Perfect Team

As happy as I am that they hawks resigned their "core players" to long term contracts, I couldn't help but feel empty after not knowing if when and which players are going to be moved.  So after a few days of not talking about it I think I should start the conversation back up.

The only real point I'd like to make is one that I haven't seen or heard from anyone else.  In my opinion, the guys that we should get rid of are the guys that won't be playing once Bolland and Burrish get back into the line-up.  So my projected lineup would be Line 1: versteeg Toews Hossa Line 2: Sharp Bolland Kane Line 3: Brouwer Madden Ladd Line 4: Eager Frasor Burrish.  This leaves out Buff and Kopecky.  I understand that people like Buff because he is a big presence in front of the net on the power play, but I think Rockford is stockpiled with power forwards that are perfectly capable of taking that spot over if we need to call someone up.

As for Huet and Soup.  Whether or not we are able to move their contracts really doesn't matter right now.  Crawford is hurt and out for a "long period of time" with a groin injury.  Also as well as Niemi has played you can't put our season on his shoulders.  Even though I hate Brian Campbell for how he plays, we just don't have the depth at Defense to get rid of him.  Beyond Hendry, and I really like Hendry, we have no one ready for the NHL.  Even if we were to get rid of one defenseman I think, and hope that other people agree, that Sopel would be the one to go.  It is a much smaller contract but as soft as Campbell plays his skill gets him out of a lot of bad situations.  Sopel can't do that.

So bottom line, my first three cuts would be Kopecky then Buff then Sopel.  Like everyone else I have no idea if this is even enough to get us "under the cap," but I think getting rid of either Sharp or Versteeg would be a huge mistake.  And for people who care about the spelling of player names and other grammar don't waste anyone's time telling me i didn't spell half of the names right or use proper grammar.  I don't care and it's really irrelevant.