French Collection

Happy to see the Blues play, they're a good club. My hope for this year is gone so all I can say is the same thing I tell my 12 year old: Play hard, have fun.

I am usually not in favour of signing a 27 year old to a 7 year deal but JT is elite. I know his production would decline in a year or two but he is the type who could transform his game, similar to what Yzerman did. I think ROR would have to leave for cap/ice time reasons and I'm OK with that as he would bring a nice bundle in return. We would be ahead by the JT upgrade plus the return for ROR. I agree he would be the captain and have the respect of the room.

From shovelling?

Houston is closer to the Central, once Arizona relocates.

Sam's hometown Canucks just lost 1C Bo Horvat. I like Sam but thought his trajectory would have an upward slope.

Changed.

Pretty solid effort all around. Jack and Evander finally cashed in after being snake bitten earlier in the game. Wilson and ERod were good. Fasching with some power forward work on the boards and in front of the net. Risto with some snarl. PP looked better, should score soon, now that the D goal curse has been lifted. Antipin and Falk were a decent third pairing. Put on your big boy pants and take on some stiffer competition.

Marty and Duffer talking up Wilson. He is playing well, definitely an injection of speed with him and ERod. Wilson made a nice play in the first, bringing the puck out of the corner and turning to shoot on net. It was a play I thought Matty would never have made. Plus he kills penalties. Swiss Army knife.

Moulson to be the catalyst for a Calder Cup?

They are not tanking. It has been said before, but players won't throw a game on purpose. JBot has had enough time to see this sh#% show first hand and now he will make some moves.

There may be a way, retire, join the Strassbourg Sloths for $5 million a season. TP can buy that franchise if he has to.

Hear, hear!

That's an improvement. He's also a fraction of Matty's cap hit, if they can swing a creative retirement.

I wonder if management can have him "retire" and then pay him a behind closed door settlement to get cap relief. How about pay his salary in the European league of his choice? JBot could convince TP to drill another well and pay Matty what he is owed.

NHL trade freeze during the holidays is December 19-27.

He also said that they may wait until the deadline to deal Kane. He provided a couple of examples of rentals getting multiple high picks, Martin Hanzal was one of them.

After Crosby's retirement he will join Mario in the ownership group and they miraculously win the draft lottery.

TM probably wanted him in Rochester to more closely monitor the development. In hindsight, Sweden's top league may have been a good option. I don't think junior would have helped.

Agree with this. His injury history is not good and he's off to his best start. I'm terrified he has a season ending injury before he is dealt.

Here's the short version. Briere's book is called Mister Playoffs. He has a chapter on his season in Montreal. He and Therrien did not get along, Therrien actually went out of his to do some mean things to Danny. He did tell him that no one wants to play with him. Danny wanted to be a leader but Therrien tossed him aside. In one instance, Briere had taken a penalty in a 6-2 win vs the Wild. The next day's video session showed all of his teammates blocking shots during the selfish penalty. Danny said this was embarrassing and hurtful. The team was struggling with shootouts and Briere offered to help, saying he much success in Philadelphia in over 50 shootout attempts. The next day's practice had every player except Danny and George Parros taking shootout practice. Pacioretty said Danny had not voiced his issues and had shown a lot of leadership during his season. Says he learned a lot from Briere. Marc Bergevin said he respects Danny and goes out of his way chat with him. David Desharnais slams Therrien as well, saying that the negative feedback from previous games was brought up 2 hours prior to the next game, putting guys in a bad frame of mind. Michel Therrien had no comments on the book.

I'm French, I'll have a look.

Good post. I am still watching the games on TV but it's difficult to take this team. I was joking in another thread about parachuting Messier into that room to kick some butt. Strong leadership may be the key ingredient to get the team together and pulling in the same direction. I was happy on opening night that they had gone with no captain, I did not think there was a clear leader. I currently doubt there is someone in that room who can fill that role. Jack may mature into that role, (stop with the eye rolls). The top talent may not be the best leaders. Bobby Orr was not the captain, neither was Guy Lafleur. Gordie Howe was captain for a short period. I don't care if it's McCabe, I just wish someone would emerge and be strong. Perhaps importing another past his prime guy like Gionta may work.

Linus Weissbach is a freshman at U is Wisconsin, scoring 12 points in 15 games. Good for a seventh rounder.

He's not old enough to drink, but if he did, it would be Dos Equis.

It's still a lottery system so don't get your hopes up. Remember Edmonton is also a bottom feeder again. Dahlin is the consensus #1, dynamic defenseman has been in Sweden's top league for two years as a 16 & 17 year old. He is a standout there and may be on their Olympic team. Some say he may be the best D-man in a while. I've seen Svechnikov, Merkley, MCLeod and Hayton in the OHL. They didn't stand out in the games I watched but Svechnikov had put up good numbers prior to breaking his arm. There are a lot of high end D-Men in this draft.