In The Valley

better be at the top of that name list. or Marian.

which would mean one more thing that got by Lu!

love these things.
“Tom’s a dumbass…”

definitely capture the drunken ramblings that is kane, and toews’ abillity to win at everything

Ricardo Clark.

Herculez Gomez should of been playing. Ricardo clark barely played and he was put in. Why? I do have bias towards MLS players. none of them except Donovan showed any real world cup level skill. Donovan has proven himself in the epl and is probably heading there.

His giveaway was almost as bad as Mexico’s defenseman’s giveaway in front of his own goal. I thought Bradley did a good job, but may have over-thought this decision based on how well the Bernstein (spelling?) move proved to be.

I found myself daydreaming about this on my walk back to the office from lunch this afternoon. It’s erotic for sure, but even for our fantastical pie-in-the-sky trades, this one’s a bit of a reach, and the thought of Savard dishing dimes to Sharp and Hossa is equally arousing and for a far cheaper cap hit.

I will be upset over the loss of either of these two important pieces to our 2010 Stanley Cup Champions puzzle…….starting to tear up and get all emotional
I know Versteeg has driven us all crazy…many times…For instance, I vividly remember his turnover (one of many) from the december home Sharks game where he just flung the puck across the ice from penalty box to the bench while on the PP & while the d-men were rushing up the ice…PavelSTEEG predicably picked it off and boom, shorty for those wearing teal…remember it like it was yesterday…I wanted to fucking kill him(apparently so did Q cuz his TOI plummeted after that game for some time)… But I also remember his GWG in game 2 against Van this year. His ugly goal in game 3 against Van that started it off. His goal in game 5 of SCF and how much i fell in love with 16/36/32 in the playoffs.
That said, I cant see us going into next season without Ladd. We do not have someone to replace all the good things that Ladd does for a winning team IMO. We have enough talent on this roster to absorb the loss of good ol’ #32. It wont feel good to watch him go as he is one goofy ass dude who certainly helped in the locker room and had some truly sparkling moments, but thats what this season was always leading up to..and the time has come.
[excuse the rambling nature as I was convincing myself for the first time since the season ended that I will be fine with letting #32 go to another team…and somehow I didnt really give a shit that #33 has gone. weird]

the president of the team with the marketing background. He’s going to trot Stephen like a he’s the new ho on the corner

History wouldn’t have been made.

to understand that a 10 year vet that puts up 40 points per year gets paid more than a kid going into his 2nd full season

but they are both hugely important on special teams. Hammer sees a lot of time on the PK (over 2 min/game, and probably more with Sopel gone), and Campbell is integral to the success of the PP (almost 3 min/game, the most for a D-man).

As much as everyone wishes Campbell was paid less, he’s on this team, and that will not change.

Excellent hands and skill, but skates like he has lead weights tied round his skates.

Niemi won’t be with any other team, unless that team is in Europe. No way do the Hawks get rid of him.

While I think Versteeg will have a breakout year next season, I don’t think it will be with the Hawks. He is replaceable and most likely at a lower price. To think, if Versteeg didn’t jump at the chance to get essentially twice the amount he deserved after the qualifying offer fiasco, he probably wouldn’t have had to worry about losing his job.

Not likely, but possible. I think the Hawks brass are thinking similarly as Ban is with Steeger and seem to be loathe to let him go for anything less than a very good price. Their hand may be forced by the cap situation, but it seems they want to fight pretty hard to keep him. Ladd may have a breakout year too, but the kind of offensive production that would entail wouldn’t be as flashy there.

I also feel like I won’t be as sad if Niemi doesn’t end up back with us. Don’t get me wrong — I’d love to have him back, and he has a good amount of upside, but all season long I never really thought of him as being that much of an upgrade over Huet (who has a lot of talent himself, just maybe not so much between the ears, unfortunately).

So, I can see this happening. I just don’t think it will.

Huet is not tradeable…no one will take on that contract.

But honestly, I’d ratuer spend 2-3 mil on a player who’s in the whole gake and at a greater impact position than one who isn’t. Yes, Steeger made some great plays this postseason, but Nemo singlehandedly set the tempo for the SJ series. If Huet was in net for thar series, the sweep woulda been by the other team. We were outshot in 3 outta the 4 games. Anybody remember that save Niemi made in Game 1 against the Sharks? He also stole a game in the SCF, and outplaed Luongo (which doesn’t seem hard to do in Round 2) and Rinne.
Basically, if I’m spending 2-3 mil, it’s on the keeper who won us the cup, not a thirdliner who shows flashes of what he can do.

Is horse poop. I’d rather develop Crawford.

Here.

No. And not ever now that he’s going to Philadelphia so he can suck even worse than Leighton did in the Finals. Unfortuantely for the Flyers, Nabokov tends to struggle mightily in the first round.

“woo hoo! Buff’s gone!”

I think it’s more like “he was important he was in the postseason, but when you have to cut players to get under the cap, it’s a lot easier to see him go than a guy who brings it every night and does his job.”

If we had the luxury to keep buff around for the postseason, I’d definitely keep him around. But we don’t have that luxury, and someone else will just have to wait in front of the net to cash in on some goals

I understand what you’re saying because I agree — you pay guys to be clutch. Probably bad to bring a basketball reference in here (people seem to hate that sport here) but Robert Horry would be a good example of somebody who always brings it in the playoffs, and contributes more than he does in the regular season.

The reason why I think losing Buff isn’t as big a deal, is because it’s a pretty small sample size to count on. Some people seem to have selective memory on this — Buff had a pretty good postseason, but they tend to forget that his performance as a forward was very mediocre in the Nashville series (and their sterling D corps) and not so good for the first four games of the series against Philly (having to deal with Pronger). You look back to last year and it’s the same story — his performance against Vancouver hides his struggles against Detroit pretty well.

So, can you count on him repeating that performance? I think it’s questionable. And from what I’ve seen, it looks like half his success came from favorable matchups (against medium-to-low quality D men) and lots of offensive zone starts. I think he would’ve been too pricey to keep, considering what else we feel like we need to keep given our salary cap situation.

and i trust that Stan does to.

If I remember it correctly, i read a while ago that two specific Stan &/or Scotty Bowman picks from our Championship Winning Squad (man, that feels good to type !!!!) were Hjalmarsson & Niemi. If thats true, I have high hopes about them sticking around. Plus, I don’t see what other team out there might be more enticing to our RFAs than the one they just won The Stanley Cup with!
But thats just me.

I approve of this message.

The math is pretty clear… there is NO scenario in which the Hawks can afford paying Huet $5.1MM next year. Not unless you want to walk from Versteeg and Ladd. The Atlanta trade only cleared about $5.5MM. And the Hawks had roughly a $14MM problem assuming decent numbers for Niemi and Hammer. You simply have to move Huet just to get close. And whether you need another move or not (Versteeg or Sharp) is all about the raise negotiations with Niemi, Hammer and Ladd. If you had to move Verteeg, his replacement is either one of the Rockford boys steps up (Skille is the bet) or you get an experienced winger that wants a shot at the cup at a discount. There will be a bunch of those guys out there that are tired of playing in front of 5,000-8,000 crowds. Either option is fine as long as we keep developing talent upfront and our blueline core four in the fold… which means we better keep enough powder dry to resign Seabrook next summer. 7 has come a long way too and really helps make both 2 as good as he is and let’s us play Niemi and Crawford in the net. Finally, regarding Niemi… where’s the love? This guy was rock solid all year, was in the top 5 in shut outs even with less than half the starts, bounced back from every rough outing, and won us more than a couple of playoff games too (game #2 against the Flyers). The garbage that is mentioned as alternatives (Biron, Nabokov, Leighton, etc.) makes me sick to my stomach. This guy is just on his way up and is still young enough to carry us for a while.

about the rest of the Thrashers.

if any of the 3 were offered over 3.039 million a year they’d be gone. below that number and the hawks would only get a 2nd round pick. above that number (up to 4.5) and they get a first and a third round pick.

leaving Keith. Really. I know he’s got talent on his own, but the two of them together just magnifies their talents. Not to mention the love they share.

has to do with all the ones before it.

I thought you have to wait until the season that his deal expires before you can sign anything.

Also re: Hjammer — I went to read the Fifth Feather article about comparing him to Boychuk. They were citing $3.75mm for similar age and stats, and it sounded like they were okay with it. I would agree, if we weren’t in this cap situation — and it worries me because it’s certainly possible a team will offer something comparable…