Haha yea theres no way they are involving themselves with anything to do with Jagr at this point.

Thanks Gunner, well done. Staal is getting married Friday? To whom, may I ask? Anyone see this coming. All this Staal fantasy trade talk and no one mentioned the reality of marrige. Funny.
- powerhouse

My wife is going to be heartbroken. I guess she's stuck with me now.

That was game #1, and I still have no idea what Steve Larmer was doing on that play lol.
- rival22

He was thinking the puck was going to hop over Murphy's stick and he'd have a breakaway. To say he didn't play good situational hockey is a bit of an understatement.

My wife is going to be heartbroken. I guess she's stuck with me now.
- Emperor Filonius

Simon Despres will make the team for sure.

Simon Despres will make the team for sure.
- Thehabsfan93

Anybody say otherwise?

Simon Despres will make the team for sure.
- Thehabsfan93

I agree! Any thoughts about Engo moving up to wing in a forth line role. Has he ever played forward before. I like to have him as the resident tough guy on the team, but its hard as a D-man to take yourself out of games with majors. Also, he could fill in as a seventh D-man if required.

The Leafs have what every team wants: a boatload of young quality defensemen.

I'm fairly confident they can make it happen without giving up on our depth.
- thomas81

Please name this boatload of quality defensemen? I can name one.

Please name this boatload of quality defensemen? I can name one.
- Oneonta Penguin

The list begins and ends with Gardiner. Maybe Franson and Schenn might look a whole lot better on a different team...but those are the only D-men worth a mention with regards to young and quality.

Interesting thought...I'd make two small edits.

First, if I was Anaheim I would try to swap Kennedy out for another player. I'd ask for Beau Bennett (but expect to be rejected by Shero), but settle for Dustin Jeffrey. Jeffrey is (i) younger by ~1.5yrs, (ii) bigger at 6'1", 205lbs, and most importantly (iii) a RFA at the end of this season, as opposed to Kennedy who is a UFA.

Second, if I was Shero i'd ask for some sort of draft pick compensation back, contingent on Staal extending with Anaheim. Something along the lines of 2nd or 3rd round pick if Staal extends.

Final thoughts...Harrigton and Niskanen seem like a lot of D heading to Anaheim w/ none coming back, but Bobby Ryan is a serious gamer. My fist hope would be to re-sign Staal long-term, but if that can't be done I'd think long and hard about this trade.
- s0rcerer1984

I was going to say, that is an awful lot going to Anaheim for Ryan, especially if Staal resigns with the Ducks.

So now Martin says he had a concussion? What when he ran into Fleurry? Crazy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/

my take on martin is simple:

he is a talented dman and a good one to have. he was easily our best dman against TB in the playoffs.

however, martin is another casualty of Bylsma's system. funny how we see guys like Gill (after Scuds left), Poni, Sykora, and all of these ex penguins leave because they were struggling and go succeed in another system and i wouldnt say blossom, but do well on another team.

i met martin once, he is a really good guy. he isn't a bad dman but i think he is the scapegoat for the penguins defense as a whole. oprik had a terrible year. michalek had an off year. engelland had an off year. why is martin being the only one criticized? because martin has the deadly combo of being overpaid and not performing as well.

i think that once scuds and gill left, everyone expected martin and michalek to become the next great pairing and the fact is, they arent. they arent phyiscal enough to play together and that is where the problem is.

so here is my 2 solutions.

1. you attempt to trade martin to free up cap. if you do this, you have 5 dman set for next season. and a number knocking on the door.
-Oprik/Letang
-Michalek/Empty
-Niskanen/Despres
-Engelland/Strait/Lovejoy/Bortuzzo
I think Lovejoy gets traded and so does Strait. You then decide what to do about signing a FA or putting Bortuzzo in for a top 4 role.

2. You hold on to Martin
Letang-Oprik
Despres-Martin
Niskanen-Michalek

I like Martin, but there is no way you can give up Despres's spot. if you need to clear a spot to get Despres in, you do that.

my take on martin is simple:

he is a talented dman and a good one to have. he was easily our best dman against TB in the playoffs.

however, martin is another casualty of Bylsma's system. funny how we see guys like Gill (after Scuds left), Poni, Sykora, and all of these ex penguins leave because they were struggling and go succeed in another system and i wouldnt say blossom, but do well on another team.

i met martin once, he is a really good guy. he isn't a bad dman but i think he is the scapegoat for the penguins defense as a whole. oprik had a terrible year. michalek had an off year. engelland had an off year. why is martin being the only one criticized? because martin has the deadly combo of being overpaid and not performing as well.

i think that once scuds and gill left, everyone expected martin and michalek to become the next great pairing and the fact is, they arent. they arent phyiscal enough to play together and that is where the problem is.

so here is my 2 solutions.

1. you attempt to trade martin to free up cap. if you do this, you have 5 dman set for next season. and a number knocking on the door.
-Oprik/Letang
-Michalek/Empty
-Niskanen/Despres
-Engelland/Strait/Lovejoy/Bortuzzo
I think Lovejoy gets traded and so does Strait. You then decide what to do about signing a FA or putting Bortuzzo in for a top 4 role.

2. You hold on to Martin
Letang-Oprik
Despres-Martin
Niskanen-Michalek

I like Martin, but there is no way you can give up Despres's spot. if you need to clear a spot to get Despres in, you do that.
- SuperHenderson13

The point you make about the system being Martins down fall is the same reason so many of our d men had off years. Bylsma had to play a more responsible system with Crosby and Malkin out, the year we were all happy with Martin at 5M. Z and Orpik played well in that system. Letang is the only d man from last year who can play what Bylsma wants to play.

I would suggest that if only 1 of your 6 dmen on the ice are capable of regularly handling the coaches system, the system not so much the roster needs to be changed.

The first 10 games of this season will show if Bylsma has learnt anything and realised he needs to tone back the north, north, north attitude and get some help in the back end to stop dman making mistakes and MAF to bail the team out more often than he should.

Congrats to Geno on award #1 the Lindsey! Still can't understand a word, but well deserved. Let's just get back to Conn Smythes and Stanley Cups!

Congrats to Geno on award #1 the Lindsey! Still can't understand a word, but well deserved. Let's just get back to Conn Smythes and Stanley Cups!
- Sell My Monkey

Working plz updare on genos awards. Thx

Congrats to Geno on award #1 the Lindsey! Still can't understand a word, but well deserved. Let's just get back to Conn Smythes and Stanley Cups!
- Sell My Monkey

I thought he did pretty well. I have a hard time with accents and I got the most of what Malkin was saying.

The point you make about the system being Martins down fall is the same reason so many of our d men had off years. Bylsma had to play a more responsible system with Crosby and Malkin out, the year we were all happy with Martin at 5M. Z and Orpik played well in that system. Letang is the only d man from last year who can play what Bylsma wants to play.

I would suggest that if only 1 of your 6 dmen on the ice are capable of regularly handling the coaches system, the system not so much the roster needs to be changed.

The first 10 games of this season will show if Bylsma has learnt anything and realised he needs to tone back the north, north, north attitude and get some help in the back end to stop dman making mistakes and MAF to bail the team out more often than he should.
- walshy66

Completely agree. Congrats to Geno on taking the Lindsey!

Malkin!!!! MVP!!!! Wooooooooooooooo!!!!

And a shout out to Gonch! Who saw that coming??? Love that Geno!!!

Now stop any suggestions to trade, just stop. Now. Geno!

Malkin!!!! MVP!!!! Wooooooooooooooo!!!!

And a shout out to Gonch! Who saw that coming??? Love that Geno!!!

Now stop any suggestions to trade, just stop. Now. Geno!
- powerhouse

"I just want to give this trophy to him". Lollll

Malkin!!!! MVP!!!! Wooooooooooooooo!!!!

And a shout out to Gonch! Who saw that coming??? Love that Geno!!!

Now stop any suggestions to trade, just stop. Now. Geno!
- powerhouse

Yeah I thought he said Gonchar but then I thought he said something like "I'd like to meet him" and I was all.... what?

The point you make about the system being Martins down fall is the same reason so many of our d men had off years. Bylsma had to play a more responsible system with Crosby and Malkin out, the year we were all happy with Martin at 5M. Z and Orpik played well in that system. Letang is the only d man from last year who can play what Bylsma wants to play.

I would suggest that if only 1 of your 6 dmen on the ice are capable of regularly handling the coaches system, the system not so much the roster needs to be changed.

The first 10 games of this season will show if Bylsma has learnt anything and realised he needs to tone back the north, north, north attitude and get some help in the back end to stop dman making mistakes and MAF to bail the team out more often than he should.
- walshy66

yea that was what i was getting at. Martin had an off year not because of a lack of talent, but because his coach has a system where only one guy can really play it well... maybe 2 if you count niskanen.

Malkin was unbelievable all season and deserved every award he got. Biggest dissapointment is quick not winning the vezina, he was the reason the kings were able to just make the playoffs

Malkin was unbelievable all season and deserved every award he got. Biggest dissapointment is quick not winning the vezina, he was the reason the kings were able to just make the playoffs
- drummer829

http://my.hockeybuzz.com/...er_id=25345&post_id=13288

http://my.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?user_id=25345&post_id=13288
- Gunner Staal

Exactly, Lundqvist had support all season long while quick had to single handedly save wins or keep games close. Not saying lundqvist isn't good, it's just that a good team like the rangers contributed a lot to his success

Exactly, Lundqvist had support all season long while quick had to single handedly save wins or keep games close. Not saying lundqvist isn't good, it's just that a good team like the rangers contributed a lot to his success
- drummer829

I agree with all saying Quick should have won, sadly it was very evident that King Henry would take the hardware(based on his nom for the Hart). The Karlsson pick for the Norris made me shake my head a little bit too. This is a very average, if not below average defender that just put up points(hello Mike Green). But then, if Lindstrom can win it with a +/- in the red, then what does this trophy really stand for??