I would agree with this... Us in Buffalo were sick of him not skating hard... taking long periods of games off.. and taking games off only to have a 4 point night to equal out his stats for the week..


I don't know what team is goign to give up a 1st and more for Vanek knowing full well that he wants to be a UFA... NYI is kind of hog-tied.
- JVince11

a team that need some more scoring, who if that player is acquired may be the difference between a stanley cup appearance and not...

DUSTIN BROWN
JEFF CARTER
KYLE CLIFFORD
COLIN FRASER
MATT FRATTIN
DWIGHT KING
ANZE KOPITAR
TREVOR LEWIS
JORDAN NOLAN
MIKE RICHARDS
JARRET STOLL
TYLER TOFFOLI
JUSTIN WILLIAMS
DREW DOUGHTY
MATT GREENE
ALEC MARTINEZ
WILLIE MITCHELL
JAKE MUZZIN
ROBYN REGEHR
SLAVA VOYNOV
MARTIN JONES
JONATHAN QUICK

for

JORDAN EBERLE
SAM GAGNER
LUKE GAZDIC
BOYD GORDON
TAYLOR HALL
ALES HEMSKY
MATT HENDRICKS
JESSE JOENSUU
RYAN JONES
RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS
DAVID PERRON
RYAN SMYTH
NAIL YAKUPOV
ANTON BELOV
ANDREW FERENCE
MARK FRASER
PHILIP LARSEN
MARTIN MARINCIN
JEFF PETRY
COREY POTTER
JUSTIN SCHULTZ
NICK SCHULTZ
ILYA BRYZGALOV
BEN SCRIVENS


.....the oil may need to add a 2nd to make it fly.

All the while.... Islanders will still pick top 5 this year and next most likely..
- JVince11

you of all people should know that the islanders will absolutely not be picking in the top 5 for the next 2 years.

I would agree with this... Us in Buffalo were sick of him not skating hard... taking long periods of games off.. and taking games off only to have a 4 point night to equal out his stats for the week..


I don't know what team is goign to give up a 1st and more for Vanek knowing full well that he wants to be a UFA... NYI is kind of hog-tied.
- JVince11

yea... he does have off games.

The big thing is the first.. and maybe a roster player or prospect.

To be honest I'm glad they at least tried to improve the team.

Who knows... Moulson might be back on the Island next year.

...

a team that need some more scoring, who if that player is acquired may be the difference between a stanley cup appearance and not...
- LetsGoIsles

I just don't see it... his monster contract only hurts more.. and since we already retained part of the salary now NYI can't retain any more.

No top contending team right now has the cap space unless I guess you guys want to take back Heatley or Erat/Ward

Thus far i think thats reasonably fair. At least considering klowe/tambs.
But at that point it was only year 2 and 3 of the rebuild. Tough to call it a failure at that point!!

And
Hall was the right choice.(winger)
Nuge is a center
And yaks still might be the right choice --murray wouldnt be changing the fortunes of this team right now

Mact hasnt been in charge for even a year yet. And acquired two solid pieces in gordon and perron.

Ima give him some time before i make any judgements
- hugefemale dog77

Queue the "Well how much longer are you gonna wait? It's been 8 years!!1!" response.

I don't see how picking top 5 "in one of the worst drafts" is all of a sudden going to get NYI out of the top 5 next year... there really aren't any huge name UFAs that can turn around NYI... stastny? gaborik? iginla? all not likely going to a bottom 10 team.
- JVince11

thats ok arent in desparate need of forwards

strome. reinhart. pulock. lee. mayfield. pedan.

they need 1 top 4. 1 goalie and 1 coach.

you of all people should know that the islanders will absolutely not be picking in the top 5 for the next 2 years.
- LetsGoIsles

I don't follow....?

Sure prospects are there... but the defense is still below average and so is the goalie...


Might be top 10 at best IMO.... Buffalo will be 1st overall both years so no point in turning this into a my team is better than your team thing.. I am just speaking my mind.

Are their talks as serious as the Blues/Sabres were a week ago?

I just don't see it... his monster contract only hurts more.. and since we already retained part of the salary now NYI can't retain any more.

No top contending team right now has the cap space unless I guess you guys want to take back Heatley or Erat/Ward
- JVince11

only 1 way to find out...

thats ok arent in desparate need of forwards

strome. reinhart. pulock. lee. mayfield. pedan.

they need 1 top 4. 1 goalie and 1 coach.
- LetsGoIsles

Goalie yea.. I can see that maybe... getting Brian Elliot or perhaps Halak maybe even Greiss... but nothing that is going to set them that far apart..

I just don't know where the top 4 guy comes in to play.

Strome.. reinhart, and pulock sure but are they really ready to carry the team?.. I don't know enough about the other guys to pass judgement

I don't follow....?

Sure prospects are there... but the defense is still below average and so is the goalie...


Might be top 10 at best IMO.... Buffalo will be 1st overall both years so no point in turning this into a my team is better than your team thing.. I am just speaking my mind.
- JVince11

islanders traded to the sabres one of 1st round picks over the next 2 seasons.

What letter grade would you give Edmonton's rebuild, hockey fans?

I'm going with a D. Multiple coaches, too much focus at the wing position as opposed to D and G, and poor management of prior assets like Hemsky and Gagner. Very poorly done.
- Johnny Wrath

I don't think the focus was in the wrong place if you're thinking of our 1st overalls. They were the best player in the draft and no brainers. The coaching is about as dumb as you could have gotten (franchise not you)

The worst thing about the rebuild so far is we sat on our number 1s and figured that was all that we needed to have a rebuild. We didn't trade many assests for high picks and young players. We traded to fill rosters with spare parts. Eric Belanger should not be on a team making the next jump.

MacT T had a great summer but the terrible year this year kinda shows how incompetent Tambellini was to me.

The rebuild isn't quite over yet but it's hard to rate it higher than a 4/10 so far.

If the oilers can turn around an eventually be with the hawks penguins and blues for the top of the league for a long time then it will probably be worth it.

I heard this the other day

MTL - EDM 1st - Yakupov +
EDM - Subban -

MTL - CGY 1st - Monahan +
CGY - Price

Mtl takes 2 of the top picks this year and then MTL signs Halak as a stop gap for a couple of years for when Fucale is ready

JVince11
The Islanders won the cup 80,81,82,83 Buffalo never and yes I was alive

only 1 way to find out...
- LetsGoIsles

At one point... there was talk that Buffalo was gonna trade Vanek to MIN for Healtey+ and then turn around and trade Heatley for another pick... much like we are probably gonna do with Moulson.. so maybe you guys do that now and then have all of the Olympics ot shop Heatley...?


BUF really wants to resign Moulson and Moulson has said how much he likes playing for Nolan.. I would say right now it is at about a 35% chance that we resign him.

I heard this the other day

MTL - EDM 1st - Yakupov +
EDM - Subban -

MTL - CGY 1st - Monahan +
CGY - Price

Mtl takes 2 of the top picks this year and then MTL signs Halak as a stop gap for a couple of years for when Fucale is ready
- MTL1

Oh, yes please

thats ok arent in desparate need of forwards

strome. reinhart. pulock. lee. mayfield. pedan.

they need 1 top 4. 1 goalie and 1 coach.
- LetsGoIsles

Neutral perspective here but going to point out something. I have seen more than a few Isles fans point out that the Vanek trade was a necessary risk to get a true scorer for JT's line. Thus Snow paid a hefty price for Vanek. Well now Vanek is on his way out which leads to my point. Doesn't that leave you guys with a hole on JT's line? If you guys "needed" a scorer like Vanek to make that trade in the first place, if Vanek is no longer there don't you still "need" a scorer for JT's line?

Queue the "Well how much longer are you gonna wait? It's been 8 years!!1!" response.
- MaximumBone

typical and tired.
The nuge is 20 years old! Blow it up!

Had some typical hb beauts yrsterday.
The oilers should stop only drafting offence.
A good gm would consider putting the first in play.

JVince11
The Islanders won the cup 80,81,82,83 Buffalo never and yes I was alive
- Finnegan

we never won a cup?? really? aw shucks... I wasn't sure.. thanks for letting me know bud!

so the team's victories 30 years ago gives you a right to cast down on a Vancouver fan whose team has been MUCH MUCH more relevant in the last 10 years?


c'mon.. not everything needs to be my team vs his team.. just express ideas.

JVince11
The Islanders won the cup 80,81,82,83 Buffalo never and yes I was alive
- Finnegan

JVince is a good guy...

Everybody goes into attack mode!!!

I love HockeyBuzz!!!

You can say that now that we know he is leaving... but if would have stayed, it was worth the risk.
- jimmc7722

Here's my problem with the deal in general, and this is still based on the fact that we still don't know where he'll end up, but might have a pretty good idea to some extent.

Reports and rumors flying around for the last year that Vanek very interested in coming to Minnesota to play with his best friend Jason Pominville. Add to that his wife is a Minnesota native, her family lives here, he spent a good portion of time here playing for the U of M. The God father of Minnesota hockey, and extremely credible source, Lou Nanne has said since the Pominville trade that he thinks Vanek will be in Minnesota once he hits UFA.

Now, all that being said, still doesn't mean it's actually going to happen. BUT!... seems like a pretty good indication that a non-playoff team that has a difficult time attracting high caliber players in the first place probably shouldn't pursue a trade for him during the last year of his contract especially when all that information is already out there and moderately pointing to what might just be the inevitable.

Had it been a player for player type trade and maybe giving up just a 2nd or maybe a 2nd and 3rd, I would say it's a no brainer. But the fact that Garth gave up his own first round pick which will no doubt be in the top 5 only to probably now end up with a late first rounder IMO was a dumb gamble. Not to mention that Moulson is still a pretty good player and reportedly wanted to stay in NY.

Who knows, maybe he gets an additional first rounder for 2015, but I highly doubt it.

I heard this the other day

MTL - EDM 1st - Yakupov +
EDM - Subban -

MTL - CGY 1st - Monahan +
CGY - Price

Mtl takes 2 of the top picks this year and then MTL signs Halak as a stop gap for a couple of years for when Fucale is ready
- MTL1

Done

Neutral perspective here but going to point out something. I have seen more than a few Isles fans point out that the Vanek trade was a necessary risk to get a true scorer for JT's line. Thus Snow paid a hefty price for Vanek. Well now Vanek is on his way out which leads to my point. Doesn't that leave you guys with a hole on JT's line? If you guys "needed" a scorer like Vanek to make that trade in the first place, if Vanek is no longer there don't you still "need" a scorer for JT's line?
- uf1910

brock nelson is developing nicely...he may be the guy slotted into that top spot. he is no vanek but hes certainly no slouch.