IKnowPhysics

Yep, and there goes Redden. Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie Well, there it is. Wade Redden a STL Blue. Hearing 1 year deal, $800K base salary with GP bonuses that could make it $1M total.

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie LAK were another Western team interested in Redden as well. You could say that cools the market a little when you have D to sell, but I think this is better news for a potential move. 1) The D we have to offer in trade are better than Redden. 2) The "stronger" rumor is that Redden is on his way to StL: Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie Eastern Conference team interested in UFA Wade Redden was told he's going to West. All the speculation is on STL. Decision expected soon. 3) It all but confirms LA's interest in acquiring D.

If people haven't put it together yet, he's Paul Gaustad with about 50% more offensive production and 50% more grit (if we're counting hits, he's 13th in hits in the league). Seeing how he now makes the same salary as Gaustad, he might bring a little more for the money. IF the Kings could spend less than $1.5M on Gomez, it might be worth it for them to move Stoll. Their D line could use a bolster after the top few guys- Sekera would be an immediate upgrade over Alec Martinez. FWIW, the Kings fans like Stoll, but they're fickle about stardom. This is defintely not a case where the fans hated on Jack Johnson so much the team put him in Columbus.

###### the $120k Pegula donated to the city last year, we want free hats!

January 17, 2013

Better than a hat for Bob Geoffrion. Imagine how that guys feels.

Vanek and Pominville are the only two established top six players in our top six. Losing one of them without a suitable replacement would be a step backwards, espcially since we need more players that qualify in this regard.

Even with Byron in there, most felt we fleeced Calgary. He put up decent points in juniors and in the A, but hasn't gotten a good shot to stick with a big club yet. Calgary wants to make room, but it's possible someone claims him. Edit: And I haven't really looked the Regehr trade in a while... To Buffalo: Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik (bought out), 2nd round pick (Jake McCabe, captain at Wisconsin and Team USA in WJC) To Calgary: Chris Butler, Paul Byron (waived) Assuming Jake McCabe is as good or better than Butler, we bought Regehr for the price of buying out Kotalik and giving Calgary a player they would stick in the AHL. Jinkies.

I disagree with your interpretation of his performance last season. Did he produce fewer points last season than any season since his rookie season and put up his worst +/- since his sophomore season? Of course, but he wasn't playing big minutes on the offensive side of the puck (he only took 51 shots, 2 more than offensive powerhouse Mike Weber, who had played 25 fewer games). Instead, he played the hard defensive minutes, as indicated by the player usage charts (http://bit.ly/W2Okem), seeing the hardest quality of competition on the team by far and seeing the highest percentage of defensive zone starts on the team (behind only Kaleta and Ellis). He was brought in to be the veteran stay-at-home defenseman and compliment the younger offensive and two-way Dmen, and that's exactly how Ruff used him. He got the toughest assignments, and I think he played well in them. One of the analysts that worked on the usage charts puts it best: At the end of the day, he isn't unmovable, but with team full of young offensive defensemen and more coming the pipeline, I think a veteran stay-at-home presence could be critical. And now I realize that this post is 10 days old.

It'd be funny if the Islanders had some Nobel prize-winning analytics team working the waiver wire Moneyball style and built some crazy-good team of leftovers. But it's even funnier to remember that that's not true, waiver claims are the only way they can get players to play on their team, and they'll be pretty bad again this year. Makes me wonder if Columbus will "replace Nash" with waiver pickups.

Darcy, don't grab either of them. Good job. You did well.

I think we all think the bags was a nice idea. But, not pointing any fingers, they could of been done better. So how bout, no bags this time, but next time, we do the bags right, and then go full regalia.

"That team didn't have anybody good on it until they all did that thing that made me think they were good." Stellar.

Also, Puck Daddy notes that Columbus is setting up for an absolutely abyssmal season: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/blue-jackets-face-lowest-season-ticket-total-franchise-220345908--nhl.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Kopi and Doughty were on the list in 2011: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=49962

Arguments can be made that Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick have been really good for a while now. Don't feel bad- I was surprised how good they were when I watched them first hand for the first time. But that was 2010.

Let's pretend for a moment that Leino is right, Ennis continues to roll, and Hodgson performs as well as expected. We could be on the verge of the good ol' days of rolling three/four scoring lines. Game on, already.

Gomez Rule now in effect: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=413602 I assume this doesn't affect Leino, because if we're going to pay him this season anyways, he's going to get a roster spot; risk of injury be damned?

We don't need to derail the thread too much, but I think if you risk death to be on the team, you deserve serious consideration also. Toss on top of that the franchise record for goals in a season (standing as the 5th highest in the NHL). AMo's defection (a pretty good read, for those who haven't yet): http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/article/the-historic-defection.html

If we're shooting the ###### with trade ideas... To Detroit: Reggie Sekera (3 years left), Jordan Leopold (UFA) To Buffalo: Valteri Filppula (UFA), Drew Miller (UFA)

Encouraging. I'm getting amped about the season.

I, for one, am looking forward to watching a team that went 20-8-6 in their last 34 games and may have only gotten better and healthier in the offseason

I hate when GR has a point:

Well, Peters did spend an offseason taking boxing lessons, it's not unreasonable to think he'd have a few pointers. Wonder if watching Ray growing up was the reason he wore 32 throughout his career.

He's from St Catherines; I believe it.