player nearly every season.

Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal posted the top 20 players that could be in play, in his opinion, at the deadline. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/edmonton-oilers/Hockey+World+Perry+Iginla+Clowe+play/8076627/story.html Was surprised to see Clarkson on that list. Wouldn't he look great with Prust? Bourque - Pleks - Gionta Wolvie - DD - Gallagher Chucky - Eller - Ryder Prust - Cullen - Clarkson Best thing about Clarkson is he has the scoring talent to be moved anywhere, but I think this way our 4th line has the potential to steal a couple of games, like every Cup winning team has had. Cullen shouldn't command much in a trade, a 3rd maybe? Clarkson we may have to give a bit more for, but nothing more than a 2nd. Plus it leaves Armstrong, Moen, and White for depth or trade bait for a 7th defenceman. There's White/Regehr/ Leopold/ even O'Byrne.

I don't think we would be where we are today if that trade didn't happen. I'm by no means saying Bourque is the sole reason we're doing so well. I do believe Bourque's renewed vigor coupled with Prusts play, gave the whole team a boost. I don't believe Prust alone would of did it. If you remember correctly it's was Bourque and Pleks who were looking like a true 1st line pairing when the Wolvie line couldn't get anything going. I don't think Cammy would of brought that drive to the net or battling down low like Bourque did and the standing would be looking different. Plus the Cammy trade helped free up some of the cap space for Prust. I doubt we'd be last in the league, but also doubt we'd be first without that trade.

I bet you if Gill looked at the standing now and had a chance to eat those words, he would be.