Cityofchampions33

From SoSH

Hearing it's a package around Hagadone and Bowden, which is awesome. Buchholz and Bard, hopefully Kelly, and Anderson are still here when all is said and done.

For the retirement, Don and Castiglione will start off, followed by Rice accompanied by his family walking towards the first base line. Don and Joe will the narrate his career and through the dialogue, will introduce renowned players who played with him, maybe Yaz, definitely Freddy Lynn. Pesky will pull off the red covering of his number. Rice will throw the first pitch, and his daughter will yell "Play Ball!"

No, they just want him to realize he's a RFA not a UFA, he doesn't have the same type of leverage and his agent thinks his goal production is worth their high demands. If anything Kobasew/Ward, maybe Ference will be shipped out to clear room and then they're looking at Zubov. Signing Kessel to a Krejci terms deal and Zubov at 1.5 would make this team Cup worthy. Zubov only comes if we trade a defenseman in my theory btw.

Hunwick resigned to 2 years at a 1.45 mill cap hit

double post

There are many reasons why I like this deal. 1) Thomas is an ELITE NHL GOALIE, you can say he’s ‘above-average’ all you want, but he wont the Vezina, and if you hold Ward to his Vezina standings, then you should do the same for Thomas. I consider Roloson, and Conklin ‘above-average’ I don’t consider a .927 save % from two all star seasons to be just ‘above-average’, .927, a save percentage which Brodeur hasn’t recorded since 1996. Oh, and by the way, Brodeur has never gotten a .933 S% like Thomas just did in his entire CAREER. 2) Thomas only has 219 professional regular season games played, including in Sweden, the wear and tear on him is not NEARLY the same as it is on a goalie like Brodeur, who has played 999 regular season games and is just 2 years older than TT. And I’m even sparing playoff games. His style isn’t enough to make up that kind of a difference. 3) I don’t believe, despite the points I just made, that Thomas will be our starter for 4 years. The way I see it is that he starts 1 or 2 more years here, with the divvy of the starts slowly tilting towards Rask, until Rask can take over. When that occurs, you do not want a backup at 5 mill with a start who might reach his bonuses at 3 mill, that, I agree, is nonsensical, that’s why at this point we trade Thomas, who will have trade value because of my prior points. 4) I do not want to rush Rask, much like Hannu and Razor, oh and what the hell, Price. I love how he has started two full seasons in the A, and has been accustomed to the workload a goalie must withstand and be able to build his consistency over that number of games. I would love even more if we let him backup Thomas and learn the ropes for a season or two, he will start only 20-30 games this year, and if Thomas stays, then start 30-40 the next year. After that he is prepared to be thrown into the fire, and has no excuses but to execute with his talent. I don’t think it stunts his growth, but yes I think 4 seasons of pine would do nothing but piss him off and at some point have him demand a trade. 5) The deal was necessary to keep him here. I highly doubt he stays all 4 years, and that’s why I like it. As for everything else you mentioned. While I agree he is not elite in terms of all time greats, still, not one of Roy, Hasek, or Brodeur have beaten Thomas’ .933 S% of last year. Only Hasek has beaten it with an ungodly .937. You can’t put him down if he keeps improving with every season. You may be right about some of these cup winning goalies being a bit overrated, but I think they’re a little better than above average don’t you? And if they’re not then how do you supposed they won? Is it perhaps because since goalie is such an important position a hot one can steal a series and lead a team on a cup run? Hmmm… Also Pittsburgh had a great defense this year, they were solid from 1-6 and without that defensive depth Detroit eats them alive. So in that way they did build from the net out, while striking gold with Malkin and everyone tabbing Crosby as the next great one. A 2 time all star and Vezina winner is not going to have ‘little’ trade value, and I’ve already covered the aging well part, as well as why I defend the deal. I think the contracts of Sturm, Kobasew, and if he doesn’t get back to his level of talent, Bergeron’s contracts are more crippling. If we can ship out Kobasew, re-sign Kessel, and get a 2nd pairing puck moving d, then you can’t even really say the contract is handcuffing seeing as we’ve done everything we wanted to. And players leaving is just the nature of the cap, we have a young core who are all at the end of their entry-level deals, it’s not because we overpaid for our ELITE goalie.

He won't be Thomas' backup for 4 years, he either starts within the next 2 or he's gone.

You're speaking the obvious when you say you need to be 'above-average in all facets of the game', that's a pretty basic point if you want to contend. But you are more likely to succeed with better goaltending and defense than a stellar offense, though it helps. Fleury, while I understand is overrated, is still a very very good goalie, and is only going to improve at his age. And if you're suggesting getting the two best superstars on the planet instead of a great goaltender is a better cup formula all teams should follow, then yes I agree, but something tells me that's not easy to come by. Ward I like even better, and you can't credit that to their style of play, because they're not that great defensively to begin with. He stole a few games in the Bs series, Devils series and already stood on his head during their Cup winning run, not to mention I'm just a sucker for his smooth style of play. Okay, so that's two goalies on the list of seven that I named, and I take that since you didn't critique the rest of them, you don't exactly mind them. There's a reason you hear of a goalie stealing a series, and not just one player. The Goaltender position is the most important in hockey, so don't you think you should have your best player at that position? I do understand what you're saying, it is a handcuffing contract, especially since the cap hit stays no matter if we buy him out. But who's to say we don't trade him after 2 years or even after this year and let Rask take over? I think that's the only way this deal makes sense, unless we don't think Rask can cut it, because we can't expect him to sit and play backup for 4 years. Bottom line is one of them has to go within the next two years, and my money's on Thomas. But for now, we have once again one of the best tandems in hockey. Because Thomas is an elite NHL goaltender, you can say maybe in 4 years he won't be, but you cannot deny that about this year, and especially last year.

Ask the Red Wings if they won this year. But even still, Lidstrom? Rafalski? Chelios? Kronwall? Please even I'd do decently as that team's goalie. Fluery, Giguere, Ward, Habby, Brodeur, Hasek, Roy. Those are the other goalies besides Osgood to win a Cup in recent years, YOU NEED GREAT GOALTENDING.

I'm with Dojji on this one. You build from the net out, which is why I wouldn't have been surprised at the Kessel for Kabs trade, or if we sacrifice Kessel for a puck moving defenseman. As much as I'm psyched for Rask, Thomas is a much more stable and proven tender to lead this team in it's cup aspirations, and can help be the team's backbone as we ease Rask into his future starting role. You say you want Clemmenson, he was more than likely a product of the terrific NJ trap system. Habby only saves you a mill, and you pay for that mill in a lesser talent and less consistency. Also, if we had Habby, you probably play Rask a bit more, and guess what? That probably gives him a better chance to reach his bonuses, so then you save less than a mill.

Hey boys, tonight I am speaking to you from the press box, in company with tony mazz, amalie benjamin, and I now know where the official scorer is. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Agreed, 5 mill for the Vezina trophy winner is a damned good deal. Look at all the other contracts in the league, 9 goalies had 5 mill or more and Timmy got the award for being the BEST goalie, so how isn't that a good deal? Yes, I am taking his age into account, and even then, he has lower mileage on him than other goalies.

I've been torturing myself watching stanley cup celebrations all night. f*** I want that cup, and if not for the worst officiating i've seen in awhile we may have been a game closer than where we stand right now. hats off to the RBC Center crowd though, jeez they can make noise

+5

I think Gainey gave them the "Sean Avery" green light, antagonize but don't let them take their frustrations out in a fight. O'Byrne was example A, bump into Thornton, fall to the ice like a bitch, and then have the balls to jaw back at Thornton in the box, what kind of s*** is that? Then in a postgame interview he goes on talking about how the Habs showed their "toughness" all game. Yeah, okay, you and Komisarek were really intimidating by covering up and letting the linesmen protect you.

That's like the basis of our defensive strategy when things are going well, give up a lot of shots, but from weak areas. if you look back at our amazing November and december, you can see this rings true. Also fluke goals, or garbage goals, are sometimes a product of dominant play and hard work, which IMO happened that game. the devils hardly got any quality chances on Thomas all game. Looking increasingly like it's Les Habitantes yet again this year for the playoffs, and I say bring it. I think this team when it either gets riled up via fights/atmosphere, it really rises to the occasion. Look at any Stars/Habs game this season, and they play well when a lot is on the line. That is why I feel they are made for the playoffs.

Everyone can jump back on the bandwagon now, it's cool

Next season is the plan, kids still working on consistency in the A. Plus give Fernandez a break it's his 2nd game in a month, and he looked good despite leaving upstairs open in the shootout.

Agreed, as much as I love our team's newfound success, I miss the days of yesteryear where you could walk up 6:30 and get a student admission ticket. Big game tonight boys, unfortunately Joe Tho is playing us at a time where we're playing very uninspired hockey, but let's see how she rides and hopefully pull out a W.

Sloppy win last night, let that top line get out of control.

Impressive win tonight, Jack was hysterical talkin about Chara's slapper injuring Biron haha.