RedSoloCup

Not sure we want to reference Edmonton as the model for success + Lowe's made some enemies with offer sheets and most likely didn't want to risk it - having said that Eberle is well worth it but agree Halls injury problems make that questionable. Canes threw $7MM at Semin - again maybe not the best franchise to follow but Skinner was an all star as a rookie and is getting paid for what he's done not what he might do. I don't think MB is 100% convinced PK is a can't miss star - either that or he's really sticking to the 2 year deal post ELC otherwise I think a deal would be done by now unless he's not finished finding work for his unemployed Hawks alumni

Seems like the rest of the GMs are making their premiere RFAs sweat too with the new CBA hopefully coming sometime... I'm with the 2x $3.5MM and let him earn the long term/big money deal

Larry

Leblanc has scored at every level, yeah he only had 10 pts in his rookie year but that was only in half a season in a limited role Seguin only had 22 as a rookie over the full year I think Louis is either the answer at left or 3rd line centre this year or he's better off in the minors like Pacs did cause he's top 6 potential

Emelin's put up decent points elsewhere, even led the 2006 WJC in D scoring and at this years WC he had 4 pts in 9 GP Think paired with a healthy Markov 20-30 points isn't out of reach

All depends on who ends up as his wingers but with the addition of Prust & Armstrong taking over some of his defensive duties and coming off a couple of subpar seasons I'm looking for a strong bounceback year from Plekanec If he can return to 70 points I think we'll be in good shape

They've got best offensive/defensive forward trophies, boggles my mind they don't have best offensive/defensive defencemen trophies yet to end these debates that have gone on 30 years to Coffey's days and probably even before I hate the Bs but hard time calling Bourque overrated, I'm a big PK fan but if there's one thing I wish he would learn from Ray is importance of getting the puck through to the net, even if it's only a wrister - like a golf coach once told me, stop trying to be John Daly with your backswing - the 300 yard drive looks great when it happens 1/20 times - same thing for Subban, his stick to the rafters windup looks awesome when he slams it home but the rest usually miss, get blocked, and no doubt scare the hell out of teammates trying to screen the goalie. That might come with maturity - it hasn't with me and my golf game, hit 2 fairways last week...

Sweet thanks for that! Money well spent if there's no NHL and still probably if there is and Galchenyuk is back in Sarnia

Most I've looked forward to a season to start to answer all these questions in a very long time but dumb & dumber are looking to screw that up with a lockout At least you guys got junior and minor league, without NHL Game Centre all I've got down under is rugby and cricket Managed to stream the Memorial Cup this year, anyone know of a site that carries CHL regular season?

Doubt many had Karlsson pegged for a Norris before his breakout last year and Phaneuf should've had a few on his mantle by now according to the experts so hard to predict Not a stretch for the Habs to pick up their PP and Subban get and extra 20-30 points as he develops. If Karlsson comes back to earth nobody else was running away with it.

That's huge if it's true, to turn down a chance to go to a perennial contender and 1st class team like the Wings would be tough regardless if you felt you were getting jerked around by your current team If I was MB hard not to reward that kind of loyalty

If PK refuses to sign maybe you trade him but that's highly unlikely and I'd want a boatload in return RFAs don't have any options except sitting out and even that rarely happens anymore cause it just hurts their development or they end up traded anyways like Turris, if Subban likes Montreal as much as he says doubt he risks being exiled to wherever MB might choose, Edmonton for example - no offence to the Edmontonians, great mall you have there but insanely cold winters Maybe an offer sheet comes out if another GM wants to take advantage of the feud but if it hasnt yet with Phillys blueline looking like the Habs in 2010 its also unlikely I see MB sticking to the 2 year deal the rest have signed but upping the $ some to $3.5

Hope you are sitting down cause I agree with that As for Gagner and Paajaarvi tough to know, Sam stuck cause he was the SO specialist and Paajarvi probably got lost in the numbers last year and regressed, maybe a change of scenery would help both

I've got zero issue with Galchenyuk playing in Montreal this year if he's ready, just saying if he's not ready enough to crack our not-so stacked centre ice position why move him to the wing just because he's our best option there when we are not expecting to compete and he's touted as the centremen we've been waiting nearly 2 decades to get. Different story if he hadn't missed last year, by all means have him up and play wherever if he's out grown junior to get him exposed to the NHL, I've never seen him play outside of highlights so no clue where he's at in development. As for the Edmonton comparison their best fwd played an extra year junior and it didn't hurt Eberle while Nuge & Hall have both missed considerable time, Gagner has never fulfilled potential and Paajarrvi will probably end up back in Sweden after being rushed. Different for all players

I dont think it will ruin him but Seguin also didn't miss a year of junior If they at least gave Alex some spot duty at centre maybe but don't want him to go nearly 2 years of prime development without playing there and then hope he can flick the switch

We've waited forever for a big centremen, I'd rather take the hit on LW with band-aids this year when we're not competing for anything Let Galchenyuk develop in Sarnia if he can't make the club at his natural position, think that's more important in the long run

Maybe we send Louis to Hamilton to learn to play LW for the year seeing as that's a weakness I've written Nokia off as a waiver guy, maybe that's premature but other than faceoffs he doesn't bring much White wasn't exactly terrible on the draws in his smaller sample set and Montreal is a different team when he's in the lineup hitting and scrapping, expect him to put up more points as he finds his game at the NHL level

Guess that depends which Bourque we are giving up - if its the one who was on pace for 10 goals last year and looked beyond lazy on most nights I'd give him away just to clear the cap space for the next 4 years Gallagher should be able to net 10 goals and is 1/4 the price

Saw a previous rumor on this over a month ago but it was Pleks goin to Chicago. If we can get a top 6 fwd or top 4 D for spare parts - no offence Bourque or Diaz I'd do it but can't see Chicago doin it unless the picks are high which I wouldn't do with expectations of still finishing bottom 10

No guarantee DD/Patches/Cole pick up where they left off but on the list of question marks coming into the year I'd rate it pretty low. I'm not totally sold on Eller being a centremen, maybe he gets a shot at LW in top 6 and give Louis a shot in the 3 hole Patches/DD/Cole Eller/Pleks/Gio Moen/Leblanc/Bourque Colby/White/Prust Galchenyuk & Gomez centreing top lines in the province of Ontario

Biggest question marks for me are Markov, Bourque & Therrien. Markov rebounds we have solid top 4 D and improved PP, Bourque finds his game we have our Top 6, Therrien instills killer instinct and conditioning we don't blow leads and stay healthier. We lost so many close games last year if those 3 things happen I think we are in the playoffs where anything can happen but they're pretty big ifs

Tough to get a read on MB's value of PK if you look at his recent comments I'd struggle to offer him a better deal than Pacs signed, one can only assume either a similar deal has been offered and rejected for Subban wanting more money or MB doesn't have the same confidence in PK and wants a shorter show me deal before committing long term. No question he's been our best d'man last 2 years but where does he sit in overall NHL rank? Points 26th Goals 34th +/- 47th TOI/G 18th Hits 73rd Blocks 80th Shots 7th Missed shots 7th Giveaways 3rd Some pros and cons and depends what weighting you give each category but tough to argue he's not top 50 50th highest paid d-man makes $4MM Different circumstances with UFAs and terms but Subban definitely has a case to ask for $4MM based on this

Great to see Max locked up and even better we didn't really have to pay for what he might become, $4.5MM/yr for leading scorer who's gotten better year after year. Tough not to feel good for a guy that stood up against the old boys club in Montreal and asked to go back to the minors cause he wanted to develop into a top 6 forward and then the whole Chara incident.

Yeah like he said Tough to find too many comparables to PK, Del Zotto & Carlson are close in stats but of course havent signed either Big Buff in Winnipeg might not be a terrible comparison, identical stats after 1st two full years, Dustin signed 3 yr/$9MM before his latest 5 yr/$26MM, add some for inflation and a 3 year deal at $3.5-4MM or a Max deal were you sacrifice $$ for term to share the risk/reward would be fair.

There was a great interview with Hal Gill in the last couple of months and he had nothing but good things to say about PK, I'd take his word over Leaf fans PKs offer (if reports are true) only looks lowball to the mega deals going around, it's pretty much exactly what Price was offered, why more teams don't use the RFA process to their advantage is beyond me