you may have enough money to upgrade 2 0f the 3 areas. definitely not enough for all 3.
- blacksheep1

Islanders have enough cap space to bailout the US economy. But we'll re-sign Staios and pick up some plug off the waiver wire.

Islanders have enough cap space to bailout the US economy. But we'll re-sign Staios and pick up some plug off the waiver wire.
- eichiefs9

blame garth snow and charles wang.

Only guys i see the leafs interested in this summer is:

Forwards: Parise, Nash, Langenbrunner

Goalies: Jonathen Bernier, Josh Harding, Vokoun, Cory Schneider, Resign Monster

Defense(if burke wants to upgrade more): ryan suter, matt carle
- Mapleleafs_91

Langenbrunner and Parise are buddys. Not Matt Carle we really really dont need anymore offensive d men. We have 4. Suter is a solid two way d man so we could use him, but i wouldnt see a need for Liles at all anymore with him on the squad. But i would take Suter over Parise, its tough cause everybody loves the explosive offensive players but i gotta take defense over offense for the sake of the team, although Parise is more fun to watch.

Not buying Ek's so called "report" on Iginla moving this summer as a certainty - it still seems more speculation than anything, and nobody seems to really have a solid grip on what's going on in Calgary management, all sorts of theories and speculation. However, I am fully convinced that he HAS to go, and furthermore, that this summer is the time to do it, if they ever are going to. It's nothing personal, it's just business. (The personal aspect of it is that he will never win a Cup here, hell he might not even make the playoffs here for several years. He has to realize this.)

On the other hand, I'm intrigued at the notion some have suggested, that Kipper is actually worth more. There's actually somewhat of a case to be made that they could do it without appearing to throw in the towel (very flimsy but it's there.) However, the history of goalie trades suggests to me that they are pretty much never worthy to the seller, with some notable exceptions (Varlamov trade, for example.)

Also re: Jokinen, the last month of the season made me change my mind completely on re-signing him. Obviously you can't do it for more than 2 seasons at the absolute max, which was true when he was playing well, but now I'd even be a little sick to see them do even that.

Islanders have enough cap space to bailout the US economy. But we'll re-sign Staios and pick up some plug off the waiver wire.
- eichiefs9

Dont worry islanders are on the rise... Tavares Strome is a nice 1 2 punch, you get Dumba this draft and hopefully Nino develops well that could end up being a really poor pick. But if Nino develops well and Grabner has a bounce back season which i think he will all of a sudden you have a real good top six in a couple years when stromes goin good. You got Parenteau Okposo Nino Grabner and Moulson on the wing Strome Tavares up the middle. You sign some bottom six guys and one off season you sign a decent # 1 goalie and a big d man and all of a sudden you got a real solid team. You guys arent far off. Id give you 2 seasons before your goin good.

There it is again...the unearned love for Jordan Staal...just scored an absolutely incredible career high of 50 POINTS!!!!! It's a wonder how he managed to put together such an epic season.

Between last year and this year he's had more than enough opportunity to get the ice time and chance to put up numbers and he doesn't get it done.

Change his name to "Jordan Smith" and people wouldn't even give him a second look.

Good two-way forward, nothing more.
- Juice

well known name or not, J Staal type players are harder to find than superstars, it aint crosby or malkin who's on to take the opposing team's superstars on a nightly basis, Paul Maurice said it the other night, Staal takes on the oppositions's best players ultimately leaving their 4th lines to try and stop crosby and malkin and neal...meanwhile you still gotta deal with the fact that Staal is no offensive slouch

i think the other way to look at it is that you're underestimating him because the other 2 centers are pretty much 1 and 2 in the world in their positions, so yeah lookin at it from that perspective 50 points is alot when u get limited Offensive time, even Ryan Kesler doesnt have to deal with being on the 3rd line if we are to compare the higher end of two-way fowards (on that note Kesler had only 49 points with significantly more ice time)

and i mean damn the guy's 23 seems to me this isnt his prime yet, go find me another 3rd line center who plays behind 2 mega stars (in the same position) with average 45 points a year, they dont exist currently in the NHL, hell its even harder for him to get that many points since Crosby and Malkin arent exactly defensive slouches these days so they get PK time too

J staal definetly does not deserve your hate, or at the very least give him a lil more credit (oh and last year he had 30 points in 42 games so i dont understand what you're saying lol)

i mean come on Getzlaf has 7 more points playing between the reigning MVP and Bobby Ryan and u got time to hate on Jordan Staal?? lol

blame garth snow and charles wang.
- blacksheep1

I blame Wang more than anything. Snow is the easy scapegoat, but Wang is a full-on scumbag. I get the sense that Snow doesn't have the "open checkbook" that Wang says he does and that Wang likes to meddle in everything because he thinks he knows more than everyone else. Kinda like fighting with two arms tied behind your back. All pure speculation on my part though.

one final note before i stop procrastinating:

And that is just the tip of the iceberg this summer....a summer that will see a CBA negotiation which could include a player exemption clause that could open up the trade floodgates at the draft in Pittsburgh like never before

Oh good lord, if there's another lockout, the only good part will be watching Eklund pretend to be an insider on the negotiations again.

If kipper is on the move leafs should give it a look. But it will be to high of a price tag. I say we sing a decent vet back up and draft a # 1 center maybe add some size in the top six if the right deal comes along. But most importantly dump Lombardi and Connolly and trade guys like liles and Macarthur who are no longer needed and give Carlyle a good checking line to work with by signing B.Prust.

Dont worry islanders are on the rise... Tavares Strome is a nice 1 2 punch, you get Dumba this draft and hopefully Nino develops well that could end up being a really poor pick. But if Nino develops well and Grabner has a bounce back season which i think he will all of a sudden you have a real good top six in a couple years when stromes goin good. You got Parenteau Okposo Nino Grabner and Moulson on the wing Strome Tavares up the middle. You sign some bottom six guys and one off season you sign a decent # 1 goalie and a big d man and all of a sudden you got a real solid team. You guys arent far off. Id give you 2 seasons before your goin good.
- Bar-South

In all honesty I'm one of the more optimistic Islander fans. Too many call for trading away prospects and picks for established guys, with (for the right guy) I'd be OK with. But I don't think those fans realize that teams aren't usually in the business of trading established quality players for dice-rolls on prospects and picks. Even with the lack of scoring this year, I'm more concerned about the defense. We're completely defensively inept outside of Hamonic.

If kipper is on the move leafs should give it a look. But it will be to high of a price tag. I say we sing a decent vet back up and draft a # 1 center maybe add some size in the top six if the right deal comes along. But most importantly dump Lombardi and Connolly and trade guys like liles and Macarthur who are no longer needed and give Carlyle a good checking line to work with by signing B.Prust.
- Bar-South

I don't know. Like I say, the history of goalie trades isn't kind to sellers. The good thing the Flames have going for them is that Kipper won't have an NTC in the summer but still there's a limited amount of realistic teams - look at Nabokov misreading the goalie market a couple years ago for a comparison, and he was a UFA. For instance, Columbus often gets brought up but I've always thought they would look for a longer-term, younger solution, since they're about to rebuild yet again, and if not that then a stopgap goalie until they can find a good young one.

Personally I just don't ever want to trade with Toronto again so there's that too.

one final note before i stop procrastinating:

And that is just the tip of the iceberg this summer....a summer that will see a CBA negotiation which could include a player exemption clause that could open up the trade floodgates at the draft in Pittsburgh like never before

Oh good lord, if there's another lockout, the only good part will be watching Eklund pretend to be an insider on the negotiations again.
- S Kaspar Rollins

I don't know. Like I say, the history of goalie trades isn't kind to sellers. The good thing the Flames have going for them is that Kipper won't have an NTC in the summer but still there's a limited amount of realistic teams - look at Nabokov misreading the goalie market a couple years ago for a comparison, and he was a UFA. For instance, Columbus often gets brought up but I've always thought they would look for a longer-term, younger solution, since they're about to rebuild yet again, and if not that then a stopgap goalie until they can find a good young one.

Personally I just don't ever want to trade with Toronto again so there's that too.
- S Kaspar Rollins

Yeah I'm a little apprehensive about trading with Toronto, but if you can get a 1st & a player like Schenn out of them, hell they owe us
I think Iggy is ready to move on & I even think management & Ownership are ready to embrace new jersey sales for the likes of Baertsche & who over new up coming we can bring in. Kipper is the guy to watch this summer, 6.5mill in actual salary remaining in the last 2 years & and a cap hit of 11.6mill. He was our MVP & had an awesome season. He will garner interest.

If Toronto deals their 1st rounder this year for Nash I officially give up.

I can hear it now from Burke:

"Anytime you have the chance to get a player if this calibre you have to do it. I'd be an idiot not to make this deal and I'm not an idiot. I believe Rick Nash is a top 5 player in this league and give this team a chance to compete every night."

And he will speak to the trade of a lottery pick:

"The pick we gave away as part of the deal may well turn out to be a good NHL player...but as I said before, I'm not interested in 3-4 years from now, we're trying to wni now and Nash gives us that chance"

Man...being a Leafs fan sucks.
- Juice

What's your backup plan?

Personally I just don't ever want to trade with Toronto again so there's that too.
- S Kaspar Rollins

Well, all things considering, trade results with Cowtown hasn't exactly been miraculous for us either.

What's your backup plan?
- TheMadNavigator

THIS

http://assets.sbnation.co...eafsopenletter_040912.jpg

lol....we're sorry for sucking, priceless

THIS

http://assets.sbnation.co...eafsopenletter_040912.jpg

lol....we're sorry for sucking, priceless
- Habitants98

Q: How does Tanenbaum sleep at night?

A: On piles and piles of Leaf fans' money.

Also re: Jokinen, the last month of the season made me change my mind completely on re-signing him. Obviously you can't do it for more than 2 seasons at the absolute max, which was true when he was playing well, but now I'd even be a little sick to see them do even that.
- S Kaspar Rollins

I hope he moves on. I'd rather pay the money to someone like gaustad that can improve a weak area on the team - Faceoffs.

THIS

http://assets.sbnation.co...eafsopenletter_040912.jpg

lol....we're sorry for sucking, priceless
- Habitants98

Enjoy.

Keep in mind this was after the Islanders were pretty much all but out of it. Which makes that first line even more hilariously terrible.

Enjoy.

Keep in mind this was after the Islanders were pretty much all but out of it. Which makes that first line even more hilariously terrible.
- eichiefs9

Islanders are right in the mix! Gold!

But is the organization too proud to issue an apology letter to the fans?

Yeah I'm a little apprehensive about trading with Toronto, but if you can get a 1st & a player like Schenn out of them, hell they owe us
I think Iggy is ready to move on & I even think management & Ownership are ready to embrace new jersey sales for the likes of Baertsche & who over new up coming we can bring in. Kipper is the guy to watch this summer, 6.5mill in actual salary remaining in the last 2 years & and a cap hit of 11.6mill. He was our MVP & had an awesome season. He will garner interest.
- Kevin R

Everyone is reading to much into his "rebuild" statement. Of course he wouldn't want to be part of that, that would take up the last years of his peak years. Nothing new there. But I don't think its at the "I'm done with this" point of his career.

He deserves a cup, of course, I won't deny that.

Kipper has more value this year, and it will hurt to move him. I hope they go for Harding if they do, I don't think Leiland is ready. I agree Kipper is a big one to watch (also deserves a cup). I think NYI is a good place to look for him...And I hope to GAWD dipetro is not part of the return. I would like to see Okposo as part of that deal, and a centre. But Baert/Backland/Okposo would be a good start.

And Sutters system is the same as what he had in NJ, it only works with a solid goalie. So if Kipper goes, Sutter should.

Islanders are right in the mix! Gold!

But is the organization too proud to issue an apology letter to the fans?
- TheMadNavigator

Somehow yes. Snow/Wang basically said no major shakeups were going to take place in the offseason and pointed to some success against quality teams like Detroit/Philly to claim we can "play against anyone". Strangely they failed to mention things like blowing 2 goal leads inside 2 minutes and losing in OT to the Capitals or letting up 10+ goals this season on the opponents first shot of the game.

Leaf fans will have to admit that were it not for Jonas this team would have not even been close to a playoff spot.


We were close to a playoff spot?

Off topic, but does anyone have any ecommended Playoff Pool formats? I'd like to change the pool up this year and get away from picking players, and more towards picking series/winning-team outcomes. I've heard of pool formats before where everyone has a certain number of "points" that they can use to bet on a series (there are a minimum # of points to bet per series, and a max # of points you can bet per series). I can't seem to find more info about this online anymore.