General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

SpezDispenser wrote:Perfect as a depth guy for the Sens I say!

So would Lee Versage.

Something to debate:

Pittsburgh could use, dare I say NEED a wing or two... they obviously have a few assets that could land them a big time winger.

For example, Malkin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk (+) gives both teams what they need. Pittsburgh is paying both Crosby and Malkin $8.7M, and they also have Jordan Staal making $4M. That is $21.4 for 3 centres.

Let's just look at Malkin for Kovalchuk. Atlanta gets a locked-up, young centre who is marketable as a franchise player. Pittsburgh gets a winger who has consistently scored 40+ goals. They would be best to be able to sign him to an equal (8.7M) or less deal.

They could offer Staal, but then they would still be paying 8.7M for 2 centres + another $8M+ for Kovalchuk - too much.

Now, maybe Staal could be sent to Carolina for Whitney and/or Cole. Carolina gets another Staal, and Pittsburgh gets two wingers. Cole is not the player he used to be, and Whitney is not young, so Carolina might have to offer up more, but with their 1st round pick looking like a lottery pick, it is unlikely they trade it away.

Dash wrote:Something to debate:

Pittsburgh could use, dare I say NEED a wing or two... they obviously have a few assets that could land them a big time winger.

For example, Malkin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk (+) gives both teams what they need. Pittsburgh is paying both Crosby and Malkin $8.7M, and they also have Jordan Staal making $4M. That is $21.4 for 3 centres.

Let's just look at Malkin for Kovalchuk. Atlanta gets a locked-up, young centre who is marketable as a franchise player. Pittsburgh gets a winger who has consistently scored 40+ goals. They would be best to be able to sign him to an equal (8.7M) or less deal.

They could offer Staal, but then they would still be paying 8.7M for 2 centres + another $8M+ for Kovalchuk - too much.

Now, maybe Staal could be sent to Carolina for Whitney and/or Cole. Carolina gets another Staal, and Pittsburgh gets two wingers. Cole is not the player he used to be, and Whitney is not young, so Carolina might have to offer up more, but with their 1st round pick looking like a lottery pick, it is unlikely they trade it away.

Malkin makes 8.7M.
If they are ready to give that, why didn't they give it to Kovalchuk?
On the other hand, If Kovalchuk wants way more than that, why would Pittsburg give it to him insted of keeping Malkin for cheaper?

Like this?

I'm hearing that there are swirlings of the following:

To PIT:

Kovalchuk, Kubina, Peverley, Little

To ATL:

Malkin, Goligoski, Staal

marakh wrote:

Dash wrote:Something to debate:

Pittsburgh could use, dare I say NEED a wing or two... they obviously have a few assets that could land them a big time winger.

For example, Malkin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk (+) gives both teams what they need. Pittsburgh is paying both Crosby and Malkin $8.7M, and they also have Jordan Staal making $4M. That is $21.4 for 3 centres.

Let's just look at Malkin for Kovalchuk. Atlanta gets a locked-up, young centre who is marketable as a franchise player. Pittsburgh gets a winger who has consistently scored 40+ goals. They would be best to be able to sign him to an equal (8.7M) or less deal.

They could offer Staal, but then they would still be paying 8.7M for 2 centres + another $8M+ for Kovalchuk - too much.

Now, maybe Staal could be sent to Carolina for Whitney and/or Cole. Carolina gets another Staal, and Pittsburgh gets two wingers. Cole is not the player he used to be, and Whitney is not young, so Carolina might have to offer up more, but with their 1st round pick looking like a lottery pick, it is unlikely they trade it away.

Malkin makes 8.7M.
If they are ready to give that, why didn't they give it to Kovalchuk?
On the other hand, If Kovalchuk wants way more than that, why would Pittsburg give it to him insted of keeping Malkin for cheaper?

Hypothetically, it might be better for Pittsburgh to have money spread outside of the centre position. As for Atlanta and the money issue, maybe they have offered him league max as rumoured, but perhaps Ilya just wants to play somewhere else?

Head coach Ron Wilson had defenceman Jeff Finger playing on the third line at Monday's morning skate. Wilson also said that Mike Komisarek (shoulder) will be evaluated by a doctor on Wednesday to see how his rehab is progressing. Meanwhile, Mikhail Grabovski had his cast removed today but there's no date for a return yet. J.S. Giguere will starts Tuesday. - TSN

Monday's Practice Lines

Forwards:
Ponikarovsky - Bozak - Kessel
Kulemin - Wallin - Sjostrom
*Finger - Mitchell - Stempniak
Orr - Primeau - Mayers

Defencemen:
Kaberle - Gunnarson
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Exelby - Schenn
Komisarek

Goaltenders:
Giguere
Gustavsson

Lines from Leafs practice - Finger at forward, and apparently Mayers is still a Leaf?

Dash wrote:
Hypothetically, it might be better for Pittsburgh to have money spread outside of the centre position. As for Atlanta and the money issue, maybe they have offered him league max as rumoured, but perhaps Ilya just wants to play somewhere else?

I thought Kovalchuk wants to play for a contending team so he may still be waiting to see how Atlanta does this season (ie. playoff run).

I heard somewhere he wouldn't want to be in the media spotlight so him going to a Canadian team and having our obnoxious media stalk him in the papers for years isn't gonna happen.

Although I don't know if he has an NTC, I can't imagine him signing to a team north of the border.

Dash wrote:Something to debate:

Pittsburgh could use, dare I say NEED a wing or two... they obviously have a few assets that could land them a big time winger.

For example, Malkin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk (+) gives both teams what they need. Pittsburgh is paying both Crosby and Malkin $8.7M, and they also have Jordan Staal making $4M. That is $21.4 for 3 centres.

Let's just look at Malkin for Kovalchuk. Atlanta gets a locked-up, young centre who is marketable as a franchise player. Pittsburgh gets a winger who has consistently scored 40+ goals. They would be best to be able to sign him to an equal (8.7M) or less deal.

They could offer Staal, but then they would still be paying 8.7M for 2 centres + another $8M+ for Kovalchuk - too much.

Now, maybe Staal could be sent to Carolina for Whitney and/or Cole. Carolina gets another Staal, and Pittsburgh gets two wingers. Cole is not the player he used to be, and Whitney is not young, so Carolina might have to offer up more, but with their 1st round pick looking like a lottery pick, it is unlikely they trade it away.

Pittsburgh would have to be nuts to deal Malkin for Kovalchuk, even ignoring their respective contract situations.

Malkin is considerably younger, he's better (as big a fan as I am of Kovalchuk), and whereas the extent of Kovalchuk's playoff experience is 4 losses, Malkin has two Finals appearances, a Cup and a Conn Smythe under his belt already.

Deal Malkin for Kovalchuk and the Pens' top line would be incredible but their depth would be horrendous. It'd make more sense in a pinch to just play Malkin with Crosby - which is what they've often done, with success.

Why would Pittsburgh, the defending Cup Champs, deal core players to try to shore up their team for a playoff run? They've got picks, prospects like Tangradi and Despres, and young guys on the roster like Letang that could be moved in a pinch.

Dash wrote:Head coach Ron Wilson had defenceman Jeff Finger playing on the third line at Monday's morning skate. Wilson also said that Mike Komisarek (shoulder) will be evaluated by a doctor on Wednesday to see how his rehab is progressing. Meanwhile, Mikhail Grabovski had his cast removed today but there's no date for a return yet. J.S. Giguere will starts Tuesday. - TSN

Monday's Practice Lines

Forwards:
Ponikarovsky - Bozak - Kessel
Kulemin - Wallin - Sjostrom
*Finger - Mitchell - Stempniak
Orr - Primeau - Mayers

Defencemen:
Kaberle - Gunnarson
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Exelby - Schenn
Komisarek

Goaltenders:
Giguere
Gustavsson

Lines from Leafs practice - Finger at forward, and apparently Mayers is still a Leaf?

Okay, that's basically the worst lineup I've ever seen.

asq2 wrote:

Dash wrote:Something to debate:

Pittsburgh could use, dare I say NEED a wing or two... they obviously have a few assets that could land them a big time winger.

For example, Malkin to Atlanta for Kovalchuk (+) gives both teams what they need. Pittsburgh is paying both Crosby and Malkin $8.7M, and they also have Jordan Staal making $4M. That is $21.4 for 3 centres.

Let's just look at Malkin for Kovalchuk. Atlanta gets a locked-up, young centre who is marketable as a franchise player. Pittsburgh gets a winger who has consistently scored 40+ goals. They would be best to be able to sign him to an equal (8.7M) or less deal.

They could offer Staal, but then they would still be paying 8.7M for 2 centres + another $8M+ for Kovalchuk - too much.

Now, maybe Staal could be sent to Carolina for Whitney and/or Cole. Carolina gets another Staal, and Pittsburgh gets two wingers. Cole is not the player he used to be, and Whitney is not young, so Carolina might have to offer up more, but with their 1st round pick looking like a lottery pick, it is unlikely they trade it away.

Pittsburgh would have to be nuts to deal Malkin for Kovalchuk, even ignoring their respective contract situations.

Malkin is considerably younger, he's better (as big a fan as I am of Kovalchuk), and whereas the extent of Kovalchuk's playoff experience is 4 losses, Malkin has two Finals appearances, a Cup and a Conn Smythe under his belt already.

Deal Malkin for Kovalchuk and the Pens' top line would be incredible but their depth would be horrendous. It'd make more sense in a pinch to just play Malkin with Crosby - which is what they've often done, with success.

Why would Pittsburgh, the defending Cup Champs, deal core players to try to shore up their team for a playoff run? They've got picks, prospects like Tangradi and Despres, and young guys on the roster like Letang that could be moved in a pinch.

Agreed. Trading Malkin or Crosby makes absolutely no sense. Even much less now that they've won a Stanley Cup already. Not saying they don't want to win anymore, but it's not as pressing. They got the job done. People know they can get the job done.

Kovalchuk is gonna end up somewhere like LA most likely. They have the money, they have the pieces to acquire him, they are on an upswing right now and have so much talent on the roster and in the pipelines that they're going to be a legitimate cup threat for the foreseeable future.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Dash wrote:Head coach Ron Wilson had defenceman Jeff Finger playing on the third line at Monday's morning skate. Wilson also said that Mike Komisarek (shoulder) will be evaluated by a doctor on Wednesday to see how his rehab is progressing. Meanwhile, Mikhail Grabovski had his cast removed today but there's no date for a return yet. J.S. Giguere will starts Tuesday. - TSN

Monday's Practice Lines

Forwards:
Ponikarovsky - Bozak - Kessel
Kulemin - Wallin - Sjostrom
*Finger - Mitchell - Stempniak
Orr - Primeau - Mayers

Defencemen:
Kaberle - Gunnarson
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Exelby - Schenn
Komisarek

Goaltenders:
Giguere
Gustavsson

Lines from Leafs practice - Finger at forward, and apparently Mayers is still a Leaf?

Okay, that's basically the worst lineup I've ever seen.

Yeah, they aren't scoring anymore goals for the rest of the year, that's pretty much cemented with the departure of 40% of their offense overnight.

I think they'll compete though. The kids will be skating like the wind, the effort level should come back up considerably and if nothing else, it would appear that on paper they improved their defense and goaltending. So at least they shouldn't average 3.44 goals against per game anymore - you'd think.

Mayers?

Let's play the sort out game with TO's D.

Kaberle - Komisarek
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Finger - Schenn
extra: Gunnarson

Exelby - 100% useless - waive or trade or waive and let contract expire.

That's a good top six, now if they can get rid of Finger, they're in a nice position on D. Now their offense is the most pathetic I have seen since any incarnation of the Florida Panthers.

SpezDispenser wrote:Let's play the sort out game with TO's D.

Kaberle - Komisarek
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Finger - Schenn
extra: Gunnarson

Exelby - 100% useless - waive or trade or waive and let contract expire.

That's a good top six, now if they can get rid of Finger, they're in a nice position on D. Now their offense is the most pathetic I have seen since any incarnation of the Florida Panthers.

They thought Kessel was in a scoring drought before? Wait until he doesn't have anything remotely resembling offensive talent on the team to play with.

Prediction: Kaberle is the first defenseman in team history to lead the team in scoring.

Toronto's first line isn't bad. I think they may find some chemistry there...too bad they're followed by 3 4th lines...

The Leafs got Finger'ed upfront

PKC wrote:They thought Kessel was in a scoring drought before? Wait until he doesn't have anything remotely resembling offensive talent on the team to play with.

Prediction: Kaberle is the first defenseman in team history to lead the team in scoring.

It won't be long until Kaberle is Kessel's centerman. I assume Poni is being traded? If not, it'll be Kaberle centering Poni and Kessel.

Book it (or not...whatever).

SpezDispenser wrote:Let's play the sort out game with TO's D.

Kaberle - Komisarek
Phaneuf - Beauchemin
Finger - Schenn
extra: Gunnarson

Exelby - 100% useless - waive or trade or waive and let contract expire.

That's a good top six, now if they can get rid of Finger, they're in a nice position on D. Now their offense is the most pathetic I have seen since any incarnation of the Florida Panthers.

Ian White basically played better than Phaneuf this year while logging (I'm not sure) more minutes and less PP time.

If the Leafs are the worst defensive team in the league with White, I am not expecting that to change by swapping him with Phaneuf.