apuszczalowski

I would almost be willing to say PK gets a similar, maybe even bigger Ovation from the crowd when he returns to Montreal. He was a fan favorite, just not a management favorite...........

But with a talented/good management in place, none of this should be a problem. Just look at the 2 most successful teams of the last 5-10 years, the Hawks and Pens, they each have big money tied up in atleast 2 great players, and every year when you think they are going to be in trouble, some team comes in and helps bail them out and they continue to succeed. They have to deal some good prospect and make some tough deals, but every year they are also right in the conversation of who is in the hunt for the cup. The key to all of this is hoping buffalo has a management team like the hawks or Pens, and not like the Bruins........

I don't know if he has really been around the lockerroom long enough that he could be a negative presence yet. Right now the team hasn't been under any pressure to do anything but suck to get a better pick, and theres been no pressure to win because they are young and developing, the lockerroom is probably pretty loose. I'm sure the guys right now love him for taking them places after games and do other things, but it may differ when put in a situation where the team starts feeling the pressure to buckle down and show results like in Winnipeg. When that happens, sleeping cause you were out the night before may piss off many in the room because your not helping pull your weight

How many times have we heard of a contract being an albatross to a team and that they will never be able to get out from under it so that team will be screwed, then BAM, trade is made and the player is gone Last season the Leafs moved both Kessel (Kessel actually played better and helped his new team) and Phaneuf (Dion continued to look like a flesh coloured road cone..) Columbus traded Nathan Horton who may never play again, Vancouver had to trade away Schneider cause no one was ever going to take Luongos contract. Theres plenty of examples and if Okposo is still able to play even at a lesser role, some team may be willing to take him on to help reach the floor and bring in someone with a little name recognition.

Would it have really taken a player of Halls caliber to get Larsson though or was that what was offered and Edmonton/Chia stumbled over themselves to do whatever it took to get Chias guy? I know its not cheap to trade for a defencemen, but getting a player of Halls caliber into the forward ranks opens the door to make a better forward expendable here for additional help. Now you say it took a Taylor Hall to get Larsson (top tier forward to get a mediocre defencemen w/ potential?), then by that thinking you could also say it only took Larsson to get Taylor Hall. It also took PK Subban to get Shea Weber, or it took Shea Weber to get PK Subban. Theres 2 sides to every trade and from one side it could look like it took a ot to get someone, but from the other it could look like you gave up little to get something better. It took a 1st round pick to get Paul Gaustad, but it also took only Paul Gaustad to get a 1st round pick...... A for Demers, i have read that he could be a great signing by a team because of analytics

I agree that I like the idea of bringing in a veteran like Nash, if they can get him for a reasonable deal (ie, I wouldn't overpay) and the hope is he would provide leadership and mentorship to the young guys here and will either be on his way out or be willing to step down the ranks for some of the youth when they step up into bigger roles And if we have learned anything over the last few weeks/months its that there are always teams looking to reach the cap floor and willing to take bad contracts off your hands............

I agree, but it always seems that half the crowd will take the comment one way, the other half take it a different way. To me, I think I am in the crowd that it shows he wanted to be a part of the solution and wanted to stay and finish the job, he takes being trade as being that the team didn't feel he was good enough to be part of the solution That's the thing with trades that must be hard on a player, most times the player feels hurt by their team trading them because they feel like the team didn't want them, instead of looking at it another way that the team they are going to was willing to give up assets to bring you in. So then they can go out and trade or sign someone to take Ristos place. If you can trade a player who is good for a player who is Really good, you do it. It can also open up options of being able to trade away someone/something else who before wasn't Tradeable because you needed them. If you trade Risto straight up for hall, this opens the door to make a player like Kane expendable where maybe he can be used to bring in a Shattenkirk or Fowler. As I mentioned, I wouldn't actively put Risto on the market and shop him for just anyone, but if your offered a top tier NHL player for him, straight up, why would you not do it?

If they were willing to give up Hall for Risto (straight up swap), TM needs to be fired right now......... Risto may end up as a top pair defencemen (and I wouldn't be actively looking to trade him, but I would listen to offers on anyone), I just don't see him being in the top 5-10 of the players at his position in the NHL like Hall can be

Montreal said the same thing about PK I believe, it could be the equivalent of an NFL owner saying he is fully behind his coach and he won't be fired, kiss of death..........

Thats what I thought but then I had just heard something on Sportsnet here where they said midnight (does the NBA FA period kick off at midnight?). So its 12 hours away instead of the 15 minutes I mentioned before........... Still doesn't excuse the lack of action right now

But thats the problem with today, at 24 you are not a kid, and the attitude shouldn't be that they are young/kids and will do stupid things. Most people are out of school and into a career by 24, they are adults (young adults atleast) and need to be treated like ones where their actions have consequences. These athletes have been working in their "careers" for a while now at age 24 making more money then most will see in their entire time working, they are in a career where they will be looked at as "role models" by youth, and celebrities who can't sneak around going unnoticed like you or i can. If we go to a bar and get tossed, chances are it doesn't get noticed, if they go out and do it, its going to get noticed and make headlines that may make their employer look bad. If we do something that makes our employer look bad, we would face some consequences too, but lucky for us it would take doing something bigger to get the media to report on an incident from any of us. With their jobs and for the salaries they get paid, these guys have big responsibilities to the league and teams not to tarnish the league/teams image. Some are willing to forgo heading out to public clubs on a regular basis to party and will instead stay low key so they stay out of trouble, others need to seek out the attention and adoration of everyone. Thats usually one of the issues with the big name athletes because they grew up constantly being told how special and great they are because of their natural skills and they believe the hype cause they know no better. I'm assuming it was the Sabres and TMs hope that giving Kane the change of scenery after what happened in Winnipeg with his teammates, he would have learned from it and hopefully matured to a point where he would change his attitude and be humbled. It doesn't appear to have worked as he is still putting himself in a positions where he can be looked at for causing an incident or trouble (whether he actually did or not)

More like start practicing " Its ok, he wasn't worth that kind of money and will only hamper the development of the youth, paying him that kind of money will prevent us from re-signing someone else later, he is getting older and his skills will only be declining, by the time everyones developed and we are ready to make a run at the cup they will be a shell of their former self" The above could work for any free agent available............. So........... 15 minutes left til the starting bell rings, how long until we hear of the first signing by a team? How long until we see a comment laughing at a signing for be ludicrous or a gross overpayment?

maybe they know something no one else does about him?

He did make Yoko Ono famous and a household name

I'm not surprised he is looking at moving him,I think they are getting tired of the off ice incidences. And yes, I know he hasn't been charged with anything, but that doesn't mean that nothing went on that just might not have been as serious as what's been reported. The fact that they have had 2 times where Buffalo police are investigating him because of stuff going on off the ice might be enough for the Sabres to be looking at if there's interest in other teams for him

Phaneuf also said he would be spending that day with Kessel too (they are really close friends) I personally wanted to see Kessel throw his own parade down Younge street (or just around the block that the arena is on a few times) in a convertible, with the cup flipping off everyone in Toronto. (Eating hotdogs and donuts would make it even better. Unfortunately that won't be happening, he is bringing it there and being nice/classy as he says Toronto is his home still. I just thought of anothering thing for his parade, with Dion being there he could just run around to different spots and stand there to block traffic,most Leafs fans thought he was a pylon on the ice away.......

I would have assumed there were some picks involved in this deal to even it out, but then again it is Edmonton. I hear there are police surrounding the Devils front office ready to charge them with rape and grand theft after what they just did....

I disagree, if anything I think he is one of the only GMs I think wouldn't care about the unwritten rule and use offer sheets to his advantage, but only if it's a player they really want

It's crazy how badly the Habs management seemed to hate PK. It seemed like they couldn't wait to get rid of him. I think they like Weber because he appears to be a no-nonsense leader guy who won't be as fun loving as PK and be serious all the time. If they want more leadership, maybe they will be willing to swap Price for Gionta?

Now that stamkos is out, does TM make the rumored move with Edmonton for Yak and look spend the rest of the time looking for defencemen?

I don't even know if he makes it to this season. If they sign Stamkos and Vesey they have to move some forwards and they may cut ties with Gionta and give the 'C' to ROR. Don't know if getting the 'C' would be an issue for SS.

all Stamkos needs to do is call up Phaneuf and Kessel and ask them what it's like to play in Toronto as their top paid saviour, I think you would see the cartoon smoke/dust cloud and Stamkos would be gone As for those who wouldn't do it for more then 5 years, if there's anything we should have learned by now, bad contracts are not hard to dump. How many times have we laughed at other teams dumb financial moves only to see them get out of it later by dealing the player to a bottom feeder looking for cap help or a name to sell merchandise. It didn't take the Wings long to go from Datsyuks contract is untradeable to done deal Phoenix.

Yup, thats a common move in the construction trades, a bid thats much higher then the reasonable average is basically the company telling you in a nice way that they are too busy to do the work, unless you want to grossly overpay for it. Some will also do this to keep their name on a bidders list for future bids but remove themselves from that bid Basically its Minnys way of telling all the GMs interested that they dont want to deal the player, unless your willing to grossly overpay. The Wild may not be actively shopping the players, but that doesn't stop other GMs from calling and asking what it would take.

Sadly (because I don't think Fleury is all that great) trading him would not be the best move for the Pens unless they could land another starting caliber guy in FA. There's no guarantee that Murray will repeat what he did in the playoffs, and dumping MAF before they know Murray can continue playing as well as he did would put them on a spot where they could end up with no goalie

Toronto made their move for a starter, any other goalie they try and get will be a backup to push out Bernier,and possibly be a 1b to Anderson